Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
cause I never bring that up when I go to an interview for an apartment. I wait
until after I get accepted from them, but with this one … I got the impression.
He says to me, “I got like twenty applications. I don't know if you even want to
bother.” I don't know if he sensed by my appearance that I wasn't of money. But
hekindofdeterredme.Ittookmethreemonthstofindaplace.Ilookedatplaces
everysingleday.Alotofthemwerelike,“Ohyeah.You'relikethetenthperson.
We've got a lot of applications. We'll put you on file. We'll run your references.”
You know what I mean?
After being rejected so many times, she realized she needed to change her biography.
Theresa states,
So then I felt I had to lie. I had to say I was working. I had to say that I was who
I wasn't. I had to pretend to be someone else. I had to put up a façade that wasn't
really comfortable.
Altering one's personal biography to conceal welfare status was not enough to secure
affordablehousinginBoston'swhite,middleclasssuburbs.Theresaalsohadtoalterher
physical presentation to match her new class performance. She describes her new style:
I always made sure that I was very … you know, pressed clothes and dressed
very decent and had my makeup on, had my hair done. You know, I wouldn't go
with you know, holey jeans. You know, choose your words wisely. Think before
you talk. Not say too much. It's nerve wracking looking for an apartment and
trying to sell yourself to a landlord to rent their place.
For Theresa, and many other white women on welfare in this study, performing re-
spectable white femininity meant passing as middle class and this became a critical
strategy to secure privileged housing opportunities.
Once Theresa began to conceal her welfare history, she found an apartment in Ded-
ham. She settled, however, for the worst apartment she could find in this residential
community. Describing her prospects in Dedham, Massachusetts she states,
And when I moved out of East Boston to Dedham I settled for less. [What was
thatplacelike?]Itwasareallya…Ilookedatit.Ididn'tlikeit.Itwasarundown
townhouse that was very drafty. There was only one place where heat came up
from downstairs. And then if you didn't block the downstairs, you had no heat
upstairs. The pipes used to freeze every winter. The kitchen pipe and the bath-
