Talking Sidewalks, a magazine that features writing and artwork by the homeless and impoverished, began in 2008 as an extension of Homeless Outreach Poverty Eradication , within the Campus Y.
The new edition of the magazine is set to be released April 12 and will feature pieces collected over the last year.
“The idea came from these writing sessions that were happening each week that they should turn what was being written into a publication to distribute to the community,” said junior Nikhil Umesh, editor of the magazine.
Sophomore Rhett Gough, distribution and media director for the magazine, said the goal of the publication has been to increase awareness and break down the stigma of homelessness in the community.
Sophomore Maitreyee Singh is the organizer for the women’s shelter project, an attempt to connect Talking Sidewalks with Chapel Hill’s Homestart Women’s Shelter. Singh said the community’s response to the project has been very positive.
“It’s humanizing the experience of homelessness rather than an abject occurrence that we witness and that we realize is happening in our midst, but realizing that these are people with stories and important feelings,” she said.
Umesh said that through Talking Sidewalks he discovered that many people have a hard time discussing poverty because they cannot relate to the experience of homelessness.
“It’s only through conversation that we are able to break down these barriers and have some level of really good understanding of what a lot of the men at the shelter are going through,” he said.
