Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

On food drives and poverty

Matthew Yglesias at Slate makes a compelling argument against the traditional food drive — but it’s one that, in the end, I can’t support. The argument — that donated money makes more sense — has some validity in larger communities, but in areas with smaller food banks, money can create a strain.

Organizations like Rise in Hightstown and the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton rely on both food and money, with money going a lot farther toward meeting the needs of local communities because they can buy in bulk. But smaller organizations like the South Brunswick Food Pantry (which also has a trust fund that collects monetary donations for other services) and Skeet’s Pantry in Cranbury do not have the manpower or economies of scale to be able to take advantage of bulk buying power.

The greater issue is our societal reliance on food banks and soup kitchens to plug holes in the safety net. Poverty is a social issue and is created by larger cultural trends with impacts that reach out beyond the immediate families into local neighborhoods and beyond into the larger community.

Relying on private organizations to address larger societal problems is destined to leave us chasing our tales on the poverty issue, always a step behind, the solution just a step out of reach.

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Cenk Ugyur seeks change in constitution

My latest post on Patch is based on an interview with Cenk Uguyur, host of The Young Turks. He has started the Wolf PAC and makes a convincing case as to the need for change:

“It is not the most important issue, it is the only issue,” he told me last week. “Until we solve the problem of all this money we will not have an honest debate in the country. Our democracy is in big, big trouble.”

As he would say, “Have at it, hoss!”

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Sex, lies and presidential politics

So, Herman Cain is out, Newt Gingrich is up and Mitt Romney has no scruples. Just another week in the long-running (or so it seems) Republican primary.

Cain, who appears to be a serial harasser at the very least, announced today that he’s suspending his campaign — which basically means he’s done. That he ascended as high in the polls as he did despite being a raving nutcase, does not exactly place the GOP faithful in a good light.

As Cain plummets, Newt rises — despite years of hypocrisy and a campaign based on pure self-interest.

And Mitt, the likeliest candidate to survive the primaries? He proved himself a liar of the highest order, a man without any discernible integrity. It’s one thing to distort an opponent’s position; it’s something else — and something outright disgusting — to do what he did in his recent anti-Obama ad.

Romney quoted the president so badly out of context — he quotes Obama quoting McCain in 2008 and leads viewers to believe it was Obama’s opinion now — that the best you can say is he’s a disgusting liar. The worst? Don’t get me started.

The sad thong is that we need a strong, principled Republican in the race and a legitimate lefty to expand debate beyond the nonsense we’ve been getting.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Elsewhere, it’s called revolution; here, we call it ‘anxiety’

I guess Time thinks Americans are so self-obsessed that they prefer to focus on their own anxiety and not on the revolutions around the globe — or even in the revolutions happening here at home. I love this graphic, which has been making the rounds on Facebook.

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Up a tree

Sophie

I was playing ball outside with the dogs, tossing one tennis ball to the west for Rosie and the other to the east for Sophie. Occasionally, I’d flip up in the air to let them catch it. Except once — when I tossed the ball up and, somehow, got it caught in a tree. Go figure.

Rosie
  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.