What Can 'The Wire' Teach Us About Homelessness?

categories: Action, data, new media, Stories from the Streets

Published November 02, 2009 @ 06:43AM PT

Harvard University officials announced yesterday that the school plans to offer a class that uses Season 5 of HBO's hit show "The Wire" as a case study for "urban issues" in America.

William Julius Wilson - one of the nation's leading scholars on urban poverty - told the Harvard Crimson that, "‘The Wire' has done more to enhance our understanding of the systemic urban inequality that constrains the lives of the poor than any published study."

It's an interesting observation. Why is it that a fictional television drama speak has the ability to speak to us more than data rooted in rigorous research? Are we overloaded with numbers and figures - some accurate, some hyperbolic - that we're wired to tune these things out? Do we only believe what we see with our own eyes, in our own neighborhoods?

If this is the case, then perhaps it's time we evaluate our world view. Our preeminent poverty experts and leading academic institutions are turning to a HBO series for a real look at urban poverty; perhaps we should take note.

Why not give it a try - watch Season 5 of The Wire. Take it a step beyond mindless entertainment and think about the issues presented in the show. We all have something to gain by opening our minds and trying to understand real issues happening the world around us.

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I totally support the concept of learning about social issues by watching The Wire. Perhaps the Drug Czar should watch the show!

Posted by Jim Hilsenteger on 11/02/2009 @ 01:06PM PT
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I have never even heard of "The Wire"

Posted by James Brouillette on 11/07/2009 @ 02:19PM PT
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Yah!!!! Of Course this show's concept of learning about social issues....I like the plot of this show very much..I like all the episodes of this show very much....This show is superb...I found a great website to download and watch the wire show from "Download-tvshows.com" website....

Posted by somia jain on 11/10/2009 @ 11:34PM PT
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Yah!!!! Of Course this show's concept of learning about social issues....I like the plot of this show very much. I like all the episodes of this show very much....This show is superb...I found a great website to download and watch the wire show from "Download-tvshows.com" website....

Posted by somia jain on 11/10/2009 @ 11:36PM PT
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Author

Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.