PrintOctober 17, 2009
The $450.00 purse
One hundred-and-twenty-five "At Risk" seventeen to twenty-four year old, paid $8.15 an hour to attend high school with money from the Stimulus package. A report from the trenches."Four-hundred and fifty dollars!" Shaqueenda purred as she paraded the pretentious brown leather purse past her friends. The summer stimulus students, earning $8.00 an hour to attend school, had gathered in the atrium showing off their purchases."My whole wardrobe isn't worth that!" I blurted out. She iced my comment with a bone chilling glare. I backed away and watched as Vonisha and Soltaire matched her gasconade with the hundreds they disbursed on acrylic fingernails, coral reef hair sets, and skin tight ensembles. These young ladies, learning the arts of ground-beautification left empty pop cans, chip bags, and candy-bar wrappers littering their benches when they moseyed away to their instructional assignment."Girls," I interrupted, pointing at the litter. Sullenly...(Read Full Article)
