The fact of glaring inequalities in income and wealth has been placed front and center by the Occupy movement. But where, in this country, does poverty reside? Margaret Weir describes the dramatically shifting geography of inequality and poverty in metropolitan areas. She also highlights the suburbanization of poverty, as well as the strong anti-poor bias built into local policymaking.

Homelessness, domestic violence, Superfund sites, unemployment, and poverty -- while they afflict all states in the US, they don't do so equally. Scholars Cynthia Enloe and Joni Seager have mapped the geographic and racial and gender divisions that fragment the generalities made about American life in the headlines. While some results are easy to predict, others are quite surprising.

Many distressed homeowners, spurred on by certain real estate agents and without clear disclosures from their lenders, are looking to do short sales. Bill Purdy discusses short sale perils and, more broadly, borrowers' rights. Also, Peter Edelman highlights the unavailability and inadequacy of badly-needed assistance for poor people.

The republic of Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula has come under great scrutiny by the Obama administration. Foreign policy analyst Conn Hallinan explains what the interest in Yemen might tell us about US geopolitical intentions in Asia. And Elizabeth Kneebone, co-author of a new report, talks about how American suburbs have become home to the largest population of poor people in the country.

The so-called ugly laws banned people considered unsightly and disgusting from exposing themselves to public view. According to Susan Schweik, these city ordinances are loaded with significance, for what disability has meant and still does, for class antagonisms and political agency, and for how elites deal with those they despise and fear.

Should poor urban neighborhoods be written off as dysfunctional, disorganized, irredeemable? In a new book, Martin Sanchez-Jankowski contends that poor neighborhoods are in fact organized and functional in important ways. He also found that despite material deprivation, many residents manage to craft lives that are meaningful and rewarding.