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How American Homeless Stay Wired
theodp writes "San Franciscan Charles Pitts has accounts on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. He runs a Yahoo forum, reads news online and keeps in touch with friends via email. Nothing unusual, right? Except Pitts has been homeless for two years and manages this digital lifestyle from his residence under a highway bridge. Thanks to cheap computers, free Internet access and sheer determination, the WSJ reports that being homeless isn't stopping some from staying wired. 'You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper,' says Pitts. 'But you need the Internet.'"
they can't seem to find a job.
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
in a brown paper-bag?
Except Pitts has been homeless for two years and manages this digital lifestyle from his residence under a highway bridge.
That's some sick battery life right there!
If you can reach friends and family, can't you ask for help? Maybe I grew up in an environment where homelessness was not an option because I'm sure that I could chill on someone's couch until I worked my way back into an apartment. If you can't reach anybody on the internet who is willing or able to help you out while you're living under a bridge, perhaps you should re-evaluate your ongoing communications with those people. I realize that not everybody will be able to work up a western-union order for bus fair in a week or a cross-country plane ticket in a month to help their friend, you'd have to be pretty low on my list of acquaintances for me to not help you out, and I make sure I hang out with people that would do the same for me. This is really sad, while yes, its good that they can stay in contact, this is a case of communication without value.
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
I get like zero bars in my dumpster.
...from his residence under a highway bridge.
Sometimes you just gotta hand it to a troll for sheer dedication. (+1, troll?)
That's nothing, I used to stay connected, downloading movies and Linux distros, following all the news, exchanging emails with a journalist friend, using a Commodore 64 that had been buried for years - in a war ravaged country with no communications infrastructure worth speaking of. Kids these days have it easy.
Juno
To summarise the summary of the summary: people are a problem. ~ h2g2
I was homeless between Aug-2003 to July-2004. One day I had no money to buy two rice cakes which used to cost less than .25 cents. I just drank a water and I made a promise to myself to avoid such a bad condition. It was bad, cold and at one point I thought I'm just gonna die out. At the end of 2004, I brought old P5 with 64MB RAM and 10GB hard disk with mono monitor loaded with Window 95. I used the same computer to write students CS assignments and complete their projects in the night time for the money. I had a small job at the Internet cafe. I learned about SEO, forums, creating website and making money by selling ads and doing aff marketing. Today, I make my living by running over 80+ websites and forums. Even, in this bad economy, I doing good. So if you in a bad time, just hold on a while. May be think out of box and you may survive to see another beautiful day. I learnt a lot from my bad days and it made me a better person.
Hope this helps and cheers someone out there seating in cold night and wondering about the life...
PS: English is not my first language and I've only 10th grade school education.
This is a typical article on WSJ where the purpose is get people mad at the disadvantage. You're a Conservative, filthy rich, and working hard all your life when this homeless bozo is enjoying a fine life. I'm surprised they don't bring back Ronald Reagan's Welfare Queen to beat up in public square.
In Japan, they move into internet cafes
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
The old saying of "avoid cliches like the plague." applies perfectly to the parent post... :-)
Todos mis movimientos están friamente calculados
"For some reason this article makes me angry. Its been ten months for me and I can't find a job either, but if I was laid off 2 years ago, it would have been alot easier."
When you're in the shit it always looks like everyone else has it "easy", just human nature.
Slightly OT but many people are uneployable and living under bridges because the sex offenders list includes offences such as streaking or urinating in a public place. Why? - Because the peodophile who pushed the list wanted a dragnet that he hoped would trivialise his own behaviour.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Until You've been homeless. I know. I've been there. With all my progressive thinking, I knew nothing about it.
In 2000-01 I was making 6 figures working as a Senior Developer in Los Angeles. I lost my job after Bush and 911. I sent out over 300 resumes in a 3 month period - not one single response. I had 6 months income saved . By month 7 I was sleeping on friends couches. Previously I had been able to get a new contract within 2 weeks tops. I borrowed several thousand from friends to keep me in monthly hotels - I was good for it. I always had been working right?
By month 12 I was sleeping in my car. I took temp jobs driving buses and I took temp IT jobs doing data entry at 10 bucks an hour. You know how well you can live on 10 bucks an hour in CA when you have no more money? Not very well. Get an apartment ? With what? 10 bucks an hour?
By month 22 I was starting to live in shelters. And I saw things. Things I would rather not ever have seen. I saw people in bloody bandages, terrible dirty and out of their mind being laughed at and made fun of by city shelter workers. I saw it took over an hour to get in line to take a shower. I drug addiction, mental illness and hopelessness standing right next to me every single day. I saw my self confidence die along with my job prospects. Most importantly I saw that nobody really cared.
You think there are State run programs to help people out there. I am here to tell you you are so so wrong. It;s all a sham. There are a very few. Very few. Most are fronts just to make it seem like something is being done. Nothing is. I've seen it. I've been there.
You haven't seen it. You don't know.
There are very few programs out there and by using the library internet I found one for Women Vets. I got small IT jobs and was able to keep them now that I had food shelter and safety. I worked my way back up the ladder again. Now I make about half of whay I used to - but we all are now - unless you're a banker.
Friends, Family?? I left home at 19 and an Ivy League University - joined the military to continue college. My family were bad people. Rich, but very bad. How Bad? I begged to sleep on a couch with one of them. I told them I slept behind a church last night - in the open. My family refused. Good luck. Don't assume all families are like yours. I assure you they are not.
There's a lot more I could say. More that needs to be said. But I've said enough. It's the rich greedy sons and daughters of bitches who think nothing of others and thing only how to get more to themselves that post about how homeless people bring it all on themselves. Well some do. And some are just broken down by the process. Those people need help. Where is their help?
----- In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...
Just wanted to say thank you for this post. I hope it hits everyone like it hit me.
They are doing much better today with Obama's corporate welfare for megabanks and other mismanaged giant corporations. These are swallowing up billions of borrowed money which the next generation will have to pay. The amount of money that the so-called welfare queens swallow up is chicken feed in comparison.
That's exactly what I fear is going on with "OMG Welfare Queen" type attacks...to distract from the much larger corporate-welfare situation, whether Obamaesque bailouts or something else.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/31/BAPB1227KF.DTL Tom Sepa would rather not be called homeless. "That word is loaded," he said. "I prefer 'urban outdoorsman.' " It is true that Sepa has a lot of things that aren't generally associated with the stereotypical San Francisco homeless person - like a full-time job.
My wife worked for the chief of the psychiatric department at the Brentwood VA in California during the early 80s. From the mid-70s to mid-80s there was a strong 'patients rights' movement generated by the mental health advocate community. Although there were many facets to this movement, one of the primary elements was a re-examination of the criteria for institutionalizing patients. The point of contention revolved around interpretations of what it meant for a patient to be able to 'take care of himself.' Prior to this the interpretation was rather strict; if a patient could not earn an income and provide shelter and food for himself (and if there were no family members able to care for him), then he would normally be institutionalized. Begining in the late 70s, the advocacy groups began to demand a lower standard. As long as a patient could merely wash and dress himself, and could perform the mechanical tasks of shovelling food into his mouth, then every effort was made to force the institutions to release them. My wife's boss spent many months both in court and testifying before the state assembly trying to stop this lowering of standards. Unsuccessfully. Predictably, most of the newly discharged patients were unable to take care of themselves in any meaningful sense of the word, and became the homeless people on the street. It's no coincidence that the decline in California's mental health insitution population closely matched the sharp increase of homeless (in California, at least) during the same period. In fact, for about two years, my wife literally was on a first name basis with every homeless person we ran across in the Westwood/Santa Monica area. They were all former patients who had been 'sprung' from the VA by well meaning advocate groups who then simply walked away and left these guys hanging. Reagan was not involved in this movement, nor was he a symptom or symbolic of it. Quite the contrary. The people who 'liberated' the inmates tended to be on the opposite end of the political spectum. In fact, it was the ACLU who provided legal representation to force the VA to release these patients.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
One of every four homeless people in the USA is a veteran. However, given what the world knows about what the US military does in places like Abu Ghraib, I'd salute anyone who didn't go back.
Comment above:
I left home at 19 and an Ivy League University - joined the military to continue college.
Article:
Mr. Ross figures he has been homeless for about 15 years, surviving on his Army pension
What is it about this correlation between being in the military in the past and being homeless later? Forgive my ignorance, I am not from the US and I have not been in the army (any army). What does army do to people that they have problems living "normal" lives later? Or, were these people "different" from the very beginning and army was an interesting option for them (unlike "regular" jobs & lifestyle)?
I need to answer your question in another way as well.
You asked: What is it about the military that leads to homelessness and not having a normal life.
I'll tell you what that is and you will not like the answer.
Me, I worked in a combat medical field unit as an Operating Room Technician and a Field Medic. It was the only thing I was comfortable doing in the Army. Helping people - saving lives. I did a lot of both and although I am NOT a military supporter I am proud of what I did.
Most people in the military , especially men, go into jobs that involve killing people.
Let me say that again - Killing people. Killing people is Job #1. Even in the Medical Corps we were told again and again "You are soldiers first and medics second" ( we gave the people telling us that the finger behind their backs of course)
We are all brought up to believe that killing people is wrong. Thou shall not murder.
The military has a way around this by creating a culture of dehumanizing the enemy du jour - and other ways.
Killing is a part and parcel of Army culture.
You ever see the shirts that say "Join the Army , Travel to interesting places meet interesting people and Kill them"
You might think that's an interesting snarky comment on military culture.
It is not. The infantry people I saw who wore those shirts were 100% percent serious about the message.
Not Snark. A way of life
That's what it's like being in the Army.
And God forbid you actually end up in a war and have to go meet interesting men women and children and kill them - you are in a culture that tells you that you did nothing wrong. In fact it rewards you - Hooo Aaa!
And all that is well and good until you return to civilian life, laws and the Ten Commandments again and it hits you:
"My God, what have I done!"
And you can tell no one because no one outside of the military could possibly understand. And you can't wear your T-shirt anymore either.
So you turn to alcohol or drugs and you can't sleep at night and you go slowly crazy. And you can't hold your job and you realize that you were not the person that you used to think you were. And you never will be again.
That didn't happen to me.
But I saw it happen over and over again to people that I knew. People who shot other people. Who killed interesting people. How can you go into Church ever again you wonder?
Oh and by the way - That war. It was all about the oil anyway.
So that's the problem - that's why so many American military people end up the way that they do.
----- In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...
What is beyond the scope of the article and this story is that it has become so much easier to obtain luxuries in this world than it is to obtain the basics of life. The easiest thing in the world to obtain should be what you need not what you want. But we all know that's not going to change. In my eyes. It's just sad. But what do I matter?
This has nothing to do with scapegoating, everything to do with reality. Most people who are homeless are that way for a reason. The most common reason is addiction. I'd actually say that alcohol addiction is more common than any other drug. Their addiction is to the point that it totally rules their life and it is all they care about.
Either way, not sure why you think I should feel bad about myself. Even if the reality was different, I still don't feel bad. I don't feel sorry or evil or whatever for having happiness and success in my life. I would hope that everyone else does as well, but I don't feel bad about myself because many don't.
So if you think I should feel guilty, well sorry I don't and I won't. If you choose to guilt yourself over what you have in your life, I can't stop you, but I don't feel it is productive and I don't do it. I enjoy my life.
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
..........While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind,"
..........But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind -
..........There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
..........O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Also I'd presume a lot of homeless are like most of us in that they don't want to be preached at. And I'm sure perspectives regarding belief or religion isn't going to change just because the money is gone. The problem with this is that the majority of charitable services are ran by organized religions. The thinking among some homeless is, "I'd appreciate the food/shelter, but I'd just wish that you STFU already!". So instead of putting up with that all day, they'd just rather stike it out on their own while enjoying (relative) peace and quiet.
Maybe if there were more charities that were secular in nature instead of pushing some religious aspect or another, the inclination to stay on the street and dumpster dive would be much less. And who says philanthropy has to be tied to some religion?
[citation needed]
You are misinformed about the type of people who join the Army, Most of them are NOT gung-ho types who like guns and the idea of shooting up people.
Most of them just need a job. Most of them just want to go to college. Most of then are very poor and/or come from urban places that make the Army seem mild . Most of them saw the nifty multi-million dollar ad campaigns that tell them how they can be all that they can be or how in 6 weeks they can be a computer programmer too!
But the ads don't show war. They don't show you killing women and little children because you have been put into a place where you honestly have come to believe that you need to do that in order to stay alive - or to keep your buddies alive. The ads don't show you that.
Me, I was 2 years into an Ivy League education with a family that would make Dick Cheney's look warm and fuzzy by comparison. And I had enough and I left. And after my money ran out and I had no experience as a 19 year old in the world - I joined the military not because I liked guns but because I wanted to continue my college.
The Army does not take care of every aspect of your life as I've seen some people say here. You only think that if you haven't been in the military. Being in the military is a lot like being in any other job - you work 8 to 5 and you get weekends if you're not in combat. True, you don't have to worry about health care, or becoming homeless if you're laid off or even paying for food or housing (if you're single) but in most civilized Western countries (save the U.S.) . In many ways the peace-time Army is a lot like Sweden. But you still have to pay your bills, plan your financial future and buy your housewares just like everyone else.
----- In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...