A Week in Humble Homelessness or Minding the Gap

There is a period of time in Provo, Utah where a large portion of Brigham Young University's students become homeless wandering vagabonds.

It is a brief period of about one and a half to two weeks where students find themselves living between apartment contracts, although to those who experience homelessness during this week, it is an arduous marathon of sleeplessness and deficient hygiene. This foreboding time has been given the title "The Gap".

Most students reluctantly agree to pay an egregious fee to be able to have a home in either their old apartments or new apartments. The remaining number have willing grandparents or friends from whose homes they move aimlessly from day to day. But there is a sparse number of students who without friend or family are turned away into the cold of night with no where to go. Until their new apartment contracts are available, they live in the parks, under the bridges of Provo River, or in abandoned train cars. They store their priceless possessions on various places on campus or in their cars.

Let me share with you the experiences of a Miss M.A. Boman. Miss Boman is a dear friend of mine who is one of the unfortunate ones to have found herself utterly homeless during The Gap. She now lives from her car. All her earthly possessions are crammed into every inch of space available.

By day Miss Boman is an office specialist. By night she is a hobo.

After her regular shift from eight to five, Miss Boman leaves the office, packs herself into her now mobile home and purchases food from Pita Pit. After absorbing her dinner of turkey and wheat goodness, her mobile storage unit is transformed into her bedroom.

Miss Boman arises early every morning to do baptisms for the dead in the Provo Temple. A model of righteousness. But the Temple has become a matter of necessity for Miss Boman during this week of hard knocks. While Miss Boman is conscious of the spiritual reason she is in the temple, in true hobo fashion her trips to the Temple have become the times in which she is able to shower.

Miss Boman has survived this entire week living out of her car, sleeping in empty church parking lots, and showering at the Temple. Bless her beautiful hide.

I only wonder what other students are resorting to during The Gap.