catapult magazine

Items tagged poverty

• No happy ending for the real working poor

  Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, chronicles the author's attempt to survive in the U.S. while working low-wage jobs. Offering necessary insight into one of the country's neglected sub-classes, Nickle and Dimed indirectly challenges us to act for the benefit of millions of low-wage American workers.

• Approaching the AIDS emergency

  The DATA organization is calling for a world community effort to help solve the devastating problems of African countries.

• To Russia, with love

  A mother of four leaves the North American continent for the first time to go on a mission trip to Russia (in the middle of winter).

• The poor are not the problem

  A review of The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else by Hernando de Soto.

• Wrong on rights

  A sobering quiz demonstrates how, even in an increasingly connected world, keeping up with human rights abuses is difficult at best.

• The inevitable question

  The topic of our mysterious finances demands curiosity from others and honesty from myself.

• Dignity through work

  Is fair trade a solution that political polar opposites can agree on?

• Fair trade coffee is for the birds!

  A basic, well-researched exploration of why fair trade coffee is important and what you can do to promote it in your community.

• Judgment calls

  What the world teaches us about the labels we place on ourselves.

• Willie

  Encounters with a neighbor in need raise questions of how to adequately meet the need.

• Feeding the hungry

  Sometimes the most immediate needs go beyond food, clothing and shelter.

• Late night thoughts on necessities in the divine economy

  Abortion, homosexuality and the values nearest the heart of God.

• The cost of short-term missions

  Americans spend millions of dollars each year on short-term mission trips to developing countries. Do these trips do more harm than good?

• What's yours is mine

  The acknowledgement of a personal myth opens to abundance.

• Good News to the poor

  A trip to India inspires reflection on the nature of Christian evangelism and mission to the poor.

• Top ten things I learned from my father-in-law about how to be a Christian for real

  A list honoring Vern Boerman, who passed away on December 21, 2006.

• Paint, politics and parents

  Approaching lead poisoning as an issue of environmental justice.

• Happily (almost) ever after

  The legacy of lead in East St. Louis.

• Suffering and love

  Photographs from Mother Theresa’s Home for the Destitute and Dying serve as aids for remembering important lessons.

• Paradise wanted?

  Summer vacations past provoke reflection on a love-hate relationship with ‘perfect’ places.

• The past is the future

  Sustainable agriculture’s solutions for biodiversity loss and rural poverty.

• Out of darkness: A Mumbai story

  A review of the film Slumdog Millionaire, which tells the story of a boy who rises to fame on India's hottest game show.

• Ears to hear

  A reflection on the songs that we let in, and the songs that we shut out.

• Abundance for all

  What's right with the prosperity gospel?

• The invisible border

  Mapping a neighborhood by streets, class and color -- and hoping for a better way home.

• Identity theft

  A reflection on how aid can rob a culture of generosity.

• Dust to dust, bone to bone, nothing to nothing

  Reflecting on privilege and the manageability of death by natural or unnatural causes.

• The weight in Willie’s eyes

  What does one do when a panhandler shows up in the parking lot of the family business?

• Saturday mornings in the church basement

  Thoughts on charity and social justice.

• An apology to the pig farmer’s son

  Looking back on the vulnerability and cruelty of grade school.