- Okay, let's say you're 18 and you're homeless.
What are you doing?
- I'd eat squirrels.
- You'd eat squirrels?
- Yeah. (laughs)
- Okay, so, that'd probably be better
than raccoons, I must say.
(soft music)
- What's happening bro?
- Hi.
- What's your name?
- Calen. - Calen.
- I'm Jules.
- Jules, I'm Nick bro, how you doing today?
- I'm doing good, how about you?
- Not too bad man, not too bad.
- Okay, so, you know how...
- This guy's getting right into it, bro.
(laughs)
Do you know why we're here today?
- No. - No?
We're talking about homelessness.
- Homelessness?
- Homelessness, specifically, I was homeless.
I was homeless from about 18 to 20 years old.
- Whoa.
- Do you know anyone who's homeless?
- I don't know anybody who's homeless,
but I've seen a lot of people's, like...
- The camps and the tents and stuff, yup.
I've slept in a couple of those.
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah, I was kicked out by my dad, you know,
me and him were fighting a bunch.
- Why did he kick you out?
- Drugs, partying, I was skipping class,
all that whole thing.
- That's no reason to kick somebody out though,
you could like have a fair talk with them,
and like, set boundaries.
- Yeah, we tried that, we tried that a couple of times
and, it just wasn't working.
- What was it like when you got kicked out?
- At first it didn't really hit me, you know,
it was just like oh whatever you know,
I could still do the same that I've been doing.
And that was cool for like a month. (laughs)
And then nobody wanted to party anymore,
and there I was, by myself.
- Were people ever mean to you because you were homeless?
- I don't think it was really mean,
but they definitely looked at me different, you know.
That's what really hurt,
was when they didn't even treat me like a real person,
and they would just treat me like an animal.
- What did you do to survive when you were on the streets?
- To survive, I kept to myself.
A lot of times, you know, this person's
fighting with this street person,
and if you can keep all that to yourself,
and just do what you have to to get by.
- What did you do for food?
- I would have to steal from grocery stores.
I was having to do what I needed to do to get food.
- I'd eat squirrels. - You'd eat squirrels?
- Yeah.
- Okay, so that'd probably be better
than raccoons, I must say.
- When I was out on the street,
where do you think I would sleep?
- Probably like on a bench
or like somewhere that's covered up.
- Anywhere to get rid of the elements.
So a bench, I would definitely not be on.
Where would you sleep?
- Like, get a box.
- It's thirty degrees outside,
you're plannin' on sleeping in a box?
(giggles)
- Oh my goodness, cardboard ain't gonna block that.
Public bathrooms were great.
As long as you can get comfortable with like,
pee being on your face, cause you know,
it is a bathroom floor.
- Oh!
- And that's something you gotta live with,
and sleep through.
- Technically, the bathroom floor is
sanitarier than your phone.
- Well, there you go, see?
You say that, and you go goodnight.
- Did you ever have like, somebody to call
and be like, can I stay sleep at your place tonight?
- I did when I first started.
But, you know, you call all your friends,
and then you say like, hey can I sleep over?
They're like, you've been here for two weeks.
When are you gonna get your own stuff going, you know?
- Did you tell them that you were homeless at all?
- Oh yeah, they knew, they knew everything.
But I had bad habits, and they were only
helping those bad habits just letting me do
what I wanted under their roof, you know?
What is your personal experience with homelessness?
Do you know anybody?
- No, I don't know anybody who's homeless.
- You don't know anybody.
- [Man] Your grandma was telling me that your sister
has struggled with homelessness, is that true?
- She does drugs but, she has a place to stay.
- Was she homeless at a point?
- I think she was homeless at a point,
but like that was essentially her choice,
because she's always had a place to go.
- It was her choice to live that lifestyle?
- Yeah.
- You personally though, do you think like,
I'm not gonna be like that?
- I know I'm not gonna end up like that,
'cause I seen the effect it had on her.
How her personality changed, and it had on my parents.
And my whole family, really.
- Do you have any experience with homelessness?
- Well, my dad works at a homeless shelter.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Shouts to him, you know, the shelter saved my life.
What do you think shelters are like?
- I don't have much clue, I mean like...
- Well it's basically like, forty people
sleeping in the same room, on mats.
- Oh.
- That's basically what it was
and they would give us a meal at the end of the day.
But I was at the good one, you know,
we got socks, and sleeping bags and stuff.
There were other shelters where like,
the bathroom didn't have a door,
and there was like blood on the wall.
- Where'd the blood come from?
- Who knows, I was just there to sleep,
and get the heck out of there.
- When you were in the shelter, did you still do drugs?
- Yeah, yeah, I smoked weed.
That's just what everyone was doing, you know,
everyone was like 18, 19.
There was kids doing heroine.
You know, a lot of homeless people are alcoholics?
And whenever I got kicked out of the shelter,
or it was full, and I wasn't allowed in,
I would have to get really drunk to pass out,
because it was so cold and uncomfortable.
- I mean like, I understand it can help to like a point,
but it really doesn't help.
Because you think it'll help, it will make you feel better,
but your life's like, falling apart.
- Yeah. (laughs)
- Well, it happens.
- That's pretty much it, yo.
- Did you have any money?
- No, not for awhile.
I did get a job, I got a job when I was homeless.
I was making bagels. (laughs)
- I love bagels.
- Bagels are pretty good.
I was homeless when I first got the job,
and I actually had to lie on my application,
when they said where do you live?
And I said I live like, right around the block.
And I was sleeping in the park, right around the block.
(laughs)
- There's probably more people than you know
at your favorite shops, that are homeless, you know?
I wasn't the only one.
I knew of other people who were homeless,
living in their car, like sleeping on couches,
stuff like that.
It came to light, after about two months
of me working there that I was homeless, but no one cared.
They just said like, you want you can stay at my house?
I was like, nah, that's alright.
- Why didn't you take their help?
- I don't know, I just wanted to go in, get my paycheck,
and get out, and get my own life situated.
- Yeah.
- And after about six to eight months,
and the help from the youth care shelter,
I was able to get a down deposit on my first apartment.
- How are you doing now?
- I'm fantastic, yeah, I'm not homeless anymore,
and I'm living with my good friends, you know.
We have a house now, I get to do what I want, when I want.
I get to sleep in a warm bed every night, it's a lot of fun.
I'm definitely in a better place now.
- That's good.
- Do you still talk to your dad?
- Oh yeah, he's picking me up from this.
- Oh.
- We're gonna go get dinner. (laughs)
Nah, we're hella cool now.
After all of that, you know, I was still a kid,
and he just wanted me to grow up.
So, kicking me out on the streets
and, doing that whole thing..
- It's more like he was trying to teach you a lesson.
- It was nice to meet you.
- Likewise, my man. - It was a pleasure.
- Appreciate you, this is it?
- [Man] Yeah.
- Awesome, stay in school, don't do drugs.
- I won't.
- Or everything in moderation, I should say.
You know, have a life, have fun.
I'm not encouraging drug use, grandma.
I'm not encouraging drug use
but, make sure you know at the end of the day
you got your vision set, and you never lose sight of that.
Thank you Phoebe, it was a pleasure meeting you.
- You too.
- And, yes.
(applause)