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November 16, 2005
24, going on 16
On the radio this morning, I heard that the city is closing the oldest mission and homeless shelter in the city. The area around it, which is somewhere on the near south side, has gentrified dramatically over the past 10-15 years, and the new inhabitants weren't to thrilled with having a homeless shelter in their neighborhood. The space it has used for the past century will be taken by the neighboring high school, allowing it to expand significantly. I started wondering about the fact that a homeless shelter is being moved to allow a school to expand. I'm all for improving school facilities. But which is more important -- improving schools or feeding the homeless? If the homeless aren't tended in any way, isn't this just the poor getting poorer and those at the school getting richer, so to speak? Without question, both the shelter and the school would be filled with people on the poorer end of the nation-wide spectrum, but within that, aren't the more fortunate becoming more fortunate while the less fortunate get it stuck to them once more?
So, then, in an absurdly tangential turn, I started thinking about what it means to be wise. Do wise people come up with better solutions or ask better questions? Socrates was certainly a great thinker, but he was definitely known as a great questioner. Maybe Smart people help others solve complex, difficult problems and make involved plans; and maybe Wise people make others think more. What I eventually came up with is that 8 AM is too early in the morning to possibly think about such things.
Anyways, the homeless shelter is moving to a new and better facility that is relatively close to the old, historic one. So it's really not even an issue for this shelter. Everybody gets better facilities and more space. In other words, all those questions I was thinking about are entirely irrelevant to the topic by which they were brought to my attention.
Before one of my classes at work (work=student teaching), I ran to the faculty bathroom. While I was standing at the urinal, you know, doing my business, another teacher I'd never seen walked in and up to the position next to me. He looked at me and said, "This bathroom is for faculty and staff only." I looked at him and said, "Yup." Then I washed my hands and left. I wish he would've asked for my ID. That's how they get people in trouble at this school -- they take their IDs and write down their info to submit to the appropriate disciplinarian. I really wish he'd asked for it. I could've shown him my driver's license, which shows that I am 24. Or I could've shown him my Northwestern ID, which, though it doesn't show that I am a grad student, certainly proves that I graduated high school. Almost seven years ago actually. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Random Teacher Guy. Ah, the perils of the young teacher. Still, I like to think I don't look entirely like a high school student.
Posted by ben at November 16, 2005 8:11 PM