This past week we were giving the assignment to write about homelessness in 3 different formats. Here's what I came up with.
1. Short story
Search for a story ‘homeless person found dead’ and write a short story (2-3 paragraphs) how I would have written it. Answer the 5 Ws.
His Dogs Found a Home, But He Could Not
Shadow and Spike, Paul Giesbrecht’s 2 dogs were found wandering the streets of Vancouver without him. This was an odd occurrence because the mother-and-son collies never left his side. His body was later found washed up on a shore in Stanley Park. The 32-year-old man died on September 15. His friends are now grieving his loss and approaching his twin brother, Michael, to offer their condolences. Paul’s friends are all homeless. Paul himself had been living on the streets for the past 11 years.
Police are now investigating the case, and Paul’s brother is waiting for the coroner’s report to figure out how and why his brother died.
Before he died, Paul had been waiting for a spot in supportive housing. But this day never came. The only government organization that had been able to help Paul in the past was the SPCA. They had provided a home for Shadow and Spike while Paul had been hospitalized. Unfortunately nobody had been able to provide a home for Paul.
Who: homeless man, Paul Giesbrecht
What: found dead
Where: Vancouver
When: September 15th 2008 (recent)
Why: show a side of homelessness that people can relate to (pet owner)
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2. Larger Feature Article
Write a larger feature article on homelessness in Ottawa/Canada/Ontario. About 5 paragraphs. Find a case study, hook it to somebody.
Homelessness Unseen
The person sitting next to you as you read this story could be homeless.
It has to affect you personally before it really hits home. I'd seen the people on the corner of the street. Those asking for money, those wishing you a 'nice day' even after you've said 'no sorry' under your breath. I'd think about them for a few minutes as I continued to walk to where I was going. I'd wonder how they got there, wonder why they were sitting on that street corner. But I'd never continue to think about them once I was home.
Not until that one day I met one of Ottawa's unseen homeless. I was walking around downtown with a new friend. We bumped into someone he knew, a friend from high school named Mark. My friend introduced us, and we chatted for a bit. They caught up on the last few year, and I listened in.
After we said good-bye and walked away, my friend told me the story.
“Mark lives here,” he said.
“He lives downtown? That's lucky for him – he's so close to all the good stores and restaurants,” I replied.
“No, he lives here... on the streets.”
I was shocked. I had so many questions. Where? Why? How did that happen? It never occurred to me that someone I know could easily end up on the streets. I wanted to know Mark's story. I wanted to know how this could happen to someone that was my age, someone who grew up in the suburbs and went to a good school. The simple story was that he couldn't live at home anymore, but he didn't have anywhere else to go.
A 1992 study by social service agencies in the Ottawa-Carleton region indicated that 75% of the street children interviewed had left home because of sexual assaults or physical and/or psycho-emotional abuse.
Many of these people don't make up the visible homeless. Those you can see everyday on the street corners, those that approach you for money. The Salvation Army Outreach Van reported that in 2007, an average of 64 different homeless individuals were counted living on the street each month. However, an average of 932 people stayed in emergency shelters in Ottawa per night.
Mark didn't have anywhere else to go. He's not invisible, but he's part of the unseen.
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3. Sidebar
Part of the story you are working on, but separate. A statistic, or something that doesn't fit into the main story, but is closely related.
There are three essential components in the Raise The Roof plan to solve youth homelessness.
- Prevention: addressing the key triggers of youth homelessness, which are tied to family-related issues and systems reform.
- Emergency response: addressing the immediate needs and stabilizing situations.
- Transitions out of homelessness: affordable accommodation and an array of supports.
My 3 stories all include references that I have not cited here.
