Hipsters on Food Stamps
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Heeb magazine founder Jennifer Bleyer recently interviewed me for an article about young creative types on food stamps. The editors at Salon.com decided that I am a hipster. I don’t really know what that means. Judging by the comments that the article generated, I’m some sort of lazy bum who can’t give up my artisinal chevre. I don’t need to go into detail defending my food choices, but all I’d like to say is that I try to buy healthy foods at the lowest prices. I never eat out. I love to cook, and I really need to control what goes into my food, so I cook every meal for myself. I often share with friends. I want to be healthy and I want my friends to be healthy because none of us have health care.
I moved to a cheaper city. I live in a cheap apartment and I am moving to a cheaper one. I have pared down all of my expenses. I don’t buy things at all. I don’t buy clothes, not even cheap clothes. I don’t even own a bed. Good friends and good food are the last things keeping me healthy, happy, and sane while I try to find a way to support myself.
I don’t deny that I come from privilege. I don’t deny that people can pick themselves up by the bootstraps – that’s exactly what my parents did when they immigrated to the US. However, even my parents needed help, whether it was from the government, their relatives, or their employers. Even middle class privilege has its limits. We are in a recession. A bad one. Lots of people have lost their jobs. Even though I have a degree from a prestigious university, I can’t even get a job serving coffee. One thing left out of the article was that my friend Sarah, who is unemployed, recently applied for a basic receptionist job at her old school that over 200 other people had applied for. This was a minimum wage job. This is what it is like with all jobs openings now.
Before you judge people like me or the other people in the article, please think about what would happen if you lost your job, your safety net, or your security. I don’t take food stamps lightly. They have helped me out enormously, and have ensured that I can continue to eat healthily. I need to do this literally for my survival because if I don’t have this lifeline, I will become sick. Again, I don’t have health care, nor do most of the “hipsters” I know. It’s time to stop hating people based on their clothing or musical tastes, and start trying to be a little more empathic. We’re all hurting these days.
33 comments
dr mum Thursday 18 March 2010
Kudos to you mate. I am a retired “grey nomad” and have pared back to basics myself. I have been unemployed in the UK and it is tough, but you sound like you are making the best of it and keeping a positive attitude.
Cat Thursday 18 March 2010
I’m a painter. I lost my job in February, my husband has been working for himself for two years, and I just looked into food stamps yesterday. Right now we can afford food, but in about another month things will be getting iffy. Good post.
dr john Thursday 18 March 2010
though i sympathize with your horrid middle class plight, the issue is that you having food stamp allotments means that someone else will not get food stamp allotments. call me harsh, but i think a single mother working 2 shitty jobs is more deserving of government assistance than some “hipster” ie upper middle class white kid. hard up? why dont you sell the computer you are blogging from or your fixie.
you think the recession is hard on a college educated young white kid from upstate new york? try being an old rickety immigrant iron worker who cant get food stamps cause they dont have papers. what you are doing is self-righteous, obnoxious, offensive, and irresponsible. you should be ashamed of yourself
Gerry Thursday 18 March 2010
Hi John, it is not true that my getting allotments takes benefits away from the more needy. The fact is, Obama just signed a bill that allotted $58 billion for the program, even though 80% of the people who qualify for assistance do not apply because they either don’t know they qualify or there’s a stigma against it. Please believe me when I say that I would never want to take the food out of anyone’s mouth, even those that aren’t poor. I truly am trying to make ends meet while I continue to search for a job. The food stamps are only temporary help for now, and I don’t take them lightly at all.
Gerry Thursday 18 March 2010
Also, John, I’m not white, not that that’s important.
tracy Thursday 18 March 2010
I commend you for eating healthy, I wish everyone in America would (receiving food stamps or not).
mister awesome Thursday 18 March 2010
Quit complaining about the government not paying for your stupid overpriced honey and get a real job.
I REFUSE TO PAY FOR YOUR HONEY.
P.S. I’m not hating you based on your “clothing or musical tastes”, I’m hating you for being a useless leech.
Mister reality Thursday 18 March 2010
Hope mr. Awesome doesn’t come crying to his tea party pals when he loses his job. Cos they will refuse to pay for HIS HONEY.
Gerry Thursday 18 March 2010
Food stamps, particularly when spent at small businesses, go to support local economies. The reason why the government this year has been generous with them is that they keep communities from completely collapsing in a time of recession. Also, I’ve been a taxpayer my entire professional career. I, as a citizen, have a right to assistance if I qualify, based on very specific guidelines. My case is reviewed every 6 months, and I have to submit my bank statement, my rent receipt, and my social security number. They know my employment and income history. It’s not cheating to shop at Whole Foods with food stamps, the program allows it, even though I rarely shop there.
Not trying to be self-righteous here, just giving the facts.
If you have a problem with anyone benefiting from government subsidies, then you shouldn’t buy wheat, soy, or corn. You shouldn’t buy processed food. You shouldn’t drive a car or buy a home. You shouldn’t go to college. The government has its hands in every transaction, every part of the economy, despite the delusion that we have laissez-faire capitalism in this country.
Sasu Kakir Thursday 18 March 2010
“If you have a problem with anyone benefiting from government subsidies, then you shouldn’t buy wheat…processed food…a home…The government has its hands in every transaction…”
This is an essential point.
As my country, Canada, seems to becomes less kind, compassionate and generous, and more “every one for oneself”, I thought yours was moving in the other direction. Maybe over time.
I’m not sure human nature has ever looked like this, yet I always expect people to pull together in hard times. Instead, hard times means circle the wagons, I got mine Jack, and a chippy scorekeeping of the Joneses.
Do these people believe they could never fall on hard times themselves? Or do they think that in that scenario, they would refuse assistance, a suffering and eventually failing martyr, so that others more deserving could have their share? If the latter, I would suggest that any healthy person is worth much more to society than the redistributed government benefits of that one person could ever be.
get real Friday 19 March 2010
“I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. “I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it’s great that you can get anything.”
That’s a direct quote right? So let me get this straight. You say that you eat rabbit et all to not get sick? Defend your position more, big a deeper hole.
Gerry Friday 19 March 2010
I love to cook. That’s the only way I know how to avoid processed foods and eating at restaurants. I made that rabbit myself. Lean meat is healthy. It cost $10 at Lexington Market at the stand that sells turkey necks and pig feet. Sweet potatoes are cheap and healthy. Real butter is healthy, certainly when compared with industrial seed oils. That’s one meal I made. I loved it, and it fed me for days. I made a stock out of the bones. Most days I eat sardines with cucumbers, chicken legs, sweet potatoes, collards, kale, and turnip greens all cooked with care in my own kitchen. I make my own stock with chicken bones. I can make a $6 chicken feed me delicious meals for a week. On top of that, I can let a stew simmer or let a cheap brisket roast while I do freelance work, and when I’m done, I have dinner ready.
You imply that people who love to cook and who cook well are bourgeois. People who have limited means don’t need to be ascetics. If I want to take reasonably priced but quality ingredients and cook them myself to make something delicious, that’s my prerogative, and I’d argue healthier than eating ramen or pasta every day.
Pork Chop Sammich Friday 19 March 2010
I’m curious, how much tuition did you pay to the U. of Chicago for your degree(s)? Are you in debt for it, or have you been? And do you feel that money was well spent?
Rodrigo Friday 19 March 2010
Who’s smarter, someone who spends $200 on canned food and processed meat or someone who spends the same $200 on organic, free range, fat free stuff (by the way, what’s wrong with tasty food)? To be honest, I wish I could spend my money wisely, make the right choices and cook my own food. It doesn’t matter if the money comes form my employer, or from the government, does it? Besides, $200 a month adds up to almost $7 a day…this is fucking nothing.
Perhaps people have the impression you’re a benefit fraudster (perhaps you are, but only you know), because you’re making the most out the money you’re given, well, I just think you’re doing what everyone should do, get the best you can within your limitations. As I said, I’d do exactly the same. I wouldn’t sell my computer, because it’s how I’d look for a job, I wouldn’t sell my bike, because public transportation can be a far more expensive option. I don’t know about Baltimore, but London is too big to walk.
You’re right, mate. People tend to judge other people when they’re in a more comfortable situation, this way is easy. Of course there are benefit cheaters everywhere, England is full of them, but you can’t label someone on their eating habits, it’s just naïve.
Anyway, don’t be picky. If you can cook you can work in a restaurant until something better turns up.
Good luck.
Gerry Saturday 20 March 2010
@Pork Chop Sandwich
University of Chicago was and is one of the most expensive schools in the country, as expensive as any ivy league or other private university at more than 30K a year back when I was enrolled. I qualified for some loans and small stipends from various sources, but my parents paid my way. I am no longer in debt, nor is my family, for which I am supremely grateful. Other friends of mine are still paying off their loans 10 years later.
I don’t regret anything about my education. I couldn’t have gotten half of the jobs I’ve had without my degree. If I were to do it over, however, I might choose a school that taught me harder skills and gave me more concrete career guidance. The U of C is a highly intellectual school that doesn’t place a premium on practical education – it is assumed that the prestige of the degree alone would guarantee work.
Ten years after graduating, I feel my degree is almost worthless now. People looking at my resume care more about what I’ve been doing recently. A lot of my peers are going back to school to extend the value of their educations, but I choose not to go into massive debt based on a gamble – some of my friends are emerging from masters programs only to find the job market to be no less competitive and harrowing. My friends who are career academics are faring much better, though.
In general, I feel tuitions are massively inflated in this country. As the value of an undergraduate degree plummets, schools are getting more expensive. It makes no sense. Many schools also don’t equip their students with the tools to truly function in a cut-throat work environment. Schools like U of C still operate under the assumption that all you need is an intellectual mind to succeed in the world. Even art school can be a more pragmatic choice than a liberal arts education, contrary to the sneering comments some people have made about artists.
Dan Saturday 20 March 2010
Gerry,
It doesn’t really bother me where you buy your food from. The problem is you’re able to get the food stamps at all. The story says you’re a part time blogger. Great. The thing is, our generation (I’m a little younger than you) think we’re entitled to our preferred job – in the field we planned to go into. We’re not. Sometimes we have to just take a crap job, even if it sucks, so long as it pays the bills. If that means mundane jobs like filing papers somewhere, so be it.
I went to Chicago for grad school, and I refuse to believe that you can’t find a single job (regardless of what it is) with a Chicago degree. Nancy Pelosi recently explained a supposed “benefit” of their health care bill is that it would allow “struggling artists” and the like to do what they want without have to worry about getting a job for the benefits. I don’t know if you’re a “struggling artist,” but the others discussed in the story are, and that is why most people are pissed. I’d *like* to play baseball or be paid to travel or something similar, but life doesn’t work that way. So I some temp jobs and internships after college where I stuffed envelopes and did data input. It sucked, but it paid the bills until I was able to find the job I wanted.
You say you employers care more about what you’ve done in the last 10 years. That’s part of the problem. What HAVE you done? Employers are going to be more willing to take a chance on someone who worked hard and got good reviews in dumb clerical or admin jobs at other companies than they are with a “part-time blogger.” (No offense.) The article says you were in publishing for a while? Why’d you leave? There’s NOTHING in the publishing field that you can do, even if its just making copies or something until someone notices that you’re a hard worker and take a chance on you? Have you gone to the local random companies and office parks near you, offering to take whatever they had? Hell, even a job somewhere like a bookstore? You have to understand why people are pissed off that their tax dollars are going to you while you wait for something to come from your (probably) very narrow and limited job search, and get even more pissed when you act like you’re entitled to their tax money and groceries. And tuition/loans is not an excuse – lots of people have them.
Dan Saturday 20 March 2010
Sasu Kakir,
The problem is, most of us don’t think Gerry has “fallen on hard times.” Rather, we think he’s content living off the government while he waits for a very specific job to just fall in his lap. The world doesn’t work that way. He had jobs in publishing, the article says. The article also implies that he left them at some point to move to Baltimore with no prospects other than a part time blogging job. That’s not “falling on hard times,” that’s just being irresponsible.
Gerry Sunday 21 March 2010
@Dan
I didn’t choose to leave those publishing jobs. I was laid off. I don’t claim to be experiencing harder times than anyone else. I honestly have been trying to find another job. Today I am talking to a lady about making crepes at a crepe shop. I’m not waiting for a dream job, I’m waiting for any sort of regular job I can find. Luckily, Baltimore is a much cheaper city than New York, which is why I moved here after I lost my jobs.
In the end, please just understand that the original article was shallow, incomplete, sensationalistic, and it didn’t give you any insight into my life. I seriously don’t claim to have it worse than anyone else. In fact, I think I’m remarkably lucky for having a good family, good friends, a good education, and all the opportunities that have come my way over the years. I just happen to find myself struggling a little right now, and I legally qualify for food stamps.
I ask that you not judge me without knowing me.
Laura former single mama Sunday 21 March 2010
Wow. You bring back memories. I used food stamps and aid to families with dependent children aka AFDC aka Welfare between 1985 and 1990. I was also a chld from an upper-middle class family but with no education of my own. My 2 year old daughter, Savannah and I used to bike to the grocery, in the middle of the night, for shame at using government subsidy. I NEVER bought cheetohs or soda but I did buy olive oil, goat cheese, tabouleh, the occasional beef or pork roast (on sale) and lots of fresh vegetables.
One gallon of milk would last us for ten days, if used carefully. We would always drink an entire glass of water before any meal or before any other beverage. Why? because I couldnt afford to let my child slake her thirst with milk AND because water fills you up so that you can eat less while feeling full. I broke up with a boyfriend at that time because he thoughtlessly guzzled the milk. Milk for my baby, milk rationed to last.
Do you judge me because the water we drank was from an artesian well within walking distance? Do you jjudge me for growing a salsa garden or for making excellent hand made pasta with an Atlas pasta machine (from Itally, but purchased at a thrift store for $2).
The comments here imply that, since I was poor, I should have stopped using my talents for living well (yes there are many life skills that do not require money), and started buying cheetohs.
By the way, I am an employer now and have been for 17 years. I paid back the investment our society made when it granted me foodstamps, kept me in college and didnt give up on me. I believe in you Gerry and I celebrate your love of life.
miette Monday 22 March 2010
i’m poor as fuck too, and i didn’t come from a privileged family or have a prestigious degree, nor do i have health care, and i cook my own food.
i don’t think *not* buying organic salmon is going to make you sick. unless you have something wrong with you, like a disease.
a lot of people have less than even the guy who wrote this lost at e minor article… you’re definitely not as low as it gets, so consider yourself lucky.
that’s all i’m sayin..
Gerry Monday 22 March 2010
@Miette.
I know I’m lucky. I’ve said so repeatedly. I’ve never claimed to be going through anything that anyone else isn’t going through, and I never claimed to have it worse than anyone else. I happen to legally qualify for food stamps, and I’ve been making the best of them.
I don’t buy organic salmon. I’ve never seen such a product in the store, and if I did I would view it as something meant to dupe people out of money. I buy sardines and salmon in a can ($2.49/can).
I try to eat healthy. I try to know where my food comes from. I don’t buy processed foods or pre-prepared foods, which means I have to cook every single meal.
Please don’t take the original article at face value. Don’t assume for a moment that I don’t know how good I have it compared to 99% of humanity. But the point of my response on Salon was that if even a fortunate person such as myself can find himself out of work, with no savings, and qualifications that make it difficult for him to get even a job at a coffee shop, maybe there’s something all of us have in common, and maybe there’s something all of us can do together to get through this recession.
Tim Friday 26 March 2010
When I was 22, I had to take out huge loans to pay for school, worked 3 jobs. Busted ass and slept on friend’s couches. Ate crappy pizza for breakfast. Toiled my way until I got sustaining employment.
I never, EVER considered myself a candidate for foodstamps, much less $10 rabbit ($10 would’ve been a king’s meal.).
Not judging. Just sayin. Maybe give up the welfare for someone more needy, who’s not young and healthy. Don’t get a job ‘making crepes’. Get a job that pays…in a factory maybe. Something with sweat. Trust me, you’ll appreciate it.
I do enjoy your writing, and I hope you’ll land back in your preferred career.
Gerry Friday 26 March 2010
@Tim
Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer manufacturing jobs in the US. Factory jobs are some of the most coveted in this country, unless you’re talking about sweatshops, in which case that wouldn’t pay more than a crepe shop.
I spent $10 on a rabbit once to feed myself something I enjoyed because I was sick of chicken, which I buy for $1.99 per pound at the halal market. I’m worried about diabetes, which is why I don’t want to subsist on pizza, ramen, rice, and pasta. I wish real food wasn’t considered extravagant in this country.
The money for food stamps is already allotted in Obama’s stimulus plan, so the money is spent, and even in this recession, a large portion of the people who qualify won’t apply because of the stigma. I’ve paid taxes my entire working life, so I can’t understand the argument that I am taking benefits away from someone more needy. I legally qualify, and that’s the long and short of it.
I live as frugally as possible, believe me. I seriously am not being choosy with my work, but there really really honestly are no jobs around. I wish you could really just spend a day living my life. I’m not asking for pity, I’m just saying times are tough for everyone, even people who grew up with as many advantages as I’ve had. My mother busts her ass every single morning, getting up at 4am to decorate ice-cream cakes at Baskin Robbins locations all over the tri-state area. I help her sometimes when she needs it, but she doesn’t have enough business to warrant hiring me on a permanent basis.
What else can I do? I’m trying the best I can, as I’m sure you are.
Tim Friday 26 March 2010
Why are you worried about diabetes? Does it run in your family? My father passed away from complications of diabetes. Again, I had to eat whatever I could afford after school and couldn’t worry about that. It’s kind of a fact of life, we all want to be healthy.
If you did have a health problem, people would be more understanding.
But the reality is, the welfare system is a necessity that was set up to help those who are destitute, unable to work, frail….those truly at the end of their rope with no skills or means.
You have all of it. You’re young, healthy, smart.
You have a 120k education, all paid off by your parents. And if they could afford that, they could likely have inheritance for you, so you won’t be so bad off forever. You’re very intelligent, I can tell by your writing. But use that intelligence wisely. Use it to do everything you can to either gainful employment. Or, I’m sure that 120k worth of education must have taught you how to be resourceful and inventive so you can earn a living. You can even join the military. And if you’re against that, the coast guard. Or try out to be a fireman. Sanitation.
Or don’t work at all, and blog. But then don’t accept food stamps.
You have to understand that, while people can empathize with you, it’s incredibly hard to condone using food stamps when you do in fact have many other means that you have yet to exploit. It’s like breaking your leg and parking in a handicapped space, because you technically (or legally) qualify.
Gerry Friday 26 March 2010
@Tim
My father is diabetic. This is the root of my obsession with nutrition and food. He had to have a kidney transplant last year. My family has no inheritance to pass on to me other than a mortgage and property taxes. They came to this country poor. They are well off, but they worked their way up from nothing, and in this economy, they have very few assets to pass down to us. They gave us an education, but they truly do not have anything substantial to offer us now, and even if they did, I’d prefer to use a benefit that I’ve already partially paid into than to drain their hard-earned and precarious resources.
Yes, I have a world-class education, but for some reason, that isn’t helping me get work. It helped me get into the publishing industry almost 10 years ago, but now that work has dried up, I seem to be under-qualified for almost every job opening I see posted be it janitorial work, construction, or anything else. Many of those sorts of jobs area also heavily unionized, and it’s not a simple process to get your foot in the door. I could get retrained or go back to school, but that requires money that I don’t have.
Becoming a fireman requires rigorous training, as does the military, and both require a base level of fitness, stature, and physical ability that I hope I will reach some time in the future, but for the here and now, I’m mostly qualified for office jobs (as an editor, a copywriter, a receptionist, etc) that are non-existent, or service and retail jobs that right now I am under or over qualified for simply because they’re receiving a glut of applicants.
I blog, that’s my only paying job, and I know blogging sounds like a ridiculous profession, and I certainly didn’t seek it out, but this happens to be the only thing that allows me to pay rent.
Again, food stamps aren’t truly welfare, and if you yourself get laid off, chances are you will qualify for them. They are like social security and unemployment, something you pay into with your taxes while you work, and when you find yourself out of work, you have a right to use those benefits.
I don’t plan to use food stamps forever, but they are really helping me get by for now. This is only temporary. If I have a broken leg, even if it’s not permanent and my cast is sturdy, I still need that handicapped space. It’s only wring if I continue to use it after my leg has healed.
Tim Saturday 27 March 2010
Well, start networking then. Start with linkedin. your profile’s not up there, and if it is, it’s not linked to anyone. Make connections. Media is being digitized as you already know. Recast yourself that way. Tweet like crazy. Build your social network and leverage that into a new position. Take more loans and go to classes that can help specialize you into a different field. If all you have is yourself, then turn yourself into a brand.At the very least, run a blog about cooking amazingly well on your scrimped budget and then sell that book.
That seems right up your alley of expertise and it’s staring you in the face.
Best of luck.
Louise Wednesday 7 April 2010
I am a single mother raising two children. I had to apply for food stamps when their father left. The whole process was humiliating. I was abused by the intake worker, reduced to tears and then photographed and finger printed. I would have left there and then but my children were hungry.
I use my food stamps to buy gluten and dairy free foods. We are vegetarians so I don’t buy meat. I shop, almost exclusively, in the health food section (I grow our vegetables). Whenever I go food shopping I get attitude from the cashiers because I am not buying mac “n” cheese or Ramen noodles. What they don’t notice is that I am not buying candy, cookies, sugary cereals or soda.
If you are entitled to the benefit it is up to you how you spend it. Your food choices are your business. If you wish to buy rabbit (which is historically poor man’s food anyway) then that is up to you. I get so tired of people looking into my cart to see if I have bought food they approve of. Maybe I disapprove of the hot dogs, Ramen, Cocoa Puffs, Mountain Dew and Lays potato chips, in their cart – but it is none of my business what they eat…or how they pay for it.
Personally, I beleive that every senior citizen should get food stamps as part of their pension, every family earning less than $40,000 should receive them as should anyone unemployed. Anyone with food allergies, diabetes, high blood pressure etc (depending on income) should be allowed to apply for benefits (at their doctors office) If we can find money for wars and bank bailouts we can find money to feed our citizens.
Jennifer Moore Wednesday 7 April 2010
You don’t have to defend yourself to people like that. They are ignorant, and they don’t want to educate themselves or to put themselves into others’ shoes. “Salon” is a rag. I have no respect for that publication.
Just keep on keepin’ on. I hope things turn around for you real soon.
Blessings!
Jennifer Moore Wednesday 7 April 2010
Gerry, there’s a Roots Market in Columbia–I don’t think that’s too terribly far from you. They now accept food stamps too, and they are a LOCALLY-OWNED company.
I shop almost exclusively at the one in Olney, MD.
Again–good luck to you. Don’t let the ignorant get you down. They’ve never been through it, and they clearly have no understanting of how it works.
More blessings!
Sherri Monday 28 June 2010
I have historically been critical of Food Stamps because I have witnessed a lot of fraud. How er, this depression that this nation is now in has given me a more nuanced view. I am seeing more and more of my hard working friends with high powered educations and stellar resumes not able to find any work. When I was in search of a second job due to severely cut hours five years ago, I could not get a job at Starbucks. Even now, I work for a thriving, well known company in the tech sector, where many of my co- workers who work Terri ly hard, ALSO qualify for Food Stamps. If our hours get cut that means that they cannot pay their rent or eat. What should they do? If they qualify and receive Food Stamps, and you are standing behind them on the checkout line, buying good quality food that they are accustomed to eating, what is the problem? They work AND pay taxes and are struggling to
put food on the table.
Gerry, I do not know what safety nets there are in China or Taiwan ( if those are your roots) but here many people do feel that America is where people can also come and take advantage of the system and resent it bitterly. I do understand and respect that, as I would never do that myself. I do not think you are doing that. It is frustrating trying to find a job in an economy that is hostile to everyone. I know that all too well. I hope that you get something soon, regardless of what it may be. Work is work.
Lauren Thursday 2 September 2010
Gerry, you are a spoiled brat. I’m a 22 year old college student who qualifies for food stamps as well. The difference between me and you is that while you sit around blogging about your situation, I’m working 3 jobs and going to school full time to pay for my food. I’ve thought about getting food stamps, but then I realized that I am not starving! I can afford to buy food. I may have to give up other “luxuries” to afford it. Why don’t you sell your computer to buy food so that the rest of america doesn’t have to foot your grocery bill?
Gerry Tuesday 26 October 2010
@Lauren I get paid to blog. This is one of my jobs.
Gerry Tuesday 26 October 2010
Also, Lauren, if you qualify for food stamps, you should get them. It’s your right as a citizen.