all that whining- I should be slapped

Tony, who was the work study student in the office where I work, did not get work study funds this semester- she had a back problem last fall and had to withdraw for medical reasons. She was able to get financial aid for this semester and a Stafford loan, but no work study.

She helps me with the bar at the art gallery- I make sure she gets plenty of money. Her one vice is cigarettes. She's in her forties and picking up the pieces of her life, trying to get a degree in social work-

Her power was cut off after Christmas, her water. She has gas and can heat the first floor of a house in the worst part of Richmond with her oven- the landlord lets her live there because otherwise the place would be abandoned and would probably become a crack house.

It's winter, fortunately mild right now. But how the fuck does she do it?

In the dark, in the cold, every day? All those agencies that give help love families, men, but single women? Not much.

I give her money, what I can- buy her ham, food at Costco, I want to do more, she's a good person and this is America, isn't it?