Steven: If I see something cute, I hug it.
*hugs me*
Steven: Do you know what this means?
Me: That I'm cute?
Steven: That's right!
Me: Awwww... You're so sweet!
*pause*
Me: But, you know, that's a logical fallacy.
Steven: I was just thinking that!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Still a kid
I was talking to Dylan the other day and he said I'm the sort of person that people won't be able to imagine I was once young when I'm older. This is a kind of ironic statement because I've been thinking a lot recently about how young I feel. I am the youngest person in my program. I say things the other people don't say (eg, "That blows" or excessive use of the word "totally"). And there's nothing wrong with the stuff I say. It's not even that immature or young sounding. But the thing is, I really watch myself and my language when I'm with them, mostly because I don't think they'd take my standard jokes the way the co-opers or other people who know me well would. And I still don't feel like my language quite fits in. My advisor compared the way I speak to Juno from the movie. Someone else agreed. She was supposed to be a high school student, and she does kind of talk like it. I guess I've got a young sound.
And it's not just with my cohort. Lately I've been struck a lot with the sense that I'm really very young. I've never been ashamed of playing video games, but recently I have gotten the sense that it's a really young activity. I know that's not really true; there are a lot of older people who still play video games. In fact, the average age has been steadily increasing.
On a tangent, that stuff about the average age of gamers increasing makes a lot of sense. When they first came out, video games were pretty challenging and required a totally new set of skills. Pressing buttons with careful timing was not a skill our grandparents had to learn. Now little kids are always learning new things. They kind of suck at everything they do because they're learning how to do all of it. They're learning how to walk, how to pour milk without spilling, how to behave at the dinner table, etc. All the commonplace things that are easy to us now, they still struggle with. So they're a lot more used to struggle. They're a lot more willing to engage in struggle because it's all around them. Everything they do is hard, so it doesn't matter that much if they get some new hard thing to do. This could be why kids are better at learning new things than adults; they're generally not afraid to try and they often won't stop after the first few failed attempts, if for no other reason that that they're accustomed to failing at everything.
So video games aren't really that hard to learn. The earliest ones could be incredibly challenging, but video game designers have wised up since then. They need to make games just hard enough to be satisfying when when you beat them. And there are also fewer consequences for losing. Back in the day, losing meant starting over from square one. Now losing means starting a 15 minute level over again, or reloading a recent save. Failure is still disappointing. It always is for anybody, no matter how few consequences there are. But now failure is less likely to discourage people and cause them to quit.
So even though video games are more attractive and more widespread among kids now than they were when they first came out, the age is still increasing. Video games were originally classified as a little kid's thing and that classification has been a little self fulfilling I think. Some people feel like once they reach a certain age, maybe it's time for them to stop. The people who don't play do tend to look down on video games and cling fast to that "it's a kid's game" mentality, and the condescension, I've found, gets worse with age. But video games are not really a kid's thing. It just makes sense that people would only be interested in starting as a child because adults are so unaccustomed to failure (most people get to be pretty good at avoiding it). So all the new recruits are young, but there are some older veterans who are still at it (such as me!). These veterans are still at it because video games really are fun for all ages. You just have to accept a certain degree of failure initially, but most people can't get past that.
Though to get back to my main point, even though the average age of gamers is increasing, there are still a lot of older people who do not play. Older gamers are still a minority. I imagine that the demographic will steadily change over time, especially as video game ads start trying to target different demographics (look at how popular the Wii is), but for right now, video games still carry a stigma of being a younger person's activity. Maybe that's part of the reason I feel so young. I flaunt some of my attributes that people consider young. I mean, I did a report for class on video games. None of my other colleagues are doing that. In fact, some of them are doing reports on how video games are harmful. When someone mentions that video games kill your brain, I often disagree. I'm actually fairly confident that I'm right on this one, but that doesn't mean that I don't get affiliated with something that is classified as a kid's toy.
But that's not really the only reason I feel young. Some of my mannerisms strike me as a little young too. I said something to Jake today about something that could have gone better in class and I said it in front of a few of middle school students who didn't know me or who I was. I was a little sheepish and a little like "I guess I messed up," which in retrospect is also not a very adult thing to do, but afterwards one of the kids asked me if I was a student. That happened once when I was observing in high school, but I really wasn't expecting that to happen in middle school. I even dress up for school in part to prevent that! Sheesh!
But that's still not the only reason I feel young. I'm also arrogant like a little kid. I've got a little kid's confidence and misunderstanding of the situation. I've heard that ignorance begets confidence, and I definitely believe it. I first started teaching pretty sure that I'd be able to explain things great so the kids would understand it. It's a lot more complicated than that. I've been kind of down about my teaching lately. It's on the low end of mediocre. I'm not being a pessimist or anything. It's true. On the bright side, I used to be piss poor. Now I'm almost mediocre. Actually, I think that shows pretty sharp improvement over a short period of time, but I'm still not pleased with being mediocre. I will get it eventually. This isn't something you just start out being good at (much like video games in that respect). I'm still chafing a little at being average. I've never really been average, so I don't like the feeling. I feel confident that I'll improve a lot, and I'm not going to stop when the going gets tough either. If there's one thing I've learned from grad school it's that you have to keep struggling with something and not quitting in order to learn. I'll eventually get to be good enough that I can handle what goes on in my classroom and that's going to be really satisfying when it happens. But until then I have to deal with mediocrity.
Perhaps that's another reason I've been feeling so young lately. Nothing makes you feel mature like competency and nothing makes you feel young like incompetency. I am in a situation right now that's very similar to when I was young. I'm struggling to do well and only managing to do ok. In college, I struggled to do well and I did. In high school I struggled to do well and I did so in some classes and did ok in others. At the end of high school, I was convinced that I wasn't really into history or science since I wasn't so hot at those subjects. It's weird to think that now. I'm still not that well versed in history. I've forgotten a lot of the dates and the details, but I also recognize that it's just a matter of understanding the situation thoroughly, not as a collection of details, but as a cohesive scenario. I think I could do it now. And as for science, pshaw. I use that stuff all the time. I would kick high school science's ass with ease if I had it do over again. Sometimes I think back to high school and wish I could go through it again, just so that I could pwn it so hard. The SATs wouldn't have shit on me (now there's a young phrase). I could totally wow the teachers and get kickass recommendations. I think a lot of them found me immature and unruly. Since high school, I've totally mastered the fake, proper, overly respectful attitude I use around conservatives. Even though it's total bullshit, conservatives want to believe that shit, so they eat it right up. And this is another example of me feeling young. Sometimes when I'm observing Jake in his 4th period class (so that I have material for my 2nd period class), he'll ask a question and I'll have to stop myself from raising my hand to respond. I feel like a student. I feel like a little kid. I feel really young.
When I was younger, I was always being told to grow up or act my age. It frustrated me a lot because I was always convinced that I was acting my age. I just happened to be at an age when people are giddy and silly and talk out of turn. Right now, there's no one telling me to grow up, but I nonetheless feel a lot of pressure to do so. Perhaps it's just become internalized by now, or perhaps I just don't like the feeling of incompetence and not knowing what's going on that goes hand in hand with being young, but I think I need to just grin and bear it. I do not think it would serve me well to "grow up" at this time. I really don't want to forget what it's like to be a kid. As it is, I don't really know what it's like to be a real struggling student with low confidence in their intelligence. It's true that I thought there were some subjects that I was better at than others, but even in my difficult subjects, it's not like I did that bad and I never really thought it was beyond me. Some students are really bad at math and I can't quite relate to them as well. So I've already got some issues relating to some students; I shouldn't make it worse by trying to grow up faster than I should. I've known people who couldn't stand being told to grow up and then proceeded to do so, beyond their maturity level. It didn't exactly make them well rounded individuals *cough*Matoots*cough*. If you work so hard to change yourself like that, you become really negative toward people who don't, especially since they usually look happier than you. I can hold off on growing up. I don't exactly have a rapport with my students, but that might come later when I actually know how to manage a class. By growing up now, I might lose that potential even if I do eventually get the classroom management down.
So I guess I'll be feeling young for a while longer. It's a little unpleasant really. Being young has a lot of unpleasant feelings of not really understanding the world around you. Being young makes up for it though by having very few responsibilities and requirements. Now I feel young, but I still have all kind of responsibilities and things to do. Balls. But I just have to grin and bear it a while longer. That maturity will come at some point. I just have to be patient about it.
And it's not just with my cohort. Lately I've been struck a lot with the sense that I'm really very young. I've never been ashamed of playing video games, but recently I have gotten the sense that it's a really young activity. I know that's not really true; there are a lot of older people who still play video games. In fact, the average age has been steadily increasing.
On a tangent, that stuff about the average age of gamers increasing makes a lot of sense. When they first came out, video games were pretty challenging and required a totally new set of skills. Pressing buttons with careful timing was not a skill our grandparents had to learn. Now little kids are always learning new things. They kind of suck at everything they do because they're learning how to do all of it. They're learning how to walk, how to pour milk without spilling, how to behave at the dinner table, etc. All the commonplace things that are easy to us now, they still struggle with. So they're a lot more used to struggle. They're a lot more willing to engage in struggle because it's all around them. Everything they do is hard, so it doesn't matter that much if they get some new hard thing to do. This could be why kids are better at learning new things than adults; they're generally not afraid to try and they often won't stop after the first few failed attempts, if for no other reason that that they're accustomed to failing at everything.
So video games aren't really that hard to learn. The earliest ones could be incredibly challenging, but video game designers have wised up since then. They need to make games just hard enough to be satisfying when when you beat them. And there are also fewer consequences for losing. Back in the day, losing meant starting over from square one. Now losing means starting a 15 minute level over again, or reloading a recent save. Failure is still disappointing. It always is for anybody, no matter how few consequences there are. But now failure is less likely to discourage people and cause them to quit.
So even though video games are more attractive and more widespread among kids now than they were when they first came out, the age is still increasing. Video games were originally classified as a little kid's thing and that classification has been a little self fulfilling I think. Some people feel like once they reach a certain age, maybe it's time for them to stop. The people who don't play do tend to look down on video games and cling fast to that "it's a kid's game" mentality, and the condescension, I've found, gets worse with age. But video games are not really a kid's thing. It just makes sense that people would only be interested in starting as a child because adults are so unaccustomed to failure (most people get to be pretty good at avoiding it). So all the new recruits are young, but there are some older veterans who are still at it (such as me!). These veterans are still at it because video games really are fun for all ages. You just have to accept a certain degree of failure initially, but most people can't get past that.
Though to get back to my main point, even though the average age of gamers is increasing, there are still a lot of older people who do not play. Older gamers are still a minority. I imagine that the demographic will steadily change over time, especially as video game ads start trying to target different demographics (look at how popular the Wii is), but for right now, video games still carry a stigma of being a younger person's activity. Maybe that's part of the reason I feel so young. I flaunt some of my attributes that people consider young. I mean, I did a report for class on video games. None of my other colleagues are doing that. In fact, some of them are doing reports on how video games are harmful. When someone mentions that video games kill your brain, I often disagree. I'm actually fairly confident that I'm right on this one, but that doesn't mean that I don't get affiliated with something that is classified as a kid's toy.
But that's not really the only reason I feel young. Some of my mannerisms strike me as a little young too. I said something to Jake today about something that could have gone better in class and I said it in front of a few of middle school students who didn't know me or who I was. I was a little sheepish and a little like "I guess I messed up," which in retrospect is also not a very adult thing to do, but afterwards one of the kids asked me if I was a student. That happened once when I was observing in high school, but I really wasn't expecting that to happen in middle school. I even dress up for school in part to prevent that! Sheesh!
But that's still not the only reason I feel young. I'm also arrogant like a little kid. I've got a little kid's confidence and misunderstanding of the situation. I've heard that ignorance begets confidence, and I definitely believe it. I first started teaching pretty sure that I'd be able to explain things great so the kids would understand it. It's a lot more complicated than that. I've been kind of down about my teaching lately. It's on the low end of mediocre. I'm not being a pessimist or anything. It's true. On the bright side, I used to be piss poor. Now I'm almost mediocre. Actually, I think that shows pretty sharp improvement over a short period of time, but I'm still not pleased with being mediocre. I will get it eventually. This isn't something you just start out being good at (much like video games in that respect). I'm still chafing a little at being average. I've never really been average, so I don't like the feeling. I feel confident that I'll improve a lot, and I'm not going to stop when the going gets tough either. If there's one thing I've learned from grad school it's that you have to keep struggling with something and not quitting in order to learn. I'll eventually get to be good enough that I can handle what goes on in my classroom and that's going to be really satisfying when it happens. But until then I have to deal with mediocrity.
Perhaps that's another reason I've been feeling so young lately. Nothing makes you feel mature like competency and nothing makes you feel young like incompetency. I am in a situation right now that's very similar to when I was young. I'm struggling to do well and only managing to do ok. In college, I struggled to do well and I did. In high school I struggled to do well and I did so in some classes and did ok in others. At the end of high school, I was convinced that I wasn't really into history or science since I wasn't so hot at those subjects. It's weird to think that now. I'm still not that well versed in history. I've forgotten a lot of the dates and the details, but I also recognize that it's just a matter of understanding the situation thoroughly, not as a collection of details, but as a cohesive scenario. I think I could do it now. And as for science, pshaw. I use that stuff all the time. I would kick high school science's ass with ease if I had it do over again. Sometimes I think back to high school and wish I could go through it again, just so that I could pwn it so hard. The SATs wouldn't have shit on me (now there's a young phrase). I could totally wow the teachers and get kickass recommendations. I think a lot of them found me immature and unruly. Since high school, I've totally mastered the fake, proper, overly respectful attitude I use around conservatives. Even though it's total bullshit, conservatives want to believe that shit, so they eat it right up. And this is another example of me feeling young. Sometimes when I'm observing Jake in his 4th period class (so that I have material for my 2nd period class), he'll ask a question and I'll have to stop myself from raising my hand to respond. I feel like a student. I feel like a little kid. I feel really young.
When I was younger, I was always being told to grow up or act my age. It frustrated me a lot because I was always convinced that I was acting my age. I just happened to be at an age when people are giddy and silly and talk out of turn. Right now, there's no one telling me to grow up, but I nonetheless feel a lot of pressure to do so. Perhaps it's just become internalized by now, or perhaps I just don't like the feeling of incompetence and not knowing what's going on that goes hand in hand with being young, but I think I need to just grin and bear it. I do not think it would serve me well to "grow up" at this time. I really don't want to forget what it's like to be a kid. As it is, I don't really know what it's like to be a real struggling student with low confidence in their intelligence. It's true that I thought there were some subjects that I was better at than others, but even in my difficult subjects, it's not like I did that bad and I never really thought it was beyond me. Some students are really bad at math and I can't quite relate to them as well. So I've already got some issues relating to some students; I shouldn't make it worse by trying to grow up faster than I should. I've known people who couldn't stand being told to grow up and then proceeded to do so, beyond their maturity level. It didn't exactly make them well rounded individuals *cough*Matoots*cough*. If you work so hard to change yourself like that, you become really negative toward people who don't, especially since they usually look happier than you. I can hold off on growing up. I don't exactly have a rapport with my students, but that might come later when I actually know how to manage a class. By growing up now, I might lose that potential even if I do eventually get the classroom management down.
So I guess I'll be feeling young for a while longer. It's a little unpleasant really. Being young has a lot of unpleasant feelings of not really understanding the world around you. Being young makes up for it though by having very few responsibilities and requirements. Now I feel young, but I still have all kind of responsibilities and things to do. Balls. But I just have to grin and bear it a while longer. That maturity will come at some point. I just have to be patient about it.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Remorse
I feel a little bad about Jen and Patricia. When I first heard about it, I was so angry and really wanted there to be some sort of reaction. But now I feel like the reaction was too strong and I feel bad about it. I don't think that the punishment we finally agreed upon was too strong. I think it's pretty fair actually. They have to pay money for all the alcohol they stole and then each has to do 4 hours of workshift on top of that. And the workshift has to be unpleasant, gross workshifts that no one else would do. That seems actually kinda fair to me, but when I was thinking of gross shifts for them to do, I started feeling bad about it. I mean, cleaning out compost bins is so gross. Scrubbing toilets: also gross. I mean, all these things they have to do really really blow. So I feel bad about how we, as managers, handled it with the house. Yes, what they did was fucked up, but deciding on fining without talking to them first, calling an emergency house meeting to deal with the appeals, and then changing our minds after that because we reached an agreement feels so stupid and sketchy. We made a spectacle of the whole thing. I kind of wanted the house to know how sketchy these two had been, but the whole public announcement thing feels like a bit much now. This rumor would have gotten out one way or another.
-------
Ok. I didn't have time to finish this when I started and now it's over a week later. I have other things I want to blog about and this unfinished blog post is stopping me. So I'm going to finish it up super promptly. I changed my mind. Yeah, they were really sketchy, but they did feel bad about it and the punishment didn't fit the crime. Hearing them speak in person changed my mind and made me feel a little ashamed of myself. The end.
-------
Ok. I didn't have time to finish this when I started and now it's over a week later. I have other things I want to blog about and this unfinished blog post is stopping me. So I'm going to finish it up super promptly. I changed my mind. Yeah, they were really sketchy, but they did feel bad about it and the punishment didn't fit the crime. Hearing them speak in person changed my mind and made me feel a little ashamed of myself. The end.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Thieving Bitches
As you might guess from the title, this blog entry is going to be about thieving bitches. Two people from my house stole an assload of alcohol from our house during special dinner. I'm talking about three handles of hard liquor, 5 bottles of wine, and 10 bottles of champagne. Then they had a party with some friends where they drank all of our alcohol. All of the numbers are estimates. I don't know for sure how much they stole. This was the amount initially quoted to me by the person who ratted them out. The managers discussed this issue at length tonight to decide what we should do about it. Let me just say, I was a touch irate. We ended up deciding to fine them each $85. Jesse informed them of this decision, but they protested the fine. Below is the email Jesse sent to the other managers:
Hey, all,
So Roxy and I had a conversation with Jen and Patricia. While they have admitted to stealing some alcohol the night of special dinner, they say they did not steal as much as we say--the Jim Beam Black and maybe 5-10 bottles of wine/champagne. Also, that they did not do it with malicious intent, nor were they gloating at their party about it. I suggested that at least half of the fines that we quoted to them were "uncooperative fines" in that they were independent of the alcohol that was taken and more dependent on the fact that they took it and that we as a management team then had to deal, discuss, and stress because of it. They will hopefully be coming to me or Roxy tomorrow with a number that they would like it reduced to--I gave them no suggestions. I just wanted to create a forum now to discuss how we feel about reducing those fines in light of this new information, so that we hopefully can come to a conclusion before the meeting and allow them to contest tomorrow if necessary.
Here's my two cents, since I probably won't have much time tomorrow to discuss:
When I first talked to Jen, she said all they took were a couple bottles of wine. Patricia threw in the Jim Beam. The number kept growing that they'd confess to as I talked to them. I do understand that we are still way overquoting what they probably took, but again, we spent 30 minutes or so discussing this with each other, and Roxy and I spent more talking to them afterward, and now we're spending even more time discussing, which should all be factored in to this uncooperative fine. The fact that they did this is reprehensible and should also be a part of what they pay for. The point is that we need to make this seem like it is not being dealt with lightly.
That being said, "uncooperative fines" are always arbitrary and we may be quoting a steep one here, especially since we're removing the option to make it up with workshift. I could see $60-75 each as a viable option. Or possibly that they each must pay $30-$40 to cover the alcohol (that goes back into the social budget) and then each get 3 hours of uncooperative workshift hour fines to cover the uncooperative act.
Any thoughts?
Jesse
And here is my response to Jesse's email:
So you said this forum would be to talk about their fines in light of this new information, but I want to go over really quickly what the new information is:
1: Jen and Patricia have confessed to stealing alcohol
2: They claim they didn't steal with malicious intent
3: They claim they didn't gloat about stealing our alcohol
As for point 1, regardless of the quantity, stealing our house's alcohol during a social event is an incredibly selfish and disrespectful act. Because they have confessed, we know that our accusations are correct, if not in degree, then at least in substance.
As for point 2, I don't know what it means to steal without malicious intent. I don't know why they thought they needed to sneak away the alcohol if they weren't doing a shady thing. I sincerely doubt that they didn't realize what they were doing. They knew this was a horrible thing to do and they did it anyway, over and over again throughout the night. Even though they knew it was wrong, they didn't return the alcohol the next day. They didn't even enjoy it quietly by themselves. Instead they threw a party with it. If that isn't gloating, I don't know what is. Did they actively laugh about how proud they were to steal from us? I believe so, but ultimately that doesn't matter. We aren't fining them because they bragged. We are fining them because they stole from the members of this house for their own personal gain. We are fining them because that was incredibly disrespectful of the house, their fellow housemates, and their managers (especially social). The "new" information we've gotten from them doesn't actually change much except to confirm my beliefs. They definitely stole. They knew enough about their actions to hide them. They had too much alcohol for personal consumption, and they had to throw a party in celebration of what they did in order to get rid of all of it.
I think some extra thought on this subject adds one more point of new information: Jen and Patricia are liars. Their claims about not being malicious and not gloating don't make any sense. Their constantly increasing estimates of what they stole doesn't add to their credibility either.
So what do I think about reducing their fines now that I have this new information? I don't have to think about it very much at all.
Rosemary
Well that pretty much covers the situation. Feel the anger radiating off of my email? It burns so goooooood...
Hey, all,
So Roxy and I had a conversation with Jen and Patricia. While they have admitted to stealing some alcohol the night of special dinner, they say they did not steal as much as we say--the Jim Beam Black and maybe 5-10 bottles of wine/champagne. Also, that they did not do it with malicious intent, nor were they gloating at their party about it. I suggested that at least half of the fines that we quoted to them were "uncooperative fines" in that they were independent of the alcohol that was taken and more dependent on the fact that they took it and that we as a management team then had to deal, discuss, and stress because of it. They will hopefully be coming to me or Roxy tomorrow with a number that they would like it reduced to--I gave them no suggestions. I just wanted to create a forum now to discuss how we feel about reducing those fines in light of this new information, so that we hopefully can come to a conclusion before the meeting and allow them to contest tomorrow if necessary.
Here's my two cents, since I probably won't have much time tomorrow to discuss:
When I first talked to Jen, she said all they took were a couple bottles of wine. Patricia threw in the Jim Beam. The number kept growing that they'd confess to as I talked to them. I do understand that we are still way overquoting what they probably took, but again, we spent 30 minutes or so discussing this with each other, and Roxy and I spent more talking to them afterward, and now we're spending even more time discussing, which should all be factored in to this uncooperative fine. The fact that they did this is reprehensible and should also be a part of what they pay for. The point is that we need to make this seem like it is not being dealt with lightly.
That being said, "uncooperative fines" are always arbitrary and we may be quoting a steep one here, especially since we're removing the option to make it up with workshift. I could see $60-75 each as a viable option. Or possibly that they each must pay $30-$40 to cover the alcohol (that goes back into the social budget) and then each get 3 hours of uncooperative workshift hour fines to cover the uncooperative act.
Any thoughts?
Jesse
And here is my response to Jesse's email:
So you said this forum would be to talk about their fines in light of this new information, but I want to go over really quickly what the new information is:
1: Jen and Patricia have confessed to stealing alcohol
2: They claim they didn't steal with malicious intent
3: They claim they didn't gloat about stealing our alcohol
As for point 1, regardless of the quantity, stealing our house's alcohol during a social event is an incredibly selfish and disrespectful act. Because they have confessed, we know that our accusations are correct, if not in degree, then at least in substance.
As for point 2, I don't know what it means to steal without malicious intent. I don't know why they thought they needed to sneak away the alcohol if they weren't doing a shady thing. I sincerely doubt that they didn't realize what they were doing. They knew this was a horrible thing to do and they did it anyway, over and over again throughout the night. Even though they knew it was wrong, they didn't return the alcohol the next day. They didn't even enjoy it quietly by themselves. Instead they threw a party with it. If that isn't gloating, I don't know what is. Did they actively laugh about how proud they were to steal from us? I believe so, but ultimately that doesn't matter. We aren't fining them because they bragged. We are fining them because they stole from the members of this house for their own personal gain. We are fining them because that was incredibly disrespectful of the house, their fellow housemates, and their managers (especially social). The "new" information we've gotten from them doesn't actually change much except to confirm my beliefs. They definitely stole. They knew enough about their actions to hide them. They had too much alcohol for personal consumption, and they had to throw a party in celebration of what they did in order to get rid of all of it.
I think some extra thought on this subject adds one more point of new information: Jen and Patricia are liars. Their claims about not being malicious and not gloating don't make any sense. Their constantly increasing estimates of what they stole doesn't add to their credibility either.
So what do I think about reducing their fines now that I have this new information? I don't have to think about it very much at all.
Rosemary
Well that pretty much covers the situation. Feel the anger radiating off of my email? It burns so goooooood...
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Homeless Turnover
Something that has occurred to me recently is that all the homeless people that I see now vs when I first came to Berkeley are different. I'll admit I didn't pay really close attention before, but the more attention grabbing (read creepiest) ones are all gone. It's not like there's one or two who have remained constant. They're all gone. It makes me wonder about what happened to them. Did they get arrested for three petty offenses under 3 strikes and are now spending the rest of their lives in jail? Did they finally seek some help and are struggling to get back on their feet? Did they move to another city? Did they die? I don't know, but it does make me wonder a little about what it's like to be homeless. Nothing must be constant. People are always coming and going and sometimes never coming back until one day you don't come back either. I guess having a home keeps you and your life constant. I guess I never realized how unstable it was to be homeless. I mean, homeless people have always been a constant in Berkeley. They're always there. But they're all different people. I wonder how long someone could last. It seems 4 years is more than anyone could make. It seems like an awful short time to be able to stay in one place.
I'm working on shorter blog entries and honestly I don't have a lot more to say, so I think I'll end it here. May your musings be more pleasant than mine.
I'm working on shorter blog entries and honestly I don't have a lot more to say, so I think I'll end it here. May your musings be more pleasant than mine.
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