On November 8th, 2010, I was interviewed by a student doing a study on homelessness and social media. She found my story interesting, and offered to sit down with me for about 90 minutes to delve further into what I’m doing, and how I’m doing it via social media.
One of the questions asked of me was, “What do you think about the idea of encouraging homeless people to get online?”. This question was asked in reference to what Mark Horvath is doing with We Are Visible of http://wearevisible.com. It’s a website that is very easy to navigate, and is geared towards homeless people, teaching them how to get in touch with the online world. I strongly encourage you to check out the website, homeless or not, to see what a great idea this is.
Back on topic, I responded to the above question with this:
I think it makes sense, it’s an easy way to bring a smile to their faces. It may not be immediate, but even myself, I’m flattered that anyone reads my blog, or follows me, or befriends me on Facebook. I think it’s good to show [homeless people] the capabilities of the internet, shoot there’s jobs online too! It just makes sense to me.
Man, what a great way to get homeless people off the streets and employed – just give them a laptop. [The] government wouldn’t do that though, makes too much sense.
Today this idea popped in my head again. If every homeless person had a laptop with internet access, it would literally change the status quo overnight. Think about it.
UPDATE - Check out “No Box Blogs” Project – 30 Free Blogs for Homeless!
Real talk man, if you go to any European country, you won’t see the homeless thing to the extent that you see it in the states. It’s sad because the American Government really doesn’t care and it’s even more saddening of how they treat those people here. It seems as though the quality of life is higher in European countries and that they care more.
I will admit, some who are homeless really don’t have an excuse other than laziness, but more often than not it’s for particular, deafening reasons: disability, monetary, race, etc etc. But more and more these days, you’re seeing people like yourself doing it.
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