Highland Park responds after criticism
over ‘poverty simulation' event

2 1/2 to 3 hours at the country club. Should still be able to get 9 holes in that afternoon.

I read about how the old European rich had parties dressed like the peasants they ruled over.

Their efforts would be better spent instructing those groups prone to poverty about having a work ethic, avoiding irresponsible procreation, raising their kids to obey the law and the basic rules of civil society.

Having been poor for years when I was younger, I'd have exactly NO willingness to be even remotely involved in this foolishness. However....how hungry can you get in 3 hours? Have they ever eaten road kill armadillo? It's actually pretty good, but you need to be careful of how long it's been laying in the hot Florida sun. In their country club, will you learn to deal with the fact that your $350 VW is burning so much oil that it's getting hard to keep the spark plugs from fouling and it running, and you have no money to even buy the parts to fix it properly ($100) even though you can fix it. So, you go to a junkyard, find a junked VW engine, laying on the ground beside a car, out in the weather for years and ask the junkyard man how much for ONLY the used rings on the junk engine. His $10 is barely affordable, so you super carefully take off the used rings, and clean off the rust and then tear down your running engine, with all the rings broken from age and fatigue, and put the used rings on the worn out, but usable, pistons and then "hone" the cylinders with a piece of sandpaper to roughen it so the rings will break in to the new-old worn cylinder. And oil consumption goes way down, even though the parts are still pretty much on their last legs. About 18 months later, I was able to afford the parts to do a reasonably decent rebuild on that old VW, for $110. It took me a year to save up that much. Yeah, I've actually BEEN poor.

Addendum to #4. I was a grad student earning $3600 a year as a 1/3 time grad assistant. That works out to $300 a month, less SS and taxes. The taxes were low, but SS FICA was still about 6%, leaving take home at about $280/month. Rent in a two room apartment was $120 a month, plus utilities of about $35.month, leaving a grand total of $120 per month for food, gas, and anything else. Gas was fortunately only 35 cents a gallon, although we had the big price jump up to 60 cents in '73 a real hardship. So, about $20-25 a month for gas. That left about $23 a week to eat on and do any "entertainment" and parts keep my old VW running. Points and plugs every 6,000 miles in those days..... $3 points, $5 plugs, every four months or less. Doesn't seem like much now. But even tires only lasted a year or two, 10,000 miles for cheap tires....I sometimes found used tires ones for cheaper. Occasionally, I'd find a job fixing someone else's VW and could earn $40 or even $50 for some work, the labor above the parts cost. That would help a lot but those were only every other month or less, since I had no shop and had to work in the apartment parking lot and on my patio. No need to "simulate" poverty. I've lived it for three years. It helped me focus on getting a good education and a good job to avoid future poverty.

I had to start my life over when I became unmarried 15 years ago. It was not easy. 5 moves in 5 years. 'Poor' is a state of mind. 'Broke' is a temporary situation.

Most of us who have a clear understanding of what it’s like to live in poverty have worked and studied like crazy to keep from living that way.

When I was 13yrs. old my parents were on the verge of bankruptcy. They lost the house they were buying and had to return a car. This is when we moved to Seattle. My two brothers who were old enough had paper routes and I babysat, we handed all the money we made to our folks. I think my brothers and I were more mature then most kids our age. This was in 1960. When my husband's father was dying of cancer, in 1964, for a year, my husband not only had a job cooking at a restaurant at nights, he took over his dad's job every day and handed that paycheck to his mother. He had two younger brothers who were teen-agers at that time. We know what it is to do without and then pitch in to keep your family together.

I just went grocery shopping. No need for this "poverty simulation".

That is SO typically liberal-think: They think people need a lesson on what poverty is like. We know what poverty is like. The poor have always been with us, or is the newest generation just figuring this out? Jeez, they're ignorant...