a simple exercise in class privilege

“It’s okay to receive food stamps, just so long as you feel bad about it.”

“Collecting cans isn’t what it used to be!”

A gravel cigarette voice scratched at us from a tall blue steel recycling bin. Its owner, a cartoonish elderly man in black, was climbing out, reaching his toe for a nearby plastic bin. He wore a black hoodie. Shiny stone earrings dangled beneath his flat brim ball cap.

My wife and I were walking with the dog, …