Survey question: WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO READ IF YOU WERE/ARE HOMELESS?
Last week at work I met the city's new Homelessness & Vulnerable Liaison officer--a good guy who hands out water and shoes and stuff. I asked him if the people he meets want something to read. (I remember how BORED I was walking for weeks on pilgrimage--I even tried to read a book in French
--AND I DON"T READ FRENCH!)
Anyway, he said, "Probably! I'll start asking around."
I decided I could start asking around myself.
An hour ago I was walking downtown---it's Farmers Market Day on the mall downtown--and I saw a couple young women signing for $, and one of them was reading a book!
I was so excited to stop and ask them my question:
if they thought other folks living out/rough (they were "just passing through"--you know, with a dog and backpacks) would like free books?
"YES!!!" they both said. "A lot of people out here are really smart because they're always reading," they said. "There's a lot of time..."
What would people like to read? I asked.
"Philosophy," they said. "One guy we know reads Nietszche."
And one of them read out the name of the book she was reading--she'd bought it at Salvation Army:
The Freedom Manifesto: How to Free Yourself from Anxiety, Fear, Mortgages, Money, Guilt, Debt, Government, Boredom, Supermarkets, Bills, Melancholy, Pain, Depression, Work, and Waste.
I laughed. "So, like, books about . . . everything," I said.
.
They laughed too. "Yeah! But fiction too..."
My answer:Maybe a Charles Dickens novel--he's NOT my favorite author, actually, but he constructs long, involving plots, good for reading aloud--the setting is distant enough in time to add interest, but the human types are familiar--and his annoying flaws (some ridiculous or disturbing caricatures) would make for good conversations.
Last week at work I met the city's new Homelessness & Vulnerable Liaison officer--a good guy who hands out water and shoes and stuff. I asked him if the people he meets want something to read. (I remember how BORED I was walking for weeks on pilgrimage--I even tried to read a book in French
--AND I DON"T READ FRENCH!)
Anyway, he said, "Probably! I'll start asking around."
I decided I could start asking around myself.
An hour ago I was walking downtown---it's Farmers Market Day on the mall downtown--and I saw a couple young women signing for $, and one of them was reading a book!
I was so excited to stop and ask them my question:
if they thought other folks living out/rough (they were "just passing through"--you know, with a dog and backpacks) would like free books?
"YES!!!" they both said. "A lot of people out here are really smart because they're always reading," they said. "There's a lot of time..."
What would people like to read? I asked.
"Philosophy," they said. "One guy we know reads Nietszche."
And one of them read out the name of the book she was reading--she'd bought it at Salvation Army:
The Freedom Manifesto: How to Free Yourself from Anxiety, Fear, Mortgages, Money, Guilt, Debt, Government, Boredom, Supermarkets, Bills, Melancholy, Pain, Depression, Work, and Waste.
I laughed. "So, like, books about . . . everything," I said.
.
They laughed too. "Yeah! But fiction too..."
My answer:Maybe a Charles Dickens novel--he's NOT my favorite author, actually, but he constructs long, involving plots, good for reading aloud--the setting is distant enough in time to add interest, but the human types are familiar--and his annoying flaws (some ridiculous or disturbing caricatures) would make for good conversations.
