I woke up the next morning around 9:00 a.m. It’s been about 90° or more all week. After the car incident I don’t feel comfortable in this town. I would like to spend a good amount of time, at least a couple weeks in a town somewhere, and get to know some of the people. I do not feel that this is the town for me to be homeless. Plus there’s so many hills that riding my bike around in this high heat and humidity is torturous.
I drove my car back to Lowell around 10:30 a.m. My girlfriend was at work, so I decided to walk around the city for a while. I stopped by some of the art galleries I had seen. I also stopped at the Worthen House Cafe, which I found out was the oldest standing tavern in Lowell established in 1898. They had Edgar Allan Poe pictures on the wall since it is said Poe started his poem the Raven in that establishment back when they operated as an inn and tavern. I guess it was also a regular stop for Jack Kerouac as well. I got a chicken club gyro and had a cider. I was happy to stumble upon this gem, I really loved the place.
And I went to the library to do some work for a little while. I met a couple of really nice gentlemen named Xavier and Matt who were doing artwork in front of the library on the street. We had a conversation about the impact of the environment on human behavior. If anyone isn’t familiar with the broken window theory, I suggest looking it up. This is Google’s overview:
The broken windows theory is a criminology theory that suggests that visible signs of disorder and misbehavior in an environment can lead to more disorder and misbehavior. The theory was proposed in 1982 by American criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. The theory is named after the idea that if a broken window is left unrepaired, the rest of the windows in a building will eventually break.
The theory suggests that minor disorder in a neighborhood, such as broken windows, vandalism, loitering, littering, and public intoxication, can lead to greater disorder and eventually serious criminal activity. The theory is based on the idea that people may believe that criminal activity won’t be reported if they see visible damage or other small infractions. This can make people who are more likely to commit crimes feel more comfortable in these areas. The theory also suggests that a broken window in a neighborhood can lead to a downward spiral where houses become abandoned, empty lots become overgrown, and residents become increasingly disengaged.
After my experiences of traveling around to different locales, and seeing homelessness, and the effects thereof, I feel that making our public environments more welcoming and diminishing the appearance of destruction and poverty would greatly improve the quality of a community. The question is where will those who are homeless go and be provided for? Whether a person is homeless or not they are citizens of our society and they have every right to public space as anybody else.
I hung out at the library for a while charging my phones and catching up on work. When my girlfriend texted me to let me know that she was on her way back from work I walked back over to her apartment and we spent the night together.