Which Way Will WIC go?

I loved being on WIC from 2000-2005. I loved the cooking classes, free recipe books and never having to worry about food for my son. My ex-husband and I were very poor college students back then so knowing there would be cereal, milk and other food for our son in constant supply was a blessing indeed.

For me, WIC was pretty consistent. You went in about once a month, had your child weighed, measured and sometime a finger prick to check iron levels (a child can be on WIC until the age of 5 or until your income increases over poverty mark for the family size). Then, you got your folder of checks. These checks were good for specific items and varied in selection with the child’s age.

Once in a while they had me sign up for a class. One was on how to make macaroni and cheese from scratch (white base, add cheese, boil macaroni, put in oven) and another on the number of fruits and vegetables your child was to eat per day and how to make eating them fun and interesting (ants on a log!). Most classes came with government-printed recipe books and handouts. I thought it was fun, and honestly, a bit like junior high home-ec class, which I also liked quite a bit.

But I was surprised to hear that many women have had different experiences with WIC than I have. Reports of “pushy staff” and mundane visits have been ringing in my ears. Some even quit. I think it would take a lot for me to quit a free food program but when you hear that a mother “didn’t feel respected as a parent” that is definitely hard to take. I think that would push me over the edge.

WIC tried to pressure me into breastfeeding but in no way with a heavy hand. In the office, I succumbed to pressure to join a class just to learn about it but then cancelled. I was 19 and pregnant. All my brothers and sisters had been bottle-fed and I wanted my husband to be able to help. I worried about breastfeeding not working out. I could go on and on but I don’t want to make this a breastfeeding post. Suffice it to say, I just wasn’t ready to breastfeed. I was young, scared and had no frame of reference. I gave a sigh of relief when I got my first formula checks without hassle.

So, upon reading that WIC is actually trying to recruit low income families to join, I started to wonder why this would be needed. Isn’t the Right always saying we “poor people” want our free cheese? Guess we don’t if they are all up in our parenting business.

I hope WIC is taking surveys to see why people leave or refuse to join. WIC doesn’t seem to be as well-known as it used to be. Has it overstayed its welcome? I don’t think so. Perhaps there is pressure from higher up Government folks for WIC to produce impressive numbers to report back to those who elected to support and fund the program. I’ve learned in my past few months of grant writing that grantors (government or not) REALLY want to see what you do with THEIR money. Perhaps that’s it…WIC is pressuring parents to churn out super babies so they can keep their funding.

What’s your WIC story? I’d love to hear it.

My welfare is different

 The other day I was working at my medical transcription, typing typing typing away, when I got distracted by the Facebook.  Specifically, by a conversation started by a family member—a cousin by marriage.  In my tiny hometown in Montana, I’m related either directly or by marriage to juuuust about everyone.  But anyway, that’s neither here nor there.  The conversation, or what can be better described as a confusing and frightening narrative, started off thusly:

No food for you!

 "I was n store other day an a ma n pa n kid in buyn carton of cigs 2gal coke n rentn movies! Odd thng is they wur talkn 2 man bout needn food frm food bank an cuz they had already ben there ths mnth. The man askd if they had any cash? Nope pay day is nx week was there anser! Now they had money 4 pop movies n cigs tho! Heres the kicker... Payday as they cald it is actualy wen they get their welfare an disablity n food stamps.  Now it was all i cud do 2 get out the door wthout getn throd in jail!!"

Wow.  He was so upset, he almost got throd in jail, y’all.  Let’s ignore the terrible spelling, if we can, because I really don’t want to say that my cousin is stupid. Because I have no idea if he is.  But smart people are bad spellers too, so I’m not gonna jump on his ass too much about that.  Plus, he was probably updating from his phone, right there at the store.  Or perhaps he was so upset that he had to wait until he got to his pickup truck to clumsily and angrily tap his message. I mean, how upset do you have to be to almost get throd in jail?  I’d bet pretty upset. 

From there, my own brother decided to jump in.  My brother is super smart and quick-witted.  He’s also kind of a dick.  Here’s the rest of the conversation, salted heavily with my own pissed off outbursts.  Oh, and I’m giving them all fun pseudonyms.  So the starting comment was Cousin Elmer. 

Brother Buck:  Good thing YOU were going to work.  Somebody has to pay for these losers’ cigs and movies and food stamps.  By the way, I think jail time would’ve been totally worth it.

For the past seven years my family and I have utilized WIC, food stamps, and Medicaid. Now, I’m no Geometry genius, but I think that his equation is insulting to me.  Wait....yep, yep it is. 

People who use food stamps = losers. 

I have used food stamps. 

I = loser. 

Got it.  My brother thinks I’m a loser.  I’m feeling like ranting, but first, let’s keep listening as this unfolds:

Cousin Bocephus:  I’m with (brother Buck).  Should have asked him if he’d ever tryed suckin on a cig with a split lip.

Cousin Marcia May:  and they VOTE, too.  (angry face)

Brother Buck:  of COURSE they vote.  Can you say Obama?

Cousin Elmer:  u wnd bleve these peopl.  Peopl took food an clothes 4 kids 4 chrsmas...The man tels people he needs shoes n pants also. Wthout so much as a thnkyou!  Oh an house smokd up with leftys an one of kids has asthma! Berta may jus have a runaway! Wups

Hey, he knows what a lefty is?!   Huh.  Other than that, I'm confused.  Who is Berta?  Is she a ewe?  a cow?  A person? Where was Elmer that he heard this awful man expressing his need for shoes and pants, without properly prostrating himself before Elmer?  How does Elmer know the kid has asthma?  But let’s move on, because it gets sooooo much better.  And by better, I mean worse.  Way worse. 

Elmer:  Harry Schmerg postd 2day that iges 4 states drug tst b4 welfare! Shud b all 50 butgood that 4 do now

Buck:  I’ve heard the argument that drug testing welfare recipients is unconstitutional (mostly from people on welfare) If that is the case, then drug testing people who actually want to work for a living is obviously unconstitutional as well.

Elmer:  I thnk that habitual welfare tards shud hav to wear similar outfits like convicts and actualy go bak 2 real foodstamps nstead of debit cards and gther n the mornin so real wrkn folk cn come pk em up and make them wrk 4 their wlfare!  Does that make me an ass?

See, he’s not stupid, he can spell and use “habitual” correctly!  Um, but yeah, Elmer, it certainly DOES make you an ass.  Well, I was thinking assHOLE, but yeah.  Pretty much.   I’m feeling super ranty...must hold off...a bit longer...

Bocephus:  here’s an idea, you always hear of people saying “I’m on welfare ‘cause there ain’t no jobs,” but there seems to be a never ending supply of community service projects.  If you sign up for welfare, welcome to the wonderful world of community service.  Since community is taking care of you, why not pitch in and take care of community.  Mow a lawn, trim a tree, serve lunch at senior center, at least then I won’t feel like my money is being wasted. 

Bocephus, again:  My JOB is right across the street from the food bank.  Once a month I witness droves of brand new vehicles with $5000 wheel and tire packages and $3000 stereos picking up boxes of donated food.  When I go to the grocery store, I end up in line behind the same people and witness them buying five carts full and paying with there foodstamps. 

Hmmm. Cousin Bocephus certainly spends a lot of time watching the people across the street—I mean, he knows them so well he recognizes them in the grocery store.  Does his boss know about this? 

Marcia May:  don’t know if I’d go so far as a “welfare uniform” Grud LOL but I DO think the baloney move to “save the self esteem” of those using food stamps is totally counter-productive.  You shouldn’t be usin’ em unless you NEED em and if you NEED em then there’s no shame in using em.  I would be ALL for the expectation of completing community service appropriate to the needs/abilities of the individual (wait...that sounds kind of like a JOB, right)...think that would thin the herd QUITE a bit...if people are going to be compelled work, they might just get the hang of it and figure it adventageous to pursue a job where they get paid in more than government cheese...also not opposed to the idea of compelling birth control...if you’re having trouble feeding the ones you got, you probably shouldn’t have any MORE right now



from ejmassa.com



Wait.  Wait.  My partner had some input here.  “What?!  She’s dissin on my government cheese?!  What the fuck’s she know about government cheese?”  My partner spent a lot of years on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations, and he knows from government cheese.  I’m pretty sure my cousin does not know from government cheese.  When my partner (I’m gonna call him High Hawk since we’re all about pseudonyms here—but that’s actually his Native name) and I moved in together, his parents gave us some food, and among that was a box of government mac and cheese.  I cooked it up while High Hawk was at work.  I couldn’t eat it.  The cheese’s texture was something between milk and snot, it stuck to your mouth and filmed up your teeth.  High Hawk came home and ate a huge bowl of it.  Marcia May is, of course, using the term’s derogatory sense, an idea more than an actual block of hard cheese. A metaphor, even.  Marcia goes on to declare that if she was in a desperate situation, she’d be happy to comply with all of this.  Not only would she comply, she’d be “dadgum grateful to do it.”  Ooooookaay. Not buyin that shit for a second.  Walk a mile, lady, you know the saying.

Finally, Elmer declares that he has never gone more than six days without a job, ever.  So:

Elmer has never had trouble finding a job =

You and Elmer are both humans =

You have never had trouble finding a job

I’m getting super good at this math thing, I think. 

Now, I get to rant.  

Oops!  Wrong finger.



It is NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS what I buy with my food stamps.  Fuck you for thinking you get to dictate what someone buys with their food stamps.  THEIR food stamps.  Not yours.  I don’t give a shit if you pay taxes for my food stamps.  I pay taxes for your firefighters and your police officers.  I pay for your kids’ schooling.  I pay for your farm subsidies, you know, welfare for farmers.  Yep, looked it up, and Elmer is on the welfare too.  In fact, a lot of my relatives are farmers who received subsidies, and a lot of them rail against welfare and the lazy bums who accept it. 

My brother, Buck?  Declared bankruptcy a few years back.  I’ve been there too, after I got divorced about a decade ago.  But isn’t bankruptcy a bailout by the government?  Isn’t bankruptcy another form of welfare? 

So my family’s probably not really against welfare.  They’re just against my welfare and your welfare.  Theirs is different.  They are different. 

Not long ago I had a pretty decent Facebook convo with Bocephus about guns.  I asked him what he thought about being able to carry a concealed weapon into a bar.  Bocephus has a concealed carry permit or whatever, and he’s taken training, and he’s a responsible gun owner.  I’m not against guns.  If I thought I could have one in the house without it being a danger to my kids and also being able to get to it in time, I would.  My cousin Bocephus said he personally would never consider bringing his concealed weapon anywhere if he even thought he was going to drink, and he thought most gun owners were the same way.  I had to admit to myself that I’d never really thought that most gun owners might be responsible like he is.  Instead I thought of the worst case scenario.  So I told my cousin that maybe I was wrong about that, and that if most gun owners thought and acted like he did, we were in good shape.

And yet my cousins and my brother all fail to recognize that a LOT of people on welfare DO have jobs.  I actually am not on the welfare right now.  I graduated!  But like I said, for almost seven years I’ve needed help.  For all of those seven years, I worked full-time.  High Hawk worked, too.  I still needed help.  That’s what they don’t get—a lot of us are working as hard as we can, as much as we can, when we can.  And “there ain’t no jobs” is the fucking truth—more for some populations than others, obviously.  There are always some who will abuse the system, like the farmers who got paid to grow things they actually didn’t grow, and so the government had to start flying over to make sure welfare fraud was not being committed.  Like those who knowingly and foolishly take on too much debt and have to declare bankruptcy. 

And finally.  Even if you weren’t getting handouts too, pals, and even if I wasn’t working, you still don’t get to be supreme commander of purchases.  If I want to buy a bag of chips and ice cream for dinner, FUCK YOU.  I’m having Doritos and mint chocolate chip.  The reality is, you aren’t paying for welfare anymore than anyone’s paying for your handouts and everything else that taxes go to.

So fuck your segregation and forced birth control (I’m pretty sure sterilization of the poor would have made its way into the conversation if it would have gone on).  I hope someone follows you around and catalogues your purchases and activities and looks down their nose at you and judges you and then rants about subsidies and bankruptcy…and hypocrisy.