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The Shirky Principle And Homelessness

on July 23, 2018

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Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money -- a.k.a. "FU, Money"

While I was homeless, I had a descriptor in my profile on some forum that I was "Independently Poor." That was more than just tongue-in-cheek humor. Although I was homeless, I had alimony and I was doing freelance work and I had a degree of agency that you rarely see among poor people. I was able to arrange my life to prioritize taking care of my health in part by doing gig work (and this post is being written expressly for r/GigWorks , a forum I run). In other words, I had a degree of independence and agency that you normally only see in the Jet Set -- people who get called independently wealthy -- or comfortably well-off retirees. I had more control over my time and my life than your typical working stiff. I was able to get to that point in part because I'm pretty financially savvy. I think anyone can get to that same place mentally and logistically, even if you don't currently have much money. A lot of it has to do with feeding your mind the right stuff in ...

This is Real. That's Not.

We all grow up in our own little bubble. Getting perspective on ourselves and/or our own lives is one of the harder things to do in life. I've always liked the following scene from the movie Overboard (1987), but it took on new meaning for me after I was homeless: Most of us go through life...knowing only that one little station to which we were born... you...have had the rare privilege of escaping your bonds for just a spell... I was on the street about a year before it dawned on me how upper class my mother's expectations were. It took even longer for me to begin to comprehend how well off my parents had actually been at one time. While I was growing up, my parents always conveyed this narrative of "We are just plain folks with blue collar jobs." I was a child, so I believed what I was told and it took a stint "on skid row" to get a clue that this wasn't the whole story. I actively and intentionally used my time on the street as a me...

A Twist on the Spoon Theory

"It's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife." -- Ironic, by Alanis Morissette. You might already be familiar with The Spoon Theory , especially if you are living with a disability. It's about the need to pick and choose how much you can do in a given day when living with a serious medical condition. A lot of homeless people are on the street in part because they have a serious medical or mental health issue. Plus, being homeless comes with other built in challenges to activities of daily living. You may not have access to a shower. You may need to stand in line for an hour or more at a soup kitchen to get a free meal. You routinely face prejudice and may get thrown out of places simply for being homeless, sometimes while they claim you trashed the bathroom when it was really someone else who did so. Just getting through the day -- keeping yourself fed, attending to essential hygiene needs and other basic survival needs -- can take all your ...

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