There is a picture in The Record newspaper on 1/7/12 of a couple-senior citizens it seems-who are living in a tent camp in Lakewood, NJ and have been doing so for some time. The issue is not about their plight but about the town's desire to have the camp closed down. They say the camp is a "hazard, noting that one resident has died..."; well, what would they expect to happen if people are forced to live outdoors during the winter months? I guess some neo-con will tell me they chose to live there. This is just like the scenes in "The Grapes of Wrath" and the Joad family living in camps along the side of the road. You would think-or at least hope-that in this country, this sort of poverty would not be allowed to exist. It is time to re-read Michael Harrington's Other America.
