Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/29

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Was Re: calling on the LUG to do a good deed (OT)
From: Photo Phreak <leicam4pro@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 13:31:06 -0700 (PDT)

- --- 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?

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