Quote of the Day (Sara Teasdale, on the Homeless on ‘A Winter Night’)

“God pity all the homeless ones,
The beggars pacing to and fro.
God pity all the poor to-night
Who walk the lamp-lit streets of snow.”—American lyric poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933), “A Winter Night,” originally published in Helen of Troy and Other Poems (1911), reprinted in Collected Poems of Sara Teasdale (1966)
 
Unlike the scene in this poem, what I saw looking out my window last night was steady rain rather than snow. But it looked and sounded dismal—and wet—and with the wind whipping up periodically, it was easy to imagine it being as raw as what Teasdale described.

Photo of the Day: Think You Can Handle THIS?

Today, the 501(c)3 charity Street Soccer USA ran the "Street Soccer USA National Cup" in New York's Times Square. All I knew while watching it for a brief minute was that the activity looked fun. Little did I know that Street Soccer USA uses the energy from the game as a positive outlet for the homeless—and, in the process, teaches important life skills.

Quote of the Day (Mike Bloomberg, on NYC Homeless Shelters)

“You can arrive in your private jet at Kennedy Airport, take a private limousine and go straight to the shelter system and walk in the door and we've got to give you shelter."—New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, explaining on his WOR-AM radio show that the city’s homeless shelters are so crowded because they can’t turn people away, quoted in Garth Johnston, “Bloomberg Explains Homeless Shelter Problem: You Can Take Your Limo There And Still Score A Bed,” Gothamist, March 8, 2013

Oh, yes—arriving at homeless shelters by “private jet” and “private limousine” is done all the time. I’m sure the mayor and his rich pals spend quality time there often when they’re not heading down to the Caribbean for the weekend…