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Homeless Insanity

Being homeless, alone, in the cold with no one to care for you although you fought for the country you are living in is a reality for many veterans in the United States of America. In the news articles Decrease in Homeless Veterans in New York Far Outpaces National Drop, by Nikita Steward and Behind My Uncle’s Schizophrenia, by an unknown author, and FAQ About Homeless Veterans, by an unknown author we can see that people are trying to show the public a problem in need of solving. The scholarly journal Resilience in Homeless Veterans: Clinical and Cognitive Correlates, by Jared M. Greenberg, Jonathan K. Wynn, Junghee Lee, and Gerhard Hellemann, shows proof of such with the help of experimentation and data that are proven true.

New York is a city that accepts all. No matter what colour, race, or sexual orientation. Yet, the amount of homeless people in this city is a problem that needs to be battled. To be precise the number of veterans on the street. In the article Decrease in Homeless Veterans in New York Far Outpaces National Drop, by Nikita Steward we are informed that although homeless veterans are a problem in the United States of America “The number of veterans staying in shelters or on the street has plummeted by nearly 80 percent since 2009” (Steward, 1). This is relieving information for the general public, and the citizens of New York City, yet Steward is providing this statistics in order to inform the public that although there has been a huge plummet in number in New York, it doesn’t mean the problem is solved. Although this article is mainly written for New Yorkers, she adds:”Across the country, supportive housing like the Clinton Avenue Residence has increasingly become a model for homeless prevention.” (Steward, 1) thus informing opposing New Yorkers to this supportive housing system for veterans that not only New York is helping out veterans, but cities across the country are. By including numbers and quotes from people involved with these programs, Stewards provides an informative article formulated by providing a positive stance towards these programs helping veterans on the street.

By writing this article formally, she appeals well informed with a strong credibility due to her research which is shown through statistics and quotes strengthening her stance; the tone of this article is enhanced by including other voices and names such as Bill DeBlasio, and veterans helped with these programs.. The Rhetorical Situation of this article is the need to inform the public about these programs for homeless veterans. Steward believes that by informing the public about this program, and showing that not only New York but cities across the country are trying to help the veterans, the audience can help too.

The burning question however, what causes all these homeless veterans seen on the street? In the news article Behind My Uncle’s Schizophrenia, by an unknown author, we are invited and informed about Henry, the author’s uncle who is a Vietnam war veteran.

The purpose of this article is to show the audience, which are people who are interested in the psychological part of war veterans, how it is to acclimate yourself back into society after being through something as drastic as war. Henry came back from the war broken, and his family realized that when he asked them:” …if they, too, could hear the voices of the people he’s killed or hurt in Vietnam ” (Unknown, 1). After Henry asked his family that terrifying and thought provoking question they brought him to the hospital and he was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. The interesting part of this article is the author’s stance. He goes from wanting his own uncle to disappear due to his ways, to recognizing how he is in need of help he is not receiving. This stance is further deepened by the language used in the article to show the author’s and his families frustration with the uncle. The opening sentences show the tone of how helpless Henry is and how much patience he needs:” I asked Henry, “ How do you define danger?” Henry answered, “Everything.”” (Unknown, 1).

In order to get a more in- depth understanding of the problem FAQ About Homeless Veterans, by an unknown author is a website with the sole purpose of informing people interested in why veterans are homeless, who they are, how many there are and so much more. The language of this site is very simple and there for anyone interested in this theme to understand, with a high credibility rate, due to its sources that are shown at the bottom of the page. There is no real stance in this post, except the “want” to inform the general public about veterans on the street and how they ended up where they are and why. The tone of the post itself is not really emphasized unless you define the tone as the author trying to enlighten people on veterans on the street and why they are there. Thus, one can identify the Rhetorical Situation as the author providing more insight on a rather unknown problem without much insight, and therefore informs its audience on this problem more.

In the scholar journal article Resilience in Homeless Veterans: Clinical and Cognitive Correlates, by Jared M. Greenberg, Jonathan K. Wynn, Junghee Lee, and Gerhard Hellemann, we are introduced to a study on homeless veterans and their psychosis. This is relevant because it shows how many veterans are actually suffering under mental illnesses, and use drugs. By compiling data on this, such as in the journal, one is able to identify that more men veterans than women veterans suffer from homelessness and psychological problems (Gabrielian, 317). With this information the audience which in this case would be the government and people in power of helping these veterans, would analyze the data in the journal and use it to solve the problem at hand. The stance in this scholarly journal is to help remedy this problem and thus positive to the Rhetorical Situation at hand which is the problem or homeless veterans and their psychosis and in some cases even drug usage. The language is elevated and very formal and scientific since it is written as a lab report in a way, with abstract, data, etc.. Since this is a scientific paper the tone is unbiased and only shows what the scientists have found throughout hypothesis and experimentation.

Correlating all the sources together one can juxtapose Decrease in Homeless Veterans in New York Far Outpaces National Drop, by Nikita Steward and Behind My Uncle’s Schizophrenia, by an unknown author which shoes how Steward recognizes and sees the change in cities across the country helping homeless veterans, while the unknown author is watching is uncle Henry not receive the help he needs. FAQ About Homeless Veterans, by an unknown author is there to inform the general public interested in helping veterans on information on who it hits hardest and why this is happening. However, the last article Resilience in Homeless Veterans: Clinical and Cognitive Correlates, by Jared M. Greenberg, Jonathan K. Wynn, Junghee Lee, and Gerhard Hellemann, show the most accurate data on homeless veterans and what affects them and with that knowledge people in the government can acknowledge the number of veterans in need of help and make adjustments to their programs. When closely looking at these sources one can see that each is able to complement the other in a way to prove a point stronger than when its on its own.

Works Cited

Steward, Nikita. “Decrease in Homeless Veterans in New York Far Outpaces National Drop”.                The New York Times. 31 December 2015. Web. 13 February 2020.            <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/01/nyregion/homeless-veterans-becoming-scarcer-in-new-york-city.html?searchResultPosition=5>

Unknown. “Behind My Uncle’s Schizophrenia”. Time. 2 September 2014. Web. 13 February 2020. <https://time.com/3259382/schizophrenia/>

Unknown. “FAQ About Homeless Veterans”. National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Unknown. Web. 13 February 2020. <http://nchv.org/index.php/news/media/background_and_statistics/>

Greenberg, Jared M., et al. “Resilience in Homeless Veterans: Clinical and Cognitive Correlates.” Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, vol. 42, no. 3, Sept. 2019, pp. 314–322. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/prj0000333.

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