09 09 2015

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Volume 12: Issue 22 September 9 - 22, 2015

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Dan Rather Calls For Better Coverage of Hungry, Homeless and Heartsick pgs 6-7

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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 or poverty in our community.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES www.StreetSense.org • • • • • •

Gerald Anderson reflects on “The Last Time I Talk to Mama.”

Tim Ferrell takes a closer look at the legality of safe biking in the District.

Phillip Black (The Cat in the Hat) keeps an eye on Metro.

An update on the life of Elizabeth Bryant.

Colleen Cosgriff processes her time at Street Sense.

Henrieese Roberts learns about police practices.

COVER ART

Former CBS news anchor Dan Rather during an interview.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LUCAS JACKSON/REUTERS

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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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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Brian Carome EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eric Falquero BUSINESS & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Jeffrey Gray VENDOR & SALES MANAGER Josh Maxey COORDINATOR OF EVENTS & AUDIENCE ENGATEMENT Shira Hereld INTERNS Olivia Aldridge, Lindsey Habenicht, Victoria Jones, Alexandra Pamias VENDORS Shuhratjon Ahamadjonov, Gerald Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Lawrence Autry, Daniel Ball, Aida Basnight, Roberta Bear, Phillip Black, Reginald Black, Melanie Black, Phillip Black Jr., Maryann Blackmon, Viktor Blokhine, Debora Brantley, Andre Brinson, Donald Brown, Joan Bryant, Elizabeth Bryant, Brianna Butler, Melody Byrd, Conrad Cheek, Aaron Colbert, Anthony Crawford, Walter Crawley, Kwayera Dakari, James Davis, Clifton Davis, Charles Davis, David Denny, James DeVaughn, Ricardo Dickerson, Dennis Diggs, Alvin Dixon-El, Ronald Dudley, Charles Eatmon, Deana Elder, Julie Ellis, Jemel Fleming, Chon Gotti, Marcus Green, Barron Hall, Tyrone Hall, Richard Hart Lorrie Hayes, Patricia Henry, Jerry Hickerson, Ray Hicks, Rachel Higdon, Ibn Hipps, Phillip Howard, Leonard Hyater, Joseph Jackson, Carlton Johnson, Donald Johnson, Harold Johnson, Allen Jones, Mark Jones, Morgan Jones, Linda Jones, Darlesha Joyner, Juliene Kengnie, Kathlene Kilpatrick, Hope Lassiter, John Littlejohn, James Lott, Scott Lovell, Michael Lyons, Jimmy M. Ken Martin, Joseph Martin, Kina Mathis, Michael Lee Matthew, Authertimer Matthews, Charlie Mayfield, Jermale McKnight, Jeffery McNeil, Ricardo Meriedy, Cynthia Mewborn, Kenneth Middleton, Cecil More, L. Morrow, Evelyn Nnam, Moyo Onibuje, Earl Parkin, Lucifer Potter, Ash-Shaheed Rabil, Henrieese Roberts, Anthony Robinson, Doris Robinson, Raquel Rodriquez, Lawrence Rogers, Joseph Sam, Chris Shaw, Patty Smith, Smith Smith, Gwynette Smith, Ronald Smoot, Franklin Sterling, Warren Stevens James Stewart, Beverly Sutton, Sybil Taylor, Archie Thomas, Shernell Thomas, Craig Thompson, Eric Thompson-Bey, Sarah TurleyColin, Carl Turner, Jacqueline Turner, Leon Valentine, Grayla Vereen, Ron Verquer, Martin Walker, Michael Warner, Robert Warren, Angelyn Whitehurst, William Whitsett, Wendell Williams, Sasha Williams, Judson Williams III, Ivory Wilson, Denise Wilson, Charles Woods

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STREET SENSE September 9 - 22, 2015

Campaign Aims to “Wipe Out” Diaper Need Diapers are expensive. In order to keep one child in clean diapers, parents typically spend $70 to $80 each month.

Because the cost of diapers is not covered by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program —commonly referred to as food stamps—this represents a tangible financial hardship for low-income families.

Many parents resort to extending the use of soiled diapers or drying and reusing diapers, but this practice can often cause skin rashes, irritation, and hospitalization.

In 2011, The National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN) formed in response to diaper need. With 22 percent of children in America living under the poverty line as of the 2010 census, NDBN estimates that one in three families struggle to buy enough clean diapers for their children, about 5.3 million children and infants total.

There are now 257 member diaper banks that have partnered with many other charitable organizations to address diaper need nationally. The network has been campaigning to raise donations of 100,000 diapers during the month of September, in partnership with Kimberly Clark, the DC Diaper Bank and the Association for Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN).

On Thursday September 3, the partner organizations hosted a free diaper distribution event at Bright Beginnings, a childcare and family resource center that supports local homeless children and their families. Bright Beginnings is one of more than 20 DC Diaper Bank partner distribution organizations in the D.C. area. As a partner distribution organization, Bright Beginnings receives about 10,000 diapers monthly, which are then either used in house or distributed to families via Bright Beginnings’ home visit program.

Among the 75 families served by the event was Bolanle Olufisoye, the mother of two daughters, a seven-month- old and a two-year-old, enrolled at Bright Beginnings. She cited diapers and formula as her “two most difficult expenses.”

Olufisoye also expressed the importance of removing diaper need through training efforts at Bright Beginnings.

“As expensive as diapers is, it’s good to know that she’s taking steps to getting out of Pampers and using the bathroom,” Olufisoye said.

Most childcare centers require parents to send disposable diapers with their child to daycare as an issue of health and finance. As a result, the children of parents who can’t afford diapers are kept from enrolling in daycare, and parents are unable to work or attend school.

“If we can eradicate that, then it allows the parents to go to work, and to be able to drop the child off, and also to prevent some skin irritations and rashes and visits to the pediatrician, so all kinds of good things,” said Lynn Erdman, CEO

3

NEWS IN BRIEF of AWHONN. “And a healthy child makes a healthy community.”

Over 4,000 diapers were distributed at the Bright Beginnings event. According to Erdman, similar events will continue throughout September, culminating in “Diaper Need Awareness Week,” from September 28 to October 4.

Donations for the Wipe Out Diaper Need campaign are collected through www.DiaperDrive.org.

-Olivia Aldridge

Text-Messaging Sytem a Potential Guide to Homeless Services On September 1, Miriam’s Kitchen and the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) debuted a system to provide people experiencing homelessness with text messages about local services and emergencies. A pilot of the service, DC Hope One Source, is set to end its final phase at the end of October. The program was developed in partnership with Hope One Source, which created a similar text message system to empower humanitarian aid in Haiti.

Individuals will be able to register with only a phone number. They will also be able to set their location in order to keep information relevant and services within reach. The system is designed to provide a 10 kilometer radius.

Potential categories for text messages include legal assistance, mental health, emergency alerts, transportation, daily forecast, employment opportunities, shelter bed availability, food/meals, and more. Users will be able to check the boxes of the topics they’d like information on and can unsubscribe at any time.

As the presentation went on, developers sent out a sample text, and those enrolled received a message reading: “Alert!

Shelter and blankets available. No ID necessary. Call hypothermia hotline for more information at 555-555-5555.”

This service may also be used to keep individuals up to date on critical information, such as when a shelter has filled for the evening. However, this resource is largely dependent on service providers to

send that type of follow-up information.

Future developments hope to offer a way for users to text back for additional information or assistance.

While an exciting development for enhanced communication between service providers and their clients, Miriam’s Kitchen and ICH are continuing to grapple with the concern that not everyone has a phone, nor does everyone qualify for SafeLink, a free government cellphone carrier.

At this time, the ICH is still working to identify funding to ensure that everyone who would benefit from this service has access to a phone.

-Lindsey Habenicht

Pilot Project Plans State-of-the-Art Affordable Housing in Northeast Green affordable housing is coming to the District of Columbia. The Department of Housing and Com-munity Development (DHCD) and the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) have been se-lected as one of seven teams across the United States that will participate in the Living Building Chal-lenge Affordable Housing Pilot Project. The project aims to create buildings that are comprised entirely of sustainable building materials and that will harvest all their energy and water onsite.

With this opportunity, the District hopes to become a model for green affordable housing that will help low and middle-class residents save money on utility bills and own sustainable homes. The District will be the only city on the East Coast to participate in this opportunity thus far.

The project could be completed as early as late Fall 2017, according to Department of Energy and the Environment spokesperson Julia Christian. DHCD and DOEE will aim to attain a rigorous green building performance standard certification set by the Living Building Challenge, but cannot apply until the project has been fully occupied for one full year. Over the course of the next year and a half, the seven U.S. teams will work toward creating development projects that can meet the Living Building Challenge certification.

The area slated for this project to take place is a formerly vacant site in the Deanwood neighborhood. The site will now house 10-15 equitable, mixedincome townhouses that will offer a cutting edge af-fordable and environmentally-restorative design.

“Since the Green Building Act (2006) was passed, all publicly-financed residential projects must adhere to Enter-prise Green Communities Criteria, a nationally recognized sustainability standard specifically designed for affordable housing,” Christian said.

The District will receive no direct funding for this project. The International Living Future Institute provides an assistance package that includes “hundreds of hours of documentation review, facilitation, and other technical expertise at no cost,” according to a September 3 press release. The District will also be in a group of other pilot projects, learning and sharing best practices with the other teams.

This project is an outcome of a partnership between DHCD, DOEE, and the DC Living Building Challenge Collaborative–a group of local professional volunteers that are committed to sustainability, education and implementation of the Living Building Challenge.

These volunteers formed 20 multidisciplinary design teams that worked for six months to develop concepts for the Deanwood site in the 2015 D.C. Af-fordable Living Design Competition. The concepts the team presented inspired DHCD and DOEE to ex-plore how to implement a Living Building Challenge project.

“This is an opportunity for the District to lead by example and create costeffective, net-positive energy, healthy homes with reduced utility bills for low and moderate-income District residents,” Christian said.

“The District will certainly look to implement the best-practices from this project in other developments throughout the city.”

-Victoria Jones

SYNTHETIC “MARIJUANA”: Easy to Find,

By Lindsey Habenicht & Colleen Cosgriff, Editorial Interns Church security staff, volunteers and Interim Rector Elizabeth Gardner gathered in the doorway of a conference room at Church of the Epiphany.

Inside, a young woman can barely keep her eyes open or hold her own weight. She and a male friend had wandered into the church looking for food. She sips from a glass of milk while Gardner contemplates whether to call an ambulance. It is quickly decided that the woman is stable and coming down from her high. She’ll ride it out in the conference room.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time the church has confronted the real and dangerous effects of synthetic marijuana.

Synthetic marijuana--which is nothing like its eponymous counterpart--has been a problem in the District for several years.

But new legislation cracking down on businesses who sell the drug, increased media attention and continued policing have seen drug users and street merchants testing new areas for solitude.

The problem persists because new versions of the drug continuously appear.

Manufacturers design new chemical iterations to evade laws and meet demand.

Recently, Washington D.C. has seen a steady rise in its distribution, use, and repercussions.

In June alone, ten overdoses occurred outside the largest homeless shelter in the District. The drug is thought to be linked to growing violence in the city.

Just last week, D.C. police seized 265 pounds--19,240 packets--of the synthetic drug Bizarro at a warehouse in Northwest

D.C. Two men face federal charges of possession with intent to distribute and each faces a possible 20 years in prison.

Fear of the Unknown Synthetic marijuana appeals to many users because it is not easily detected on drug tests.

“A lot of people started smoking Scooby because it’s not detected in a lot of drug surveillance,” said John Wilson,* a D.C. resident who has witnessed the rise of the drug in his Southeast neighborhood. “What I’ve heard is the feds have created a test that will pick it up. But that only catches people that are in the court system.”

There is no usable field test at this time that can accurately detect the ever-changing chemical complexities of synthetic drugs. Drugs samples must be sent to a lab for analysis.

The name changes, as does the formula, according to Wilson. Users ask for “K2,” “Spice,” “Scooby,” or “Bizarro,” and with each purchase, they are taking a gamble.

“You have no idea what you’re getting when you buy it,” said Ken Martin, a Street Sense vendor who has witnessed the effects of K2 on his friends. “The people I knew that started smoking K2 are not the same people I knew before.”

"You can hallucinate. You get stuck. You get wild" Sometimes the high will be a calm, zombie-like sensation. Other times it leaves

users violent and paranoid. The drug will impact each person differently and no one really knows what is in the package.

“This stuff has different effects on you,” Wilson said. “Sometimes it has you where you are stuck: you know what’s going on around you, but you can’t react to it. You could be sitting there, and know I’m going in your pocket, and you’re conscious of everything that’s going on, you just don’t have the power to resist or stop me.”

But other times, users hallucinate. Wilson recalls seeing a man on the street who took off his clothes, jumped onto a bike rack on the front of a Metro bus and refused to come down. He noted the man’s “super human strength”--similar to the effects of PCP--that required seven to eight officers to restrain him.

Based on the packaged product sold on the streets, you cannot determine what the high will be.

Wilson explained that the loose synthetic “VA,” named after Virginia, where it’s produced, is twice as strong as what is in the commercial packaging.

Availability Synthetic drugs are taking reign over others for a primary reason: they’re accessible. It can be found online, at convenience stores, and on the street, often masked as potpourri with the label “Not for human consumption.”

“It’s really not an incense, it’s really a drug being sold under the disguise of incense. Who buys a little tiny pack of in-

cense for $10 anyway?” Wilson said. “You can get a whole bag of potpourri for four or five dollars.“ A quick Google search can pinpoint a dozen wholesale online marketplaces, making it clear that synthetics are far easier to come by than natural marijuana.

One webpage even offers a disclaimer, even though the products are listed as not for human consumption: “first timers should try the Doggie Snax Incense Original Flavor, but frequent buyers are encouraged to purchase the Doggie Snax Potpourri 2nd Generation.”

Many of the stores that do not sell it are posting signs that read “We pledged not to sell synthetic drugs or drug paraphernalia,” in the hope that it will defer interested buyers who frequently stop in.

But it doesn’t do much.

Mary,* a cashier at a Southeast convenience store, told Street Sense that someone comes in asking for “Scooby” every day, despite the sign posted on the doorway of the store.

“The first time someone came up to the counter asking for ‘Scooby Snax,’ I said ‘We don’t sell dog food here,’” Mary said.

“My co-worker had to explain to me what they meant.”

In mid-July, she had to call 911 after a man overdosed on the synthetic drug outside the store.

“I have no idea what it was laced with, but he was foaming at the mouth,” she recalled.

The Price Tag “It’s a vicious drug, and it’s so affordable,” Wilson said, adding urgency to the understanding of the crisis at hand.

Synthetic drugs are far cheaper than their alternatives, and this has greatly contributed to the widespread effects the drugs have had on homeless and lowincome communities.

Wilson explains that $10 for a drug is very inexpensive. With one small pack of K2, users can roll about 30 joints and sell each one for $4. It’s affordable and it’s profitable.

“You notice, most people who are passing out are in homeless areas or homeless shelters, because it’s so easy to afford.

It’s not like heroin where you have to get $20 or $40. These people, all you need to do is just hustle up about $3 and that one joint is going to take you away.”

Legal Efforts

Screenshot of an online potpouri retailer. A variety of synthetic drugs can be purchased at sites similar to this one.

In July, Mayor Bowser signed into law emergency legislation to punish businesses for selling synthetic drugs. This has only pushed the drugs onto the streets according to Wilson.

STREET SENSE September 9 - 22, 2015

5

NEWS

Hard to Prosecute, Incredibly Dangerous The “Sale of Synthetic Drugs and Emergency Amendment Act” allows authorities to shut down any business selling synthetic drugs for up to four days. The business can also face fines up to $10,000. Second-time offenders face up to $20,000, a thirty-day shut down or the loss of their license.

At an August 12 press conference, Bowser responded to a general question about “synthetic marijuana” by correcting the name. “I talked about synthetic drugs,” she said. “I almost never call it synthetic marijuana and I would encourage you not to call it that either, because it’s nothing like marijuana. We know that these drugs produce really psychotic effects, we know that they are causing people to act in very irrational ways, violent ways... We know that synthetic drug use is a problem that we’re concerned about.”

Wilson believes the problem is that stores caught selling synthetic marijuana in the guise of incense or potpourri are treated similarly to if there were a health code infraction: the business is made to temporarily close. However, in October 2014 synthetic drugs became recognized as a “Schedule 1 controlled substance” by the District Department of Health.

This puts synthetics in the same category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy, which means their use or possession with intent to sell merits the same legal ramifications.

“Somebody needs to start going to jail, just like if it’s heroin or cocaine. Somebody needs to pay. People are dying from this drug. People are burning up brain cells that are never coming back. They’re changing these people’s lives,” Wilson said.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)’s strategy isn’t to try to lock up users, explained Department’s Director of Communications Gwendolyn Crump in an e-mail. MPD is trying to deter users from taking the synthetic drug in the first place because it endangers them and the community.

Police engagement has proved to be an effective means of addressing the problem for the Church of the Epiphany, located downtown in Northwest, D.C. The church, which hosts breakfasts and programs for over 200 people experiencing homelessness each Sunday, has seen recently seen dealers and addicts on the grounds while parishioners try to run the programs inside. None of them are regular program participants.

“We called 911 three Sundays in a row.

Two for overdoses and one for fighting, but all three related to K2,” said InterimRector Gardner.

In response to what she had seen three Sundays in a row, Gardner made a preemptive call to 911 on the fourth Sunday. It was at that time that two neighborhood policemen, officers who know everyone by

name just as well as the church staff, offered to come by during the program. In this way, they were able to focus on crisis prevention rather than crisis management.

Gardner said that this proactive measure gave everyone a chance to exhale.

“I wanted our community to know that they can feel safe. I wanted everyone to feel like this is a sanctuary. That’s what the red door means: that it’s a place you should be able to come to and feel safe,” she said.

Concerned Communities The church courtyard is also a place where Julie Turner, a social worker, often meets with her clients. Many of them are Street Sense vendors.

Turner has noticed that during the week, when there are many people around, K2 is not a problem. But on Sundays people take advantage of the lighter foot traffic and averted attention.

Ronald, who comes to the Welcome Table breakfasts on most Sunday’s, is also concerned about the rise in K2’s prevalence. “It can turn people zombie-like. I saw someone start to walk across the road [who was high on K2], and they just froze in the middle of the road.”

Ronald isn’t the only Welcome Table guest who is wary. Turner says many Street Sense vendors and people who go to the Sunday programs worry that the drug presence will cause the programs to be shut down.

“It’s not Street Sense vendors who are using and selling [K2] outside. Street Sense vendors are very protective of Street Sense. And we can recognize most of the people who come to Welcome Table.” Turner said. “These are new people that we don’t recognize [who are bringing drugs to the courtyard].”

Concern extends beyond a program shutdown and into matters of health, however. It appears that several people, including regulars of Welcome Table, have unknowingly taken K2, convinced that it was something else.

“We have seen our people under the influence of K2 and we were disappointed at first,” Gardner said. “But even the police who came that are familiar with some of the folks said the same thing...they knew these people were clean. It seemed to be a mistake.”

A Deeply-Rooted symptom ”It’s a symptom of a greater need,” said Ken Martin, in reference to homelessness.

For many users in the homeless community, the drug is a form of escape. A Street Sense vendor -- in an effort to share why people would use such a harmful drug --

The contents of a packet of “Spice,” a common brand of synthetic drugs marketed as potpourri and labeled as ‘not for human consumption.’ said, “No one cares about them and they want to get out of their situation. For some amount of time after they’ve taken [the drug], they have no worries.”

That’s why the People for Fairness Coalition (PFFC) has taken this rising epidemic as an opportunity to educate homeless individuals about the effects of synthetic drugs, noting that substance abuse education is a critical aspect of ending homelessness.

“Folks get into survival mode and think that their lives don’t matter. Homelessness really is depressing, and they medicate themselves. When they find something cheap to medicate themselves, that’s even better,” said Robert Warren, co-founder of PFFC. “. But we got to let them know that we’re watching out for them and they’re doing more harm than good.”

Warren and PFFC have begun to ramp up the outreach they’re doing concerning synthetic drugs. While PFFC has oriented its focus to low-barrier shelters--where they hope to host discussion groups-members have been working diligently to pass out flyers and fact sheets at shelters across the District.

They are also working with the Department of Human Services (DHS) to find a supportive place for people suffering from the effects of synthetic drugs can go and be monitored. Currently, many users wander into day centers. But with the knowledge of the psychotic effects that K2 can have, staff worries that they are putting both themselves and others in danger. “[Outreach] is our main goal. We want

to be a face that folks can recognize, faces in the community that folks can relate to, even folks who may have engaged in [synthetic drugs], but got away,” said Warren.

“We’ve got to have people with lived experiences mentoring others in the community.

Looking up Since Church of the Epiphany engaged with the MPD, the K2 problem on church grounds has settled down. While it’s still a long, uphill battle, there was not a single crisis at the most recent Sunday service.

“Things were much better,” Gardner said.

However, she cannot let her guard down and continues to think about the best ways she can manage issues such as these at her church. For now, Gardner takes each incident case-by-case.

“I can only hope that God works through me to identify the problem, find a solution. It is easy to judge others, but that’s not what the Bible says,” Gardner explained. “We have to help others. We can’t just observe.” *Name has been changed.

Inventions

By Derian Hickman, Vendor/Artist K2 is an invention.

You can buy it, or not buy it.

People can complain.

Or not complain.

Pass by?

Dan Rather on the Decline of Investigative

By Adam Sennott Spare Change News, Boston After more than 60 years in journalism, former CBS News anchor Dan Rather still believes that a free and independent press is the "red beating heart of freedom and democracy." But news organizations aren't living up to that standard, he says.

Nor are they working hard enough to "give voice to the voiceless."

Currently anchoring AXS TV's The Big Interview, Rather is also about to come to a movie theatre near you. Or at least the story of his contentious breakup with CBS News in 2006 will be. Slated for a peak awards-season slot in October, “Truth” will star Robert Redford as Rather and Cate Blanchett as his CBS producer Mary Mapes. The movie examines CBS's controversial report alleging that President Bush, running for reelection at the time, had relied on preferential treatment to avoid fighting in the Vietnam War. The ensuing scandal saw Rather step down and Mapes fired. The veteran reporter — who has stared down Nixon, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, and Yasser Arafat — blames the rise of corporate interests in journalism for a slip in standards at his old employer.

Rather believes that news organizations need to provide better coverage of "the hungry, the homeless, the heartsick, the masses of people that are voiceless."

Providing that voice has "been a constant motivator" throughout his career. But even from his position of power, he has not always been successful in increasing coverage of the homeless and impoverished.

"There's not nearly enough of it, and what there is, is not nearly of high enough quality," Rather says. "I think it's important to note that I do not exclude myself from that criticism."

Most reporters today lack the courage and the determination needed to provide high quality coverage, Rather says. News organizations are frequently

unwilling to invest in the high degree of investigative reporting that is necessary for such coverage.

"The business structure of journalism works strongly against it," Rather says.

"Finding the financing for deep-digging investigating reporting, and first-class international reporting… it's very difficult. And even if you are able to get the financing for it [it's difficult] to find anybody who will distribute it.

"Much of that has just evaporated."

While the media looks away from issues of poverty and homelessness, entertainment coverage is booming. "You could find financing very easily to do something on the Kardashians or anything having to do with Hollywood and celebrity coverage," Rather says. "And you could find widespread distribution for it."

The shift in news from serious issues to fluff is, Rather believes, a threat to the very foundation of American life. When journalists and news organizations feel more pressure to make money than provide a public service, he says, "it is very dangerous in a society such as ours, which is a constitutional republic based on the principles of freedom and democracy… it can be lethal.

"Journalism at its best matters; journalism at its best is important," Rather continues. "But to do that kind of journalism consistently on a [regular] basis requires an ethos that journalism is a public service, not in the service of powerful corporations, and not in the service of government."

One of the results of news organizations' unwillingness to invest in high quality investigative journalism has been a greater reliance on freelance journalists to cover international events and wars.

"Even the best of news organizations have become far too much news packagers, rather than news gatherers," Rather

says. "It's much less expensive to say, 'look we'll close those bureaus and we'll buy freelance coverage… it's less expensive, and you stay out of trouble."

Increasing corporate interests in journalism have also played a large part in the diminishing of quality news coverage. "Very big business is in bed with very big government, for their mutual benefit, for their mutual benefit, not to the benefit of news consumers, and not as a public service.

"The sense of public service is what's been drained out of a bunch of journalism of the last 25 to 30 years."

Rather looks back to his days filing reports from the frontline in Vietnam and is disappointed that news organizations have become a lot less willing to challenge those in power.

"There's more reluctance to question the powerful, to speak truth to power.

There's less of that now than there was, say, a quarter of a century or more ago," he says.

"So much of what is called news now is: put four people in a room and get them to shout at one another," Rather adds. "Instead of sending reporters to Afghanistan, or to Yemen, or to Somalia… it's much easier to just put for people in a room to shout at one another about what's happening.

"And by the way, all too often those people in the room shouting at one another have never been to those places."

Journalists are also reluctant to ask hard questions closer to home - particularly about special interest money in Congress, and throughout Washington.

"While sporadically there is some coverage of it, there's not the persistent, constant coverage," Rather says.

Meanwhile, campaign contributions continue to rise. Rather estimates that they will hit $5 billion this presidential campaign. "Who's going to give it? To whom are they going to give it? And what do they expect to get for it?"

“There’s more reluctance to question the powerful, to speak truth to power.”

Journalists are running scared, he argues. "As long as you move with the herd, move with the 'approved' narrative, you're not going to get in trouble. But if you break out from the herd, if you go against the 'approved' narrative, the retribution can be quick, and powerful."

For American journalists - and those around the world - Watergate remains a high water mark of the industry's ability

to hold the powerful to account. At the time, Rather was CBS News' White House correspondent and was at the forefront of the coverage of the criminal scandal, which eventually toppled Nixon.

In his autobiography, Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News, Rather writes that prior to the break-in at the Democratic National Committee's Watergate headquarters in Washington D.C., his house was broken into. Nothing was taken, but Rather's files were rummaged through, and his family was warned by the wife of a Republican senator that the incident could have a politically motivated.

Two months later, the Watergate crisis detonated. Despite Rather's unnerving experience, he reported the story and asked tough questions of the Nixon administration. He refused to be intimidated, but he doesn't see himself as a courageous individual.

"I have no illusions of myself," Rather says. "Overwhelmingly, most of the time I haven't been as courageous as I should have been."

Rather worked at CBS News for more than four decades, but in 2004 he began to notice an ominous change in the culture of the network. He and his colleagues were in the process of breaking the story of U.S. military officials committing human rights violations against detainees at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.

"It was a very difficult story to cover, one of those stories that I found myself in the early stages saying, 'I hope [we] get told that this is not true,'" Rather says.

"But developing that story, and trying to get the story on the air, for the first time in my time at CBS, I began to say to myself, 'something has changed here.'

"This was by any objective analysis, a major story. To have a worldwide break on that kind of story, what news organization would pause?

"The CBS of [Edward R.] Murrow, and the CBS of Will Paley… they would have hated the story for what it was, but they would have said really quickly, 'this is a story that needs to go on the air, and it needs to go on the air now.'"

Unfortunately, Rather says, William Paley no longer owned CBS. Sumner Redstone had taken over the organization when it merged with Viacom in 2000 and his news philosophy was very different than that of Murrow, Paley… and Rather.

"We eventually got the Abu Ghraib story on the air because some of our sources began to say, 'listen, if you're not going to run it, we'll go elsewhere," Rather says.

"But then, very quickly behind that, came the Bush National Guard story."

And with it, the end of Rather's time at CBS News.

Rather's story alleged that President

STREET SENSE September 9 - 22, 2015

Journalism George W. Bush used his father's influence as a prominent Texas congressman to get him placed into a 'champagne unit' in order to avoid combat during the Vietnam War, only to go AWOL from the unit for about a year with no explanation. The story ran in September 2004, in the midst of a heated presidential campaign between Bush, and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry (who had been a Navy speedboat captain on the Mekong Delta).

The story exploded. Accusations were made that the documents Rather had used were forged, and his source later admitted that he lied to him. While Rather says that all of the other evidence he used still supported the facts he reported, he apologized on the air.

A year after reporting the story, he announced his retirement from CBS News, departing the network in 2005. He had been their anchor for 24 years. He later sued Viacom and CBS News executives, alleging that they made him the scapegoat in the Bush National Guard story, but his case was dismissed.

Rather says that in the case of the Bush Air National Guard story, CBS abandoned its long-held tradition of defending their reporters and their work, and left him out to dry.

"The history and tradition of CBS News is that it stood behind its reporters and their stories, Rather says. "Murrow with [Joseph] McCarthy, Murrow and smoking, Murrow and Harvest of Shame: these are stories that gave the corporate side of the network difficulty, but the point is, they may not have liked them, but they backed them.

"Coverage of the civil rights movement, coverage of the Vietnam War, the Watergate period… It was the history and the tradition," Rather says. "It was what made CBS News the great worldwide news organization."

Despite everything that happened, Rather says the basic facts of the Bush story were accurate, and that he still stands by the story today.

"I made a mistake; I make a lot of mistakes [but] the Bush story was true."

Ahead of the release of Truth, the movie that tells the story of his downfall, Rather says things may have ended differently had he seen the way the wind was blowing sooner. "I didn't recognize it soon enough, I didn't recognize the depths of it soon enough.

And when it came time to respond to it, in the wake of the Abu Ghraib and the Bush story, I wasn't quick enough, smart enough, or good enough to mount the kinds of response that might have headed it off."

The film is based on the memoir of former 60 Minutes Producer Mary Mapes, “Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power.” For fans of heroic liberal journalists kicking against the system, the casting of Redford will recall the classic film of the Watergate affair, 1976's All the Presidents Men, in which Redford starred as Bob Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein. Having spoken to the dashing Redford about the film, Rather told the New York Post that the casting has made him feel "humble".

All the Presidents Men was the inspiration for thousands of young people to become investigative journalists, to follow in the footsteps of The Washington Post's courageous Woodward and Bernstein. It remains to be seen whether Truth can similarly help reinvigorate the industry that Rather loves.

Whatever the response to the movie, Rather has already distinguished himself as one of the most influential journalists of our time. "I enjoy a great deal about what I do," he says. "I have a passion for work. I have a lot of flaws, and may have made mistakes, but I have a great passion for covering news."

Courtesy of INSP News Service www.INSP.ngo To read Street Sense Vendor/Artist Moyo Onibuje’s thoughts on journalism, visit streetsense.org

7

NEWS

D.C. Finalizes Winter Plan to Protect People Experiencing Homelessness

By Lindsey Habenicht, Editorial Intern Though the summer heat has just begun to melt away, the city has already finalized its winter plan to protect those who are homeless from cold weather injuries, such as hypothermia. The plan, required by law, was unanimously adopted by the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) on September 1.

Hypothermia season is from November 1 to March 31, though an alert may be called at any time.

In response to data on the number of individuals and families seeking shelter during hypothermia sea-son in previous years, the ICH included a 20 percent contingency estimate to each anticipated count in the 2015-2016 comprehensive plan.

The city projects a need for 1600 beds for single adult men, 490 beds for single adult women, and be-tween 553-981 private units for families, depending on the month. These are capacity estimates for what the District expects to need at the peak of the cold season, not the expected need on November 1.

However, these numbers are just that: an estimate. Numbers in the winter plan are primarily based on previous years, but considering that more people sought shelter in July 2015 than at the peak of last winter, service providers cannot be certain of the need.

“Frankly, the thing that scares a lot of us is that we don’t know if we’re at the beginning, middle, or end of our housing crisis,” said Scott McNeilly, co-chair of the ICH executive committee.

The recently approved plan outlines how the city will protect residents who do not have homes from cold-weather injuries, an obligation under DC law.

The plan includes overnight shelter arrangements for youth, single adults, and families, day centers, as well as transportation, food and case management and mental health services, and cooperation of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Though many of the procedures outlined in the plan operate regardless of the temperature, additional resources become available during a hypothermia alert, which is called when the actual or forecasted temperature is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below.

Street outreach to those in need will expand significantly during this season. Services will include crisis intervention, mental health screening, referrals to shelters, and housing assessments. Nine additional vans have been added to the transportation schedule in order to decrease wait times; for many, vans are the primary means of getting to and from shelters. Van drivers will be equipped to distribute blan-kets and cold weather supplies to those that decline the opportunity to receive shelter.

In an effort to help those most vulnerable and reluctant to come inside, the city employed warming buses during the winter of 2014-2015, until they were suspended. Though the buses received high praise for saving lives, they were not unanimously welcomed by business owners and homeowners in the neighborhoods where they were strategically parked.

“Generally, the warming busses were well received by our clients. The warming buses allowed people to stay with their belongings and in the parts of the city that they knew well,” said McNeilly. “The

ICH was supportive of using those busses, but it was something that was outside of our control.”

The plan has since expanded the use of neighborhood-based recreation centers and churches.

If shelters become filled near capacity, these recreation centers -- identified as overflow sites around the city -- will be activated.

“The reliance on the rec centers has been good in some ways, and challenging in others,” said McNeilly. “It’s been good in that they’ve been a reliable source of basic space well distributed around the city. There have been some challenges associated with them in that they’re not necessarily availa-ble early in the evening. They can’t really get the beds set up, or make sure meals are available until 9 pm, when their other activities have ended.”

In a new development applauded by advocates and service providers, hypothermia alerts will also be called when the temperature is forecasted to be below 40 degrees Fahrenheit if there is a 50 percent chance of precipitation.

“It’s long been known that the risk of hypothermia is as much linked to getting wet as it is to getting cold,” said McNeilly. “It’s a compassionate response.”

Additionally, efforts of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration to move families out of shelters and into homes, as outlined in the Homeward DC plan, are echoed in the procedures for the winter.

In fact, portions of the winter plan -- particularly family capacity -- are reliant on the District’s ability to maintain a high level of exits “The question is, do we have adequate staff to do that,” asked McNeilly.

This is not an uncommon skepticism of the plan, as the numbers outlined are rather optimistic.

If and when exit rates are slowed down, the District will be forced to utilize contracted motels. In preparation, and with expectancy that anticipated numbers may rise, several motels in the DC area have been pre-contracted.

“In many years past, and with prior administrations, it was a challenge to get the city to recognize the need for back up plans and contingency plans. Now it’s more a part of the culture. [The city] recogniz-es that we need to be prepared for the worst,” said McNeilly.

The plan is designed to remain fluid in order to accommodate ever-changing data sets and capacity charts, which are expected to be revisited on a regular basis.

One major expected change is the need to serve youth, particularly those age 18-24. The District re-cently conducted its first ever homeless youth census as a means to derive capacity figures, but the data will not be available until December.

In a presentation given by the ICH on the day of the vote, members explained that youth hotlines would be active 24/7, and that teams are remaining committed to building capacity for this population.

“Our commitment and our obligation is managing to the need, not the number in the plan,” said Kristy Greenwalt, Executive Director of ICH. “We will bring on additional capacity as needed.”

VENDOR PROFILE: ERIC THOMPSON-BEY

By Lindsey Habenicht, Editorial Intern

On Wednesday, August 26, The Street Sense Filmmakers Co-op screened two original documentaries about the directors’ personal experiences with homelessness to a sold-out theatre of 250 people at E Street Cinema.

Eric Thompson-Bey has come to find refuge in his ability to create. He was dealt a hard hand, but that has not stopped him from rewriting his life's story.

"Writing gives me a chance to think. I can sit there and make a story of my own.

I can imagine what I want to write, put it on paper, and make it happen," Thompson-Bey said.

But the story hasn't always been his own.

Growing up in Southeast D.C., Thompson-Bey only knew a broken family.

His mother passed away when he was 2-years-old, causing the family to split.

He was then raised by his father until he died when Thompson-Bey was 9. At that point, his sister took him in. He entered adolescence with no guidance, structure or discipline.

At the age of 19, Thompson-Bey found himself caught up in the streets, in-andout of prison and battling a drug problem.

He was unable to complete his education.

"I wish that I could do a lot of things over," Thompson-Bey said.

When asked if he has remained close with his family, he shook his head. Some-

day, Thompson-Bey will be ready to reconnect. But he doesn't believe they could understand what he's going through right now.

"Sometimes I'm mad at my sisters because they've got places to live. I'm the only one out there homeless," ThompsonBey said. "And maybe they think I'm the same person."

However he has come a long way since first becoming homeless in 1997. Thompson-Bey has rewritten his story countless times. He marks 2008 as one of the most monumental years in his recovery, the year he started at Street Sense.

"I love Street Sense. Since I've been here, I've had a lot of opportunities. I've met a lot of good people," ThompsonBey said. "The paper is my livelihood.

It's how I survive, and it's always been there for me."

Although he spent a period of time away from the paper, he always finds his way back.

"It gave me a lot of confidence, coming into [Street Sense] out of prison; to have people trust me who didn't even know

me," Thompson-Bey said.

One of the happiest moments of his story so far was when he was asked to be a spokesperson for the paper.

"I knew that they knew my history — my drug history, my criminal history — but they gave me a chance," Thompson-Bey said.

"That was a big deal for me. People don't usually ask me things like that. And I was so happy, I cried, and cried, and cried."

For Thompson-Bey the paper is about more than the money. It's about the relationships he's built with the people who see him selling, who listen to his story, and who believe in his drive to make a better life for himself.

Thompson-Bey could go on and on about how supportive the Dupont Circle community is of Street Sense and its vendors.

"Opportunities come from people who see me doing the paper every day and know my stories," he said. "A vendor in Dupont Circle offered me a job to work on his farm."

If everything goes as planned, Thompson-Bey will leave for the farm in midSeptember to work apple-picking season.

hoods what they are. We give them the reputations that they have. I have some friendly, hardworking neighbors who want nothing but the best for our neighborhood. Those are the ones that can make a good difference.

I spend a lot of time in the Dupont Circle neighborhood selling Street Sense papers and eating out. The crime and violence rate is lower than in my neighborhood. You can find couples, families or tourists walking and shopping at any time. The comparison between my neighborhood and Dupont is like night and day.

I do have a little history with Dupont.

Before my father passed away in 1976,

he used to take me to Dupont on the weekends to feed the birds. I remember the underground stores, the People's Drug Store at Dupont Circle (now the CVS)...

I started selling Street Sense in 2008. I only sold at Dupont Circle on weekdays.

I met many people who work in Dupont but don't live in the neighborhood that supports our paper. I am very thankful.

I've also met many people that live in Dupont and support us. They have welcomed Street Sense vendors to their neighborhood. They thank me for being out there.

Especially at the Fresh Market on Sundays.

I feel right at home.

My Neighborhoods

By Eric Thompson-Bey< Vendor/Artist

I was born and raised in the Congress Heights/Anacostia neighborhoods here in Washington. Over the years I have seen many changes, good and bad. Now after being away for over 24 years, I'm back in Congress Heights.

Despite the poverty, crime, and violence, I love my neighborhood. I've been back for about two months. As I ride my bicycle to the metro, I reminisce about how we used to play football in the streets and how we used to have block parties without the drive-by shootings that would have sent us diving behind parked cars and buildings.

We as people make our neighbor-

Celebrating Succ

STREET SENSE September 9 - 22, 2015

9

FEATURES

FOGGY BOTTOM, PART 3:

My Virtual Front Yard, Archaeologically Speaking

By Chris Shaw,“The Cowboy Poet”

23rd Street NW, just above L Street.

PHOTO BY CHRIS SHAW

PHOTOS BY KEN MARTIN/ STREET SENSE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

cess Street Sense celebrated its vendor/artists who have shared their talent, moved into housing, obtained jobs, stayed sober, and more at a picnic on Friday, August 28! Many thanks to the NOVA Catholic Community for helping make the celebration possible.

PHOTOS BY CHON GOTTIE/STREET SENSE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

An old French “wives’ tale" describes an expectant woman's result from gazing upon a rabbit: The child had a hare lip or protruding front teeth! In my French-Irish mom's case, she viewed a spread of dusty ancient dwellings for working folk out her aerie corner room on the fourth floor of Columbia Hospital for Women.

From the moment in January 1953 when her baby son Jonathan saw the first light of day, he would forever be totally crazed with love for an esoteric Foggy Bottom as a rabbit adores his carrots. More specifically, Jon Christopher absolutely craved the richness of vernacular Victorian Foggy Bottom.

I was a budding 12-year old shutterbug, with absolutely no architectural training and with just a smattering of historical research experience. My doting dad often led me to the Library of Congress Picture Collection. There, I discovered Frances Benjamin Johnston's iconic 1899 photographs of African-American schoolchildren at play.

Within this mauve-tinted kaleidoscope of city life leapt up an incredible detail of the time. Whether in the school yard or at home, exotic cast iron basket weave fencing, topped by eagle-stamped crests, prevailed in these images. Clearly, this new metal periphery foretold the transformation of a village marching proudly into a capital of global importance.

Thus, in 2015, a kind and vigilant Mr. Gill allowed me a piece of the distant past of this storied part of town. As site supervisor for Clark Construction Group (under EastBanc Development), he honored my request as an amateur historian to pluck a sample of the 1890's crested fence out of the choreographed chaos that methodically transforms a quaint residential plat into a 21st century multiple-use trapezoidal community.

When I move into my new senior studio in Foggy Bottom, the iron relic and I will reside scarcely one block from Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, where my dear parents are laid to rest.

History of My Father Part 2

By Sybil Taylor, Vendor/Artist

After his parents and my mother’s parents met, they got married. He wrote lovely letters to her. He married her with his army uniform on. They exchanged vows and placed rings on each other’s fingers.

With an “I do” they were pronounced man and wife. My mother had a beautiful white dress on with a flower and a beautiful white bow and curls in her hair.

They had their first dance — everyone watched while they danced and kissed.

They were married 55 years. He took her to the movies and to dinner. He took her to see the Beatles, the Temptations, Four Tops, Mary Wells, Frankie Lymon, and the Teenagers. They were high school sweethearts ready for true love and marriage. Listening to the sound of Motown, strolling down the halls of Cardoza, holding hands. My father was good to my mother before and after marriage. They moved in with her mom and dad until they got their own place. My mother soon got pregnant and had my brother, then my sis-

ter. I was the third, and then my youngest sister. My parents had us seasonally!

What a joy to have kids. My parents were happy and proud. They were great parents. They put us through school, packed our lunches, helped us with homework, read bedtime stories, played games with us, and took us downtown.

Together we celebrated all holidays. Christmas and Easter were always great. My father cleaned the snow and planted a garden with the best tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and flowers. He stayed busy doing taxes, writing, keeping the groceries stocked, and keeping the house together.

He was a good father who stayed on top of his game. He kept jobs. He was an express separator for REA Express, a supervisor, an accountant at the Bureau of Engraving. He went to college at Howard University. He was a staff sergeant in the army. He was good at everything he did.

The End

Get Connected #FSET Works Sponsored by the Food Stamp Employment and Training Program (FSET) What: Job and Resource Fair Where: THEARC Location: 1901 Mississippi Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20020 When: Wednesday, October 7, 2015 Time: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm If you receive Food Stamps, but are not eligible for TANF benefits, the FSET Program invites you to join us for the GET Connected #FSET Works Job and Resource Fair.

All attendees must pre-register and attend a mandatory prep session. Please go to https://fsetworks-dc.eventbrite.com to complete your pre-registration and to select a date for your mandatory preparation session with a Vocational Development Specialist.

Food Stamp Employment and Training Program

FSET

Future Success Experience it Today USDA and HHS are Equal Opportunity Providers and Employers

The District of Columbia Government Department of Human Services Food Stamp Employment and Training Program (202) 535-1178

COMICS & GAMES

ENDABLE PUZZLES OF DELIGHT:

Change of Venue!

MATCH THE ORIGINS

By Franklin Sterling, Vendor/Artist

ANSWERS FROM 8/26: 1)Transubtantiation - Catholicism, 2)The Apotheosis of Flatulence - Assyria, 3)Nanuatzin - Toltec Civilization, 4)Our Lady of the Female Genitalia - Sumeria, 6)Ophir - Unlocated Region, 6)Battle of the Naked Men - Florence, 7)Ctesibius - Alexandria, 8)P. Altenberg - Vienna 9)The Abbess Hild - Old England, 10) Imagines - Roman Civilization, 11) Henry of the Love of Women - Minnesanger, 12) J. Knepper - American Jazz 13. Krisis Kallous - Elis, Greece

STREET SENSE September 9 - 22, 2015

OPINION

A Window into Adult Education

By Steve Lilienthal, Volunteer Income inequality’s a hot topic. Often underlying it is knowledge inequality.

For as many bookstores and libraries that the District’s affluent and well educated citizens enjoy, many poorer and less educated residents are just surviving. More than 60,000 D.C. residents lack a high school diploma or its equivalent, according to a 2014 DC Appleseed report.

But many employers are increasingly seeking applicants with strong skills.

Low literacy and low levels of educational attainment in D.C. impacts problems ranging from welfare, poverty, crime, homelessness, health care, and poor performing K-12 schools.

This is not just a city problem.

“There’s a basic disconnect between the math skills of the average American and the skills they need to succeed,” said local literacy advocate and instructor Dirk Keaton in an interview.

Adults age 16-65 in eighteen industrialized countries clearly surpass the United States’ average numeracy skill, according

to the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Only two countries ranked lower. Twelve countries surpassed the United States’ average score in literacy skills.

Despite the damning statistics, there’s good news too. Many D.C. programs are working to increase adult literacy and skills.

A visit to So Others Might Eat’s Center for Employment Training (SOME CET) in Anacostia showed me how they help people build the skills needed to obtain better-paying jobs to provide for themselves and their families.

“What we do is integrated basic education training,” explained Keaton, a SOME CET mathematics instructor. People come to SOME seeking to become a medical administrative assistant or a building maintenance service technician.

“Adults tend to learn math concepts best when learning something they are interested in,” Keaton said.

Classes at SOME CET emphasize practical skills, such as fractions, calculating

11

area, and estimating costs of jobs for students learning carpentry. Medical administrative assistant students learn about decimals, percentages, and bookkeeping.

SOME CET also provides training in soft skills (workplace etiquette, communication skills, critical thinking) needed for success in holding jobs. Statistics for 2013 “retention program” participants show 79 percent were still employed one year later.

CET graduates that year earned an average yearly wage of nearly $27,000; and paid over $7,000 in federal and state taxes.

Statistics for FY 2013-2014 show that the majority of SOME CET learners noticeably gained in skills, exceeding the statewide performance average for adult basic education programs. Adult learners who fail to meet SOME’s entrance requirements are referred to Southeast Ministry to start improving their basic literacy/numeracy skills.

Many participants leave SOME CET better able to be good parents and participating citizens, according to Program Director Emily Price.

September 21-26 is Adult Education and Family Literacy Week in DC. Usually, recognition is confined to adult learners, volunteers and staff. As Keaton notes, adult literacy and adult education is certainly a local concern but also a national concern as demonstrated by the mediocre PIAAC scores.

I urge Street Sense readers to consider attending the Adult Education Panel discussion (6:30 - 8:30 PM) at Busboy and Poets in Brookland on Monday September 21. Knowledge inequality is just as bedeviling a problem in Washington as income inequality. Increased public awareness and involvement can help more District residents improve their lives.

Steve Lilienthal is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C. So Others Might Eat, Southeast Ministry, the YWCA National Capital Area, The Next Step Public Charter School, and Academy of Hope PCS are among the member organizations comprising the DC Adult and Family Literacy Coalition (DCAFLC).

Do You Understand the Black Lives Matter Movement?

By Aida Basnight, Vendor/Artist All lives matter, but people who don’t understand what we mean when we say Black Lives Matter need to ask what it means. For decades, from the Slavery days in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries to after the end of Slavery, Black Lives didn’t matter in White America. History has repeated itself over and over again, way into the 21st Century. Thank God for Camera Phones that exposed white police

officers and mobs of White men in America killing Black males as young as 9 years old.

These grown white police officers all have said they felt “threatened” by our black male babies who happened to carry a TOY BB gun and did not realize that it wasn’t a real gun. Their own guns are very real and shoot and kill people on a daily basis.

Our Judiciary System has bamboozled our Black males and females, leaving out cru-

cial evidence so they are sent away for 1 to 30 years of prison time, only to later find that many of our black prison population are indeed innocent as charged.

If a Black or White police officer killed a white 9-year old male child because he was waving or carrying a toy gun and that officer shot and killed the white 9 year old child, it would be appropriate to say “Yes, all Lives Matters.” But unjustified shoot-

ing of whites hasn’t happened as often as it has happened in Black America and it always happens below the poverty line of Black America. However, it doesn’t really matter how much money you have in Black America. You are still at risk that the judiciary system and the Justice Department will send an innocent Black person away for a lifetime of prison.

An Open letter to George Will; An Incorrigibly Vulgar Trumpkin

By Jeffery Mcneil , Vendor/Artist Dear George: I’m one of those incorrigibly vulgar “Trumpkins” that you and your elitist buddies thumb their nose at. I see you haven't changed your attitude toward us, but are becoming more creative with your put downs and one-liners since denouncing Tump as a “bloviating ignoramus” in 2012.

We are getting under the Republican establishments skin, and you are urging the grown-ups in the conservative movement to read us the riot act.

Mr. Will , you are like the correction officer that doesn't know that the inmates are in revolt. The establishment is not in control anymore, and we are no longer going down the road of Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Although your Washington Post columns are colorful and humorous, a man can make a fortune betting against your predictions.

Weren't you the one that assured that we could make Iraq more democratic and that “Romney would win in a landslide?”

Now you expect us “bloviating ignoramuses” to listen to one of your academic drivels on why we should support another moderate squish such as Jeb Bush.

You constantly accuse Trump of being a counterfeit Republican. But Trump supporters are tired of real Republicans that talk a good game, then go to Washington and flip us the bird.

Donald Trump is more conservative than you'll ever be. He speaks from the heart, not a script. He makes you and the GOP uncomfortable because he takes defined positions instead of regurgitating Beltway talking points.

Mr. Will, whose side are you on?

Everyday Americans are tired of the Koch Brothers, the Chamber of Commerce and hedge funds that see nothing wrong with using cheap labor to undermine American workers.

What’s wrong with Making America Great Again? Mr. Trump and many Ameri-

cans believe we need to have better trade deals. We should no longer let China, Asia and Mexico keep dumping their cheap goods on the American people while they charge ours with high tariffs.

Trump is spot on, it’s time to stop worrying about the poor in other countries and show more concern for Americans here. We have veterans eating out of garbage cans, 93 million Americans unemployed and 110 million on public assistance.

Poll after poll agrees with Donald Trump on stronger border security. Without borders we have no country.

The establishment Republicans are useless: people have lost faith in our institutions; civil disorders abound, and the moral fiber of this country is torn. Our children are being indoctrinated by radical left-wing kooks while the Republicans in Congress are doing nothing to stop the fundamental transformation of America.

The Republicans have let this President

roll them over while he tramples over the Constitution to push through a Progressive agenda which is turning America into the world's bordello.

I’m a Trumpkin because he’s right. We don't win anymore. Our civilization is in decline, socialism is on our shores and it has to be repudiated. If Hillary is elected, America will be a socialist hellhole like Venezuela, Portugal or Greece.

No more Republican lites, we want the straight gin!

I hate to break it to you George Will, but your opinions don't matter. Politics as usual is over. We did it your way now we’ll try something different.

I urge you and your Georgetown friends to save yourself because a wave is coming. We are going to send a message this coming election and give Washington and the progressive Beltway establishment a protracted middle finger.

Trump Trump Trump, all the way!!!

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.

The Hard Life

My Experience of Homelessness

Peace N Love

Their hard life was just a thought that man had taught. Why wellmeaning people gather for what they knew they would never do.

For if in life we told the truth, the dream of a home to call one’s own would be an everyday thing. For the poor would sing of champions, only if this life wasn’t so hard.

And the test would start only when one began to understand — no overstand that in the land of the brave and the free, honey for all will never be.

Look to Russia and you will see Christ was a socialist, would you believe?

Man lives and dies without ever telling a lie. Only to themselves.

I first experienced homelessness when I was growing up in Southeast, D.C. My brother, John, used to sleep on park benches and in the lobbies of hotels.

I myself have experienced homelessness in my time. I was incarcerated for ten years at the age of sixteen for manslaughter. While incarcerated I got my GED and received two different certificates. The first in welding and the second in brick masonry workshops.

Once I got out in 2004, I was homeless for two years. I never thought life could get any worse. I stayed in vacant houses, abandoned buildings, etc. But I stayed motivated till I got my own housing and now attend Medtech college.

I’ve come a long way. I thank God for where I am today.

L.O.V.E. Y.O.U. I wish everybody knew.

I just want the world to care.

Peace is what I want to share.

Can somebody stop the war?

People dying but what for?

I just want the world to live.

Peace is what I want to give.

L.O.V.E. Y.O.U. I wish everybody knew.

Peace to every boy and girl, Peace to everybody in the whole wide world.

Peace to everybody in the world.

Peace to every boy and little girl.

Peace to everybody in the world Throw up your peace sign, peace sign.

Throw up your peace sign

By Robert Warren, Vendor/Artist

“For if in life we told the truth, the dream of a home to call one’s own would be an everyday thing.”

No heartaches or tears.

Never learn to fear and to give of oneself. To find peace when nothing else is left, but another life.

That is not too hard at all. Only to dream of these things as we awaken to another of unjust days.

To keep man in a hard knock-knock life, never right without his life’s hard works.

For his mercy and grace, let the hard work take place in life.

Question Time

By Angie Whitehurst, Vendor/Artist Ask the question.

Get the answer. Now get it done!

Is saving money more important than saving lives?

Are administratively interpreted requirements crushed upon chronic, already -deprived human states of existence relevant? Or are they senselessly insane?

Should not homelessness, poverty, and barebones exposed climactic survival be unacceptable and a shame?

The answer is...YES. Saving a budget buck steeped in past convenient privileges is NOT saving lives. Prevention, no matter what the reason, should be addressed, solved, acted upon. Basic human rights for all should be the same.

In the District, let's get budget autonomy and housing for all first. The rest of our essentials will follow.

By Darren Kelly, Vendor/Artist

The Beautiful One

By Betty Everett, Vendor/Artist, “The Beautiful One” Hey y’all. I’m back. The beautiful one. Hope everything is OK on your end, because I’m OK, by the grace of God! Anyway, I have met new customers and they are really nice, like you. I also met an elderly homeless man while at Dupont Circle. He became homeless because his rent outpaced his Society Security check. (He was a professor at one time in his life.)

He has no family to go to. While in Tenleytown, a nice lady who is also homeless bought papers from me. That gesture really moved me. I see a lot of homeless people that buy me food or my paper. People, in general, are nice and God fearing, which helps me a lot. Without the “higher power” I would have given up a long time ago. This is all for now. But stay tuned.

Remember: Smile and say hello.

My Dreams, My Thoughts

By Charles Davis, Vendor/Artist

Before I wake up in the mornings, I have my special dreams, especially about my family staying together the way my father taught us. He always kept in the faith, and also taught us not to be violent. The one thing my mother did was to make sure that we had food on the table and clothes on our backs. I miss my mother and father so very much that my thoughts and prayers always stay with me because they have done so much for me and my siblings.

As I end my article, Street Sense people, always keep the good Lord in your heart.

HE came here to save us, just as his father had planned. Always keep the good God and Jesus in your heart. God Bless! Peace.

MIA (Men in Absentia)

By Ken Martin, Vendor/Artist

We have an abundance of Tough Guys, and if I ever need some new cans of "Whupass" I can find it. But today I'm looking for men of integrity, character, honor, dignity and pride.

The kind of men who build villages and maintain and sustain them. Looking for men who pull their pants up and do the same for their neighbors' hopes. Men who have vision and believe in seeking and working cooperatively toward common goals.

I've got to talk to some REAL men with whom I can share the old ways before I die.

Men who are thinking, caring, loyal and willing stewards seeking betterment for young, old, infirm or vulnerable fellow community villagers. Where are you? Did I omit the most important traits: brave, humble, courageous, respectable, principled, steadfast and persevering? Those sincere and capable, seeing race as a singularity—HUMAN. It's time to stand up, MEN! Hell, it's long overdue. We are losing generations. We have mothers and babies in the streets. We have ridiculously overpriced housing and maniacal millionaires trying to buy the White House. We are riddled with lost—not misplaced— priorities. Cops are killing the people they are paid to protect. Cultures separate rather than embrace. Drugs are being synthesized to scare voters into approving legalization.

Churches admit sinners so saints can be comfortable.

So, MEN: come out, come out, wherever you are.

We need you!

Please don't be extinct...

Ronald “Pookanu” Dudley, Vendor/Artist

For my daughter, Brookee. Listen at Streetsense.org

Labor

By Michael Craig, Vendor/Artist Labor is a natural responsibility of life.

Labor is erroneously misconstrued with pain and suffering.

But without labor no one benefits from mutual effort.

Labor is actually a gift bestowed upon us. Without the concept of labor, as general terminology, there would be no such thing as civilization, of society, of community, of family structure or personal opportunities.

Then, you would really have a hard job!

Who

By Teddy Leggett, Vendor/Artist Why, why, why?

I saw you I say you last night.

You think no one knows.

You think you got away with it.

You will not be able to hide, You will see all during the day.

It will take on words.

Hold it, hold it, you will not be able to.

Who knows, who knows?

Ask yourself.

Who knows?

STREET SENSE September 11 - 23, 2015

13

VENDOR WRITING Stomp Out Sickle Cell

A Tribute to Mr. B.B. King (Blues and Jazz Great)

By Henrieese Roberts, Vendor/Artist

I learned many things from your joyful sounds and words of wisdom.

You played with zeal, passion, love and much joy of music.

You were there for others, when they felt down.

You were outstanding when performing and singing too.

Thank you Mr. B.B. King for leaving a wonderful legacy for the world of music.

Respectfully, Mr. Phillip Andrew Howard Jr. Street Sense Vendor/Artist #14 May the Lords blessings be with you forever!

B.B. King’s was born on September 16, 1925.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUSTIN BLOCK/FLICKR

PERCEPTION OR REALITY: WE SHOULD ALL HAVE RIGHTS

By Robert Williams, Vendor/Artist, USMC

Greetings, my conscientious, mindopening, soon-to-take-action readers.

Most people go through life silently observing the wrongs that take place right before their very eyes. That is especially true if it doesn’t directly affect them.

They are totally oblivious that it could impact their life at any point.

Perception or Reality?

Selfishness or selflessness: we must learn to move self out of the way. It’s really not as hard as it may appear. Just listen intently to the voice of whoever you may call your higher power, for truly there is a power far greater that all of us.

Perception or Reality?

Think soberly and trust God no matter what. Don’t you know what you do today will determine what takes place tomorrow? It is imperative that you care to be different, that you actually care about someone other than yourself.

Perception or Reality?

You ever ask yourself a question like ‘how come this?’ or ‘why came that?’

Me too. I’m looking for a chain reaction.

Initially, marijuana was legalized in one state, then other states followed suite.

In the same way, gay rights became protected in one state, then others began to follow. The nation’s capital has been an early adopter for both of these issues. So I ask myself: how come Salt Lake City, Utah can end their chronic homelessness and we still have 1,500 chronically homeless people on the street? Imagine that! What’s really going on?

Perception or Reality?

By the way, Salt Lake City, Utah accomplished this feat by embracing “housing first.” Each administration that comes into office vows to end homelessness. Well if one state has done it, it doesn’t take a

rocket scientist to figure hot how to do it again. Just do it — be a copycat! Unless all is a façade.

Perception or Reality?

Okay my awakening audience, what are we gonna do? Continue to allow the system and/or the gov-ernment to play with your intelligence? How can you sit by and allow your veterans—who unselfishly sacrificed tremendously for your freedom and security—sleep on the street or pick food out of trash cans. Please don’t continue to sit idly by and allow such a travesty of injustice to take place. Let’s lift our voices, stand together with purpose and make a change!

One last question: What would you do if you lost your job or got laid off or missed a couple of mortgage payments or rent payments? This situation would undoubtedly propel you into the ever-increasing ranks of the homeless or unstably-housed community. What is the first thing you would do? Treat, respond or do not respond to the homeless community the same way you would want to be treated.

Think about it. No, seriously, think about it please. This homelessness epidemic could impact the lives of you and your family at any given time.

Perception or Reality.

2. To be treated with dignity and respect at all times.

3. To rest, sit, or stand peaceably in any public place and not be harassed.

4. To use any public rest room.

5. To purchase items in any store.

6. To ride public transportation. To live in the pursuit of happiness, because we are all born free.

7. To be sheltered and protected from the cold, the heat, the ice, the storm.

8. To have a safe, affordable home in which to reside.

9. To protect our belongings and keep them with us at all times, if necessary.

10. To be valued by who we are, NOT what we wear, how much money we make or where we live.

If you have any ideas on how to make this a reality, e-mail info@streetsense.org

September is recognized as sickle cell awareness month. The National, Heart, Lung, and Blood In-stitute (NHLBI) provide prevention and treat blood disease to help all live longer and more fulfilling lives.

Research indicates sickle cell disease is a blood disorder that affects red blood cells and causes them to assume an abnormal sickle shape. The healthy red cell in an oval circle, while a red blood cell affected

by SCD looks like a half moon. Oxygen travels in blood and when cells are not normally shaped, the flow of oxygen is impeded and complications develop. Small blood vessels are blocked and tissue is prevented from getting proper blood flow.

Blood transfusion is a preventative treatment for sickle cell. Please donate blood once a month to help our sickle cell needs. Consider registering for bone marrow donations. Bone marrow trans-plantation may secure a cure for some with sickle cell disease.

Give Blood monthly. Register for bone marrow donation. Walk with us at the 9th annual Stomp Out Sickle Cell walk on Saturday, September 12 at 8 a.m. on the National Mall. Learn more at www.soswalk.org

Having Faith

By Ricardo Meriedy, Vendor/Artist God is in control. You must acknowledge yourself and know of the things you do. I know when I am out on the corner selling Street Sense, the donations I receive are a blessing from God. Yes, I do things in life that make me a sinner. But I keep my faith in Jesus and my Heavenly Father, because without them I wouldn’t have the things I have.

Yes, I am blessed to have the material things. But most of all it’s the life I am living, just by having the faith for my Heavenly Father.

I, along with the rest of the Street Sense players, created the following Homeless Bill of Rights: Any and all homeless individuals have the right: 1. To be recognized as part of the one ever-lasting race – the human raceand therefore having access to the same rights as all others, regardless of one’s living arrangements.

Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when it was being constructed.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HICKYDOO/FLICKR | POEM BY FRANKLIN STERLING, VENDOR/ARTIST

Black Sisters, Part 2

Life, Full of Strife, Part 2

By Gynette Smith, Vendor/Artist

“Oh, how nice for her, I guess,” Deedra added.

Lisa loved her home now and did not over-furnish it, which was good for the dog and kept it open and kind of airy.

One day, sitting out back on the patio, retirement came up. Deedra wanted to retire to California, but David wanted to go to Atlanta where he knew a lot of people, including his brother.

The couple went to church, continued their routine and had a good visit with the girls. They saw many of their old friends who were still in the area. Matt was active. He wanted to transfer to Duke Ellington and study voice. He played the trumpet well, but his parents thought he’d get better preparation for college where he was, and denied his request to audition. He was still on the soccer team at school and accepted Deedra and David’s decision. He also enjoyed walking Pasho.

One evening Deedra was at a friend’s home for cocktails and about to call the sitter. when a friend came up to David and her and said,” Well, I hope, that new employee of yours has had her baby, one of your workers was telling me over golf.

David, she must be excited!”

“Yes, I guess. I don’t know.”

One day, over breakfast, Deedra said, “David, let’s take our vacation in Italy this year. Matt can come or stay with his sisters, whatever he chooses.”

“Ok by me.”

A few months later, the phone rang and Kim was on the line.

“You know that girl your husband hired is getting divorced.”

“Why?” “Craziest thing I ever heard! Her husband is supposed to be Al Queda!”

“What! There must be some mistake.

He was not vetted when she was hired, except superficially because they were not married and no one figured that they would, either. They thought they dated superficially.”

After that call , Deedra had nothing

Street Sense Selfies

By Collins Mukasa, Vendor/Artist

By Debbie Brantley, Vendor/Artist but questions. David was vague and would only say “everything is classified.” They argued and as in the past, he once again refused marriage counseling. Deedra consulted with a lawyer and the lawyer came over one evening and talked. He came late because David often came home late.

The divorce would happen, the house would be sold, and Matt and Deedra would live in an apartment that allowed Pasho.

She would have custody of Matt, and she would not demand DNA of Hope’s baby. He would still have his job and his title without scandal. He eventually agreed. Later the divorce became final.

David moved to an apartment and sees Paso when he comes to pick-up Matt. Matt plans to go to the University of Maryland.

After he finishes college, Deedra will retire and they will move to California. the girls are doing postgraduate work and working in Michigan. One is getting married soon and the other plans to marry in the not-too-far future. Matt plans to go to law school one day, probably, and to sing professionally sometimes. Pasho and Deedra are doing fine. Oh yeah, the students really loved the Sound and the Fury.

Sadly, Hope’s stepfather died of natural causes in the hospital. The nature of their relationship before and after her mother died is unclear, at least to Deedra and her friends. Deedra thinks the girls in Michigan can check on her parents, but she is considering moving back to Ohio. Matt can go to college there. Maybe the girls and their husbands will join them in California, at least while they are there.

Deedra later learned that Hope’s father had been expected to make a full recovery when he died in the hospital. Matt is also considering going to a college in Michigan. The chance for Hope to take over when David retires improved because the person she would probably be competing with has developed an addiction to pain medication. Coincidences, coincidencies, coincidencies....

The End

A boy said, “It was cruel and unjust, a punishing thing for Eve to have been taken o u t o f A d a m ’s side.” I guess I feel like Eve because of the many parents who seem to be leaving me with many bargains and putting of money down on the table.

I can use none of them. So I am naked a lot because of this. And am like Eve, I feel, when out in the sheets. People say, “Well, what have you got to show me?”

“What can I have from you for this on that little amount of money?”

That is why I have very little today.

Me and my money are not flowing like a river. And, therefore, I have to ask a lot of times for things. It’s like having lots of husbands. Adam, Eve’s husband, was her husbandman or keeper of husbands.

Whoredom would take this away. But does whoredom go with the river? I know it came from the tree. They are trying to make it so whoredom will go with the river. But they won’t have bargains to make it so, I will have bargains and therefore will not act like a whore.

When I consider then, why it has been so hard for me, I often consider that I come from bargains. Bargains are hard to come by these days. I get to keep them, the bargains and bargaining, because I kept eating the fruit of trees (NOT THE FAMED TREE OF LIFE FRUIT). They wanted Eve to be fatherless. I believe that Eve might have been a hard women who could fight too hard and good for anyone’s taste. I believe that Eve was very sweet and kind.

So what is sin to me? It is a bargain and it is strange. Because, say some clowns, “no original sin to keep you going anymore to me.” But, I believe I still have the right to keep my life going because of it.

If I were to be anything concerning the river, I would be, like the Bible says, “planted like a tree and my life flowing like a river,” in Psalms or Proverbs.

What does this mean? It means no strangeness and no bargains. You are being treated strangely if you are homeless and poor. What should you do? You should keep the strangeness. Do what you are told to do and work, study, and play.

The original sin means that Eve could not be loving or sweet. That, deep inside, she was mean and unkind. She wanted to find another way to continue on and she did not want God, Himself. Why did she not want Him? Because He was, in her mind, good to her, and she could not be good (acting).

I am trying to find another way. People often find me and I help them. The other way for me would be to avoid whoredom with reproductivity. And instead live life on bargains and skip the tempting river with its life of ease and comfort.

So what is sin to me?

It is a bargain and it is strange.

Revolutionariness and teetotaling are the driving force behind some companies today. It’s become a river. But some, including me, say that the Lord, Himself, the one almighty and life giver will admit that these river-like ways are wrong and justice will prevail, with the devil being called devilish, and a high “moral indemnity of the spirit, mind, and body that he was born with.”

So IF you are being taken advantage of and are being beaten, kept down and oppressed, remember that the law says you can fight back and win. An old lawyer, Ralph, said “Don’t give into bargains.”

But I say, mull over it using a few pieces of good sweet fruit. Even “sometimes” fruit is called fun.

The End

Hello to my friends Alexa, Bev, and Julia - special thanks to Steven for the cell phone!

15

STREET SENSE September 11 - 23, 2015

COMMUNITY SERVICES Housing/Shelter

Food

Clothing

Showers

Outreach

Medical/Healthcare

Transportation

Laundry

Education

Employment Assistance

Legal Assistance

Academy of Hope Public Charter School: 269-6623 | 601 Edgewood St, NE aohdc.org

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

Community of Hope: 232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

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

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

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

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

Catholic Charities: 772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

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

Friendship Place: 364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave, NW friendshipplace.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

Martha’s Table: 328-6608 2114 14th St, NW marthastable.org Miriam’s Kitchen: 452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave, NW miriamskitchen.org

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

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

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

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

Samaritan Ministry: 1516 Hamilton Street NW | 722-2280 1345 U Street SE | 889-7702 samaritanministry.org

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

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

St. Luke’s Mission Center: 333-4949 3655 Calvert St. NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

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

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

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

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

CELEBRATING SUCCESS! • Vendor/Artist Franklin Sterling celebrates his birthday on 9/14!

• Former Coordinator of Volunteers & New Initiatives Rachel Buck began working with A Wider Circle

Street Sense Vendor to Speak about His New Memoir at MLK Library “Still Standing: How an Ex-Con Found Salvation in the Floodwaters of Katrina” by Gerald Anderson with Susan Orlins is an inspiring memoir of poverty, prison, addiction, as well as the dramatic rescue of dozens of Katrina victims. It is also about one man’s determination and resilience to overcome a life of hardship and sin. Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, Street Sense vendor/artist Gerald Anderson says, “If not for Katrina, I’d be dead or in prison.”

Thursday, September 10 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street NW 12 p.m.

Hear Gerald Anderson tell his story in a conversation with Street Sense Artist-in-Residence Susan Orlins. Vendor Robert Warren will introduce them. Afterwards, please stay for the book signing.

street sense

Did you know?

2.5 million children annually experience homelessness in America.

40 percent of homeless school-age children have mental health

street sense Ending child homelessness by 2020 is a federal goal set in 2010.

Please join Street Sense for a Forum & Networking event on

Child Homelessness

Christina Dukes Federal Liaison, National Center for Homeless Education

Christie Jones School counselor and children’s book author of “Are We Home Yet?“

Jamila Larson Executive Director and Co-founder of Homeless Children’s Playtime Project

Joshunda Sanders individual with first-hand experience

Moderated by Kavitha Cardoza NPR Special Correspondent

September 9 - 22, 2015 • Volume 12 • Issue 22

Street Sense 1317 G Street, NW

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.

Have Questions?

Please e-mail Forums@StreetSense.org

When: Wed. Sep. 16th.

6:30pm-8:30pm

Need Accomodations?

Please e-mail Shira@StreetSense.org or call (202) 347-2006 x 16

Where: Church of the Epiphany @ Metro Center (1317 G St. NW 20005)

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

Light refreshments provided.