Kiss From Katie Summary

Linda Tirado, author of Hand to Mouth Living in Bootstrap America, tells her story of what it’s like to be working poor in America, as well as what poverty is truly like on many levels. With a thought-provoking voice, Tirado discusses her journey from lower class, to sometimes middle class, to poor, and everything in between. Throughout the read, Tirado goes on to reveal why poor people make the decisions they do in a very powerful way.

After telling the anecdote of the women and two children who gave Jolie the last of their drink, she says, “Since before the parable of the Widow’s Mite it has been known that those who have the least will give the most” (Jolie 3). The parable of the Widow’s Mite tells of a poor widow who gives everything she had for God. By alluding to the Widow’s Mite, Jolie once again reflects upon the generosity of refugees and those who are in need. By making those listening to her speech once again think about the generosity of the women giving the last of their drink supplies away, Angelina Jolie creates a emotional appeal. Jolie uses historical allusion again when she compares what’s happening to the refugees in Pakistan to other situations in the Middle East. Jolie says, “Whether it be Darfur, Myanmar, or Swat Valley, or some as yet unknown crises, mass migrations will be a feature of our future…” (Jolie 5). The allusion to the genocide taking place in Darfur, the displacement of over 139,000 people in Myanmar, and the Malala shooting in Swat Valley gives examples of other times people like the Afghanistan refugees in Pakistan have been displaced from their homes. Many of those listening to Angelina Jolie’s speech are familiar with the events that she alludes to and have felt sympathy or even helped those people affected by those situations. By alluding to those events and comparing what is happening in Pakistan to those events, Jolie creates an emotional appeal to those listening to her speech by making them feel the same sympathy they felt for those who were affected by the events she alludes to. Because of the sympathy they now feel for Afghan refugees, listeners are persuaded to help those

of growing up, and the affects war has on her life and love. As it is

People in Central America especially, long to have their basic necessities met. Visiting Guatemala and Mexico at the age of ten was a hard site to see. Kids walking on the street barefoot not because they wanted to, but they had no money to buy shoes. Making their dirty feet ache at night. Wearing the same clothes full of filth because they could not afford to buy clothes and soap. Parents struggling to provide for their family. They would often sent their child to school without lunch, making it hard for the student to concentrate at school. Any little money counts and they would make it last. Yet they were so welcoming and loving to guest. They had nothing to offer but the little they had they would offer. Family’s full of frustration and no hope turn to the journey of going to “el Norte”. Hoping to have a better life and help their family improve their social status.

In a absorbing way that made me cringe at times, Shipler allows these ‘invisible’ poor to narrate in their personal stories the structural, social, economic and cultural barriers that impact the families. Although I tend to disagree, Shipler admits that one

Leaving the comforts of the first world, Jessica Alexander abandons her job, fiancé, family, and home to venture into the misleading volunteer work of Humanitarian aid. Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid by Jessica Alexander is a conglomeration of stories that are written from Jessica’s memory. “It is a true account based on [Jessica’s] best recollections of the events and [her] experiences.”.

Go to Chicago, New York, Paris or Madrid, on every street corner you see a person less advantaged, poor, and desperate. Then go in a store, see others carrying expensive bags, swiping their credit card left and right. We live in a world of extreme poverty, balance seems nonexistent. Poverty can result in broken homes and in turn, broken lives. In the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, Walter Mcmillian’s adult life, Trina Garnett’s childhood and Antonio Nuñez’s domestic life show that poverty was the cause of their incarceration and determined the success of their lives.

accompany her on her journey of self realization. The idea of what she had going into the Congo

Philip shares with me his personal experiences working with the individuals who found themselves living on the streets during the years of 1986-1996. He explains why eventually he dealt solely with those individuals who would not go in to the missions and shelters or even accept food from the mobile soup wagons. Philip relives the moment that he first realized that houseless people were not in their current situation because of a life misled or because they were lazy or criminal, as may be the common

Throughout the world many people live in poverty. There may see to be more laws that are put into place to help those in need. However, it is hard to provide support to those who refuse to take advantage of it. There is currently over five-hundred thousand homeless people in America. A lot of what was talked about in the Glass Castle and in our text book, showed a connection of how social work could have been applied.

Kara was fearful when people tried to help it was out of pity. She was independent and proud. When a truck driver tried to pay for the family’s dinner, she became defensive and angry. Welfare was not their desire, yet to survive the assistance was essential for the family. Neighbors raised money to fit her with false teeth. Community organizations donated gifts for the children at Christmas, and the church day care. No longer owning a car a trip to the hospital to have a blood marrow transplant for Kara, required a rental vehicle. A salesman offered his vehicle, for no rentals were left at the dealership. Ann’s survival depended on the gratitude of others. She stretched her meager income with the help of others. Living at home with her mother, seeking friends to assist permitted for survival. It was perused, yet once when offered money from her mother, she refused it for fear scholarships would not be awarded to the children. The kids were the center of her financial choices, and all concerns were placed on their future. Each woman needed help, they both accepted assistance on their terms and considering the best for the

One of the greatest accomplishments in her life was starting an orphanage with her husband in Africa. This had been one of her life long dreams and it came to pass at the age of 45. Brinta and her husband would go on mission trips quite often around the world. While her husband

During all these personal sufferings the country faced some real hardships when in November of 1963 their wonderful president, JFK was assassinated. The country seemed to go a little crazy and was defiantly in shock and couldn't understand. As the country as a whole suffered, young 16 year old Katie was personally suffering a little more. At such a young age she found out she was pregnant and knew this wouldn't go over so well with her father in which she couldn't have been more right, so she ended up running away to San Francisco to live with all her hippie friends.

4, emphasis mine) and her insistence on "feeling for my donors every step of the way" (Never, p. 4). Kathy's admission opens up a fundamental tension regarding what it means to homogenise people and actively select who to empathise with based on personal bias. The donation programme thus reflects Kathy’s own attitude and preferences. Yet crucially, selective empathy, this tendency to choose when and who we are empathetic towards, is a universal facet of empathy and provides a useful framework for understanding how other marginalised minorities that lie beyond Ishiguro’s novel –migrant workers, the disabled and the poor – are failed by supposedly protectionist government. Much like Bruce Robbins' critique of the Welfare State, Kathy's humanising education at Hailsham has placed her in what Mark Currie calls "the paradox of privileged deprivation" (2013, p. 158) that partially explains her passive

Kisses from Katie is an incredible, inspirational book. It allowed me to see the world from a different perspective. I always knew Africa, as a continent was a poor country. Katie helped me realize the good and bad that this continent, specifically Uganda, has to offer. She mentions in her book, in the beginning chapters, that the children of Uganda are rich in one aspect in life.