"Poverty cosplay". That earns you five stars.

Don't go spending it on booze now, y'hear?

I always went with "poverty tourists".

Oh fucking man are these the most annoying kids on Earth to see panhandling. Can you imagine actually being homeless and seeing these shits muscle in on your spare change turf?

Of course they all disappear in the fall and winter.

These people suck. I've had friends that have been kicked out of their families here in Mississippi for being transgender or gay or even having a drug problem and homelessness blows. I was able to ride the purse strings of my upper middle class family but since we lost it all in Katrina, the possibility of homelessness is just one lost job away for all of us now. It sucks to be in poverty and it is honestly something you can't really have proper perspective on until you've been there for real. Pre-2005 kingarthur had some privilege-based attitude problems. Two suicide attempts later and having to move back home with your parents, both of whom have had to go back to poverty level wages in their senior years with no retirement possible, well that shit will fucking humble your privilege right the fuck quick. And we're still doing ninety percent better than most other people in our neighborhood. I have cable and food and Internet and health insurance. Most here don't.

I was in Northampton with some friends last spring and we stumbled on some suburban crusties in a doorway; one of my friends said something along the lines of "they should put out a 'need money for mangy pitbull'" sign,since they didn't have one yet. And that's coming from a guy who's approaching 40 and still has a beard like a pound of alfalfa spouts, hair halfway down to his ass, and makes his living designing and printing silkscreened rock posters - he's not exactly the voice of mainstream, honky America.

And what Kingarthur said, although I went kind of the other way (living in a two room studio as a young child up to now where my family has managed to just barely reach 6 figure combined income, paid off a modest, 800 square foot house on 1/10th of an acre in a nice, upper-middle class small town that's too far from a city to be a suburb, and has saved enough money to retire on although they still live on less than they'll collect from social security because it's all they need to be comfortable - which we all agree is about the level the most wealthy should be living at.

But yeah, poverty is fucking awful and I would never pretend to have the first clue what it's REALLY like, because even at our poorest my family was able to afford food and shelter, which puts us near the top of the heap, globally speaking.

"...scorned like a motherfucker. these kids would have gotten straight fucking turned the fuck out if they had run across any actual traveling kids". The hardcore crusties don't sound like very nice people; they sound like fucking juggalos.

i blame black drug dealers

So this "oogle" thing. Is this a recent slang term? And how widespread is it's usage? I work with a bunch of homeless vets, and I've never heard anyone use that word before.

oogle is a huge thing and i actually think is signifies the same elitism that fucked with punk to infiltrate the street kid scene (which is basically punk at heart but more centered around drug addiction, alcoholism, and traveling) basically anyone who stays put for more than 4 days is a homebum, which is almost as bad as being an oogle. an oogle has a family and shit, or at least one that supports them IN THEORY. obviously there are a lot of bullshit exceptions to the rule but id say its been around since at least...shiiitttt 2000

those homeless vets would be considered homebums

So... wait. Let me see if I can get this straight. Street kids are the badass homeless, hoboing across the country as part of a pro-addiction punk scene. Homebums are the non-badass homeless who aren't part of the scene and don't talk the jive. And oogles are the wannabe street kids who think they're all hard and front like they're in the scene, but they have families, so FUCK EM. Is that right?

I never read Harry Potter though. Can't keep up with all the mumblies and jumblies and ooglies and weenies

Wow, the made up jargon alone makes me want to push them all in front of a bus.

There is nothing more boring than debates about authenticity. The only difference between the above and a couple of middle-school kids debating whether Mötley Crüe sucks or rules circa 1987 is alcohol poisoning, a month without a shower, and some homemade tattoos. If you wanna spend your life killing yourself to gain credibility with these sorts of shiftless, troubled people, knock yourself out, yo.

Miss Henson et al summed it up rather nicely.

also: house punks and normys

traveling for a couple of years and removing yourself from conventional societal behavior can be very liberating. it's fun, crazy, outlaw life and you can actually make a shitload of money without working. there is a sense of community and thousands of interesting cultural anomalies ranging from symbol systems to linguistics etc. i'm kind of on the fence when it comes to the polarization of the scene based on the frequency of traveling, help from parents, secret crust fund etc. i see both the pros and cons.
but it DOES suck when you see less and less real punk traveling kids with (believe it or not) some ideals when it comes to politics, religion, perspective quality of life etc. and more and more displaced trailer trash and juggalos fouling up the scene and fucking up the money because of their either overly aggressive or entirely passive and ineffective panhandling skills. and it may seem insensitive or hypocritical to want to dissociate myself from older homeless people who have no choice in the matter but i've been attacked by way too many wingnuts (crazy homeless people) to not be prejudice. example: a schizophrenic crackhead was sexually harassing a girl who we were traveling with, so we ran him off. he showed up later at the place we were squatting in later and slashed her face. so what, that just comes with the territory or what? no, we have a right to want to protect ourselves from that ugly, dangerous type of shit no matter what path we choose, a fact which is reinforced by principles, labels, whatever that i've been describing.
needless to say we beat that motherfucker into a coma.

Do you have a camera? Could you start making vlogs?

Please start vlogging, lotsmoreorcs.

Black drug dealers are generally not good fucks. Nice size, but no staying power, and they never want to cuddle afterward.

you know what. its fuckin true

The fact that you find it necessary to specify the drug dealers' race suggests that you are a truly wise individual.

Just be sure not to give any money to the OOGLES because those damn weiners are ruining the scene, maaaan.

Sorry, not finished. And then to not only engage in this behavior but to frame it as some sort of beneficial research project. Did you assholes ever think about volunteering at the VA, say, or a shelter? You could find out a hell of a lot about the homeless and not look like such an epic tool.

sorry i found a life-hack that still enables me to make at least an hour simply by asking for money for a sleeping bag and enabled me to travel across 19 different states in 2 years without spending a dime and see more of this country than you probably ever will :D

You should apologize, yes, but not for finding a 'life-hack'. You should apologize for hogging the attention and resources of those who actually need them to live, but I sense that this idea is one you are not ready for. It's sort of like grabbing someone's wheelchair so you can ride in it for fun--but I sense this empathy is slow in coming to you.

Since you mention it, I've actually had the good fortune to be able to travel not just all over this country but the world--and not by mooching resources meant for the more vulnerable, or being involved in contemptible poverty tourism as you are.

It's called 'gainful employment." You ought to try it sometime. You live way better than you do using your shallow hobo skills, and you don't end up looking like (as you do) the poster child for poseur street cred.