A cura di NedCuttle21(Ulm)

The Atlantic pubblica un lungo articolo, a firma di Marcella Bombardieri, sull’Amarillo College (Texas), dove attraverso un fondo d’emergenza e altri strumenti si cerca di aiutare gli studenti a rischio povertà a non soccombere a quegli ostacoli che sarebbero altrimenti insormontabili, riuscendo spesso a garantire loro il prosieguo degli studi; e il cui preside, Russell Lowery-Hart, si sarebbe addirittura calato nei panni di un senzatetto pur di comprendere maggiormente le problematiche legate allo stato di indigenza e guidare in maniera più efficace il suo istituto.

Russell Lowery-Hart spent a Texas winter weekend sleeping outside, even when a light rain fell and it grew so cold that he forced muddy shoes into his sleeping bag to warm his feet. By day, the 48-year-old became increasingly sunburned crisscrossing the streets of Waco, applying for fast-food jobs and searching for soup kitchens. He arrived at one charity at noon to find that lunch ended at 11:30; luckily, a homeless woman shared her cinnamon bread with him.

He was unshowered and unshaven, in the same secondhand clothing the whole weekend. By Sunday morning, the humiliations had undone him. When a family heading to church crossed the street to avoid him, he hollered out, “I’m a fucking college president, you can look at me!”

Immagine: Sam Lipoff