Author: Paul
Life Hacks
Work arounds at home and in my dorm room.
Work Around #1
This work around is a towel over the gates for our dogs, so the gates do not scratch the walls.
Work Around #2
To prevent our dogs from scratching the rug, our family placed rugs over the nicer rug for our dogs to walk and sleep on. (Benji on the right and Franklin on the left).
Work Around #3
Instead of using hooks to place our flags on a standard wall, I cut slits onto the sides without holes to hang the flags on the ceiling. This allowed us to have more flags hanging in our common room.
Ethnography Summary- Bill
Date: 3/3/2018
Type: Interview
Location: Downtown Soup Kitchen at First United Methodist Church
User Description: Paul, Sarah, and Yuwei interviewed Bill, a homeless man living in the South Bend area. Bill shared his experiences and views on being homeless.
User Characteristic: Homeless in South Bend, Male, approximately age 50, and single.
What has been this individuals living situation?
He has been living day to day without a home for the twenty years, living in different states. He sleeps in different places that offer a him a bed in South Bend and is friends with James.
What is this person’s biggest pain?
Seeing and hearing some painful stories of other people that are homeless.
Key Takeaways:
-Three reasons for being homeless.
- Circumstances like jail, falling behind on bills, or felonies.
- Addiction
- Mental Illness
-Heroin is most popular drug of the homeless population for the last two years, before that was meth for three years, and before that was crack cocaine for twenty years.
– South Bend is between the drug trade between Detroit and Chicago.
– No good resources for drug addicts, most places require you to be felony free. YMCA is one organization doing good work and Hope Ministries.
-South Bend’s center for homeless is one of best in country and people travel across United States to be part of it.
– Veterans who are homeless have to wait a long time to be treated in the VA in South Bend.
– A lot of homeless are disabled and cannot work. Disability pays less than social security or other welfare programs.
– The reinstitution of debtor prisons have made more people homeless by sending them to jail for not paying bills like child support. During this time they lose their money which could have kept them in their home.
Quotes:
“Drug addicts don’t say they have a problem they just say they self medicate.” Bill’s quote highlights the problem with heroin addiction because people use it to kill their pain whether physical or emotional.
Ethnography Summary- James
Date: 3/3/2018
Type: Interview
Location: Downtown Soup Kitchen at First United Methodist Church
User Description: Paul and Yuwei interviewed James, a homeless disabled man living in the South Bend area. James shared his experiences and views on being homeless.
User Characteristic: Homeless in South Bend, Male, approximately age 50, and single.
What has been this individuals living situation?
He has been living day to day without a home for the last fifteen years. He sleeps in different places that offer a him a bed in South Bend. On Monday and Friday he eats at the downtown food soup kitchen while on the other days he eats at Mishawaka food pantry.
What is this person’s biggest pain?
He is disabled and cannot work. His disability check is not enough to adequately live on. He gets 400 dollars a month, which he says is not enough to live and have a home.
Key Takeaways:
– A lot of homeless people are disabled and cannot work. People with a disability receive less money than those on social security.
– The homeless in South Bend do not go hungry since there are many places to get food like the downtown food pantry in South Bend or the Mishawaka food pantry.
– People come from everywhere to be part of the homeless center in South Bend. States people from different cities are given bus tickets to South Bend.
-Takes a long time to apply for social security in Indiana and often requires lawyers if you are homeless.
– People with felonies cannot get social assistance like social security.
– If you have a felony you require a payee, a trusted person who will give you money to make sure you are not spending it on drugs
Memorable Quotes
“A lot of people choose to be homeless, they got money.” Here James explains that people with drug addictions or felonies do not have access to the center for the homeless and other facilities.