<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'>
<div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent;">Hi Everyone,</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div>This is the article I mentioned last night defending Section 8 recipients and redefining what it means to be a "value creator".</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Right on target! One of the very best articles I have ever read!</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Sandy</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal;"><span style='color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_24133175/poor-and-disabled-silicon-valley-section-8-recipient" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><font size="3">http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_24133175/poor-and-disabled-silicon-valley-section-8-recipient</font></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal;"><span style='color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3"> <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;'><font size="3">Poor and
disabled in Silicon Valley: A Section 8 recipient has a message for those
around her<o:p></o:p></font></span></b></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">By Liz Bowen<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">Special to the Mercury News<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">Posted: 09/20/2013 02:00:00 PM PDT<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><br>
<font size="3">
I am poor, no different from anyone else in the Section 8 program. We have no
problem calling ourselves poor because that's what we are. The government,
however, refers to us as "low income" -- perhaps to keep this problem
at a distance. But how can distancing yourself from a problem create a
solution?<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">San Jose, please don't distance yourself. Instead, come closer
and let me tell you a story. <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">I am also a woman with a disability. But I don't see myself
as a victim, nor do I make any apologies for it. I accept my disability and
play the cards I was dealt. <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">Some of these cards include not having a job and having to
ask the government for help. I shudder to think what my life would be like
without that help. <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">I am one of the majority of the participants in the Section
8 housing program -- the elderly and disabled. The minority are hardworking
people who have low-paying jobs. But we stand together as one. We are all
intimate with real pain and suffering. And with the budget cuts to the Section
8 program, that is even more so. <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">Do you know what it's like to have food insecurities,
skipping meals and rationing food? And heat, lovely, lovely heat! I haven't
turned my heat on in three years, and this was before the budget cuts.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">The Santa Clara County Housing Authority recently held a
meeting for its participants. We are a diverse group, but there was one thing
we had in common: We all had that same look of desperation in our eyes. It was
the eyes that told the story. It was the eyes that asked, "What's going to
happen to us?" <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">Mark Emmons of the Mercury News wrote a beautiful piece on
what the budget cuts are doing to the poor in the valley. I read it online.
Unfortunately I also read some of the snarky comments people wrote. <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">One of them was, "These people should all move to West
Virginia and leave Silicon Valley to the 'value creators.'" I read a few
more of the snarky comments and I got a little scared. I thought, "OMG,
San Jose hates us!" I wanted to hide under the bed. Then I got a grip on
myself and thought this thing through. <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">It's easy to make snarky online comments when you're
anonymous. It's what some people call "keyboard courage." It's just
an unpleasant thing we have to deal with, like hemorrhoids.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">If I could meet Mr. Value Creator face to face, this is what
I'd say. "I am a value creator, but not in your narrow definition of the
word. I don't have a job, but I am a contributing member of society. I am a
volunteer with the United Way. Our group teaches kindergarteners in East San
Jose how to read. If you knew the statistics about what the future holds for
someone who can't read, you would know the value in my work."<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">We all know how lucky we are to live in America. America is
a feast. "When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame,
the blind and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you." (Luke
14: 13-14.) This is not just a Christian sentiment. The world's wisdom
traditions teach this lesson. <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">So when someone asks, "Why should our society pay for
the misfortunes of others?" my answer to them is because that's what
humans do -- take care of one another. We are called to lift as we climb. It's
our life code. <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3">Liz
Bowen is a San Jose resident. She wrote this for this newspaper.<o:p></o:p></font></span></i></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><br clear="all"><font size="3">
<br>
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;">
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal;"><span style='color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal;"><span style='color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";'><font size="3"> <o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><o:p><font size="3"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
</font>