Quotes from Elliot Liebow

I was especially struck by their sense of humor; so at odds with any self-pity -- the ability to step back and laugh at oneself, however wryly.

problems around sleeping, fatigue, boredom, killing time, storage, health, sex, along with harassment and dozens of unpredictable difficulties encountered on the street -- were some of the 'little murders of everyday life' that confronted homeless women.

Like you, I know people who drink, people who do drugs, and bosses who have tantrums and treat their subordinates like dirt. They all have good jobs. Were they to become homeless, some of them would surely also become 'alcoholics,' 'addicts,' or 'mentally ill.

For most homeless women, then, jobs by themselves were not a way out of homelessness, even if one discounted the large number of women who were too old, too sick, or otherwise too disabled to work.