1. It is perhaps natural that we tend to gravitate toward people who are like us. After all, we often marry people who feel about life the way we do. We make friendship based on mutual interests and goals. We appreciate family members who feel the same way we do about the rest of the family. In what other ways or reasons do we tend to associate with people who are like us?

2. Why do we shut certain people out? What makes different people different?

3. How do most people encounter persons of another race or social background? When are we often forced to accept or at least be civil to people we don’t know or understand very well? What do you know about people who are different from you because of race, or handicap, or belief system. How much do we presume to know? Do we really know (or even understand) the people we are around on a regular basis?

4. What attempts, on your own, have you made to connect in some way with someone who was different from you? How was that received (or what was the result?)? Do you suspect that all people "like that" are "like that"?

5. How much influence do you think economics has on these questions? That is, do things change in some ways (at least in our perception) when the "different" person changes economic status or we see that she/he/they have the same status as us?

6. What does education have to do with those who are different from who you are? Do we sometimes make assumptions about people education or their ability to learn?

7. The next few readings will introduce you to some segments of our society that perhaps are far outside your circle of influence, though they may in your midst all the time. As you read about them, ask where you have seen these people before and what your perceptions of them are and how this essay might change or deepen that perception. If you can relate to any of the people and their situations, ask how representative their experiences are.

1. When we think of the homeless, what is the mental picture that we have? What does the media do to contribute to that picture? Have you ever seen a "special report" or read a news article about the homeless? How might that have changed your perception?

2. How often do we "see" the homeless? Note that the woman telling the story keeps mentioning a need to be "invisible". Why does she need that?

3. How did Diane get in this situation? Is that expected? When she writes, "I was one of you. And at least some of you are dancing on the same tightrope over the same abyss into which I have fallen." (177) what do you think? How close are many of us to her story and her circumstance becoming our own?

4. What has her cycle of life been like? Though she finds that she saves money by sleeping in her car, what are the dangers of doing so? Even if she is able to raise the money to put a deposit down on an apartment, why is she concerned that she will not be able to keep up the rent?

5. We do notice that this is a person with a job. What kind of job is it? Why does she look forward to going to work? Why does she quit?

6. Why won’t she tell her son about her condition?

7. Why is it hard to look for a job?

8. What is her condition at the end of the article? What hope does she have?

[9. Why is it difficult for some to see how self-esteem can be eroded by such circumstances that it is hard to pick oneself up?]

[10. What can she do?]

1. What is our stereotyped picture of gays and lesbians? How does this poem reflect a different picture? How does the poem confirm the picture?

2. What our typical reaction to the idea that someone might be gay or lesbian? Why is it hard to imagine people feeling the same sort of love that most of us feel for someone of the opposite sex? How do we react to the picture provided here in the final two lines?

3. How is it possible for people to "live with" the idea that homosexuals are around us when most people have an adverse reaction to them (and many in fact try very hard to avoid any contact even with the thought homosexuality)? How does one express his views about such things without resorting to name-calling (or in some cases, physical violence)?

4. How often do we accept people as people, though something in their lifestyle choices is absolutely abhorrent or offensive to us?

1. What do we know about prison life? How does that perspective change for those who have been to prison, or even to jail, which bears little resemblance to incarceration? [If we could remove our political views, how would our picture be changed?]

2. What do you think are the most significant characteristics of prison life as McCall describes it? Why is "time" such an operative word in this essay?

3. How do the different people cope with "doing time"? How do they keep from going nuts and doing what the kid in the opening paragraph did?

4. How did Cincinnati cope with his time? Why was time so hard for him? Why does the author decide not to go with him?

5. When McCall finds out that Liz is seeing someone else, how does he react? Why might it be more painful for him to lose a girlfriend while in prison than in the outside world?

6. How did McCall deal with his migraines?

7. React to McCall’s journal entry on page 194: "After being confined for an extended period of time, life does tend to lose its value. I pray that I can remember my self-worth and remain cool." How can life lose its value in prison? How does one "remember. . .self-worth"?

8. What happened between the author and Tony? Why does McCall back down? Why does he decide to attack him? Later, when his parents come, what does he realize about his actions?

9. Why is music important to these people? Why does it have "the soothing effect of a lullaby sung by a parent to a bunch of children" (197)? How are they like children?

1. Bi-polar disorder is something that may seem like extreme moodiness to most people, but is characterized by extreme, long lasting "highs" and equally extreme "lows". Often both points are quite debilitating. What else do you learn about bi-polar disorder from this article?

2. What did Frank think of his "disease"?

3. What different things had been tried to help him? How effective were they. When they did not work, why not? What things may have made things worse for him?

4. What, other than what might be expected (frustration, anger), did Frank’s family go through emotionally? Why?

5. What was Frank’s last visit like?

6. [How do you react to her idea that suicide, at least in Frank’s mind, was an "act of faith"? To the idea that she is an agnostic, but she is "inclined to accept his theory of immortality" (205)?]