Pubdate: Mon, 17 Feb 2003
Source: Red And Black, The (GA Edu University of Georgia)
Copyright: 2003 The Red and Black Publishing Co., Inc.
Contact:  http://www.redandblack.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2800
Author: Cassie Belter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

Variety

IN-DEPTH LOOK AT CLASS IS SHALLOW

In 1998, New York Times journalist Barbara Ehrenreich entered the American 
workforce to take a realistic look at how lower-class America gets by.

In "Nickel and Dimed," Ehrenreich plows through work as a waitress, a hotel 
maid, a nursing home aide and a Wal-Mart sales clerk while simultaneously 
trying to find affordable rent in Florida, Maine and Michigan.

Ehrenreich goes about this investigative task as fairly as possible. Her 
resume, which includes holding a doctorate in biology and a job as an NYT 
reporter, is replaced with one of an unskilled divorced woman lacking 
experience.

While Ehrenreich may have shed certain elements of herself in order to make 
it believable, she failed to shed a condescending tone and mockery of 
people below her.

I may be in a critical minority -- praise of Ehrenreich's work takes up two 
pages in the front of the book.

However, I felt that Ehrenreich's voice was not only embarrassingly 
immature for a NYT reporter, but also detrimental to the objectivity of the 
project.

Ehrenreich immediately takes issue with drug testing.

She reveals that she has been smoking marijuana throughout the project, 
forcing her to, at first, avoid all jobs involving drug tests.

For a professional examining why the lower class cannot pay rent given 
their low wages, it is surprising that the elimination of an expenditure 
such as pot is not among the first logical things to do.

I found Ehrenreich's descriptions of people inappropriate. It seems 
irrelevant whether a coworker has all of his teeth or how demented she 
finds her Alzheimer's patients to be.

In terms of the monetary findings, the descriptions of the difficult labor 
and the stories of people in these situations, the book is humbling and 
interesting. "Nickel and Dimed" does serve a purpose in generating awareness.

Unfortunately, "Nickel and Dimed" is failed potential in that Ehrenreich's 
personal issues and opinions cloud the journalistic integrity I had hoped 
to find from such an intriguing project.
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MAP posted-by: Jackl