With the rise of America as the world's most prosperous Banana Republic, New York has begun to once again challenge Santa Monica, California as "the home of the homeless." During a long walk on the upper west side, I was accosted twice by aggressive beggars and once by a bicycle-rickshaw driver. One homeless man I ignored said my lack of charity was the reason the Twin Towers were felled.
This morning I had an early appointment at the cavernous Apple Store on Fifth and 59th. I was done soon enough to allow me to walk the mile or so to work and still get in earlier than the rats which inhabit the joint. In front of 48th and Fifth was a gnarled and beaten looking panhandler with a sign that read: "Dwellingly Challenged." His copywriting skill earned him a dollar from me.
Good writing works. Even if it's written on a ratty old square of corrugation.
