So this weekend I had the pleasure of spending some time in Oxford, Ohio on the Miami-Ohio campus for a little water polo action. Yo seriously, I felt like I had stepped into the Midwestern Martha's Vineyard. I have never seen so many pastel colored men's sailing shorts in my life. I read a little bit of their student paper and they have a whole week devoted to conservative ideology and politics called "Conservative Week". This campus had 'old boys club' written all over it. While I concede I was only there for 3 days, I felt a certain air of white upper-class homogeneity within the throngs of designer sports jackets and spring dresses.
But I digress, my real point here (I've got one) is that I saw a makeshift "shantytown" that students were (I think) living in for the weekend to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. It was made out of cardboard and tarp and about 4 or 5 people were sitting on fold out lawn chairs with a collection box on the corner of the street. I think they were staying there overnight because the structure looked sound enough and at around 1am, they were still around. An applaudable effort, right. A good cause, with a nice bit of activism enshrined around it, one would think at first glance. But as I got to thinking about it more, there's a great deal of privilege going on in this situation. While I support their efforts, I feel like it almost trivializes the severity of the international issue of 'spontaneous housing'. People who live in these 'shantytowns' don't have the privilege of shooting the shit with their friends while sitting on lawn chairs chatting it up on their pink Razr cellphones on their college campus into the wee hours of the morning. No, for real 'shantytown' dwellers, their lived reality is that of real poverty. When the weekend's over, these kids get to go home to the luxuries their social status allots for them. And so yes, maybe a makeshift shanty is one way to make the issue visible to these privileged MU college kids but at the same time how can you attempt to transcend the historical and social contexts which come to constitute such realities and make them fit serenely onto the corner of your lovely quad for two nights, and leaving the issue at arm's reach until next years fundraising season starts again. Maybe that's the point I'm trying to get at, I feel like these issues shouldn't be so easily paralleled through a weekend's indulgence in campus activism. I don't know, I might sound cynical. I understand their aims are probably just but the whole thing rubbed me kind of the wrong way. Maybe it was the irony of the pink razr amidst the the meager cardboard shack. Who knows though, maybe I'm looking at it too harshly? I guess something is better than nothing...
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Turn that shanty frown upside down.
Perhaps they could get by saying it was art. Artisits get by on being privileged and doing things all the time.
What bugs me even more are the sororities that stand on the corner jingling little change cans at people. There are so many better ways to raise money for these causes than to try and get kids spare change. I mean, chances are high that these people have some sort of social connections to something, whether it be bands or theater groups or artists. They could throw a benefit show and have friends in bands come play or they could use their own resources and spend their time organizing a show to raise money. I mean, I know that they probably don't care that much, but that's some privileged shit, I feel. Especially when they get upset because no one gives them anything and they respond with "I know you see me." I do, and I'm betting you got more money than I do.
So at least the shanty town cats did a little more than stand on the corner asking for change, even if it was pretty stupid. And maybe it made other people question their own privileges, but probably not...
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