Excluding today, I've been to the hospital for a Doctor's appointment every day this week. It is nice to have a day off from the drive, the poking, the prodding, and the all around good times. Every day as I go to the hospital I take the same route. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit. I finally started noticing about a week ago, but a lot this week, that at one of the intersections I cross through on my daily jaunts to the hospital, there are always quite a few homeless people standing with signs.
Now, I don't want to get into a debate about the homeless and destitute, but I did see something interesting this week. We all know the traditional signage of the homeless: "Hungry, please help," or "Will work for food," or "need money for gas," and I'm sure that most of us ignore these signs and the people holding them.
In my first year of teaching, I got to teach a semester of Sociology. I had no background, training or expertise in this area, but because I took over for a teacher that left, I got stuck with the class and spent months making up curriculum for a bunch of seniors who were pretty willing to do whatever I assigned them because 1) I was about their age and they thought I was "cool" and 2) They all thought that I would buy them beer. Anyway, at one point, I assigned the students a project about social taboos. They had to, w/o breaking any laws or getting into trouble (meaning among other things their parents had to know what they were doing), go out and about and break some social rules, norms, mores, and then come back and do an oral/video report on their experiment. The kids really took to the project and did some funny things like: going to the mall and sitting very close to people on benches; following "cute girls" around the public library; dressing up like Santa Claus and acting drunk and passing out in front of a grocery store. One of the more clever projects was when one student and his buddies went downtown with cardboard, markers, and a video camera. My student then sat on street corners as his buddies sat across the street w/ the "hidden camera" to document the project. This kid sat on a corner with a sign that said, "Need money for prom". In about 2 hours he made, probably, $80 and got the phone numbers of several girls. He definitely milked the whole homeless sign situation in the city and used it to his advantage.
Thus, back to my street corner of the week. On Tuesday, I saw a sign of such a curious nature, that I've been thinking about it all week, wondering if it actually worked for the girl holding it, in a similar manner to the project my student did years ago. I was too many lanes away to take a picture w/ my cell phone camera, but I made a replica of the sign.
Do you think it scored her any sweet moola?
Now, I don't want to get into a debate about the homeless and destitute, but I did see something interesting this week. We all know the traditional signage of the homeless: "Hungry, please help," or "Will work for food," or "need money for gas," and I'm sure that most of us ignore these signs and the people holding them.
In my first year of teaching, I got to teach a semester of Sociology. I had no background, training or expertise in this area, but because I took over for a teacher that left, I got stuck with the class and spent months making up curriculum for a bunch of seniors who were pretty willing to do whatever I assigned them because 1) I was about their age and they thought I was "cool" and 2) They all thought that I would buy them beer. Anyway, at one point, I assigned the students a project about social taboos. They had to, w/o breaking any laws or getting into trouble (meaning among other things their parents had to know what they were doing), go out and about and break some social rules, norms, mores, and then come back and do an oral/video report on their experiment. The kids really took to the project and did some funny things like: going to the mall and sitting very close to people on benches; following "cute girls" around the public library; dressing up like Santa Claus and acting drunk and passing out in front of a grocery store. One of the more clever projects was when one student and his buddies went downtown with cardboard, markers, and a video camera. My student then sat on street corners as his buddies sat across the street w/ the "hidden camera" to document the project. This kid sat on a corner with a sign that said, "Need money for prom". In about 2 hours he made, probably, $80 and got the phone numbers of several girls. He definitely milked the whole homeless sign situation in the city and used it to his advantage.
Thus, back to my street corner of the week. On Tuesday, I saw a sign of such a curious nature, that I've been thinking about it all week, wondering if it actually worked for the girl holding it, in a similar manner to the project my student did years ago. I was too many lanes away to take a picture w/ my cell phone camera, but I made a replica of the sign.
1 comment:
I think she should discuss this problem with Napoleon Dynamite. Or, visit the secret ninja training room seen the diner in Wayne's World. They seem to be experts in this area. (yeah, I watch quality films)
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