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Ed McKeon's recent post in Caterwauled about the possible silver lining of the current economic mess led me to a fine story in Yes magazine about Dee Williams, self-proclaimed "slacktivist", who is "living large in a tiny house" out West in Olympia, Washington. Be sure to watch the amusing video. What struck me most of all is how attractive the little house is. The story is by Carol Estes.

Dee's approach to life struck a particular chord this morning, given the article in the Courant about the shifting number of beds for the homeless in Middletown. The mayor is holding a meeting today with all the "stakeholders involved with the area's homeless people" to discuss how to handle the possible overflow this winter. Apparently there is some confusion about how many beds the Eddy Shelter currently maintains. (It's not clear if this meeting is open to the public; surely all city residents are stakeholders on this issue. Just a month or two back, for instance, a homeless person spent the night in our vestibule - unbeknownst to us, until I nearly stepped on him at 5 a.m.) One issue that the mayor is raising is why the other towns in Middlesex County fail to do their share in housing the homeless.

Maybe if we took a more creative approach to housing in general, by following in Dee Williams' footsteps, this wouldn't be such a difficult problem to solve.