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No One Goes There Anymore

370 points| DoreenMichele | 5 years ago |noonegoesthereanymore.blogspot.com

302 comments

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[+] magicalhippo|5 years ago|reply
When I see about half my paycheck going to taxes it feels a bit rough.

But then I think of stories like this, and how easily it could have been me with an illness requiring expensive medical treatment and possibly preventing me from working regular jobs.

And so I pay my tax with pleasure, knowing that if something were to happen to me or my fellow citizen, at least there wouldn't be millions of dollars in hospital bills to pay back and there would be aid for a home to avoid ending up on the streets.

[+] jerome-jh|5 years ago|reply
From this side of the Altantic, it looks like the US economy is organized so that the lower working class only earns just enough to live. No wonder they are homeless when illness, disability or bad luck strikes.

I am not implying this applies to OP.

[+] code_duck|5 years ago|reply
As someone else with serious medical problems which have been paid for by public health systems, the financial difficulties of which are compounded by losing your ability to pay once ill, thanks! I would note though, for the purposes of fairness, it's a small percentage of your taxes that go to paying for such programs versus things like the military and interest on debt.
[+] ccktlmazeltov|5 years ago|reply
If half your paycheck is going to taxes you must have a bunch of $$$, I personally make around 300k/year and I feel like I'm not paying that much taxes. I could be paying much more and still live pretty comfortable, it's pretty outrageous.
[+] apta|5 years ago|reply
It's good and important to have a proper function healthcare system. However, we shouldn't fall into the false dichotomy fallacy. We don't have to pay 50% of our pay checks in taxes in order to provide good healthcare for all. It's just that some greedy people at the top will have to give up some of what they're making now.
[+] amelius|5 years ago|reply
The fact that you are making that much money is without doubt also something you have to thank society for. Would you be able to make the same amount of money in every other country, and without the sacrifices made by other people over the course of history? This is also something to keep in mind.
[+] kulig|5 years ago|reply
I live in a country with plenty of socialized services, and when I see stories like this it seems to me like it's everyone for themselves in the USA. Seems kinda bleak.
[+] xondono|5 years ago|reply
I pay 50% of my shitty income in taxes and then have to pay for health insurance on top of that because public health here is useless.

Public health is not a panacea, although I’m happy for the people who get a good deal out of it.

[+] nojvek|5 years ago|reply
Should have specified what country. In US, that pay check is more likely going to help the military complex build more weapons than hospitals provide for the needy.

In US, poor people are seen as worker bees who just get enough to live and have an illusion of freedom.

[+] quotz|5 years ago|reply
Or perhaps you could just donate that much money to a non-profit that takes care of people in unfortunate circumstances like this
[+] chevman|5 years ago|reply
Doreen - have always loved reading your comments on hacker news over the years. Very insightful and unique voice. Good luck on the new blog, will definitely subscribe.

Only other person I regularly follow here, in addition to you, is graycat:

https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=graycat

[+] ccktlmazeltov|5 years ago|reply
Genuine question: what is the point made in the post? I feel like I'm missing something.
[+] imjustsaying|5 years ago|reply
I was wondering this as well. I couldn't find the thesis and for a moment I wondered if this was posted as an example of an AI-generated post.
[+] garrickvanburen|5 years ago|reply
In complete sincerity, I believe, for this particular post, the medium is the message.
[+] unreal37|5 years ago|reply
It's a blog. The person is starting a blog. They want people to visit it. People visit it and liked it. And upvoted this post.
[+] sradman|5 years ago|reply
“It’s too crowded”, the punchline to the Yogi Berra quote, is the point of the blog post. It is a sentiment that we can all now relate to due to COVID-19. Living with a genetic disorder that makes one susceptible to respiratory infections also reinforces the set of norms required to live with this virus in our society.
[+] jshevek|5 years ago|reply
If your question is influenced by the apparent popularity of this post, in proportion to it's content, the author is a well known long time contributor to HN.

The likely future content of this blog may have more to do with the signal boosting motivation than the content of this first post.

[+] c3534l|5 years ago|reply
My guess is its one of those style over substance articles, like something by David Sedaris. Not really something we're used to on hackernews where we expect the author to argue X is bad, or we need more Y. The point is entertainment or poetry. Maybe I'm wrong and the author wants to achieve some rhetorical goal, but I think its just a blog post for the sake of it.
[+] maxden|5 years ago|reply
To get people to sign up to their patreon?
[+] code_duck|5 years ago|reply
"While homeless, my sons and I routinely tried to find out-of-the-way public tables. For purposes of germ control, we didn't want to eat in restaurants and homeless people aren't welcome in restaurants anyway. So we would get takeout and go find a table somewhere outdoors.

Much to our annoyance, this popularized some of our favorite out-of-the-way eating places."

I'm wondering what this means about how this happened. Did you write articles about these restaurants or review them online? How did getting takeout and eating at a table popularize these restaurants? Just because people saw you eating nearby?

[+] atom058|5 years ago|reply
I think the "this" in the text refers to the paragraph before your excerpt, i.e. the pandemic caused a lot of regular people to eat their food outside instead of in rastaurants.

"Getting to that point, where _a global pandemic_ was kind of an annoying blip in my life, was a long strange journey. It included nearly six years of homelessness.

While homeless, my sons and I routinely tried to find out-of-the-way public tables. For purposes of germ control, we didn't want to eat in restaurants and homeless people aren't welcome in restaurants anyway. So we would get takeout and go find a table somewhere outdoors.

Much to our annoyance, _this_ popularized some of our favorite out-of-the-way eating places."

[+] thaunatos|5 years ago|reply
I believe she meant that she popularized the tables/areas where he was eating, not the restaurants.
[+] jiofih|5 years ago|reply
For those who were wondering over at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23205588, this is the kind of reading we have mostly lost. Just a guy (or gal?) with a life story, I’d come back to read the follow ups in a heartbeat. They also seems to notice the wall from the other side.
[+] DoreenMichele|5 years ago|reply
Gal.

And if you want to see the follow ups, you can join my Patreon and get an invitation to my private email list where I post new stuff as it happens. And then maybe I can spend less time bitching about how poor and broke I am.

[+] romwell|5 years ago|reply
It was surprising to see that it might still be difficult for you to get the word out.

As far as I'm concerned, you're Doreen from Hackernews, Internet famous.

Hope that you do get the word out. Hope things improve. And sorry for the condition that makes it all that much more difficult.

Your perspective is valuable, and hope to read more from you.

[+] recursive|5 years ago|reply
For what it's worth, I've been visiting Hacker News on a nearly daily basis, on-again and off-again for a few years now. I don't recall hearing the name before.
[+] voz_|5 years ago|reply
A little investigation led me to https://doreenmichele.blogspot.com/p/me.html

The disease appears to be ACF - Atypical Cystic Fibrosis

[+] thedanbob|5 years ago|reply
Now I'm more confused. Why do people "react weirdly" or "strongly" or think she's "some kind of drama queen" when she gives that name? I'm pretty sure my reaction would be to think "I have no idea what that is" and just move on.
[+] lonelappde|5 years ago|reply
It's a bit rude to name something someone made a point of not mentioning.
[+] burlesona|5 years ago|reply
Hi Doreen, Happy to see your new effort! Have you ever communicated with Johnny Sanfelippo (https://granolashotgun.com). You two have a similar voice and some overlap in perspective. I suspect you’d find his work interesting (if you haven’t already).

Cheers!

[+] oars|5 years ago|reply
Does anyone know what this condition is? I may be living in a bubble but I have no idea what this is. Would love to do some more research myself to understand, and I'm glad my taxes are helping people like this out.
[+] nerdbaggy|5 years ago|reply
This is a touchy subject but with my genetic condition I’m scared to have kids. It sucks having this and I don’t know if I would want to watch my kids suffer through it. But I’m glad my parents did cause life isn’t that bad in the end.
[+] treeman79|5 years ago|reply
Spent 3 years desperately trying to avoid going homeless due a chronic illness.

Turns out disability insurance is a joke.

I still work from home to hide how sick I am most days. But I can function well enough that people don’t notice to much.

[+] garganzol|5 years ago|reply
It so good to read a story written by the human being.

Compare that to what you can get from a corporate drone doing a content marketing cult: clip-art, annoyingly polished illustrations, artificially smiling people.

[+] sneilan1|5 years ago|reply
You are an interesting person Doreen. I have subscribed to your blog!
[+] VectorLock|5 years ago|reply
I have to admit that this article sure has me curious what this unnamed condition is...
[+] freefriedrice|5 years ago|reply
Holy hell. How do you have a life-threatening disease that puts at you risk of germ infection, costs $250,000 a year to treat AND manage to survive homelessness? Tragic. I'm sorry you don't live in a country with real health care.

Holy hell why did I get flagged? She wrote a huge blog post about needing help and isn't getting it?

[+] padseeker|5 years ago|reply
I'm glad content like this occasionally bubbles up to the front page on hacker news.
[+] friendlybus|5 years ago|reply
For me purple and yellow is pretty hard to look at.
[+] GEBBL|5 years ago|reply
There is only one post on the blog and it is front page of hacker news? That is some achievement! Are there more writings from this author?
[+] exabrial|5 years ago|reply
> While homeless, my sons and I routinely tried to find out-of-the-way public tables.

Food at restaurants is marked up thousands of percent to cover costs of buildings, rent, power, human capital. The raw materials to make your food are pennies and are available to the average consumer. This is straight BS. There -are- people that truly have issues that lead them to a homeless condition, but this person is not one of them.