I used the above photo in my first post for this newsletter on September 15, 2021, and a few other times in various posts in the last two years. I’m celebrating my second anniversary of writing Crime and Punishment: Why The Poor Stay Poor In America along with the Autumn Equinox with today’s post, and I thought it might add a bit of nostalgia to include this photo again. Besides, I love the silvery, shimmering look of olive tree leaves—it’s visible from any angle and looks especially striking on a sunny day.
On a more practical note, I also want to announce a change to both the title and url of this newsletter—this is the last post you will receive under the name Crime and Punishment. The next publication will be changed to The Poverty Trap: Why The Poor Stay Poor In America, and the new url will be: povertytrap.substack.com. A writer friend of mine suggested the change, and I knew immediately it would be a good fit. It’s obviously more descriptive of the topic than “crime and punishment” and leads nicely into the subtitle that follows. In fact, my research for this newsletter over the last two years has confirmed that poverty is indeed a “trap” for millions of Americans, and that trap seems to have a tighter grip than ever.
