SEATTLE--I grew up as an urban, educated, white, upper middle-class male. With the census, I had a chance to talk with people who were different. Not all white. Not middle class. Not all male. And especially, not educated.
I came across one woman who had an incredible bruise over her eye. I went through the interview with her-- by the book. Then the human being in me took over and I had a conversation with her about domestic violence. When I got to the point where the discussion got to how, left unchecked, violence escalates and will eventually get to her daughter, I tell her it has already gotten to her daughter, "She sees that you are powerless, and the message she is getting is that women are powerless; she is powerless.''
The woman wanted to call the police, but her boyfriend had destroyed her cellphone. So I called the police for her. I said I would wait with her until the police arrived-- very, very off script, but still The Right Thing to do.
So the boyfriend shows up, furious. So I interviewed him for the census, dragging it out until the police arrived. He was pissed at the policewoman. She asks the woman, "Is this the man that hit you in the eye?"
The woman just nodded.
Down on the hood of the car the boyfriend goes, handcuffs, Miranda rights, into the back of the car.
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In another place I went, I could see that the roof of the apartment was leaking, the fire extinguishers had been stolen, cars broken down in the parking lot, eviction notes on the doors. I came to one place where there was a broken stair. The stair had been blocked off top and bottom with orange cones--no sign, no yellow keep-out tape. I came across the landlord and asked him about it, and he said he can't afford to fix it.
Building code requires two staircases in case of fire. Murphy's law guarantees that the fire will break out at the staircase that's broken.
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I'm glad I did the census. It was a service to my country. It also gave me the opportunity to go places I had never been before, see things I had never seen before, meet people I would never have met otherwise. And it did give me a very different view of our society:
The creature comforts are very unevenly distributed.
I think luck is underestimated. A lot of what passes for
conventional economic thought is bullshit.
I would do it again in a heartbeat. --JS