The Lighter Side of Urban Camping | |
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I have known a lot of homeless people and I could tell you some real sad tales, someday maybe I will. But some homeless people really are not that tragic. These young men really are urban campers, who chose their life style.
I knew one urban camper who lived in the woods on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus. His parents financed his first BA in engineering but they did not want to finance the second in physics, both from UC Santa Cruz. I was told that he lived in a lean-to covered with good quality plastic wrap. After he graduated a second time, he joined the Peace Corps and went to Africa. When he went to the village he was helping they were so grateful they wanted to give him the biggest hut in the village. He objected, but after a long argument he accepted the second biggest hut. I imagine him saying, "No, you don't understand. We Americans are not used to this luxury. We live in the woods in lean-tos covered by good quality plastic wrap." Perhaps the most comfortable homeless person I knew lived in his camper while working on a PhD and UC Davis. He slept in the camper by day, and worked in the lab by night. The police did not bother him because he slept in the day. The department probably liked the fact he used the lab when other people were not. Our church homeless shelter required one parishioner to sleep over each night. I am tall, the bed was short, so I only did it once. I met a young man who had come to New York City to become a commercial artist. He survived for a while, but he did some work for a small business, they did not pay him. So he ran out of money. He didn't want to phone home and admit defeat so he went into the shelters. The first night or two in the city shelters he had to sleep on his shoes, so they would not be stolen. Then he joined up with a group of guys that mostly slept in church shelters. They went to the church shelters as a group. Once a week they had to sleep in the city shelters. They slept in shifts in the city shelters, with each man staying awake for an hour to watch the others and make sure their stuff was not stolen, before they woke the next man to watch for his hour. The group members often had jobs, and the artist found commercial art jobs while homeless. Eventually he saved up enough to make first and last months rent and moved out. My original lightbulb jokesHome PageLast Updated August 13, 2012 |
