“…To leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution”
-Stephen R. Covey
In Nashville, one of the most iconic homeless organizations is The Contributor Newspaper. Offering a sense of dignity and worth, this paper has provided the homeless community with opportunities to live a successful life. The Contributor is a monthly street newspaper to help benefit homeless people in Nashville, TN focusing on the diversity of perspectives through the eyes of homeless and formally homeless individuals. It also brings awareness to the conditions of homelessness. While accomplishing all this, the process of selling the paper builds a unique relationship between the vendors and customers. The main importance of The Contributor is the ability to provide a source of income for the homeless and previously homeless of the men and women and Nashville.
It is important to understand the culture of the people who sell The Contributor, and to fully understand the affects it has on those individuals. Studying and learning from this culture will really benefit my heart of serving and helping the people who are less fortunate. Through conversations of homeless and formally homeless individuals that sell The Contributor, I hope to grasp their lifestyle and how their lives have changed from this paper. There is something so beautiful in the purpose of this newspaper to help out those who have no other way to bring in income.
Being an outsider to the homeless community, I am already putting myself in a different level of understanding. To fully understand the homeless community, one must truly experience it. Being such an outsider, forming those special connections with the vendors is so important to understand their community and culture.
"The main importance of The Contributor is the ability to provide a source of income for the homeless and previously homeless of the men and women and Nashville." (Last sentence of the first paragraph) - Did you mean to say "The main importance of The Contributor is the ability to provide a source of income for the homeless and previously homeless men and women of Nashville"?
ReplyDelete" Through conversations of homeless and formally homeless individuals that sell The Contributor..." (Second to last sentence of the second paragraph) - Did you mean to say "Through conversations with homeless and formally homeless individuals that sell The Contributor..."
Starting your paper off with a quote was a nice hook, especially since it was relevant to your topic (talking about contributions). I like how you began with a brief description of what your paper is going to be about to lay a foundation of understanding.
The research question I picked out is how The Contributor has changed the lives of those who are selling it.
When you say that in order to understand the homeless community one must truly experience it, do you mean that you are actually going to become homeless for this experience? Or are you just saying in general, the only one to become an insider is to have actually been homeless. Either way, you make it clear that you are positioned as an outsider.
Overall, I think this will be a very interesting topic, and definitely one with a lot of potential for interesting stories, interviews, and experiences.