Wicked

The other day, I gave some money to a street person sitting on the sidewalk beside the Starbucks at Lawrence and Broadway. Immediately afterwards, a mustachioed man in a souvenir Wicked t-shirt materialized as if out of nowhere.

"I have to say something," he said. "I lived in San Francisco for many years, and one of the reasons there are so many homeless people there is that people like you give them money. I know you're trying to be generous, but you enable them. I'm sorry, but I had to tell you that."

First of all, I think he might have missed the message of the show whose merchandise he was sporting--that message being, "Don't be an asshole to people who are different than you are, whether they be green-skinned gravity defiers or down-on-their-luck street people."

Second, the person to whom I gave money--money which would have otherwise sat in a jar on my dresser for God knows how long--was clearly crazy. I seriously doubt that my not giving her my loose change would finally be the wakeup call she needed to pull herself up by the bootstraps and enroll in law school.

Sorry, but I had to tell you that.

Comments

[Monica Reida]

Wait, there's a Starbucks in Uptown?

And when I was in high school the mean girls were usually the ones wearing the souvenir Wicked shirts. (They weren't the shirts with "Popular" on them.) I think a lot of people missed the message.

[Zac Thompson]

I can think of at least three Starbucks locations in Uptown: Lawrence & Broadway, Magnolia & Wilson, and inside Target. All hail gentrification!

[Monica Reida]

I wasn't counting the one in Target when I was thinking of them. And in that case, gentrification seems a good synonym for "Appeasing Lakeview residents and DePaul students who are usually afraid to enter Uptown."

[Andrew Patner]

Wilson and Lawrence are parallel streets.

[Zac Thompson]

Quite right. I meant Lawrence and Broadway. Fixing now.

[Wendy Baker]

hm. it's hard to give to the right person. I would hate to pay for the next hit of crack...