In 1982, I was a young guy, married a year, with an infant at home. I had no education past high school and no military experience yet. My prospects were limited at that time, but I stubbornly declined welfare benefits and worked two jobs, one of them being on the third shift, as I was determined to take care of my young family myself.
Even so, when I heard that there was to be a giveaway of something called “government cheese,” I thought, why not? I didn’t know why the government had cheese or why they were giving it away, but one morning after work–tired, grubby, and unshaven–I pulled on my ragged old overcoat against the Iowa winter chill and went down to the giveaway location.
I didn’t give much thought to the fact that I looked like a street bum, even when I noticed the news crew filming the event. I didn’t give it any thought until late that day, when I had woken from my…
