Friday, May 27, 2011

The comments are the thing

Do you all remember the story about the homeless young woman who got an internship at Elle? She's got a story that's pretty universal as far as homeless folks go; had a job, lost a job, had a crappy family and friends in the same boat she was. Ends up living in a trailer in a Wal-Mart parking lot (since we don't have a Wal-Mart in the city, trailer folks park under I-5 near Greenlake. Last time I was over there I saw 10 to 15 trailers parked on the side of the road.) And now she's coming out with a book, "The Girl's Guide to Homelessness". Good for her, too bad the tiny advance is already spent.

But it's the comments that show the various reactions we have to abject domestic poverty. There's the "can't be as bad off as she says, she has a laptop" and the suggestion to become an escort (I've gotten that suggestion in comments before too- thankfully I have a mighty ban hammer). Bootstraps! Spoiled Brat! You all know these lines.

But there's also a lot of "damn government giving our money to banks instead of to the people". Damn government indeed.

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