Book Review - Where I Slept: Being Homeless In Portland by Transition Projects
Category Book Review Where I Slept: Being Homeless In Portland
Transition Projects in Portland came up with an interesting idea for a book to bring home the homelessness problem for people... They went to people who had been on the streets, gave them disposable cameras, and told them to go take pictures of the places where they had bedded down and/or lived while homeless. The result is this book... Where I Slept: Being Homeless In Portland. If I keep in mind this is really a fundraising project for the organization, it's pretty good. But if I drift back into looking at it as something more comprehensive, I tend to be somewhat less enamored with the book.
The book is divided into a number of sections, such as Under Bridges, Doorways, Among The Trees, Mobile Homes, Railways, and Hiding Places. The image (all black and white) occupy one page, with the facing page devoted to a quote or statistic related to the homeless problem. The book is only approximately 50 pages long, so there's not an overabundance of content here. Couple that with a $20 price tag (and the edition being sponsored by a local realtor), and it's almost imperative that you keep the fundraising aspect in mind if you should happen to order it. Given that I picked up my copy at the local library, I had a more difficult time trying to keep the philanthropic concept ahead of the literary view. With no money invested in the book, it became "just another book" to me, subject to whatever whims and fancies my attitude happened to be in that day.
Having said that, a few of the pictures are rather moving, and make you pause and think about what it would be like to spend another night sleeping on concrete and cardboard, with little comfort and less privacy. It would be hard to walk past that bundle of blankets again on the way to work, and not wonder what story lies underneath them. A number of the quotes and statistics were also arresting, such as in 2008 there were approximately 660000 people that were homeless on any given night. On the other hand, the quotes by local politicians angered more than inspired me. To hear someone like Randy Leonard wax about the seriousness of the problem, and then to see him throw fits over local stadium issues for baseball and soccer is just asinine. Either concentrate on the real problems of society, or just shut up when it comes to talking about them. The lip service we can do without.
If the homeless issue is one that concerns you and you want to give money to address it, ordering a copy of Where I Slept is a good way to support Transition Projects and also get an emotional tie to the local situation. But don't buy the book expecting deep insights and analysis of the problem. This is meant to be an emotional appeal, pure and simple.
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed
Transition Projects in Portland came up with an interesting idea for a book to bring home the homelessness problem for people... They went to people who had been on the streets, gave them disposable cameras, and told them to go take pictures of the places where they had bedded down and/or lived while homeless. The result is this book... Where I Slept: Being Homeless In Portland. If I keep in mind this is really a fundraising project for the organization, it's pretty good. But if I drift back into looking at it as something more comprehensive, I tend to be somewhat less enamored with the book.
The book is divided into a number of sections, such as Under Bridges, Doorways, Among The Trees, Mobile Homes, Railways, and Hiding Places. The image (all black and white) occupy one page, with the facing page devoted to a quote or statistic related to the homeless problem. The book is only approximately 50 pages long, so there's not an overabundance of content here. Couple that with a $20 price tag (and the edition being sponsored by a local realtor), and it's almost imperative that you keep the fundraising aspect in mind if you should happen to order it. Given that I picked up my copy at the local library, I had a more difficult time trying to keep the philanthropic concept ahead of the literary view. With no money invested in the book, it became "just another book" to me, subject to whatever whims and fancies my attitude happened to be in that day.
Having said that, a few of the pictures are rather moving, and make you pause and think about what it would be like to spend another night sleeping on concrete and cardboard, with little comfort and less privacy. It would be hard to walk past that bundle of blankets again on the way to work, and not wonder what story lies underneath them. A number of the quotes and statistics were also arresting, such as in 2008 there were approximately 660000 people that were homeless on any given night. On the other hand, the quotes by local politicians angered more than inspired me. To hear someone like Randy Leonard wax about the seriousness of the problem, and then to see him throw fits over local stadium issues for baseball and soccer is just asinine. Either concentrate on the real problems of society, or just shut up when it comes to talking about them. The lip service we can do without.
If the homeless issue is one that concerns you and you want to give money to address it, ordering a copy of Where I Slept is a good way to support Transition Projects and also get an emotional tie to the local situation. But don't buy the book expecting deep insights and analysis of the problem. This is meant to be an emotional appeal, pure and simple.
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed
| Permalink |
