"Move! Can you hear me? Move or I'll call police! You have until three to get up from my stoop and go away!" The first line from the reading "Homelessness" by Jessica M'sihid. I felt like this line was really powerful because it made me want to read more. At first I thought "Who would speak to a homeless person in such a way and why?" But then I kept reading along and understood why.
She was only Eighteen years old, when she ran away from her family. Jessica's father tried to arrange a forced marriage for her. She was very young and he was in his thirties. Jessica was naive but decided her way out was to go to Paris. She was alone and had to resort to sell herself in the streets because she couldn't find a decent job. Jessica lived in shelters and also had to beg and steal to survive.
Some questions that I still do have is how did he end up in Laguardia? Did she ever see her family again? The reading ended so soon, but I'm glad she decided to write about it in this magazine.
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