Miami University

Homeless Families: Hopefully Not in the 22nd Century

I knew by the dark colors and patterns in her woven wrap that she was from Oaxaca, a State in southern Mexico that is over 1200 miles from Tijuana. Her petite body carried a small child on her back and another on her hip, with two other children’s hands held tightly in each of her own. I noticed her while I was handing out oranges and candy and coloring books and crayons to a never-ending line of children—children who we were told, “would come out of the dirt” when they saw our vans.

It’s so easy a caveman can do it. Honestly, it is. The process is quick and painless. However thousands of Americans take this human right for granted. More than half of United States citizens fail to make it to the polls and perform democracy’s simplest task: voting.

Imagine, for a moment, a young girl about the age of 13 forced into a marriage with a 46-year-old man. Once she is his wife, she is forced to satisfy all of her husband’s sexual demands. She falls in love, at 16, with a classmate whom she sees every day after school. They hide their intimate, sexual relationship for 10 years until they are caught.

A woman sits on the corner of the busiest intersection in Middletown, her back resting on a hard, metal sign post, her clothing not suited for the abysmal heat of the summer day. Her middle-aged frame is curled into itself, her face mostly hidden by a white baseball cap. Her sign delivers a simple message in plain letters: Please help, lost my job, homeless, three children to care for. People nearby are leaving shops and department stores in a rush to get out of the summer heat. They can’t wait to crank the air conditioning in the cars which will carry them home.

Oxford, Ohio: A popular image of today’s college students is the dominating notion of ‘the me generation’, the idea being that never before has there been such a pampered, spoiled, and selfish generation. These ‘Generation Y’ers are supposedly the most entitled and self -centered in history. Political apathy is an assumed fact, and the stereotype being as long as no one touches the ipods, tivos, and facebook accounts of these students, apathy will continue.

Miami University recently announced that it will ban smoking on its four campuses starting in the fall of 2008, indoors and out. This decision comes a year after Ohio voters approved a statewide smoking ban in public indoor buildings.

It is currently legal for people who are eighteen years of age to join the military. It is not legal, however, for them to buy or consume alcohol. Different people mature at different ages. Teenagers are allowed to fight and die in the heat of battle. They should be allowed to know the taste of beer. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 caused all of our states to make it law that people under the age of 21 are not allowed to purchase or consume alcohol. This law at the time was an unpopular one.

Until the age of eighteen children are required by law to attend school. But in Middletown, some students have no way to get there. Those who do make it to school find that academics, extra curricular activities and other vital programs have been cut this year.

At a middle school in Ohio, Mrs. H’s alternative classroom is like her – atypical. Tables are set up rather than desks, to foster teamwork. Beanbag chairs are scattered here and there.

“It may look unorganized, but it works,” said Mrs. H, who has taught here every school day for the past six years. Mrs. H teaches at a school in Middletown but she asked not to be identified by name. She does everything she can to protect the privacy of her students.