A group of sixth graders prepares to leave for their graduation photographs. But one boy holds back. "What's the matter"" his teacher asks him softly. The boy's eyes fill with tears. "It's almost the end of the month," he says. "The welfare money has run out, so my mother can't afford to pay for a picture until the next check arrives." (Incident recorded by the author)

For over five decades, this stooped, gnarled woman has supported herself as a migrant worker picking vegetables from Florida to California. Finally, the insecticides sprayed on the plants became too much for her. "My hands would swell up every night," she says, "and I'd go to sleep clawing them." But instead of going on welfare, she began hunting for aluminum cans in trash bins and turning in the cans for...