Interview 1

Reflection

This interview gave me a lot of insight on the harsh reality of living on the street. He goes in to tell little bits of his life story, and small portions of what he did as a kid and it really humanizes him. Growing up in San Francisco I have walked past thousands of homeless people in my life. After a certain point you start to not notice them at all, they just become part of the city. I think this mentality of allowing homeless people to simply fade into the background of our daily lives, almost as if they are inhuman, is a problem with our city. Learning about Jerolds childhood and how similar it was to mine, or to any kids, really helped me empathize with him. One of the most heartbreaking parts of this interview for me, was when Jack asked him, “What makes you happy?” And he responded, “Nothing, nothing right now.” The idea that for this person there's nothing, not one thing he could think of that makes him happy is terrible. What's most heartbreaking about this is this isn’t an isolated case. There are thousands of homeless people in San Francisco that feel this way. One thing I noticed that Jerold strongly believed in was family. While interviewing him he told us, “You have a private legacy, your family.” This is a really interesting insight into the ideals of Jerold. As a homeless person he has certainly gone through a lot, but the fact that he still layered into us that it's not money, it's not status, all that matters is your legacy to your family, is really interesting. We often see with people living on the street that they are homeless because they have no support system. They often don’t have any ties to a family or any friends. Jerolds insight on family showed how important it is to have social ties, and how at the end of the day that's what matters most. Around halfway through the interview Jerold told us, “Ima say this, this is bad, for anybody.” When discussing the homeless crisis in San Francisco we never hear it talked about from people who have actually experienced homelessness. Most people that make laws and solutions for homelessness are very far from being on the streets. Jerold telling us how bad his situation is really showed me the disconnect between the people who are homeless and those who are trying to solve homelessness. Jerold really taught me that as a city, and a society as a whole, we should listen to those experiencing homelessness, because they know, better than anyone, what its like to live on the streets.