College Student Tries Week Living on Philadelphia Streets

Steve Wood spent last week living on the streets of Philadelphia. But he's not homeless or even close to it.

The Temple University student from Washington Township, N.J., was gathering material for a series of articles he hoped would "put a face to the homeless."

Wood, who is a senior and feature editor of the University's school newspaper, Temple News, started his adventure March 3^rd. He had stopped shaving days before to help him blend in and talked to a homeless man who is often seen around his school for tips.

The University student rode a bus into Philadelphia with two pairs of socks, a tooth brush, a tape recorder, a blanket, a can of pepper spray-a gift from his father-$10.00, and a copy of the Russian Novel "Crime and Punishment."

Five days into his project, Wood told the Philadelphia Inquirer things were going differently then he had planned. "I had plans of sleeping under the stars," he said. "I thought I'd be buddy-buddy with people who'd give me the scoop. And I'd checked the weather. Everything said there was a 10 percent chance of precipitation and no temperatures below 40 degrees."

But it was too cold to sleep in LOVE Park, a park downtown opposite of City Hall. His first night he says, "I woke up with chills like I'd never had before. At this point I was almost saying All is Lost." But he spent his days interviewing people, stopping by shelters and once accepting 75 cents from a drug dealer.

As of Thursday, Wood only had 16 cents and a peanut-butter cracker to his name, but he said, "I know that I'm only one shower removed from being back to normal."

As for his experience living on the street, Wood said he was resentful when he saw people who had coffee, but he lost patience when he heard some homeless people talking about what the city owes them.

"I don't want to be a junior-varsity social worker, but to some extent they make their own bed." He said. "I feel bad for them but a lot of them have a sense of entitlement."

Wood's last day on the streets was Saturday.