Esmeralda Jaimes cleans an office at Channel 5 News in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on April 8. Credit: Andrew Epperson (photo is blurry. better version?)

For one other Northwest Arkansas resident, her main goal is to simply give her four children a comfortable life and continue to live her version of the American dream.(rewrite – this is a bit predictable)

Esmeralda Jaimes, 40, moved to Fayetteville from Mexico in 2001 and worked a variety of jobs before she took a job cleaning the Channel 5 News offices. As a single mother, she cleans a number of offices around Northwest Arkansas and does other side jobs to earn money to support her family.

After Jaimes’ mother died, she needed to get away from Mexico and the memories that depressed her, she said. She and her then-husband moved to America in an effort to give their children a better life, and Fayetteville was a natural choice because several members of his family lived in the area. (how much does she earn? wage?)

The roughest month of the year for Jaimes’ finances is August. This is because she has to buy school supplies, clothes and shoes for her children around that time, she said.

Jaimes is taking English classes to improve her communication in America and give her the opportunity to open up her own cleaning business, she said.

Despite a number of Americans’ negative views concerning immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries, the majority of citizens in Northwest Arkansas have been helpful and supportive of Jaimes as she’s lived in the area, she said.

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Version 2

Throughout the course of this class, my eyes were opened to many things involving those who are in the working poor category. I was able to see the true struggles of those who I personally work with and relate with, and also those who are much worse off and truly struggle. Through my classmates interviews, I was introduced to the positivity that those in that we consider “working poor”. I also developed a new insight to how interviews are held when you don’t know the subject, and when there is sensitive subject matter at hand. I personally find interviews very uncomfortable, but with such a topic on the line it was very influential on my feelings about reporting.

Some of the projects I found most interesting, were those that included the most difficult of situations. I learned about many of these once we went back and looked at the class as a whole and compiling our projects for a major dashboard. Andrew’s story about the piano player, Phillip. Not only did he provide an international face for the project, but also he was someone who did not work in food. I think in general, myself included, have a hard time imagining low wage workers that do not work in the food industry. Like most waiters and waitresses, the piano players at Willy D’s operate on minimum wage and tips. This story also provided an interesting insight on how music isn’t always about pleasing others, it’s about pleasing yourself and making others happy with what you do. Especially in a college town where Dickson Street is the heartbeat of many Saturday nights, having a profile of someone who interacts with students daily adds a whole new face to the bar scene. The other profile that intrigued me was the one with Sherrod. He worked at one location, and then was the victim of a closing restaurant and was moved to another one. I think that facet alone gives a tangible view of how inconsistent being a low wage worker truly is. Aubry Tucker discovered this fact long after the interview with him, and the accidental follow up kept me interested in the story. When dealing with people who are in such situations, it is rare that you run into them again, as many of them bounce around. But for Sherrod, he was around and able to share his story in a unique way to following up – reverse of how it usually works.

When it comes to defining working poor and deciding what to wording to use for this class, there are a lot of social and economic factors to take in. In my opinion, poor is a bit of a strong word. But in most cases, if someone has “x” attribute, they know about it. For example, an African-American person knows and realizes that they are African-American, so there’s no need to skirt around the term. I think this works the same way with Working Poor. They are working for what they have, and often times what they have is not enough, the dictionary definition of poor. I think for the purpose of News Ethics and titling the final project for this course, “poor” should not be used, rather something more along the lines of “low wage workers”, since that is the more political correct term.

Twenty-five percent of families are considered to be in poverty in Northwest Arkasnas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

While several factors can lead to poverty, one consistent issue brought up among individuals making less than around $23,000 a year was the state of Arkansas’s minimum wage.

Throughout this study, working poor individual’s have shown hope and promise about their futures, as well as a sense of pride in the work that they do.

Courtney Boyd, interviewed by Ann Johnson, spoke with a great sense of fondness about working at McDonalds, and was looking forward the future at a time when she would become a chef.

“I love cooking and being around food. That is one reason why I work here,” Boyd said in an interview with Johnson. “We are a tight knit group, like a family,” she said.

Boyd, who is also attending community college, said to Johnson that ultimately she is content with working at McDonalds for now because they are easy and flexible with her hours.

Throughout the reporting process, there has also been a vast variety in demographics. Data has shown that more single mothers in Arkansas are in poverty than any other group, and while the majority of the interviewed workers have been women, we have also seen diversity in race and background.

Mishell Quinter, interviewed by Andrew Epperson, is a Dreamer. Having an individual like this shows that poverty can affect any individual in this region, even those who came here specifically looking for a better way of life. Bertha Lara has been in America after living in El Savador since 1999 and has never seen a penny’s worth of a raise working for Tyson. These immigrants are hard workers, proven in their interviews, but have not been able to successfully support themselves with the wages they are given.

There are also individuals who, despite being in poverty, are still pursuing their passions. Carlos Morgan, a hairdresser interviewed by Aubry Tucker, hopes to one day own his own barbershop, and it appears that although things are tight for him right now, he is still doing what he loves and finds a passion in it.

All of these individuals put a face to an issue that is typically seen with prejudice or pity. When talking about individuals in poverty, people claim that if they just worked a little harder or went to school than they wouldn’t be where they are, but this process has showed that that is not the case. These individuals are still worthy of leisure time or things that will make them happy, like Cathy Lee who, in an interview with Mary Kerr Winters said that she spends the majority of her rent on going out with friends for a drink, video games and seeing drive-in movies despite being paid $11 an hour.

The working poor in Northwest Arkansas have shown pride in the work that they do, even if it is working for minimum wage at a McDonalds, Chuck E. Cheese or a local bar.