View source for The Poor Are Always With Us

{{Infobox
|bodystyle   = width:30em;
|headerstyle  = background:#7fa9d0;
|labelstyle   = background:#ddf;
|datastyle    = 
|title = The Poor Are Always With Us
|titlestyle   = 
|header1 = Series
|data2 = [[UnFictional]]
|header3 = Original Broadcast Date
|data4  = 05/29/[[:Category:2015|2015]]
|header5  = Cast
|data6  = Joe Frank
|header7 = Format
|data8 = [[:Category:Serious_Monologue|Serious Monologue]], 26 minutes
|header9 = Chronology
|label10= Preceded by: 
|data10 = [[Sunken Ship]]
|label11= Followed by: 
|data11 = [[Downfall]]
}}

''Once I had a cleaning lady from El Salvador.'' 

'''The Poor Are Always With Us''' is a radio program produced by Joe Frank and broadcast on KCRW's [[UnFictional]] Series. It originally aired on May 29, [[:Category:2015|2015]].

== Synopsis ==

1:00: Joe tells of his cleaning lady, Dolores, an immigrant from El
Salvador.  Stuff disappears, but Joe doesn't know whether he's lost
them or she's stolen them.  She breaks appliances, one almost every
visit.  But without her, Joe's home descends into chaos.  He fires
her.

5:00: Joe tells of his aunt, a widow, who married a fellow who had
been a traveling salesman before being drafted.  The family business
takes him in, but he does nothing at work.  She gets mad at him, but
won't endure a divorce, so lives in a rage with him.  He enlists in
the army for the Korean War, dies in the invasion of Inchon.<ref>Joe's
stepfather had been a traveling salesman before being drafted; married
Joe's mother after his discharge, performed unsatisfactorily at work.
Joe's mother was mad with him but didn't want a divorce.  Neither of
Joe's uncles fits this description.</ref>`

9:30: Joe describes a YouTube video of a man serving an elegant meal
to 2 homeless people, then another in which the same man identifies
himself as a police colonel, has meals delivered to a group of
homeless people in front of a restaurant, claiming they are undercover
officers.

11:30: Joe describes a TV show depicting people living in wretched
conditions.

12:20:<blockquote>'We thank thee, O Lord, God, King of the Universe, who brought us out of Egypt and into Auschwitz.  Let your arteries not be hardened against us, and let your heart not attack us.'</blockquote>

12:30: Joe, sounding as though he's talking to someone on the
phone, describes the pleasant day he's had.

13:30: Joe recounts a scene at the Bagel Chateau.  A shabby
Black man tries to steal a purse.  The manager throws him out.  He
abreacts.

15:40: Joe recounts standing in line at a bank.  One teller is
taking a lot of time to handle the transactions of an Arab.  The Arab
and a redneck exchange heated words.  The manager diverts the Arab to
a desk where a bank officer handles his transactions.

16:30: Joe's standing on the side of a highway.  A guy with
long blond hair, scars on the backs of his hands, wearing a white robe
picks him up.  Joe recognizes him as someone he went to school with,
who died in a construction accident after high school, whose body
disappeared 2 days later.

17:20: <blockquote>'If Jesus had been beheaded, would Christians wear small guillotines around their necks?  If Jesus had been hanged, would they wear braided ropes with nooses?  If Jesus had been electrocuted, would Christians wear little chairs with straps on them?  And if Jesus had been executed by firing squad, would Christians wear little pendants of Jesus sitting on a chair against a wall, smoking a last cigarette?'</blockquote>

18:20: Joe gives an updated account of Job's story.

24:50: 'Infinite eyes' (Keb Mo)

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:95%; overflow:auto;">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Legacy Synopsis</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

How can one maintain a sense of meaning and faith in a world of natural catastrophe, cruelty and moral failure? The Poor Are Always with Us fails to answer this question in its own unique way.
</div></div>
== Music == 
{{Shining Through (Layo - Bushwacka!)}} [Intro]
{{323 Secondes De Musique Repetitive (Rinôçérôse)}} [11:42]
{{Won't You Come Home (Devendra Bernhardt)}} [18:21]
{{Infinite Eyes (Keb Mo)}} [25:06]

== Additional credits ==
* Mixed by [[Ray Guarna]]
* Special thanks to [[Gideon Brower]] and [[Michal Story]].

== External links ==
* [https://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/unfictional/joe-frank-the-poor-are-always-with-us "The Poor Are Always With Us" streaming audio at KCRW]

== Footnotes ==

[[Category:Serious_Monologue]]
[[Category:2015]]
[[Category:UnFictional]]
{{Series|series=UnFictional}}
[[Category:Bob Carlson]]
[[Category:Ray Guarna]]
[[Category:Show]]
[[Category:Show_by_date|20150529]]	{{Airdate|airdate=2015-05-29}}
{{Cast|cast=Joe Frank}}