"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." ~~~~~ Dom Helder Camara poverty politics homelessness justice disability accessability prejudice tolerance addiction liberation ignorance resourcefulness illiteracy education abuse struggle hate love depression celebration disease health greed generosity
Poverty Is Not an Accident
Nelson Mandela
Saturday, July 07, 2012
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Atheists Helping the Homeless Benefit Show
You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com
Share|
I'm really humbled by this. Some of the participants are real, heavy hitters, like Dr. Krauss & Michael Shermer from the Skeptical Inquirer magazing (and close friend with the late Dr. Carl Sagan). Here I am, mobile homeless, in a travel trailer, with no running water, in a parking lot, in a rural, redneck town in New Mexico, and I'm participating in this event. Truly, the interwebs can be a great equalizer. We can self-publish & self broadcast. It amazes me. And today, I'm on a live feed with the Huffington Post's "Gay Voices," discussing the dangers of "coming out," and how that's not possible for me IRL where I presently live, but only online, where I'm very active. blows my mind
I'm really humbled by this. Some of the participants are real, heavy hitters, like Dr. Krauss & Michael Shermer from the Skeptical Inquirer magazing (and close friend with the late Dr. Carl Sagan). Here I am, mobile homeless, in a travel trailer, with no running water, in a parking lot, in a rural, redneck town in New Mexico, and I'm participating in this event. Truly, the interwebs can be a great equalizer. We can self-publish & self broadcast. It amazes me. And today, I'm on a live feed with the Huffington Post's "Gay Voices," discussing the dangers of "coming out," and how that's not possible for me IRL where I presently live, but only online, where I'm very active. blows my mind
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
so, I should paint with my feet?
You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com
Share
|
This is how we exploit disabilities: we find some "exception" to hold up as super human, "brave, courageous, etc." and tell everybody else: "you're just not trying hard enough." I don't know if this person is homeless, an alcoholic, a child abuser. I only know he paints with his feet, so I should feel bad because I'm not an artist? No. I refuse. For every Oprah, there are tens of thousands of African American incest survivors who will never earn a hundred thousand dollars, let alone millions. For every Hellen Keller, there are millions of able-minded people, locked up in institutions, assumed to be "crazy" or "retarded." For every Stephen Hawking, there are millions of neoro-non-typicals who languish in poverty, dispair and short, miserable lives. These exceptions are fed to us so we'll hate ourselves just a little bit more, hide our needs a little bit deeper (so as not to inconvenience people by "playing the victim") and work all the harder, to prove we're good slaves. If this man weren't capable of painting -- if he were begging on the streets -- would his photo be exploited to prod us to keep feeling inadequate, keep covering it up, keep up production?
This is how we exploit disabilities: we find some "exception" to hold up as super human, "brave, courageous, etc." and tell everybody else: "you're just not trying hard enough." I don't know if this person is homeless, an alcoholic, a child abuser. I only know he paints with his feet, so I should feel bad because I'm not an artist? No. I refuse. For every Oprah, there are tens of thousands of African American incest survivors who will never earn a hundred thousand dollars, let alone millions. For every Hellen Keller, there are millions of able-minded people, locked up in institutions, assumed to be "crazy" or "retarded." For every Stephen Hawking, there are millions of neoro-non-typicals who languish in poverty, dispair and short, miserable lives. These exceptions are fed to us so we'll hate ourselves just a little bit more, hide our needs a little bit deeper (so as not to inconvenience people by "playing the victim") and work all the harder, to prove we're good slaves. If this man weren't capable of painting -- if he were begging on the streets -- would his photo be exploited to prod us to keep feeling inadequate, keep covering it up, keep up production?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)