Young Homeless Professional Book II of the Ersatz Trilogy
by Kenny Peavy
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Pub Date Apr 21 2015 | Archive Date May 22 2015
Description
Where is home? And how do we find it? During the summer of 2000, Kenny wanders about seeking answers to these fundamental questions while sleeping homeless in forests at night and working as a professional naturalist during the daylight hours. Along the way he meets weird characters, has bizarre conversations in the YWCO hot tub, encounters the Keepers of Beauty, plasters Athens, Georgia with free Post It Poetry and gains deep philosophical insight and inspiration from a brick mason living in his van. Ironically, to discover where he truly belongs and find his place in the wider world he had to become a Young Homeless Professional.
Author Bio: Kenny loves to go outside and explore! His favorite thing to do is take people outdoors so that they can learn to love Nature and get excited about it too! He’s been a science teacher and Naturalist since dirt was invented. Well, maybe not that long but for quite a while. Nowadays he’s lucky to live in Southeast Asia where he can explore rainforests, coral reefs and mangroves on a regular basis.
A Note From the Publisher
Keywords: Nature, Adventure, Journal, Global Citizen, Serendipity, Home, Discovery, Homeless
Advance Praise
"The book is a collection of his journal entries from his homeless days and a few entries from before and after his summer of homelessness. It provides lots of chuckles and many insights into Kenny's philosophy. Throughout the book he reminds us "... to get out into the wider world," -- only then can we begin to understand the "... world, our place in it as well as that of our companions on this spinning globe." He always tries to get in touch with the environment and with himself. And the book illustrates that he has an unmistakable and sincere empathy for others. I would love to meet some of the friends he talks about and some of the strangers he bumps into!"
"Many of the chapter titles are quite catchy: In the chapter entitled "Mighty Glad to Visit Home," he explains the very real difference between a house and a home. The physical space, walls, yard, etc. make up the house, but "home is something profoundly different altogether." He then remembers visits to his Granny's house, where she always greeted them with hugs and more food than they could eat, and then later sent them home with more hugs and more food. I loved his observation, "Grannies are good at making houses into homes."
"Another chapter was "Waffle House Prophets," a great description of Kenny's hanging out in Waffle Houses, watching people from all walks of life, writing in his journal, or just drinking coffee and thinking. He says 4 - 6 am is the VERY best time to be there!Kenny never forgets where he came from.... in the chapter named "What up Ju Ju?," I loved the description of his contribution to the menu for a party he attended-- he brought Spam, pickled eggs, EZ cheese, Vienna sausages, and Ritz crackers, just to remind everyone of their childhood. And they all loved it! Later the group of friends talk about their childhood ballgames, tree-climbing, fort-building, etc. and Kenny laments, "You just don't see packs of wild kids roaming neighborhoods anymore. It's very sad.""
"I have gone camping, and enjoyed it, but I'm not sure that I would want to try actually LIVING in the woods and sleeping there every night-- bears, snakes, bugs, and mountain lions all live in the woods, right? "Didn't you get creepy crawlies in your sleeping bag"? But I'm awfully glad that Kenny did it, so we could have this book to enjoy. I think in actual fact, Kenny wasn't "homeless" -- he was just "houseless" for a time." -By Sherry
Marketing Plan
eBook,Print
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9781622876549 |
| PRICE | $6.99 (USD) |
Links
Average rating from 5 members
Featured Reviews
Gail M, Reviewer
Let me start off by saying this is an excellent premise. How much does anyone actually need to live? Particularly someone who has a decent job ought to be able to thrive much closer to nature than most of us do. There is actually a growing movement toward "tiny homes" - check out this intriguing project in that line by a science professor at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, TX, who renovated and lived for a year in a dumpster: http://www.salon.com/2014/09/29/my_boyfriend_lives_in_a_dumpster
Granted not everyone could be homeless - consider the spectacle if Manhattan tried it - there might be enough restaurants, but certainly not enough bathrooms or parking or room in parks for sleeping bags. That's not the point, though. This is a trial run of an idea, and it's worth a look.
The first problem with the book, however, is that the author, Kenny Peavy, isn't really homeless. He has a large vehicle equipped with the basics - he just sleeps or entertains outside sometimes. The content is unfortunately rather shallow and off-topic, too. Yes, a home isn't just a house (as the author tells us), but we already pretty much know that. Yes, there are people who don't know where their food comes from, but the author tends to dine out in restaurants rather than forage or buy at local markets or grow anything in a community garden. There's too much extraneous material that doesn't illuminate the premise. A lot of text is spent talking about parties, friends, and dates, which is undoubtedly supportive and fun (everyone needs a family or tribe of some sort), but isn't really very interesting to a reader not in that group, and doesn't really dig very far into the notion of either home, homelessness, or living close to nature.
In short, lots of potential, but not enough thought in this thought experiment.
Cannot recommend.
I received a copy of this book in return for a review.
Maddi H, Reviewer
Whilst I did enjoy this little book, I was hoping for a bit more description about the actual 'living outdoors'. It read more to me like a dissertation on a social experiment, citing observations on human nature and our relationship with each other and the world around us. Nothing wrong with this - I just hoped for more.
Reviewer 254829
Homeless is an incredibly emotive word. It immediately draws up images of people that I have experienced and encountered. For someone to voluntarily give up their roots does not mean they are homeless. People don't volunteer to be homeless.
The author decided to experience a travelling lifestyle after deciding that rent and the associated costs of living in a house/apartment was too much. What this person is doing is wild camping - that's recreational. Wild camping is not being homeless.
The author gives up his home to save costs and shed the materialism of a home, but then joins a gym to shower, buys takeouts for dinner - he's a professional earning a wage, so he can afford it. He buys a cell phone to stay in contact, and a laptop to do his work on. His job allows him to oogle co-eds, make the most of free food, cheapo perks and sofa-surf (taking advantage of friends and colleagues who pay rent/mortgage, whilst extolling the virtues of being "homeless")
A pointless book. Thankfully, it's relatively short.
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