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"Our initial hypothesis was that life on Haight Street would be a grim, Dickensian hellhole. Instead, we discovered a world of misunderstood, modern-day nomads,
by ry0ohki 14y ago
"Our initial hypothesis was that life on Haight Street would be a grim, Dickensian hellhole. Instead, we discovered a world of misunderstood, modern-day nomads, blithely toeing the line between poverty, drug dealing, and hippy nirvana."
We had to interview homeless people in DC as part of a college project, and found something similar. I think the common perception is that homeless people are just people like you and I who hit hard times, but almost everyone we talked to was homeless by choice (and some probably had mental illness). Talk to homeless people sometime, it may change your ideas.
- peterwwillis 14y agoThis simplifies the general problem of homelessness, which in reality makes up a large number of people in drastically different situations. Some are families, some are mentally ill, some are sex offenders or felons, some are career homeless, etc. DC's homeless are pretty tame compared to those you'd encounter in Florida, for example. The article was a neat little look into a single park's homeless culture, but it can be really rough if you wander into the wrong park or alley. Or just taking a bus.