The documentary, Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert, follows the life of
Katrina Gilbert, a single-mother living in poverty, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It records what life is like for most single mothers in the United States living paycheck to paycheck. Living paycheck to paycheck means that with each paycheck, the person does not get to save any of the money they have earned, in Katrina’s case, she uses the money to pay for the rent, bills, child care, gasoline, and food. Most people living paycheck to paycheck, don’t earn much but have large expenses. The factors of why Katrina Gilbert is in this situation include economic factors, health factors, and legal factors. Economic factors, such as her ex- husband losing his job and not being able to pay for child support for a couple of months, her wage not being enough, and getting her scholarship application denied. There were also health and health care factors that influenced her life such as having Graves’ Disease and other health issues, but not having health insurance to be able to cover the costs and at one point, her panic attacks affected her ability to work. The legal factors that shaped Katrina’s situation included her boyfriend Chris needing to pay child support for his children, causing Katrina to shoulder most of the costs for their shared house. Katrina’s personal choices affect her life to some extent, however, her behavior is something that did not affect her economic situation.
The
Although many citizens typically make enough to live and support a family, there are still cases where individuals lack the financial support needed to administer aid to their household. A few factors that hinder members of the workforce are job availability, child care necessities, transportation, and educational requirements. For example, there are people that want to work, but after expenses are paid for transportation, childcare, etc. there is very little left
on the atmosphere in which she was living. The scholarship being taken away from her,
single mothers, who pay reduced fees”. In addition to this, both Gilbert and her ex-husband
Hurricane Katrina was a devastating disaster that has affected many people in New Orleans. The communication broke down hours after Katrina because of the unexpected fast winds and floods that broke down “3 million phone lines and 1,000 cellular towers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”( Joch ). Because of the millions of phone lines that were broken down, contacting the government for help was difficult hours after hurricane Katrina. Not only that, the people of New Orleans underestimated the power of Hurricane Katrina causing many to be “ stranded with no food or water” (Narrator, “The Storm”,PBS).
Hurricane Katrina was a devastating disaster that has affected many people in New Orleans as well as the surrounding areas. It had a stunning “death toll of 1300 people and damage over $100 billion ”( Davlasheridze 94 ). The communication were taken down hours after Katrina because of the unexpected fast winds and floods that broke down “3 million phone lines and 1,000 cellular towers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”( Joch ). Because of the millions of phone lines that were battered, contacting the government for help was difficult hours after hurricane Katrina. Not only that, the people of New Orleans underestimated the power of Hurricane Katrina causing many to be “ stranded with no food or water” ( Narrator, “The Storm”,PBS ).
she was from that negative environment the better her life would be. In multiple stories
Hurricane Katrina is considered, to this day, one of the costliest and most catastrophic disasters that has hit the United States (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). The total amount of damage was estimated to cost more than $123 billion dollars (“Comparing Hurricanes”). This huge amount of money accounts for damage from flooding, destruction of buildings, and helping the needy. Many people needed to flee the areas around the Gulf of Mexico in order to stay safe. Almost 70% of housing in New Orleans was damaged or destroyed because of the hurricane, which forced many people out of the city (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). People were likewise forced out of the city and into new areas due to flooding, which in New Orleans, was exceptionally deleterious. In New Orleans, 80% of the entire city was covered in water (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). This was a result of the failed levees. Levees are embankments used to keep overflowed water from rivers or streams out of cities (Levee). The levees in New Orleans were obviously not strong enough to hold back the tremendous amounts of water from the hurricane. The levees that were built in New Orleans were only designed for hurricanes going up to a category 3 (“11 Facts”). The city was not protected by these levees because of how intense the storm was. Compared to other hurricanes such as Hurricane Irene that affected the Caribbean region, Hurricane Katrina was much more intense and caused more damage (“Hurricane Irene”). These levees and excessive amounts of water throughout the city resulted in many deaths and hardships for the New Orleanian people. Nearly 40% of the total deaths that occurred in Louisiana were due to drowning (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). There was an overall total of nearly 15 million people affected by the hurricane (“11 Facts”). Many people were either: stranded in their homes, had to evacuate, or were missing relatives
Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes in United States history. Hurricane Katrina was by far the most destructive storm to strike the United States with the actual cost of Hurricane Katrina’s damage between $96-125 billion. An estimated 1,836 people died and millions of others were left homeless along the gulf coast and in New Orleans. With homes virtually destroyed, thousands of people abandoned the area which in turn caused thousands of jobs to disappear. New Orleans lost 190,000 jobs, while the state of Louisiana lost 219,000 jobs and overall 12 percent statewide. More than 70 countries contributed large donations in the relief phase showing overall support and generosity.
when her husband lost his job, after developing lymphedema which left him in chronic pain and
There were a lot of criticisms of the slow response to this disaster, especially of FEMA. There were some who based this slow response on the fact that the majority of the victims were black and lower class citizens. Mr. Dyson said, “When it comes to the federal government’s response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the specific elements at play must be examined. There were poor blacks, mostly from Louisiana, drowning in twenty-five-foot floods, stranded in their homes, or crammed into makeshift shelters, awaiting help from a Texas-bred president and an Oklahoma-born head of FEMA.” (Dyson
She was depressed and was a smoker. My fathers father also has had depression, as well as anxiety and arthritis. Amazingly, my father doesn't have any of these conditions, but he does have allergies. My siblings also don't have any of these problems. We are a relatively healthy family.
So far in the American history, hurricane Katrina remains to be one of the most devastating hurricanes to have ever been witnessed. Though preparation were already in place to counter its effects, the storm’s impact turned out to be one of the most unprecedented ever seen. This is even notable from the way government agencies reacted to this disaster. It brought out the inefficiencies and inadequacies of the emergency units both at the federal and state level. This is because these governments’ response standards to this disaster were far much below the threshold expected. Government efforts could not match, and hence counter, the impacts of hurricane Katrina. This led to loss of massive property
On August 29, 2005 when hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States, nearly every trained meteorologist, public official in the country had underestimated its absolute power. In a wired, fully modern American city over,1800 hundreds of people died in this catastrophe. The total financial cost of Katrina, from repair construction damage to homes, businesses, to financing both rental housing for victims and infrastructure repairs, reached 150 billion dollars. The human cost was much greater. (Barton, 2008.p 124).
Her struggles in adolescence continued, but there was not a lot of consequence on her physical and cognitive development during her young adulthood years. Like most individuals during this time, her health status could be considered as good, possibly even excellent. This is a normal trend for young adults. In addition, she started to be surrounded by social support, which is very good for cognitive development. She struggled some with reflective thinking, but as an overall, having social support kept her on her feet when life continued to try to knock her down.
Natural disasters are devastating and affect everyone where they hit, but they particularly affect racial minorities and those who fall below the poverty line. Without resources or money to rebuild, the impoverished and minorities are forced to figure out their own plan to recover from the natural disaster. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana and caused a myriad of issues with its residents. Some of the problems the impoverished and minorities faced were: evacuating New Orleans, homelessness, rebuilding, and unjust treatment from the government. Natural disasters, specifically Hurricane Katrina, cause a socioeconomic dichotomy between the lower class and the upper and leave the population in a state of pandemonium, and trying to figure out ways to recover.