I don’t like all the fuss about the fact that I was homeless because it’s embarrassing to be known for my greatest mistakes. It’s like being known as someone who used to have a drug problem. I’ve never dealt with addiction issues myself, but the stigma seems relatively similar.

The “Catherine Omega was homeless” story detracts from my other accomplishments by reframing things I’ve done as “and she was homeless too!”, rather than letting them stand on their own merits.

Further, it ignores the greater issues of poverty in our society. “See? Catherine pulled herself up by her bootstraps. Why can’t the rest of those people?”

The problem with this line of thinking is that it assumes that I am –or was– a typical example of a homeless person, that it was solely my situation that was unusual. Yeah, not even close. I’m not a homeless person who learned technical skills and used those to rise out of poverty, I’m a fairly educated, technically adept girl from the suburbs who had a couple hiccups going from adolescence to adulthood.

Because of opportunities granted to me that I would not have had were I not been born into the socioeconomic class I was, I wouldn’t have ever gotten to where I am today — and that’s the real story here, and one that thankfully doesn’t involve me.

I’m a journalist, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to talk with me a bit about your story. Specifically, I’m wondering if SL helped you get out of homelessness, somehow.

I don’t have a sense of where I’d place your story, at least not yet. But I’d like to hear if, if you’re willing to talk to me.

Best wishes,
Laurel