I must have seen Liz Barry and Bill Wetzel before. They have been doing this since May? They are 24 and 22 years old and they survive in New York on $7 a day and on conversations they have with complete strangers, well, New Yorkers. That’s it. They have two backpacks, they have two signs (so they do not have to be together at all times.) And the signs just read “Talk to me”. And you should. If you run into them, then you should definitely talk to them. They just walk around the city and talk to people. There was an article by Tina Kelley in the New York Times, two days ago, entitled: Talking the Talk, Even With Strangers. The article pretty much describes the “project” of Liz and Bill.
Chris and I happened to run into the two this evening, on the Upper Westside.
They were on the corner of 72nd Street and , leaning against the wall of a Chase Manhattan bank. They looked clean and they were very friendly. Chris asked them a few good questions about the daily hygiene and the possibility to survive on $7 a day. They shower and they have clean clothes on. They use bathrooms. (They will stay in the street through September, at least.)
I was silly enough to ask if they had a blog. They do not have a blog. But I think they should have one. I think Chris and I might just sponsor some hosting and setup a blog for Liz and Bill, so we can all be a bit closer to their daily adventures in New York. I was thinking of a very simple site where they can share some of their experiences and where they can answer some questions from you and me. Until we find a good URL for them, I will direct them towards this post and Bill will should be able to answer your questions posted in the comments of this post.
I have other plans I do not want to give away just yet, until I talk to Bill again, so be ready for a surprise or two.
Maybe Liz and Bill can keep their project alive over the winter time, by keeping a blog? Maybe we can all help them get a digital camera, so they can document their adventure for us? These are really future steps.
For now:
Please post your questions to Liz Barry and Bill Wetzel here in the comments section of this post. I will email Bill the link and he will be able to reply to all of your questions, for all of us to read. Cheers.