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Friday, May 14, 2010

Death Homeless Deaths in Anchorage

Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, May 14, 2010 at 4:25 PM

What was found under that bench?

The corpse of a homeless person. Several homeless people recently met their end in other parts of Anchorage, Alaska. And these locations (a car, a dugout, a tent) can be seen in this moody and noirish collection by Marc Lester, a photographer for The Anchorage Daily News. The images recall Lincoln Clarkes' Heroines series, which is set in Vancouver BC. What links the two is the crepuscular quality of the light. Through the permanent dusk of this light we see not only the natural beauty of our part of the world but also its natural sadness.

Comments (11) RSS

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I... honestly, I can't help wondering what kind of idiot tries to live outdoors in Alaska. It's Alaska. Half of it's above the Arctic Circle. The clothing and equipment necessary to live outdoors in Alaska costs almost as much as a plane ticket to California. And not having that kind of equipment will quite simply make you dead. Anyone knows that. And yes, I know a lot of them are crazy or developmentally disabled, and those people can't help what happens to them in a situation like that. But short of that -- fuck me running. The list of things I wouldn't be willing to do in order to avoid being homeless in Alaska has, like, ten things on it. Fifteen, max.

Posted by Judah

on May 14, 2010 at 6:42 PM

Can you imagine how desolate ones life must be, to see ten people, your friends, live and die like this, and still not change your own behavior?

This is generations of repressed angst being very poorly expressed.

Posted by Lily Fluffbottom on May 14, 2010 at 7:00 PM

Such is the nature of Obama's America

Posted by prezzie on May 14, 2010 at 8:16 PM

more like Palin's America, Prezzie, all glamorizin' that frozen northern wasteland

Posted by Libby on May 14, 2010 at 8:28 PM

Because this never happened before Obama was elected. Nope, not ever.

Posted by lucidslumber on May 14, 2010 at 9:22 PM

Judah, you think those homeless people traveled up to Alaska to be homeless? Can you make a list of why that just might not be the case with, "like, ten things on it"? Because if you don't, you are quite probably developmentally disabled yourself.

Posted by sarah68 on May 14, 2010 at 9:53 PM

Bum-sicles?

Posted by Bumsicles on May 14, 2010 at 10:00 PM

Most of those people died during summer, when it's quite warm in Anchorage. Presumably (hopefully) their homelessness was a temporary condition, and they were working on finding more substantial accomodation for the winter.

Posted by Cynic Romantic on May 15, 2010 at 12:08 AM

That was history's worst guessing game, Charles.

Posted by d.p. on May 15, 2010 at 12:36 AM

People don't die of exposure in Alaska because it happened to be cold that night, they die of exposure because they are drunk or otherwise mentally impaired (e.g. old people with dementia). Furthermore, Anchorage is cool and damp during the summer, so even getting soaked in a June rainstorm can be fatal if you aren't able or conscious enough to dry off.

Posted by Sean P. on May 16, 2010 at 11:15 AM

As this economy moves closer to collapse & the mainstream media & governmental agencies, by their willful incompetence, encourage a culture of denial & irrational arguments, we will only see more of these types of deaths. How many deaths already go unnoticed by the general public. Will it be a "mystery" like the birds falling out of the sky in Arkansas, after so many environmental calamities & policy subversion's suppressed by private interest or will we Americans finally wake up to the fact that our better interest are the ones we all share - the ones we might see we have in common if we move toward a more pedestrian, agrarian culture?

Posted by unitard on January 3, 2011 at 10:49 PM