Senator Ray Miller called together a one day conference surrounding the issue of family stability in Central Ohio. I attended in part. I had trouble breathing, because I get claustrophobic when I see people wrapped so tightly in really expensive suits, inside of a mega-church, addressing "systemic" issues of poverty.

after the preacher failed to challenge us, with his promise to "go deeper" into the issues from the pulpit (this was not a faith-based conference, btw) - we then moved into one of five or six workshops. I went to the "supportive resources for families" workshop. We spent more than an hour talking about problems and barriers. Nobody brought up class segregation, since everyone is participating in it. i didn't have the balls to stand up and ask all these nicely dressed people to move back to the hood, and simply be good neighbors, like in the good old days, before welfare, before capitalism. nor could i speak, without speaking over another. there were some good issues brought up, however - like non-profits competing with one another for funding. interestingly, the time came to rank our problems - which gave the rest of us a chance to voice an issue on a note card. the facilitator (who remarked earlier, that he considers himself a "radical") read from my card, "Segregation. Class Segregation. We need role models through mixed income neighborhoods." You could hear a pin drop. Then the radical facilitator tried to understand and further explain the point that i might be trying to make, which ended with a mumble to low to be audible. Next card.

I had to dash home at that point, to father my children, and provide my wife with the opportunity to tutor at a school in our neighborhood, during lunch.

I notice the overriding feeling of self-rightousness, above. Which is ok - because I know how much we fail to live up to our own standards. but it was super-clear that we are still blinded by classism and wealth - and that social work is still a shitty excuse for a "commendable" career that perpetuates more problems than it regulates or resolves.