BRUNSWICK — Following a talk from activist and author Barbara Ehrenreich at Bowdoin College last week, the conversation about poverty continues in Brunswick.

Karen Parker, program manager at Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, took part in a discussion group about Ehrenreich’s book, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,” on Tuesday afternoon at Little Dog Coffee Shop.

Parker said the organization’s board is now reading Ehrenreich’s account of working low-wage jobs in various U.S. cities. She said conversation about the book is expanding thoughts about how the agency, which helps around 1,200 families per year, might serve those considered the “working poor.”

“(The book) is bringing an awareness of another group that we’re not considering on a daily basis,” Parker said. “At least, we’re having that conversation.”

Parker said those considerations are in very early stages, but could include a look at how the pantry could provide services outside the hours of a standard work day.

Starting those discussions on the Bowdoin College campus and elsewhere in town was the purpose of the community read series, which is co- hosted by the college, municipal government and Curtis Memorial Library.

Bowdoin first-year student Phui Yi Kong also took part in the discussion Tuesday. Kong said that discussion of poverty — and activism — is not prevalent on campus, in part because “there is no motivation to talk about it.”

Kong hopes to change that in the near future with campus talks to share her experiences camping out through November and December with Occupy Maine protesters in Portland’s Lincoln Park.

No date has been set for those talks, Kong said Tuesday, but she did share with the group her thoughts on the populist movement that has become known by its slogan, “We are the 99 percent.”

Kong said that she most often hears opinions on the movement from people who have followed news accounts about the protests. Few, she said, have gone to see the protests firsthand.

“They don’t want to be a part of that group,” Kong said. “There is a label on the Occupy group.”

That label can be a barrier to getting involved for some who might have the resources and ability to contribute something to the economic justice movement, Kong said.

“Sitting on the couch, we can be deluded into thinking that we are doing well,” Kong said. “Things must be painful enough before someone steps out of their comfort zone to make anything happen.”

For the Malaysia native, part of her observations were also a commentary on American society, which group moderator and Bowdoin German department professor Jill Smith encouraged.

Smith asked participants to respond to Ehrenreich’s book but also offered critical perspectives on the boundaries Ehrenreich, in her foray into low-wage work, set for herself — namely, that the author would call on backup plans before going hungry, homeless or seeking refuge in a shelter.

Even with those caveats, Kong said she saw Ehrenreich’s willingness to take on the experience of working low-wage jobs firsthand as commendable. Typically, Kong said, she sees Americans having difficulty bridging class differences.

“There is a lack of curiosity,” Kong said.

In describing her own background, growing up outside of Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Kong said she rarely receives further inquiry and that her peers tend to “want to focus on pop culture and what happened to them that day.”

However, Mary Robinson, who recently moved to Harpswell after living for more than a decade in England, said that witnessing class distinctions in the United Kingdom gave her an appreciation for Ehrenreich’s project.

“I give her credit for going to the degree that she went,” Robinson said.

The idea of class permeates more of daily life in England, Robinson said.

As an example, Robinson said that most residents of her previous middle class neighborhood 20 miles outside of London would avoid a nearby pub because it was viewed “as a low-class pub.”

And a neighbor across the street sent a daughter to “accent lessons” in the interest of affecting the timbre of a higher class.

Robinson contrasted that dynamic with her return to the U.S., where she said, “It’s results that count.”

Results of the first “Brunswick Bowdoin Community Read” remain under review by college and library officials, but participants in Tuesday’s talk said they were pleased with the variety of perspectives brought to the conversation.

TWO MORE discussions are scheduled. On Friday, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., a group will meet at The Gelato Fiasco. On Sunday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., a group will meet at Bowdoin College’s Hawthorne-Longfellow Library. To register, visit library.bowdoin.edu/communityread or contact Michelle McDonough at [email protected].

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