Homeless diary: A tent by the highway and Dumpster food make an amazing week

IN A USELESS TENT: Christy Jensen gets ready for bed. / Photo by Alex Hall

I decided to dedicate one week of my life to living outside of my home, seeking shelter wherever I chose. I decided to make the USU campus my home, ditch out on my comfort zone and give myself $20 to live off of for one week.

I would not be going homeless in the sense of having nothing. I was choosing to have my surroundings as my home and live off what was around me. With $20 in my pocket and a music locker full of food, my good friend Alex Hall and I agreed to embark on this "homeless" journey together. The following is my personal account of that journey of discovery.

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"Are you going to shower?" seems to be the question everyone asks. They must assume that living outside entails no showering.

Weirdos, of course we are showering! It is part of staying in good health. You can't live without some kind of bathing. So Alex and I decided to shower every morning at the HPER Building, where the water is hot and shower heads are plentiful.

"You are going to starve. What will you eat?"

I find it impossible to starve because I have money and food, and there are microwaves all over campus. Alex and I have combined our resources, which makes things much easier than going it alone.

Dumpster diving is also one of my favorite pastimes and will be done regularly. I know what you are thinking: "Gross." But when you think of how much perfectly good food is wasted daily by places such as Crumb Brothers, Einstein Bagel and other restaurants, you start wanting a piece of it too. Don't get me wrong, I don't only Dumpster dive at these places; I give them my business and support them. I just like their waste a little bit better sometimes.

"What inspired you to do this?" is what the curious, open-minded folk say. I was inspired by Ben Abbott, a student at USU who has lived homeless for three years by choice. Some people think he is crazy, but I think he is smart. Why not live outside of a home if you can do so?

We set out on Oct. 14. I kept notes and share them here.

October 14: 'Don't die'

My roommate Annie dropped me, one of my bikes, my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, small pillow, fleece blanket, backpacking bag full of clothes, a camp stove, enough groceries to feed Coxey's Army, and no comfort zone off at the Fine Arts Building (my home as a music student). Her words of advice to me were "Don't die."

Decked out in layers to keep warm and looking slightly like a homeless person, I rode my bike to Alex's house to pick her up. We rode up to campus and looked for a place to sleep for the night.

October 15: Truck lights and extreme cold

I am so tired. It is 4 p.m. and it might as well be midnight. Alex and I slept by the Fine Arts Building last night. We pitched a (useless) 1960s, bright orange tent in the bushes in a hidden spot about 10 feet from U.S. 89. Although it was a good spot, I don't think I slept more than three hours. Between the trucks that were driving by, the headlights that were shining on the tent and the dump truck that awoke me for good at 5 a.m., sleeping was impossible. I thought for sure the police were going to find us, but we had good luck.

No one seemed to notice us as we took down our tent at 7:30. A few people walked by our campsite, but no one seemed to notice we were there. We put away our sleeping bags, blankets and sleeping pads and headed to the HPER to get ready. The best part of today was watching the campus wake up. It started with the dump truck, and then the students came. By 8:30 campus was awake, its sidewalk arteries rushing with people.

I sat next to Ben Abbott while at the library doing homework today. A friend of mine walked up and said to me, "Aren't you going homeless like Ben Abbott this week?" "Yeah, I am," I responded. Ben introduced himself, and when my friend had left Ben turned to me and said, "You know, pretty soon people won't say you are going homeless like me. People will say to me, 'Aren't you homeless, like Christy Jensen?'"

I am alone tonight so I was going to sleep at Ben Abbott's shelter with him, but I am going to take up shelter in a practice room instead. I know the practice rooms well in the Fine Arts Building and have taken up shelter there when I was in-between apartments. Practice rooms are nice to sleep in because they are soundproof, which makes getting to sleep extremely easy. It is too cold for me to sleep outside without a bivy sack, which is designed to keep your sleeping bag from getting wet and keep you warm, I wasn't expecting the weather to be so cold this week. I also think ear plugs would have been a good investment for the days when I am outside.

October 16: 'I could kill right now'

I could kill right now. I didn't get to bed until midnight. At 6:30 I was awakened by Steve, who wanted to use the practice room I was sleeping in. I argued that there were three other rooms he could use and to let me go back to sleep. He relented and I slept for another hour. He later informed me that I wouldn't have been caught had he not woken me up. Too bad the security guards come by at 10:30 at night and not 6:30 in the morning to check the rooms. The percussion practice rooms also lock from the inside, making it impossible for any one who doesn't have a key to get into the room. The security guards don't ever open the percussion rooms if they are locked. They just assume that's how they are supposed to be. I know this because I've slept here multiple times. Alex and I are sleeping in a different practice room tonight that we won't be bothered in. It is a tight fit among the four timpani and marimba that are in the room along with us.

October 17: Best bagels ever

Another night of four or five hours of sleep, I think we are going to have to ditch the practice rooms and find another place to sleep. It is cold and rainy outside so sleeping outside is impossible because neither of us have a bivy.

This morning we brought our meager breakfast of apples, bread from Crumb Brothers (which I Dumpster dived this past weekend), and dried mangos at the Hub. I was feeling a bit down until Alex said to me, "You know, Christy, we are the best-looking homeless people ever. Look at us! I am wearing Dolce and Gabana glasses, you have on Asics shoes, and we just look great." I think being homeless just got a lot better.

I don't miss any luxuries of having a home quite yet. There really isn't anything that I need at the moment. Being homeless is turning out to be surprisingly easy. You just can't form a routine of sleeping in the same place, or so it seems.

Today we went to Einstein's to see if the staff would give us any bagels. We told them we are homeless and looking for food. They reluctantly gave us bagels but made us wait 15 minutes and set the bag of bagels by the Dumpster. When we got to the bag of bagels, we didn't realize there was a hole in it. I picked up the bag and the bagels fell on the ground, and I was slightly disappointed. Alex said to me, "What are you waiting for? Pick those up! I don't care where they fell." This is a first for Alex, The world's biggest germaphobe. I think those were the best bagels I have ever had.

October 18: 'Contaminated'

Last night we slept in Valley View Tower under my cousin's bed. We were originally going to sleep in the basement, but there were people down there. It was the best night's sleep I've had all week, but I still woke up tired and wanting to sleep in. A warm shower at the HPER made me realize how good it is to be homeless because I'm not paying for this shower. As long as we get in to shower by 7:45 we are able to beat the morning swim class.

I took a bagel from yesterday to the Hub and had the employees toast it at Hazel's. No hassle whatsoever. But cream cheese was $.30. Alex took a bite out of her bagel before she gave it to them to toast, and they wouldn't toast it because it was "contaminated." Little did they know that these bagels fell on the ground twice by a Dumpster. Alex's mouth should have been the least of their worries.

It's 4 p.m. and I am exhausted. I can't think straight. My professors think I am sick as a dog but really, I haven't slept all week. My roommate is begging me to come home and I don't think my cousin wants me sleeping under her bed again. Tomorrow is the start of fall break, and Saturday I have to play in the band at the football game. I don't have my uniform with me and I need to sleep tonight or I will fall asleep at work tomorrow.

I am giving up. Sad but true. It is Thursday afternoon and I am packing up my gear and heading home. But only until spring, when I will have Round 2 of living without a home. Next time I will be doing it alone for one month.

I have a newfound respect for people who both choose to live without a home and are homeless. It's not easy. The whole week when I went to bed at night I was constantly wondering if a security guard would find me and kick me out or if some one would call the cops on me. But those are the risks you take when you choose to be homeless.

I have felt guilty since going back to an apartment that is chock full of useless crap that I hardly ever use. If I had to make a list of things that being homeless taught me, it would include that you can live with one-fourth of the stuff you think you need. We as Americans spend way too much money eating out, and although a home is nice during these long Logan winters, you can survive without one.

MS
MS