DAY 30

SOCIAL & POLITICAL COMMENTARY

Poverty

LIGHTING THE DARKNESS

Poverty (lack) is the extreme opposite of wealth (abundance). Often portrayed as a lack of property, housing, opportunities, and education, defining poverty in a social context falls into the realm of socially acceptable parameters. These are basic parameters centered around an acceptable amount of money and possessions but also communal services like sanitation, water, transportation, and communication. Individual moments of poverty, while disarming and uncomfortable, are quite different from the social issue of poverty.

One of the more interesting definitions of poverty is debility due to a “lack of fertility.” This definition conjures a dark, deprived, and dead atmosphere. This aspect of poverty was explored by Jacob Riis, a late-19^th-century reporter and photographer. Riis took advantage of the newly developed “flash” cartridge (a mixture of magnesium, potassium chlorate, and antimony sulfide shot from a pistol-like contraption) to light the dark alleys and tenements of New York City. His intention was to inform the public and assist those trapped in the maze of poverty the tenements contained. —MLR