- Playing
- Choosers, Not Beggars
- From
- Lu Olkowski
Governments are always looking for ways to change behavior--stopping people from driving drunk, or encouraging them to recycle. This is a story of social engineering on a smaller scale. A man has just been fired and is about to loose his apartment. His friend convinces him to try something new... to let it all go... become homeless... and write poetry.
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Piece Description
Governments are always looking for ways to change behavior--stopping people from driving drunk, or encouraging them to recycle. This is a story of social engineering on a smaller scale. A man has just been fired and is about to loose his apartment. His friend convinces him to try something new... to let it all go... become homeless... and write poetry.
Broadcast History
First broadcast on ?This American Life? on June 27, 2008
Transcript
NARRATOR (Reporter, Lu Olkowski):
It wasn't that Gregory and Daniel decided to become homeless, so they?d finally get enough free time to write. They slid into homelessness gradually.
Gregory was making good money as a computer tech for a Wall Street firm. But he was drinking way too much and finally his wife walked out. He found himself living alone in an apartment in New Jersey. His best friend Daniel, meanwhile, was between jobs and divorced.
So Gregory offered his couch to Daniel, and for a long while things were all right. Daniel would write some in the day, Gregory worked nights. Until Gregory lost his job. And he'd never been unemployed before, not really, not like Daniel. He began missing rent payments, and couldn?t see a way to catch up. And he was freaking out. And at this point he could?ve gotten another job or gone to his family for money. But he did nothing. And t...
Read the full transcript
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Elizabeth Yeoman
Posted on November 06, 2009 at 10:38 AM | Permalink
A startling and insightful story
The story is beautifully narrated, thought provoking and slightly disturbing. There are complex questions here about the notion of choice and some startling revelations about homelessness and mental illness. The upbeat yet reflective voices of the two main characters, Daniel and Gregory, and judicious use of music and sound keep the listener engaged from start to finish.