The specific cross-cultural group that I will be studying is the life of the homeless and in what ways that it may differ from our life. More specifically, my ideas for how I’m going to accomplish this is to find several groups of homeless and just get to know them. On top of getting to know them and building trust, I will try and focus on weather or not the homeless stay in touch with their families, and if not what happened, and how whatever has happened has effected them personally. I will also try and find out if they do not have a family if they have other relationships with people or even animals that they consider their family. In addition to the homeless, I think I will try and find a homeless shelter and ask them what they have observed, if most homeless people come to the shelter in groups or alone, and if they do come in groups if it looks as though any come with their families or if it is only their friends. Hopefully these questions will give me a better understanding of a homeless person’s family life and how that effects them in general.

My first thoughts when I think of Arcata is a nice, homely town with lots of small businesses that help the multitudes of college students all over. But besides the fact that there is a college nearby, one thinks of Arcata as very isolated and certainly not the kind of place many homeless people would choose to stay, considering one thinks of homeless as generally preferring to reside in the big cities. However despite this, Arcata is still full of homeless people. One can hardly walk into the plaza without passing at least one group of homeless people, and even if someone did manage that they would certainly find many homeless people in the plaza itself. In my experience when people ask questions about homeless people they often wonder what their past background was, if they got an education and if they did was it not enough or did they make a mistake and end up homeless. However no one ever seems to wonder about their families. It is my intension to learn about the homeless people’s family, for example did they just loose touch, or are they still together and supporting each other. Who they are and what they are like.