Song Jin Choe
Our weekly series putting names on the faces of San Diego's homeless
It’s raining. Song Jin Choe has found shelter near the Civic Theater entrance on Third Avenue. He sits on a bucket, to which he’s tied a black scarf that serves as a handle for more comfortable carrying. Inside the bucket, he keeps empty water bottles, a pair of flip-flops and the rest of his belongings. Choe also carries a rolled-up sleeping mat—it’s everything he needs to survive on the streets.
Choe, 34, has been homeless since arriving via train from L.A. about two years ago. Born in South Korea, Choe says he’s lost contact with his family.
Choe has a nervous habit of spinning his water bottle around and around in his hands as he speaks, but he doesn’t say much. He says he spends his days mostly in silence, watching the world go by.
Today, he’s wearing Vans shoes with no socks, a white T-shirt worn upside down as shorts—his legs sticking through the arm holes—and three layers of jackets. He watches as a group of young professionals pass by.
“How come so many womans are wearing black right now?” he asks.
“Do you know the colors of bacteria?” he continues. “There’s green, white and yellow, and depending on what”—he pauses as a plane flies overhead—“depending upon what is decaying, the colors are different. That’s why there’s green, black and white bacteria… and I wonder why so many womans are wearing black clothing.”
Choe seems to drift off into tangents more often than he’s coherent. He looks down, spins his water bottle and mumbles to himself. After about 10 minutes, he becomes visibly annoyed with the conversation, but he’s too nice to say so. His interviewer compliments one of his jackets.
“Do you want it?” he asks. “I’ll give it to you. Oh, guess what? Alright, look, you might think it’s bribery for the CityBeat, so I’ll just leave it right here before I leave.”
With that, Choe takes off the jacket and lays it on the cement. He puts his water bottle into his bucket, picks up his sleeping mat and leaves.
Comments
Does anyone think these articles are a little exploitative? Homelessness is a big problem in SD, and I think the purpose of these columns is to make people aware of the otherwise invisible homeless population, but there are better ways to inform people than a little vignette about a person who may or may not even want to be interviewed. Sometimes the stories and memories are too pain full to be dredged up. How about instead of making people aware of the plight of one homeless person you guys write some more meaning full editorials illuminating the plight of all of san diego's homeless and how our local government is absolutely inept (or unwilling) to do anything meaningful to help. San Diego tries to pawn itself off as some slick-sheen pacific ocean resort town, with clean streets and air, and polite invisible Mexican bus boys, but there is so much more going on. While I appreciate the effort on your part to help combat this problem it seems like you've focused on the most sensational aspect of a problem that goes way deeper. This Korean dude has obviously been through some pretty heavy stuff, and it seems like you've reduced him to something as meaningful as an article on the side of cereal box. These articles are good for inciting pity but do nothing to promote empathy. After reading the article I feel bad for these people sure, but I don't feel for them? You understand how big of a difference that is? Pity doesn't do squat to change a persons outlook, empathy on the other hand goes a lot longer in changing peoples outlooks and getting them to notice the problem, and most importantly do something about it. And that's because empathy bridges the gap, a person isn't so strange and distant if you can empathize with them, feel for their humanity. These articles seem to just point out how different people are, and in my mind even promote familiar caricatures of the homeless, in stead of asking people the really hard questions. How would it feel to you to go hungry? to sleep in the cold? To not have a hot shower? to be looked at with disgust, even hate? or to be made out like a clown? You guys are just putting these people behind a glass window and saying, "look at the poor life of this little creature" instead you guys should get to writing some more meaningful editorials, or something that really tackles the problem instead of skimming on its surface. thank you.