08 28 2013

Volume 10: Issue 21 August 28 - September 10, 2013

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I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds 50 years himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize and still an appalling condition.

marching pgs 8-9

Street Sense aims to serve as a vehicle for elevating voices and public debate on issues relating to poverty while also creating economic opportunities for people who are experiencing homelessness in our community.

into 4-5 Reaching the shadows of Georgetown.

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Homeless teen crowdfunds his way to college.

Minter 12 Gary remembers lost treasures.

COVER ART Generations gathered at a Saturday commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington.

PHOTO BY JANE CAVE

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@streetsensedc /streetsensedc OUR STORY Street Sense began in August 2003 after Laura Thompson Osuri and Ted Henson approached the National Coalition for the Homeless on separate occasions with the idea to start a street paper in Washington, D.C. Through the work of dedicated volunteers, Street Sense published its first issue in November 2003. In 2005, Street Sense achieved 501 ( c ) 3 status as a nonprofit organization, formed a board of directors and hired a full-time executive director.

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STREET SENSE August 28 - September 10, 2013

NEWS IN BRIEF

*COMPILED BY JENNY GUDMUNDSEN FROM PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED REPORTS

Police Become Suspects in Rio de Janeiro The question ”Where is Amarildo” is hanging on posters in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Under the question are pictures of a missing man who one day entered a police car for questioning. He was never to be seen again. Approximately 92,000 people have gone missing in Rio de Janeiro, with fifteen people going missing every day, according to www.streetpapers.org / IPS. Many cases are never resolved nor properly investigated, and the police are often suspects themselves.

On Sunday July 14th Amarildo de Souza was met by a group of 20 military police who said they needed to take him to the local Police Pacification Unit (UPP) for questioning. The UPPs main task is to drive out the drug trafficking gangs and to sustain police presence in the favelas. “There are a series of irregularities in what the police did,” Amnesty International adviser Jandira Queiroz told IPS. “If [de Souza] was wanted for questioning, he would have only had to go to the local police station, rather than UPP headquarters. These mistakes on the part of police merit investigation, in and of themselves.” Police say they let him go, and explained that there is no evidence of where he could be. Neither the UPP headquarters’ surveillance cameras nor the GPS devices in the police cars that picked up de Souza were working the night when de Souza disappeared after he got carried into the police car.

Amnesty International asks its three million supporters worldwide to send letters to the state government and ministry

YES!

of security calling for a thorough investigation, witness protection, and prosecution of the perpetrators. When people go missing in Brazil, police tend to stop investigating, Antônio Carlos Costa, the head of Rio de Paz, told IPS. “Thousands of people disappear and the authorities don’t worry about finding out what happened to them. Many cases are never even registered in police stations, and the police are among those who carry out this practice”, Costa said. According to Costa, the number of people who go missing is actually higher than the official figures.

Amarildo’s family is not giving up finding him alive, although the feeling of insecurity always is present. As Elisabeth Gomes, de Souza’s wife, said: “The UPP police took my husband away, and his documents. He went missing a month ago and I have no money. At least I want his bones, to bury them. I want an answer: Where is Amarildo?”

Advocate Helps Homeless Families to Get Education August 2013 marked twenty years since advocate Diane Nilan created ”Charlie’s Bill,” officially known as the Illinois Education for Homeless Children Act. In August 1993 a mother staying at a shelter was told that her children could not return to District 204 schools due to the fact that they were homeless, according to The Beacon News. The mother and Nilan both felt the need for support and so Nilan and a small team of fellow advocates decided to work toward improved state legislation.

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Pat Von Doren, a photojournalist who collaborated with Nilan, took a picture of Charlie. This picture would later become the face of “Charlie’s Bill”, the new legislation that allowed homeless children to continue attending their schools. “The fact that we got ordinary citizens to come together and get behind Charlie’s Bill was at the root of its success,” Nilan said to The Beacon News.

Charlie is now in his 20s, and he has a job and a family. According to Nilan, he is a testament to the strong spirit of many homeless kids. Eight years ago, Nilan started the non-profit ”Hear Us” after selling everything she owned in order to give homeless families a voice. “If someone had told me 20 years ago that today I’d be driving around in a motorhome, as a homeless advocate, I’d have thought they were crazy,” Nilan said. One of the most important things she does is to make sure that school districts interpret the law correctly.

“My Own 4 Walls” is her video that helps her bring the voices of homeless children to school officials. Nilan was recently appointed to the board of the National Coalition for the Homeless. To learn more about Diane Nilan’s work, go to www.HearUs.us.

young women transitioning into high school and another project for young parents, according to www.street-papers.org / Real Change - USA. Girls First works with 100 students a year in Seattle’s middle school as they make the transition into high school. Teenagers who participate get support from their older schoolmates in high school and can compete for a number of paid internship at law offices and at Starbucks later in their high school education.

Starbucks predicts the community store will get $100,000 in incomes for the first year for the two programs. This will support the YWCA for at least three years, said Patricia Hayden, YWCA senior director of specialized and integrated services. At that time the two companies will discuss whether to continue the partnership. Starbucks has already four other community stores in New York City, Bangkok, Los Angeles and Houston.

Starbucks to Help Young Women and Parents Starting High School A Starbucks in Seattle, USA, is going into partnership with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). Of every transaction, 15 cents will go to two of the association’s programs: one supporting

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Center Offers Community for Vulnerable Homeless Population

By Kelsey Reid Editorial Intern Beneath the bridges of genteel Georgetown, not far from the mansions and embassies, there is an invisible village of small makeshift homes.

Under one bridge, castaway couches and tables are aligned into rooms. Under another, about 15 mattresses and blankets create an inn without walls.

Reaching the people who live in these shadows, winning their confidence and getting them the help they need is the complex challenge faced by the street outreach team at Georgetown Ministry Center (GMC).

“Working in shelters versus out on the streets, you see something different. We need to understand what this type of homelessness is about. It’s about untreated and untreatable mental illness,” says Gunther Stern, executive director of GMC. The center operates out of a modest office at Grace Episcopal Church located near the foot of Wisconsin Avenue NW where the bridges and overpasses shelter the city’s poorest residents.

The idea for GMC took root nearly three decades ago, in 1984, with the death of an elderly homeless man known

only as Freddie, who perished in an icy phone booth in the neighborhood.

Local leaders and members of the clergy began discussing the need for homeless services in Georgetown. In 1987 the Georgetown Clergy Association and Georgetown University founded GMC and the center hired its first social worker.

With an eye to preventing further hypothermia deaths, GMC helps coordinate a winter shelter effort from November to March. The location of the ten-bed shelter rotates semi-monthly among neighborhood churches with volunteers from each

congregation providing friendly meals and fellowship to the vulnerable men and women they have managed to coax in out of the cold.

It’s a small yet important project in a neighborhood that lacks a permanent shelter. A shelter made out of eight trailers that offered more than 100 beds, located adjacent to the historic Watergate complex in nearby Foggy Bottom, was shuttered in 1992 due to community opposition.

On a recent day, making his rounds with the outreach team, Stern praised the support GMC has received from the

STREET SENSE August 28 - September 10, 2013

NEWS

neighborhood. But reminders of the tensions aroused by homeless programs are not hard to find. Some local residents still call the police in an effort to force out the individuals who have made a home under the neighborhood’s bridges.

Another major effort by GMC is a yearround drop-in center open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Homeless visitors, who are called guests, or members, rather than clients, can use a computer, take a shower, do their laundry or simply drink a cup of coffee. Some, who claim the center as their address, stop in to check their mail.

If food has been donated, they can eat.

The center also offers the services of a psychiatrist, doctor and nurse who are on site on a weekly or twice weekly basis.

The center is run using a “clubhouse” model of psychosocial rehabilitation that offers support for individuals with mental illness by creating a sense of belonging. It focuses upon guests’ strengths rather than their vulnerabilities.

GMC staff members encourage guests to get involved in running the clubhouse and to help keep it clean and well-maintained. Members can also participate in Tuesday house meetings, where they are able to voice concerns, talk about what they like about the Center and what could be worked on. The intent is that members know they are heard, said Stern.

Ricardo Cooper, Manager of Center Operations, said the clubhouse model provides a more comfortable environment than a large shelter because members feel an ownership for the Center community.

“We want them to feel wanted, not threatened, when they’re here,” Cooper said. “This is a community. We know each other so well and most people are always here.”

GMC staff also recently started taking members on excursions in the city. Outings have included a boat ride to a Nation-

als game and an evening of dinner and a Shakespeare play.

The services and programming at GMC are focused on giving members a community they identify with and the basic tools they need to get out of homelessness.

“It’s about a place to belong,” said Stern.

Georgetown Ministry Center’s many services are geared to restoring homeless residents to health and stability.

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Simple Invention Eases Hunger www.street-papers.org / IPS

Tucked deep in Kenya's sprawling Kibera slum is the shanty that Alice Atieno calls home. It is just one among many small, badly-lit shacks built close together in this crowded slum where an estimated one million people live on about 400 hectares.

But right on her doorstep stalks of green leafy vegetables grow in soil-filled sacks. For the mother of six, these kale plants are the source of her livelihood.

Her children have learnt to go about their play without knocking the plants over. "Children in the slum understand hunger, they stay clear of the plants. They know that it's where their food comes from," Atieno tells IPS. This is urban farming for slum dwellers. "I grow seedlings in sacks filled with soil. I usually grow vegetables like kales, spinach, sweet pepper and spring onions," Atieno says.

According to Map Kibera Trust, a nongovernmental organisation that seeks to improve the participation of Kiberan residents in policy processes by providing them with information, sack farming increases weekly household income by at least five dollars and can produce two or three meals per week.

"This is significant since the average household earns between 50 and 100 dollars per month," economist Arthur Kimani tells IPS. Statistics from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute show that more than 10 million of this East African nation's total population of 40 million are food-insecure - the majority of whom live on food relief.

For these, sack farming is proving to be a much-needed solution.

Kiama Njoroge, an agricultural extension officer in Central Kenya, says that sack farming is healthy and costs little, since the materials are readily available and the low-labour way of producing wholesome foods is simple.

"Foods grown in a sack are also free of chemicals," he tells IPS. Peris Muriuki, a sack farmer, agrees.

"One sack costs about 12 cents, some farmers buy the soil for close to a dollar but most of us just collect it from where we live. Stones are readily available, on the roads, and can even [be found on] construction sites," Muriuki tells IPS. Courtney Gallaher is an assistant professor at Michigan State University researching food systems and sustainable agriculture. Her research on urban agriculture in Kibera reveals that "most

households in Kibera spend 50 to 75 percent of their total income on food. Sack farming can generate about 20 to 30 dollars in revenue per month for farmers that sell some of their vegetables, excluding water expenses."

77 deaths per 1,000 live births. In local urban slums, however, it is 151 per 1,000 live births. Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of these deaths.

“The sewers that these farmers use comes from industries and contain heavy

"Children in the slum understand hunger, they stay clear of the plants. They know that it's where their food comes from."

-Alice Atieno Kibera sack farmer

“Urban slum areas have become notorious for sewer farming, placing unsuspecting consumers at great risk for diseases such as cholera, amoeba, typhoid and even cancer,” Patrick Mutua, a public health expert with the Ministry of Health tells IPS. According to the Ministry of Health, Kenya’s under-five mortality rate is about

metals such as lead and mercury, placing consumers at risk of cancer and kidney failure,” Patricia Mwangi, another public health expert, tells IPS. “Not only does exposure to lead interfere with the development of the nervous system, it can also lead to permanent learning and behaviour disorders,” Mwangi says.

But unsuspecting Kenyans have been

consuming foods rich in such heavy metals. Some of these foods have been grown

by Kibera resident Fenice Oyiela.

Showing great tolerance for the stinging stench of open sewers, and oblivious to the health implications, Oyiela uses her bare hands to direct sewer water through the narrow troughs she has dug in her land.

Oyiela, who has been growing vegetables such as kale, African amaranth and arrowroot at a sewer line adjacent to the Kiberana slums, says that her market base is overwhelming.

“There are days I sell up to 10 bags of vegetables. Lorries collect them from me to take to Nairobi’s leading food markets such as Marikiti, Gikomba and Muthurwa,” Oyiela tells IPS. The Ministry of Agriculture statistics for 2010 show that of the 30 percent of Nairobi residents engaged in urban farming, the majority use sewer water.

Consequently, sack farming is emerging as a solution, especially among those with no land on which to farm.

Alice Atieno attends to her vegetables, right on the doorstep of her shanty in Kibera slum.

MIRIAM GATHIGAH/IPS

STREET SENSE August 28 - September 10, 2013

LA Teen Crowdfunds Way to College

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NEWS

By Kelsey Reid, Editorial Intern

In just a week, a Los Angeles teen left behind a life of homelessness to become a fully-funded freshman at the college of his dreams: Howard University.

Thanks to an online campaign called “Homeless To Howard,” it took James Ward just seven days to raise the $14,000 he needed to cover the cost of this year’s tuition after grants and loans. He started classes on Aug 26.

Since Ward became homeless at age 14, he his mother and two younger siblings spent time doubled up with relatives and living out of a car. In February 2012, halfway through Ward’s junior year, the family found beds at L.A.’s Central Union Mission.. Despite attending three high schools in four years, he managed to graduate from San Pedro High School in June.

It was while his family was staying at Central Union Mission that Ward met Jessica Sutherland, a junior producer at Yahoo! Studios.Sutherland, who herself had been homeless as a teen, visited the shelter to speak with the young people there. Ward quickly followed up by sending Sutherland an email telling her about his hope of attending college.

Sutherland agreed to help him with the college application process. When he was accepted to Howard, he sought financial aid but realized that even after receiving grants and loans he would need an additional $14,000 for tuition. He applied

to the ParentPlus loan program but was never know what could happen,” he said. at Howard Aug. 26. He and Sutherland also denied due to his mother’s poor credit Ward, who has loved science since he started a nonprofit called “Homeless.To” rating. That was when he and Sutherland was a small child, said he plans to major to help other underserved students be decided to turn to strangers to help make in physics. able to afford their dream college too. his dream a reality.

He hopes to become an astrophysicist Within the first day of their Homeless or genetic engineer.

Compiled from the campaign’s tumblr To Howard campaign, the pair had raised The campaign had raised more than “Homeless to Howard” and reporting by $2,075. Then Ward’s story was picked $32,000 by the time Ward started classes Huffington Post. up by the Huffington Post, Nightly News with Brian Williams and the Today show and by the end of the week they had raised all the money Ward needed.

In an interview with Huffington Post, Ward said he was struck by individuals’ desire to help.

“One of the biggest things I’ve learned from my experiences is that, no matter who you are or how scared you are, as long as you ask for help there’s always someone out there who is willing to help you. More kids should under- 19 year old James Ward displays his progress and a big thank you to his supporters on the last day of his stand that because crowdfunding campaign to go from “Homeless to Howard.” if they did, then you PHOTO COURTESY OF ABC NEWS

March on Washington Anniversary Inspires Low-Wage Worker Advocates

By Kelsey Reid, Editorial Intern

When civil rights activists marched in Washington fifty years ago, their movement became known as a push for racial equality. With the anniversary Aug. 28, advocates have been reminding the public and lawmakers that the march was for jobs and freedom, and they believe lowwage work reforms are needed in order for the dreams of those who marched years ago and in the events this week to be realized.

“The March on Washington was just as much about jobs as racial equality,” national radio commentator Joe Madison said. “And we still see racial disparity when it comes to economics.”

Good Jobs Nation held a discussion on economic inequality with civil rights leaders, media and low-wage workers Aug. 21 at the National Press Club. The panelists what can be learned from the advocates of the civil rights movement and the progress still needed.

“Workers today have fewer rights than they had at the time of the march,” SNCC activist Larry Rubin said. “There are more than forty nations with greater economic mobility than here in the U.S.”

While panelists pointed out the work yet to be done, they also spoke of current efforts for economic equality as means of furthering the societal, legal, political and economic progress of the last fifty years.

“I believe we’ve made it to the promise land, but we’ve got some cleaning up to do,” Alvin Turner, a 1968 Memphis sanitation striker who demonstrated with Martin Luther King Jr., said.

Advocates are calling on President Obama to issue an executive order declaring that the federal government would consider wages when contracting with private company. Today, the federal government employs two million individuals at poverty wages. Rubin called on those workers to lead the movement for change.

“The thing to take away from the March on Washington is the crowd, not the speech,” Rubin said.

With many events to mark the anniversary, Madison said he hopes the anniversary it not just observed but leads people to action.

“This is not a commemoration of the march, but a continuation,” Madison said.

Forgotten History

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"

By Jeffery McNeil, Vendor

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation...

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

As Americans commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington our nation will reflect on Martin Luther King’s dream, a utopian vision that placed emphasis on one’s performance, not color.

Many made the journey to relive this historic moment, envisioning what America was like fifty years ago when Dr. King gave America’s version of the Sermon on the Mount.

Last weekend there were films of Birmingham and Selma along with countless interviews with those who stood on the front line sharing compelling stories of freedom rides and Jim Crow. The event signified a passing of the torch to the new voices of Black America, who will remind everyone that while blacks have made great strides the struggle continues.

While many consider the March on Washington as the highwater mark of the Civil Rights Movement, not all truths have been disclosed. Were there others leaders who made an impact, besides Martin Luther King and Malcolm X? One was the actual architect of the March on Washington, Bayard Rustin.

He learned peaceful resistance in India, marching with Gandhi in that country’s struggle for independence. He taught those tactics to a fiery militant named Martin Luther King and the rest was history.

However, there are no holidays or posters for this great man because he was openly gay.

The same civil rights establishment that condemned racism harbored bigotry towards homosexuals and ostracized Rustin.

When planning began, the NAACP and Urban League threatened to call off the march for jobs and justice if Rustin headed the march. However Rustin selflessly allowed A.Philip Randolph and Dr. King to become the faces of the march and he faded from the spotlight.

Rustin passed away in 1987. Earlier this month, President Obama took an important step in giving him a well-deserved place in history by posthumously awarding him the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The President commemorated Rustin as “an unyielding activist for civil rights, dignity, and equality for all.”

“As an openly gay African American, Mr. Rustin stood at the intersection of several of the fights for equal rights,” the President added in an official statement on the award.

But other tensions that ran beneath the surface in those days are less talked about.

Civil rights leader Bayard Rustin is shown in his Park Avenue South office in New York City in April 1969.

AP PHOTO/A. CAMERANO

One of them was the suspicion with which many blacks viewed King and other civil rights leaders and groups. They feared that King and the others in the civil rights vanguard were part of a bourgeois class of blacks who were willing to sell out poor inner city blacks for the sake of their own financial and social advancement.

Some younger and angrier black organizers questioned the whole idea of moral persuasion. They saw no logic in singing negro hymns while having bottles and rocks thrown at them in hopes that their oppressors would be morally persuaded to give them rights that were granted everyone else. They viewed Dr. King’s message as vintage Uncle Tom and resented his high visibility. They wanted complete liberation from white dominance.

Another overlooked aspect was the male chauvinism of the movement in those days.

The male was the symbol of masculinity and leadership. Women were instructed to know their place and very few had leadership roles. Many were relegated to working as maids, secretaries and laundresses. Some were subjected to sexual harassment.

While Martin Luther King’s dream instilled a liberal vision of what America could become, in the end, the sixties were far from a golden age.

STREET SENSE August 28 - September, 2013

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COVER STORY

Remembering a King

By Robert Warren, Vendor

Today we remember a king and the thought of a dream. For little ones so precious, Dr. King believed in the love of people over things. Some still don’t want to see, 50 years after the prophecy. Martin saw in his dream and now we have so many little ones and all they see is a human being. For all of us who were alive to hear a king’s dream resonate in our hearts

as we ask the question today, “What did it all mean?

Did it mean that Obama could be president of all things? Treyvon could be murdered for nothing in 2013? So, there are those who would try to cast darkness on Dr. King’s shining light. But let them try.

Our children are already living the message of his life.

Thanks for the March.

PHOTOS BY JANE CAVE

CHILDREN’S ART: HK, AGE 6

There are 1,868 children experiencing homelessness in the District. The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project visits 6 different transitional housing and emergency shelter programs to provide weekly activities, healthy snacks, and opportunities to play and learn to as many children as possible.

Courtesy of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project

COMICS & GAMES

BEST BOXERS

g New Dino Town

By Terron Solomon, Vendor

Street Best Boxers

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Michael Buffer

Joe Louis

scorecard

Mike Tyson

Muhammad Ali

Bert Sugar

knockout

Mills Lane

Don King

Sugar Ray

STREET SENSE August 28 - September 11 2013

OPINION

Summer Vending

Labor Day Thoughts

During the hot summer, venders experience a daily struggle to make a living. In the summer, not as many customers are buying the paper, not as many are paying close attention. Some people don’t know what Street Sense is all about.

Do they ask? Do they care? Are they concerned for venders? We as vendors are struggling. We’re having a hard time with our bills, our rent, our social life and so on. A hard time with everything. We ask all customers to pay close attention to us and recognize our struggle and effort of selling the paper to them during this slow period. During this summer we are in need of support from everyone.

To have a kind thoughtful loving heart, reach out to a vender. Please help the needy and support us. We love everybody’s support. We love to smile, to make customers feel welcome and happy, to show them how exciting our paper is when they open up to read it. We’re not just a regular paper. We’re special and we always try to make our customers aware of what we do.

We are trying. We’re survivors, trying to be strong, brilliant, successful. We’re trying to keep our heads above water. We have prayers lifted up for everyone.

Street Sense has allowed me to come a long way. I’ve been with Street Sense since 2006 and this job has taught me a lot. I have met a lot of wonderful and beautiful customers along the way. I am well known everywhere. People say I brighten up their day with a smile and cheer. I make their day real special.

Please help support us vendors. We really need the help. Next time you see us smile and buy a paper. You will be blessed.

It is just so sad how people in the metropolitan area treat our hard working Metro operators. It hurts me so much in my heart because I personally have a good friend who works for Metro. My friend shares a lot of information with me about how cruel people are to Metro employees.

The main reason I wrote this article is to encourage people in the metropolitan area to stop with all the cursing and yelling and disrespectful language. Please start smiling and greeting our hardworking Metro workers. We all are human and go through things in life.

We Need a New Mitch

Bob Kalsu (left) and the Pat Tillman display (right) at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

By Sybil Taylor, Vendor

11

C=MB2: MARTA BERESIN

By Stephen Thomas, Vendor

By Cynthia Mewborn, Vendor

ERIC ON SPORTS: AMERICAN HEROES PART 2 Eric Thompson-Bey, Vendor

November 1, 1955: the war began between North and South Vietnam. There were approximately 58,220 American casualties and 303,644 wounded Americans. The U.S.A. first deployed combat units in 1964 to prevent Communist takeover of South Vietnam. Many American people opposed US involvement in the war but the U.S. would continue to be at war until August 15, 1973 when the Vietnam Peoples’ Army took control of Saigon. That was 40 years ago.

In working on my stories on American heroes I came across another great American athlete who was also a great American. His name and story may not be as well-known as Pat Tillman’s but without a doubt he was an American hero. His name was Bob Kalsu.

By Barron Hall, Vendor

team where he was an All-American. In 1968 he was drafted by the American League’s Buffalo Bills in the 8th round. He started every game and was the team’s Rookie of the Year.

That would be his only year as a professional football player. After the 1968 season he entered the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant to satisfy his Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) obligations. In November of 1969 he arrived in Vietnam as part of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. He was the only recently active professional football player to be killed in the Vietnam War. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for his service. He had a military base named after him in 2003. The base, known as Forward Operating Base Kalsu, is located in Baghdad, Iraq. His name was also added to the Buffalo Bills wall of fame in 2000.

Tillman and Kalsu were only two of America’s professional athletes that sacrificed their careers for their country.

There were many more. I would like to honor all Americans who sacrificed for our country, from the 20-year-old killed in World War I to the soldier who lost both legs in Afghanistan.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME

Thank God for Mitch Snyder. It was truly God’s grace that led Mitch to do the things that he did, to help people he didn’t know. If a person was poor or homeless, he stretched out his hand to help. We really need a Mitch Snyder now. The world is at war because people are tired of living and working for someone else instead of living and working for themselves. If America is not careful we will be the next to be in rebellion because of false promises from those we chose to lead us. Soon we will have a Confederate White House that will bring back the days of the plantations. Black America is still waiting for its forty acres and the mule. What good is a celebration with nothing to celebrate? I’m sure Martin and Malcolm would be ashamed of what we have become.

On July 21, 1970 in Thua Thien, South Vietnam, Bob Kalsu was killed when his Army unit came under heavy enemy mortar fire. But before he went to fight in the scorching heat and jungles he had fought in a war, and much less dangerous and more popular war.

This was the battle of the gridiron.

Born on April 13, 1945, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Kalsu played tackle on the University of Oklahoma football

I recently sat down to talk with Marta Beresin, a staff attorney for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. During our wide-ranging conversation, I had the chance to get Beresin’s thoughts on many aspects of the challenge of homelessness.

To start out with, Beresin stressed that there are many different segments to the city’s homeless population. There are people who are chronically homeless and extremely vulnerable due to mental illness or physical disabilities, advanced age or addictions. Then there are people who are episodically homeless: they lack social supports and they have trouble finding and keeping jobs due to a lack of the right skills. There are young people, some of them runaways who are couchsurfing. There are families, people with HIV or developmental delays or language barriers. All of them need specific types of help and services. Yet most, she says, would not be homeless if housing were not so expensive.

“Ninety-nine percent of folks who are homeless are homeless for one reason; we don’t have enough affordable housing,” Beresin said. Earlier this year, DC Mayor Vincent Gray pledged $100 million for affordable housing. But a sustained effort is needed to actually ensure the right kinds of housing are built and the neediest people are helped, she said.

“We need a strategic plan to end homelessness and the key part of that plan is how much and what type of affordable housing we need to build,” she added. She also stressed the importance of continuing the city’s Housing First permanent supportive housing program.

Having stable homes makes it easier for people to get medical help or break the cycle of addiction or otherwise address the problems underlying chronic homelessness, she said.

“It’s easier for them to go to an NA meeting when they have a home to come home to,” said Beresin. And the program saves the city money, too.

She pointed out that the costs of providing services to people living on the streets may exceed what it would cost to provide them with stable housing.

Reflecting upon the challenges in her own work with homeless people she said she feels a kinship with her clients.

“Everyone wants to have nice clothes to wear, nice food to eat, a nice home to live in: they want to provide for their children, they want to wake up everyday and feel like they have a purpose in life and like they do something important every day. We all want that!” said Beresin.

The Street Sense Writers’ Group is led by writing professionals and meets every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. The group’s goal is to develop ideas and collaborate on the next great issue of Street Sense.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WEWIORKA_WAGNER/FLICKR

A Modern Love Story

By Jacqueline Turner, Vendor

There were two guys that were the best of friends. They grew up together, lived on the same street, Maple Avenue, in a town called “Way-Out”. One was caramel and one was chocolate. One had charm and the other charisma. Both were handsome and both were smart, friendly and liked by a lot of people.

There were two girls that also fit this description in every way. The guys were handsome, the girls pretty, and both charming and appealing, intelligent and pleasant.

These four people met at the library one day while looking at magazines. They decided to start being around each other. They didn’t call it dating, just being friends. Well, that friendship lasted for more than twenty years. They even married one another, had kids, went to each other’s houses and lived without incident until the children reached their teens.

Well the sons, two out of the three between the couples, went to jail. And one out of the two daughters, got pregnant at the age of fifteen.

An ordinary story or not, it is life in America. (to be continued)

Mom and Dad are gone...

All I have left are memories and a small plastic cube of photographs.

Crocodiles, who sometimes bit me when I cleaned their aquarium and later found a new home in the Zoo when I went off to Duke,

Vanished are the black and white photos of Dad in his army uniform, Mom and Aunt Ethel in the Miami surf when they were young and on their own,

My green iguana which ate fruit and vegetables but looked like a carnivorous dinosaur, green-brown-gray anoles, small lizards sold in pet shops as chameleons,

Gone are the pictures of Grandpa Jesse and Grandma Frances in their Chicago apartment,

My rainbow tropical fish, ant colonies, my insect collection, and black and whites of my 7th birthday party in Villa Park with Mike and Terry and Doug and Sol and all the kids in our ‘hood, even my baby pictures!

Gone are the photos of Grandma Jennie in Washburn, Wisconsin, nestled on the frigid shores of Lake Superior, ancestral home of hardy Finns who settled the Northland, The candid shot of my pretty cousin Lynn, also of Washburn, with my pet flying squirrel squirming in her teenage blouse, The photos of my beloved Dachshund Heidi, who always ran so eagerly to greet me (and often wet the floor! Wish my home girls would be that eager!)

Pictures of my red-brown pet boa constrictor, which grew from 18 inches to six feet and later terrorized the Glenbard North High School janitor when it escaped to wander the school halls, Shots of grey Latin American Caimans, cousins to the Alligators and

The photos of my new family of Roanoke, my wonderful wife and son, whom I have not seen for many years, my second wife and our big fancy wedding at the ancient historic chapel...

Gone forever into the dustbin of history, likely a landfill in North Carolina....

Who knew the storage company would auction off all my worldly possessions, memories of my childhood and family, without even bothering to tell me?

“It’s not personal, it’s strictly business.”

Cyber Space Love Affair PHOTO COURTESY OF MARION DOSS/FLICKR

The phenomenon fiber optical Intertwining space, Two souls, Two minds, With the realm of word play.

The awesome conclusion insight, External compassion for manipulating Keys under masterful control, Vision with mind, heart and soul.

Upon the climax creativity.

Leverage of intensity.

“Cyber Space Love Affair”.

The struggling to satisfy heart, mind and soul.

The totality within me craves more.

The simplicity within my psychology Boldness to overcoming all Boundaries within mind, body, and soul.

All for poetry.

“Cyber Space Love Affair. ”

ISOTOPIA

By Ibn Hipps, Vendor

As the Child of Life of Light battles the evil of Isotopia, the child’s given powers come unlimited from the one God himself: a gift to show the love that God has for Isotopia. The Child strikes at the confused minds, unforgiving and repenting souls, and misguided hearts. The evil of Isotopia puts up a good fight. As Josh and his family, and the Circle, and all the good people watch on as the Child of Life of Light shows its given powers.

Thundering winds and clouds of gray surround the Child as he battles the evil of one city strung on hope. The stubborn evil (Isotopia) fuels the unseen demon of Self and gins of Ignorance. The evil tries all its tricks, but nothing penetrates the Child’s special powers. His powers show the favor the one God has for a forsaken city like Isotopia.

The Child seems to age with each battle against the evil of Isotopia. These jinns and demons are Isotopia in its truest form.

This city, soon to be cleansed of its evil and misguidance, is a beautiful sight for Josh and his family to see. The Child is

PAR TwelvT e

growing as his powers assist a city on the verge of destruction. He is blessed by the one God himself - as is Josh, his family, and the whole city of Isotopia.

Shadows spew out of the people: demons expunged from their bodies. Hate and all types of evil attack the Child. Skies darken, clouds turn gray, thunder sounds between Maliki and the forsaken city as good clashing against evil. The Child is too gifted to be harmed by any evil the city can muster. As thunder rages and lightning flashes, the sky rains untold truth. Josh and his family watch and listen as the gifted Child shatters lies and demolishes deceit.

Everyone is protected as the Child fights on, all evil expelled from them.

“All evil, all the lies that have been told to God’s people, is no more!” Maliki, God-gifted Child, yells out, “I am sent here from the one God himself to save those who prayed for saving. God has heard your prayers. God has heard your cries. I am here!”

“Wow, Melissa! We haven’t heard Maliki speak a word the whole seven years he’s been with us,” Josh says.

“The people of Isotopia will be left with

nothing but goodness, kindness, and love in their hearts,” proclaims the Child.

The battle continues, vanquishing the evil that rules the city. Josh sees, and believes in, the Child and the one God. He looks on with Melissa and the kids.

“I never thought I’d see the day Isotopia was cured,” say Josh and Melissa in unison.

They hug each other and share a passionate kiss as the kids watch with excitement.

As the battle continues, the Child of Life of Light ages with every strike against evil. In each fight Maliki’s powers prove to be incredible, unbelievable to Josh and his entourage. Maliki changes into something stronger than any human. Mankind does not possess this type of power.

“Wow Melissa! Do you see what I see? The Child is aging as he fights,” says Josh. “His hair is longer. His body is growing, he’s getting more powerful as he fights, Melissa.”

“I see what you see, honey,” replies Melissa.

“God is most wonderful!” Josh and Melissa yell out - along with the kids, the Circle and all that is good. The one God and the Child hear their hope for Isotopia. (to be continued)

BEFORE THE RAIN PT 29: EXPLODING THE INEVITABLE TRUTH, AS WE HEAD SOUTH

By Chris Shaw, “The Cowboy Poet”

Loomis and Lyndsey still had not come down from the intense rush of crawling the cables of one of America’s bigger suspension bridges. Now they were embroiled in a different sort of suspense. Where and when was the load of bathtubs in which they were entrapped going to stop and offload-- and especially “Where?”

When they awoke, the driver, a hulking fellow whose features were to them a mystery, had pulled open the rear doors and prodded around with a stout wooden dowel--Loomis whispered hoarsely, “He’s checkin’ th’ alignment, I suspect..”

Thru the opening, the floodlit City Hall Spire bearing the statue of William Penn betrayed the locale as Philly, but our lovebirds felt the need to hunker down for the nonce. Then a SLAMMM, a GRROAWRRR!!, and the semi was off again, bumperty-bump.

The next overwhelming THUDD!, found the pair slipping out the back in broad daylight, along Independence Avenue in our nation’s capital, hard by the foot of Capitol Hill, with our beloved Dome looming o’er Loomis and his loving Lyndsey.

Their possessions much diminished down to a couple of faded cloth pouches, they melted into a large and motley crowd of tourists waiting to enter the Botanical Garden conservatory to gain a big whiff of the latest bloom from a slimy Rafflesia, or corpse blossom. “Phew, that Reeks,” observed Loomis, although Lyndsey stifled his cry with one hand and cooed softly back over the din of the gawking visitors, clicking their phone-cams and throwaways and digitals.

“That odor couldn’t be any worse than what we left behind in Doocey’s dumb bathtubs,” she gently insisted.

Upon leaving the vaulted glass hall, and seeing no Legbas or other adversaries about, they hopped a Number 32 bus over to Loomis’ place of origin, the beautiful Foggy Bottom Hospital for Ladies. In the semi circular drive, Loomis sighed, and shrugged to Lyndsey, “Ahh, it looks to be condos now,” but they beamed at the gently restored Christ-like infant beatifically placed, arms outstretched in the tympanum over the arched doorway.

Loomis took Lyndsey wordlessly by the hand to a small, iron-enclosed columbarium, or graveyard for cremated remains, back of Saint Paul’s Church. He stepped to the iron gate, lowered his head, and bowed down with mumbled apologies.

“M-Mum, Dad Akula, I messed up.

Shouldn’a left out so early like I did, but it just seemed as if I belong in New Orleans.

That’s all, hope I see ya in th’ next life if not this one...”

Lyndsey led him away, and soon they were sharing a PB&J in the George Washington Hospital commissary. She beamed with a strange sort of pride. “What you said back there in the churchyard, wasn’t that like--” “Yas,” answered Loomis with a goofy crinkled grin. “Jimi H. said something like that at the end of ‘Voodoo Child, Slight Return. I always felt my Mom was kind’a Cherokee at heart, too, like Jimi...”

By dint of blessed luck, and their slightly faded Akashic tattoos, Loomis and Lyndsey found a ride board on campus, and a dotty retiring professor Mages, who actually needed people to help him drive his worn yellow Audi down to his old alma mater-Tulane! Dat, exclaimed Loomis, was simply meant to be. Mages, was, like many of their contacts and benefactors, a true weirdo, and as it transpired, also a believer in the Akashic lore. But they needed no herd of Aurochs to help them leave DC. Merely. they emailed the Prof in a Wi-Fi café and received their immediate answer.

Meet me at 5:30this afternoon at the catfish tank in the National Aquarium downtown. Naturally, with guards absent, they engaged in a quick wild thing with only the 28-foot moss covered Old Abel the Louisiana catfish watching as they coupled.

“We’re gonna need a Justice of the Peace,” sighed Lyndsey, real soon!” Shortly thereafter, a bespectacled and ponytailed little man of 69 tapped them gently on the shoulder. All three laughed and called out together, “New Orleans or Bust!!” (to be continued)

STREET SENSE August 28 - September 10, 2013

1#3

FICTION

CELESTIAL SUBTERRANEA PT. 4

By Dele Akerejah, Vendor

A swarm of sleek, flat, polygonal helicopter gunships with powerful searchlights penetrating through the mountain brush with a search and destroy vehemence. He withdrew himself from looking at the oncoming dread and refocused on his companion who was steadily regaining consciousness. “#9!” he began, “we have to get moving now!

They are coming for us! “ Upon this last utterance, the one referred to as “#9” quickened his pace, rising and removing his helmet, revealing an aesthetically pleasing face with a pale turquoise hue, eggplant colored eyes that shined big and bright like a female manga character, and short cropped purple hair like a Caucasian female rocker. It coughed thrice and vomited what appeared to be translucent chlorophyll before taking in a few virgin breaths of the pollution filled air of Neohades. It seemed a fitting reaction for a royal who had never set foot outside of the antiseptic hive.

However, even this reasonable observation and inference could not reveal the full truth of this odd fugitive couple sojourn on to such dangerous grounds.

After shaking itself into awareness #9 asked, “Where are we? What?”… “ No time for that now,” said the tall young man in a stern tone. “We must go deep into the city where we can hide amongst the nice people I was telling you about.” At this point they disrobed from their flight travel suits and began guiding their way down the mountains and into the heart of the city tunnels, hand in hand, hoping not to be too keenly observed by the passing populous. “Cover your head very well, lest we be seen by the authorities,” said the young man. His companion followed the order briskly as they weaved through the subterranean entry point of the city. Prior to meeting the human guards at immigration, they pulled out a small remote control sized gadget and then the man pressed a button. That button then spread a membrane of light over them for just an instant. Then low and behold, the odd pair appeared to the naked eye as an Octogenarian Gaist monk with his young Black apprentice in rustic brown Dunlop cloaks and sandals, bearing no load with them but a rucksack of leather bound holy texts.

As they approached the checkpoint with its full screen body x-rays and four wellarmed Ifrit the “old man” said, “Do not be afraid my child. I accessed the mainframe data of the field operatives and the station chief is a devout Gaist, at least pretender. Due to his ‘piety’ we should be able to have at least a 70 percent chance of scaling through.” (to be continued)

Margot and the Spider

By Debbie Brantley, Vendor

I frequented a spider. By pleasure I sat beside her.

A future she said, fictitiously are the runes.

Astrology and Tarot; a creature.

I managed not to worship her religiously Said I of the Tarot But rather said, “get away from me” repetitiously.

I said, “I go by Margot” because the Tarot imagined me Then it stopped my forward progress. So I said, “Get,” and she, the Tarot, said, “No!” I said I already know the future.

I said, “I’m innocent” and she said “Tumorgo.”

Self Reflection

By David Denny, Vendor

We meet here often at this same old place And the tears you cry wet my face The pain I feel you’ll never grasp You’re just a reflection an image on glass You claim to reveal every fact But image without substance is not exact You are limited to what you can see Stuck in a mirror and can never be free So don’t you even try to hide All your faults and failures inside For all the things you hide I feel The things a reflection can never reveal

Here I Am

By Veda Simpson, Vendor Here I am Jesus, signed, sealed, delivered.

I’m yours.

I lived for the Devil so long, I didn’t know I could reach in my bosom and call God on the phone.

Here I am Jesus, signed, sealed, delivered. I’m yours.

Everything negative I knew how to do, Inside I felt like a demon, I was so very blue.

Here I am Jesus, signed, sealed delivered. I’m yours.

The storm finally passed over.

Blue skies with a rainbow shined through.

I was washed in the blood, that’s when I knew.

Here I am Jesus, signed, sealed, delivered. I’m yours.

Life is a Bowl of Cherries

By Elizabeth Bryant, Vendor

Life is a bowl of cherries. It can play you or you can play it, but whatever you choose to do, don’t do crime, if you can’t do the time.

Learn to forgive or you will be stuck. Nothing cures failure but a try.

Some people will be jealous, don’t want nothing, but if you do go for it, remember the sky is the limit.

I am a fighter. What I mean by that is I don’t give up, no matter how many obstacles I meet. I keep my mind on the goal. I’ve been down. I used alcohol and drugs, but I wasn’t raised like that. And I always wanted more. I will have almost 7 years sobriety, as of January 2, 2014.

I live in SE, but that’s just for now. When I want a safe place, I will come to NW, a lot!

What Is It I have to Do! All Over Again

By Harold T. Bomar, Vendor

What is it that I have to do!

What is it that you have to do?

Is it we.

Or is it already done.

Just as it is it is perfect.

Perfect in ways that can be Chaotic and beautifully disturbing.

A master mind With a master plan To make a master peace.

From the cradle to the grave From the earth to the heavens This is his will.

By Angelyn Whitehurst, Vendor A path walked from a long time ago Forgotten, the lesson learned This was not supposed to happen again.

How did it come to be?

Stop, think and Re-evaluate the now and the then.

Is it the same or for Some reason different.

Does it matter except that it is?

Diffuse the maze A solution please.

Service Spotlight: St. Luke’s Mission Center

COMMUNITY SERVICES

By Kelsey Reid Editorial Intern St. Luke’s Mission Center offers opportunities for homeless individuals and those interested in service.

It is home to a seven-bed, year-round men’s shelter that focuses on transitioning residents into permanent housing through an employment focused model.

Friendship Place’s AimHire Job Placement program provides intensive, individualized vocational rehabilitation and job placement services. Residents are referred to the shelter by Friendship Place staff and partake in Friendship Place’s screening process. The shelter focuses on self-sufficiency and residents are responsible for forming their own schedules, coming and going from the shelter as they need and chores to aid in the upkeep of the space.

The shelter’s residents stay for an average of three to four months and have nearly a 100 percent success rate in both employment and housing upon exit from

Academy of Hope: 269-6623 601 Edgewood St, NE aohdc.org

the shelter and one year later.

The Mission Center also houses the only city-run hypothermia shelter for men in the upper northwest.

It is home to a community garden, with one plot reserved for shelter residents, and a 24-bed hostel that groups who are visiting D.C. for service activities can rent. In addition to its partnership with Friendship Place, shelter residents share a monthly meal with Crossroads, a community of The Metropolitan Church which meets on site.

Community of Hope: 232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

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STREET SENSE August 28 - September 10, 2013

Housing/Shelter

Clothing

Outreach

Transportation

Education

Legal Assistance

Food

Showers

Medical/Healthcare

Laundry

Employment Assistance DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH ACCESS HOTLINE 1-888-7WE HELP (1-888-793-4357)

SHELTER HOTLINE: 1–800–535–7252

Martha’s Table: 328-6608 2114 14th St, NW marthastable.org

Thrive DC: 737-9311 1525 Newton St, NW thrivedc.org

Covenant House Washington: 610-9600 2001 Mississippi Avenue, SE covenanthousedc.org

Miriam’s Kitchen: 452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave, NW miriamskitchen.org

Unity Health Care: 745-4300 3020 14th St, NW unityhealthcare.org

Calvary Women’s Services: 678-2341 1217 Good Hope Road, SE calvaryservices.org

D.C. Coalition for the Homeless: 347-8870 1234 Massachusetts Ave, NW dccfh.org

My Sister’s Place: 529-5991 (24-hour hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

The Welcome Table: 347-2635 1317 G St, NW epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

Catholic Charities: 772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Father McKenna Center: 842-1112 19 Eye St, NW fathermckennacenter.org

N Street Village: 939-2060 1333 N Street, NW nstreetvillage.org

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St, NW | 745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave, SE | 797-3567 whitman-walker.org

Bread for the City: 265-2400 (NW) | 561-8587 (SE) 1525 7th St, NW | 1640 Good Hope Rd, SE breadforthecity.org

Central Union Mission 745-7118 1350 R Street, NW missiondc.org

Charlie’s Place: 232-3066 1830 Connecticut Ave, NW charliesplacedc.org

Christ House: 328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd, NW christhouse.org

Church of the Pilgrims: 387-6612 2201 P St, NW churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach food (1 - 1:30 on Sundays only)

Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place: 364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave, NW cchfp.org

Community Family Life Services: 347-0511 305 E St, NW cflsdc.org

Food and Friends: 269-2277 219 Riggs Rd, NE foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

Foundry Methodist Church: 332-4010 1500 16th St, NW foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities ID (FRIDAY 9-12 ONLY)

Georgetown Ministry Center: 338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave, NW georgetownministrycenter.org

Gospel Rescue Ministries: 842-1731 810 5th St, NW grm.org

Jobs Have Priority: 544-9128 425 Snd St, NW jobshavepriority.org

John Young Center: 639-8569 119 D Street, NW

New York Ave Shelter: 832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave, NE

Open Door Shelter: 639-8093 425 2nd St, NW newhopeministriesdc.org/id3.html

Rachel’s Women’s Center: 682-1005 1222 11th St, NW rachaels.org

Samaritan Inns: 667-8831 2523 14th St, NW samaritaninns.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork: 675-9340 741 8th St, SE sashabruce.org

Subscribe to Street Sense 1 Year: $40 2 Years: $80 3 Years: $120 I want half of my purchase to benefit a vendor directly Vendor Name Vendor Badge # Name

So Others Might Eat (SOME) 797-8806 71 O St, NW some.org

Address Phone

Song to the Homeless Man

By Harriett Stonehill, Volunteer

Street Sense Executive Director Brian Carome and a George Washington University student volunteer Margot Hoffman serve at the August 23rd vendor appreciation barbecue.

As I walked past you sitting on the bench You called to me and said, “Write me a song and I’ll write you a song.”

I smiled, as I always do when I pass you You with your broad, warm, teeth-missing smile You the homeless man, either sitting or sleeping on your bench Like a watchman guarding the bridge.

Yet I offer you no handouts, No dollars, no clothes, nor even conversation.

And as I proceed on my way, I think of my father Who told me to always give money to the “askers.

You don’t know how they fell through the cracks.

And it’s hard to come up.”

PHOTO BY JANE CAVE

How, present occupant on the bench, Sitting with your filled Petco wagon close-by, How did you fall through the cracks?

Impressions of Street Sense

By Jenny Gudmundsen, Editorial Intern On Friday, August 23, I was introduced to my new internship organization, Street Sense. The new interns were invited to a barbeque in honor of the newspaper’s vendors, and I was lucky to join the party. The barbeque was located outside the beautiful Church of the Epiphany courtyard, only a few minutes walk from the White House.

I met many nice students with name tags; unfortunately, they were not my new colleagues but a group of volunteers from George Washington University. The chef of the barbeque was Brian - the executive director. Luckily, he had an umbrella to safeguard the hotdogs and hamburgers.

Suddenly, Eric appeared to offer a tour of the Street Sense offices. I was fascinated by the location and the fact that we are working right next to a church reminds me that this is an important job for society as a whole.

Daniel and David were some of the vendors who sat at my table.They were such

cool guys with an eye for life and love.

David read some of his poems out loud and we were all breath-taken by his powerful voice. He really should start reading them publicly; he’s almost as good a rhetorician as our neighbor Barack Obama!

I also got to meet the president [of the board] of Street Sense himself: Brad. I enjoyed talking to him and Rebecca, who I unfortunately won’t get to work with - she is leaving Street Sense to pursue a Masters in Social Work this fall. I’m really glad to have met these caring people, and that many of them are going to be at my office every week this semester.

I left the barbecue feeling welcomed, and excited to begin on Monday. First day or not, I got to write three news briefs and help edit the upcoming newspaper edition. Reading the lovely poetry by the vendors made me realize how important this newspaper’s mission is. I’m glad to be chosen to work here and already looking forward to my next internship day.

Leon Valentine - 8/23

What was your life like before?

What were your dreams and goals?

What did you wish? What did you fear?

And did you have a great love?

I promised to write you a song To tell you I like your smile, your cleanliness, and your reading the paper.

Homeless man, I’m grateful to you for you do not let me make you just part of the landscape.

And I’m grateful to you for your smile and your voice, strong and optimistic.

You keep me knowing that we - you and I - are both feeling this warm summer rain today.

So here is my song, and here are my thanks.

To: One So Loving and Caring, Ms. Harriett

By Reggie Harrington, Volunteer

I’ve made up my mind Cause life is too short To waste any more time All in the way of a love so true, Missing all the things that life has showed you Keeping it all together inside Only given one chance, That I’d only been denied I often stop in wonder Sometimes in awe.

VIsions of how it should be Based on what I saw.

Darian Hickman - 8/28

I’ve made up my mind to take a chance on life Without second guessing that’s what I’ll do that’s right.

August 28 - September 10, 2013 • Volume 10 • Issue #21 Street Sense 1317 G Street, NW

I’ve made up my mind Cause life is definitely too short To waste any more time.

Nonprofit Org US Postage Paid Washington, DC

Washington, DC 20005

Mail To:

Permit #568

Remember, buy only from badged vendors and do not give to those panhandling with one paper.

Interested in a subscription? Go to page 15 for more information.

Back to School

By Evelyn Nnam, Vendor

Many students are going back to school this fall and stores will be full of people buying school supplies and materials for their children. Students have been enjoying their summer break; having fun and spending time with their families. For example, students may have traveled, spent time with friends, participated in summer camp activities and much more! Some stu-

dents may have attended summer schools or special classes so that they will be able to learn and develop more skills for the next school year. Others may have gone to advanced classes to work on mastering their skills. Some students may have attended libraries and summer reading programs to advance their reading skills. Also, summer is coming to a close and fall will soon arrive to take its course. So students that are going to school should be prepared and eager about the next school year.