11 Degrees: Survival Mode and the Myth of the American Dream

11 degrees is not a temperature for “bootstrap” metaphors; it’s a temperature for survival. As an English teacher, I’ve always been drawn to the Realist movement because it refuses to look away from the grit. Today, looking at the spike in homelessness in downtown Ann Arbor, I’m realizing that the line between a “comfortable life” and the street isn’t built of character—it’s built of luck and a few missed paychecks.

What are your immediate thoughts when you pass a homeless person?

My first thought when I pass a person experiencing homelessness is sympathy. I find myself wondering, “What happened to bring them here?” Did they fall through the cracks? Did the system fail them? It immediately puts my own problems into perspective. As tough as things have ever gotten for me, I’ve never been forced into “survival mode” to that extent.

Beyond Character: The Reality of the 99%

When I see someone on the street, I’m reminded of the reality that most of us are only one major emergency away from a crisis. In fact, a 2025 Bankrate survey found that 59% of Americans cannot afford an unexpected $1,000 expense. The truth is that 99% of Americans have far more in common with a person experiencing homelessness than we do with the billionaire CEOs who run the country’s biggest corporations.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the difference between being a “luminous being” and an “empty shell.” I believe long-term survival mode eventually renders a person into that shell. It doesn’t mean they lack a soul; it means the sheer weight of survival robs them of the civility they would otherwise have. A hungry person might steal to eat—not because they are “unlawful,” but because they are trying to exist.

A “Star Trek” Solution for a Gilded Age Crisis

As an American, the homelessness epidemic angers me. We’re told this is the greatest country on earth, yet we haven’t solved basic survival. I know that’s the Star Trek-inspired utopian in me speaking, but I believe the only feasible “Option C” is a system where essential needs are guaranteed. While the label “Democratic Socialist” isn’t always popular, I believe a government providing for its people is the highest form of patriotism.

Tom Morello’s iconic guitar. While the message is radical, it’s a reminder that in a country this wealthy, we should at least ‘arm’ our most vulnerable with basic human essentials.

The 11-Degree Death Sentence

I’ve lived in Michigan a long time, and lately, I’ve noticed a visible shift in downtown Ann Arbor. It isn’t just my imagination—reports from late 2025 show that homelessness in Washtenaw County has spiked by 77% since 2022. This stems from a history of policy failures, including the closure of three-quarters of Michigan’s state psychiatric facilities between the 80s and early 2000s, often leaving patients with nowhere to go but the street.

As I draft this on a Tuesday afternoon, it is 11 degrees outside. We are lucky to have four seasons in Michigan, but our winters are a death sentence without shelter. If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t survive a single winter on the streets. No one should be expected to.

Looking back at my response to this same prompt exactly one year ago today, I see that while my empathy was just as strong, I hadn’t yet fully grasped the staggering statistics behind the struggle. It is one thing to feel for a neighbor; it is another to realize that the “neighbor” is nearly 60% of the population living one emergency away from the edge. You can see how my perspective has evolved from a simple observation to a call for systemic change in my 2025 reflection below:

A man on the street…

In an era where ‘alternative facts’ often drown out the truth, I believe it is vital to ground our empathy in reality. Below are the statistics and reports that inform this perspective—not because I want to win an argument, but because we cannot solve a crisis we refuse to see accurately:

References:

• Washtenaw County Continuum of Care / CBS Detroit (Sept 2025): “Washtenaw County sees 77% increase in homelessness since 2022.”

• Bankrate Annual Emergency Savings Report (Jan 2025): “59% of Americans don’t have enough savings to cover an unexpected $1,000 emergency.”

• Oxfam America / Institute for Policy Studies (2025/2026): Reports on U.S. Wealth Inequality and Billionaire Wealth Concentration.

• National Research Institute (NRI): History of State Psychiatric Hospital Closures in Michigan (1997–2009).

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NOTE: As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today:

AI art created with Google Gemini

The article “11 Degrees: Survival Mode and the Myth of the American Dream” first appeared in Rebuilding Rob.

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