May 8, 2008
Home Sweet Homelessness
Photo of NinjaX, by NinjaX, courtesy of NinjaX.
Four days ago, a kid who calls himself NinjaX (real name? We don't care) set out to face hunger, "brutal weathers" (that mid-May zephyr can be vicious!), and "the risk of getting robbed/stabbed/raped/killed" (in that order, presumably). What does that spell? Homelessness! Or rather, NinjaX's Official Seven Day Homeless Adventure: "Stay tuned for lols."
With only $20 to spend on survival—kind of commendable, actually, considering that's about the amount we spent on Booster Juice this morning—and another $30 to be used "ONLY for documentation purposes," 'cause those video texting charges are just ridiculous, the intrepid adventurer put on his best hoodie and headed to...
Okay, so it wasn't to sleep; it was to steal a water bottle, a clean towel, and a box of tissue—you know, all the standard accoutrements of life on the street. From there, he writes, he "still had two goals in mind: to find a computer and to find a place to sleep.
This really gave me a chance to explore the area a bit more as we walked from campus to campus searching for a library, and when we did, we made our way to China town and got myself some cheap food (ramen) for snacks later."
And later: "I failed to find the sleeping alley that I previously mentioned, but knowing that I want to see around the campus area, I settled on a bench in front of the U of T library's entrance... The good thing about this sleeping spot is that you have to walk a big flight of stairs up from the street level to get to this bench, so I'm confident that I will not get bothered by other homeless people or cops. The worst that could happen is a security guard booting me out."
Not to downplay Mr. Ninja's audacity in the face of peril, but... living on ramen? Sleeping in the library? Call us armchair cynics, but it sounds like another day in the student life.
But after three such days and nights, the inevitable danger strikes: campus police arrive, waking him from his troubled sleep with such tough questions as, we imagine, "Where are your parents?"
In Ninja's words: "I bullshitted my way outta there, claiming to be a student that studied all day, who decided to come out for a walk for fresh air and dozed off. They bought the idea of a semi-well dressed hardworking Asian U of T student."
Really? They bought the idea of your actual bona fide real life? Well freaking played, you sly little Oliver Twist, you! Way to sell it to the man.
And at this point, we have to stop reading, because the adventures of this babe in Tyraland are too easy to mock, and at the same time, too earnest.
We will point out, however, that NinjaX hasn't updated in over twenty hours; previously, the longest time elapsed between posts was under twelve. Is there trouble in the mini-gangster's paradise? Has the recent downpour—horrors!—damaged his cell phone?
Stay tuned for omgs.
|
Experiencing the life of a sedentary person who should really be getting a job isn't that interesting.
Am I getting this right? He's a U of T student who decided to spend his 'homeless' time at the school, 'passing' as a student?
As lame as this is I imagine that with a little more publicity Fox will hear of it and create a reality tv show based on the premise. You know, for LOLs.
I think what this adventure really proves is that affluent people have ridiculously distorted ideas of what poverty is. Like the rich girl I knew at U of T back in the 80s who said "I think I'll be a waitress this summer. You know, really humble myself."
I wish these types would just shut up already and read Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London.
Or try talking to a homeless person about their experience. It's an eye-opener for sure.
I was volunteering at a youth homelessness conference in St. John's a while back and there were a number of youth who were, or had been at one time, homeless. One of the most informative sessions of the entire conference was when a group of them, along with one of the program directors with the organization that they were affiliated with, took us around downtown St. John's. We were given a crash course on being homeless, from dumpster diving to sleeping in an alley (cardboard is NOT comfortable, no matter how corrugated) to hitchhiking to being harassed by cops (actually the program director). We didn't have to "live homeless" for any amount of time, but I'm sure I learned more by talking with and listening to people who had been there, than I would just heading out on the street on my own with $20 (that's just under $3 a day, I'm sure you can eat for a week on that, not well, but still eat).
Geez, my sentences tend to run on, eh?
I remember an article in the Star a few years back about a reporter who played homelessness for a week. He claimed it was that bad a living but it did knock him down a peg or two. But the thing is, he had an END DATE and a home to go to after his experiment was over. He was never homeless in the first place, he was never despondent and his ordeal always resulted in his regular life coming right back.
Which actual homeless people have nothing of.
I agree Ellstar. If you read Victor Frankl's, "Man's Search for Meaing"...that sense of hopelessness is what does most people in. I've never been homeless, but in of my bouts with unemployment, the worse part is just not knowing when it will (if ever) end. If you have an end date, it's different. You have an out.
It would seem clear that this young fellow's experiment, however well intentioned, is doomed to be written off as irrelevant and more than a titch condescending.
Does he elaborate on his goals for this adventure, beyond the desire for "lulz"?
SNP: "Well freaking played, you sly little Oliver Twist, you!" - Solid Gold!