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Saturday, 02 August 2008
The homeless and Hooters
Here are two more photographs of Hooters with a couple of homeless people outside. Well technically they are not homeless. They have mobile homes which happen to be their shopping carts.
I find these images such a juxtaposition. There is Hooters an establishment of affluence, hedonism and a kind of ‘decadence’ and right outside are two homeless people who conversed for ten minutes and then moved on. I find it interesting how American society can tolerate such a public incongruency.
In Australia of course we have homeless people as well but they are more hidden from public view. When in the US I was surprised at how public and out in view the homeless were. Perhaps American society is more accepting of them and that part of their society than we are in Australia. Perhaps American society has a more inbuilt incongruency in its very nature.
I think if such a scene as is shown in these photographs was happening in Australian society then there would be a bit of a public outcry about it. The people would then be ‘housed’ and then left to their own devices and they would probably end up back on the streets. So perhaps this is why they maintain a lower profile than in US culture.
I recall one man who would would often stand at a set of traffic lights on the island in the middle of the road. He was always at the same spot and held a small sign written on a piece of cardboard. It simply said “Vietnam vet”. I saw people give him money who had stopped their cars at the red light next to him. From what I have seen Australian people would be much more reticent to give such a homeless person money. They would tend to think, “Well that will only encourage him more” (which it would) or “I wont give him money as he will only go and spend it on alcohol”.
Maybe that is another reason why the Australian homeless are less visible. Public begging gets much less of a positive result than in the United States.
Graffiti
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Comments
I noticed the same when I went to San Francisco last month. This is not an uncommon sight in out cities, Tony. I don't know what your homeless population is like in Australia, but ours is more diverse than it seems, though many do have mental disorders and /or addictions. Sadly, for such a large and developed nation, many citizens fall through the cracks here. I once lived in a large city in the US where there was a 'crackdown' on homeless people loitering in front of businesses. Apparently some were urinating on the sidewalks and driving away business. The crackdown did not last as there was a larger public outcry. No one wants vulnerable homeless people to be mishandled or treated with disrespect by authorities. Thankfully, the problem of urinating on the sidewalks ended and people stopped bothering the homeless in the area.
Some people are very hard to help and it is very heartbreaking. I think the attitude here is, "If he's not bothering anyone, then let him be." I wish more could be done to help our homeless. When I used to get out more often, I would go and bring them blankets whenever we had a coldsnap. I once met a man named Joe who was 84 years old and had been homeless for several years. He was in very good shape, or appeared so, and I tried to help him. I found a shelter that was willing to take him in, but he did not want to go. He said he had been evicted from his last apartment over some dispute with the landlord not keeping up repairs and it had been a long time ago, that he was used to living outdoors and was too old to start a new way. He told me that he had a few old friends who would let him take showers in their homes sometimes and he received mail at one friend's house. I was shocked to learn that he was a veteran of the United States Army! He received his social security benefit and some small amount for partial disability or something from the army from his friend's mailbox. Whenever he needed a doctor, he took the bus to the Veteran's Administration Clinic. He really did seem to want to remain the way he was. And he was a nice old man who never bothered anyone. I was worried for his safety out there, though, but it wasn't much better at the shelter. I find it sad that a man of his age did not have enough monthly income to pay for housing. And a veteran at that! This is a sad, sad thing, Tony.
I feel very deeply for the homeless. (Think 'house as body' metaphor.) No one should be so disenfranchised. I wonder if old Joe is still alive. He never did call me, though he knew that he could if he needed anything. No, most of us in the US would not want the homeless to be invisible. We can't help them or give them anything if they are invisible. They are people, too. They are our people. They are like us. I am angry that the government doesn't do more to help them. They need more shelters, better food and constructive social services. Some of them are capable of putting together good lives if they could just have a constructive hand up. They'll never get those things if they are invisible.
Posted by: Lynn | Saturday, 02 August 2008
There are SO many homeless in India that it would take your breath away!
Also to Kahless: Thank you for visitng my blog.
Also Tony you mentioned feeling paranoid about the comments disappearing, i thought that was funny!!! healthy paranoia i am sure!!!
Phoebe
Posted by: Phoebe | Saturday, 02 August 2008
Those Hobo's are using the ATM machine Tony. Look at the expensive shoes and shopping cart technology. Perhaps they're a new social classification of hobo brought about by the sub prime "morgage" crisis.
kenoath
Posted by: kenoath | Saturday, 02 August 2008
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i really liked it!!!!
Phoebe
Posted by: Phoebe | Saturday, 02 August 2008
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Posted by: Phoebe | Saturday, 02 August 2008
The UK is like Oz. The police move them on if they are anywhere in public site.
Posted by: kahless | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Hope you enjoy your feelings workshop btw. Cant wait to see if a post materialises as a result..
Posted by: kahless | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Hi Tony,
I recently read about a new social phenomenon regarding the Hobo-type in the UK. Seems University kids are "tracking" sitings of such Hobo's around their city and then posting pictures and comments about the "star" Hobo's on sites such as My Space and You tube. I wonder whether these Hobo's will gradually form a new social group and become nouveau Hobo's, so to speak ??
In one case a couple of university sweeties had posted a piccy of themselves with a long bearded Hobo with a big rucksack. Talk about a rose between two thorns!! Mr Hobo looked very happy even though I don't think he realized what the piccy was being used for ( dare say he didn't have internet access!!).
More worryingly the article stated that often the Hobo's in question often suffer from alcoholism or mental illness, so ( in a sense) are being exploited by the kids taking their piccy and possibly posting some witty piss-take comment about them, such as some funnies about needing a wash, or the Hobo getting thrown off a bus for having too much baggage and blocking up the gangway.
I think the American Hobo fares better than the UK equivalent ( tramp?), possibly due to the climate. A few years ago when I went to the west coast I even fancied getting a trolley, growing a beard and giving it a go for a while but I had to come home to the UK and I don't suppose it's much fun in reality. I think some Hobo's think they're sticking two fingers up at capitalism by adopting such a lifestyle, but (despite often being very ideological) they're not doing anything to change things, so it seems a bit of a waste and a cop out.
Take Care .
Nick
Posted by: Nick | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Hi Nick and all,
I will respond to your comments later on as my feelings workshop is to start, according to my countdown, in 81 minutes.
I might do a bit of a post on it Kahless. I am doing a whole section on the emotional literacy of children and how parents can assist their children to be emotionally literate as adults.
Also I am doing a round at the beginning of the group. Kahless. if you were to be an animal what animal would you be and why?
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Good luck Tony with the workshop
Posted by: Phoebe | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Good luck Tony with the workshop
Posted by: Phoebe | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Ooooo, how exciting. I am dIY-ing this am so I will have a think whilst laying my new wood flooring. I have already thought of my first two criteria of choice.
Oooooo.
Be back in a couple of hours at lunch time.
Posted by: kahless | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Assuming my choice of animal doesnt live in a zoo or in nasty conditions my two criteria (to explain why) are
1. live in a pack yet can do there own thing
2. loving
3. Not viscious
It ended up a toss up between an elephant and a dog. In the end I went for a dog because I love them so much and they have soft fur which is lovely to cuddle. A non agressive type of dog.
So yes a dog, who is loving, caring, full of energy, cute, loyal, love company, etc etc etc.
Not very exotic, but I dont need to be exotic!
Posted by: kahless | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Well that is very significant Kahless and I could really analyse that one.
the dog sounds lovely
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Yes the workshop went very well Phoebe,
I even got applause at the end of it!!
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Yes Nick,
As I understand it there is a strong correlation between a homeless life style and a major mental illness.
It seems that the UK and OZ are a bit similar as Kahless said they they are kept out of sight in the UK as well.
In one way I think the US are more honest about their homeless in that they are not doing out of sight out of mind.
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Sunday, 03 August 2008
Tony,
Yes, I reckon I could get 1/3 of the way analysing that one myself. I tried to put out of my mind the fact that it would be revealing when making my choice.
I did think I was taking a risk answering the question, but I thought what the heck, I have nowt to hide.
I wonder, when you went round and asked the group that same question, did anyone else choose an ordinary everyday animal like myself? Or did everyone go for an exotic?
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
I choose a cat.
Posted by: Lynn | Monday, 04 August 2008
Eagle. That's the animal i'd choose. It just makes sense for some reason.
You did a Feeling work shop? Ohh i'm all deflated now. That one sounds just too juicy to not notice. A feelings workshop? Wow...
Posted by: roses | Monday, 04 August 2008
Ohh by the way Tony, here in australia we almost had a national anthem about the swaggy and his matilda so maybe our homeless are more the shy type than in other places. More loners perhaps? Our country's natural life is kind of shy, so perhaps people who live out of doors become naturally shy type creatures as well. If our human culture doesn't conform people it's way, then perhaps circumstances or our natural environment will conform us another way. The culture of the land?
Posted by: roses | Monday, 04 August 2008
Lynn,
What type of cat? A domesticated one or a big cat like a lion?
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
Kazza, Phoebe, Tony, Ken, Mads
Are you game to play?
What animals are you?
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
Oh and don't forget the why?
;-)
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
Before I can analyse you Lynn you have to say the 'why' of your choice
Graffiti
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
Hi Roses,
Good to see your comments again.
Yes I did the feelings workshop and everyone worked out what their rackets were
Graffiti
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
Are you going to share your analysis Graffiti?
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
I like the way the eagle can fly so high and still see what happens so far away. They are not herd creatures.
AND The Unicorn. Not the fabled horse with a horn in the centre of the forehead, but the goat looking one. They both seem to be the same when i think of them (the eagle and the unicorn that is) though they are obviously different in so many ways it's rediculous. Whether that makes sense or not -*shrugs* it's the way it is.
I would like to know what my racket feeling or your interpretation is Tony. Please? I have always wondered why those 2 animals - even though when i think of them they are one in the same.
I must say - i would not like to meet either one. They seem so frightening (fearsome?) to me.
So happy to be home... roses
Posted by: roses | Monday, 04 August 2008
Roses the unicorn is magical and make believe and with that horn it maybe reflective of some feature of your masculine side.
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
What is my masculine side? Does that have anything to do with cromozones (sp?)?
I don't think the unicorn is make believe and i don't think it was magical either. Perhaps one day they will say amazing things about the Dodo bird or Tasmanian Tiger.
And what is the eagle? Why are they the same? Do you know? Will you tell me?
Posted by: roses | Monday, 04 August 2008
Are my latest comments here written in invisible ink?
;-)
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
People who choose birds often are looking to the future. That can be good or bad as it also takes the person out of the here and now but they don't tend to get so much stuck in the past.
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
Gosh! If that's invisible ink Kahless, i'd be getting on to the manufacturer! Not very invisible! If the emperors clothes were that kind of invisible - we'd have missed a really great tale lesson.
Posted by: roses | Monday, 04 August 2008
Ohh!
Make believe magical future?
I guess that fits. Yet another bunch of unrealistic expectations from roses.
Thank you for interpreting them Tony. I don't know who I am.
roses
Posted by: roses | Monday, 04 August 2008
Hello Tony
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
Hi Kahless,
Not too sure how you got the word through!
Cheers
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
I answered that one Tony; I got it through from my mobile phone internet rather than my pc. I never have to enter verification from this.
Will you tell me what Dog means please?
Cheers
Kahless.
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
Dog is not the same as birds in the sense that I commented on roses, they are more of a mixed bag and depends of what sort of dog it is and so forth.
Sorry I could not be more specific
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
Ok. To answer Kahless, I would be a regular cat. An alley cat, maybe. Not a pet, though. I guess I am a stray.
Tony, the why is easy. It's a people thing. Cats can take them or leave them. You want a cat story to help explain? I'm procrastinating hauling my weary carcass off to bed, so I'll tell it.
I had been talking to my therapist for about two or three months. I liked him well enough, but I did not think of him as the dream mother, or even feel that I really needed him that much then. Until the weird stuff that started happening right before the major flashback that nearly destroyed my life. I called him one evening, a few days before it happened. I had never called him outside of appointment before, but I felt very desperate and threatened and figured a psychologist would be the appropriate person to call. I paged him and when he caled, I was a little bit afraid to really say what was going on, and I didn't understand it well, so I was a bit vague (it's anxiety and the panic attacks are back, I'm scared, etc.). He asked me about things that had worked the best in the past to comfort myself. I told him a visualization. He asked me about it. I was reluctant to say, but I told him a little of it. Here is the whole thing: I would go to bed and lie down to sleep. I would imagine the safest thing, which was that I was a cat. I did not live with people, but I knew of all the comfortable places where people did not mind if I came around while they were gone. I visualized a house where the people had just left to go out of town. They had a doggy door (but no doggy) in their garage and they did not mind if I came in. I would go in and eat tuna fish and sleep on a basket of warm laundry they had left. Then I would drift off to sleep. Unfortunately, visualizations do not fix PTSD.
I have since found a problem with that visualization, anyway. It's the doggy door. If I can get in, so can other creatures. Then I discovered the panther that I once told you about. Then I became afraid of it, etc. Maybe I need a new cat visual. Or something. The hell if I know what.
So what is your analysis of my cat, then?
Posted by: Lynn | Monday, 04 August 2008
Tony,
I get the sense you are copping out?
Or am I wrong.?
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
I have also done the bird thing. I get that one, though. A quick route to a dissociated state if I am under a good sky with the safety of my husband next to me to protect me when I'm brainless.
Posted by: Lynn | Monday, 04 August 2008
Not wanting to Kahless,
have I missed something, maybe as people are commenting on different posts and I am writing another post as we speak (or at least write).
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
Hi Lynn,
My first analysis of the cat and its relation to the visualization is to refer to the story of goldilocks and the three bears. the seeking of a home or a perfect home (security).
No people also and cats are often associated with emotional distance from people
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
It is good to have you come and visit this blog Kahless
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
Good ole multi-tasking.
As an aside what I like about you is that you don't seem to get cross or pissed with me if I ask a question which I think maybe I shouldn't ask like
'Are you copping out.'
Anyway, I was referring a bit to the fact that you ask me what animal , I say dog, you say significant, I ask what's in a dog then and you then say mixed bag you can't be specific.
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
The first thing I am interested in Kahless is that you say you found it difficult to choose between an elephant and a dog. I would like to know about the elephant.
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
I sponsor a baby elephant you know. I follow an orphanage in Africa. They are such lovely animals. I like their social structure - how they look after one another. And how deep their feelings of love are. They can be really affectionate. And fun.
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
Kahless,
The elephant and the dog characteristics sound quite similar. Most positive, affectionate and fun, loving and cute and so forth.
I hope you will own these positive characteristics in yourself.
I also am interested in how, when you describe the dog you make a specific note of how the dog is not nasty, vicious or aggressive.
tony
Posted by: Tony | Monday, 04 August 2008
I was thinking I don't like pit bull terriers, alsatians and dobermen. These are snarling agressive dogs that stress me and I don't want to be within a mile of in case they bite me. They do not display the characterics I want to be like or anywhere near.
I am not sure I am affectionate as I am not touchy feely though sometimes I wish I was. Otherwise I am positive etc when I am not navel gazing
:-)
Posted by: kahless | Monday, 04 August 2008
Sounds like you made a good choice of animal Kahless. Maybe one day you will let more of the animal out and reach out and touch others more
Tony
Posted by: Tony | Tuesday, 05 August 2008
Thanks yes.
Posted by: kahless | Tuesday, 05 August 2008
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