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Olympic medal-winning cyclist Rebecca Twigg is homeless in Seattle

seattletimes.com

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Re: Olympic medal-winning cyclist Rebecca Twigg is homeless in Seattle

#141

Post by JustSomeNobody »

dondawest wrote: post #56
dpau wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this story is about a "free spirit". Twigg was a determined athlete who doggedly pursued her passion while she could and became the best in her field. But her success in sports didn't translate over to another career. According to the article, Twigg has only been homeless for five years, and she is currently 56 years old. Twigg wasn't really a "free spirit"- She held down jobs, had kids, and made a norm…

Less of a “free spirit” than a “treatment resistant homeless person.” Social workers know the type. She goes to pains to point out that she’s homeless by choice.

It's because her brain won't let her. She suffered from trauma as a child. I bet if you did a brain scan on her, she'd have an overdeveloped amygdala. She's in constant fight, flight or freeze mode. There are examples in the actual article demonstrating this.

Re: Olympic medal-winning cyclist Rebecca Twigg is homeless in Seattle

#142

Post by dustinblake »

lacker wrote: post #115
dpau wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this story is about a "free spirit". Twigg was a determined athlete who doggedly pursued her passion while she could and became the best in her field. But her success in sports didn't translate over to another career. According to the article, Twigg has only been homeless for five years, and she is currently 56 years old. Twigg wasn't really a "free spirit"- She held down jobs, had kids, and made a norm…

According to the article, Twigg has only been homeless for five years No, the article is a bit confusing on this point. Read through the whole thing, though: Twigg was homeless as a kid, before she was ever a top tier cyclist. Her mother kicked her out of the house, for some reason the article doesn't explain. This most recent stretch of homelessness has only been five years though.

Why are we assuming that it was Twigg’s actions that caused her mother to kick her out? It’s just as likely (if not more) that her mother was crazy and/or abusive, and at the very least it was not a traditional family experience—they were living in a basement, not a house!

Re: Olympic medal-winning cyclist Rebecca Twigg is homeless in Seattle

#143

Post by dondawest »

will_brown wrote: post #74
dondawest wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong disagree. All those explanations are plausible. Without pathologizing her, this is still true by her own admission: She is treatment resistant and homeless by choice

>She is treatment resistant and homeless by choice I think it’s significantly more complex. It would appear she became homeless through financial/employment issues but elects to not accept what she sees as special treatment which would secure her housing. It reminds me of John McCain electing to stay a Prisoner of War despite being given the opportunity to be returned because of his status as the son of an admiral. Y…

Dude she’s treatment resistant. Talk to a social worker. Her story is not as special as you think. She’s a pretty classic case of a treatment resistant homeless person. And yes she is making a choice just like John McCain made a choice to remain a POW. To say “but they made a choice because X altruistic reason!” does not mean they did not make a choice.

Re: Olympic medal-winning cyclist Rebecca Twigg is homeless in Seattle

#144

Post by dondawest »

dpau wrote: post #59
dondawest wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less of a “free spirit” than a “treatment resistant homeless person.” Social workers know the type. She goes to pains to point out that she’s homeless by choice.

If she's resistant, it seems to be out of a sense of empathy for other people in her situation, rather than mental illness or some other issue: >“I felt at one time that I couldn’t accept housing because there were all these other people who need it” >“The point is not so much that I need help, it’s that there are a bunch of people who need help — 12,000 in this area, half a million in the country,” Twigg said. “Help…

I didn’t say she was mentally ill. I said she is treatment resistant and homeless by choice. Talk to a social worker, her type is a lot more common than you think.

Re: Olympic medal-winning cyclist Rebecca Twigg is homeless in Seattle

#145

Post by dondawest »

ohyes wrote: post #69
dpau wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If she's resistant, it seems to be out of a sense of empathy for other people in her situation, rather than mental illness or some other issue: >“I felt at one time that I couldn’t accept housing because there were all these other people who need it” >“The point is not so much that I need help, it’s that there are a bunch of people who need help — 12,000 in this area, half a million in the country,” Twigg said. “Help…

Classifying empathy as a mental illness captures much of what’s wrong with society. Similarly, being unable or unwilling to toil away at a low paying it desk job may actually show some amount of sanity that the rest of us lack.

Who the hell classified empathy as a mental illness?

Re: Olympic medal-winning cyclist Rebecca Twigg is homeless in Seattle

#146

Post by dondawest »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #141
dondawest wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less of a “free spirit” than a “treatment resistant homeless person.” Social workers know the type. She goes to pains to point out that she’s homeless by choice.

It's because her brain won't let her. She suffered from trauma as a child. I bet if you did a brain scan on her, she'd have an overdeveloped amygdala. She's in constant fight, flight or freeze mode. There are examples in the actual article demonstrating this.

A lot of people have overdeveloped amygdalas and dont choose to be homeless tho, for example me.

Re: Olympic medal-winning cyclist Rebecca Twigg is homeless in Seattle

#147

Post by estomagordo »

jplayer01 wrote: post #62
estomagordo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it's a societal failing. Why else would homelessness be much more prevalent in some areas than in others?

What is definitively a societal failing to you is a personal moral failing to others. I don't think it helps anybody to state these things in absolutes, especially when opinions tend to vary greatly, and I was more interested in provoking discussion about the topic as opposed to making any sort of moral judgment.

Only if we entertain the thought that some people just randomly seems to fail on a personal level, in some areas. That is, of course, a ridiculous notion.

But not half as ridiculous as confusing it with a moral issue.

Re: Olympic medal-winning cyclist Rebecca Twigg is homeless in Seattle

#148

Post by AlwaysRock »

jl2718 wrote: post #93
AlwaysRock wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I was a competitive athlete for years and filling that void after leaving the sport was very difficult. To be honest I dumped a lot of that energy into my work but I've realized over the last few years that I need something equally satisfying at home that has some type of competitive aspect to it. Otherwise I get very bored very quickly at home and will spent way too many hours in the office.

The problem with dumping extremism into your profession is that it doesn’t work the way sports do. In career, you can’t measure yourself, and it doesn’t even matter because pedigree and politics beat hard work and skill every time.

That may be true but I'm not competing with folks that have strong pedigree's and connections every time. Sometimes I'm even the one with connections that help me beat someone else out.
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