Two Americas

College Graduation Move-Out Underscores The Divide Between Rich And Poor

(CBS)  This story was written by CBS' Brian Healy.

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It was the morning after on East Collins Avenue in Oxford, Ohio. On Saturday night, parents, friends and, most importantly, graduating seniors sang, and partied and hugged and cried and high-fived each other in front of houses called Wigwam, Reunion, Phil Collins and The Lite House, small houses which held fraternities and sororities and non-Greek students as well. Ordinary Americans at ordinary parties, celebrating a rite of spring one block from the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Now, it was Sunday morning. Time to clean up. Not only from the party - but from four years of college. In front of each house piles of garbage bags filled with toss-away items appeared. Many items stood alone. Bookshelves, clothing, blankets, towels, make-up kits, hats and shoes. Books and magazines and DVD movies. An old computer or two, an HP printer. A table was in front of one house. Around the corner a black chaise lounge. America's throw-away society on display. On a dozen other nearby streets the piles of goods also grew.

And then the pick-up trucks came. The vans. Older vehicles which stood out. Lean men and women, often children in the back seat. People with hard lived faces. Cars that had seen better days. People who had seen better days - deserved better days. Their eyes darted along the curbs. Whites, blacks, even a family that could have been from India or Pakistan. As the well-heeled parents and college students continued to load their U-hauls, a man, a woman, a child would leave their car and walk to the piles. They would slowly grab the obvious things - the chairs and tables. The boots, the sheets and pillows. All without saying a word. Then they would drive off. Then another pick- up would come, another van. Another driver would look over the piles and take away some additional things. A very large man - so large he had trouble walking - sat down against one pile. Slowly, methodically, he ripped open the bottom of each of the plastic garbage bags and pulled things out - a hat, a can of bug spray, a DVD - he kept. He spent 15 minutes in one place - sitting and ripping the bags - as the college kids and parents walked by. There was no conversation. Eyes did not meet. The man never looked up. Separate lives - separate universes. This was not a flea market or an estate sale - this was desperation. Poverty on display. Two Americas.

A group of men from the Family Resource Center, a local anti-poverty group, arrived at 115 East Collins to pick up a bed, a dresser, tables and chairs being donated by the students inside.

"A lot of the people you see are in real trouble," said one of the volunteer workers as they loaded the furniture into their shiny yellow Penske truck. "Things are tough here. Lots of layoffs over in Hamilton, Ohio. That's why they come here. The college kids throw away a lot of good stuff."

"Some of the people driving through here will sell the stuff they get," said another volunteer worker. "It happens every year. But this year is really bad. There are so many foreclosures over in Hamilton, you can get a house for $8,000. Not that I'd want to live there. But these people do."

One of the workers said earlier that they had picked up a bed that had been offered, and immediately took it to an 86-year-old woman who had been sleeping on her floor for six months.

"This stuff looks really good," said one of the men, loading the truck. "Thanks for donating it. It will go to good use. God bless you."

As they left, another older car followed. Inside one was a tall, beautiful young blonde woman. She walked to the picked over piles and took the sheets that were still available. And the hat with Tweetie Bird on it and the words "You're too cutie." She looked up, shrugged her shoulders, and flashed a smile my way. It was the first smile seen all day from the people walking among the piles.


Eventually, the graduating students and their parents would drive away in their SUVs and vans. Happy people - filled with a sense of accomplishment. One SUV pulling a U-hail trailer stopped for a moment as an old van pulled in front of them and parked at the curb. A man and his young son, maybe 10 or 11, walked out and jumped on top of a dumpster next to a fraternity house. The father began to pull out a chair. On top of the dumpster, his young son found a sombrero. He called out to his father, waved the sombrero proudly in the air, then put it on his head. Then he went back to looking in the dumpster.

[oxfordresident]

I live in Oxford, the home of Miami University, and trash picking on move out weekend is a well known event in town. There is an second hand dealer in town who sells furniture to the students when they come to town, picks it up from the street several years later, and sells it in the fall to the next generation of students. Transition almost always leads to waste and the locals take advantage. Miami University attracts students from moderate to high income suburban families to a rural setting in southwest Ohio. Parents perceive that it is a very safe and sheltered environment to send their children. The undergraduates seem to enjoy four years living, learning, and partying in the uptown area. The local community is divided into mostly blue collar local families, physicians and health workers associated with the regional hospital, and educators employed at the university. In the local schools, especially the single public high school in town, kids from these families come together to be educated. I believe that the biggest equalizer in our country is provided by access to education. How can a school district in a community dominated by a major university with a excellent school of education tolerate high school graduation rates of only 85% or less on a yearly basis. It absolutely befuddles me. How can we as a society expect to prosper if 15% don't possess the most fundamental educational milestone (a high school diploma). The crisis of today will pass but what about tomorrow?

[ianlou]

This is not necessarily bad news.
Many people chose to scavenge for their
needs rather than join the millions of Americans in hock
up to their eyeballs in Credit Card Debt.

Many of these college students might do well to pick up a few garbage picking pointers from these people, considering the economy they are entering as new workers.

[beach671]

Class warfare has escalated under Obama.

They money he is spending so far could have sent $10,000 to every single person in America. Even the 30 million illegals. Instead that money will make it to who?

Class warfare. The rich have been getting richer while the poor get poorer. Their plans are to prop up home prices and keep them high. Banks holding properties can not afford to pay the taxes to States for the properties they are sitting on trying to keep values up. The Feds use their money to bail out the banks and keep them going artificially keeping the prices up.

Class warfare. Average person is only supposed to pay 2x their annual salary for a home. Values are still so high they are unaffordable. Class Warfare.

[lolita111]

Articles like this make me sick The writer is obviously so d--stupid he can't comphrehend POVERTY IS TRANSITORY.. I, one the MARXIST JOKE,deems" RICH" targeted by the ignorant COMMUNIST to pay even more d--taxes even though my tax bill already resembles the national debt I DECLARED WAR ON MT OWN D---m POVERTY WORKED LIKE HELL SACRIFCED LIKE MORE HELL,LIVE BELIOW MY MEANS TO PAY OUR DESPISED COMMIE 'GOBMENT' MORE
in taxes than th lazy even earn, SO YOU IDIOTIC WRITER WHAT AMERICA DO WE SLAVES BELONG TO ? we are treatted with contempt by b-------- like you and the rest of thED LIBERAL hated media but without our confiscated earnings you would think your fat a--- was in Bangladesh? MOST OF YOUR "VICTIMS" WOULD RATHER WATCH JERRY SPRINGER THAN WORK LIKE WE SLAVES AND YOU WILL MISS US WHEN WE JOIN THE FREELOADERS!

[streatboy]

Willcard, you remind me of a self-righteous arrogant a$$hole. It's a story that brings awareness to the borer line activities between the have and the have nots. But you attack the writer for selecting the subject that will touch some heart strings because you don't won't to be bothered, you don't care. With it being a tradition I'm sure the college grads were humbled that their trash was some-one's treasure or financial opportunity. Weather your a victum of events or past choices made you do what you can do. So don't kick the writer for doing his job and getting paid for it.

[creeper00]

This is not new to me. We have "heavy trash pickup" twice a year. People place items out several days in advance to give scavengers an opportunity to claim what may be useful. Why is it different when this happens at a college?

Yes, there are two Americas and the gap between the two has widened to a breathtaking extent over the last eight years. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that the current administration is doing anything to narrow it. Bailing out rich bankers while allowing our autoworkers to be laid off by the tens of thousands is NOT going to fix the problem.

[didserve]

Thank NAFTA for sending American Jobs away!

[apple2pie]

...Willcad...having a heart and trying to make more people aware of the poor and underprivileged ISN'T class warfare..IT IS MERCY...something that most humans have ..except perhaps for you and most of your Republican friends.

[willcad]

Where did you go to college, Brian Healy? What did you leave on the sidewalk when you left your dorm? How much did you donate to charity?

How much money did you make as a professional "journalist" for writing this piece of class warfare inspiring crap? Enough to buy you a new smartphone or tune up your Beamer, I bet.