Homelessness and the Meaning of Home with Josephine Ensign (Blaine Library)

What are the historical roots of homelessness, and what lessons can we learn from them? What are the common meanings of home to us, and how can we apply those meanings to our responses to homelessness in our communities? 

In this talk, author and professor Josephine Ensign leads audiences through a values clarification exercise that includes individual writing time. Professor Ensign will share her research on the history of homelessness in her hometown of Seattle, along with discussion of what these stories can teach us about the contemporary crisis of homelessness throughout our state and country.

Josephine Ensign (she/her) is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her scholarship and practice as a nurse practitioner focus on trauma-informed care and health inequities for people marginalized by poverty and homelessness.

For more information about this event, please see the event listing in the WCLS events calendar. 

This event is sponsored by Humanities Washington and is part of the Whatcom READS series of program and events, hosted in support of this year's book selection, Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk, by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe. Winner of the Washington State Book Award for creative nonfiction, Red Paint traces LaPointe’s personal story of trauma, healing and the search for home. Whatcom READS is presented by all the public and academic libraries in Bellingham and Whatcom County and community partner Village Books.  

[Image Description: color photo of Josephine Ensign]