DotPenn

Welfare moms and kids unite to explore non-traditional occupations.

“What’s that?” asked little Johnson Benson as he stared in wild-eyed amazement at the streams of cars traveling on I-99 toward State College.

“They’re called commuters and they’re going to work,” replies his mother, Madine Selkers.

“Work? What’s that mommy?” Johnson said, raising his eyebrows.

“It’s a way for other people to enable my substance abuse, as well as provide us with a lifestyle of relative ease and border-line criminal behavior,” Selkers said. “These people owe us a living, Johnson, and you should avoid them.”

Today, thousands of Welfare mothers, mainly in Blair County and Bellefonte, will keep their children home from special education classes to teach them respect for mom’s commitment to permanent unemployment.

Madine Selkers, of Tyrone, said the special day doesn’t just help her educate her children and step-children on the opportunities of non-work available to them, the celebration also re-connects her with her own journey as a non-provider and lay-about.

“I actually earn some money under the table as an exotic dancer, but I called in and said I wouldn’t be in for my normal 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. shift due to this special day,” Selkers said. “I didn’t want to send a mixed message to my four kids and three step-children.”

Dawn Mae Talleyho, a Welfare recipient who resides in Bellefonte, said she is meeting a group of Welfare mothers and give the kids an idea of what a typical day for us.

“It’s really a learning experience,” said Talleyho. “Last year, my kids were, like, ‘Oh, mom, I never knew how little you did,’ They said I was ‘cool’ and you can’t hear that enough.”

Talleyho said they’ll wake up at noon or “maybe 1:30 p.m., depending.” They’ll throw on some old clothes and watch television until late afternoon.

Later, they’ll show kids how to score some weed and a case of beer from their current old man.

“I hope we instill in our children the belief that there are no glass cellars in Welfare and that it’s not about sitting on your butt all day doing nothing,” Telleyho said. “Sometimes, you have to get off that butt to score the weed and beer.”
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