Last Thursday we had a chance to discuss the film born rich and what it suggests about the lives of the younger members of the "upper crust". If everything worked according to plan, we also had a chance to see an old vcr, "48 Hours, Homeless in New York City", as we explore the trials and tribulations of the lowest class. As you read today's readings, read at your normal rate, and time yourself. I want to get a sense of what works best for you as we explore Kozol's book. We begin by looking at a homeless shelter for families in New York City. The shelter is no more: It has been reconditioned into a fairly swanky Radisson Hotel, as the neighborhood has gone a bit upscale, and also as a result of a scandal in New York City, about which you'll read for Friday's Class.
I put the little excerpt of from the Robert Burns poem here, not primarily to drive everyone nuts, but to remind us how difficult it is to see things from the perspectives of those whose life experiences are so different from our own. It is hard for me to examine life from the perspective of Jamie Johnson and his friends, but perhaps even harder from the viewpoint of the people presented to us by Jonathan Kozol. Do your best to see them as real people. Some of the short videos I present on the website or in the resource box may be helpful in that regard. What would it be like to find one's self living at the Martinique Hotel? What happens to one's spirit when one becomes suddenly homeless? We'll discuss this today.
We will continue the discussion we began on Monday. We'll have a chance to meet "Rachel" (remember that Kozol protects the identities of the poor by changing their names) and we'll explore the idea of "welfare hotels" and other methods by which city governments and social service agencies attempt to provide shelter for the homeless, both singles and families. Clicking the map above will take you to a larger scale mape. You can use it to locate areas of high poverty in the boroughs of New York, and if you have a bit of time, prowl some of these areas on Google Maps, as I've done below.
