Dear Alex,

I am writing with concern to you article, “Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week” in The Gustavian Weekly. Although it is your job to write debatable articles, I don’t think it is acceptable for you to write an anti-homelessness awareness article when you have never even participated in it. In 2009, there were 9,652 homeless people counted in Minnesota. To rip apart a class’s effort to help Gustavus students recognize this prevalent issue seems wrong. Yes, being homeless for three nights is not the same as actually being homeless, but its main purpose is to raise awareness!

I am currently in the FTS class, Politics of Homelessness, and I slept out a few weeks ago. In the article, you assumed we weren’t forced to leave wherever we were sleeping at 3:00, but actually something similar happened to four of us in our class. We went and slept in a music practice room and at 6:00 the security guard kicked us out and we had to go walk around with all of our belongings to find somewhere new to sleep. It’s bad to assume things like that don’t happen to us “fake” homeless people.

Next time I would recommend interviewing us participating in the sleep out and/or alumni of the class. Being homeless mostly made me appreciate all the luxuries we all have here at Gustavus. There was absolutely nothing negative or threatening about this experience at all.

Jenny Harms ‘14