Word: bum
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...grates were harmless enough to look at. Like bicycle racks or bar-becue grills. They weren't very cleverly constructed, however. A bum could stick his legs through, hang his head down, reach with his fingers, press with his chest. But it must have played hell on a poor man's posture...
...Leverett student demonstrated what might happen if a bum attempted to sleep on the grates. Leaning back like a Limbo dancer across the sabotaged ironwork, he found himself tumbling on the cold concrete. Everybody laughed and examined the structure. Look at those steel bolts. Solid. Soddered tight. Fresh coat of paint too. Reinforced steel...
...things in life are more sickening than the sight of a bum who has just vomited on himself. But the iron grates provided a potent exception. They had a certain diffident brutality to them. Like the Berlin Wall. Or a jail cell. Or a strait jacket. Or a cage. They had that fragile, arrogant look of an injustice that won't be tolerated. And owing to the press, and the pressure, and an organized populace, the grates were not tolerated. They were removed...
There is usually one particular street person on the vent outside the dining hall--he is "our" bum. He is harmless and rather pleasant, since usually he seems drunk. However, sometimes there are up to five homeless men on the vents. These men are there when we pass by them as we go to lunch in the afternoon, and they are there--sometimes rowdy and fighting among themselves--when we come home late at night from the library or from a party...
Many in Leverett House want to restrict the use of our vents to "our" bum. This is to me a disgusting thought. Leverett students should not be interested in finding an unfortunate human being to patronize as their pet. This man is not our pet; he should be treated to proper care in a proper shelter. "Concerned" students who want him to stay on a hot air vent are misplacing their concern. The Leverett House vents are not--nor were they ever meant to be--proper shelters, and students should not encourage other human beings to live there...