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22 Feb 2011 15:13

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Culture: You’ll be hearing a lot more of Ted Williams’ dulcet tones

  • It has come to this: Ted Williams, he of the radio voice, will apparently be starring in a reality TV show, a development that seems retrospectively inevitable. Williams now has more employment and opportunity than he possibly could have expected as a homeless man, and that’s a very good thing. We just hope this doesn’t hurt his efforts in overcoming his addictions, which he recently entered and left rehab for, in the face of even more exposure, pressure, and money. Because, cliche though it is, that is what’s most important. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jan 2011 14:28

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Politics: Some thoughts on Ted Williams’ golden-voiced situation

  • Williams is an interesting figure who represents something far more than his own situation. And as more details come out about Williams, that becomes clear. He’s a product of that specific brand of fading industrialization that cities like Columbus have perfected over the last thirty years. A few years back, when Morgan Spurlock hosted the memorable reality show “30 Days,” he lived in Columbus, Ohio on minimum wage for a month. Spurlock gets beef for his Michael Moore-lite methods, but the truth is, the minimum wage episode was pretty on-point. We imagine Williams being in the background of that episode, thrown away by the society that let him down. And there’s the problem. There are lots of guys like Williams who were also in that scene, who don’t have his miraculous luck. Or the voice. We call them deadbeats. We criticize them for being dregs on society (looking at you, Fox News). Well, what are we doing to fix this? Enforcing drug laws? Citing them for trespassing? Ignoring them? For every Williams with a broken home life and no way to improve his situation, there are thousands of others. And we, as a society, should be asking why. (Now’s a good time to suggest donating to Street Sense. Help the homeless help themselves.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jan 2011 10:48

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Culture: So, how far did the homeless radio man Ted Williams fall?

  • Of all the people I’ve worked with in radio in 25 years, he would have been the last one I would guess would be famous. To be honest, I’m shocked he’s still alive, considering all the stuff he was into.
  • A former co-worker of golden-voiced homeless man Ted Williams • Explaining their experience working in radio with the man who’s dramatically been given multiple second chances this week. Williams, who has spent about five months in jail over the last twenty years and has a long-ranging list of misdemeanors, reportedly had a reputation of theft, according to the co-worker. Williams, who has six children (and myriad grandchildren and great-grandchildren), ended his marriage in 1998 because of his infidelity and crack-cocaine habit. He’s been clean for the last two years, and showed up on the “Today Show” this morning. Talk about comeback stories. Let’s hope that this time, he doesn’t get sucked into a world of drugs and alcohol. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jan 2011 21:39

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Culture: Golden-voiced homeless guy comes with lots of baggage

  • » The Cavs still want to help, though: Look, if you have a long history of drug and alcohol abuse like Williams here, it’s understandable that there might be a criminal record in there. But that isn’t deterring Quicken Loans, which owns the Cleveland Cavaliers and has offered Williams a home along with an voiceover job with the team and company. “We believe in second chances and second opportunities,” said Tracy Marek, senior vice president of marketing for the Cavaliers. “The gentleman deserves an opportunity to explain certain situations. We’re not jumping to conclusions. It’s not fair.” We hope that the obvious rough edges don’t deter anyone else, either. Too many give up on the homeless – and most of them don’t become YouTube celebrities.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Apr 2010 11:01

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U.S.: North Dakota has lots of jobs. But why is homelessness up?

  • 19% increase in homelessness from 2008 to 2009 source
  • » But why? The reason might surprise you – as will the deceptiveness of the number above. In 2008, 832 people were homeless. In 2009, 987 were. That’s a far cry from your average major city. The state has 4 percent unemployment, so there are plenty of jobs. But there aren’t enough homes for people to live in, causing some to make do, for example, in cars parked in Wal-Mart parking lots. There are waiting lists for homes in the state. How crazy is that?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Apr 2010 11:07

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World: In India, a huge storm has left thousands of families homeless

  • 89+ people were killed in the huge storm; hundreds were injured
  • 100k number of mud hut homes that were destroyed by the storm source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Mar 2010 23:18

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Offbeat: Airline rewards points during recessions a new kind of currency

This poor guy doesn’t have an address or a job, but he does have thousands of rewards points saved up, which means he can stay at hotels for (almost) free. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 Jan 2010 10:58

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Biz: Striking a chord: H&M unused clothing incident gets people talking

Should retailers give their unsold merchandise to the homeless? After a NYC H&M store ripped up clothing instead, the backlash brought a fresh light to the issue. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Dec 2009 00:43

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U.S.: The seedy underbelly of Las Vegas, in the literal sense

A number of homeless people live in giant tunnels under the glitz and glamor of the bright lights. Many are addicted to drugs or in trouble with the law. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Nov 2009 13:05

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Music: Bob Dylan thankful that his weird Christmas album helps the homeless

  • They get food straight to the people. No military organization, no bureaucracy, no governments to deal with.
  • Bob Dylan • Regarding his choice to offer proceeds of his bizarre “Christmas in the Heart” to hungry and homeless charities. He mentioned this in an interview that ran in London’s “The Big Issue” and other similar sold-by-homeless newspapers in the U.S. That’s right, a guy who never does interviews with anyone gave one to a homeless newspaper. Random. But awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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