#5 The Poor will NOT ALWAYS be with us

 "The tyranny of extreme poverty is being broken."

The message of this video is that one day we will be able to see a world without poverty and that there is still hope; even though it seems like the bad statistics are bigger than the solutions. In the beginning of the video, Dr. Scott Todd says something that I never really realized before. He said that diseases, lack of food, clean water, and most natural disasters don't kill people.. but extreme poverty does. Extreme poverty is the "one single killer responsible for all of these deaths".There are many signs that show that poverty is reducing. In just a few years, the Malaria rate as well as the rate of children dying every day from unpreventable causes was cut in half! Even if we look back only a short amount of time, it is clear that things have began to change for the better. Just 100 years ago nearly everyone was living in extreme poverty and only lived to be about 30 years old. Today the world has made improvements and we now have things such as the automobile, plane, vaccines and more that show we are making our way out of poverty as a whole. We have been able to cut the percentage of people living in extreme poverty in half. I find it amazing that in such a short amount of time we have been able to make advances and start moving in the right direction away from poverty.
 I think that i especially liked this video because it is greatly based off of religious ideas and information. My faith is really important to me so I really connected with this video and was able to really understand his point of view. If out generation works together, we really may be able to see an end to poverty as it is today. If the percentage has already been cut in half, why can't it be cut down again? 

#4 Calling all "Janes of the World"!

 "Being poor doesn't mean being ordinary." 
 TED "An Escape from Poverty" talk

The video TED talk that I found really inspired me. It first taught me that poverty really is more than just income and that we need to look at it on a broader spectrum to understand it. Even though there were a lot of powerful things stated in the video, the quote above really struck me as something that was true. When most people think of the poor, they probably think that they are helpless people and can't do anything for other people; especially when they can barely help themselves. After watching the TED talk and learning about the inspirational attitude of a woman named Jane, I realized that this way of thinking was completely false. The young woman Jane lived in a very poor slum in Kenya called Nairobi which is known for prostitution and violence. Throughout her life, Jane had two dreams: to be a doctor, and marry a good man that would stay with her and make a family. However, when she did get married her husband left her and she had no money to pursue becoming a doctor so she turned to prostitution. One really powerful thing that she said was "The poverty wasn't so bad, it was the humiliation and embarrassment of it all." Even though Jane had many hardships in her life, the video talks about how she ultimately turned it around. She started her own business re-purposing dresses and jewelry and selling them to women to make money. She was even able to eventually move into a newly built community and have better living conditions for her and her children. This video really inspired me because it gave me some hope when looking at the subject of poverty. It showed me that the change really starts with you, and that anything is possible if you believe and work hard. Even though Jane had to give up on her original dreams, she is still thankful for everything she has in life and feels that she can inspire other people and help her own family; which is what really satisfies her. Jane said "Maybe I'm not a doctor that gives out pills, but I'm something better because I give them hope." I think we all need to become more like Jane so we can spread a positive light and hope for the future of hopefully one day ending poverty. Calling all Janes of the world... will you accept the challenge to bring forth the change?

#3 Poverty video "Poverty's new address in America"

Poverty's new address in America? The suburbs 

The video "Poverty's new address in America" followed the stories of two different families and their struggles to survive in the suburbs in America. Even though many people, including myself, believe that most people in the United States that are suffering with poverty live in big cities, I was surprised to find out that a majority actually live in the suburbs similar to my own town. Some things that I learned from this video are that America's suburbs are home to its biggest and fastest growing poor population. Suburbs are actually suffering more than cities. The suburbs attract immigrants whose poverty rate is higher than the native born American. (51% of immigrants live in the suburbs) The poor stay in the suburbs because of safety, better schools, and more affordable housing.
 I wonder why it seems that poverty is less noticeable in the suburbs even though it seems to be becoming more prevalent. Even though we really don't recognize poverty as much in the suburbs as we do in say New York city, the percentages of people having to live in poverty don't lie.  The poverty rate has increased a significant amount due to the recession and many people, just like the ones in this video are severely struggling to survive; many without getting any income at all.  

  

#2 Povery Facts and Stats Blog

Poverty Facts and Stats

 I chose to read the poverty facts and stats article first because I felt that I should have a general knowledge of the poverty totals in the world before doing any specific research. This article really broke down into the specifics of how badly poverty is plaguing the world. The very first sentence of the article " Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day" really put into perspective just how serious poverty is throughout the world. Living in the mostly fortunate society that I live in, there is no possible way anyone could live off of only $2.50 per day. That amount of money could barley even buy one person lunch at McDonald's! The statistics found in this article were truly horrifying and unbelievable . The amount of people dying and becoming sick due to the poverty levels not only in the US, but the whole world, is really sickening. Another statistic that was really shocking to me was the amount of people in the world living without electricity. I know that I would not be able to survive without having electricity, so it breaks my heart to know that there are hundreds of millions of people living in places like South Asia, East Asia, and Africa living without any electricity at all. Not only did this article help to put into perspective the gravity of the poverty situation in the world, but it also made me truly appreciative of what I have and that I am fortunate enough to not have to live in poverty.  

                            

#1 Intro to Poverty

Hi my name is Loryn Gugliotta and this is my first blog! I decided to take Sociology this year to learn about a broad variety of topics and I'm excited to see what this class can offer me. In the future I plan on majoring in nursing so I think that this class will help me now as well as in the future. The topic I have chosen for this semester is poverty. I chose this topic because it is something that I feel I will be able to get a lot out of . I love to volunteer and have worked with organizations to help fight against poverty, so I am interested in learning more about it and how I can further help to try and prevent it. Hopefully I will be able to learn a lot more about poverty than I already know and ultimately be able to help many of the people who suffer from it with my new found knowledge.