We are in Ithaca right now, meeting with some interesting people: a couple from a 3.5 year old off the grid homestead, a doctoral student in biomedicine, a gallerist/cat lover and her corn genome scientist partner, and a poet who made all the connections. Amongst a lively discussion about genetically modified corn, agricultural patents of indigenous plants, and the eviction of Occupy Wall Street, someone mentioned the Jungle. What’s that?, I asked. Apparently, it’s a “campsite community that for at least half a century has been a home to those otherwise considered homeless”  a.k.a. a bonafide Hooverville.  For some, times have been tough for a long time.

Here is a link to the article from the local paper, the Ithaca Times, discussing the situation.

And here is a 30 min documentary, “Jungle’s Edge,” by Gossa Tsegaye and David Fogel on youTube.