Issue date: 4/1/07 Section: Campus News

Former mathlete Kevin Suggs '10 outside Store 24 on Thayer.

THAYER - Kevin Suggs '10, who spends 10 hours each day outside Store 24 on Thayer Street asking passersby for spare change, announced Saturday that he is not homeless, but merely low on Flex points.

"Those Blue Room focaccias put a guy out of business pretty quick," said Suggs, slumped against the store's graffiti-covered wall. "I thought about just going to the (Sharpe Refectory), but I think this is better."

Suggs said he began the semester with 500 Flex points - "an embarrassment of riches," he thought - but found himself on the street after just three weeks. He said breakfast and lunch at the Blue Room were already taking a heavy toll on his balance when the computer glitch that ended the meal credit day at midnight instead of 2 a.m. forced him to use his Flex points on "one too many Spicy-with's." Just days later, a Josiah's cashier informed Suggs that he was down to just $1.87 in points, and shortly thereafter, he found himself on the street.

"I took a good look at myself," Suggs said. "I asked myself, 'Am I really going to eat Ratty food now? Am I to live out my meal plan on hot ham on bulky roll and raw chicken breasts?' 'No,' I decided. 'I'm not.' "

"I think I made the right choice," said Suggs, urinating in an alley.

Suggs said on a good day he has enough change to buy a gyro at East Side Pockets, but often he is forced to get by on a doughnut from Dunkin' Donuts or a bag of chips from Store 24.

"Sometimes I dream that I'm back in the Blue Room, feasting on a blueberry scone and a roast beef sandwich," Suggs said. "But I don't have that kind of money. I mean, that's like 15 bucks right there."

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