To think that just because everything has always proceeded in a certain way, it therefore always will, is pretty faulty logic. Backing up a bit, to think that everything today actually is proceeding as it always has is pretty funky reasoning as well.

It was often assumed that people who lived inside had a lot to teach those of us who were outside. It was rarely supposed that we who lived outside had a lot to teach people who never had done so.

When I heard Ms. Woodward's campaign slogan, "a hand up, not a hand out," I felt compelled to comment. A handout to the homeless, she claimed, has a way of "enabling them."

A young person said to me once: "I would have no idea what to say to a homeless person." "That's easy," I replied.  "Talk to them about anything except homelessness."

But I am someone who has lived outdoors — not just for a while, but for years on end. During those years, I associated largely with others who were in the same boat. I learned how such people generally speak of themselves. As a result, I use the words "outside" and "outdoors" more than either of the other two--and I feel compelled to explain why.

I consider myself to be in the ideal position to express what homelessness is actually like. That is, from the perspective of those of us who have lived it.