"How are you doing?" Do we really want an answer?...Day 11, 19 days to go.

 

"Hey, how are you doing?"
I say this so many times and in response to every greeting that I get.  I rarely think about what it actually means.  It is often such a rote, rhetorical response but lately, I have been considering what it actually means and what it actually means to say this to a person who has no home and no food. 
Someone asked me this today and they really meant it.  They knew what I was doing and why, and they asked me with genuine care.  I explained everything that I was going through and how it really feels to be homeless.  It is uncomfortable and not just in the way that makes one mildly annoyed but in a way that could potentially drive one crazy.
The military uses sleep deprivation and temperature extremes to test its soldiers, and moreover to torture inmates.  I am not trying to make light of the situation, but try going two or three days with a light on in the room with the window open so you can hear the traffic all around.  Then wake up at 5 a.m., knowing that you have to be away from your position before the "enemy" can see you.
I have now done both and it is really eerie to see the similarities between being in the Army on an FTX, and being homeless.  Sleep deprivation, carrying everything you own/need on your back, changing position for fear of being discovered.  Homelessness tests you and makes you hyper aware of your surroundings.
So, the next time someone says, "hello" to me, I will make sure to take stock before I simply reply, "how are you doing?" so flippantly, because when we ask, we also have to ask if we really want an answer.

Is Not Sexy...Day 10, 20 to go

Last night, I was walking away from my television intereview and I was thinking about how much this experience has changed me and where it is headed.  I was struck by who I was at one point.  Well dressed and clean cut...Dapper, even.  There has been a definite change in me and I am no longer "sexy".
I was informed that the interview was not going to air that night and may sometime in the future. There is an addage in the news business, "if it bleeds, it leads" and there was nothing exigent about what I was doing, so I did not make it on TV.  The irritation came in the fact that there are people suffering and there is a need and we can do something about it.  The problem is, that it is not "sexy" enough. 
This is hard work.  There are people who do this, day in and day out.  For those who work in this business, it is hard work.  The day to day things that people do to help people is hard work and because it is boring, it does not get on TV.  Unless someone is getting shot, or set on fire, they do not make the news.
Jon Shirek is a nice guy and made me feel completely at ease during my interview and truly cared about what was going on.  I think that I got the point of what I was trying to do across on camera.  i was disheveled and tired, but that is to be expected.  The problem is, that there was nothing happening.  The day to day of what we are trying to do is not sexy.  Does someone have to set themselves on fire to get the point across?

But this is why I do what I do...because someone "lives" here.

Looking around right outside the door...Day 8, 21 days to go.

Looking around.
Yesterday, I went looking for cans and talking to people in the Chamblee area.  While looking around, I saw my apartment and was tempted to go in.  After 8 days on the streets, I am in desperate need of some rest and recuperation.  I was reminded that would be cheating and that I need to stay focused.
I let my mind wander and wonder about what it would be like not to have the keys at all and walking past your old home and seeing someone else in it.  Someone watching a tv where your couch used to be.  I have always had some sort of home.  I have always had some place to go.  What would it be like to stand outside of a hose that used to be yours.
Then I thought about my neighbor, sitting watching tv and having no idea that I was on the sidewalk outside.  How many of us forget about the people outside and what is happening beyond our front door.  I have seen some strange things just this week alone. 
I have seen someone light up a crack pipe...
I have seen someone shoot up, something and fall shivering into sleep.
...all outside of someone's front door.

Winnie Mae's day 6...24 days to go!

   Social entrepeneurism is the wave of the future.  It hast to be.  We are coming out of a horrible recession.  People do not have the money to give to charities, but if we look at this as an opportunity rather than a misfortrune, a great deal of good can come for the future.  This is a great chance for people to create new ways to change their circumstances and earn money rather than sit on the corner asking people for money as they pass.
   Winnie Mae's is a simple concept; don't give us your money, let us earn it.  Let us create oppurtunity for people who wish to better themselves, to learn more about the work force, and more about themselves.  Winnie Mae's will teach underpriveledged and homeless youth basic service skills, basic kitchen skills, and maybe more importantly than either of those, life skills.  So please help with your donations.

We got work to do...Month on the Street Day 3...27 days to go.

Forget the rousing choruses of what it means to be an American, where we our going as a nation, who we are, apple pie and waving flags.  Forget these things for just one moment and concentrate on what it means to be an American when it is not election day, when it is not the Fourth of July. 
   The bottom line is that we have work to do.  We have work to do, not the elected officials, not someone else, us. There are people starving, without work, sick, crimes being committed, people who need education, children who have problems, elderly who have problems, and everyone in between.  We are the ones we have been waiting for...We have work to do.
 

Month on the street, Day 2...28 to go."There is no God!"

I spent the night walking around and got a little sleep on a bench outside of the Borders on Peachtree.  It was just as I thought it would be; bright and loud.   A couple of my friends had mentioned that they had been robbed or been associated with someone who had been and I was a little fearful given what I was doing.  Oddly, the yellow/orange halogen lights, the passing cars, and the distant sirens are not what kept me awake.
   Earlier in the evening, I was at the MARTA station in Five Points in Atlanta.  It is the center of town and the hub of the train system.  There, waiting for a train, was a homeless guy in an old camo jacket with a couple of days beard growth, and he was "preaching" in the corner.  Softly and basically, just talking.
   Also waiting for the bus was a group of others, a couple may have been drunk coming from or going to somewhere, who knows.  What kept me awake all night was one of these guys telling the homeless guy "There is no God!" and turning to his friends and laughing.

  Even if you do not believe in God, is that any reason to rob someone of their hope...especially if it is someone who is clinging to that hope as he goes to sleep at night while you go home to your warm bed?  To his credit, the homeless man went to him and shook his hand.  Still, is this how we treat the least among us?

Month on the street, Day 1

Ok, so the sun is going down and it is just a little chillier outside.  I remember some pretty basic things from the first Week on the Street and I am keeping them in mind.  Still, it is odd the way a day after stepping back inside, almost everything is forgotten, but now that I am about to do it again, for a longer period of time, it is all coming back and it is all scary once again.
   The last time, it was uncomfortable.  The heat was unbearable during the day and the cold was just a little too cold at night.  You get sore and tired from moving around all day frustrated from breathing recycled air in the library. 
  Last night I got to sleep in a warm bed, and tonight, I have no idea where I am going to go or even where I can go.  It will be cold.  It will be dark, but still light and it will never be entirely quiet.  There will always be cars passing.  There will always be bugs and horns and talking.  Despite how miserable it will be, it will still be too short.