Monthly Archives: January 2014

* Issues with upcoming posts

January 29, 2014Get on your feet, Homelessness, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, Squalor, The Way of Peace, The William Tell ShowOn air talent, Self care, Stewardship, Talk radio, Talk show host, The Homeless Blogger, Wealth creationWilliam Tell

In the process of “recycling” old posts on Wednesdays, I am now coming upon a number of posts with which I’m not completely comfortable. I probably would not write them, now or in the future, the way I did at the time; but I’m also still not sure exactly how I’d write them differently.

At the time I wrote those posts, I supposed my homelessness would be brief, and William Tell would soon enough become a public figure able to speak to what he saw as the pressing social issues. My homelessness continues eighteen months later, and my perceptions of those issues have changed.
Continue reading * Issues with upcoming posts →

* Shopping list

January 27, 2014Get on your feet, Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, The William Tell ShowWilliam Tell

When I get my own place, there’s no need to move in all at once. I can do it in stages; the shelter’s still available. And this will make less for me to have to carry at any one time.

So, here’s my daydream of the sequence of different things I can buy on different occasions. Lucky for me, I can probably buy all these items at Family Dollar. I don’t plan to be extravagant, but with the income I’ll have, relative my needs, there’s no need to be cheap, either.
Continue reading * Shopping list →

* My homeless self: White “resentment” and black power

January 25, 2014Clippings, Justice, National news, National politics, PovertyAvidit Acharya, Black power, Matthew Blackwell, Maya Sen, Race, Racial resentment, Racism, The Homeless Blogger, The Political Legacy of American Slavery, Upward mobilityWilliam Tell

“Generations of slavery and discrimination make it difficult for blacks to work their way out of the lower classes.”

Do you agree with that statement? If not, you harbor resentment toward blacks.

That is the premise, not the conclusion, of a recent study by three political scientists. As reported by James Goodman in the October 6, 2013 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the study’s conclusions seem indisputable. I question its premise. I ask whether “resentment” was the best or right thing to measure; whether this criterion statement was the best or right way to measure it; whether the criterion statement is factual, and if so, whether it matters.
Continue reading * My homeless self: White “resentment” and black power →

* The End of Anger, by Ellis Cose (2001) …

January 22, 2014Career goals, Media, National media, The William Tell ShowEllis Cose, Media, National, On air talent, Opinion, Polls, Public, Race, Radio talk show, Talk show host, The End of Anger, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

… is a slim volume for $24.99. The description on inside front dust jacket concludes it “may well be the most important book dealing with race to be published in recent decades.” That strikes me as presumptuous. The front matter includes a list of the author’s other titles, from which it appears he seldom writes about anything else.

Yet the portions I browsed remind me of something I want to do on my own show. The preface examines in some detail changes in public opinion polls between 2008 and 2010. I don’t attach the weight to these facts that Cose does. But if, for example, the President’s approval rating rises with one group and falls with another group in the same time frame, I would like to find out from listeners whose opinions changed and why; to examine with listeners how their thinking works, and on what bases their opinions change.

(Originally posted 05/12/12 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reposted 10/26/17.)

* Rat empathy; Secret weapon against poverty; etc.

January 20, 2014Clippings, Poverty, Squalor, The William Tell ShowDan Rodricks, Empathy, Marriage, Panhandling, Political correctness, Racism, RatsWilliam Tell

Links within this post:
Rat empathy
Secret weapon
Marriage a “luxury good?”
Hero of cancer research

Continue reading * Rat empathy; Secret weapon against poverty; etc. →

* The Gospel vs. George F. Will

January 18, 2014Bible, Clippings, National media, National politics, OUR BEST POSTS, The William Tell ShowDisembodied speech, Free Speech Handbook, George Will, Gerard Fourez, Ideology, Public discourse, Stuart Chase, Talk radio, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

David Farenthold, “Austerity is a hard nut to crack”
George F. Will, “2013’s lesson for conservatives”

Farenthold asks what’s best for the country. Will asks what’s best for conservatives. That difference illustrates what Trojan Horse Productions and The William Tell Show are all about.
Continue reading * The Gospel vs. George F. Will →

* Taking off for the weekend

January 15, 2014HomelessnessHomeless, On air talent, Radio talk show, Talk radio, Talk show host, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

The mission principally serves two groups.

First (in too many ways) are the “clients,” 450 men enrolled in the 12-month residential drug-and-alcohol treatment program; for which reason they are commonly called “programmers.” Each of them has a permanently assigned bunk and some form of closet space, and can use the mission as a mailing address.

I need to keep in mind that, but for the program, most of them would be homeless.

Second (in too many ways) are the “guests,” no more than 60 homeless men on any day, who are provided accommodations overnight; for which reason we are commonly called “overnighters.” We must vacate the premises no later than 6:00 a.m. daily, cannot leave anything behind, and cannot return until 3:00 p.m. We cannot use the mission as a mailing address.

Note the distinction between “clients” and “guests.”

At the end of the work day one day last week, I walked toward the parking lot carrying my two heavy bags. Programmer W____ P__ came toward me, walking in the opposite direction, and said, “Bill, you look like you’re taking off for the weekend!”

I said to myself, even programmers don’t get it.

He can take off for the weekend; I can’t. I have nowhere to go and nowhere to come back to.

The way he saw me is the way I look all the time.

(Originally posted 05/10/12 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reposted 10/05/17.)

talk show host, on air talent, radio talk show, talk radio, the homeless blogger

* Nancy Lanza, chapter 2

January 13, 2014Get on your feet, The Way of PeaceAdam Lanza, Gun control, Handguns, Nancy Lanza, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

Here continues a conversation that began with the comments on my 12/28/13 post, “Nancy Lanza, a mother tragic and infuriating.” One should also see the 12/29/13 post at lwk’s blog, “How would you prevent another Sandy Hook?”

Three principles of Free Speech Handbook are prominent to me as I approach this writing. I myself must beware temptations to change the subject and filibuster, though filibuster rarely happens in writing. It is important that each participant deal with exactly what the other person says. Thinking of what to say here, I’ve already found myself trying to refute things my opponent never said. Gun control, abortion and race are three topics especially prone to that difficulty.

On reflection, what lwk is actually proposing is reasonable. We know for certain what crooks will do if large amounts of cash don’t have armed guards. We know for certain what the Jared Loughners and John Hinckleys will do if elected officials don’t have armed guards. And we know for certain — now — what the perpetrators of Columbine, Aurora and Newton will do if large groups of children don’t have armed guards.
Continue reading * Nancy Lanza, chapter 2 →

* The Gospel vs. George Will, and other stories

January 11, 2014Clippings, Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, National media, National politics, The William Tell ShowFree speech, Free Speech Handbook, George Will, Jesse Jackson, Josh Barro, Phil Robertson, Prayer, South Sudan, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

Links within this post:
The Gospel vs. George Will
Divisions in South Sudan’s liberation movement fuel war
Phil Robertson
Housing update — important, personal

———— ♦ ————

The Gospel vs. George Will

David Farenthold – Attempts to reduce wasteful government spending show austerity is a hard nut to crack – Dec. 28
George F. Will – 2013’s lesson for conservatives – Dec. 28

Farenthold asks what’s best for the country. Will asks what’s best for conservatives. That difference illustrates what Trojan Horse Productions and The William Tell Show are all about.

I will develop that at length in a later post.

———— ♦ ————

Continue reading * The Gospel vs. George Will, and other stories →

* “Scandal:” The meaning of the word

January 11, 2014Clippings, Local news, Media, National media, National news, NewsDylan Klebold, Handguns, James Holmes, Jared Loughner, Local, Media, National, Neil Edwin Prescott, News, The Homeless Blogger, Travers JohnsonWilliam Tell

(Originally posted 2012-07-28 at Trojan Horse Productions. Note that this was after Aurora and prior to Sandy Hook. Reposted 2017-09-21.)

I don’t have the wherewithal to actually buy and read newspapers; at the convenience store, I merely read the headlines. I found this article by doing a news Google on “Crofton massacre” — which fact illustrates the point I’ll make below.

Police: Md. man made threat, ‘joker’ reference

The English word “scandal” comes from the Greek skandalon, which literally means “stumbling block;” as in Matthew 18:6, where in the King James Version it is translated as “offense,” and Matthew 13:57, which would be translated literally, “They stumbled at him.”

We find that scandals make two different kinds of people “stumble” in two different ways.
Continue reading * “Scandal:” The meaning of the word →