The Poverty Hero

An anthology of original Literary and visual art honoring a new literary hero - The Poverty Hero

Sunday, March 2, 2003;

A POOR Press Publication 2003©

What is a Poverty Hero

What is a hero? What does it mean to perform an act of heroism? Or, to live your life heroically? In Greek religion a hero was a famous person who after his or her death was worshipped as quasi-divine – noblemen who were valiant fighters. In classic English literature heroes were created as mythical warriors capable of bravery and gallantry. In American literature, Hemingway defined the code hero- as a man who lives correctly following the ideals of honor courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful and always painful.

In our society many people judged by these classical standards have been heroes and heroines- Dr King, Mumia Abu Jamal, Cesar Chavez and Rosa Parks to name a few, enduring and overcoming great odds and achieving great things- but at POOR we have developed a new kind of non-traditional literary hero – the Poverty Hero– the Poverty Hero has also withstood overwhelming obstacles – and achieved great things – but from another lens – in other words – the obstacles might be multiple evictions – homelessness and gentrification- welfare dependency and institutional systems abuse, racial and economic profiling , incarceration and assault –the heroism could be surviving a life lived in poverty -through an existence fraught with misery and suffering- the Poverty Hero could be a mother on welfare who has successfully raised her children – an Abuela in Mexico who borrows the electricity of Sony Corp to power her Tijuana shanty village – a houseless person who creates art – an elder who is fighting an illegal eviction- a homeless child who helps her mother care for her siblings, in other words, The heroism of survival itself through these great odds.

54 full color pages – with original line art by Ken McGhee- The Poverty Hero Anthology itself is a work of art