Those of you who work in public libraries know that homelessness is a library story. This narrative from the Middletown (CT) Press is part of a series written by a reporter who is trying to understand what it’s like to be homeless.
If I just wait for this to end, I don’t know what’s going to happen. The reality of this has finally set in. I’m homeless, I have no one to count on, and after holding on to that cheeseburger all night, I really had to go to the bathroom and an alleyway just won’t cut it.
I remember scoping out the library bathroom, when I stopped in yesterday, but it didn’t open until 9 a.m. and I still had hours to kill.
I was glad to find this piece, and hope to keep some of the descriptions in my head, as the library where I work is a haven for homeless people, many of them just killing time like this reporter.
link problem?
Try this one
If that doesn’t work just go to the main site and look for ‘no longer just killing time’.
“The night sky looked clear and the prospect of actually sleeping in Speare Park looked promising. The same people were in the park again, drinking and talking.
They didn’t care about me as I took what had become my usual bench and started to read, waiting for everyone else to leave before I tried to get some sleep.
They talked about the same things: drugs, drinking and cops. “
You know if he drank more and took a few drugs the day would go by faster.
Re:link fixed?
I think I fixed it. Thanks, Greg.
Well, now, that’s true even if you’re not homeless.
two nights out does not a homeless person make
I commend the idea behind this two night stint, but in order to have any real idea what Homelessness is about, I think one would have to spend quite a bit longer on the streets than, two nights – and without an office to visit and peers in one’s old world to talk to.
This piece reminds me of an extremely truncated version of “Black Like Me”. Don’t get me wrong, most likely there are some people who’ll have read this that will start to think more about the realities behind the homeless people they see, or the unwashed. That said, I was very glad to read that the library hadn’t kicked him out.