Thursday, March 22, 2012
After going through Arcata in order to survey homeless people about their family, it became very clear to me that most homeless people do not want to talk about their family life, or really take a survey in general. The very first man I talked to was very friendly, and yet as soon as I even mentioned a survey he immediately wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. However I was able to find two homeless people willing to be surveyed, both of whom would prefer to remain nameless, who both had very different experiences with their family life. The first man I talked too actually still kept in touch with his mother every now and again, and was quite close with his sister. However they were forced to grow up without even knowing their father, and he says at this point he‘d rather not have his father be a part of his life. Although this man was still fairly close with his family, he still ended up homeless because financially his family couldn’t afford to have him stay. His mother simply couldn’t afford the things he’d need and they can‘t handle living under the same roof anyway. His sister is in a small apartment with her family, so there wasn’t enough space for him. Despite not being able to live with them, he says that he is still grateful for having his family to support him when he really needs it. He also says that he considers friends that he has met since becoming homeless to be family at this point, and they all support each other. The other man I interviewed has very different experiences with his family. He lived with his mother and father, but they got in many arguments, largely due to his drug use, though he believes there were many other factors that led to their difficult relationship. Because of all this, his parents finally kicked him out when he was only 19, and he hasn’t talked to them since for the past 12 years. He says that he really misses his parents, but doesn’t dare try and reach them because he is afraid of their reaction. He is not as close with as many people, but he says he considers his dog family to him. I found that most people long for family ties, and usually became homeless because something got in the way of those ties. However even in homelessness they try and keep in touch if they can, and develop new relationships with people that they consider to be their families.
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