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[0:00] Ruthie Fierberg: I'm Ruthie Fierberg, and this is Why We Theater.

[0:05] Ruthie Fierberg: The podcast that digs into the onstage works we love to make the offstage change we need.

[0:12] Ruthie Fierberg: After all, that is Why We Theater.

[0:17] Ruthie Fierberg: Hello, my beautiful listeners.

[0:20] Ruthie Fierberg: Uh, how are you? I actually really wish I could hear your reply, but I hope you're managing in this world that continues to throw difficult things at us.

[0:30] Ruthie Fierberg: I am actually just getting over COVID. It seems I couldn't outrun it any longer.

[0:34] Ruthie Fierberg: But I'm fortunate, it was rough, and I've been in bed for almost a week, but nothing scary.

[0:42] Ruthie Fierberg: I'm vaccinated and boosted and grateful for that.

[0:45] Ruthie Fierberg: It's no surprise that I came down with it at a moment when I was exhausted.

[0:50] Ruthie Fierberg: So help your immune system help you and remember to always rest.

[0:54] Ruthie Fierberg: Sleep is important. Hydrate, you can take vitamin C tablets.

[0:59] Ruthie Fierberg: Wear a mask if you're immunocompromised or if you're in a big group of people and simply don't have time to get sick.

[1:05] Ruthie Fierberg: Anyway, that's my COVID spiel. But having spent a lot of time sleeping, I had less time to personally vet companion pieces to Addressless.

[1:15] Ruthie Fierberg: For those of you who have already taken a listen to our most recent panel episode, you know that fighting homelessness is a cause I have supported for a few years now.

[1:26] Ruthie Fierberg: I came to learn about youth homelessness specifically when I was working at Playbill, reporting on the annual Broadway sleep out, now renamed the Stage and Screen Sleep Out.

[1:37] Ruthie Fierberg: Stephanie J. Block and Sebastian Arcellis, Capathia Jenkins, Darius De Haas, Audrey McDonald, they were all preparing to sleep on the street in the middle of August as a demonstration of solidarity with homeless youth and as a way to raise money to support them through Covenant House.

[1:54] Ruthie Fierberg: Stephanie, during our interview, told me I should join next year. At the time, I thought I wasn't eligible because while I may work in Broadway, I'm not on Broadway.

[2:05] Ruthie Fierberg: But the Stage and Screen Sleep Out is for anyone connected to this community. And Covenant House also hosts annual sleepouts for different affinity groups, and then there are companies or congregations or what have you that often organize their own.

[2:19] Ruthie Fierberg: So you can organize your own sleep out by visiting CovenantHouse.org or join the annual Stage and Screen sleep out if you are part of this community.

[2:28] Ruthie Fierberg: I'll include the link in the show notes. And since starting Why We Theater, I've been searching for a piece of theater that does this issue justice.

[2:38] Ruthie Fierberg: Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's production of Addressless did that. I was so moved by it as a piece of art and as a call to action.

[2:48] Ruthie Fierberg: I urge you to learn more about the play and ways to create the change from our most recent main episode.

[2:54] Ruthie Fierberg: You'll hear the firsthand account from Shams De Baron of how he became homeless as a kid after going through the foster care system and how he has dealt with homelessness and being housing insecure his entire life.

[3:42] Ruthie Fierberg: But this week, taking a page out of Addressless's book, I want this mini episode to be interactive.

[3:50] Ruthie Fierberg: So there are three activities to do at home to better emotionally comprehend what it means to be at risk for homelessness and to experience it.

[4:01] Ruthie Fierberg: Covenant House has an eye-opening online activity called What Would You Do? That puts the plight of homelessness into perspective real fast.

[4:10] Ruthie Fierberg: The activity shows how homelessness and human trafficking so often become linked, especially for young people.

[4:18] Ruthie Fierberg: The website walks you through a series of questions, i.e., choices. As the activity so rightly points out, some say these kids just need to make better choices.

[4:31] Ruthie Fierberg: But what if you don't have any good options? Could you escape trafficking and stay off the streets?

[4:38] Ruthie Fierberg: So, as an example, the very first crossroads reads: Mom is addicted to drugs. Dad is abusive. COVID-19 has closed schools.

[4:49] Ruthie Fierberg: At 18 years old, you need to get away from home, but you've got nowhere to go. Your choices are you can stay in your abusive house or you can decide to leave and spend the night on the streets.

[5:02] Ruthie Fierberg: What would you do? Visit the link in the show notes because these five minutes that it takes to run through some of these scenarios will truly help you understand how some people become homeless and can get trapped living unhoused.

[5:18] Ruthie Fierberg: At my first Covenant House sleep out, we did a version of this next one. It's called Losing Your Sense of Self.

[5:26] Ruthie Fierberg: The following instructions are from Covenant House's resource catalog. Take three small sheets of paper or three post-it notes.

[5:34] Ruthie Fierberg: Think about physical items that have the greatest meaning to you. It could be a photo album, a piece of jewelry, a guitar. Write down one item on each sheet of paper.

[5:50] Ruthie Fierberg: Now, imagine that you can no longer live in your home, and it happened very quickly. Many of the young people at Covenant House are fleeing violent situations and have to get out fast.

[6:02] Ruthie Fierberg: You have to gather as many belongings as you can in a hurry, and you can't take everything with you. Please pick one of the three items you wrote down to leave behind.

[6:13] Ruthie Fierberg: Crumple up the post-it and put it aside. Now you finally make your way to an adult shelter. You're scared, as you have heard that it can be dangerous, and you are surrounded by people of all ages who you do not know.

[7:11] Ruthie Fierberg: As you finally get to sleep that night, your final item is stolen. Take your final post-it and crumple it up.

[7:21] Ruthie Fierberg: How did it feel to lose the items that were most significant to you? Homelessness is not just about losing a roof over your head.

[7:29] Ruthie Fierberg: It's about losing pieces of your identity. The items you selected are probably items that in many ways show what you value and what makes you who you are.

[7:39] Ruthie Fierberg: Thinking of it in this way, how would you describe what you lost and its impact? And now the final activity.

[8:45] Ruthie Fierberg: OP 1000 Q R S eleven hundred T Ured and V W XYZ you begin with 1300 Do you know how much you have to start with?

[9:03] Ruthie Fierberg: Now when making your decisions, think about the privileges rather than the identities associated with each item. For example, if you opt to purchase identifying as white, it does not necessarily mean you wish to be white.

[9:17] Ruthie Fierberg: Rather, you desire the privileges that come along with being white. Think about why you are prioritizing some privileges over others and the weight they carry in today's world.

[9:30] Ruthie Fierberg: For example, what comes with a higher income? Education opportunities, societal conformity. Take five to ten minutes to make your decisions. Pause the podcast after I read the list of privileges. Once you finish, move on to the reflection questions. I'll read those as well. Every privilege costs 100 dollars. There are 20 identity-based privileges and 20 environmental privileges.

[9:58] Ruthie Fierberg: That's a total of 40 privileges. And even if you were in the highest category, you can't buy them all. So choose wisely. All right, spend until you run out of money. The identity-based privileges are one, you identify as male. Two, you identify as white. Three, you identify as non-Hispanic. Six, you are a U.S. citizen. Seven, you speak English fluently. Eight, you have a high school diploma. Nine, you can read and write at a high school graduate level. Ten, you had no children before age 22. Eleven, you never felt the desire to have a child so that there was someone to love you unconditionally. Twelve, you are married. Thirteen, you do not use drugs or alcohol to deal with stress. Fourteen, you do not have a mental health diagnosis.

Fifteen, you do not have any chronic physical health conditions. Sixteen, you have no juvenile or adult criminal record. Seventeen, you are not considered intellectually deficient. Eighteen, you know how to navigate systems, educational, health, legal, financial, etc. Nineteen, you can find a job that pays above minimum wage. Twenty, you never had to trade sex for food or shelter. Take a pause, rewind, write all those 20 down if you need to. We're not going to have you choose your privileges to buy until we get to the end of the second list.

[12:04] Ruthie Fierberg: All right, environmental privileges. One, you grew up in a two-parent household. Two, none of your parents have ever been incarcerated. Three, neither of your parents have struggled with addiction. Four, you never lost a loved one to an act of violence. Five, neither of your parents has an untreated mental health diagnosis. Six, the household income of your family of origin exceeded $24,000 per year. Seven, you have never experienced physical abuse. Eight, you have never been a victim of sexual abuse or assault. Nine, you were never a victim of human trafficking. Ten, you have never been the victim of identity theft or fraud. Eleven, you have never been the victim of racism. Twelve, you have never been the victim of sexism.

Thirteen, you have never been the victim of homophobia. Fourteen, you don't fear interactions with the police due to your identities or appearance. Fifteen, work or walk down a public street without the fear of sexual harassment or harm. Sixteen, you went to school and felt safe in your environment. Seventeen, you were never a victim of domestic violence. Eighteen, you did not grow up in a home where domestic violence took place. Nineteen, you never spent time in the child welfare system. Twenty, you never were rejected by your family or church for who you loved.

[13:57] Ruthie Fierberg: So for example, my name is Ruthie, begins with the letter R. That means I begin with $1,100, which is on the higher scale. I get to buy 11 privileges of the 40 I just listed. So, for example, if I buy you are a U.S. citizen, I enjoy all of the privileges that come with being a U.S. citizen. Take some time, pause it, rewind, choose your privileges. And now I hope you did this with someone, but even if you didn't, just do some self-reflection. How did you go about choosing your privileges? What is the privilege you purchased that feels most significant and why? Did you select more environmental or identity-based privileges? And do you think that that means that one is more advantageous than the other?

Did any of the listed privileges, whether you chose them or not, surprise you? Why do you think we choose money? We could have easily said that each privilege was worth a token and you have five tokens. What does money represent? And why does everyone start with a different amount? How do you think these privileges might lead to a young person becoming homeless? What privileges might prevent a young person from becoming homeless? How did this activity make you feel about your own privileges? I hope you will try at least one of these activities at home, if not all three of them. Again, what would you do? Losing your identity and privilege for sale. And spread them out, do them with a buddy, discuss your reactions. Dialogue is often the first step, though it cannot be the last.

[15:49] Ruthie Fierberg: So please also be sure to check out the Create the Change section of the show notes on last week's Addressless and Homelessness episode. Finally, I did promise some book titles. If you are a story person, which I think you are because you listen to this podcast. First, there's My Abandonment by Peter Rock, which is a novel inspired by a true story. It got 3.5 stars on Goodreads with over 6,600 reviews. The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin, which got 3.9 stars on Goodreads with over 3,400 reviews. Then there's Breaking Night, a memoir of forgiveness, survival, and my journey from homelessness to Harvard by Liz Murray. I want to add a disclaimer to this one. I've read none of these books, but with the title, I have to say something.

And this title speaks to what Kevin was saying in our main episode: that the fact that some of these youth are dealing with homelessness is the least interesting thing about them. They have so much potential. And Liz Murray showed it by getting to Harvard. Then again, I want to be careful about aggrandizing only the stories of people who make it up into the prestigious places of the world. That being said, I plan to read Breaking Night out of curiosity, if nothing else. And it also got 4.19 stars on Goodreads with over 19,000 ratings. Finally, there's the memoir From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle, which got 4.5 stars on Goodreads with over 20,000 reviews.

[17:40] Ruthie Fierberg: For TV fans, head to Shondaland, go back to season 9, episode 6 of Grey's Anatomy, the episode called Second Opinion. If you're a Grey's fan, you might remember this episode where Santa Claus, as he becomes known around the ER, pays a visit. The interns call him Santa because of his stature and his unshaven white head and face full of hair. They disregard him because he often comes in disoriented and vomiting and asking for drugs. They think he's a homeless drunk. But Dr. Jo Wilson, a series regular who we know spent parts of her life living out of her car, takes a closer look. And we, the audience, learn from it. A similar plot popped up on a recent episode of Station 19, the firehouse spinoff of Grey's. On the episode In My Tree, which was season 5, episode 12, a man living unhoused comes to the firehouse's brand new clinic.

The clinic is an idea of Lieutenant Jack, who grew up in the foster care system before he too lived on the streets. And he hopes a clinic at the fire station, rather than an ER with doctors and insurance and paperwork, might be able to meet these people where they are. Please don't ignore them. Choose to help. Choose to talk. Choose to understand. All of the resources that I spoke about today are listed in the show notes.

[19:09] Ruthie Fierberg: Until next time, I'm Ruthie Fierberg, and this is Why We Theater. Why We Theater is a product of the Broadway Podcast Network. It's edited and mixed by Derek Gunther. If you like the show, subscribe at bpn.fm, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to leave a review and tell your friends. Our theme music is by Benjamin Velez. Special thanks to Dory Berenstein, Alan Seales, Lee Silverman, Patrick Taylor, Wesley Birdsall, Elena Mayer, and Suzanne Chipkin. For more resources for change, info about our guests, and more, visit us at YWeTheater.com.