Homeless: What Image Comes to Mind?

CSULB Graphic Design Students~Out to Make a Difference in Their Community

What image comes to mind when you hear the word "homeless"? What adjectives come to mind; what are common words used when the conversation turns to homelessness and homeless people? My personal favorites are: bum, lazy and does not want to work. While there may be lazy people among the homeless population, laziness probably played no part in the person becoming homeless. Does not want to work? Many homeless people hold jobs while living on the streets or in shelters. Many also became homeless after a lifetime of working. How exactly does one define the word bum? There have been reports of 400 Iraqi War Vets that have found themselves homeless after risking their life in Iraq. Are they bums?

Changing perceptions that people have about the homeless population was Cal State Long Beach's Visual Communications senior class project. The completed projects were displayed at Long Beach's East Village Arts Park in conjunction with "2nd Saturday Arts Walk" on May 12. The showing was presented again on Sunday, the 13th. I spoke to some of the students and they credit their professor, Mike Whitlow with originating the idea of "changing perceptions of homelessness in Long Beach through art". The attitude among the young men and women showed that they enthusiastically embraced the subject matter and put much effort into their assignment

The first thing I noticed when I entered the small gated park was the foot mat with the words "Please Wipe Your Feet" followed by "5000 men women and children call these streets their home". The "Change Please" logo with information about the Art's Park event is also printed on the mat. The next thing I saw was a sign with pie chart statistics. "Women and children make up 41% of the Long Beach homeless population." Surprising? When I asked at the start of this article "what image comes to mind when you hear the word homeless", was your image one of a woman or child? Can a child or teenager truly be considered a bum?