The song of the day today is "Make It Rain" by Tom Waits. Blogger's video application is not working at the moment so you'll have to click the link to watch the video.
I am asked a lot of questions about my safety during this month. This was a concern of mine leading up to this experiment, but all my worries quickly faded. My thought was that, if I could stay out of "shady" situations and places, I would be perfectly fine. My only concerns were: 1) Being found out that I was not actually destitute, and 2) random acts of violence. The first has not been a big deal. I've found that I look sufficiently homeless especially when carrying my backpack (almost always), and definitely when I have gone several days without showering. The second has not been a concern at all. The "shady rule" covers me as I never walk alone at night, and I don't go anywhere with anybody. Some might argue that Tent City is a shady place, but anyone who has been there will argue otherwise. It is in a part of town where the crime rate is about mid-range, and it is surrounded by neighborhoods with high crime rates. But, the gates are locked every night and someone is always on duty. Besides, what would anyone want with homeless people? The thing about being homeless is that everybody assumes that you don't have anything they want, and they're probably right. So, I would say that I feel just as safe sleeping at Tent City as I did sleeping in my house.
One thing that I've learned about the homeless is that they are not all that hungry. Of course, my experience is limited and people who work with the homeless daily may disagree with me, but I don't think the homeless are any more hungry than anybody else. I've heard a lot of cliches about the homeless like "the hunger in their eyes" or "not knowing where their next meal comes from" and, though these may be true, I think they ultimately do a disservice to the homeless. We expect them to be hungry. The homeless perpetuate the myth with their "Will Work for Food" signs, but they know they are expected to be hungry. So, expecting the homeless to be hungry, we feed them and expect them to be satisfied. While a meal is nice, what the homeless really need is help getting back on their feet. And, that's another expectation that we have of the homeless; we want them to become productive members of society, but it's pretty tough when all people talk about is feeding the homeless. Take your Happy Meal and shove it. The homeless need jobs, a way to get to the job, and easy access to social services. The last thing they need is everyone telling them they're hungry.
I arrived at Tent City around 8:00 last night. There were several people gathered around talking, and I sat down to join them. Since the other night, I have not seen much of the couple who are disputing their eviction, but the male of the couple is sitting down and talking. He's saying that he has lost his ID, and is trying to get a new one. He's not sure how to go about this, and I ask him some questions about what sort of identification he does have. The answer is "almost none" so I ask him if he has a birth certificate. He says that he's having problems obtaining a birth certificate because he was not born in the United States. I ask him where he was born and he replies that he was born in Ireland. I can tell that he is lying so I decide that I'm not helping him any more. Pops is more compassionate. He asks the guy if he knows how to get around Lubbock and then gives him an address. "Go 'round back to the second doe-er, and they'll hep ya." Pops tells him. I'm not sure what building Pops meant to guide the man to, but the address given was to a bar. Maybe Pops is playing a prank on the youngster.
Another man is sitting at the table. His name is Oscar, and he's a hispanic man in his mid-fifties. Many people in Tent City come and go throughout the day, but Oscar is here almost all the time. He's a nice man who is always listening to others, and he rarely has a bad thing to say about even the worst of situations. He says that he was selling papers on Sunday when another homeless couple turned up on the street corner across from him with a sign begging for money. At first, I thought that maybe he felt they were stealing customers from him which I would disagree with. But, the thing he found fault in was that they could have done the same thing as he did. They could have woken up early and walked downtown to pick up some papers to sell the same as Oscar did, but they did not. They chose the easy way out. Oscar says that begging is something that he will not do. He says that he doesn't feel as if taking money unearned is right, and everyone at the table agrees with him. I've seen many people begging for money in Lubbock, but I don't think I've ever seen a Tent City resident beg. I think the attitude of those at Tent City is different from the homeless who "go rogue." Most of those who do not have an organized place of residence (such as Tent City or the Salvation Army), tend to take the easy way out. They don't stay at these places because they don't like the rules or the location. Since they don't take the help these facilities offer them, they sometimes have to find it elsewhere.
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