My 20-year old sister sent me a Facebook message today that simply must be shared:
It was really nice out today, so I went to the park [in Fremont, CA near our elementary school] to read a book. I put out my blanket, read some, but got tired and took a nap. I had a midterm yesterday, so I was pretty sleepy. [...] I woke up to a lady with a tiny dog saying something, so I asked her to repeat. She accused me of being homeless, so I was like no, I just fell asleep while reading my book and held up my copy of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. I also found the whole situation particularly absurd because I was wearing 7 For All Mankind jeans, a Diesel shirt, and a Timbuk2 bag. But anyway, she continued to insist that I was homeless and lying but that she could help me find a place to stay. I responded with some words and showed her my car and house keys – figuring that the evidence is pretty irrefutable.
She continued to say, “Well then, why don’t you read at your house? There are kids here.” Looking around, I saw three kids in the distance, and, looking back, I really should have said, “Well why don’t you walk your dog at your house?” As the conversation went on, she became unnecessarily testy, and it ultimately resulted in her walking away saying, “I still don’t believe you.” But how absurd is it that you can fall asleep while reading a book in a park in San Francisco, and it’s perfectly normal. Meanwhile, if you do the same thing in a suburb, you’re accused of being homeless and a liar!
It’s funny because she did have pretty honorable intentions. After all, she offered to find me housing, but the incident really does say something about suburbanites’ mentality. First off, she accused me of lying about my housing situation purely because she categorized me as an unknown and homeless teenager. [...] Secondly, her question about reading at my house implies that I should not use the park unless I wish to do a specific activity that cannot be performed at home. In reality, most every adult activity can be performed at home, so she’s really saying that public parks are reserved for kids and dogs. The greatest part of the story is that she’ll probably go home and tell a story about a homeless teenager that didn’t want help and further perpetuate the stigma of strangers, teenagers, and the homeless.
Filed under: Suburbanism Tagged: | Fremont, homelessness, public parks
Ha! I slept all night in Duboce Park once because I was too wasted and no one bothered me at all. In retrospect though, that was a bad idea.
WOW. This is really amazing. O.o