Ted Williams, the man with the golden voice & the homeless of America

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Ted Williams and where he lived for years.

Ted Williams, for those outside the United States, was a panhandler and homeless man who lived in the Columbus, Ohio area. Standing on at intersection at an interstate off-ramp, Mr Williams wore a sign asking for a chance in radio or television doing voice overs, stating that he had the god given talent of a golden voice. Sure enough, a local newspaper's website posted a video feature about him, and it went viral the next day. Within three days, Ted Williams was in Rockefeller Plaza, sitting on The Today Show set with Matt Lauer. As Matt Lauer stated: ""You want proof how much your life can change overnight in America: look at Ted Williams." During the course of the interview, it became clear drugs and alcohol were the issue. Mr. Williams had a previously successful career in radio in the Columbus, Ohio area, but eventually got ensnared in drinking and drug problems that eventually cost him his marriage and eventually ended up on the street. There were several arrests as well. After a personal religious experience in 2010, Mr. Williams told Matt Lauer he felt his faith would prevent a relapse, and he would not allow the 2nd chance at life to be wasted.



The story resonated with many Americans in a powerful way (Google searches for Ted Williams outpaced the Susan Boyle phenomenon, and the story apparently resonated with lower income Americans and males). Williams has landed lucrative gigs (e.g. Kraft commercials, MSNBC television spots, the Columbus NBA team, etc). He was reunited with his mother who he hadn't seen in many years.

Today my heart sank: Ted Williams was detained by L.A. police along with his daughter. Since the story broke, so has lots of wankery: Williams was evil for leaving his family and children (he has nine with two women), he was a drug user, just because you're related doesn't mean you have to take care of him, 'once a hobo, always a hobo,'

My own hunch is that his family weren't his best friends, because immediately after the story broke because of some of the things they told the press. I wondered to myself, with friends like this, who needs enemies? And something went off in my head when I saw the tent where this guy lived: pet dogs and cats have it better in this country. How could a man with so many relatives that lived near him, allow him to live like that?

One important element out of the interview on the Today Show is you can't assume because someone is homeless they're somehow deserving of that fate, or they're useless people. Nearly 1/3 of all homeless are veterans. In a time of smaller government resources, the prospects aren't good for those on the streets. Localities are struggling already with dwindling resources for teachers, firemen, police. And in many instances, families aren't willing to help. It's a tragic situation and it's not going to get any better. And I don't know what the solutions are. :/

Comments

[weswilson]

The other side of the coin is that just because he was talented and thankful for his break, that doesn't forgive him the things he's done beforehand. It might be that they weren't his friends because he really screwed them over.

I'll wait till I read more about it... I'm just happy he has a chance to turn something around.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the wankery part- no one really knows what's going on in the situation. Some think his being an alcoholic was what made him homeless. But maybe his wife was a harpie and drove him crazy. No one knows.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Or more likely, drove him to drink...

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I generally don't ascribe any great weight to wealthy people and their advice about familial relations. Family life is easy when you always have cash. It's like someone who drives a Ferrari lecturing about how easy it is to go fast to someone who owns a Geo Metro.

[debergerac.livejournal.com]

Family life is easy when you always have cash

easy in what ways?

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Easy like when you're rich and alcoholic and are a terrible father, people just shrug and say, "He works so hard for his kids. I mean, they have a Lexus."

[debergerac.livejournal.com]

wait, if he owns a lexus, he's probably middle class.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I must admit, I don't know any middle-class folk who own a Lexus. But I'm from Minnesota. They probably bought a 35k truck or something.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

"But I'm from Minnesota."

Which region of the US is that? Canada-esque, Greater California, Confederate, or Deep-Fried Cheese Curd?

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Deep-Fried Cheese Curd with a dash of limousine liberal.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

I've never been to the deep-fried cheese curd part of the US, it sounds really tasty though. I imagine visiting and being able to bond over the cheese. Like I meet someone and they're munching on curds and say "Hey, you know how to tell when curds are at their best?" And then we both shout at once, "When they squeak between your teeth!" And then we both start laughing and making out. That's how I imagine it going.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Just go to the Minnesota State Fair. Its... sort of disgusting.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

Well you're not exactly selling me, but still I just might.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Minnesota is in an odd transition. There is the old-guard communist farmers. The nouveau-rural who aren't really farmers but like to act like it. The urban liberal latte-sipping PETA types, and the suburban Michelle Bachmann bourgeois types. It's terribly really. We used to be a mini-Norway. Now we're slowly becoming wannabe-Texas.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, you guys are underneath Thunder Bay and Winnipeg! I've slept while flying over that area so many times!!!

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I think the only time I've ever been near/in Canada is flying over Nova Scotia or something on my way to Ireland. It's actually an embarassing oversight. Never been to Canada... and I'm four hours away from it.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

Other than the Rockies-and-westward and the Niagara Escarpment, Nova Scotia is the best place in Canada, so you've hit (or flown over) one of the highlights for sure. You're four hours from Canada, but it's the part of Canada which is so cold that Canadians notice. Most people in Thunder Bay die from polar bear attacks.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Most people in Thunder Bay die from polar bear attacks.
That sounds like an awesome place! Watch out for the polar bears! Excitement out your door-step!

I do remember a story about a polar bear who learned to ring the doorbells of residents...

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

Yes, they figured out that when you press that button, a juicy meal pops out of the door, so they'd run up and ring the doorbell, then hunch down in the snow with one paw over their nose, waiting.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

Oh, Minneapolis! Like the That Dog song! I love Minnesota now! Did you know Winnipeg is named after Winnie the Pooh? He was a soldier who loved koala bears and so his father brought him home a stuffed one from New Zealand or something. I might be mixing up a few different things there.

[nevermind6794.livejournal.com]

Man, I haven't thought about That Dog since high school. I forgot how great they were (are?) even though I listen to the vocalist singing "I Just Threw Out The Love of My Dreams" on that Weezer b-side.

I just found a video on youtube of their music video playing on MTV2. Man, how MTV has fallen.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

IJTOTLOMD is epic.

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

Here in Arkansas, it's boats. Every family of middle class means or above apparently has to own a state-of-the-art fishing boat.

Whereas I, being from Kansas originally, think "seafood" means "Long John Silvers," with extra hushpuppies if I'm feelin' fancy.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

There's the haves, and the there's the have yachts.

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

lol

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

This, thank you.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

"One important element out of the interview on the Today Show is you can't assume because someone is homeless they're somehow deserving of that fate, or they're useless people."

Accidental implication I'm sure but :/

"It's a tragic situation and it's not going to get any better. And I don't know what the solutions are."

Community mental health and homeless outreach programs do immense good. Donate, get involved.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

This.

[politikitty.livejournal.com]

Addiction is a hell of a thing, and it makes it very difficult to maintain personal relationships or the other things necessary for a life. Even if he's clean now, repairing the rift between his family is going to be a long and brutal process.

Like mental illness, convincing people to maintain a treatment plan is incredibly difficult. And the resources available once you've fallen down the economic ladder are pretty much zilch.

[nevermind6794.livejournal.com]

I am doing bridge inspections for work, looking below underpasses to catch problems before they get bigger. It had rained recently, and our truck got stuck in the mud. Three homeless guys came over and helped push and pull and try to get us out. It didn't work, but when one of them pointed out that the front wheels weren't moving, I realized that the four-wheel drive was not on. When we put it on, we got out of the mud.

Not overly relevant to the OP, but it's a nice story from about an hour and a half ago to remind everyone that homeless people are still people.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that this is a major paradigm shift for him. Patience is key here, and I hope people have it.

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

It's rather analogous to the old racial minority formula: they're worth it if they can entertain or serve us. What about the 99.99% of homeless people who don't have an awesome voice? I'm not begrudging this guy anything...I think everyone deserves a second chance, and I'm happy that his talent has brought him fame, and possible success. But it drives home that fact that the vast majority of Americans, if they think about the homeless at all, think about them only in the context of condemning annoying, dirty, smelly, lazy, shiftless hobos who are too dang stupid to actually work for a living.

Of course, probably 99.99% the people doing the condemning have never been homeless, or nearly homeless.

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

"You want proof how much your life can change overnight in America: look at Ted Williams."

This is my problem with this story. Ted Williams is the exception, not the rule, and stories like his contribute to this incredibly distorted collection of anecdata about poor people "making good" and experiencing success that the naysaying nanny-state welfare Left didn't think they could do for themselves. That narrative is a red herring; the question is not whether the very poor can become rich; as Ted Williams proves trivially, they can. The question is whether they do, and the statistics are pretty clear: overwhelmingly, they don't.

It's easy to ask why they don't, and since we've already determined, from Ted's example, that a total bootstrappy life turnaround is possible in principle, it's tempting to simply reason "they can, but they don't" and conclude "they don't want it bad enough" or something like that. This is a false dichotomy, and just because people have "personal responsibility" does not make them the sole source of their own economic success or failure. Examples like Ted serve to fuel this myth, and while I don't begrudge him his success, I'm very wary of anyone who would cite him as evidence that things aren't all that bad for the homeless in America.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

The stats in Oz are that about 75% of homeless people have a mental illness. Homelessness is generally a symptom, not a cause. Most people don't want to live on the street.

[reality-hammer.livejournal.com]

Oops (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110112/ap_on_en_tv/us_homeless_radio_voice).

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

His story just reinforces the argument that most are homeless through personal actions. Either addiction or mental instability and not really by accidental chance.

As soon as Williams gave up drugs his life got better. It's not a coincidence.

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

Mental instability is always a deliberate choice!

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Personal choice doesn't mean personal action.