Neighbors
'Neighbors' is an autobio comic story told in nine parts
about housing and homelessness, about home and belonging.
Read the entire comic or see individual chapters below.
This story is my journey through figuring out the roots of my uneasiness at seeing signs of homelessness on my block. How do we understand 'home' in cities where so many are 'homeless'? The story also touches on the complicated complicity and mixed feelings I have about my own role in gentrification. How do we become good neighbors to each other? If this work resonates with you, please support it by sharing it with others. I have been thinking about 'home' a lot this year, and these are some of the conversations I believe we should be having.
The comics updated weekly during September and October of 2017, and I also blogged weekly. These written essays drew from all of the research and thinking that I could not fit into the comic itself. Topics included: urban alchemy, mental geography, the sorting of our cities, and reflections from my time studying homelessness in Austin for grad school at AC4D. I also wanted to continue the reflection evoked with these stories through an online writing circle and conversation during November 2017.
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“If one person is watching a huge calamity, there are always three principal options. Option 1: Run away. Option 2: Launch a demonstration. Option 3: Bring a bucket of water and throw it on the fire. If you don’t have a bucket, bring a glass. And if you don’t have a glass, use a teaspoon. Everyone has a teaspoon. And yes, I know the teaspoon is little and the fire is huge, but there are millions of us, and each of us has a teaspoon.”
~Adapted from Amos Oz writing about the 'Order of the Teaspoon'