Butte College Students Respond to “Without a Roof’s” Classroom Presentations (Part 1)
During the first week of October, 2015 I presented a multi-media Poverty presentation that was 50-minutes in a classroom setting, followed by 50-minutes in a computer lab setting. This was done for two separate classes. The presentation was comprised of a classroom slide-deck, speaking points on 3X5 cards and 14 “Without a Roof” vignettes.
Nearly half of the time in both settings was dedicated to student input and research. This post is the first in a series showcasing the feedback received from the students. It is unedited and presented exactly as received...
Summary #1: Bill Mash presented the work that he has been doing for the past few years in Butte County to the class called "Without a Roof". He travels around Chico, Oroville, and Paradise[1] to interview people on the streets. He even lived on the streets for the time being to have an idea how the homeless people really feels like. One question Bill asked the class was: What is being poor and/or how do we become poor? Some don't even have a choice to choose for being poor; some were born poor. The work Bill is doing is inspiring. He shows us that some homeless people just need a voice to be heard. Most of the time they just want people to smile and maybe give them a hug because they have been through so much, but people judge before they even get to really know the person.
One of my question I've been wanting to ask the homeless people is why they have a dog or a pet when they don't have enough to feed themselves? But one of Bill's video answered my question. In the video, one person said that their dog got to eat more than that person and the dog is very happy. Another thing that interested me was how many students live in poverty just in Butte County[2] Bill has given me an idea on what to write about on my next paper: Poverty.
[1] I have traveled extensively, and always homeless, throughout Northern California from Sacramento to Humboldt and most counties in between. I haven't done any street level work in Paradise to date, although I do have a radio interview scheduled with a representative from the Ridge Shelter Program which operates during the winter in Paradise.
[2] ~900 Butte County Students experienced homelessness during the course of the 2013 school year <Source: Butte County Office of Education>
#Summary #2: Bill Mash's presentation is so awesome and great intentions, especially needs to address in the Chico and Oroville area. Bill's gathered a whole bunch of information because he went out of his way as a journalist and went out of his way to live and learn how rough it is to be homeless. In the presentation it shows how much the homeless has to cope with and give themselves the motivation to keep going. With pedestrians almost always giving them rude comments and peace officers giving them harassment about the new law where you can't sit anywhere for too long? That a ridiculous law, that gives the homeless even less of a voice and to go to court with no money and the county expects them to pay a ticket they can't even defend themselves by hiring a lawyer. On top of that, the homeless shelter can't hold that many people so where do they go? They grab their tents if they are lucky enough to have one and go to the next spot. In the end with all the shit these people have went through and definitely do not deserve just want a chance. They would probably be the hardest workers that would never take for granted. All they live for is just the chance and to get their foot in the door.
