<p>i'm curious. i really want to occasionally sleep in the streets of la with the homeless to gain an experience. but, what if i actually move in with them?? wouldn't that be a great idea? i could commute to ucla from downtown la. </p>
<p>i especially need charizard's input on this...</p>
<p>no.......u'd be dead in two days...or become someone's "love toy"</p>
<p>'Love toy?' Do you get those at McDonalds?</p>
<p>Hmm, I really don't see why you would want to do this? Perhaps to get a different perspective on some things, perhaps to save money?(jk). In either case, it's probably not the best idea. What would you do about showering or cleaning up? Besides, it's not going to gain you any experiance you could use in the work force. I mean, are you going to put: "Was homeless" on your resume? :P</p>
<p>In theory, it sounds pretty cool, and it would be nice to try for a few days, certainly not for a semester or your college tenure.</p>
<p>Cheers,
Alex</p>
<p>One of the fraternities at my school sleeps in boxes by the Campanile on central campus on one of the coldest nights of late fall/early winter every year to raise awareness of homelessness. And 2-3 times a year a small group of people do the same thing just because they can. Usually they pick cold, rainy, snowy, or otherwise crappy nights to do it for extra effect.</p>
<p>"'Love toy?' Do you get those at McDonalds?"</p>
<p>yes, in the back room</p>
<p>haha sauronvoldemort you'd be mincemeat in skid row... jail bait in hollywood... and actually pretty well off in santa monica</p>
<p>i've actually thought about this before. not seriously, but i've thought, "what if? what if?" </p>
<p>anyways, the only way that you could pull off spening a night downtown would be to be an expirienced homeless man's "shadow." you'd have to have someone there to tell you what to do and how to act. also, you'd have to wear old clothes and disguise yourself into looking unattractive(if you are).</p>
<p>I am fairly sure that Rollins College has a course in which students live a homeless life for a day or so.</p>
<p>For others, there are plenty of opportunities to do this, including in California. Just Google "street retreats." Some are operated by Buddhists, but you don't have to be Buddhist to do this.</p>
<p>Buddhist "street retreats":
"During the first week of August, Genro and I took ten people on a three-day street retreat in Los Angeles’ Skid Row. We call this practice a plunge: throwing oneself into an environment radically different from our accustomed habitat, so that we may enter into and be taught by not-knowing. </p>
<p>The Street Retreat demands that we “be one with” whatever is going on. When we chant the Gate of Sweet Nectar, which we do daily on the streets, we invoke the names of the Buddhas. We chant: “Be one with” the names of the Buddhas. I once read somewhere that the word “namo,” which we translate as “being one with” means “to plunge.” It means to throw oneself into whatever, until we are fully saturated and cannot distinguish self and other. It is like plunging a basket into water, and the basket swells so that water cannot leak through. Being on the streets is like this. We start out open, eager, and afraid and by the end, we are fully saturated with the streets. "
<a href="http://www.zencenter.org/news/DharmaTalks/plunge.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.zencenter.org/news/DharmaTalks/plunge.htm</a></p>
<p>"Yes, there are streets in every city
and there can be Street Retreats in every city, too!
The streets are public places where we meet each other as equals and encounter the unknown as well as ourselves. They are often those places in our cities and towns we are told not to go, where those who are "not like us" live."
<a href="http://www.faithfulfools.org/projretreat.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.faithfulfools.org/projretreat.htm</a></p>
<p>what u guys make me for? a woman? i'm LORD OF GREATNESS and people fear me; i don't fear people!!</p>
<p>now assume that i'm a macho monster. is there any downside</p>
<p>Northstarmom is right Rollins has a course..
Into the Streets: Hunger and Homelessness in the United States Through an into the streets immersion project, students will reflect on and analyze issues of hunger and homelessness in the U.S. and in Central Florida. The course will include active learning experiences, including an overnight stay at The Christian Service Center Our Daily Bread (located at 808 W. Central Blvd.) on Wednesday, January 10.</p>
<p>And I do believe the OP meant this thread as a joke.</p>
<p>You've never heard of Bobst Boy, I take it. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobst_Boy%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobst_Boy</a></p>
<p>The OP may have meant it as a joke, but it is a serious and interesting subject, and there are ways through various colleges and religious organizations to learn about homelessness by living in the streets.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceme%5B/url%5D">www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceme</a></p>
<p>Simulation of a Ugandan displacement camp. Takes place from 3pm today to 10 am tomorrow. The following cities are participating:</p>
<p>Seattle
San Francisco
Los Angels
Phoenix
Denver
Austin
Kansas City
New Orleans
Nashville
Chicago
Atlanta
Pittsburgh
Washington, DC
Orlando
New York</p>
<p>I'm still debating whether or not to go because I have finals starting Monday. I have a paper due Monday and a final that night. 2 papers due Tuesday plus a 400-pg book to read by that night. One final on Wednesday and Friday. AHHH</p>
<p>If you were a real man, you would spend a few days homeless in NYC during the winter. You might not survive, but if you did I would respect you a little more.</p>
<p>^yeah... why don't you try that. then you can tell us all about it. how about if you don't post here until you've done it?</p>
<p>Food: beg. mooch off friends. shoplift (small, understaffed grocery stores without cameras - if cameras, wear a cap, don't come by too frequently. helps if you live in a large, more urban area).</p>
<p>Sleep: summers, parks and nooks and crannies of a city are your friends. more harsher climates might necessitate building entrances or any homeless shelter you can find. or, alternate between friends' houses.</p>
<p>Hygiene: public bathrooms are your friend. train stations and airports, occasionally hotels, have showers available on a one-shower-fee basis.</p>
<p>Please don't ask me how I know this stuff. But it pulled me through some swaths of school. As long as most of the material is available through your school and literature is on the reserve at the library, it's perfectly possible.</p>
<p>So I went to the DisplaceMe event but ultimately decided I couldn't stay b/c of finals preparation. I did help with the set-up (of cardboard boxes as tents) and filming though.</p>
<p>i also once helped out the homeless in la. their lives are not THAT bad. in fact, i admire them for their courage</p>
<p>I once wrote an essay about being a bum while in Middle School..."My Life In Ten Years." That was a fun essay. The teacher wanted me to write about being a lawyer or university student or something. But I hate taking my writing prompts too seriously...</p>