Uribe 1

Brian Uribe
Professor Bieber
English 115 Honors
5 November 2015
Exercise 1
In the article "To Beat Odds, Poor Single Moms Need Wide Safety Net."
Pam Fessler, an NPR correspondent, reports about the external and internal
challenges a single mother would face in todays society. Essentially Fessler
states that poor single mothers need government assistance and support groups to stay afloat.
Does this not apply to every person struggling to make ends meet? Fessler conducted a field
report at Reading, Pennsylvania, the poorest city in the nation, in search of testimonials for her
report on single mothers living in poverty. Why did she have to visit the poorest city in the nation
for her report, why did she not ask many of the single mothers from Washington D.C. where
NPR is based from? Fessler revolved her report on a single mother who worked minimum wage
trying to support three children who had come from different fathers. Was Stapp one of many
women in the same situation, then how were there no other perspectives?
Fessler tried making her audience feel sympathy for Stapp but should we give her our
sympathy? Fessler can exclusively select her content but it wont detract from the reality of the
situation. Stapp passed off blame for her choices as being the victim of youthful optimism but
she should have been looking towards improving her quality of life, not seeking relationships
with criminals. Fact of the matter is Stapp had not made the right decisions and is only living the
consequences for her actions. Stapp learned her lesson not after the first nor second but her third
relationship. If the issue were so prominent and needed to be addressed, why had Fessler not
asked one of the many women and go out of her way to meet Stapp? I understand the benefits of

Uribe 2
progressivism but to me this only perpetuates the problem that women are not equal and need
different treatment.
Work Cited
Fessler, Pam. "To Beat Odds, Poor Single Moms Need Wide Safety Net." NPR.
NPR, 11 July

2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.