News at Eleven: By Philip Schultz

For a brief period in the early '70s, I worked for the San Francisco Department of Social Services, in the medical eligibility section. Much of my time, though, I passed downstairs in the basement, in the inactive files division, where the closed welfare cases were cataloged. Even then I suspected there was a book in that dank museum of misfortune. This year, after the country was divided, by some, between the makers and the takers, that place of great longing and need came back to me. I think of it again today, as I give thanks for what I have.

from The New York Times: These Curious Specimens

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