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Photo Credit: JohnnyBean
CANON OF WORKS
A PRAYER FOR MOTHER
EARTH
MOHHAMED
ALMUSTAPHA
MY PLACE
AMANDA GALE
NO SAFER PLACE
EARTH’S GIFT: MY TEPEE
KUNG FU PANDA
CHRISTOPHER ELLIS
OSCAR SLEEPS HERE
JIM CLARK
INVOCATION
A PRAYER FOR MOTHER EARTH
Mohamed Almustapha
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A Prayer for Mother Earth
by MohammedThank you, Mother Earth, for all that you provide us. Your oxygen-rich atmosphere surrounds us, and your varied geography gives us the sweet variety of life on this planet. Thank you for the sunsets over calm, serene beaches, the sunrises from mountain tops, the aurora borealis, the rainbows, the winds that push sails across the seas and carry flamingos home to their lifelong mates, th raindrops over thatched hut roofs hitting mud floors making a sweet sound, and the gentle breezes that waft the sweet aroma of your blossoming flowers. You continue to give generously despite our greedy abuse and misuse of you. My apologies, Mother Earth, for all the toxic dumping,
chemical spilling, and forest-depleting greed that we humans continue to practice upon your sweet bosom for the benefit of corporate profit.
Despite your continued provision and love for us, some of your children have divided you into geopolitical entities, creating laws that are unjust and ungodly. While you are so generous and encompassing to fit us all, there are still some of us who, despite being among the living, are counted among the dead for lack of shelter. Some of us, your children, do not fully develop at the same rate as the social status quo, which leaves us lagging in understanding the many sets of laws that we must abide by to be considered living commercial laws, social laws, and so forth.
It is baffling that so many initiatives and so many projects are dedicated to saving Mother Earth and being environmentally friendly and biologically friendly, while no laws are being passed to be human friendly. There are so many of us struggling just to survive on your loving ground.
It is hard to be nice, creative, and empathetic when you don't have a shelter to sleep in. The next time you see a homeless person walking and they are not smiling, remember that they are operating on survival mode. When you don't have a shelter, you can't organize yourself. If you can't rest well, all else fails, and then you fall into drugs and alcoholism just to sleep. It is difficult to maintain civility when you have no shelter, no rest, and most importantly, no privacy.
So the next time you see a homeless person and they are not smiling, just remember these words and how hard it is to maintain it when all you have for a bed is the cold, hard, wet concrete.
I express all my gratitude to the almighty up high in the sky, holding the birds by their wings as they fly. In your praise, I am truly mystified. I pray, Mother Earth, that all your children lacking shelter find it, but most importantly, love and laughter. Amen.
"Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal", Earl Nightingale.
SERMON
My Place by Amanda Gale
Amanda Gale is an enthusiastic Christian who works for a local retailer, sells Groundcover News, and volunteers for various worthy causes. She loves her mom and her pet turtle, Ticia. She is presently exploring vocational openings for her life’s callings as she pursues ongoing development of her giftings and interests. Besides nature she enjoys singing, horses, softball, bowling, and innocent arcade games. She is active within her church.
My Place
by Amanda GaleYears ago (in college) when I read of Thoreau putting his whole body on the ground immersed deeply in the grass and bathing in the sun and sky and earth I never dreamed I would one day be living an adventure that would in an unusual way allow me to realize the gift that the Earth is to us, in much the same way. When I became “Homeless” however, after 18+ Years! of a difficult residing situation, and 2 low-income rental situations that were beyond less than ideal, the beautiful, peaceful haven of the woods I now reside in received me.
I have literally hugged and slept under trees, looked up to find stars and bats and birds already fondly or curiously noticing me, and have been cradled by higher ground and low-lying trees and bushes.
Sure I have not neglected to use the resources from my earnings to wisely create an all weatherproof habitation, and to always have warmth in cold and dry in rain. Also I do have life goals that likely best eventually will bring my person and life back in traditional “indoors”. However, I am doing my best to imbibe my every moment really living amidst and with nature. Surely, I have not neglected to use the resources from my earnings to wisely create an all weather-proof habitation, and to always have warmth in cold and dry
in rain. Also, I do have life goals that likely eventually will bring my person and life back in traditional “indoors”. However, I am doing my best to imbibe every moment really living amidst and with I feel GOD’S presence and experience the joy and friendship of those trees, grass blades, bugs, chipmunks, and squirrels. (My pet turtle Ticia is convinced that from her I must’ve realized the advantages of living in her natural environ!)I feel GOD’S presence and experience the joy and friendship of those trees, grass blades, bugs, chipmunks, and squirrels. (My pet turtle Ticia is convinced that from her I must’ve learned the advantages of living in her natural environ!)
There is an untouched beauty and peace and tranquility that is found in “my woods”.
the advantages of living in her natural environ!)
There is an untouched beauty and peace and tranquility that is found in “my woods”. It’s a special, magical world of its own that deserves to be loved and respected. The air is even much lighter and healthier, easier to breathe. And there in “my” woods, I’m NOT! “Homeless” I’m experiencing GOD, being renewed; energized and seeking the next fresh experiences and life adventures I’m asking GOD to ultimately bring me to. I am mpowered, as I seek more paid work hours, continuing with those I now have and my volunteerings.
Did I ever really hear, before here?
The enchanting sounds of amphibians barking out their own telegraphy; birds singing exotically; the chorus of the wind fierce at times, gentle at other quiet moments.
I pause seeking to begin as best I can to receive these calls to return what these trees and stars and creatures are saying and to care deeply for these woods, animals, and our fellow humans. After all, I’ve had the privilege of getting up close and personal with the awe and beauty of ice storms. Each day is revealing, inviting, full of wonder and grace, and mystery.There is a mystical quality to the semi-hidden pathways, the very ground itself and the play of light or surround of dark. And there is an aura whether misty or clear. I am strengthened; healed; renewed; reinvigorated; re-comissioned to bring what these woods are giving me to others also.
This conscience
tempers my ecstatic discoveries, with the desire to find ways to reach out connecting with others, giving and receiving to enrich our lives from and for each other, in ways that can’t otherwise occur. For, are we not ashamed that, *"The land was ours, before we were the land's"?
The moon reaches her beams down at nightfall, assuring me I am hearing, and heard; and I just plain feel GRATEFUL! And just think; I never would have had the opportunity for this BLESSING If I hadn’t become “Homeless”.
A version of this article also appears in the April 21st 2023 Earth Day Edition of Groundcover News
MY TEEPEE: EARTH’S GIFT by KUNG FU PANDA
Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is Kaska Dena from Yukon, BC, Canada. She was adopted in 1972 and lived outside of her Native American heritage for most of her life. When she became homeless and was forced to live in the woods she found a recoconection to her Native past.
Earth’s Gift: My Tepee
by Kung Fu PandaBeing homeless is no fun, but it became fun when I had the opportunity to make a real native plains Indian teepee in the backwoods at Camp Serenity. This all started in 2013 when I left a bad marriage. I had already chosen to make friends of the homeless community prior to becoming homeless. It was part of a survival plan when I knew that my marriage and housing were ending. I chose a safe group of unhoused individualsI and soon found that the slings and arrows of being on the streets is not a joke.
I found a campsite. Back in the deep woods while I was walking around on a trail, an idea came to me. What had once been huge trees were now fallen, stripped of branches and bark.T hat waseventually when Native American instincts kicked in. I thought rather than make a tent, I would build a teepee just like the boreal forest of northern I set out on a path to create the teepee in the woods that Mother Earth has provided all the Native Americans for a thousand years. I used sage and tobacco to bless the ground before putting up the poles in a tripod and fitting the rest of the poles up. The last pole faced the cloth I had with me and lifted the teepee. I was amazed to find all 8 poles for the teepee. All the material for the teepee was provided by Mother Earth. On the inside I lay pine bows on the ground. Then we moved in. It held three and was extremely warm.
Modern man can't do any better than what was done in the past for the sustainable living we so desperately want now. We could learn real lessons from the past by incorporating what used to be done into what we do now.
For example, tribes followed a very sacred path that was called “walking softly on the land.” It's about doing no harm and leaving it better than you found it when you show up to the land. This practice was a real thing years ago yet now we have so little that has survived from which we can learn from our Mother Earth provides all we need if only we could do things in a sustainable way on the land as we did for thousands of years.
Mother Earth provides all we need if only we could do things in a sustainable way on the land as we did for thousands of years. With adapted limited modern convenience, we could find real balance to a new modern age within the next 100 years.
DAWN TREADER BOOKSTORE
STOPBYANDPERUSE
WHERE OSCAR SLEEPS by Jim Clark INSPNOMINEE
Jim Clark’s article “Oscar Sleeps Here”, was nominated for Best Vendor Contribution at the 2021 at International Street Paper Conference when it was held in Milan, Italy. A frequent contributor to The Groundcover News, this particular piece reminds us of how easily unhoused humans can be discarded in the minds of people as nothing more than trash.
Where Oscar Sleeps
by Jim ClarkDo you remember Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street the muppet that lived in a trash can outside the apartment from Maria and David? I was once told that Oscar represented the homeless population in the Sesame Street universe. The message I got from that was even though he lives in the trash and is always in "mal humor," he is part of the community and deserves compassion and respect from his neighbors.
In 2019, I was homeless in the real universe. Instead of being surrounded by friends in a peaceful barrio, I camped in the parks of Ann Arbor. In the parks, I found where Oscar sleeps. In the camps, there were remnants of past campers' garbage and abandoned property. Homeless people are already considered cast-offs, discards or wastrels.
Having been homeless myself and placed in one of these camps by Michigan PATH (Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness), it felt like I was being told, "this is what you are in society, so this is where you stay in the garbage pit."
The PATH program, run by Washtenaw County Community Mental Health, places people in public parks, state property such as the Michigan Department of Transportation or on private properties such as the University of Michigan or local churches. The Ann Arbor Police
Department contributes to the disaster and confusion by conducting "sweeps" or mass evictions from the very places PATH placed us in.
These sweeps are initiated by the City of Ann Arbor, U of M, and MDOT. MDOT tends to look the other way but has also initiated sweeps and evictions (such as Camp Take Notice in 2014).
The sweeps are sudden and force the homeless population to leave equipment and personal belongings. It ends up looking like garbage since residents are forced to vacate their camp and are not allowed to take more than they can carry. The abandoned camps tell the stories of how people’s lives, already in tragic shambles, are further humiliated.
Finally, there are the citizens who are environmentally conscious and use the parks to commune with nature. Ordinarily, they may be sympathetic to homelessness but are upset to see the trash left behind by sweeps. In some instances, people staying in parks are not accustomed to "camp culture" which prescribes to the "leave no trace" or "leave it cleaner than you found it" mentality.
Indeed, when I was struggling with homelessness, coming to these places, thinking all these thoughts made me feel less respect for all involved. I felt this way towards the authorities who conducted the sweeps, my peers who left the messes that could have been avoided, my community of neighbors who complain about the camps but do nothing to alleviate the problem, and myself for letting my life get so out of control that I must now sleep where Oscar slept. The solution to this problem is to clean them up.
If PATH, the police, the citizens (who also allow homelessness by supporting anti-housing legislation and anti-sentiment for the povertystricken), and peers started cleaning projects, I believe this would heal relations and become a platform for change.
Recently, I joined Washtenaw Camp Outreach, a volunteer organization that provides services to the homeless, and I am helping with a clean-up effort. This has been a rewarding experience that could help restore respect from county and city residents and self-respect for those who had to stay in the camps. If you are or were homeless or a volunteer, please join the effort to clean up the parks.
To get involved with Washtenaw Camp Outreach, connect with the organization on Facebook.
BENEDICTION
Housed, Unhoused, or Homeless
by Chrstopher Ellis
“A Night in the Woods”
Christopher Ellis has experienced homelessness over the past decade. His poetry frequently appears in The Groundcover News. This article first appeared in Groundcover News where he questions the differences between the terms “housed, unhoused, or homeless”. This article reveals how Earth can provide peace during a vulnerable time.
A Night in the Woods
by Christopher EllisWhat is “domicile,” and how can we begin to look at that word to see different notions that could describe how we define classes of people? Communities are people, and where people come together, there begins the hard stuff of life, from the ugly, brutal and profane to the seemingly sublime. However, sometimes we seem to get lost along our way when we come together and organize our spaces. Possibly, it’s just our nature as primal beings that causes our world to show extreme signs of the need to stigmatize, place and categorize to the point of degradation of others in our systems. Homelessness, or as I prefer to call it “Houselessness,” might in my view be the frontier ground to see how we are really living our lives in society. It is not hard to identify a homeless person, but it could be, when it comes to seeing that same person as inclusive in our communities, and not as one to just be “humanely” tolerated.
The houseless person isn’t dwelling in the shadows, but is living in plain view. They are not hiding in the attic of our collective house peering into dim light onto the larger groups of people. Homelessness isn't a non-organic monster haphazardly created out of nefarious thin air, instead I see it as organic human blood. It could be determined that it is a residual coming out of an otherwise functioning society; however, I see it as indeed the actual state of the whole collective. A residual could be discarded as lightly as a paper cup, or more massively as a landfill or incinerator. However, houselessness can’t be any more easily discarded or maintained as a landfill. To me homelessness is generic to a system that has otherwise well-bodied, intelligent and talented people living in destitution being dehumanized. Homelessness can only be “maintained” if it is not seen as part of the whole. If it is a dreg it might be seen as “normal” while at the same time we see that
dreg as shameful, a shame that is useful for us. We can separate in a moral sense the useful need while seeing it as deplorable. It is deplorable in its actual state, and as we see it, but do we as a society need it?
Every individual in our communities is essential in our civic space. He or she is to be valued, but not as a category or as a species in the system. For a person to be in a category or class implies a situation to be controlled and placed. When I say that a homeless person is generic I mean that their houselessness, being without a house is common.
Not that it is common to be without a house, but is the housed person not ensnared in the machinery of political and government control to the ultimate detriment of liberty, health and happiness?
How do you define native to the land, air and soil, and how does it come to be that the majority of peoples of the world live in utter poverty, filth and degradation? How do you define freedom if it is not to breathe clean air, to live on uncontaminated soil, and to consume healthy and organic foods?
Domicile is not to have become a human commodity and cash crop. To maintain a habitation (or to be maintained within a house) isn’t to have become a resource to be commercially recycled from generation to generation.
Domicile, as I chose to see it, appears to sound like “docile” when we are willing to live comfortable and convenient where mindless, cruel and human suffering is lived, in a real sense, from person to person. Most of us are not radical, nor harbor desires to disturb the status quo, or even feel a rational need to question the housing or other parameters of our lives. However, we are not given the luxury to be comfortable in silence while the world around us seems to be collapsing. It is a good thing to be civilly good, hopeful and positive in place, habitat and property, but when that comfort and content does not give thoughtful, intent consideration to places and spaces around us, where there is abject poverty and suffering, we have become people that are sterile, placid and ineffectual for the common good.
When we begin to see that housed or unhoused can have implications that can better offer a frontier to be innovative and see impoverished circumstances in a new and more productive light, we might at first begin to be uneasy, timid, perplexed or even frightened. However, if we are diligent we will begin to break down the iron barriers that categorize. I had a wonderful brother, now deceased, who was also a pastor in the city of Auburn Hills, and later in Rochester Hills. I was not officially homeless at the time, however, while riding with him through the city of Pontiac near a homeless shelter downtown, we saw homeless people wandering, even as they crossed our windshield at a traffic light. My brother mentioned to me that his experience has been that the plight of most of the homeless in his acquaintance was due to some character deficiency, or attitude problem. To me this was too broad a brush and probably was the quiet opinion of the majority. I have always seen the best in every person, and no one is without good traits.
I could never position people within narrow categories even when there was glaring evidence that could support that view. I have not spoken much about my own experience with homelessness, but I want to mention my first night on the street, with the hope to say something about the nature of mother earth, human goodness and the will and power to survive. It was Christmas Eve. Hopefully, in the future I can reveal those circumstances that brought me there that cold wintry night. I was aware that night was coming on, but there is something about the will to survive, self dignity and hope that wouldn't allow me to see the dire situation. For sure, I was scared as I wandered around in the cold. Maybe I was naive, I was in a foreign city. As the night grew closer I grew more frightened and apprehensive, Christmas lights lit the trees in a beautiful array, and the rushing cars and people got fewer and fewer. I was surprised at how my survival instincts started to kick in.
As the night came, I hid in places, any place unsuspicious, or that could conceal me for the night. I thought of trees, bushes, walls anything. I sat on a grassy area with trees. Strangely I felt peaceful, I felt one with the night sky, the cold air and trees. The moon and stars seemed to welcome me as a long lost native son. The universe seemed to say, “what are you afraid of, where have you been? “You are safe here.” I said, “What about thieves, murderers?”
Mother Earth seemed to say “All is well.”
I suddenly realized humanity is good, and that no one is seeking to do me harm, no bogeyman, no monsters in the grass, no fear. The cold even began to be mild – No really, mild! I felt like some brave mountain man, or better like the first man on Earth. You might say, “naive” or “stupid,” but I only mean to state that the Earth is not, empirically, a dangerous place, and that it is our first house, place and home.
