04102017

Read, in Rachel and Her Children, by Jonathan Kozol

From Part I. Christmas at the Martinique Hotel

Chapter 4. Rachel and Her Children, p. 61-73

Chapter 5. The Big Street, p. 74-78

From Part II. Failure to Thrive

Chapter 1. Concealment, p. 81-91

Chapter 2. Stereotypes. p. 92- 101

in coordination with Chapter 2, Also read Eleven Myths

about Homelessness

From the New York Times

As a Hotel Is Emptied, The Poor Move On

From History of Poverty & Homelessness in NYC

Welfare Hotels

We will continue the discussion we began on Thursday. 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 map. 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. Scroll in to walk around using Streetview Then click on the above and find a different high poverty area. Mine is the Broadway triangle. listed on the map. Find one, put the URL in your resource folder. We'll look at some of these in class. Try also using Citi-Data. Another interesting place to look is USA.com.

Chapter 3 needs no explanation--especially if you consider the title of Chapter 4 and know the meaning of a Potter's Field. Throughout this section the sadness continues. These are areas in cities, large and small where the poor are buried, along with persons who die while incarcerated, providing they have no relatives wishing to claim the body. We'll read about death among the homeless, as well as ways of coping with despair. In the chapters we cover today.

Read, in Rachel's Children,

Part II. Failure to Thrive

Chapter 3,12 The Penalties of Failure P. 102 - 112

Chapter 4, The Road to Potter's Field p. 113 - 128

Chapter 5, Distancing Ourselves from Our Pains and Fears. p. 129-139

Chapter 6, About Prayer p.140-144

After completely viewing the video above before coming to class, We will watch it on YouTube. IF YouTube works on your computer as it does on mine, you will see a list of related videos dealing with other Potter's fields. Otherwise, search YouTube for the term. You might also search Google and Google maps. Find at least one thing interesting, and put it in your resource folder. You might look up "indigent burial services" or "poverty burial services" or something similar.