A Boost for Poverty Porn?
Brief glimpses of a homeless girl appear in The Academy of Reality, roughly a dozen times over the entire novel, as if she’s an insignificant, minor character in a world that favors the privileged. In 2018, the Academy of Reality was written, more or less. My wife and I attended a New Orleans conference where it had been shortlisted as a novel-in-progress. On our last night, we returned to our hotel. It was raining, the November air, chilling. A girl we had seen earlier was camping out on the sidewalk, cradling a kitten in her arms. A man wearing a suit was trying to convince her to go to a shelter, but there was a problem. Homeless shelters don’t take in dogs and cats; animal shelters don’t take in humans. Sobbing, the girl said she only goes where the cat goes.
A homeless shelter would protect the girl from predators and protect New Orleans tourists and business establishments from embarrassment. Then again, we can’t forget that a girl clinging to her kitten in front of an exclusive hotel might turn poverty into entertainment, another boost for the poverty porn business.
Everyone has a right to survive. Camping in front of a hotel has its pros and cons. Homeless people numb the mind enough to protect it from sorrow. If you can’t afford to give a buck to each one, it’s easy to avoid giving at all.
Hand a Handout or a Business Card?
We flew home to a middle-class neighborhood where panhandlers are non-existent. We only find them on a highway off-ramp in a neighboring city. The wisdom from a nearby shelter: You never know if your dollar buys drugs or food. Street people stop panhandling when people stop handing them handouts. Instead, you should hand out business cards that direct the homeless to the nearest shelter.
The Academy of Reality, a dystopian spoof of a big business world, wouldn’t be complete without the homeless girl from New Orleans. She is—or was– a real person, written into a novel with fictitious characters. Early on, readers encounter her huddling against the base of a large oak tree, doing nothing, holding her kitten, patiently waiting for a few employees to depart, to reclaim her place on a warm, outdoor grid. During a blizzard, she builds a tiny igloo out in a snowed-in parking lot; the problem, people feel less sorry, now that her igloo makes her appear less homeless.
To Sleep or Not to Sleep in an Enclosed Space
Sid and Mia can’t help the homeless girl and kitten get an awkward foot in The Academy’s door. They pool their resources and suspend another capsule in their condo. The homeless girl refuses to sleep in an enclosed space. Instead, she prefers sleeping in the open space underneath.
