Poverty in America

Here's an interesting sociological trend-- homeless with websites and internet access... but no home?

I only have two points to make about this, 1) I think this is great. I mean, who needs a home as long as you have the internet? and 2) Poverty in America isn't what it used to be.

Living in a squalid, Woodstock-style bus parked in a Fillmore, California, orange grove, the 53-year-old homeless man charges a power generator from a utility shed and uses Wi-Fi from a nearby access point. From this humble camp, he's managed to run a 'round-the-clock internet television studio, organize grassroots political efforts, record a full-length album and write his autobiography, all while subsisting on oranges and avocados. ~wired.com

Truthfully, if I were single and didn't have a wife and three daughters I would probably prefer living in a van with my laptop with wifi access. And I'm being 100% honest when I say that having internet access is as important to me as having a home. But surely there is still some kind of stigma attached to being 'a guy who lives in a van down by the river'.

Many of those now living without a permanent roof over their heads have cell phones in their pockets or laptop computers at their hips. While people living in shelters and alleys have found it difficult to cross social divides, the digital divide seems to disappear on the streets. Nearly all homeless people have e-mail addresses, according to Michael Stoops, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "More have e-mail than have post office boxes," Stoops said. "The internet has been a big boon to the homeless." ~wired.com

Related links:
UK government recommends Internet for homeless
GrandCentral Communications, will offer free voice-mail service through local shelters.
He Hacks by Day, Squats by Night
Cell phone signals excite brain, study finds

[H]egemonic Word count: 329

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