NONFICTION - Aug. 22, 1993

HOMELESS: Portraits of Americans in Hard Times, photographs by Howard Schatz (Chronicle Books: $22.95; 141 pp.) Many of the photographs here are accompanied by quotes that show the variety of circumstances that create homelessness. Says Jubilee Hasty, 21 (above): “A homeless person is someone that’s lost. The earth should be your home; you should realize how to get your own shelter and that the earth totally provides for everybody. It’s up to you to cultivate your own spark and get what you need. ‘Homeless’ is the wrong phrase. The phrase should be ‘destitute.’ Everybody’s destitute from time to time. But homeless is wrong, ‘cause I own the ground that I stand on and that’s what gives me strength and faith. I like to live in the woods when I can, since I was about 13 years old, because it is much more airy and it’s a lot healthier environment. Friends usually have houses that have water. In many towns there’s the YMCA and for $1.50 you can take a shower. I choose not to live in a house. I have a very good tent and a lot of friends.”