Homeless Fonts
homelessfonts.org
homelessfonts.org
This bio really made me go "wtf?":
> Loraine was born in London. She was an ordinary, hardworking family person, with nothing to worry about beyond paying the rent at the end of the month or keeping the fridge full. Until in 2009 she came to Barcelona on holiday. Soon after she arrived her passport was stolen from her and she had a series of problems with the British embassy. Somebody had made illegal use of her passport. So Loraine found herself in a strange place, unable to get home. She didn’t know anyone there and her circumstances meant she couldn’t ask for help from England, either. She had to sell all her possessions and, in time, learn to speak Spanish. “Living in the street is a wonderful adventure,” she says. In the street she discovered a new city, a new country and a new culture. “There are lots of people who prefer to sleep under the stars.” She also made lots of friends who helped her in a completely unfamiliar world.
I'm not suggesting the company is involved but that story is incredibly suspect. They also seem to somewhat glamorize the "street life" in some of their bios.
The support is often there for the taking, but some combination of mental health problems, drug dependency, etc. will see a person "choose" to live on the streets.
Due to my medical condition, I am unwilling to remain in a homeless shelter. They simply aren't clean enough for my needs. I would take real help in a heartbeat if it were available. But the kind of "support" that is available to homeless individuals is often rather sucky, to say the least.
So, yeah, you could say I "chose" to not go into a shelter and to thus remain on the street. That isn't completely inaccurate. But it sure makes my life sound a lot more empowered than I am experiencing it as being.
Let me put it this way: Many people wind up on the street by leaving an abusive relationship. So you could say, hey, they chose to be on the street. They could have remained with the person providing a roof over their head. But it sort of conveniently sweeps their very real problems and challenges under the rug.
In some way this feels cheap. Fonts? Buying fonts to help homeless people?
Having homeless people create fonts that you can license out?
Is this the best we can do? Seriously.
About two years ago, my wife saw a woman in the parking lot of a large retail grocery/goods store holding a sign that said "anything helps". She had noticed this woman before on at least one occasion, and it occurred to my wife that perhaps this time she would do something to help somebody out.
In addition to the things she needed, she purchased everything required for a large spaghetti dinner to include Parmesan cheese, a large loaf of fresh bread, and a box of cookies for dessert. She ensured everything was bagged up separately so all she had to do was hand it to the woman with the sign.
After loading up our car, my wife drove over to the woman in the sign. She got out with the bag and as she walked towards the sign-holder, explained "hey, I just wanted to help out so I bought you everything for a dinner..." to which the woman replied, "food's not really our issue."
My wife told me that she essentially closed her still-open mouth, did a 180 and got back into the car. We had spaghetti that night.
I relate this not to imply that everybody with a sign implying need is a fraud, but to suggest that there may be a non-trivial number of people out there who do not act because they've had an experience similar to the one my wife had.
If the woman was really homeless, she couldn't have made use of the spaghetti dinner fixings anyways; she likely wouldn't have any good place to boil the water or prepare the meal; even hotplates are disallowed at most shelters, due to the fire hazard.
It's much better if you can ask someone if there are any particular items they need, or better yet stop by a local shelter and inquire there as to items that most need to be donated.
If i were that woman i would have said "thank you so much ... but" and let your wife down easy. But even for the genuinely homeless fending for yourself on the streets doesn't leave everyone equally grateful.
It's not like my wife was throwing old socks, underwear and car parts at the woman. A meal means at the very least, there's one meal you don't have to pay for.
Good government isn't a natural right, it is every citizen's duty.
Take a photo of your opponent, make it black and white, use a tight crop, and then slowly zoom.
Not only are these beautiful and useful fonts, but each one has a story that's as unique as the typography itself. I can't wait to use one of these in a project soon.
I realize the charity element to it might obfuscate the idea of it being "art," but I think it strikes an interesting balance between the two. Compare that to artists who document homelessness and use their art as a kind of charity, hoping to draw awareness to the issue: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2090360/Lee-Jeffries...
http://www.arrelsfundacio.org/que-fem/ (this translates to rootsfoundation.org/about-us)
> We help homeless people in Barcelona
> We focus on two tasks: Covering the needs of homeless people and supporting them in their personal itinerary.
> At Arrels we provide accommodation, food and health and social care to men and women living in poor conditions in the streets of Barcelona, and more importantly, "we are with them" accompanying them on the long road to regain autonomy.
FWIW, the terse title made me wonder if it was a collection of not-used-anywhere (as far as anyone knows) fonts, for times you're looking for a really unique font (say, lest there be an unfortunate association-by-typeface).
http://hyperallergic.com/135700/homeless-fonts-are-a-feel-go...
"The funds collected through Homelessfonts.org will be used to finance the work of the Arrels foundation for homeless people in Barcelona." http://www.arrelsfundacio.org
And the director of the foundation responded in a comment on that article:
"All people who are joining the project with their handwriting were homeless people and now fortunately they have accommodation and receive the support of Arrels Foundation to go forward in their lifes." http://hyperallergic.com/135700/homeless-fonts-are-a-feel-go...
Click the photos of the individuals, and they show examples on products or posters, and they look quite nice, original, and have character. They should really place these images on the homepage, instead of the written alphabet.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/540994973960668020/
I think those fonts are really great. I could easily see them on a lot of products and posters. Handwritten fonts give a charm to a lot of products. Wines bottles comes to mind.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/brother-sharp-%E7%8A%80%E5%88%...
Why not "human fonts" or "people fonts"? (Or "natural fonts" or "handwriting fonts" or...)
The problem I have with this is that if you help people based on the their status of being homeless, then do they stop qualifying once they are off the street? That kind of thing is what keeps poor people stuck. It's why the American welfare system is broken. You first have to qualify as "poor" and often some other thing to get assistance. Countries that just, say, provide national healthcare for all citizens, because you exist, help reduce the gap between rich and poor. Stuff like this helps widen it.
We need to think about how to remove barriers so all people can live well and all that but you need to treat very carefully with programs which are framed such that you are basically rewarded for having a problem. That just tends to promote having that problem. (That's what the American welfare has done: It changed the social contract to reward being a poor, single mom such that it increased the incidence of poor, single moms in the population. Great job, that.)
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then the lanes are striped with "person first" language (and all of its mutations).
It was done in an unthinking manner and we are still living with the consequences decades later.
I personally have little patience for those who simply say "You shouldn't say that, say this instead" without the fortitude or intellectual honesty to back up what they're invariably ordering me to say or not say.
But this really isn't the venue for that kind of discussion. I respect that you took the time to understand these different sociological phenomenons, so I apologize if it seemed like my comment was a dig at you personally-it wasn't.
I think it has more to do with female equality and increased earning power. But it's a complex multi-vectored phenomenon not really suited to an off-topic thread here.
That's kind of a bogus rebuttal.
For an example, see http://www.graphics.com/news-old/p22-releases-c%C3%A9zanne-p...