‘Peace House Community Journal’ Archives
What’s in a Word?
Peace House Community Journal Over the last few years, there has been a movement to stop using the word “homeless” to describe those who don’t have permanent housing. Phrases like “those with lived experience of homelessness” or “the unstably housed” have popped up to fill the void. Those advocating for the change intend to reduce the stigma attached to homelessness by highlighting the difference between the person on the one hand and the place where they sleep on the other. Although I like reducing the stigma around homelessness, I’m ambivalent about the words we use to talk about homelessness. Reducing stigma is great, but solving the problem rather than renaming it would be better. I’d rather see more focus on providing housing than on vocabulary. But having said that, the stigma that arises from the belief that homelessness results from bad choices and irresponsibility makes it more difficult to generate support for efforts to end homelessness. As long [...]
Working Instead of Staying Busy
Peace House Community Journal By MARTI MALTBY Someone recently sent me an article that, among other things, lamented the busyness that people experience at their jobs and the amount of time and energy that this busyness wastes. The author’s goal was to get his readers to move from busyness to action, from working a job that may or may not pay the bills to finding ways to deal with weightier societal issues like the breakup of the republic, the mass extinction of many of earth’s animals, war, disease, famine … the list goes on. The author pointed out that many people discovered during the pandemic that their jobs involved far more busyness than accomplishment. From picking out appropriate work clothes to sitting in traffic to finding a parking space, workers found that they could accomplish just as much by staying home as they could by going to work. And all that time was saved before they even started working. Once they added on the time saved by avoiding [...]
PHCJ: The Sacredness of Used Clothing
Peace House Community Journal: The Sacredness of Used Clothing by Marti Maltby Like many nonprofits, Peace House Community relies on donations of both money and items to offer services to its community. Sometimes the items we receive are essential to our work, but often we receive donations that cause more problems than they solve. I used to work at a housing agency that had to deal with six burial plots. For decades, the plots showed up on the company’s balance sheet, never being used and having nothing to do with the agency’s work. I’m sure the donor had good intentions, and they probably received a nice thank-you letter, but honestly, it would have been better if they had thought about their donation a little more before filling out all the forms. When nonprofits receive those donations, we often roll our eyes. We know someone just created a bunch of work for us. Dealing with the donation will take more time and energy than the gift provides. It happens all the [...]
