Why you should do what I say and buy the Big Issue.
Do you buy the Big Issue each fortnight? No? Well you should, and here’s why.
1) It helps out homeless and disadvantage by giving them money. When you buy an issue for $5 (it just went up from $4) the vendor you bought it from gets $2.50 directly into their pocket. How many times have you mumbled under your breath “Get a fucking job” to a beggar asking you for $2? Well, these are the people who have gotten a fucking job and are no longer begging.
2) It helps the homeless and disadvantaged improve themselves. It helps them improve their self-esteem and social skills and allows them to hold their heads up high as working members of the community. Hopefully it helps them move on to more gainful employment too.
3) It’s a really great read. It’s funny, intelligent and interesting. The cover stories are always an interesting read and the many editorials range in topic from hilariously petty pop culture to intense social reflection, so there’s something for everyone.
It has all the usual magazine stuff of course, film/book/TV/music reviews, interviews etc, and a stupidly hard crossword which I have solved exactly nunce.
4) It increases your understanding of the shitty situations some people exist in in Australia. If you’re reading this from your own computer in your comfortable home which you pay for with your decent job, as I am, then it can sometimes be hard to empathise with people who have either been dealt a bum hand in life or screwed it up royally themselves and landed in shitsville.
While being by no means preachy, the Big Issue gives up a few of it’s column inches each fortnight to tell the stories of the lower lower class, usually, and most importantly I think, in their own words. The Vendor Profile section on page 5 tells the short life story of a particular vendor, explaining how they came to become homeless, what they have done about it and what their aspirations are for the future.
Far from being a depressing read, it always gives me hope that those who are downer than down will be able to pick themselves up again. It also helps me think of the less fortunate as people rather than just statistics.
5) The vendors are awesome. Most of them look rough as guts, but there have been very few times when I haven’t received a warm friendly smile when I bought a mag. For those in Brizzy, there is a cranky bitch who sells outside of the GPO but she is definitely not the norm, so please don’t let her public whinging turn you off.
The guy who whistled on Adelaide St was my favourite. Funny as balls, I almost bought a second copy from him. He’s gone now but there’s a young kid who has taken his place. Friendliest kid you’d meet. He must have been having a slow day the other week because he finished the transaction by giving me a huge high-five, calling me awesome at the top of his lungs then apologising for embarrassing me in front of the fifty odd people that turned around to see what he was yelling about. See? Always a good story. I smiled the whole way back to work.
6) The Hearsay section at the front. A collection of quotes from the last two weeks of the world. I think I would buy it if it were a one-page pamphlet with just this on it.
1) It helps out homeless and disadvantage by giving them money. When you buy an issue for $5 (it just went up from $4) the vendor you bought it from gets $2.50 directly into their pocket. How many times have you mumbled under your breath “Get a fucking job” to a beggar asking you for $2? Well, these are the people who have gotten a fucking job and are no longer begging.
2) It helps the homeless and disadvantaged improve themselves. It helps them improve their self-esteem and social skills and allows them to hold their heads up high as working members of the community. Hopefully it helps them move on to more gainful employment too.
3) It’s a really great read. It’s funny, intelligent and interesting. The cover stories are always an interesting read and the many editorials range in topic from hilariously petty pop culture to intense social reflection, so there’s something for everyone.
It has all the usual magazine stuff of course, film/book/TV/music reviews, interviews etc, and a stupidly hard crossword which I have solved exactly nunce.
4) It increases your understanding of the shitty situations some people exist in in Australia. If you’re reading this from your own computer in your comfortable home which you pay for with your decent job, as I am, then it can sometimes be hard to empathise with people who have either been dealt a bum hand in life or screwed it up royally themselves and landed in shitsville.
While being by no means preachy, the Big Issue gives up a few of it’s column inches each fortnight to tell the stories of the lower lower class, usually, and most importantly I think, in their own words. The Vendor Profile section on page 5 tells the short life story of a particular vendor, explaining how they came to become homeless, what they have done about it and what their aspirations are for the future.
Far from being a depressing read, it always gives me hope that those who are downer than down will be able to pick themselves up again. It also helps me think of the less fortunate as people rather than just statistics.
5) The vendors are awesome. Most of them look rough as guts, but there have been very few times when I haven’t received a warm friendly smile when I bought a mag. For those in Brizzy, there is a cranky bitch who sells outside of the GPO but she is definitely not the norm, so please don’t let her public whinging turn you off.
The guy who whistled on Adelaide St was my favourite. Funny as balls, I almost bought a second copy from him. He’s gone now but there’s a young kid who has taken his place. Friendliest kid you’d meet. He must have been having a slow day the other week because he finished the transaction by giving me a huge high-five, calling me awesome at the top of his lungs then apologising for embarrassing me in front of the fifty odd people that turned around to see what he was yelling about. See? Always a good story. I smiled the whole way back to work.
6) The Hearsay section at the front. A collection of quotes from the last two weeks of the world. I think I would buy it if it were a one-page pamphlet with just this on it.
posted by Sam Cox at
17:11
9 Comments:
I don't care who I buy goods and services from, if I want the goods/service I will buy it. Being someone who never buys magazines why should I fork out for the Big Issue? Maybe they should sell something that people actually want.
Also, it's filled with left wing propaganda, so I wouldn't buy it even if I was an avid magazine buyer.
By
Michael, At
10 December 2007 17:54
"Being someone who never buys magazines why should I fork out for the Big Issue? Maybe they should sell something that people actually want."
Ah, you've gone and made that mistake again Michael where you equate normal society with people like yourself.
By
Sam Cox, At
10 December 2007 22:38
You don't like left wing propaganda, but you read Sam's blog?
By
Dr Funkenstein, At
11 December 2007 11:33
Left Wing? I'm as balanced as the Scales of Justice my friend, and on occasion, as blind as the lady that carries them.
By
Sam Cox, At
11 December 2007 15:20
The Big Issue is a not for profit organisation full of volunteer members. I used to volunteer with The Big Issue on their event and marketing team and I loved it. I helped to organise a charity football game and also their annual ball. Its a really good organisation, with volunteers from all walks of life who give a shit about the homeless.
Homelessness is a massive issue in Adelaide at present and its disgusting how little our government is doing about it.
FYI - the Big Issue also sell a calendar at this time of year which make a great Kris Kringle for your colleagues because it costs around $10.
By
Amy_Left_Wing_DITDIT, At
11 December 2007 17:15
who cares? we are all fucking homeless anyway - in one way or another.
By
Anonymous, At
12 December 2007 22:05
Yeah man, like, I have a home but spiritually I'm like homeless and on a metaphysical level we, like, don't even exist, so like how can we have a home if we don't even exist man?
Heavy.
By
Sam Cox, At
13 December 2007 12:50
Sam, I never thought I'd hear you described as a left-wing propagandist. Now I can finally say, without shaming myself in front of my socialist feminazi mates, that you are my friend.
By
Tom Eisenstein, At
18 December 2007 05:21
Sam, I read your post last night and got all inspired. Today, sitting in a traffic queue at the V and A intersection in Cape Town, a guy came up to the car window - selling the Big Issue! Wow, I thought, this is a sign that I must buy this thing. So I did - 12 rand here, about $2. Flicking through it later on, there was a story saying, 'do not buy from this vendor', all about a bloke selling stolen copies at the V and A intersection in Cape Town. Looked just like my bloke. Oh, well, at least he got my two bucks for a feed if it was him.
Oh - and no impossible crossword in the South African edition. Bastards.
By
Tom Scamvictim, At
19 December 2007 05:30
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