Bums Blog Too

In a different time, Michael Brown's story might have gone untold. The story of a homeless man. Thanks to the Internet, a bum can blog. 43-year-old Brown and his family were evicted from their Greensboro, NC home earlier this month. Since then he has turned to the public library and its computers for answers. Answers about what he should do with his life now that he is homeless. Once online, he couldn't find what he was looking for, advice from someone who was homeless. So he took up the task himself by creating a Bum Blog. He began posting to a Blogger account and from there he began telling his story...how he became homeless and how he was dealing with it.

That isn't Brown's photo, but it fit this story too well not to use.

Brown, who works part time at a Kohl's store, said he has been looking for other work. He was a graphic designer for 13 years until he was fired from a job in 2003 to what Brown claims as "unknown reasons" to him. He hasn't been able to find another job in his field and has worked various jobs or freelanced since. Eventually the bills began to mount and eviction came for the family, which includes a wife, 17-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter. The family packed as much as they could into a 16-foot truck and the contents of their home are now in a 10-by-20-foot storage space.

I use the term "bum" loosely. I am aware that it may sound offensive to call someone a bum and I am aware that not every homeless person's story is the same. Not everyone becomes homeless because they drank their life away, ect. However, the circumstances surrounding Michael Brown's situation sounds like the thousands of other out of work tech savvy professionals. These days nearly all the once laid off Dot-Comers are gainfully employed once again, whether it be in their field of expertise or if they had to branch out their talents and pursue other avenues in terms of career choices. Few if any are homeless. So I can't feel too bad for Brown. He attended college, he seems intelligent enough if you read his writing, but somehow he wasn't smart enough to avoid falling "victim" (another term I use loosely) to being evicted from his home and pushed to the street.

His blog is called "View From The Sidewalk" - a look at the perennial problem of homelessness from a unique perspective, from someone who is currently homeless. It has become a way for Brown to vent, rant and reflect on his problems. He reveals the day-to-day travails along with his guilt and anger about the situation, not to mention his depression. Brown says that posting to the blog has been beneficial to him and released some frustration. He states that "it's kind of a form of a therapy". His blog shows how easily the free medium can be used to get a message out, empowering the powerless. Someone with literally no resources can be published and heard. The question remains, is anyone listening though?