Brainshrub.com - Personal

Why the homeless don't help themselves.

Paul -V- — Thu, 31 May 2007 11:30:02 -0400

This morning I spotted a homeless man in a wheelchair, doubled over in pain, throwing up into a gutter in front of a boutique store on Haywood Road.

A block further, on Lexington Avenue, a woman threw a half-eaten bagel into a trash can; not ten seconds passed before two homeless men started scuffling over who was going to eat it.

A quarter-mile west of these pathetic scenes, there is a homeless shelter and soup kitchen. So the obvious questions are:

Why weren't these people at the shelter? Why don't they improve their lives when there are charities available to help?

I have a theory.

As someone who has gone through a period of poverty, I can say from personal experience our society does not reward the poor for hard work. To the contrary, the economic system encourages depression in those who are working hardest. It also tends to push people who are mentally ill to start with, into full-fledged psychosis.

Imagine you can't find a job which pays a sustainable wage. --> Inevitably, your electricity is going to get turned off because you can't pay the bill. --> In order to get the electric turned back on, you have to come up with a re-connection fee. --> By the time you come up with the money to pay the electric and late fees, you need to register a whole new account since Progress Energy will close it after six weeks of non-payment. This means you have to wait a few weeks longer in order to save up money for the deposit.

During this time, there is no way to store food or cook it; so forget about saving money by eating at home, your diet now consists of McDonald's and Taco Bell.

By the time power comes back on... the water bill is overdue, and gets shut off.

To understand what it feels like to work so hard for something as basic as electricity, only to lose water service the following day; imagine being tied to the ground, and the person you despise most starts peeing in your eyes. Frustration, rage and angst washes over your soul, non-stop, wave after wave.

If you feel the mental image is too graphic: Trust me, it's not nearly descriptive enough.

This is but one scenario on the plight of the working poor in our culture. No matter how hard they work, they end up empty. Eventually depression takes over and many stop moving.

Depressed people make poor choices. Giving up on employment is a coping mechanism for them; after all, why labor all day if the end result is the same as not working at all?

And that, ladies and gentleman, is why we have people vomiting in a gutter or fighting over a discarded bagel - rather than seeking help from a shelter less than five blocks away.

Read counterpoint here.

Tags: Poverty - Living Wage - Homeless - Labor

Sorry this blog has been sucking so much lately

Paul -V- — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:57:05 -0400

I've been working two jobs - and it's put a massive damper on blog posting.

But the light at the end of the tunnel is approaching since one of my projects is nearing completion - and I'll soon be able to get back into the swing of things.

In fact, this blogs Content Management System is about to be switched over from Drupal to Joomla.

So please bear with me for another week.

Paul -V-

Doll Face

Paul -V- — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 23:29:19 -0400

Dollface.

This video says everything you need to know about our media culture.

'nuff said

Life ain't fair

Paul -V- — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:03:19 -0400

When you see a series of photos like this:

And after you get over the bitter-sweet emotions, and you've had a good cry, you remember life is not fair.

But you know what?

While life isn't fair, or kind, or just... humans can be. It's one of the joys of being a sapient species.

So while we are on this speck of dust, waiting to fall off after a few decades and seeing injustice and pain in the menatime - we can love each other.

And somehow...

magically

it gives the pain meaning.

-0-

Just so you know:

Paul -V- — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 08:46:20 -0400

Odeo won't let me upload my show - so all the free time I did have, I've poured into a radio program that I can't share with you until the peeps at Odeo fix the bug.

So. Very. Frustrating.

Blagofaire

Paul -V- — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:11:17 -0400

Just follow this link:

http://xkcd.org/c239.html

You're welcome.

In case you don't know who Cory Doctorow is, here's his Wikipedia entry.

The Joy of Covering a Story in the Company's SUV

Paul -V- — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 10:03:24 -0400

I don't usualy write about work. It's no secret I'm a reporter for a local radio-station, but I don't want my employer or co-workers to worry I'm going to write smack about them.

Today will be a small exception, because the topic isn't about a person or company - it's about a vehicle.

I love driving around town in the station's SUV.

Since I'm a strong advocate for public transit, and bike or bus to work most of the time, one might think I would object to using a gas-guzzler to drive to news events.

Surprisingly, the exact opposite is true. When I get behind the drivers wheel, there is some deep-seated joy that awakens. I flash-back to childhood, and for a nano-second it's a like I'm in the bat-mobile.

The car is a Ford Explorer, not a rocket-powered, 60s-retro convertible; But they are both black, and both have lots of gratuitous logos - and that's enough for me.

VROOM!! VROOM!!! Make way citizen! Nobody panic! THE MEDIA IS HERE!!!

This irrational childhood regression could stem from the fact that, as a kid, my two favorite super-heroes were both reporters. (Spiderman and Superman.)

Also, I'm sure within a few weeks driving the Explorer will become as mundane as Cheerios.

In the meantime, I'm having fun. Especially since the station is known locally for it's conservative programing, and so it's not unusual for people with "Bush/Cheney 2004" bumper-stickers and iron fish magnets to honk their horns at me give me a "thumbs up" sign as I drive around town.

Never mind that I'm so Liberal I make Ghandi look like a Republican... they don't know that. So I grin and wave back!

Go GWB! w00t!!11

No counterpoint today.

Damn you, Windows Media Player!

Paul -V- — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:41:30 -0400

All I wanted to do this morning was sip coffee, listen to Mozart and blog.

This is my favorite time of the day, and I get very pissed if I'm interrupted during this ritual. Especially the Mozart part.

Take away my coffee. Turn off my internet connection so I can't blog. But don't fuck with my Mozart.

I. Love. Mozart.

When I started the computer this morning, the Windows Media Player said it wanted to upgrade. I agreed and clicked "update". No problem.

For the next 20 minutes the ZoneAlarm firewall goes crazy - I had to approve at least 15 suspicious actions.

And now, NONE of my music players work... including the @#$%ing Windows Media Player. The damn thing keeps wanting to verify my copy of Windows OS, and no matter how often I tell it to validate, it does nothing except look at me like I'm an idiot.

To be fair, I am an idiot.

I'm an idiot for expecting to sip coffee and listen to my LEGAL COPIES of Mozart in peace!

DAMN YOU WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER!!!! I have a 100% legal copy of Windows XP - just verify it so I can listen to the greatest composer of all time and pretend, just for a few minutes, that my life isn't totaly mediocre.

This problem has blown my whole morning.

I deeply resent Microsoft saying I'm not good enough to listen to Mozart on my own computer because they suspect I'm using an illegal copy of their OS.

I don't want anything to do with those wankers in Redmond anymore.

Ubuntu, here I come.

Behold: The Hamster Dance! The most profound dance EVER!!!

Paul -V- — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:19:01 -0500

Today I'm going to feature a very special video, about a very special guy, doing a very ... ummm ... "special" dance.

Be sure to watch this all the way to the end. It's "safe for work".

Feel free to dance along - you don't need to be nude to do so, but, like most activities, it's more fun if you are.

I'm sure there is a deep socio-political message in this.

Really.

Somewhere.

Mountain Xpress covers the Brainshrub Bus Project

Paul -V- — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 12:16:23 -0500

The Mountain Xpress, the go-to tabloid here if you want to know what's going on in Asheville, did a write up on the Brainshrub Bus Project this week.

Woo Hoo!

Even the picture they took makes me look almost attractive!

Here's a link and a few paragraphs:

Public-transit ninja blogger strikes again

In June, Van Heden used his blog to launch the Brainshrub Bus Project – an ongoing attempt to demonstrate that it's possible to use the Asheville Transit System as one's primary mode of transportation. By offering tips on traveling by bus and awarding "brickbats and laurels" to highlight city transit's shortcomings and strong points, Van Heden aims to get more people using the system and encourage improvements to it.

(...snip...)

For Van Heden, mastering public transit has had transformative side effects, not the least of which is a new found respect for folks who don't have the option of driving. "If you ride the bus, you will not be able to ignore the plight of the working poor," he told Xpress. Due to the system's design, a 10-minute drive can turn into a 40-minute bus ride, because the individual routes don't link up with one another, he notes. But he doubts that the city will address this or any other problem until more people climb aboard – and the city starts viewing public transit "as a utility instead of a handout."

Thank you Rebecca Bowe of the Xpress for the write up, and granting me ~~45 seconds~~ one full minute of my allocated 15 minutes of fame.