Terminology Is Important

 Homeless.

The word conjures up unpleasant thought-adjectives: misery, displacement, dirty, unstable, disreputable, and more. Since the Great Recession began in 2008 with the worldwide economic crash, the number of people who have been removed from their "permanent" housing dramatically increased. With that increase have come unwanted responses from communities. Laws outlawing 'living on the street' have exploded. People scorn those living in cars and vans as undesirable in "our community." Myriad photos show the misery of living in a decrepit, smelly, worn-out sleeping bag on--or in--a cardboard box over a heating vent in a large city. 

The stories of these humans are heart-wrenching. A professional worked in an office for decades until his company went out of business, and he was laid off, now older and probably unemployable. A commercial bank crashes and takes a considerable part of the world economy with it, throwing hundreds of employees out of work.

The city of Detroit suffers arguably the most focused losses of all. Almost an entire auto manufacturing industry is suddenly halted, along with the many plants that created cars for the world. Overnight, parking lots are emptied, families face the ugly combination of limited skills and family entrenchment. Strong unions are weakened.

Many houses go into foreclosure, the breadwinners file bankruptcy. Those who are lucky enough relocate to live with other family members. Parents spruce up long-unused bedrooms and buy bunk beds as they welcome their adult children and grandchildren back into their house, straining their own resources and patience.

Homeless.

In the ten-plus years since then, the economy has improved while significant and often unpleasant political changes have happened. The old manufacturing base has not and will not recover; sending the work offshore is less expensive and requires lower-skilled workers in this country. Apple makes its magnificent electronic devices in massive factories in China. Cars are made in Mexico and Canada and trucked across the border to be finished in the auto industry's remains before they are sent to and sold at local dealerships. The international shipping container business has boomed as low-cost labor markets are identified, and goods are shipped to the USA. 

Far less attention was paid to those on the lower end of the economic ladder. Those who lost houses and those who filed bankruptcy discovered that their ability to get a new home disappeared with their job. Underneath the headlines, an entirely new cadre of people have emerged, struggling to make ends meet while dealing with the ugliness of the Great Recession and the very personal impact on themselves. They own no house of the 'sticks-and-bricks' variety, but they are not at all homeless.

This term for this new cadre of people who do not live in traditional sticks-and-bricks houses is 

Houseless

These intrepid souls are not homeless; they just do not have the traditional house they once had. They live in their cars, in retired and built-out school busses, ambulances, old vans and RVs, or any other mobile vehicle that can hold them and their meager, fully-functional belongings and keep them moving when needed. Some of them move from temporary jobs to temporary jobs, as Jessica Bruder wrote about in her marvelous book, "Nomadland."

The life they lead is not easy, dull, or in many cases, predictable. These are not campers heading out to a campground or RV park for a few days then returning to the comfort and security of their homes and jobs. Not all of the new nomads are poor, and not all of them were forced into their situation, but all of them live frugal lives necessitated by their condition. You cannot do in a 200 square foot living area what you can do in a 4-bedroom suburban house. But it does not mean life cannot be enjoyable.

Houseless. As I write these words, that is what I am. 

On February 1, 2021, I closed the sale of my house in Michigan, the one place I lived in longer than any other home in my entire life, and moved into a spare bedroom in my daughter and her family's home. 

The adjustment has been difficult. My son-in-law is a government contractor; we first moved into temporary quarters on the Aberdeen Proving Ground Army base in Maryland until their new house is built in another city in Maryland. For six months, the family of two adults, three children, two full-grown Great Pyrenees dogs, plus the newly-arrived grandfather will have to figure out how to keep peace in minimal space. Somehow, we all (mostly) survived.

It was not an easy task, as the arguments born out of stress leading to periods of icy silence and crying children have shown.

Thoughts of changing my current houseless condition to another one have begun to germinate in my head. But that is for another treatise.

How Do I Resubscribe to a Magazine When the Notice Comes Late?

We are all familiar with the partisanship in the upper management of the United States Postal Service. The Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, was hired in the last months of the previous administration - I refuse to type the former president's name - for one purpose: to slow the mail down so mail-in ballot requests and the mail-in ballots themselves would not get to their intended recipient in time. Since absentee balloting was used by Democrats far more than Republicans, who distrust the mail system, even though it is one of the most efficient and secure delivery systems in the world, and is heavily used by people without adequate means of transportation. This means Black and lower income people, the groups the former president wanted to disenfranchise. His reelection campaign hoped for late votes which would not be counted, thus putting a thumb on the scale in his favor.

His plan did not work and he was defeated because the same groups stood in line in inclement weather of all kinds for many hours to cast their ballots. But the system has not returned to its former efficiency.

DeJoy removed sorting machines, cut hours, and demanded that the letter carriers return to their offices after one truckful of mail was delivered; no returning to the station for the final load. These new procedures were put in place before the holiday rush, so there was a serious slowdown for what was a record setting amount of items being mailed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. People got their gifts late, individuals who depend on regular deliveries of prescription medications were never sure if the next doses would arrive on time, and many letters were delivered late. 

Some of them, like the mailed notices folks like me get come late and some never arrive, even though my postal notices show that mail will arrive. Today, I received a notice from one of my Condé Nast magazines. It came in a red-tinted envelope to indicate high importance, and it was. It was an urgent reminder that my subscription was about to expire and that I had a deadline to return the form. As I write this, the day is January 21, 2021, the day after President Joe Biden was inaugurated. I experience first-hand one of the reasons he has begun undoing the damage of the previous administration, though fixing some, like returning the USPS to its former efficiency, will be harder than others. 

The notice I received said the absolute, final cutoff date for me to return my form was January 10, 2021.

Eleven days ago. This, of course, means it was mailed long before that!

I like using stamped mail when I can and I always get magazine renewal notices and other important information like insurance papers both by 'snail mail' and by email. That way, I help the USPS a bit and get timely notices. In this case, my subscription was renewed online earlier this month because of an email notice I received. Had I waited for and depended on my mailed notice, well, I would be renewing an expired subscription and most likely missing several issues.

I wish President Biden well as he works through the terror of the past four years. He has already removed many former appointees, including those in sensitive positions, but getting rid of the Postmaster General is not easily done. The president cannot directly fire DeJoy because the USPS Board of Directors appointed him; the Board normally consists of up to nine governors appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, which is evenly split. Whether Republicans in the Senate would go along with a change is a bet I would not take. The most immediate action Biden can take is put pressure on DeJoy and the Board for a replacement. Considering that there are currently only two Democrats on the Board of six, so Biden could appoint additional governors and a Deputy PMG, which might help.

My trust and faith in timely delivery of mail by the United States Postal Service has been badly, perhaps permanently, damaged. I will not be giving up my email account and I will continue to get snail mail, even if it comes eleven days after the deadline.