Homeless at Harvard


Book Description

Harvard Square is at the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is the business district around Harvard University. It’s a place of history, culture, and some of the most momentous events of the nation. But it’s also a gathering place for some of the city’s homeless. What is life like for the homeless in Harvard Square? Do they have anything to tell people about life? And God? That’s what Harvard student John Frame discovered and shares in Homeless at Harvard. While taking his final course at Harvard, John Frame stepped outside the walls of academia and onto the streets, pursuing a different kind of education with his homeless friends. What he found—in the way of community and how people understand themselves---may surprise you. In this unique book, each of these urban pioneers shares his own story, providing insider perspectives of life as homeless people see it. This heartwarming page-turner shows how John learned with, from, and about his homeless friends—who together tell an unforgettable story—helping readers’ better understand problems outside themselves and that they’re more similar to those on the streets than they may have believed.




Breaking Night


Book Description

In the vein of The Glass Castle, Breaking Night is the stunning memoir of a young woman who at age fifteen was living on the streets, and who eventually made it into Harvard. Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls' home. At age fifteen, Liz found herself on the streets. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep. When Liz's mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny and go back to high school, often completing her assignments in the hallways and subway stations where she slept. Liz squeezed four years of high school into two, while homeless; won a New York Times scholarship; and made it into the Ivy League. Breaking Night is an unforgettable and beautifully written story of one young woman's indomitable spirit to survive and prevail, against all odds.




Shelter


Book Description

A powerful and inspiring study of the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter: The only student-run shelter in the United States.




The Homeless


Book Description

Late in the 1970s, Americans began to notice more people sleeping in public places and wandering the streets. By the late 1980s, the homeless were everywhere--a grim reminder of America's social and economic troubles. Renowned social analyst Jencks discusses the causes and extent of this problem and what can be done about it. Line illustrations and tables.




Making Room


Book Description

Mentally ill people turned out of institutions, crack-cocaine use on the rise, more poverty, public housing a shambles: as attempts to explain homelessness multiply so do the homeless--and we still don't know why. The first full-scale economic analysis of homelessness, Making Room provides answers quite unlike those offered so far by sociologists and pundits. It is a story about markets, not about the bad habits or pathology of individuals. One perplexing fact is that, though homelessness in the past occurred during economic depressions, the current wave started in the 1980s, a time of relative prosperity. As Brendan O'Flaherty points out, this trend has been accompanied by others just as unexpected: rising rents for poor people and continued housing abandonment. These are among the many disconcerting facts that O'Flaherty collected and analyzed in order to account for the new homelessness. Focused on six cities (New York, Newark, Chicago, Toronto, London, and Hamburg), his studies also document the differing rates of homelessness in North America and Europe, and from one city to the next, as well as interesting changes in the composition of homeless populations. For the first time, too, a scholarly observer makes a useful distinction between the homeless people we encounter on the streets every day and those "officially" counted as homeless. O'Flaherty shows that the conflicting observations begin to make sense when we see the new homelessness as a response to changes in the housing market, linked to a widening gap in the incomes of rich and poor. The resulting shrinkage in the size of the middle class has meant fewer hand-me-downs for the poor and higher rents for the low-quality housing that is available. O'Flaherty's tightly argued theory, along with the wealth of new data he introduces, will put the study of homelessness on an entirely new plane. No future student or policymaker will be able to ignore the economic f




Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness


Book Description

Humans are social animals and, in general, don’t thrive in isolated environments. Homeless people, many of whom suffer from serious mental illnesses, often live socially isolated on the streets or in shelters. Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness describes a carefully designed large-scale study to assess how well these people do when attempts are made to reduce their social isolation and integrate them into the community. Should homeless mentally ill people be provided with the type of housing they want or with what clinicians think they need? Is residential staff necessary? Are roommates advantageous? How is community integration affected by substance abuse, psychiatric diagnoses, and cognitive functioning? Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness answers these questions and reexamines the assumptions behind housing policies that support the preference of most homeless mentally ill people to live alone in independent apartments. The analysis shows that living alone reduces housing retention as well as cognitive functioning, while group homes improve these critical outcomes. Throughout the book, Russell Schutt explores the meaning and value of community for our most fragile citizens.




From Harvard to Homeless


Book Description

Where would you live if you had no worry in the world? What job opportunities could you pursue if you could move to any city/state in the near future? If you could cut your current rent price in half, where would you spend the extra money? "Vanlife" is defined as a "continuous and everlasting voyage of living in a van" by the Urban Dictionary. From Harvard to Homeless explores: What drives someone to pursue vanlife? Did it come from a position of privilege or need? How people benefit from having vanlife as well as alternative housing options. If so, how could we make such options viable for our community? Why have vanlife, tiny homes, and minimalism become popular in our society? You'll like this book if you're looking for more time, energy, and resources to visit the diverse geographies of the world or you are a young professional struggling to make a start in an increasingly unattainable urban environment Join Franklin on his journey and find out if vanlife is for you!




Very Good Lives


Book Description

J.K. Rowling, one of the world's most inspiring writers, shares her wisdom and advice. In 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Now published for the first time in book form, VERY GOOD LIVES presents J.K. Rowling's words of wisdom for anyone at a turning point in life. How can we embrace failure? And how can we use our imagination to better both ourselves and others? Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world famous author addresses some of life's most important questions with acuity and emotional force.




Cities I've Never Lived In


Book Description

In subtle, sensuous prose, the stories in Sara Majka's debut collection explore distance in all its forms: the emotional spaces that open up between family members, friends, and lovers; the gaps that emerge between who we were and who we are; the gulf between our private and public selves. At the center of the collection is a series of stories narrated by a young American woman in the wake of a divorce; wry and shy but never less than open to the world, she recalls the places and people she has been close to, the dreams she has pursued and those she has left unfulfilled. Interspersed with these intimate first-person stories are stand-alone pieces where the tight focus on the narrator's life gives way to closely observed accounts of the lives of others. A book about belonging, and how much of yourself to give up in the pursuit of that, Cities I've Never Lived In offers stories that reveal, with great sadness and great humor, the ways we are most of all citizens of the places where we cannot be. Cities I've Never Lived In is the second book in Graywolf's collaboration with the literary magazine A Public Space.




Breath of Fire


Book Description

AND SHE WILL BE THEIR QUEEN Cat Fisa's warlord captor-turned-lover may have crowned her with the symbols of the three realms, but war is far from over. She believes in what Griffin is trying to accomplish. She believes that peace will finally come when the realms are united. And she believes that with her by his side, Griffin has the strength to change the world. But with her dangerous past resurfacing and the neighboring royals out for blood, Cat and Griffin must strike soon if they want to unify the land without full-scale war. They'll do anything to avoid innocent bloodshed, including crossing the treacherous Ice Plains or entering the deadly Agon Games to win access to the royal court...and the very family they plan to usurp. When their desperate battle for survival is over, Cat and Griffin will either be standing side-by-side in the heart of their future kingdom—or not at all. Discover exciting bonus material, including maps, illustrations, and an expanded look at the world of Thalyria. Fans of Jennifer Armentrout, Scarlett St. Clair and Sarah J. Maas will burn for this spicy romantic fantasy. The Kingmaker Chronicles: A Promise of Fire (Book 1) Breath of Fire (Book 2) Heart on Fire (Book 3) A Curse of Queens (A Kingmaker Chronicles novel, Book 1) Readers are raving about the Kingmaker Chronicles: "Give this to your Game of Thrones fans." —Booklist STARRED Review "Loved it!" —ELOISA JAMES, New York Times bestselling author "Utterly breathtaking!" —DARYNDA JONES, New York Times bestselling author "Masterful worldbuilding." —Kirkus STARRED Review "Absolutely fabulous." —C.L. WILSON, New York Times bestselling author "Magic, action, romance—everything I love in a series." —JENNIFER ESTEP, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author "Sweeping in its world building and poignant in its emotion. A Homeric trilogy not to be missed." —GRACE DRAVEN, USA Today bestselling author "Easily my favorite book of 2016!" —Bookriot "Delivers with both heat and heart—loved it!" —JEFFE KENNEDY, award-winning author