“if we want to transform inequalities, we cannot maintain the hierarchical stance of the neutral, detached, impartial observer.” - Lyon-Callo
In section last week we discussed gentrification pushing people out of San Francisco, and a few other people have posted about this, so I wanted to take it a step further and talk about the people already without housing in the city. I think San Francisco and beat literature and homelessness are intertwined, and I would say that Santa Cruz is connected as well. I have heard Rob mention people experiencing homelessness a few times during lecture, and also the transient lifestyle of many beat poets. I think that SF and the authors and artists there have been influenced by the large numbers of people experiencing homelessness there, and many of the artists have lost their housing, similar to what Ferlinghetti described with the rising rents of art studios. One of the clearest references to homelessness from this class that comes to mind is in the beginning of Dharma Bums, where Kerouac hops a train up the coast and shares a meal with a man experiencing homelessness, calling him a "little Saint Teresa bum" who was "the first genuine Dharma Bum I'd met (9)."I think some authors mist over the realities of homelessness, which is why I like the message of the quote up top.
There is so much more to be said about this, and I definitely don't presume to know enough, so I welcome any comments you all have.
I Googled a map of San Francisco by income, and it seems like the areas with the most homelessness are also the wealthiest areas, for the most part. There is some variation but the correlation between high income and high homelessness seems pretty obvious; as the cost of living goes up, the percentage of people who can afford that price go down.
ReplyDeleteChirstiana-
ReplyDeleteIn “From shack to the Constitutional Court: The litigious disruption of governing global cities” (2011) Anna Selmeczi discusses how within the trends of gentrification "the subject of right is replaced by the subject of interest” (Selmeczi 69). Lauren's research and commentary seem to highlight this fact quite starkly, as do many of the previous blog posts which discuss this topic within the specificity of SF. I thought your comment that the Beats have a tendency to romanticize a life of transient homelessness was particularly apt, but also needs to be historically contextualized as well, for the lifestyle of transient vagabonds has been greatly impinged over the latter-half of the 20th-century. Where even at the time of the Beats folks were able to relatively easily stow away on trains and hitch across highways (as celebrated by Woody Guthrie), the end of "free-love" era brought about not only stricter laws and enforcement meant to curb such behaviors, but was concomitant with greater personal paranoia induced by mass media sensationalism.
Homelessness is pervasive issue in our own community, which you rightly recognize. In what ways do feel this population is depicted by the local media, the university, etc? Salt Lack City has started a program giving their homeless population apartments - http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/housing-first-solution-to-homelessness-utah - do you feel like this could be a viable option for somewhere like SC or SF? Why or why not?
- T