Before You Rush to Judgment...

Here's what Matt Parkhouse, one of Colorado Springs' leading experts on homelessness, has to say about this book:

The following is something I found on the AOL News site.....
I'll follow this with an essay on the "Rich vs Poor" issue - it's about the best writing I've run across on this important issue in our country....
-Matt
(I'm kind of surprised Walmart still allows "camping" in their Southern California parking lots!)

Brianna Karp tells the story of how she got off the streets in "The Girl's Guide to Homelessness."

Brianna Karp thought she had it all together. At 23, the Orange County, Calif., executive assistant was employed, making $50,000 a year, and living in a cozy cottage with her mastiff, Fezzik.

But she would soon face a downward spiral.

"I was laid off in July 2008, along with over half of my company," Karp tells ParentDish. "For the next six months, I struggled to stay afloat on unemployment, which didn't cover rent and food. I searched for work every day; I signed up with several temp agencies and took as many opportunities as I could. This was at the peak of the recession, and nobody was hiring."

No longer able to pay her rent, Karp says she attempted a short-term stay with her mother and stepfather, "which really was a last resort, as there's a very toxic history there."

She writes of her family situation in her new book, "The Girl's Guide to Homelessness," (Harlequin) released today, and of how she soon found herself without a home. A partial transcript of her interview follows.

ParentDish: Where did you end up staying, after leaving your mother's house?
Brianna Karp: I ended up living in my deceased biological father's camper in the middle of a Walmart parking lot -- taking advantage of their policy allowing travelers and campers to stay overnight on their lots for free. It wasn't fun, but you do what you have to in order to sort of eke out an existence and try to find a sustainable routine.

PD: You had no electricity or running water.
BK: I showered at a nearby mom-and-pop gym where I purchased a membership for $9.99 a month. If I needed to use a restroom in the middle of the night, there was a 24-hour gas station on the same block. I'd learned from a book I'd read years before that you can boil water on a car radiator to cook food. I purchased a large high-powered flashlight that I shone at the ceiling of the trailer at night, and it would give me enough light to read by. There were many other homeless people staying on the lot in campers and cars: a married couple in their 60s, a former doctor, a man who spoke four languages. I was by far the youngest. Many of them had lost their jobs and homes in the recession, as well.

PD: What did you learn about other homeless people from your experience?
BK: It was a topic I'd never really thought about until it happened to me, as I suspect is usually the case for most people. It did force me to take a look at the personalities and stories behind the labels and stereotypes. What I found is that these are really just people, and that there is no basis for the automatic presuppositions that I hear over and over: "Homeless people are all druggies/mentally ill/dirty/lazy/unloved."

I found a warm, supportive network of people that did their best to help one another out, even if all they had to offer was encouragement despite their personal circumstances. In my experience, I've found that there's as many reasons and causes behind homelessness as there are homeless people. No one should be pigeonholed. I believe all homeless people need help. Shelter is a basic human need and right, as far as I'm concerned.

Brianna's story ended happily, as she did find work at South Coast Repertory, a local theatre in Orange County.

PD: What advice do you have for young people who may find themselves homeless?
BK: As "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" would put it, don't panic. Be as savvy as you can with the resources you have available to you. Technology and social media are your friends, so use them. With them, a world's entire wealth of information is at your fingertips....