Monday, March 12, 2012

Forgive me my trespass

Other felt I shouldn't take this picture of a homeless man's makeshift dwelling, that doing so was an invasion of his privacy and an exploitation of his helplessness. Other doesn't read this blog, but he would be even more appalled to know I'd posted it. And perhaps he's right. His disapproval makes me queasy, but I thought it was O.K. to post it since it was visible to any passerby. And I wanted to share it because this well-constructed makeshift structure (you try making a house out of garbage bags and string), erected outside a community garden, reveals so powerful a desire for a home in the face of the builder's homelessness. All around my now wealthy neighborhood, I see evidence of such domestic cravings: neatly folded blankets stashed behind the struts of scaffolding, carefully flattened cardboard boxes, cups with penned pleas for help.

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