A Journey of Struggle, Compassion, and Planning
Growing up I saw a short film called The Shopping Bag Lady. It told the heart wrenching story of a homeless woman and how one girl, sho at first mocks her, learns to have compassion for her. We saw this several times in grade school and usually ended with a few children with teary eyes. While some people may think this was a liberal propaganda tool, I remind them that this was shown in conservative Arizona schools, so…
How do we solve a problem that most of us would rather just disappear? How do we tackle an issue as complex and diverse as the people that suffer through it? That is what I am diving deep into this year.
As some who follow me may know, I am working on my masters in Futures Studies at the University of Houston, and I have chosen this topic as my semester project. I also serve as the chair of the Downtown Management Corporation in Santa Cruz California and see the effects of homelessness first hand.
So buckle up dear readers, I am going to take you along my journey each week as I look at this very human issue in our communities and what possible futures may look like.
I will share links, opinions, city plans, and some stories of those in the thick of things. I would also love to hear your stories and opinions about homelessness. It is time that we don’t look away and we face this issue with thoughtfulness and new ideas to create our preferred futures.
So I will leave you this week with this story form Helsinki about a city that provides homes to people unconditionally: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness
