Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]- --- Gary Elshaw <godard@hotmail.com> wrote: > I tried resisting, but failed. I agree with Karina on this > too. I was there > in the midst of the bubble in March of '99 and was amazed at > the level of > homelessness I saw. Honestly, I figured there was a homeless > person every > 50-100 metres in the centre of the city. The other thing that > amazed me was > the number of folks I met who justified the homeless > population's plight > with some bizarre urban myths. The roommate of the friend I > was staying with > told me that a lot of the homeless were ex-company CEO's who > made more money > begging on the streets than they did as corporate execs. And > she believed > what she was saying. My friend told me that the reason SF had > an enormous > number of homeless was because the climate in SF was so good. > Of course it > was less than 5 degrees outside while he was telling me > this...I could go on > about the number of elderly, and obviously mentally impaired, > homeless folks > I saw being beaten by the cops in San Diego in the brief 3 > days I was there > too. > > The most frustrating thing was, I felt, after a while, that I > was the only > one seeing half this stuff. I felt, and still feel pretty > disturbed by some > of the stuff I saw at 4am in San Diego. > > I too ended my trip in South Africa and found the homelessness > less obvious, > but perhaps that is all it was--less obvious. > > Part of the thing with the U.S. for us tourists is the > discrepancy between > the images we have of the U.S, which are mainly film and > TV--these images > are a far cry from the reality. Sheesh, who woulda thunk it, a > discrepancy > between the representation and the thing itself. > > I should also mention that I loved my visit and can't wait to > go to SF > again. Loved Berkeley, Palo Alto, Stanford Campus, North > Beach, the Haight, > and if the opportunity arose to keep me in the meagre style to > which I've > become accustomed to, I'd move in the blink of an eye. > > Cheers, > Gary ================================================================= Can you imagine what people around the world think of the US after watching Springer? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html