Hi all,
If you read this blog, I'm sure you're aware of HomelessTales.com, as it is by far the main referrer to my site (I'm a guest writer for Street Voices). Matt Barnes, the creator of Homeless Tales, knows just about every activist for homelessness out there, works tirelessly to debunk myths/stereotypes, and personally reaches out to the homeless, no matter what part of the world they live in. I'm very new to this homeless thing, but participating in Street Voices and discovering a whole new world of people to talk to - an entire new moral support system that I didn't realize existed - has been eye-opening and made my (thus far) short period of homelessness indescribably more bearable.
I quasi-seriously joked with Matt that we should get him on The Colbert Report, that would really put the issue on the map. Then, after thinking on it for about two seconds, I decided to do it. I'm impulsive like that. Besides, I think he has a lot to say on the issue, and a very articulate voice with which to say it (far more than, say, mine - which is kind of random and scattershot, not very focused or experienced at all).
So, yesterday I wrote to The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, requesting Matt Barnes as a guest on the respective shows. Below is a sample of my letters (I have chosen Stephen Colbert's; Jon Stewart's is the exact same letter, except with his name substituted for Colbert's, and vice versa). I tried to inject a little humor into the letter, as these are, ultimately, comedians:
Requested "Colbert Report" Guest - Matthew Barnes of HomelessTales.com
Stephen T. Colbert c/o Renata Luczak Colbertnation.com 345 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014 Dear Mr. Colbert, How does one go about requesting for a cause to be featured on The Colbert Report? I am a (formerly employed, now laid-off, educated, graduate of the Bush administration-created economy) 24-year-old homeless woman writing from my local Starbucks in Orange County, CA (yes, I know, a homeless woman with a laptop! Even better, I live quasi-illegally in a Wal-Mart parking lot. With my dog. I wish I could say I were kidding). I have attached a recent photo of myself - as I'm sure you can tell, I make every effort to buck the undeserved "dirty bum" stereotype.
I would like to suggest Matthew Barnes, the founder of HomelessTales.com, as a guest on your show. Formerly homeless himself; he spends the vast majority of his time debunking popular myths and stereotypes about homelessness, and offering help to those in need as best he can on limited funding. Matt heads a project called "Street Voices" that is an exercise in self-inclusion for the participant writers (of whom I am one). Street Voices gives faces, names, and personalities to those with the stigma of having no home; and there are many of us in these dreary economic times. Each writer offers a different perspective on the issue of homelessness in general; as well as their own personal circumstances.
I have never formally met Matt, but we have corresponded via e-mail; as he makes an effort to personally help each and every reader who expresses an interest in his site, as well as any homeless individual in need. I truly believe that there is no one more worthy of the "Colbert Bump". Only a few days ago, Andrew Malcolm of the L.A. Times wrote a short but highly offensive article which was meant to be about Michelle Obama volunteering at a soup kitchen; but which turned into a national debate regarding the validity of a homeless man possessing something as useful (and essential to reversal of his circumstances) as a cell phone. This is a perfect time to focus upon the issue, which is growing nationally by the day. Homelessness has never been limited to mentally ill and drug addicts, as is commonly supposed; now more than ever there is a sharp increase in the percentage of homeless individuals desperately seeking work across the globe.
Please, Mr. Colbert, think of how embarassing it would be if Jon Stewart of the Daily Show got wind of this and snapped up Matt Barnes as a guest before you did - would you ever live down the shame and regret, knowing you could have gotten to him first? (By the way, I'm no dummy - I wrote the exact same letter to Jon Stewart. And now, I will step back and allow the cat-fight to commence!)
Matthew Barnes can be contacted at: mdbarnes@hotmail.co.uk. Please feel free to contact me if I can offer you any further information. I remain your devoted viewer (online - I don't have TV access at the moment!)
Regards,
B* * * * * K* * * *
Wal-Mart Store #* * * *
East Parking Lot
2*** E********,
****, CA 9****
(714) ***-****
b***k***@gmail.com
http://girlsguidetohomelessness.blogspot.com
So, I sent that off into cyberspace, feeling like it was a long shot, but hey, you never know, right? However, this morning, I received an e-mail from Steve Albani, the Vice President of Comedy Central in charge of the Daily Show. He thanked me for my e-mail and let me know that he had forwarded it on to Jon! I made sure to e-mail him back a quick line thanking him for his time and wishing him a fantastic week.
I don't know how many of you have seen The Shawshank Redemption, but this is the part where we bombard them with letters until they give us what we want :) I would like to ask each and every reader to spend 5 minutes and send in an e-mail requesting Matt as a guest on "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show". It doesn't have to be a long or explanatory e-mail like mine, a few lines will be sufficient, although if you would like to put in a short bit about yourself and your background, put a face/personality to the name, that may also be a good idea. But really, I just want to make them aware that there is a demand and an audience for this issue. Here is the contact info:
renata.luczak@comedycentral.com
Stephen T. Colbert
c/o Renata Luczak
Colbertnation.com
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
steve.albani@comedycentral.com
Jon Stewart
c/o Steve Albani
The Daily Show
Comedy Central Press Offices
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
Please remember to title your e-mails: Requested ["Colbert Report" or "Daily Show"] Guest - Matthew Barnes of HomelessTales.com for uniformity purposes (it clearly identifies the purpose of the e-mail, and a mass amount of e-mails with the same title will be difficult to ignore).
Please also remember to address your e-mails to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert directly, care of (c/o) the respective contacts listed above.
Thanks to everyone for your support, let's see if we can make this happen and put homelessness even further out there!
~B~
P.S. I just want to say that when I check the stats for this site, I'm astounded - I have readers in as remote locations as Pakistan, Slovakia, Peru, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, India, Czech Republic, U.K., Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland, Germany... This is overwhelming to me. Tons of love to each and every one of my readers, both national and international. I am so grateful for the network of moral support!
If you read this blog, I'm sure you're aware of HomelessTales.com, as it is by far the main referrer to my site (I'm a guest writer for Street Voices). Matt Barnes, the creator of Homeless Tales, knows just about every activist for homelessness out there, works tirelessly to debunk myths/stereotypes, and personally reaches out to the homeless, no matter what part of the world they live in. I'm very new to this homeless thing, but participating in Street Voices and discovering a whole new world of people to talk to - an entire new moral support system that I didn't realize existed - has been eye-opening and made my (thus far) short period of homelessness indescribably more bearable.
I quasi-seriously joked with Matt that we should get him on The Colbert Report, that would really put the issue on the map. Then, after thinking on it for about two seconds, I decided to do it. I'm impulsive like that. Besides, I think he has a lot to say on the issue, and a very articulate voice with which to say it (far more than, say, mine - which is kind of random and scattershot, not very focused or experienced at all).
So, yesterday I wrote to The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, requesting Matt Barnes as a guest on the respective shows. Below is a sample of my letters (I have chosen Stephen Colbert's; Jon Stewart's is the exact same letter, except with his name substituted for Colbert's, and vice versa). I tried to inject a little humor into the letter, as these are, ultimately, comedians:
Requested "Colbert Report" Guest - Matthew Barnes of HomelessTales.com
Stephen T. Colbert c/o Renata Luczak Colbertnation.com 345 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014 Dear Mr. Colbert, How does one go about requesting for a cause to be featured on The Colbert Report? I am a (formerly employed, now laid-off, educated, graduate of the Bush administration-created economy) 24-year-old homeless woman writing from my local Starbucks in Orange County, CA (yes, I know, a homeless woman with a laptop! Even better, I live quasi-illegally in a Wal-Mart parking lot. With my dog. I wish I could say I were kidding). I have attached a recent photo of myself - as I'm sure you can tell, I make every effort to buck the undeserved "dirty bum" stereotype.
I would like to suggest Matthew Barnes, the founder of HomelessTales.com, as a guest on your show. Formerly homeless himself; he spends the vast majority of his time debunking popular myths and stereotypes about homelessness, and offering help to those in need as best he can on limited funding. Matt heads a project called "Street Voices" that is an exercise in self-inclusion for the participant writers (of whom I am one). Street Voices gives faces, names, and personalities to those with the stigma of having no home; and there are many of us in these dreary economic times. Each writer offers a different perspective on the issue of homelessness in general; as well as their own personal circumstances.
I have never formally met Matt, but we have corresponded via e-mail; as he makes an effort to personally help each and every reader who expresses an interest in his site, as well as any homeless individual in need. I truly believe that there is no one more worthy of the "Colbert Bump". Only a few days ago, Andrew Malcolm of the L.A. Times wrote a short but highly offensive article which was meant to be about Michelle Obama volunteering at a soup kitchen; but which turned into a national debate regarding the validity of a homeless man possessing something as useful (and essential to reversal of his circumstances) as a cell phone. This is a perfect time to focus upon the issue, which is growing nationally by the day. Homelessness has never been limited to mentally ill and drug addicts, as is commonly supposed; now more than ever there is a sharp increase in the percentage of homeless individuals desperately seeking work across the globe.
Please, Mr. Colbert, think of how embarassing it would be if Jon Stewart of the Daily Show got wind of this and snapped up Matt Barnes as a guest before you did - would you ever live down the shame and regret, knowing you could have gotten to him first? (By the way, I'm no dummy - I wrote the exact same letter to Jon Stewart. And now, I will step back and allow the cat-fight to commence!)
Matthew Barnes can be contacted at: mdbarnes@hotmail.co.uk. Please feel free to contact me if I can offer you any further information. I remain your devoted viewer (online - I don't have TV access at the moment!)
Regards,
B* * * * * K* * * *
Wal-Mart Store #* * * *
East Parking Lot
2*** E********,
****, CA 9****
(714) ***-****
b***k***@gmail.com
http://
So, I sent that off into cyberspace, feeling like it was a long shot, but hey, you never know, right? However, this morning, I received an e-mail from Steve Albani, the Vice President of Comedy Central in charge of the Daily Show. He thanked me for my e-mail and let me know that he had forwarded it on to Jon! I made sure to e-mail him back a quick line thanking him for his time and wishing him a fantastic week.
I don't know how many of you have seen The Shawshank Redemption, but this is the part where we bombard them with letters until they give us what we want :) I would like to ask each and every reader to spend 5 minutes and send in an e-mail requesting Matt as a guest on "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show". It doesn't have to be a long or explanatory e-mail like mine, a few lines will be sufficient, although if you would like to put in a short bit about yourself and your background, put a face/personality to the name, that may also be a good idea. But really, I just want to make them aware that there is a demand and an audience for this issue. Here is the contact info:
renata.luczak@comedycentral.com
Stephen T. Colbert
c/o Renata Luczak
Colbertnation.com
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
steve.albani@comedycentral.com
Jon Stewart
c/o Steve Albani
The Daily Show
Comedy Central Press Offices
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
Please remember to title your e-mails: Requested ["Colbert Report" or "Daily Show"] Guest - Matthew Barnes of HomelessTales.com for uniformity purposes (it clearly identifies the purpose of the e-mail, and a mass amount of e-mails with the same title will be difficult to ignore).
Please also remember to address your e-mails to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert directly, care of (c/o) the respective contacts listed above.
Thanks to everyone for your support, let's see if we can make this happen and put homelessness even further out there!
~B~
P.S. I just want to say that when I check the stats for this site, I'm astounded - I have readers in as remote locations as Pakistan, Slovakia, Peru, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, India, Czech Republic, U.K., Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland, Germany... This is overwhelming to me. Tons of love to each and every one of my readers, both national and international. I am so grateful for the network of moral support!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment