i remember having this conversation with duey and ana a few weeks before graduation. we were discussing what our plans were after graduation. ana and i came up with the usual "pssssh....i don't know what i'm gonna do. probably be a bum for a while." duey one-upped us by saying, "i'm definitely going to be homeless in california." (or something to that effect) riiight....that's what uva grads end up being. as if this wasn't odd enough, count on ana to take it to the next level. she posed the question, "if you're going to be a bum, which city/state would you like to stay in?" of course we all wanted to stay warm so we picked florida. apparently if you're a bum and you get buried in snow and the snow plow gets you (ie. kill you), it's no one's fault and is not considered murder. scary. other questions such as "how long does it take before you to start looking like a bum?" came up in that obviously odd and random conversation.
homelessness is not a joking matter, neither is poverty. i have just turned in my entry for a design competition dealing with this very issue. the idea is to design a cart that can provide storage and shelter since many homeless people use a cart to carry collected items that they can eventually turn in for a bit of cash. i entered the competition mostly because of the message behind it, and partly because i felt the need to get into the design process once again. so i guess it's true you can't kick the habit as easily as you thought.