Last Day to Vote for Animal Doc for Homeless’ Pets

Trevor Miller

I was sent this by a reader, who noted the often crucial link between the Homeless and their pets. We already know how invaluable pets can be to the elderly. For the Homeless they provide companionship and often protection as well. out

Today is the last day to read about and vote for Trevor Miller and help get his massive student loans covered and see his dream of a pop-in clinic in the East Bay that would be open to the Homeless and their pets.

The article is short. Please take 4 minutes to read and VOTE (click HERE) for Trevor. Nothing more is required of you!

~The Editor

They’re Here! GAH!

Where i quickly left my coffee at 7th and Broadway so i could double-time it back to camp.

“MAC! They’re Here! Caltrans is early!” he yelled into the phone.

I was already on my way back – supposedly early – to prepare for the “Caltrans Shuffle” where we pack up and move the entire Tent City off the “pad” and they come and clean it off like we are never coming back; then we wait for them to leave and we come back and re-establish camp for another two weeks.

Then we do it all over again.

Imagine moving ALL your stuff in 20-30 minutes a block away – then moving it all back. What would that feel like (it is not bad in many ways at all)? How would it make you plan? How would it change your view of what to possess and what not to possess?

Caltrans was indeed there…two blocks over and that meant they would be in our “yard’ in about 15 minutes.

Not nearly ready.

As things are being amassed for the move off the pad.

Some of the guys are not yet back..maybe they will be a help,maybe they won’t. That leaves it to the more industrious. My compatriot Fred is a workhorse so are the young couple in the camp who have been living there for three years. They have the most stuff, but they both manage to be a big help at the end.

Stuff to be moved (staging area0. This includes my three-panel Asian screen that one of the young guys found for me. “Would I like it?” Geez… That and the print you will see in the next pile.

There are two area to re-locate the camp while Caltrans “cleans.” To the East and to the West – both have to be NOT under the freeway itself. Someone has to guard it on the street or people will come by and take stuff (yes – people steal from the Homeless ALL the time.

I imagine later this year or early next year my own SSI (to be covered later) will be approved and I will have legitimate lodging (finally). I will not be bringing much, but I did purchase this small Asian table that i keep in my tent. It has folding legs, Kanji burned into the sides and is a cool reddish color. Perfect size.

As you might expect i will forever now have a very Zen place.

By this time Caltrans was HERE and we were clearly not ready. They had come an hour earlier than ever before (and the time before an hour earlier than that).

Mercifully and without a word, they went to work on the middle section then patiently waited while we hustled our asses to clear the pad. At one point Fred went and talked with the head guy (you can tell who that is because he is leaning on a shovel watching the other guys) and he said he wanted us to take down the tarps and coverings that provide privacy down the fence-line (temporarily).

Done. He thanked him for his patience, and I did later as well.

We still did it in 30.

We leave bigger stuff that needs to be hauled off. We had found a big garbage can..we sacrificed it and filled it with as much junk as we could so they would not have to. We want a good working relationship with Caltrans and law enforcement. So far, so good. We certainly have no complaints with them.

Caltrans busy working on the pad after we have left.

Personally I think this every other week regiment is a good thing – healthy in an unhealthy situation. It reminds one that you need to get out and into a better situation; it discourages hoarding; encourages teamwork and organization – and gives us opportunity to trade items while we sift through them and get rid of junk.

You should be so lucky every two weeks to keep your own ship so light and orderly – haha – seriously.

Ahhh…

After we were off the pad and the stuff was guarded I realized I could prolly go back and get my coffee. One of the advantages of being tall is that you can put stuff up high and people don’t notice it. There is, of course, a downside. In the Safeway I am the personal property of every blue-haired little woman who needs something retrieved.

“You there, I need two of those jars..the ‘lite’ variety..way up THERE!” We both understand I only exist to get them things down from on high. What I do with the rest of my time is on me.

Anyway, I walk back to 7th and Broadway and a guy is walking his dog who is sniffing around a few feet away. I go up, nab my coffee, turn and say to the man “one should always try and have a hot cup of coffee waiting for him on any given street corner, no?”

He looks bewildered as I walk off to help re-establish the camp.

Hey you don’t know the half of it buddy.

Tent City Economics

Joblessness and the ravages of the economy have been at the core of homelessness for a long time.  People have lost their homes, jobs, pensions…and then come other factors on top of that: divorce, addictions and uncovered conditions (in my case) like mental illness.

I first became unexpectedly homeless in 2009 in Marin County. It was scary at first – being a newbie – but marin has one helluva safety net if you want it.  I got a lot of help.  I learned the ropes.

It was not until years later, after my own diagnosis and treatment for bi-polar 2 that I would be able to walk from my own self-medicating with alcohol. I had never really liked drinking; never a party animal – I do not miss it and have no cravings at all. I have only to watch being triggered by severe PTSD issues I gained up in Portland (where I nearly died twice).

Well, I don’t kill that easy.

After getting the right meds and facing (unexpectedly again) homelessness again in 2014, I had a chance to access the economic situation much more objectively.

As I have suggested, I do not think I am normative.  My resume is superb and when I first arrived in the Bay Area i was interviewed immediately by companies like Jawbone, who wanted me for their world-wide Brand Manager in charge of all their narratives.

I would have been stellar but even then I suspected that what I was really meant to do was serve the Homeless – yes, even then I felt I would be unhappy in a six figure job peddling fun James Bond-like equipment world-wide.

A month later companies simply STOPPED contacting me entirely – low, medium and high-end.

God had other plans for me in the Tent City.

*******

Jobs are a huge issue. Many in the shelters cannot get them due to past criminal records.  Good, hard-working men who want to just WORK..and they are kept from it.

I met one great guy  who was kept homeless in  Santa Cruz because he would not sell illegal drugs (a third strike), could not get an employer to get past crimes committed and served tie for 6 years earlier in his youth, and his girlfriend (might as well have been his wife) had a nice $250 a month cigarette habit, draining their budget.

Addiction is obviously a factor for many (though less than you might think when it comes to drugs and alcohol.)  In the Tent City the odd-man-out is the “Tweaker” dude at the end of the camp that NO ONE trusts are has any truck with.  One or two guys drink some beers; Ive  smelled ganga twice; a couple of us (three) are clean and  sober all the time. The one guy is in a recovery program. The whole “core” camp supports him.

I spend good time each week encouraging others in this. I’ve had my own battles – whih I was never gonna win prior to a proper diagnosis and  treatment. It’s a good thing. It makes it impossible for me to judge; but my life is never about avoiding a substance – it is about embracing so many things in life.

Not having an addiction, and not needing a lot of stuff; joined to liberal use of food services can make things pretty economically viable if you get something like General Assistance ($347-$389 a month) . It is not enough for any kind of housing – but toiletries (which Food Stamps do not cover; a haircut; clothing; bus fare; coffee; a gym membership (to shower and workout) monthly if one is living in a Tent City; phone fees, equipment, and eventually, perhaps something like a used laptop to help in a job search.

Or, if one qualifies (I do as someone who is “dual diagnosis”) you can do the “ramming into Social Security repeatedly” (many denials before success) to get SSI support (around $800-plus a month) which is enough to get a roof over your head somewhere.

I have been turned down once (everyone is – even if you are only a headless body) – now I have an advocate working the case. I will prevail because I am disabled and have not worked since 2008.

We shall discuss some other time how I am  able to work so hard at THIS.

This is just the beginning of the talk on economics.

Keeping THIS on the Tour

Reporting from: Movie Night at Jack London Square

The Tent City is under 880 (The Nimitz) sandwiched between Chinatown to the East and Jack London Square to the West. The “Tube” that everyone speeds towards and through just off our right flank goes under the waters and  the only way on or off the Island safely except one small walkway way over on Harrison on the far South exiting side of the tubes.

In-between our camp and JLS there is a lot of industry – coffee roasters, produce importers, and a meat packing plant. The old buildings remind me of really good Batman movies – 20s art deco/industrial work. The lighting at night is yellow and glowing.

Then there is Jack London.

Of course it has not escaped my notice that Jack would fit in more in our camp than he would in his own “Square.”  He would be drawn to it and would, possibly throw me a suspicious eye (because I don’t drink and am non-political). But I’d like his rugged stories and be drawn just as I am to almost all the area writers from Salinas on up: Robinson Jeffers, William Everson and most especially the genius Steinbeck.

But now is not a time and place to romanticize being a writer in a camp. It’s 2015 and there is simply practical work to be done. And frankly, I write about other things – entirely; and my novel (which needs an edit) is not anything to do with any of this. My other things are often comedic or theological. Go figure.

So there are events at JLS. The other night they had hundreds at the “Dancing with the Stars” night learning Salsa dancing. I was bemused but do not really dance. People could get hurt.

So Fred and I went down around 8:30 for the first free “Movie Night” featuring the first Jurassic Park film. BIG crowd on the lawn area prior to the Ferry docking area. We were way in back as you can see above.

I could hardly hear, which means Fred could not hear at all.

Then, as the T-Rex rumbled across the screen the middle of crowd suddenly started screaming and then RUNNING!

I caught the tail end on my phone. What the heck!?

It was the sprinklers! Haha. Some very bad planning by someone. On they came and off they went. Right in front of us. Never touched us. Suddenly they were gone (most went home with half the movie to go). So we moved up!

Oh, so much better!

We had our folding chairs from camp, food and snacks. After the movie (and my favorite line delivered by Goldblum who best buddy Scott Mitchell insists is the one actor I am “like” – delivers the famous line “You think they will keep that on the tour?” after being chased i the jeep by the T-Rex) we walked back. Fred picked up a fine wood pallet that I can use in my wifi office area (I just found I have free wifi from the bar down the street farther down in the camp away from my tent.)

*******

In other news, I got a text from Chris Scott of Oak Life Church asking if they could come by with supplies. Ha! Heck yes! Two sleeping bags, a tent (much needed!) some pads and a case of water.

So far I do not get more than I ask for – and it is case by case – but I needed ONE tent so I could offer my backup to a good friend who needs temporary shelter while he waits (some intolerable amount of time) for the grinding machinery of the State agencies to approve his apartment (which he has waited two years for and which was promised him weeks ago).

The small church had already covered nights of lodging for my friend at City Team ($5 a pop) and I felt they had done enough given they themselves are subsidized by a bigger church (they are a new church plant). I prayed.

When I say I pray it is not flowery at all. It’s fast and to the point. “I need a tent and a bag and a mattress Lord for…” I know it’s in His will, it’s not for me…um..it’s field work. Why dally?

It reminds me of those bizarre elaborate exorcism scenes they have in movies with all the ritual and nonsense. That’s not in touch with reality at all. St. Paul would just deal direct and quietly – no fanfare.- as did Jesus. ”

Jesus would say to the demonic “Come on out and be gone.” Done. Paul said to the sorceress “um…be blind..go deal with that…” and they lead her away in hysterics..

Notice who is in hysterics and full of drama and who is not.

No fucking around.

I’m too much a realist…and there is too much real need and work to do.

I have no drama in my life…well a little humorous drama when the sprinklers come on…