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This is Rumble Strip and this is part

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10 of What Class Are You? Kathleen.

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You know, I consider

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doctors, lawyers, you know, people

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who have a good income

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upper class. I mean, if

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you can afford every year

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to go on a two-week ski

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vacation or you can have

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someone come clean your house or

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your pool, that's upper

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class. What is your experience of

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upper class? None.

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I mean, I've seen it on TV. That's

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Kathleen Patrick. She lives in Derby,

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Vermont, in a subsidized apartment with

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two cats, two pugs, and about

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400 clocks. She

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really likes clocks. Kathleen was

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working as a home health aid until

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COVID hit. She received COVID funding and

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rent assistance until she didn't, and now

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she's working at the deli at Price

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Chopper, and she's months behind on her

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rent and she's facing eviction. I

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met Kathleen through her daughter Katrina, who I

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interviewed for this class series last year. Katrina

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has been couch surfing for the better part

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of two years, and for the last eight

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months or so she's been sleeping on her

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mother's couch while she's working to save money

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for her own place and also trying to

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help her mother with her expenses. It

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turns out that being poor is a learning curve

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and it takes a lot of time. Most

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any benefit from housing subsidies to

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healthcare requires a whole lot of

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complicated paperwork. Kathleen has

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subsidized housing and healthcare and she receives

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food assistance, but she says that if she

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gets a job that makes a dollar more

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than these subsidies allow, she says she'll be

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poorer than she was before when

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she needed subsidies. It's complicated.

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Here's Kathleen. I don't fit

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into a class. I'm

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not lower class because I

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have a place, and most

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of the time I can afford my bills. I'm

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not middle class. Because

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again, only some of the times I can

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afford my bills, and

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I'm far from upper class. I

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mean, I have my own apartment, and

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I work a job, and a lot of people

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would consider me middle class, but

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I can't afford to be middle class.

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I want to work. I want to be able

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to pay my bills, but I

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cannot look for a full-time job. Even

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if one was given to me, I

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can't accept it. Because if

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I accept a full-time job, I

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lose my food stamps, I lose

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my housing assistance. Without my Medicaid,

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I am on almost 20 different

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medications. Some of them

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cost a couple thousand dollars for a

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month. If I

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work full-time, then I

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have to accept a work healthcare, which I

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would not be able to afford. The payments

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that would go with the medication, the doctor's

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visits. So I have

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to stay below a

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certain level, or else

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I can't live. What are

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you afraid of when you look

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ahead? I'm

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facing eviction because I'm behind in

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my rent. And

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what scares me the most

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is being evicted, because I

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have no funds to seek

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out another place. Lower

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class, you want to do better. You want

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people to see you as better. But

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when I have to tell people, yeah, I

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have a regular job, but here's my food

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stamp card, and they look at me, you're

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working, why do you need food stamps? I

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need food stamps because my job

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does not pay enough for me

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to afford my apartment and

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food and healthcare. It

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doesn't pay enough. And

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they'll say, well, get a better job. If

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I get a better job, I lose

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the assistance, and then I can't afford

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anything anyway. Impact where I was

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before. It

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It's like being on a merry

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go round or a roller coaster

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of roller coasters better. You get

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up to that high point on

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the hill, you're doing great and

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stay on. You get divorced and

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you're going down hill and you

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can't stop the downhill slide. You

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can't stop the loops where you're

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going through one thing after not

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housing food and then you finally

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get through them and you're going

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up again. You're. Feeling great

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phantom something else happens like

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I had to have surgery

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you know, which I hadn't

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expected and there weren't any

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funds that I had. I

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had to take time off

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from work for Law said

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in Com I needed more

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financial programs and again it's

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downhill. More paperwork. And

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you just I can look ten years down

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the road. And I see

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myself still stuck here. I

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don't see that happy

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ending that. House.

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That wonderful new has been that

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picket fence that nine to five

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job in the office that I

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can be proud of. I. Don't

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see it anymore. I'm

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fifty three years old. And

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I'm stuck in a system

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that is. Determined not to help

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me get out of the system. Has

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Kathleen Patrick and the show was from a series

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I make. Periodically for from all public out

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what class or you thank you to firm

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up public for letting me share these stories

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on Rumble Strip. I'll be

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back Wednesday with the next episode. This is

5:46

Rumble Strip. I'm at the helm and thanks

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a lot for listening.