Article Response by Feng

SS245

Ms. Greco

4/19/2011 Tues.

Response for the article “In High School and Alone in a Homeless Shelter” By Andrew Keh (January 26, 2011)

It is one of the neediest cases on the New York Times. Thakane Masondo, 18, was born in New York City, but she was not brought up by her mother, instead she grew up in South Africa with relatives. Her mother returned her to Harlem and Thakane went to Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem when she was 16. Her mom lived with her for a short period of time but did not trust her own daughter which was very disorienting to Thakane. With nowhere to turn, Thakane ended up in a homeless shelter in Bronx when she was 18. She was the youngest person there and often finished her homework on the hallway floor after the lights had been turned off in the sleeping quarters.

Thakane Masondo's story really struck me. But even more heartbreaking is what she said during that interview. “I kept asking myself, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ ” she said. I think Thakane’s situation is even worse than those orphans. She has a mom who lives close by but she can not get any love from her. The feeling of being discarded by parents must hurts deeply and she kept asking herself why this is happening. I can’t believe the stress and how hard she must struggle to keep herself going to class each day. It’s terrible how some parents can be so heartless to let their children live on the street and not keep in contact with them.

Despite all the problems Thakane is still performing well at school. “She plays lacrosse, belongs to the global history club and is the founder of a dance group that performed at the Apollo Theater. She has a playful sense of humor and a mischievous smile.” With the help from Adulthood program of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, Thakane was able pay for SAT exam and apply for college. It’s inspirational to hear of a student at such a young age who can keep herself afloat with all the problems surrounding her and to find the motivation to get her diploma and who is trying to go to college.

I believe Thakane can achieve her dream of going to college and may even do better than her classmate. But one thing that makes me sad is that most likely there is already a scar in her heart and it will hurt whenever she touches it. Just like what she said at the end of the interview: “I don’t like not liking my mother, but I don’t like her,” she said, her eyes fixed to the floor. “I pray that I like her. I don’t know how I feel about her.” She paused. “Maybe I’m upset,” she continued finally. “I don’t know. No, I don’t think I’m upset. Well, maybe I’m upset.” We can do all the things to help homeless people, but what’s hurting inside is hard to heal for them.

Article Response by Bruno

Photography and Human Condition

HOMELESS ARTICLE

            The article that I read is called “Attacks on the homeless rise, with youths mostly to blame,” by Amy Green.  In the article Amy is talking about how there is a lot of violence going on in the streets with homeless people involved.  But the homeless are not the ones causing the violence, they are being victims of violent acts by people going by. Some people are beating them up, spitting at them and screaming at them for no reason what so ever. But the majority of the violence is being caused by teenagers who are still in high school and is hanging out at night with friends.

            In this article Amy Green shows a story of a teenager, who at the time was 15 years old, attacked a homeless veteran that was in the streets. Warren Messner was with some friends and they beat Michael Roberts and left him on the street to die. Messner was sentenced to 22 years in jail, and now three years after the committed crime he says, “ it was just a senseless crime”,  following with, “ I wish it would have never happened. It made no sense. It was stupidity.” Only speaking to his parents once in a while, Warren with arms filled with gangster tattoos is now claiming he is regretting what he have done.

            In my opinion 22 years is not enough. Michael Roberts will never come back no matter what because of actions taken by teenagers that were trying to smoke marijuana in the streets at night and decided to play with another person’s life. Now after three years in jail Messner confesses to regret all the actions taken that night. But only because he was caught. Who guarantees that he would regret those actions even if he was not caught. He could just go on and live his life normally like nothing had happened.

            Of 147 unprovoked attack on homeless  people in 2007, about 32 were in Florida. Florida has a lot of these attacks on homeless. Other stories mentioned by Amy Green in this article were the ones about the group of kids caught on camera in Fort Lauderdale beating a homeless person with a baseball bat. They went around and beat three homeless that night killing one. Drugs and influence are great factors of this brutal act. Teen agers are going around at night and when they see someone that they think that will not react and nothing will happen to them, they take advantage and do as they will with that person.  “People seem to pick on the most vulnerable because they really think that they won’t do nothing,” said Mr. Siletti who was attacked in the 80s. Teenagers just need to realize that they will also be charged, specially when dealing with such brutality, also understand what is right or wrong, they are not kids anymore.

Article Response by Sonya

S245 Photo

Article Reading (Attack on Homeless Rise, …)

            The article that I read was how the youth of our nation are not educated as well as they should be on the topic of homelessness.  They are attacking unhoused individuals and calling it fun, or like in the article they called it a sport. This is wrong on so many leaves. The boy age 18 who has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for second degree murder the lighter sentence of the four young men.  He said that he regretted doing it and even tried to stop his three friends. The speaker’s bureau in that state has opened a lot more places and they are working with the school system to educate and explain that the biggest population of homeless people is families.  This is due to a group of 10 and 12 year olds attacking a group of homeless people sleeping under a bridge.  One of the 10 year olds picked up a cement block and smashed in one of the man’s heads stated a police officer after viewing the security camera that the kids were caught on. This kind of violence is so wrong and incorrect. What would bring a 10 – 12 year old to drop/throw a rock into another human beings face.  This is why theses states are working with the speakers bureau to educate children in elementary schools all the way into college and higher to show that anyone could end up on the streets. Most people on the streets are well educated people, they are families, and a lot of them served our country and fought for our lives. The main point of this article was to show that not everyone deserves what they get and to treat another human as a toy is not right. Children shouldn’t be going to jail for murder and they shore shouldn’t be beating/killing homeless people. This all goes back to video games, today’s society, and they way we treat teens and young adults. They have way more power and they get it all from the media. But if we use it to show that everyone is the same and they could be the person sleeping under the bridge and getting their face bashed in, that will be when the world will change.

Article Response by Adamis

Life is the most fragile entity I can think of. Anything can happen to anyone at anytime. These events have an impact on regular people that in turn have to deal with it. One thing leads to another, from the loss of a job to an injury and then, where do you go? Family if you have any but if not, then what? The article I read was titled, “Cities Deal with a Surge in Shantytowns” by Jesse McKinley. The article talks about the rise in make shift homes popping up under bridges and such. Issues like the economy and job market are discussed as are initiatives the state of California is implementing to curb the growth of homelessness. What brought warmth to the article were the parts on the individuals and their lives, and the fact that they continue to live as best of lives as they can, regardless of their living conditions.

            The article interviewed a man that had been living in what the media had dubbed Taco Flats. His name was Guillermo Flores and he had been living there for eight months in a three room shack he built himself. He collected cans during the day which brought him five to ten dollars a day. What got me the most was that he took pride in his little home and that all in all, he enjoyed his life. It wasn’t about having the finest of things but rather having something to call his own. Another woman was telling the reporter about her roof and the fact that it didn’t leak. Towards the end of the article I was starting to feel jealousy for the simple lives they have and how fine things can be when you work with what you have.

            Another aspect I really respected about the way of life for the people of the shantytowns was the neighborly atmosphere which was being created throughout. Neighbors got together and shared and traded there goods. They looked out for one another which is really admirable. There was even a division of class as one recalled. There was a “good” part and a “bad” part warning of the drugs and other harms that the bad part was embedded with. What I find most interesting is that people will generally survive with the proper attitude and if they stick together. The shantytown in many ways resembles the beginnings of society, crude resources but a will to live. Slowly but surely the little town gained momentum and began to do well. Just like the lives that filled the towns.  

Speaker Response by Adamis

“He giveth and He taketh, life is cruel that way.” A quote from Jay-Z starts to describe the way I felt when I heard the story of Sheral, a displaced person with a story. But as the story goes on, I wonder to myself, how cruel does the world need to be? How much pain does one need to take, and why? Why did Sheral have to have such a difficult life? It’s not her fault she was sexually abused as a child and that no one ever gave a damn about her to begin with. Yet the stereotypes can’t wait to infiltrate your every thought as you pass by a homeless person on the street. Someone that could be Sheral or the high percentage of abused displaced women that is out there. How did I respond to the story of Sheral once her story was over? I was very angry at the world. Angry at the evil that rests in the hearts of people that find it fitting to take it out on those who have done nothing to deserve it. People that make this world what it has gotten to be like now, cold. Sure there are agencies out there that help but their resources are meek. Insignificant is the word that best describes any problem I have in my life when compared to Sheral’s. All I can do is pray.

            “He giveth and He taketh, life is cruel that way.” The same could be said for my second speaker but in a different way. James was a nice guy that made some mistakes in life that ultimately ruined it. James was born to a very strict and religious mother. When James got older, he got a job out of high school as a roofer which paid well. Like most kids with money, it can prove to be a very destructive thing. And that is exactly what happened. To me, as much as I like James, he had a choice in life which was using drugs, something that ruined him. Sheral on the other hand was taken advantage of as a young child. Two different stories, same product.

Homeless by Adamis

I have it good. Statistically, I have it better than 37 million people in the USA. And that’s not including the love from my family, making me feel even guiltier about an ugly truth. I don’t know what to say about my wealth when hundreds of millions of people around the world have so little. It almost seems unreal until you read the statistics and about the lengths people are going through to make sure that displaced people are being cared for in one way or another.

When you see a displaced person, a stereotype chimes in almost as if it were an emotional self defense mechanism. But when you read about it and hear stories of people going on hunger strikes in the name of humanity, it takes on life in a faceless yet personal way. Personal because when figures of homelessness reach into the multi-million each year, you feel as if there is something you could do about it, certainly someone out there to whom you can write a check to. Unfortunately, those that are writing the laws that help the displaced are few and far between. When I read about Congressman Tony Hall going on a hunger strike in order to stop cuts that would have affected the displaced, I was shocked. To hear someone of that stature taking measures that extreme, is very rare and that is an unfortunate truth.

When evaluating anything, using statistics as a resource allows one to see the matter for what it really is. There is no getting around the fact that there are 100,000 Veterans displaced every night or that 23% of all displaced peoples are children. To not care is to not have a soul. But then again, how does one make a difference. Should you run for president of the USA and change the world for the better or just write a check to the local charity for a few dollars every other year. Life is hard and you just can’t change that. It can be much harder for some than it is for others. For me, I’m going to live life as best as I can and live as a positive role model. Most importantly, I am going to create an atmosphere around me that makes it possible for those that do want to improve their lives, to be able to.

Article Response by Shay

Attacks on the Homeless Rise, With Youths Mostly to Blame

Many Homeless people sleep on the streets every night, and they call the streets home, they faced things in life that brought them into this situation. We cant blame them for being homeless, it wasn’t their decision, no one wants to live like this, But most people don’t understand and crucify them.

People instead of helping them, just walk away and pretend they didn’t see who were sleeping on the street, and that’s not the worse thing people do, they treat homeless like they are not humans. Some of them hurt and kill homeless without thinking they are people just like us.

Warren Messner was 15 years old when he stabbed a homeless to death with a group of friends. Now he is facing 22 years in prison, he knows was stupid what he had done and he regret so much, other youth are in prison for the same reason and all of them regret. I think we can call this a stupid unthinkable crime, committed by young people who has no sense of what they are doing.

In America homeless being hurt by teenager happen all the time. There are many cases of young guys and girls messing with homeless, it starts joking, punching and than without any way to defend they die. It is very sad because those young teenager will lose their lives also, having to face prison for committing a crime which started as such a stupid joke.

Who to blame in those situation? Young teenager at the age 10 they don’t know what they are doing, well parents should have taught them how to treat others better. Schools should teach them that there are other people out there that deserve to be respect even if we are In a situation better than them and instead of abandoning and hurting them people should help.

Attacks are increasing every year, and most of them are in Florida. Schools are creating programs to keep students informed of how it is life for homeless, to teach them homeless are humans just like us, there is no difference between us and not having a house can happen with anyone.

__________________________________________________________________

Cite:

Attacks on the Homeless Rise, With Youths Mostly to Blame

By AMY GREEN

Published: February 15, 2008

Photos by Feng

Home is a very warm word for me. I can not imagine how people can live without a home. That’s why I have great sympathy for homeless people. I sometimes give people who were asking for changes some money but not all the times because there are so many of them, and of course some of them are homeless people. When I read the “living my Uncle’s Story” by a student participant of NCH’s Homeless Challenge program on Bring America Home blog, I was touched by what homeless people see and feel: “We searched for caring eyes, but instead found averted eyes. We went crazy. And we became sane. We found the meaning to life, the importance of friendship, the power of money, and the makeup of happiness. We transformed.” (Bring America Home blog) Yes, that’s what I did sometimes, because I can not always help them, I turned my head away.

Somebody says that it is their choice to be homeless. I totally disagree with it. I do not think people would prefer to be homeless, at least not all of them. People who are homeless struggle with trying to survive, from eating three meals a day to staying warm or even remaining safe. My wife worked at homeless shelter to provide basic eye care for homeless people. She said most of them are very kind; they really respect doctors and appreciate the help and care they got. There were lots of reasons that made them homeless. Some of them was in prison before and could not find a job afterward, while some others have physical reasons. Lots of them are depressed or has mental problems.

I think in Massachusetts, homeless people are treated better than other places in the states because of the Mass Health program and lots of homeless shelters provided. In these shelters, homeless people not only get place to sleep and eat, but also learn some skills to find a job if possible. I think that’s exactly the right way to take care of homeless people. They also have dignity, and they should get help to build their confidence to support themselves.

Bibliography

“Living my Uncle’s Story” (Bring America Home blog) (March 9, 2011)

Photos by Richard

Today our assignment is to think about what kind of picture we going to take based on the guy we interview a few class back. I have attacked this assignment in many different ways and nothing seems to work. I have spent hours of my time around Boston trying to take good photos of the homeless. I didn’t want to take photos of graffiti or anything like that because I feel like being homeless is deeper than that. In this assignment I was thinking about taking a picture with a key in the doors, a key in door to represent a since of value to the guy that group 4 interviews. Having a place one can go to is a way of being free.

The second photo I have posted a picture with a key in the door with a bottle of Heinekens on the floor. I took some picture of a bathroom because when my guy had nowhere to go he would spend hours in the bathroom catching some rest. I wanted to fit as much thing as possible into 2 large trash bags and see how much can I carry with me. At first they seem light then later on I had to remove some more items to make the bags lighter. I can’t imagine carry all my stuff with me for a day never minds a few decades. well The guy that I interview  carry his this with him for about 45 years.

Photos by Shay

Working with homeless it’s not as simple as I thought. There are many things that people don’t know about them, how they live, how they eat  and many other questions that each one of them. Differences make up the homeless people but in a certain way they are all the same. I’m learning a lot from this subject either researching online or going out there on the streets trying to look for them. By taking pictures and looking for places where they live or where they spend their time, what they do it’s the hardest thing, not because it’s hard to find the places but because there is always someone looking at me, and wondering what I’m doing, or when you find a homeless they will give me a dirty look.

            Behind the building I work there is a shelter, and every day in the afternoon I see a lot of homeless walking down the streets and standings in front of the store. So I decided to go there to try to take some pictures, but what I found interesting is I thought it would be easy to take pictures of them all in one place, but I got scared most of them were drunk and smoking and  giving me a dirty look. So I decided to ask them if it is possible to take a photo of them for my project instead of just taking a photo without their permission. The guys said it was ok so I end it up taking a lot of pictures but the women didn’t want to do it and walked away. One of them told me about his life, I felt bad he lost his family in a car accident and started drinking and end up losing everything he had. He was drunk and before he talked to me I was thinking bad things about him, but right after I felt bad.

            Walking at back bay I found a lot of dirt places which brought me to think that homeless stayed there, so I took pictures of that too. On my way to back bay station I always see at least one person sitting or laying down in the entrance, so I figured I would take a picture of that also.

            I’m founding really hard to relate the pictures I’m taking with Victor’s story. Since the hardest part of him being homeless was having to deal with his health problem, everything was really inside of his head. Hopefully I will be able to find more places that I can show his life.

Photos by Tony

Photography and the Human Condition

April 11, 2011

            For this particular project I will be taking photographs to in way represent what homelessness is like. We had the great opportunity to meet up with former or in the process of rehabilitating unhoused individuals. I will be taking pictures of the process an unhoused individual goes through as they become homeless and throughout their homelessness and also the process of them stepping up and getting back up on their feet. Victor’s story is very interesting. Unlike many other unhoused individual, victor became homeless due to a rare disease. He suffers from paranoia and depression.

He is unable to trust people because of it affecting him. I plan on capturing photographs that would represent a person with doubt. Maybe edit my photos so that in a way they look kind of blurry to represent the doubt he has when interacting with people. He also mentioned that he had a family before being diagnosed and becoming homeless. He started going for drugs and alcohol to get away from society, I will be taking photos of liquor stores and abandon building because he mentioned he would hang out in front of liquor stores and would sleep in abandon buildings. He was never much of a begger like other unhoused individuals, he would stand in line at shelters and donation places like the salvation army, so I think I would capture more pictures of places like that more than taking picture of homeless people on the streets begging for money because in his case he would try and get away from people so he would hide himself. I think best way of representing his story would be taking pictures of dark allies and hiding places.

 He talked a lot about his son, so I plan on taking photos of a father and a son to show the appreciation he has for his son. Now that he is in the process of becoming housed, he does not want to rush into his and his son’s relationship so a photo that represents that would be very intriguing

Photos by Will

Photography

4/13/11

                                                Response to Photos

            The photo was actually hard to take because I took a lot of things into consideration. It is extremely hard to capture an experience, or multiple experiences through one photo. This was also difficult because I learned a lot through the interview so I didn’t know which experience to try to symbolize. I felt like there are so many things I can capture so I was in a tight spot. The first thing I tried to take note of was how to best capture the emotion of the homeless guy`s story.

            I felt as if I couldn’t capture the emotion of the setting in the daytime, so I waited until it was dark out to make the photo. The angle and the whole arrangement of the photo was thought because I knew I would have to get some type of lighting to make the subject of my photo look somewhat visible.

            At first I didn’t know what I would want to capture because I already had a location in mind. There was a small door near my building that belongs to the Housing department. Besides that door there is a staircase, and on the floor there is a lot of trash. I feel like this symbolizes homelessness the best. The dirtiness would symbolize all the mistakes that a homeless person makes in life and the door is the gateway to the new life that they were meant to live.

Photos by Hadiatou

SS 245-Photography and the Human Condition

Instructor: Ms. Greco

April 14, 2011

                                                        Progress on Photos

Our project on homelessness is a little bit challenging than I expected. The most challenging part of this project for me is trying to find something to photograph that relates to the subject. Trying to combining the speaks idea and my has been also a challenge. So I just been focusing on taking a photos of unhoused people instead of trying to capture the concept of the speakers story; But the photos are not as good as I would want them to be at this point. My photos on un housed people are taking intentionally with expressive emotion. I have not been taking a direct approach because I feel like the photo is not coming out as strong as I would want it to be. So I’ve changed up my approach from direct to behind or sideway my subject.

Some of my successes so far, I would have to say is the setting because it allows me to me to tell a story through my images and send massages to my views. I have also been trying to look out for what I learned from the beginning of this course. Before I take a photo of anything, I always make sure I’m aware of the my lighting, framing, shapes and lines that surrounding my subject. This helps photographs come out strong and have texture.

One of my goals by the end of this assignment is to get a good image of something tangible that an unhoused person holds closely to their heart. Like for example a picture of a love one, or any type of jewels. My second goal is to try to combine the feed back that I got from speakers, the ideas from their stories, and off course with my ideas as well.

Photos by James

SS 245

Photography

April 12, 2011

                There were quite some challenges for capturing anything that is related to the subject; homelessness. I tried to combine what Tony, the speaker from last week who was open to tell us his story on homelessness, into photographs. Pretty much, Tony was raised by a father who ruled the household with his “iron-fist”, as Tony would describe it. He then became rebellious and decided to go the other way that his father wants him to be. He was traveler and dealt with drug usage and drug dealing (he dealt with cocaine). Not only he was dealing but he was his own favorite customer as well. Because of the things he was doing, he tend to travel from state to state to avoid all the trouble he has gone through. He told us he got shot before as well at stabbed. What got him going through was his kids and God Himself (even though he went on and off about his religious beliefs).

                The hard part of this project is capturing the concept of his story such as a photograph representing the on-and-off beliefs of God and his usage of cocaine. SO I came up with a scene I saw around in Boston. It was an alley way and it look pretty sketchy. My first thought was that people would think alleyways are a typical place where homeless people would sleep in. I also thought that it’s where people can deal their drugs. I also have another picture of railroad tracks since Tony was a traveler and the train tracks represent his traveling during his story.

                I am still trying to come up with photography ideas for this story and perhaps mixing it with other ideas of homelessness with multiple meanings, such as the photo of the alleyway that I took. Otherwise, as challenging as this project is, I’m enjoying the challenge to better my ideas for this project.

Photos by Chauncy

SS245

Photography and the Human Condition

            During the time where we had to find photos that would best capture the whole concept of homelessness, I always knew where I wanted to go to get what I wanted. It seems that when you walk around you always see homeless people everywhere. Today was just not that day for some strange reason. It was really cool outside so it seems as if they all found a new place to settle them. I really didn’t want to take photos of the people, but I wanted to take pictures of the place to show the point of view of how a person with no home would see things. Every place that I usually walk by and see people things was displaced and wasn’t there. It was kind of harder than I made it seem. Things like this would take more time and thought in finding what I want people to see from this photo. I then just started to take snap shoots of random places that I would think a person would find shelter to sleep. There was once a group of homeless people in front of the seven eleven in Copley square, but I didn’t really want to capture a photo with people in it. I did get a couple of shoots that I could use and play with to show the contrast of the photo. There were problems with people getting in my photos and I would find myself taking shots over and over again. Everything wasn’t going my way. I just remembered what the speaker we had to say and just thought about things he told us. We really don’t know who is really homeless, but we had to capture something that could give off the impression of a not as obvious picture of a homeless person or bed.

Response to Speakers by Chauncy

The experience that I took from the speakers was very powerful. I know that every person has their own reason in why they are homeless. Dan the speaker who was assign to our group told us about how he grew up and help his mom out and was called a momma boy it. He would always get into trouble doing stupid things with his friends. He would later get caught and was put into a federal prison. He would later get out and meet a woman that would change his life. They got married and had to kids. Times were good until they had to separate. He started to drugs to cope with the pain. Over time when a person starts to drugs he will do anything and everything to get it. He was homeless for about 13yrs until losing his toe he came to realization what more would it take from to lose in order to stop what his was doing. He later got help and has been living in a home for a few months now. I found his story to be very insightful and I understood a lot of what he wa going through. I have a person who I know who is going through the same kind of thing. Many homeless people don’t make it a choice to become homeless, it sometimes just happens. There are others who could found a way tp stop it but just didn’t want to. There are a lot of people in the world that when you look at them that they are homeless. It could be cause of their parents. I feel that I have taken a lot in from the speaker Dan and I would like to learn more and spend a day with him to see what goes on in his world.

Response to Speakers by Richard

In group 4 we interviewed a guy name Dan, he is now 65 years old and currently living in Boston Ma. He is not homeless now, Dan spend most of his life un housed rather the being housed. Un housed means that a person is homeless. Being homeless is like being at the bottom of the barrel in society. Dan spends most of his time walking around and trying to gather money to support his habits and to get food. With Dan he was not a social person so he spent most of his days avoiding the other people that are around him. Dan had a wife but he is now divorced and living alone.

Homeless shelters that Dan stayed at were horrible, at least the way he explained it was. He had to live in a place with over 70 different men. Shelters use a lottery system to pick an individual’s to stay for the night. Hundreds of homeless people go to shelters to find a place to sleep also Homeless people are classified as unhoused people. The reason why they call them unhoused is because the only different between them and us is that they don’t have a house to go to.  Dan is from Roxbury ma as a teenager he explains how much responsibility he had growing up. He explains how his mother was always pregnant he was the oldest stuck doing most of the work.  So when Dan got older he started hanging out in downtown older people and did what those older people did so he turned to heavy drugs.

Dan struggled with a substance abuse problem, years after years he watches himself drag himself in deeper with the drugs. Because he was lacking money he got into stealing from other people and breaking and entering into homes. He lived a life of being in and out of jail He would sober up, live in jail and relapse all over again. In Dan’s eyes his future was  living in jail and being homeless so he always got involved with the same crowd. Dan knows when he was doing well he would be clean. Different watch every day was a sign that he was doing bad. Family never said no to Dan but it always came with a price, Dan hated that. Family will always say I will help you if? Because there was always a if so he never really ask them for help.

Homeless by Edwin

 Being homeless is like not having any security around you. It is a mix of feelings of loneliness, fear, and insecurity to many. For years homelessness has been a problem here. In the city, you can find either children in boxes with their mother or an old man with a dirty cup begging for change with hope of survival. There have been numerous reasons why many have ended up homeless as well which sometimes they cannot prevent.

     Natural disasters like hurricanes or tsunamis have become one of the main problems and causes of homelessness. People have lost their homes and sometimes even loved ones because of these natural disasters. Another cause is domestic violence that has led many to running away from home with no other place to go. Health insurance is also another leading cause because many have put their own health 1st before bills which is very understanding but is a very difficult decision to make. Not being able to afford houses as well is a huge problem which can lead to the loss of their house. These situations can happen to anybody no matter how secure you believe you are.

     These statistics prove that anyone, even a millionaire and with lawyers can become homeless very easily. It is a very hard issue to overcome for many and it is an issue that is feared by many. But thankfully there are shelters and programs out there that are willing to take this issue into their hands and give hope to those who have lost so much.

Response to Speakers by Edwin

On Tuesday, a few people from a shelter volunteered to come to our class to be interviewed by the students of photography class. What I had expected to hear was basically the lives of these people as they grew up homeless, how they got to that situation, and how they came out of it. I knew it was going to be an interesting day.

     On Tuesday, three people came along with an extra person who came a little bit after as well as two people who work for the shelter. They introduced themselves and explained what they do for these people. Basically no matter what the situation may be, they will not deny any help to anybody coming in for help. It was very interesting to hear some of the background of the shelter. After awhile, the students were put into groups of four with one of the four volunteers and discussed the topic about being homeless by sharing experiences, comments and questions. For our group it became very interesting.

     The individual that we were having a conversation with shared his experience. It was about someone changing and picking the “easy” life which then led him to trouble. After awhile his children was born, he started to become a different person and began top see things differently leading to a great job and a great father-son/daughter relationship. I found it interesting because the one thing that caused him to start making bad decisions was his experience of his mother and father divorced, living with his step-father who he felt hatred for. Then once he found drugs as “easy money” he chose the path of destruction that lead him to homelessness. But there was one thing that he said that I absolutely loved. He said that after awhile of realizing what he was doing wrong, he said “When I take one step, God is taking two steps with me.”

     Simply put it was a great experience for everyone I'm sure and hearing these different opinions as well as experiences was very interesting.

Response to Speakers by Shay

When I thought about homeless people before I used to think how is it possible this is America there is job everywhere, but the truth is we never know what is behind those people on the street, we judge before even knowing how they got in this situation.

Today in class felt like crying, I was so touched by hearing the speaker's story, I wanted to know more and more, I wanted to ask him all the questions I wanted to be part of his life for a second, go back in the past and help him out. I wanted to get up and hear each one of them telling about their lives. After realizing that being homeless is not being lazy and don’t want to work but there is a lot behind those people that don’t have a house.

I can’t even imagine myself going through this, but I know it can happen to anyone. It’s so sad to think people don’t have a place to sleep, to get warm when it’s cold, a place to take a bath, and most of the time they don’t have what to eat what to drink, and what really made me concern is at some point they don’t have a friend, or family to stand up for them and help them out, give them another chance to start over. Most of them that got help were by some stranger that offered to help.

I think the society should help more and more and stop thinking bad about homeless and start helping those people and give them a chance to live again.

Response to Speakers by Feng

 Today some volunteers  visited our school and some of them were homeless before. They told us real stories of being homeless. A man came to our group and we interviewed him. He was grown up in a Christian household with strict and religious parents. He became rebellious and got addictive to drug which kept him away from saving money to afford housing so he became homeless. He bounced around from shelter to shelter or even on the streets because being drug addictive kept him away from a good shelter. Later he was referred to a detox program by a friend who had already been going through it. Another story was about young woman.  She had a miserable childhood: she was sexually abused by her stepfather. Later when she was 13 she run away to New York and met a man who became her pimp. The man made her addictive to heroin. After went through all these misfortune she became homeless and started to sleep under Bridges. Thanks to Pine Street Inn and what program has done for her, she has changed her life completely now. She is part of the homelessness speakers' Bureau and tells people about her experience. I feel I am so lucky to have all the things I have now and no longer take things for granted after hearing these stories. We often want to have more money, bigger house and better car. Actually we should cherish what we have now especially our families and friends. Lots of homeless people went through things that we could not imagine. We should try to help them instead of ignoring them.

Response to Speakers by Hadiatou

SS 245-Photography and the Human Condition

Instructor: Ms. Greco

April 7, 2011

Today a group of former unhouse people came by to tell us about their lives in the street. first my group and I met an amazing woman named Sheral. because Sheral couldn't be with us, one of the staffs that works at the organization decided to read up her story. Sheral Begin telling us the sexual abuse that she endure by her stepfather where she lived with him. while this was going on at home, one of her neighbors asked Sheral’s mother if Sheral can baby-sit for them while they went to work, but that was just a cover up so Sheral can go over his house so they can have sex. when her mother found out about the affair, Sheral was grounded by her mother that summer. at the age of thirteen she ran away to New York and met a man which became her pimp. she traveled all over the state with him selling sex, and making money her man/pimp and he also got her addicted to heroine . after being a prostitute for so long she decided to move back to Boston living in with friends. she was allow to stay with them as long as she supported their habits. As ironic as this might sound to many of you, Sheral started to get tire of supporting other peoples drug habits and moved out. she started to sleep under Bridges. thanks to pine street and what program has done for her she has changed her life completely around and she's trying to build a relationship with her three a strange sons.

Sheral is now sixty three years old she part of the faces of homelessness speakers' Bureau. she goes around speaking events and shares days of being homeless and how she got to that point. I think that’s important for Sheral to tell story to the world because she she's educating other what it means to be un house and she's also teaching us not to give up on people with addiction.

one of the things that stock with me when i left, when one of the former unhouse speaker said even if you see a bagger with nice shoes or clothes, don't jump to conclusion thinking that they bought those things themselves because they might of got that as donation from the shelter.

I'm very excited with my progress on with our project on Faces of Homelessness Speakers. Thanks to the speakers sharing their stories, the way that I use to view homeless people have change. First in foremost I don refer some living in the street as homeless, I simply recognize the as unhoused people. Before my knowledge on the leading causes of homelessness I though the biggest leading cause was substance abuse. Because of my ignorance I use to judge them and worst of all I use to say the most ignorant things about them. There were times that I didn't even spare them some change because I convince myself that they would use that money to buy drugs. Now I truly believe the reason why a lot of individual and families is unhouse is because not having some place to call their own, to simply call home. Not having that front door key so you can open and shut out the world and have your own privacy and space. Which most of us are fortunate enough to have a home to call ours.

My old ways of thinking inspired me to photograph un house people sleeping on the streets or just standing around the train station. Even with the weather getting nicer I've not been lucky on getting the images out of my head into a photo. One of the speakers from last Tuesday gave me a great idea on taking photos of tangible things that unhouse people own.

Response to Speakers by Brian

4/5/11

Photography and the Human Condition

            Tuesday’s interviews with the former homeless people really affected me in a positive way.  It made me take a step back and analyze myself and some of the things in life that I take for granted, from my own house to jobs that I have had in the past.  Though this is the land of the free, being homeless can easily strip you of your freedom to do as you please.  The guy my group and I interviewed whose name is James, explained to us his story fighting and dealing with not only homelessness but drug addiction.  Growing up in a Christian household being the oldest of 2 children with strict and religious parents, he naturally became rebellious and started doing his own thing.  Although he was a roofer out of high school, his drug addiction kept him away from saving money to afford housing so he bounced around from shelter to shelter either a family members or on the streets.  For his situation the drug addiction kept him out of reach of a decent shelter, although by choice the fact that he was without a home is very chilling. During his run on the streets with his habit, he was referred to a detox program by a friend who had already been going through it.  He had left us with a quote that will probably stick with me for the rest of my life; “Never look down on someone because you never know who you’ll have to look up to”.  Speaking to him about his experiences really motivated me to work harder in school and to not look down upon all homeless people because not all of them are in their situation by choice, some due to circumstances out of their control. 

Speakers' Bureau Photos

Pictures from our class visit. Thank you to AmeriCorps VISTA Jackie Hodgson, Charlotte Sida, and Porsha Olayiwola for working with me to coordinating the event and bringing the speakers to BFIT! We look forward to having you return next week to help with the photographs and commentary. We are excited to get to work, and hope to be able to capture your experiences through our lenses. - Prof. Greco

Homeless by Derek

Every time I think of word homeless, I imagine a person who has no home and nowhere to go. But the truth of the matter is there is so much more to it than just that. On Tuesday in my photography class we had speakers of the homeless come talk to our class about the experiences they go through on a daily basis and explain how they got there. Some the speakers themselves were once homeless. So they know and gave us stories of what being homeless was like.

            One the speakers told us about his experience about how he became homeless. He told us he had grown up in a strict and very religious household so when he was of age he took his opportunity to go out and explore the world. He worked as a roofer and through that and his former coworkers he got into drugs. Eventually he lost his job but he felt he needed to support his drug habit so he got into theft. When the police caught up with him he was in and out of jail. Then one day when he was out of jail he had run into a friend who took him to rehab. For him the rehab had worked and through the program he was able to find work. He had found himself a job and is now living a clean life and couldn’t be happier.

            In hearing these stories I learned that when you’re homeless it’s not necessarily a choice. Some people could end up in string of bad luck like drugs or alcohol with no one to turn to. But when you hit rock bottom that’s when God could shine a light on you in the form of a total stranger. Its not always guaranteed to work but more often than not it’s a beginning.

Response to Speakers by James

On Tuesday, April 5, 2011, a group of who used to be called homeless decided to visit us that day to talk about their experiences when they were unhoused (homeless). They volunteered to tell their stories to us. One guy who we interviewed was name Tony. His background was raised by a very strict family (mostly his father who was strict). He described his father’s power as the man who ruled the household with his iron fist. Because of his father’s power, he became rebellious and decided to go the other way than the way his father wants him to be in.

            He then started to hang out with the wrong people, started to sell drugs as a drug dealer, later developed becoming his own customer. He then started to get into his own troubles. He was shot, stabbed and got into fights based on his drug dealing. He was a traveler. He would only travel to avoid from the troubles (he travel from state-to state so he never really got a home from time to time.

            Although, he does has children, 5 kids: one daughter, 4 sons. He has no idea where is daughter is but his 3 sons means the world to him. His 4th son is something though. He is pretty much going through the same path as his father was going through. Also, throughout his out his rough journey, his sons kept him alive along with God. He strongly believed in him, even though he was on and off towards him but it’s what kept him going. Now he loves life, even though he looks back and wish he could fix his past.

"Nowhere To Go" I took this photo because most people would stereotypically think the homeless would live in alleys and streets. But where would you go if you had nowhere to go?

Homeless by Brian

4/5/11

Photography and the Human Condition

            Usually when people think of the homeless a lot of ignorant remarks are made as to why they are in the position they’re in. When you do the research on it, it really opens your eyes to the reality of it and makes you reevaluate your situation in life.  Homeless people lack what we take for granted on an everyday basis, and a lot of people do not realize it because they’re not in the same state in life.  Homelessness is caused by a number of things, from drug addiction, to sheer laziness, some homeless people are war veterans who came back from war and weren’t provided with the substantial amount of help to get them back on track so they ended without a place to stay.  Some folks go through a lot of financial hardship that subsequently led to their homelessness, while others just don’t have the money to acquire affordable housing.  To imagine that some children have to endure such living circumstances is also very unsettling as well, surprisingly 41% of the homeless population is comprised of families with children which is very disturbing.  Some of the leading causes of homelessness in this country are, a lack of health care because if a person gets into an accident and needs medical assistance the bill is usually an astronomical amount of money, and some will sacrifice rent or mortgage to pay that thus leading to them being homeless.  Another leading cause of homelessness is domestic violence.  Women who are a part of an abusive relationship will leave it and turn to living on the streets to avoid the abuse. 63% of the women who are homeless have all experienced domestic violence in their lives, from either verbal or physical.  For some, drug addiction is the cause of their homelessness.  Some will choose their drug of choice over rent or mortgage due to the need to be appeased of stresses the deal with on a day to day basis.  For others who are already homeless due to other reasons and factors develop a drug problem, thus making the process of getting out of their situation harder for themselves, but at the same time coping with the fact that they’re without shelter.

Homeless by Richard

There are millions of homeless in America and more millions worldwide there are many ways that people became homeless. Homeless is cause by people lacking in responsibility. People can become homeless because they lose their job or eviction or loss of family. When they are homeless “they mean nothing to us” so some say.  They become invisible to much in society. Many violent crimes are and have been committed against and by the homeless. Many homeless keep all their possessions with them because they have no access to storage or close family.

Can you imagine being homeless, the days go by just walking around not earning any type of pay. Not accomplishing anything, or taking the time out of an empty day to fill out an application knowing you will not be employed. Endless days of and cold night nights are the future for the homeless.  Homeless people experience the city in different ways They see almost everything that happens on the streets .They’re many different types of homeless people like the "bag" people, the shopping cart people, and the home-style soda can collectors who sort through garbage to find items to sell, trade and eat.The homeless have to carry all of their possessions with them all the time because they have no place to store them.

Because they don’t have access to shelter it’s almost impossible to find bathing or access to toilets and laundry facilities, so their hygiene is terrible. Most of society doesn’t care for the homeless but some say it’s because of their actions why they ended up that way so who cares. It’s messed up that people have to live like this  at the bottom under the bottom that’s why you have to work hard to achieve certain things in life.

Homeless by Sonya

4/4/2011

S S 245

                In the world today there are many deferent circumstances that lead to homelessness.  But when narrowing it down to a certain area such as America. There are more people in today’s society that have no homes and live on the street or in shelters. We mask it and say that America has an opportunity for everyone to prosper. But why make it so hard to do so. There so many reasons for people to be homeless.

            One is rent prices in today’s economy. for landlords to keep their houses and not lose them they raise rent. Then the tenant is out of luck and cant afford to live there forcing them to the street. People are committing arson to collect insurance money, but this forces them to the streets as well. Think about it there is a flat piece of land around every corner were there used to stand a house.

            The economy is sinking and sinking fast the lack of jobs is making it hard to live. People how would live in their car can’t afford to put gas in it because the gas prices are almost at $4.00 dollars.  This forces them to sell their cars and go to a shelter where there is barley any room.

             Then you think about the tornados and earthquakes , all natural disasters. That take towns cities, lives, homes, and cars. These event ruin everything and people take forever to recover and restore their lives. Some families never do and they move to other states or countries.  Some never find new jobs and become homeless and their families are dragged to the same.