Here is a great story of a woman who found herself living out of a camper in a Walmart parking lot at 24, with just her dog and laptop computer….and turned the experience into a blog aptly titled – a "Girl’s Guide to Homelessness" – and parlayed that into some pretty good publicity, a few cool TV show style auditions and ultimately today – a front page story on CNN.
It’s truly amazing (and inspiring) what you can do with a voice and a blog these days.….and if you have a passion for something, probably NO excuse good enough to justify why you aren’t pursuing it to the utmost of your ability.
As a quick side note – I lived in a tent for about 2 weeks a bunch of years ago, and it was much tougher than you’d think if you haven’t tried it. Actually – it was myself, and 3 friends in a sort of poorly concieved, post collegiate "City Slickers" sort of experience, and the 2nd day in the ‘wild" we drove to a local wallmart and bought rug remnants to wall to wall carpet the tent.
Which actually was pretty comfortable.
And is pretty much what happens when 4 Jewish guys decide to go camping.
Anyway – kudos to her for a killer idea – and a pretty inventive way of turning lemons….into lemonade. Check out the story at the link below – and get blogging about something that inspires you, too..:-)
As she spent five months looking for jobs and blasting out resumes, often spending hour after hour at a coffee shop to take advantage of its free Wi-Fi connection, she also started blogging. The result, the Girl’s Guide to Homelessness, chronicled the ups and downs of her new life.She reminisced about adopting her dog, named for a character from the movie "The Princess Bride," and mulled the pros and cons of having a pet while homeless. She recounted details from failed job interviews and offered tips for other homeless women."I was trying to stay positive and cheerful," Karp said. "I started writing the blog in a tongue-in-cheek way to kind of laugh about my circumstances, keep them chronicled. I didn’t think anyone would actually read it." Video Watch CNN’s Ted Rowland’s report on Brianna. »But people did, including Matt Barnes, formerly homeless himself and running a Web site about his own homelessness issues in Scotland.He asked her to write for his site and would eventually become Brianna’s boyfriend.Another big break came through a shot at the weird world of reality television.
Blogging begins turnaround for homeless woman – CNN.com
Well, good for her. I am glad something came her way to help improve her situation. Having said that, however, considering the fact that she is “living” in a trailer, and from the picture, it appeared to be an RV, that hardly constitutes being homeless. Take a look around; there are MANY people who CHOOSE to live in an RV. These folks are either retired and love to travel, some have to travel for their jobs, and this is an easier way to accomodate that lifestyle than staying in hotels, etc., AND, some just love the freedom that living in an RV provides. I doubt that these people consider themselves to be HOMELESS. A TRUE homeless person has NO roof over their head, and lives under bridges, or in alleys, or on a park bench, or in a tent, or HOMELESS shelter. Camping out in a Wal Mart parking lot, and now in a friend’s yard, does NOT equate to being homeless. If she had no money, and no job, how did she eat, feed her dog, etc,? Hmmm…I suppose it suffices for a “feel good” story; girl down on her luck comes out on top…to write a FASHION blog? Seriously? Her background was in the Executive Assistant field. Hell, if that is all that it takes, I just might give ol’ Carroll a ring, oh, scratch that, I’ll just write her a letter about writing a blog about giving her a ring. While I am at it, I should probably include some asinine line in said letter that reads something like this: “The instability sucks, but I’m rocking it as best as I can.” Oh, yes, that is simply one of the most enticing things that I have EVER read! I would hire her on the spot! Let’s not forget that Carroll’s response was equally as compelling: “I thought, she’s so ready to work, obviously she can write, she’s got some skills.” Are you kidding me??? Is that all it takes to make “writing” your career??? Ridiculous. How about the next time someone goes from having something, to having nothing, to being on the path to having something again, there is a little more hardship involved. If this girl had so much “career experience”, and could not find a job, I will assume she did not even qualify to work in the Wal Mart store that provided her a place to park her home. I am sure the resume’ that she submitted to be a cashier, or a night stocker, or sweeper of floors, was just tossed in the wastebasket. What is probably more true here, is that she felt like she was better than that, better than other menial jobs that I am sure she could have gotten. Hint: minimum wage is better than nothing. Now, I know this sounds like judgement on my part, and I don’t intend for it to, but most people in her age group have such a sense of entitlement, that it is an embarassment for the entire country. They have no concept of the meaning of responsibility and accountability. Just because she could type, file papers, answer phones, WHATEVER, and don’t forget she had her title; Executive Assistant, i.e., Secretary, I am quite certain that many a job opportunity was passed by, regardless of what it was, because she was OVER-QUALIFIED, in her homeless induced state of delusion.
Hi Sha’ – You sound like a super fun person!
It takes a special soul to see the good in a situation and sort of just kind of capture it all in one smooth stroke……and I think you’ve got the gift! (especially your point about those pesky 24 year olds……I couldn’t agree more – they are bringing the whole damn country down!)
Keep up the good work – I know you’ve added a little extra skip to my step today.