as small as a world and as large as alone

8:23am November 9, 2013

slepaulica:

clatterbane:

slepaulica:

weird-mcgee:

I’ve heard a lot of healthy middle class white kids extol the virtues of skipping. I’ve yet to see a guide to skipping that deals with any of this shit.

i dont think middle class people should be doing this. a lot of the people who dumpster dive in my neighbourhood are homeless. and you’re basically stealing from homeless people if you do this.

Yeah, that’s another thing that’s bothered me about the “dumpster diving as a political act” people. There are too many others who really do need that food. It’s maybe a little less troublesome if they’re doing like, say, some Food Not Bombs groups and preparing the scavenged food for people who do need it, but…

This is part of some of the attitude clashes that keep me away from certain middle class activist types.

yeah, if it’s food not bombs, that’s okay. but just dumpster diving for the thrill of it, hell no. if you have no other way of acquiring food and clothing, then by all means dumpster dive. if you do have other ways of getting food and clothing, then please leave the things there for those who need them!

I think homeless people mainly take food, but i imagine they take clothes as well. They each have their own set of dumpsters that they go through and they are aware of other homeless people’s space. I’ve seen local Roma going through the dumpster for clothing and broken appliances, which they repair and sell at the market, and that’s good too. (well, not good that they are closed out of more lucrative professions by racist hiring practices, but what i mean is they’re not the ones i’m complaining about right now).

I remember watching one night from my window, it just happened to catch my eye, but they saw me looking and ran away, probably scared I’d call the police or something — they’d be facing fines up to several months minimum wage if they were caught, and being Roma means having to pay maximum fines. i wanted to say something like “no, hey, it’s okay, go back to what you were doing, we put stuff in the dumpster because we don’t want it anymore” but i would have had to yell it out the window and then maybe one of my neighbours would have noticed and made trouble for them, so i just left the window. Now if i see it, i look away to give whoever it is their privacy.

most of what i throw away is stuff that can’t be reused, stuff like used cat litter. but on the rare occasion that i do throw something away that is broken and i can’t fix it but somebody else probably could: the broken mirror with large pieces, the teflon pot i used to have where the teflon started peeling off, etc., i dont put it in the dumpster directly, but leave it beside the dumpster so that someone can take it. i’ve seen my neighbours do that with old shoes and stuff too.

2,473 notes