Speak Up
Facing Homelessness Podcast
Staying Clean
0:00
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -9:31
-9:31

Staying Clean

Episode 002 of Facing Homelessness. Essay by Matt Hoffman.

For the second episode of the Facing Homelessness podcast, Isaac Shaw reads “Staying Clean” by Matt Hoffman:

When I was alone—sleeping alone in public, collecting dirt in layers and becoming more convinced that no one cared at all—my largest concern was cleanliness.

I didn’t want to look homeless and dirty. I didn’t want to stink and repel people. I didn’t want to slide further away from civilized living and a chance to regain my life.

How could I get a job looking and smelling like I had been camping for a week?


Click the audio player to listen in your browser. You can also subscribe via Apple, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

The original essay from Matt Hoffman is available free to all readers:

Speak Up
Staying Clean
When I was alone—sleeping alone in public, collecting dirt in layers and becoming more convinced that no one cared at all—my largest concern was cleanliness. I didn’t want to look homeless and dirty. I didn’t want to stink and repel people. I didn’t want to slide further away from civilized living and a chance to regain my life. …
Read more

Want to join other Speak Up readers and give an audible voice to writers facing homelessness by reading aloud an essay for a future show? Start here.

Join the conversation. We want to hear from you in the comments!

Discussion about this podcast

Speak Up
Facing Homelessness Podcast
Stories from the streets. Readings from essays written by authors facing homelessness, on the margins, and vulnerably-housed.
Listen on
Substack App
RSS Feed
Appears in episode
Matt Shaw
Recent Episodes