homelessness

Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Orange County, California is known for both wealth and political conservatism. In fact, the most recent American Community Survey reports that the largely Caucasian locale boasts a median household income of $81,260.

But as filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi’s latest documentary, Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County, demonstrates, more than ten percent of OC residents live below the poverty line. Some sleep on the streets while others find shelter in rundown hotels, where single rooms rent for between $800 and $900 a month. Ironically, Disneyland is a short distance from the county’s seediest areas, but for impoverished motel residents, Disney is no more accessible than Saturn.

Pelosi’s camera gives viewers an inside peak into the desperation of those living in cramped and often bedbug-infested quarters, places rife with drug dealing, prostitution, and police surveillance. That kids grow up in this environment—sharing one tiny room with siblings, parents, and pets—is sobering and should be an indictment of U.S. housing policies. Sadly, it falls short.

One of the problems is that Pelosi interviews too many people, and it’s hard to remember who’s who. In addition, she never moves beyond the personal, and fails to inject needed political analysis into the discussion. For example, why is housing so expensive? Do motel residents have access to social service programs, job training, or counseling? And most importantly, why has the government refused to build new public housing for those unable to pay market rates?

Despite these flaws, the film is not without its poignant moments. One woman, a married mom of two, proudly touts her family’s survival. Although she admits that she hated living on the streets, she champions the things she learned there. “We know how to bathe in eight ounces of water,” she begins. “We know how to do pooh-pooh in a bag.”

Like all of the “motel kids,” her daughters attend Perfect Hope School, a public program exclusively for those without permanent housing. The sixty-seven pupils stay at Hope as long as they remain in the OC, meaning their education is not interrupted if they leave the motel. Teacher Judy explains one of the school’s advantages: “No one makes fun of you if you wear the same clothes for thirty days.” Plus, she continues, two meals a day—albeit heavy on sugar and fat—are provided.

Predictably, many of the kids have deep problems. One boy, eleven-year-old Zack, is already on probation for robbery. “Some of us kids want what other people have,” he says, “so we just take it.” He later expresses surprising self-awareness. “Sometimes I do it for attention,” he admits. “My mom is too busy.”

Profiling Zack’s family in greater depth would have made the film more insightful and would have given viewers a better understanding of how easily life can fray for the working poor. After all, Zack’s mother and twenty-one-year-old sister both work full-time, but simply don’t earn enough to save the thousands of dollars they’d need to get into an apartment.

Despite these faults, Pelosi deserves recognition for bringing attention to a population that too-often falls through the cracks. What’s more, Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County prods lawmakers to do something about the country’s worsening affordable housing crisis. Since approximately two percent of U.S. children are presently undomiciled, the film is a stark, if understated, wake-up call. Let’s hope Pelosi’s mom—yes, Alexandra is Nancy’s daughter—and her colleagues will watch it and once-and-for-all do something about this shameful reality.

Premieres on HBO tonight at 9p.m. EST

Written by: Eleanor J. Bader, July 26th 2010

Beyond the Station Lies the Sea

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:15:00 +0000

By Jutta Richter

Milkweed Editions

Cosmos and Niner are homeless. Niner, who has been given this name because he is nine-years-old, was thrown out by a violent stepfather. After that, Niner used to sneak into his house at night to eat the dinner his mother left on the table for him. When his mother was taken away in an ambulance, the house was locked up and he couldn’t get in anymore. Cosmos, an adult, has been homeless for a long time, and has teamed up with Niner on the streets.

More than anything, Cosmos and Niner want to go to the seaside, where they can live without the worries that plague them in the city. But to do that they need money they do not have. Until, that is, they visit the bar called Caracas, where the Queen of Caracas offers to give them the money they need to go to the sea. All they have to do is sell her something extremely valuable. Of course, being homeless, Niner and Cosmos have nothing of value. They think they have nothing to sell her. Until Niner realizes he can sell his guardian angel.

Thus begins the short, young adult novel, Beyond the Station Lies the Sea. Originally written in German and translated into English by Anna Brailovsky, the story is at the same time wonderfully imaginative and deceptively simple. Spanning a scant eighty pages, it is filled with understated emotion and beautiful images while portraying the touching alliance between the vulnerable Niner and the older, streetwise Cosmos, who falters but manages to find his higher self through their relationship.

The author of more than twenty books for younger readers and a winner of numerous awards, in this novel Jutta Richter has created a deeply touching and captivating story. Likely enjoyed by children ages eight and older, it also has much to recommend it to discerning adults.

Written by: Elaine Beale, August 4th 2009

These Girls

admin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:25:00 +0000

Directed by Tahani Rached

Women Make Movies

Documentarian Tahani Rached is allowed intimate access into the lives of a tight-knit group of teenage girls living on the streets of Cairo, Egypt. This motley band of girls includes Tata, the ringleader; Danya, the self-proclaimed “fireball"; Abeer; Ze’reda; Maryam and Big Sister Hind, who offers advice and a shoulder to lean on. Although these teens are “voluntarily” homeless, viewers soon learn that they have chosen what they consider to be the lesser of two evils: the streets versus their abusive homes. The film opens with Tata riding a horse down a street crowded with cars. Surely a testament to her rebellious nature, this scene introduces a montage of scenes in which Tata scraps with men on the street, listens intently to a friend, plays, laughs and takes comfort in the arms of a friend. Her fierce, leader of the pack nature can be felt in the first few minutes of the film.

With no narration, virtually no filmmaker interaction and no judgment, viewers get a straightforward look at the horrors faced daily by these girls. Abeer is pregnant, following a gang rape, and she is unmarried and unsure of the identity of her baby’s father. Her own father has threatened her life in response. Maryam tells the story of how she fled her orphanage and was almost immediately drugged and raped in a park. She cut her hair and attempts to pass as a boy for protection. It is a constant struggle for these girls to find a safe place to sleep where they will not be harassed, raped or kidnapped and “stored” in Wheeza’s shack, a place where women are held for days, weeks or longer to be raped and possibly “scarred.” Maryam explains that protecting oneself against having her face cut and scarred is imperative, as it is a sign of shame: “If they don’t mark your face, you’re a hero.” Days and nights often drag, and the film’s pace follows suit, giving the viewers the feel of the slow, lonely times on the street. Tata and her friends sniff glue, smoke pot and take pills, admittedly, to get high and pass the time.

While it would be easy to feel completely heartbroken for these girls, and outraged by their situation, neither the film nor its stars seek pity or sympathy. In fact, while viewers will most certainly feel sympathy for these teens, they will also feel inspired by their courage, their determination, their loyalty and the joy they find in each other.

Written by: Becky Ramsey, June 27th 2007

Crazy Mary and Others

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:45:00 +0000

By Michele Belluomini

Plan B Press

Crazy Mary and Others is an emotion-evoking look into the life of a woman who has been destined by humanity to be the outsider. She walks in a world where simple communication to others is an effort too great to comply with. Mary, having been released from an institution (that the author keeps obscure) returns to a life unclaimed and she feels unlived. She returns back to the streets of Manhattan only to find that life, as she knew it, is gone.

Michele Belluomini has tapped into the emotions and intelligence of a woman who, if we were to see Mary on the street, would be just another indigent “crazy” shuffling their way through a bustling city of indifference. As the story progresses, you experience the shock and sudden despair of Mary as she tries desperately to justify her existence among a world of people that are now gone and her home of yesteryear where the flowers no longer bloom. Belluomini works with emotional placement to bind those things both past and present and looks at the symbolism of the earth, stars, moon and life sources. She intricately weaves this journey with an overwhelming sense of the positive. The readers find themselves overwhelmed with the plight of Mary, and with a sense of hopefulness, they dream that this insightful, intelligent woman is able to once again, find her place in this world gone awry.

At the beginning of this wonderful piece of art, Belluomini states a stanza so powerful that it bears repeating for this review. As a writer, I find so many things to quote in this work, that it has been a sincere struggle to only pick out only one for the limited space I have. The title poem, “Crazy Mary,” states:

“still not sure how she got to this cold eastern city still not sure what the terms of exile are she says: I can remember the past, but I cannot recall the future she says: no, that is not what I wanted to say I wanted to say, the future behind me is the past in front of me Yes, That is what I wanted to say”

Those few opening lines begin the journey of internal struggle for our heroine Mary and her final plan to make sense of her world and ours. Belluomini will change your mind and heart about our “crazy” homeless. She will reach into your soul and command your attention to the fact these “crazies” are people too and are deserving of our love, our attention and our respect. Many lives are lived in many different ways, one no more respective than the next. Crazy Mary and Others also offers some other works from Belluomini that will also stir your soul, open your eyes and make your heart, a better place to dwell within.

Written by: Karen S. Morris, March 27th 2007