Is it just me or does it seem weird that a homeless person would have a phone to recharge?
"There is a peculiar smell of burnt plastic and warm oranges in there, which I’ve got used to now, but there is carpet and vases of flowers and soft lighting too, and sometimes, when I sit at the back in the evening, recharging my phone, with my feet maybe up on the chair in front, sleepily doing my crosswords in the soothing light and eating whatever I have left in my foodbag, it can sometimes feel like home."
If you haven't been following this story - the scribe claims to be a homeless person living in her car in London. She has attracted a large audience of virtual supporters and managed to get interviews with the BBC, The New York Times, and Le Monde.
She now reports on her blog that she has a book deal. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it) the deal hasn't allowed her to move out of her car.
Some skeptics are claiming there are inconsistancies in the story. Her posts are supposedly all made from public libraries - but coming at hours when libraries are closed. The high cost of parking a car in London near the hospital where she was recharging her cell phone and showering. The fact that she has an email address from a paid service provider. Electing to not seek aid or accept offers of housing from concerned readers of her blog, all combine to make one wonder what the real story is.
At the least she has spurred people to think about what it might be like to be homeless.
Certainly there are all sorts of reasons for being homeless - and our hearts and hands should go out to helping those who cannot help themselves whatever the circumstances may be.
Hopefully some of the ardent online supporters of the Scribe will, if they haven't already, translate their energy from the antiseptic environment of the world wide web to the real world of the homeless, or otherwise hurting, people where they live.
In the case of the Wandering Scribe it appears to me she is doing just fine on her own.
_________________________________________
Postscript 5/27/06: I'm probably spending too much time on the Wandering Scribe phenomenon but it's hard for me to look away after reading some of her posts and seeing the discussion in the comments. Something doesn't smell right about this whole story and it's not the musty old sleeping bag she's been sacking out in outside of London.
______________________________________
Earlier this week I noted it seemed odd that she would be homeless and have a cell phone, but what do I know? It's of some interest to note that she says she began living in her car in August and made the comment that she was surreptitiously charging her phone in a hospital in February, meaning she had been paying a cell phone bill for six months.
Maybe it's one of those one-time pay phones without a monthly fee? Otherwise it's not clear why a person would keep a cell phone if they were on the public dole (which she says she is). She's had essentially no job interviews which would seem to indicate she isn't using the cell phone to network with people regarding gainful employment.
The poor blighter is so out of touch with friends and family that she's holed up in a car - so what's the cell phone for? Apparently not potential employers, friends, family members or social services that might be able to give her a warm place to sleep (assuming that's what she wants...needless to say stories of sleeping on someone's couch would make for a pretty boring book).
______________________________________
I'm also not sure about the ethics, or legality, of accepting public aid and having a site dedicated to asking for Paypal donations.
______________________________________
This is another quote the WanderingScribe made in February of this year -
"My background is almost an obstacle now, having a law degree almost a handicap, at least for the kind of jobs you can get without references and while living in a car."I don't know what having a law degree means in the U.K. but in the U.S. it generally doesn't correlate to living in your car.
Reading the comments on the Wandering Scribe's adventures I can't help but think some people are misinterpreting a bit of skepticism over the Scribe's tales, with a non-caring attitude for homeless people or people suffering for whatever reason.
I'm sorry if the Scribe is hurting. I'm also really sorry for the thousands of homeless people without a law degree, a car, a cell phone, a blog....
______________________________________
We had a writer in the U.S. who decided to live in the woods awhile back too.
Henry David Thoreau thought freeing one's self from all the trappings of civilization was a fine and nobel adventure. Thoreau's cabin on Walden Pond was 10 feet by 15 feet and yet he wrote as if it was the most glorious place to live on earth.
I think we have to be careful before we decide to "pity" people that may not want or need our pity. Living a simple life without a huge mortgage, car, laptop, cell phone, regular 9 to 5 job - might be much more idyllic than being tied into a life of quiet desperation sitting in a cubicle pushing paper to make the mortgage on the big house you don't get to spend much time in because you're stuck in traffic.
Think of the "The Dharma Bums
" "On the Road
" - the idea that being freed from the chains of civilization is a good thing or a bad thing, is more a matter of attitude than reality. John Steinbeck was living in a vehicle when he wrote Travels with Charley in Search of America extolling the virtues of a nomadic existence. It wasn't a car, but the point is that moving around, living in a vehicle can be a matter of choice and the attitude you take no matter what you are faced with - is up to you.For my money being a bum, a nomad, a traveler - is a good thing. Give away your money, your clothes, your house. I think that's what Jesus told his disciples to do.
_______________________________
I'm going to leave Wandering Scribe to her own devices. It seems like she is a savvy sort of person able to manipulate the system to provide for herself. It's somewhat interesting that she is so self centered to not talk about other homeless people she encounters on her journey, but seems to be mostly concerned with how she looks to others. Doesn't want to appear homeless or disheveled and what not. Doesn't want to ask for help. Doesn't want to move out of car quite yet.
I imagine the vetting her story will receive, should her book deal come to be, may be quite painful, if the skeptics are correct that she isn't being honest about her situation.
Time will tell, but the New York Times author may want to do a little more research than Googling for homeless people with blogs the next time he interviews a homeless person. Leaving out details like the law degree, cell phone, inconsistancies with post times vs. library hours and the odd writing style (written as if done real time in the woods - not sure how that would work unless she has a laptop or is handwriting notes and then transcribing them to her blog).
At least Wandering Scribe has started a dialogue. I think it's important to move beyond her specific case of a college educated, car owning, cell phone owning, internet savvy, wannabe author / homeless person to the more general. I don't see a point in defending or questioning her, other than to point out to the possibly overly-gullible that if you are going to help anyone you need to be able to spot manipulation, have a sense for what is true, and choose your battles wisely.
Defending someone you don't know from the internet skeptics seems like a bit of a waste of energy - it might be more productive to meet some homeless, or otherwise hurting, people who live where you live and defend them, if that is where your interests lie. There are all kinds of hurting people in the world, some have homes, some don't - some want help, some like Wandering Scribe don't.
I imagine the vetting her story will receive, should her book deal come to be, may be quite painful, if the skeptics are correct that she isn't being honest about her situation.
Time will tell, but the New York Times author may want to do a little more research than Googling for homeless people with blogs the next time he interviews a homeless person. Leaving out details like the law degree, cell phone, inconsistancies with post times vs. library hours and the odd writing style (written as if done real time in the woods - not sure how that would work unless she has a laptop or is handwriting notes and then transcribing them to her blog).
At least Wandering Scribe has started a dialogue. I think it's important to move beyond her specific case of a college educated, car owning, cell phone owning, internet savvy, wannabe author / homeless person to the more general. I don't see a point in defending or questioning her, other than to point out to the possibly overly-gullible that if you are going to help anyone you need to be able to spot manipulation, have a sense for what is true, and choose your battles wisely.
Defending someone you don't know from the internet skeptics seems like a bit of a waste of energy - it might be more productive to meet some homeless, or otherwise hurting, people who live where you live and defend them, if that is where your interests lie. There are all kinds of hurting people in the world, some have homes, some don't - some want help, some like Wandering Scribe don't.
_____________________________________
Finally I will say this - I have never been homeless for long, or lived in a car (other than that breakdown on the way to Burning Man last summer) but I do have some personal knowledge of car living.
My great Aunt and Uncle (now departed God bless them) lived in a car.
Actually it was a boxcar. The kind you see on the railroads. They were witty, kind and very happy. They chose not to live anywhere near a city but rather in Montana in the middle of nowhere.
Sometimes I think they were a heck of lot wiser than us city-bound folks stuck in the rat race.
Finally I will say this - I have never been homeless for long, or lived in a car (other than that breakdown on the way to Burning Man last summer) but I do have some personal knowledge of car living.
My great Aunt and Uncle (now departed God bless them) lived in a car.
Actually it was a boxcar. The kind you see on the railroads. They were witty, kind and very happy. They chose not to live anywhere near a city but rather in Montana in the middle of nowhere.
Sometimes I think they were a heck of lot wiser than us city-bound folks stuck in the rat race.
______________________________________
Walden by Henry David Thoreau - Project Gutenberg
The Christian Science Monitor | Thoreau Still Beckons If I Can Take My Laptop
________________________________________
Postscript II 5/27/06: Some people have told me that using Craig's List is a good way to find part time work. You can put an ad in for free describing whatever skills you have and say what sort of job you are looking for. Lot's of part time work helping people move, day laboring, dog walking, house sitting etc. I posted this link in the comments section of the Scribe's blog (I have a feeling it won't be approved) but what the heck they are offering 100 pounds a week plus a house to live in for a Live in cleaner/ au pair/ dog walker - Iver/ Langley. It seems like the Wandering Scribe is mobile enough she could get over there and apply - it ain't no book deal but it's a start.
