That photo of the child sleeping on pavement brought me to tears. This country is so messed up. Here in Silicon Valley, the playground of billionaires, we're seeing more and more RV's parked along the streets—these are not people needing a spot to park to go watch a game. They're mobile homes for people who cannot afford the rent here.
A few years ago I befriended an elderly Latino gentleman who was begging for money at our local farmer's market. He speaks only Spanish; I'm bilingual so I would talk to him every few weeks when I bought him food or gave him cash. Later I decided to run a GoFund me campaign for him, as his brother had left to move in with his girlfiend in LA and he was alone. With the help of our community, we raised $2500 for him to help with food and rent.
Another person I know was a neighbor in the community where we live. He felt he was paying way too much for rent, so he bought a van and outfitted it with insulation, a homemade bed and moved out. He's an engineer for Apple. A different story, bc in this case it was a choice, but the point is the same.
There is something seriously wrong with a nation that spends trillions on war and leaves its own people to rot.
Yes, children in such a position are heartbreaking, but so is your elderly Latino man. It's lovely that you set up a GoFundMe, and it's sickening that we have to do such things because our social systems are so weak. There is a large community of older people in this country now living in RVs and vans just as you describe, who drive a circuit of states to set up camps, often lacking medical care as their bodies break down. I'm very frustrated, there was an excellent Holly Hunter movie about this that I watched in the last few years, and I'm baffled, can't seem to find it. I'll post it here if I do. The war machine is ghastly, and yes, undermines our health, prosperity and moral center. I am extremely concerned about where everything is going. Is that GoFundMe still open? I'll chip something in.
Bless you Geoffrey. Yes it's still open—I'm in touch with Ciriaco now and planning to reshare it with our local community who have donated before. It's only a stopgap... this is not the way society should function. Just like tips to waitstaff—people cannot live on handouts. Everyone has a right to their dignity.
Seems meant to be, the article, the season and your friend in need. It's not charity, Anyone of us could need a hand at some point. You're right, of course, this is not how a healthy society functions. Happy holidays, Birgitte.
The best written article I've ever read on homelessness.
As a suggestion an article on how the "safety net" of the welfare system is designed to trap people into the system rather than helping them get out of poverty.
If you'd like I'll link your site and articles to ones that I am writing where appropriate and send them for your approval. Contact me directly if you like.
Homelessness is the undisguised failure of liberalism (classical liberalism) the supremacy of the "individual" to conquer the world on his own, dismissing the larger social context, that it "takes a village," so kids are dumped out after high school like inmates after their sentence, to sink or swim. Very, very few people can actually do this, most others need a functioning community not hollowed out by the corporate structure. Remember what John Dewey said in 1905: "Politics is the shadow cast upon society by big business."
This country was a commercial venture from the beginning, an outpost for England to plunder its natural resources, as usual, with no compunction using about violence to get its way. When we won our independence, that was the DNA we were coming from. The only thing the has changed is the sophistication of our tools to commit violence and destroy the planet.
You have got me curious! " I remember the Deihl family in Ft. Wayne." Have our families crossed paths, or was that a more metaphorical comment about how life was life decades ago?
Janet Diehl was in class of '63, and Margaret, class of '65, was in many of my classes at South Side HS and Harrison Hill schools. Any relationship? BTW, I have released a new version of the much-used English grammar text, developed at SSHS, "The English Sentence."
Janet and Margaret are both my aunts, so interesting, two of five siblings! Happy to know you, my parents are here, my father second oldest in the clan. Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, which ever is most appropriate.
That photo of the child sleeping on pavement brought me to tears. This country is so messed up. Here in Silicon Valley, the playground of billionaires, we're seeing more and more RV's parked along the streets—these are not people needing a spot to park to go watch a game. They're mobile homes for people who cannot afford the rent here.
A few years ago I befriended an elderly Latino gentleman who was begging for money at our local farmer's market. He speaks only Spanish; I'm bilingual so I would talk to him every few weeks when I bought him food or gave him cash. Later I decided to run a GoFund me campaign for him, as his brother had left to move in with his girlfiend in LA and he was alone. With the help of our community, we raised $2500 for him to help with food and rent.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/ciriaco-needs-our-help. Of course, that money is now gone, and he too faces homelessness.
Another person I know was a neighbor in the community where we live. He felt he was paying way too much for rent, so he bought a van and outfitted it with insulation, a homemade bed and moved out. He's an engineer for Apple. A different story, bc in this case it was a choice, but the point is the same.
There is something seriously wrong with a nation that spends trillions on war and leaves its own people to rot.
Yes, children in such a position are heartbreaking, but so is your elderly Latino man. It's lovely that you set up a GoFundMe, and it's sickening that we have to do such things because our social systems are so weak. There is a large community of older people in this country now living in RVs and vans just as you describe, who drive a circuit of states to set up camps, often lacking medical care as their bodies break down. I'm very frustrated, there was an excellent Holly Hunter movie about this that I watched in the last few years, and I'm baffled, can't seem to find it. I'll post it here if I do. The war machine is ghastly, and yes, undermines our health, prosperity and moral center. I am extremely concerned about where everything is going. Is that GoFundMe still open? I'll chip something in.
Bless you Geoffrey. Yes it's still open—I'm in touch with Ciriaco now and planning to reshare it with our local community who have donated before. It's only a stopgap... this is not the way society should function. Just like tips to waitstaff—people cannot live on handouts. Everyone has a right to their dignity.
Seems meant to be, the article, the season and your friend in need. It's not charity, Anyone of us could need a hand at some point. You're right, of course, this is not how a healthy society functions. Happy holidays, Birgitte.
Yes curious how certain things just flow together. A blessed Christmas/Holiday wishes to you Geoffrey. 🎄
The best written article I've ever read on homelessness.
As a suggestion an article on how the "safety net" of the welfare system is designed to trap people into the system rather than helping them get out of poverty.
If you'd like I'll link your site and articles to ones that I am writing where appropriate and send them for your approval. Contact me directly if you like.
Keep up the fantastic work.
Thank you for such a generous compliment. My primary focus is on climate change, but this article felt appropriate for the holidays.
Funny, I just subscribed to your work about a half hour ago. I haven't read anything yet, but we feel simpatico. I'll send you a DM.
I remember the Deihl family in Ft. Wayne.
Homelessness is the undisguised failure of liberalism (classical liberalism) the supremacy of the "individual" to conquer the world on his own, dismissing the larger social context, that it "takes a village," so kids are dumped out after high school like inmates after their sentence, to sink or swim. Very, very few people can actually do this, most others need a functioning community not hollowed out by the corporate structure. Remember what John Dewey said in 1905: "Politics is the shadow cast upon society by big business."
This country was a commercial venture from the beginning, an outpost for England to plunder its natural resources, as usual, with no compunction using about violence to get its way. When we won our independence, that was the DNA we were coming from. The only thing the has changed is the sophistication of our tools to commit violence and destroy the planet.
You have got me curious! " I remember the Deihl family in Ft. Wayne." Have our families crossed paths, or was that a more metaphorical comment about how life was life decades ago?
Janet Diehl was in class of '63, and Margaret, class of '65, was in many of my classes at South Side HS and Harrison Hill schools. Any relationship? BTW, I have released a new version of the much-used English grammar text, developed at SSHS, "The English Sentence."
Janet and Margaret are both my aunts, so interesting, two of five siblings! Happy to know you, my parents are here, my father second oldest in the clan. Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, which ever is most appropriate.