po' folks

i went to apply for food stamps last thursday at my local welfare office. i'm in that rarefied air of folks who make income through full time jobs yet still qualify for government benefits. it seems that, in a community such as my own, cases like this are not in short supply. makes me wonder if America's idea of minimum wage ought to be altered to something a bit more livable. in any event, i'll now have the chance to not only understand government benefits from a theoretical stand point as an advocate at a public interest law firm, but am going to experience it all first hand. thank you AmeriCorps for not paying me more than you do. i wouldn't be in this fortuitous situation without you.

there's an office right off 27th and grand, about two blocks east of USC called "metro special." it's interesting that the LA county department of public social services (dpss) chooses to name it's welfare offices. it's even more interesting that they choose to name many of them "____ special." as far as i can tell, there's nothing too special about these offices - not the buildings, not the workers, not the service and certainly not the bathrooms. some, however, do have tv's in the lobby with built in dvd players. that, and digitized message boards that scroll the latest in dpss news to welfare recipients. i suppose that's pretty special.

anyhow, the visit thursday wasn't my first to metro special. i actually go on a semi-regular basis with students that i've trained (law, social work, undergrads etc.) to do advocacy in the welfare offices. we show up at the offices, ask people if they are having any trouble with their GR (in LA county, welfare money is called General Relief, GR for short) or food stamps, and advocate on their behalf. beyond helping various individuals, our advocacy is a way to keep the county's dpss offices accountable to serving the impoverished and destitute of Los Angeles. how effective we are is debatable - when we do show up at the offices, things seem to run relatively smoothly and the welfare recipients are served in a timely and dignified manner. but we aren't there everyday, and from what my clients tell me (and what i would otherwise guess), things change drastically when folks brave the dpss offices advocate-less.

but back to my own process of applying for food stamps. in my head, i prepared for an ordeal both in terms of the length of time it would take to apply and in terms of the hassle i would have dealing with welfare workers. most of the clients we serve when we do advocacy in the welfare offices wait from early in the morning to early evening, only to be issued return appointments for the following day. however, what transpired was completely unexpected. soon after filling out the application at the customer service desk, i was called up to the service window to have a pre-screening with an eligibility worker. the worker was chinese, spoke to me in chinese when she discovered that i was chinese, and treated me with compassion that doesn't otherwise exist at dpss offices. needless to say, things from there went a lot smoother for me than most.

a process that takes a homeless man or starving woman an entire day (if not more) to complete, took me just over two hours. before you knew it, i was on my way to enjoy the rest of my caesar chavez day off. normally, this would be a cause for celebration - i, due to my iron will and indomitable spirit, required a mere 2 hours to accomplish what it takes others an entire day to do. Indeed, this was an accomplishment in the same vein as my well below average 40 beats per minute resting heart rate and the exactly $20.00 i spent at shell the last time i filled up.

but no, i didn't celebrate. i didn't laugh to myself, smile or even feel satisfied. instead, i fumed. it burned me that even at a welfare office, a place created expressly to serve poor folks, inconsistency and injustice and inequality abound. maybe i should've flipped over some chairs and tables and caused a scene. maybe i should've hurled a few obscenities with my newfound rage. some dude from nazareth did. at least according to mark 11.

but not me. i got in my car, bought a hot fudge sundae with peanuts and went home.