12 12 2018

VOL. 16 ISSUE 3

$2

DEC. 12 - 25, 2018

Real Stories

Real Change

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ILLUSTRATED WRAPPING PAPER INSIDE! pgs 8-9 STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Real People

suggested donation goes directly to your vendor

@ STREETSENSEDC

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BUSINESS MODEL

© STREET SENSE MEDIA 2003 - 2018 1317 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 347 - 2006 streetsensemedia.org info@streetsensemedia.org

How It Works

Street Sense Media publishes the newspaper

Each vendor functions as an independent contractor for Street Sense Media, managing their own business to earn an income and increase stability in their life.

$2.00 YOUR SUGGESTED

$.50 Vendors pay

DONATION

per newspaper copy

supports your vendor, helping them to overcome homelessness and poverty

NO CASH? NO PROBLEM.

Pay vendors with the Street Sense Media app!

S TREET S ENSE M EDIA . ORG /A PP

AVAI LABL E

VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT

As self-employed contractors, our vendors follow a code of conduct.

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Street Sense will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $2.00. I agree not to ask for more than $2.00 or solicit donations for Street Sense Media by any other means.

I will only purchase the paper from Street Sense Media staff and volunteers and will not sell papers to other vendors.

I agree to treat all others, including customers, staff, volunteers, and other vendors, respectfully at all times. I will refrain from threatening others, pressuring customers into making a donation, or in engaging in behavior that condones racism, sexism, classism, or other prejudices.

I agree not to distribute copies of Street Sense on metro trains and buses or on private property.

I agree to abide by the Street Sense Media vendor territorial policy at all times and will resolve any related disputes I have with other vendors in a professional manner.

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I understand that I am not an employee of Street Sense Media, but an independent contractor.

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I agree to sell no additional goods or products when distributing Street Sense.

8.

I will not distribute Street Sense under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

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I understand that my badge and (if applicable) vest are property of Street Sense Media, and will not deface them. I will present my badge when purchasing Street Sense. I will always display my badge when distributing Street Sense.

10. I agree to support Street Sense Media’s mission statement. In doing so I will work to support the Street Sense community and uphold its values of honesty, respect, support, and opportunity.

INTERESTED IN BEING A VENDOR? New vendor training: every Tuesday and Thursday // 2 p.m. // 1317 G St., NW

The Cover “Holiday Party funning at the 920 I Street NW with YWCA.” PHOTO BY SASHA WILLIAMS

Artist/Vendor

The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper Originally founded as a street newspaper in 2003, Street Sense Media has evolved into a multimedia center using a range of creative platforms to spotlight solutions to homelessness and empower people in need. The men and women who work with us do much more than sell this paper: They use film, photography, theatre, illustration, and more to share their stories with our community.

Our media channels elevate voices, our newspaper vendor and digital marketing programs provide economic independence. And our in-house casemanagement services move people forward along the path toward permanent supportive housing.

At Street Sense Media, we define ourselves through our work, talents, and character, not through our housing situation.

VENDORS Shuhratjon Ahamadjonov, Wanda Alexander, Gerald Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Katrina Arninge, Lawrence Autry, Daniel Ball, Charlton Battle, Lester Benjamin, Reginald Black, Phillip Black Jr., Clarence Branch, Debora Brantley, Andre Brinson, Laticia Brock, Donald Brown, Lawrence Brown, Elizabeth Bryant, Brianna Butler, Dwayne Butler, Melody Byrd, Anthony Carney, Alice Carter, Conrad Cheek Jr., Anthony Crawford, Kwayera Dakari, Michael Daniels, Louise Davenport, James Davis, David Denny, Reginald Denny, Patricia Donaldson, Nathaniel Donaldson, Ron Dudley, Jet Flegette, Jemel Fleming, Johnnie Ford, Duane Foster, James Gatrell, Kidest Girma, Chon Gotti, Latishia Graham, George Gray, Marcus Green, Barron Hall, Mildred Hall, Dwight Harris, Lorrie Hayes, Patricia Henry, Derian Hickman, Ray Hicks, Vennie Hill, James Hughes, Joseph Jackson, Chad Jackson, Fredrick Jewell, Morgan Jones, Linda Jones, Reggie Jones, Darlesha Joyner, Larry Kelley, Jewel Lewis, John Littlejohn, Scott Lovell, Michael Lyons, William Mack, Ken Martin Marcus McClan Jermale McKnight Jennifer McLaughlin Jeffery McNeil Ricardo Meriedy Kenneth Middleton Amy Modica Richard Mooney L. Morrow Collins Mukasa Evelyn Nnam Moyo Onibuje Earl Parker Aida Peery Hubert Pegues Marcellus Phillips Jacquelyn Portee Connie Porter Angela Pounds Robert Reed Robert Reed Henrieese Roberts Anthony Robinson Chris Shaw Gwynette Smith Patty Smith David Snyder Franklin Sterling Warren Stevens Beverly Sutton Sybil Taylor Archie Thomas Shernell Thomas Eric Thompson-Bey Harold Tisdale Sussie Trivette Carl Turner Jacqueline Turner Joseph Walker Martin Walker Robert Warren Sheila White Angie Whitehurst Sasha Williams Robert Williams Clarence Williams Wendell Williams Susan Wilshusan Ivory Wilson BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jeremy Bratt, Margaret Jenny, Brian Leonard, Jennifer Park, Reed Sandridge, Dan Schwartz, Jeremy Scott, John Senn, Kate Sheppard, Aaron Stetter, Annika Toenniessen, Martin Totaro, Daniel Webber, Shari Wilson

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Brian Carome

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eric Falquero

COMMUNICATIONS & SALES MANAGER Jeff Gray

VENDOR MANAGER Muhammad Ilyas

EVENTS & WORKSHOP MANAGER Leila Drici

CASE MANAGER Colleen Cosgriff

WRITERS GROUP ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE Willie Schatz

OPINION EDITORS (VOLUNTEER)

Rachel Brody, Arthur Delaney, Sara Reardon

ADVISORY BOARD John McGlasson

EDITORIAL INTERNS

Kira Barrett, Katie Bemb, Samantha Caruso, Zachary Headings

EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS

Ryan Bacic, Jason Lee Bakke, Grace Doherty, Kelsey Falquero, Roberta Haber, Thomas Ratliff, Mark Rose, Andrew Siddons, Sarah Tascone, Jackie Thompson, KJ Ward, Howard Weiss, Marian Wiseman, Howard Weiss

OFFICE SALES VOLUNTEERS

Miya Abdul, Bill Butz, Jane Cave, Emma Cronenwethe, Pete Clark, Orion Donovan-Smith, Maria Esposito, Roberta Haber, Ann Herzog, Bill Magrath, Alec Merkle, Nick Nowlan, Sarah O’Connell, Leonie Peterkin, e Versluysen, Natalia Warburton

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

EVENTS

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NEWS IN BRIEF Bathroom bill passes first full-Council vote

The final vote is expected Dec. 18

Home for the Homeless Campaign Funk & Comedy Jam Sunday, Dec. 16 // 5:30 pm - 9 pm Howard Theater // 620 T St NW Music, comics, poets, civic organizations and foodies! Third-annual fundraiser to benefit Miriam’s Kitchen.

The Home for the Homeless “eases the transition from the streets into the home for newly-housed, formerly homeless, men and women in the District.

TICKETS & INFO: funkycomedyjam.eventbrite.com

THURSDAY, DEC. 20 - FRIDAY, DEC. 21

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

FRIDAY, DEC. 14

Homeless Memorial Vigil

DC Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

DC Celebrates 10th Anniversary as a Human Rights City

The remaining committee meetings for the month of December have been cancelled. For issue-focused working groups, contact ich.info@dc.gov.

6 - 8 pm ONE DC Black Workers and Wellness Center // 2500 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE

THURSDAY, 5 - 7 pm Luther Place Memorial Church Opening, candlelight procession 7pm - 9 am // Freedom Plaza Overnight vigil FRIDAY, 9 - 11 am // Wilson Building Advocacy training (Freedom Plaza) and “walk-around” (Wilson Building) 12 pm // New York Ave Presbyterian Church

Free open house, food, poetry and speeches to call for re-committment from the first city in the U.S. to be designated a Human Rights City. Organized by The American Friends Service Committee, DC Peace & Economic Justice Program and ONE DC. FOR MORE INFO: www.tinyurl.com/dc-human-rights-10

TICKETS AT MORE INFO: 240-204-20867 FUNKY​ ​COMEDY​ ​JAM​ ​.​ ​EVENTBRITE​ ​.​ ​COM Lunch and memorial service

Submit your event for publication by e-mailing editor@streetsensemedia.org

We’re proud members of: MOST WORKPLACE GIVING PROGRAMS PROVIDE THE OPTION TO SELECT A SPECIFIC CHARITY FOR YOUR DONATION. PLEASE DESIGNATE “STREET SENSE”

#28233

#8871

The Public Restroom Facilities Installation & Promotion Act of 2018 passed its first reading unanimously during a D.C. Council Committee of the Whole meeting on Dec. 4. As Street Sense Media previously reported, the bill would simultaneously establish two pilot programs to increase restroom access in the District and create a task force to research the restroom access needs and solutions.

A final vote is anticipated for Dec. 18.

One of the pilot programs would test construction of free-standing restrooms in two locations chosen by the Bowser administration. The other would evaluate an incentive program to have businesses open their restrooms to the public in a single business improvement district, also selected by the mayor.

The local advocacy group People for Fairness Coalition, of which the public restroom initiative is a project, has been researching and lobbying for “clean, safe public restrooms” since embarking on a feasibility study in 2014.

—ericf@streetsensemedia.org

Attorney general sues DC landlord for refusing housing vouchers Attorney General Karl Racine announced a lawsuit Nov. 29 against real estate companies Evolve, LLC and Evolve Property Management, LLC for refusing to show or rent available properties to recipients of federal housing vouchers.

“More than 10,000 District of Columbia residents depend on housing vouchers to assist them in meeting the high cost of living in our city and nearly 17 percent of D.C. residents live below the poverty line,” the Office of the Attorney General tweeted that day.

The Evolve real estate and property management companies are headquartered in the District, advertise multiple apartments available through its website and Craigslist, and require potential tenants to disclose whether they plan to pay the rent with housing vouchers, according to a press release.

This constitutes source-of-income discrimination, one of 20 protected traits under the D.C. Human Rights Act. And according to the court filing, offering a consumer good in violation of the Human Rights Act further violates the D.C. Consumer Protections Procedures Act. A study published by the Urban Institute in September found federal voucher holders were discriminated against 15 percent of the time when they applied for leases in D.C. The Office of the Attorney General encourages residents who suspect they have experienced any type of discrimination to file a complaint with the D.C. Office of Human Rights. —ericf@streetsensemedia.org More information about D.C. OHR compalints is availablet at www.tinyurl.com/dc-ohr-complaint or (202) 727-4559.

Follow more headlines at StreetSenseMedia.org/news

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INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

The Gift: Street paper vendors from around the world share their favorite songs and what they mean to them EDITED BY TONY INGLIS The International Network of Street Papers

E

ach year, the International Network of Street Papers puts together a feature for this festive holiday season that focuses on vendors from around the world. Too often, street paper vendors are reduced to the problems they face. While it’s important to confront the issues vulnerable people deal with daily, sometimes we can miss the little things that make us all — homeless or not — who we are.

So, this year we asked something a little different of vendors: if you could give a song as a present this Christmas, what would you choose? As was to be expected, the list is as diverse and eclectic as #ourvendors. This is a small selection from the resulting feature, which included contributions from almost 100 vendors, from 38 street papers, across 22 countries.

Courtesy of INSP.ngo. Special thanks to those who translated for this feature: Patricia Pereira, Melanie Vogt, Kathryn Ness, Louise Thomas, Cedric Horbach, Jessica Michaels, Hollie Davies, Jessica Gert, Sean Morris, Ute Kahle.

Listen to the INSP vendor playlist at tinyurl.com/2018-vendor-playlist

Street Sense Media

Reginald Denny (54) on gospel singer Wintley Phipps’ ‘I Believe’: “This song is inspirational. It means a lot to me for two reasons: I met the singer, and it was sung at one of the inauguration events for Barack Obama.

Laticia Brock (37) on The Temptations’ version of Christmas classic ‘Silent Night’: “It was something my family did every year. We’d sit around and take turns singing different parts of the song. It makes me think of family. I remember that even when we didn’t always have food to eat, my mother always managed to cook a Christmas dinner.”

Chon Gotti (55) on Grammy nominated singer Jeffrey Osborne’s ‘Concentrate on You’: “This was the first song that ever made me cry. I’ll never forget it – it’s a song very dear to my heart.” [Fun fact: Chon’s aunt was married to Osborne’s brother].

Marcus McCall (29) on ‘Close to You’ by Dreezy, featuring T-Pain: “I only heard the song for the first time recentlymy cousin played it for me when I was visiting him and I like the beat, basically everything about it. It aims toward love, connection, family, and trying to get close and to know somebody.”

Photos courtesy of Street Sense Media.

Hus Forbi

Ion and Mariana Vasi are husband and wife. They came to Denmark to work in the service sector, while their families in Romania take care of their children. Mariana was blighted by a life-changing illness and they lost their jobs. Now they live in an old car and have been the selling Hus Forbi as their primary source of income in Aarhus.

They are both descended from musicians. Mariana is a good singer and Ion plays accordion brilliantly. However, they sense Danes do not like street musicians, so they prefer to be vendors. “If not for music I could not live,” Ion says. “My favourite piece of music is ‘La Paloma’ (or ‘No More’, as performed by Elvis Presley). I love to play it. Music is an international language - it is everybody’s mother tongue.” Maria used to sing at weddings as a child. She still sings while Ion plays the accordion. Her favourite song is ‘Besame mucho’ by Diana Krall.

Hus Forbi vendor Jette went bankrupt and left everything behind after as a result of a violent relationship. Now she, and many of her friends, are homeless and street paper vendors. In the summer, they go to marketplaces around Denmark. She used to be a teacher, and plays piano and accordion.

She mentions two favourite pieces of music. “‘Tango Jalousie’, by the Danish composer Jacob Gade, is a wonderful piece of music to play on the piano,” she says. “Another is ‘Barcelona’, as performed by Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and opera singer Montserrat Caballé. It is just a beautiful song, and they perform it perfectly.”

Ravn became homeless as 17-year-old and has been

on and off the streets ever since. Ravn’s guitar is the ultimate street guitar.

Ravn was travelling in Spain with his partner, Andy. They got the guitar from a man on the street.

Then Andy decorated the guitar. ‘‘We are all eternal children. As an adult, you get stuck, and you just have to be in a certain way. I’ve played the guitar since I was 13. I played the guitar with my left hand but changed to the right.” When asked what music means to him, Ravn says: “It means therapy - play without boundaries and creativity. My favourite artist is David Bowie. Right now, it’s ‘Fill Your Heart’ from the album Hunky Dory, which I like best.”

Photots courtesy of Hus Forbit

Street Roots

Eric Sweger (53) on Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini’s ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’: “This is a sad song, but if you don’t know Italian, it actually sounds cheerful. It reminds me of the sun coming up. But if you know the story, it’s contradictory. I like opera, once I heard it, it stuck in my head. I first heard it 30 years ago.”

Aileen McPherson (44) on S.J. Tucker’s folky ‘Cheshire Kitten’: “I can see my life in this song; parts of it at least, but maybe the whole thing. I can relate to it all.

We’re all mad here and it’s OK. One of my favourite parts is the chorus: ‘You gotta go down the rabbit hole and out the other side, you can’t go home in the middle of the magic carpet ride’.”

And Charles McPherson (34) on ‘Do You Hear the People Sing’ from the musical Les Misérables: “I grew up listening to Les Mis. I watched the 10-year anniversary performance every day when I was in middle school while I did my homework. The lyrics and music are beautiful.”

Daniel Cox (52) on Social Distortion’s ‘The Story of my Life’: “I can relate to it. Especially the verse ‘I went downtown to look for a job, I looked at the holes in my jeans and turned and headed back’. Also, it talks about change. Things change in time; we hope they don’t but they always do.”

Photos courtesy of Street Roots.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

One Step Away Those who sell One Step Away on the streets of Philadelphia are a microcosm of the entire street paper network’s contribution to this playlist – diverse, coming from a range of backgrounds, and with a varied musical taste. Here, they talk about their song choices.

Neal McLaurin (39) on the acapella version of ‘If I Ever Fall in Love’ by 90s RnB quartet Shai: “When I first heard this in the seventh grade I just fell in love - I got butterflies, because there was the young lady I kind of liked and it reminded me of her. It makes me feel joyous and pure. It reminds me of when I was young. This was when I started my first signing group. I heard some guys in the hallway at school and I fell in love with singing.”

Edward Johnson (42) on ‘Work’ by rapper Meek Mill, who was recently released after being sentenced to two to four years in prison for a parole violation, a decision that met with outcries of an injustice and support from throughout the music community: “I choose this song because it’s inspiring.

Especially when I’m about to go to work, I put it right on. It’s my hype song.”

Sylvia Williams (57) on ‘Just Like You’ by Keyshia Cole: “I choose this song because it talks about growing and moving up in life. And you need some stepping stones, and you also need strength, courage, and faith. That’s what it talks about, needing strength to rise above, and God. Without God I would still be in the dark.

Slobodan Mkrojevic (60) on The Doors’ psychedelic masterpiece ‘The End’, famously featured in the movie Apocalypse Now: “I was very young, maybe 18, and everyone started listening to The Doors. Jim Morrison – I find everything about him interesting. It makes you think about what’s to come.” [unamed] “The song teaches me not to be stagnant, and it teaches me to keep moving and pushing. It gives you a purpose in life – that’s what it means to me. [unamed] “The song is significant to me because I know when I was using, I couldn’t look in the mirror. The song talks about you looking into the mirror and finding out who you are and what you are in life. Now I can look in the mirror since I’m

not using anymore – because I used to run past the mirror, back and forth, back and forth – I couldn’t look in it, because I looked like a hot mess. But now that I look good and feel good – spiritually, physically, and mentally – that song helps me to grow.”

Maria James on the Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway duet ‘Where is the Love’: “It reminds me of people, and when I don’t think people are showing enough love I think of that song. It sends a message of ways people should share love and what people think of when they think of love and why there isn’t enough love.”

Photos courtesy of One Step Away

Mi Valedor

The work of tenor vocalist José José, specifically his performance of ‘Lo Pasado, Pasado’, meaning ‘What is Past, is Past’, is the object of Erasmo Navarrete’s affections. The 65-year-old sells Mexican street paper Mi Valedor at the Hotel Krystal, in Reforma in Mexico City. He believes the song has played a large part in forming his life story: “I first came across José José when I was 16 years old. He’s an alcoholic, just like me, and I’ve had a drink with him in a few bars. Who would have thought that later on, I would drink to his songs?

“Despite the fact that alcoholism led me to many low points, even hitting rock bottom, it also brought me happiness as I got to know many people and made friends in different places.

“José José is, for me, an example that, although someone may be an alcoholic, they have to be able to enjoy life, just like someone who has next to nothing.

“I didn’t expect anything good would happen in my life, but then someone spoke to me about Mi Valedor and now, as the song says: I am now a new person.”

L’Itinéraire

Three vendors of the street paper L’Itinéraire, sold in Montréal, spoke about songs that mean something to them.

Sylvain Pépin on John Lennon’s festive classic ‘Happy Christmas (War is Over)’: “ That’s the song I’ve been listening to every Christmas for many years now. I like the lyrics and the mood of the song. It really touches me. We listen to it at family reunions during the holidays and it makes us reflect on those family members who are no longer with us. It’s a song that brings us all together.

It helps us forget the less happy times over the course of the year. Even if there are covers of this by other singers, I think the original version is the best.”

Manon Fortier on Rosemary Clooney’s ‘Suzy Snowflake’: “I love to laugh, and I have a good sense of humour. This song represents my personality well. My mother listened to Rosemary Clooney a lot. My mom knew and frequented a lot of artists. If she were still alive today, I know that she would have initiated me to music when I was younger by giving me access to music lessons. I’ve always loved music and I would love to become a singer. I even had the chance to sing on stage and I particularly appreciate country and western music.”

Christine Viens on composer Johann Pachelbel ‘Canon in

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D’: “I would offer this song as a gift at this time of year.

When I was in my high school band, we performed this piece at a Christmas concert under the wonderful direction of our music teacher and conductor, Mr. Peter Wright. To Peter, Happy holidays and a Happy New Year to you. Thank you for everything you did for all of us, as well as for me, back then and always still. With this memory in my heart and in the spirit of the holiday season, I offer this song to all of my colleagues, friends and my family. Happy holidays to one and all. I hope that 2019 brings you health, happiness, good fortune, luck, love, peace and joy.”

One L’Itinéraire vendor, Siou, is offering his own work as a gift this Christmas. The track, entitled ‘Les passants’, or ‘The passers by’, has lyrics written

by Siou, which were then put to music by Montréal artist Paul Cargnello and interpreted by professional singer Karine Pion. The song is on an album compiling a dozen songs by Siou and Cargnello called Intense Cité. “When I take the time to create a gift that I will offer someone, it has a lot more importance and a greater value,” says Siou. “That’s why I offer to you this simple song that says a lot. When I finished writing the lyrics, I felt a great deal of pride. This song is part of a long process of personal growth. It started with my introspection as a vendor for L’Itinéraire which went on to enable me to touch a universal chord. In the song, you will find a critique of society. It’s my way of describing how I see and feel about marginalization in relation to society.”

Photos courtesy of L’Itinéraire.

Factor S Alberto Ferro, 63, sells Factor S outside the University of Sociology in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo. ‘Muchacha (Ojos de Papel)’, or ‘Girl (Paper Eyes)’, by Argentine singer Luis Alberto Spinetta, doesn’t necessarily hold much special meaning to Alberto, “it’s just that the lyrics speak to me. I like what he says, and how he says it, this story of a man telling the one he loves not to leave, but to stay and be looked after.”

Photo courtesy of Factor S.

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ART

Vendor portrait series by Rolando Aparicio Velasco.

To see the full set online, visit StreetSenseMedia.org/portraits

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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AT A GLANCE

CELEBRATING SUCCESS

This Christmas, a man celebrates the 10th anniversary of reuniting with his family

BY GREGORY ADAMS // Digital Engagement Intern

J

effery McNeil once lost his last dollar in a Trump casino, a loss that led him to Washington, D.C. and a life unlike the one he left behind. He became estranged from family and friends until a chance encounter near Dupont Circle became the catalyst for a rapprochement with a father he thought he would never want to see again.

Born in Ohio in 1967, McNeil lived in a two-parent household, a middle-class one in which both parents worked.

“I never saw abject poverty,” he remembers. The family moved to New Jersey right after the Newark riots. They lived in the suburbs, one of the first Black families in the area.

All was not wonderful at home, however. He describes his father as being a mean drunk, a Vietnam vet who was sometimes abusive. At age 9 or 10, one incident resulted in McNeil requiring twenty stitches in his jaw. He confesses to once having thought about taking his father’s shotgun and killing him.

He left home after high school and joined the Navy, serving six years. “I got out and never had a problem getting a job. I was doing good.” He was a cook and then a manager at a TGI Fridays; he was a manager at a Denny’s.

“I was working at casinos. I was a gambler, I was making money, I always had money. I always had a job. I always had friends. I always had a girlfriend. I never saw poverty or homelessness ever coming to me. Then, somewhere around 2003, 2004, the bottom fell out for me.”

His mother died, and he says he became an isolationist. An old problem began to get out of hand.

“I used to drink. I could always manage it, but at that time I wasn’t managing my life. Eventually, I was diagnosed with having bipolar disorder.”

Jeff remained a gambler. A $7 bet on a horse race netted him enough money to go to a poker game. With the $4,000 he won at poker, he travelled to Atlantic City, where he spent five days losing. At a Trump casino, he met a group of folks from Washington, D.C., who suggested there was a lot of opportunity to be found in the nation’s capital. He told them that if he lost the next hand of poker, he would go to Washington. “I lost that next hand, got on the bus, and never looked back.”

He tried the shelters in D.C., but the bedbugs and what he describes as “other horrific sights” convinced him to sleep outside. His drinking got worse. One night, he passed out with a $100 in his pocket, only to find it stolen when he awoke.

Jeff noticed someone wearing a Street Sense Media vest and asked about it. With that introduction, he began selling the paper. He credits that decision with being the start of his dealing with another problem that had long plagued him: being barely able to read or write his own name. He eventually started writing for the paper after being told it was a way to earn more papers to sell. Through a Street Sense Media board member, he even found occasional work. His alcohol addiction continued, but he began to realize something: “I knew I didn’t want to drink anymore,” he says.

PHOTO BY NANDO ALVAREZ

Jeff was in D.C. for roughly three years before he began moving toward sobriety. He met someone who was a recovering alcoholic and started going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and reading their books. “I found a mentor and a sponsor, and that kind of changed my life.”

He began dealing with the abuse he had experienced early on. “There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in your childhood, and I found somebody I could actually go talk to about that,” he says. As he focused on his sobriety, Jeff also began reassessing the quality of the company he had been keeping, realizing his friends weren’t really friends. “I was dealing with people who had that drug-addict mentality. They weren’t happy to see me get out of my situation. They were trying to bring me back into that situation, and that was the wake-up moment for me.”

While selling the Street Sense Media newspaper at Dupont Circle one day in 2008, Jeff struck up a conversation with members of a visiting church. When he learned they were from Barnesville, Ohio, he mentioned his mother had been born there. Weeks later, during Christmas, he received a call from Barnesville. It was from an aunt he hadn’t spoken with in almost 20 years. It brought him to tears.

A few weeks later, that Christmas call led to reconnecting with his father, who was in a hospital at the time being treated for cancer. This began a renewed relationship between the two that lasted until his father’s death six years later.

Like many who have suffered addiction, Jeff says his recovery is a one-day-at-a-time process. His sober days now number a decade. He kept going to meetings, kept sharing his story, and people who heard it kept helping him. “After a while, you just didn’t wake up wanting to drink anymore.”

He is no longer homeless. “I had a friend who offered me a place to stay, and I’ve been there ever since.”

Since he began writing, Jeffery McNeil has been published in the Washingtonian, The Washington Post, and has a monthly column in the Examiner. But it has been through Street Sense Media, Jeff says, that he’s met a lot of interesting people, from “people who got jobs to people that are on the bottom. I feel like I get a perspective that nobody else in the city gets, [and have] a platform where I can give a perspective nobody else gives.”

PHOTO BY NANDO ALVAREZ

Street Sense Media just released a six-minute documentary about David Denny, poet and vendor, who moved into a place of his own earlier this year.

The journey wasn’t easy.

Watch it here: https://StreetSenseMedia.org/davids-story

BIRTHDAYS David Denny Dec. 15 ARTIST/VENDOR

Colly Dennis Dec. 16 ARTIST/VENDOR

Sybil Taylor Dec. 25 ARTIST/VENDOR

Our stories, straight to your inbox Street Sense Media provides a vehicle through which all of us can learn about homelessness from those who have experienced it. Sign up for our newsletter to get our vendors' stories in your inbox.

Dec. 27, 2008: Jeffery McNeil returned to Barnesville, Ohio, to reconnect with his Aunt, cousin and extended family.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFFERY MCNEIL

www.StreetSenseMedia.org/newsletter

OUR WRAPPING PAPER FEATURES ILLUSTRATIONS BY REGINARLD BLACK, PAT DONALDSON, CHON GOTTI, DWIGHT HARRIS, LEVESTER GREEN AND MARCUS GREEN

STREETSENSEMEDIA

Real Stories Real People Real Change

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OPINION

An aerial view of several thousand Central Americans filling the Guatemala-Mexico international border bridge on Oct. 21. Many planned to apply for asylum in the United States.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOITCHY / FLICKR.COM

Save and help the caravan of people coming to our border

Homelessness must end first

BY COLLY DENNIS

BY GWYNETTE SMITH

During my lifetime, I have experienced homelessness, floods, hurricanes, and wars. But I can’t believe what I’m seeing now. Using pepper spray on migrant families including women and children is not OK! Is this real and happening? Yes, it is. But living with nothing is something many people deal with on a daily basis in the United States. I am talking about the homeless and poor people going through poverty and suffering each day.

No one should be punished for fleeing from poverty and crime. I would rather climb a wall with my family than risk having my family suffer in my country. Everyone agrees these migrants are fleeing for a better life.

How can anyone still be a Trump supporter and not feel like a pathetic tool? This will forever boggle my mind! If Donald Trump is representative of the conservative American cultural, moral and religious norms, then this country is going to hell.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Just like Daily Signal columnist Dennis Prager said, Americans are in the midst of the Second Civil War. We have to find America’s middle.

Activist Sunsara Taylor, who is vocal in the Refuse Fascism movement, has said the U.S. has no right to talk about protecting borders when it’s done so much harm itself. It’s started unjust wars across the world, used weapons, and backed coups. Politicizing what these migrants are going through is just so stupid and cowardly from all parties involved. A better solution should have been found way back before this chaotic mess was made.

Colly Dennis is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

Homelessness and poverty must end in this country or we, the people who live here, will become the butt of an unfunny joke.

The migrants in the caravan coming to this country have cited poverty, growing violence and corruption in their countries as the main reasons they want to live in the United States. They want jobs and education to attain these goals.

People along the route often extended a hand to these immigrant hopefuls. They have given them food, shelter, medicine, legal representation, free rides along the road, and probably clothing.

If individuals can extend aid to others, certainly a country that represents itself as a democracy for “the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be free … the homeless, tempest-tost [sic]” must reach out to its own. This country cannot and should not withdraw help for those already here.

Maybe we don’t have the democracy for which these people have journeyed hundreds or thousands of miles for. Homeless Americans often need counseling, housing, clothing, medical assistance, food, job training and education. We frequently have other problems that limit our ability to be successful.

We need protection from violence and corruption; we should be able to count on it.

If there is not enough for the current migrants, too, they cannot come until those here receive the help they need.

Gwynette Smith is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

Join the conversation, share your views - Have an opinion about how homelessness is being addressed in our community?

- Want to share firsthand experience?

- Interested in responding to what someone else has written?

Street Sense Media has maintained an open submission policy since our founding. We aim to elevate voices from across the housing spectrum and foster healthy debate.

Please send submissions to opinion@streetsensemedia.org.

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Georgetown University's new program prepares returning citizens to be entrepreneurs: Why aren’t K-12 schools following GU’s lead?

BY STEVE LILIENTHAL

Working one Sunday years ago at the Takoma Park branch library, I remember a young man at the reference desk, asking in a hushed voice for information about how someone returning from incarceration could form a business. Surprised by the notion, I discovered online a monograph from the Prisoner Reentry Institute of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice called “Venturing Beyond The Gates: Facilitating Successful Reentry With Entrepreneurship.”

“Facilitating” is still available online and it speaks to a desire held by many returning from prison or jail even before they found themselves arrested — the desire to make a living.

“It’s human nature. We all want to live at a certain nature of [comfort].

It’s the American Dream,” said Curtis Watkins with The Woodson Center, which helps community-based and faith-based organizations. He often works with returning citizens.

But the real changes to make the break from crime to more conventional, respectable, law-abiding lives need to come from within one’s internal character, Watkins emphasized.

“This type of internal strength is beyond any program. It truly understands that we are our “brothers’ and sisters’ keepers,” he added. Many men and women manage to find that strength even without much external support.

Now a new Georgetown University program is seeking to help strengthen the external support for up to 20 D.C. returning citizens in collaboration with city agencies, including the Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizens Affairs (ORCA), D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES), and a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency.

GU’s Pivot program is designed to offer a group of up to 20 “highly select” D.C. residents considered to hold leadership potential and who, presumably, possess the internal strength that Watkins described.

Participants (fellows) in the program will obtain instruction from GU’s faculty, including the McDonough School of Business. The curriculum includes literature, philosophy, and economics. Participants will receive stipends from DOES for their internships. As their time in Pivot comes to a close, fellows will decide upon an employment or entrepreneurship track. Those on the entrepreneurship track will receive support such as office space and business and legal advice.

When announcing the program, the McDonough School’s Alyssa Lovegrove linked the emphasis on entrepreneurship to heightening a sense of empowerment that will make Pivot Fellows more able to overcome potential barriers to their

Fellows have a responsibility to want to be forces of change, not just for themselves and their families, but for the community.

How Washington, DC, has become the medieval church

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

Being a conservative in D.C. Is like being Meghan McCain on The View. I like the fact she doesn't let the liberals bully and intimidate her. While I wasn’t a fan of her father, John McCain, I feel the frustration of being a conservative in a sea of liberals.

As Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg continually rant and mock Trump supporters as inbreds and stupid, Meghan tries to explain why people support Trump. She warns the panel if they continue being condescending and elitist snobs, Trump will be reelected in 2020. When she makes a point, they shout her down. The minute she says something positive about the president, she’s accused of defending the patriarchy.

She is so savaged by these Leftist thugs, I feel like giving her a hug.

Although I support Trump, deep down I consider myself more of a country club

Republican like Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro or Dennis Prager. Trump wasn’t my ideal choice. I was a John Kasich, Marco Rubio guy. However, Trump has been a godsend for conservative voters. By-the-book judges such as Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, firm belief in the Second Amendment, low taxes and allowing citizens to be free.

I love the fact he triggers people like Barbra Streisand and Chelsea Handler. I love eating meat and using “offensive” language by saying “Merry Christmas.”

It infuriates liberals when African Americans, women and minorities go astray and don’t surrender their will to the state. If you don’t mimic the Left-wing talking points about Russia or question the validity of climate change, gender fluidity, open borders, or whatever else you will be ostracized and branded a Nazi.

success as lawful, contributing members of society.

And the need is there: GU’s Pivot staff say that fewer than half of the 5,000 returnees to D.C. from the city jail and the federal prison system that serves as the de facto city prison find real employment that lasts.

The only fault I see lies not with GU’s program but with American society, particularly in our nation’s schools that are judged more by how students perform on tests than on imparting relevant life skills to their students.

Watkins said many parents, even those whose families are mired in poverty and have troubled children, usually want the best for their kids. But the parents often lack the knowledge and skills to impart important lessons involving business etiquette, career planning, and financial literacy.

Watkins notes the Pivot Fellows are likely to be “top tier” of D.C.’s returning citizens and hopes they recognize “they have a responsibility to want to be forces of change,” not just for themselves and their families but for the community.

Ideally, there will be a significant “social impact payback” from a program like this, where not only the Pivot Fellows are helped but they will also take what they are learning and voluntarily decide to transfer that knowledge to children, starting with age-appropriate instruction and mentorship in elementary schools going forward, to break the cycle of poverty and crime.

If that is the case, we all have a stake in the success of Pivot and its fellows.

Steve Lilienthal is a freelance writer.

As with the “investiture controversy” that set the stage for the Crusades, where reformers tried to increase the power of the church by arguing that it was interwoven in all aspects of human endeavors, today’s Leftists seem to believe the state should be indistinguishable from the private citizen. Liberals believe their ideologues, not commoners, deserve to steer our democracy.

The Left has decreed D o n a l d Tr u m p i s worse than Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Il, or even the Saudi prince who killed and dismembered a journalist. All while the media attacks and says dehumanizing things, while having no respect for the president or the presidency.

They declare he’s a dictator. But If he were a dictator, why did we just have a midterm election? Why allow Democrats to gain control of the House? Why have a Supreme Court or a Mueller investigation?

Liberals are exasperated. The Deep State thought it would have a soft coup, in which

Trump resigned. But Americans have accepted Trump as president. They fired all their bullets and all they have is a fake conspiracy story about Russia.

If Russia meddled in the 2016 election, I don’t get why progressives aren’t mad at Barack Obama. He had the power to stop meddling. He said it was impossible for Russia to rig the election.

Why not be angry at the Democratic National Committee, which used straw votes, superdelegates, and rigged debates during the primary?

The establishment chose Hillary when Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden may have been better candidates.

Nobody cares how you feel about Donald Trump. If you want unfriend me, call me a racist or troll me on Facebook, I will hit my friendly block button or put you on mute.

Today’s Leftists believe the state should be indistinguishable from the private citizen.

Jeffery McNeil is a Street Sense Media vendor and artist. He also writes for the Washington Examiner.

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ART

Christmas sweaters were nearly just as common attire as standard athletic wear during the “Walk and 5K to End HIV.” Whitman-Walker Health held the fundraising event at Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Ave., NW. It was scheduled for October, but pushed back due to bad weather and coincided with World AIDS Day. The all-female percussion band Batala Washington welcomed participants to the finish line. PHOTOS BY HENRIEESE ROBERTS

Happy Holidays!

BY ANDRE BRINSON Artist/Vendor

This is the season to be jolly, happy, and with loved ones. I’d like to thank all people who support Street Sense Media and all people who go out of their way to bring warm clothes and hot meals to the homeless community on Christmas Day! Many moons ago, my first experience with homelessness was on Christmas Eve. That night was very cold. I slept on a slab of ice behind a building in Georgetown, praying to make it through the night.

Morning came and the sun was refreshing to see, but it was still freezing outside. I tried to get up out of this blanket that I took from off a bench and couldn’t stand up. My legs were numb, frozen. So, I layed there in the cold behind this building until I could stand again.

Then, as I was walking with only a small jacket on, I saw people giving out coffee, hot meals, gloves, and coats. If only those people knew how much I needed them that cold Christmas morning. If any of you are reading this, thank you. And I thank everyone who humbles themselves and brings a smile to someone in need and thinks about others. Believe me, I’ll never forget that situation.

Give the gift of survival

BY CHERYL HILL Artist/Vendor

As a 6-year homeless whistle-blower, I've been working on a 'care package' or 'Xmas Stocking' that someday I hope to make up for distribution to homeless folks: - Green Tea - Chamomile Tea - Burt's Bees, prevents/heals foot fungus if applied right after a shower.

- Down Sleeping Bag - Down Coat - Muck Boots - waterproof - Socks, Gold Toe brand - Hand/Foot Warmers - Steel Thermos - Seaweed - loaded with vitamins & minerals most Americans lack (especially Emerald Cove brand organic Pacific Sushi Nori) because it is dried flat and easy to keep in a backpack for a healthy snack or to provide a green, leafy vegetable when salads aren't available.

IMAGE COURTESY OF MACIEJ366 / PIXABAY.COM

Christmas is near!

BY EVELYN NNAM Artist/Vendor

It’s that time of year again!

The most wonderful time of the year many say Christmas with the cold winter nights Filled with blankets of snow everywhere Sipping hot cocoa by a nice warm fire Wrapping up gifts for everyone And filling Christmas stockings Playing holiday tracks all around Getting people to dance and enjoy The year coming to a close Singing Christmas carols with friends and family Celebrating Jesus Christ as he came into the world So everyone make sure that when that day comes You have a great and spectacularly Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

BY SYBIL TAYLOR // Artist/Vendor

Merry Christmas to everyone! I was born on Christmas Day, which is such a special joy.

I love all the festivities this time of year. The decorations usually lift my spirits high: The silver bells and beautiful gold and silver ornaments, the Christmas trees and their pine scent, and the lovely elves and reindeer and Santa's helpers.

The stores are bursting with holiday joy, with their music, gifts and candy of all sorts. You can hear Jingle Bells, Christmas joy and laughter in each one.

I told Santa I am missing my dad and wishing him the best in Heaven. And I’m wishing for blessings on many others and a special Christmas present for my mom.

Everyone have a joyful holiday, with lots of gingerbread cookies, a nice dinner with a honey ham. with pineapples, and Christmas drink!

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Random Acts of Kindness:

Ghosts of Christmas past

BY WENDELL WILLIAMS // Artist/Vendor

T

he American Dream used to be that if you worked hard and saved, you could buy a house in the same neighborhood you grew up in. It’s what gave ethnic enclaves their flavor, many of which are missing from city to city today. The names of areas like “Greek” or “China” town remain, but almost none of the said people remain.

Americans had the benefit of family and friends living close by. It’s been the human staple that created a sense of a village even as the population of this country shifted from rural to urban. This was especially true for African Americans as they looked to northern cities for opportunities and relief from the stranglehold of Jim Crow.

Those opportunities sprung from the need to manufacture materials required to fight both world wars. Factories worked around the clock to fulfill the needs of not only American fighting forces but also of its many allies, creating millions of jobs that no one born after 1960 can even imagine.

Together, these circumstances set in motion the oddest of family holiday traditions.

My mother’s mother, Lucille Allen Cooper, was born in the now trending Deanwood/Fairmont Heights section of D.C. in 1912 and so was my mother in 1928. Grandma used to tell me about how public transportation stopped at the river’s edge that now borders RFK’s parking lots. In her day it was the city dump. Grandma’s face would light up when she would speak of the old D.C. with the tradition of “house parties” and “beer gardens” where she first met her beloved husband and my grandfather, Frank Cooper.

He was visiting D.C. for the summer from Florence, South Carolina. Visiting extended family is how most African Americans spent their vacations because of segregation and restrictions on accommodations. Most traveled by car to see long-lost family members spread out across the country. The movie “The Green Book” details some of this dark part of our history.

I can still remember my first trip to South Carolina to see my granddad’s relatives. As a little boy there, I first came faceto-face with bigotry and racism when I tried on something in a five and dime store and was told I’d have to buy it (implying the item was tarnished having been touched by the likes of me). My relatives there all lived down dirt roads in lines of shotgun shacks across from white split rail fences with a big white house sitting on a rise in the distance.

They were all sharecroppers — a form of neo-slavery few still living have seen with their own eyes. Every morning at the crack of dawn a huge flatbed truck would rumble up the road and stop along the way as my family members jumped in the back to pick cotton for the day. Everybody but small kids was loaded up and whisked away till sundown. Hence the term “worked from can’t see in the morning to can’t see at night.”

The number of hours worked depended on the sunlight.

This is the backdrop that drove my relatives and millions of African Americans to move “Up North” which laid the groundwork for holidays to essentially be mini family reunions.

Wendell WIlliams in front of the three houses where his family used to live and celebrate holidays together. PHOTO BY WENDELL WILIAMS

A few years after my mother was born my grandparents moved to the only house in which I’ve known them to live.

For more than 60 years my family lived in that house and it was the center of my life. It’s hard to imagine in these times, but my aunt recently told me the rent was $18.50 a month. ($18.50 in 1936 is worth approximately $158 in 2018). My grandfather, two of my uncles and even my brother years later found work at the then D.C. General Hospital — less than a 15-minute walk away.

My dad’s family, the Williams, moved in next door from the foothills of Virginia and the Selmons’ family was already on the other side of my mother’s mother’s house. Yes, you heard it right: my mother married the guy next door. And to make this story even crazier my mom’s brother married the girl next door on the other side, a Selmons. So holidays were a large gathering of three extended families with 40 or more people going from house to house. And with marriages and kids the gatherings got larger. It was unbelievable compared to today when so many have to drive, ride or fly to get home for the holidays. We just had to walk up the street!

As the years passed my mom’s brother with his wife and five kids moved two streets down. And When I was about 8, we moved to the end of the same block. There’s more: My dad’s sister moved up the street from us with her husband and four kids. Her daughter later moved across the street from us with her kids. And my dad’s other sister moved less than 10 blocks away with her son who was around my age.

There’s still more! Later my father’s mother’s brother moved on the same block with us with my other two cousins. Still later, my father’s sister’s son moved next door to us. You get the picture? We’re talking about more than 50 people related to each other within 10 city blocks: my grandparents on both sides, their siblings, and their offspring. I knew and saw all of my many cousins and even knew how I was related to them.

It made for the loudest, joyful, most exciting and fun-filled holidays you could dream of; that’s virtually impossible today.

We’d have to eat in shifts with the elders at their places of honor at the main tables with young adults and kids farmed out to card tables set up around rooms of each of the houses. We kids ran back and forth searching for our favorites dishes cooked by whoever.

You could literally take your plate door-to-door, and we did.

All these years I had assumed the three sets of grandparents owned their homes. But one day we found out they didn’t. They all had been renting from the same landlord from as early as pre 1936. Their long-time landlord, who used to come collect the rent personally, had a relationship with these renters over the many years until he passed away.

While I was away working in radio in the ‘70s, the Selmons moved and things started to change somewhat, but our festive arrangement still went on in a slightly smaller form until in 1978 or ‘79, when the new owners who inherited the six connected properties decided they would sell them all.

After more than 40 years in that house where she raised

// 13

her kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, my mother’s mother was given just a short time to move. Now it looked like my Thanksgivings and Christmases would never again be the way I knew them. My grandfather Frank had passed while I was in Dayton, Ohio, and we were all older. Some cousins had families of their own and desires to start their own celebrations.

We still came together for the holidays but in smaller numbers as time went by. My mom’s siblings even tried to convince her to scale things back or give up hosting and all the work involved, but you know grandmas.

This is when the Ghosts of Christmas Past set the the most wonderful of Christmas stories in motion. First my late oldest brother jumped in to get grandma some legal help to attempt to delay the sale while giving her time to investigate the long shot of buying her own home at such an advanced age. Nothing materialized because nobody wanted to finance an almost 80-year old lady who had never worked a day in her life.

I don’t think anybody took her willingness to buy seriously — not even some of her relatives. But the Ghosts of Christmas Past were already at work. Almost out of nowhere, in rode a pro-bono lawyer who wanted to help, along with some law students. The lawyer was no joke and the owners agreed to sell. But they were betting she couldn’t solve the issue of the money. And odds were they were right.

Then those Ghosts of Christmas Past moved the hearts and minds of some D.C. government officials who had heard about her plight right up to and including “Our” Mayor for Life, Marion S Barry. (To people who are not “from” D.C., this is why he is loved far beyond your understanding.) The city gave her a grant for the down payment and then financed the loan for her to buy back her home and our holiday venue. Try that today.

We continued to gather for many more years after that but eventually her health declined and she indeed started to spend more of her holidays at the tables of her children and their families as we wrestled over whose house she would visit each year. At 68, I still see those smiling faces and hear the sounds of those holidays and see us gathered on that block in Northeast Washington running from house to house.

Thanks to those many Random Acts Of Kindness in 1997 my grandmother got her wish and passed away in her own home, in the same bed her Frank passed in.

Sadly, her house was sold in 2014. Over the years, whenever I have returned to my neighborhood and driven through at Christmastime, missing are the sounds of laughter and joy from kids out on the sidewalks or in the alleys playing with the gifts that they just received. It feels like the neighborhood is deserted and devoid of that warm fuzzy feeling where everybody knows everybody and everybody’s kids play with everybody else’s.

Because of gentrification the whole feeling of a neighborhood community has evaporated, and what we have today are tiny little fortresses with people hunkered down behind their bars and alarm systems — with them and their kids missing what it feels like to be a part of a true community. It’s like my neighborhood was hit with a neutron bomb which eliminates people but leaves the houses intact.

One of the things the gentrification crowd likes is buying our history.

I still drive by to look and sometimes late at night I even get out and sit on my grandmother’s porch like we did as happy children.

The people living there embrace the history of this home and have told us to come by when ever we want. I asked them if I could come in and look once, hoping to reconnect to past times. But the house has been gutted and remodeled — it doesn’t give me the same warm feelings. The outside still looks the same except for the color. But I never want to peek inside again.

Many of us are gone and didn’t know the Ghosts of Christmas Past gave my grandma almost two extra decades of holidays with her family in that house. Like me, she was born in December. Anyone want to guess which day? Christmas Eve, of course!

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FUN & GAMES

Novice Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 16, Book 1

Sudoku #5

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1)7 enteral 9) dysphagia 8 4 1 2 if 3you really get stuck.

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Artist/Vendor

When we were last with young Gerald, he was in the Garden District of New Orleans. For the very first time in his life he had gotten behind the wheel of a car, but it was a sports car he had stolen Novice Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 16, Book with1his best friend, Gregory. The cops had spotted them and he was Sudoku #2 trying to make a run for it...

6 7 1 9 5 4 2 3 8

9 2 3 2 1 4 3 5 2 1 8 7 5 6 9 7 3 1 6 8 2 EDITION’S 6 4 7 LAST 5 9 SOLUTION >> 1 8 4 PUZZLE 5

2 4 5 9 7

"Nature never makes any blunders, when she makes a fool she means it."

-- Archibald Alexander

4 6

Treading the Waters, Part 12

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I stop! Gregory jumped out the car.

He ran! Whoom!

I couldn’t. I stopped the car.

Whee-ahhhh.

I got out, trying to run. I never forget this here, it was so funny. I wasn’t fat, fat-fat, but I was a little chubby. I was trying to run.

The big ole’ fat police, he crazy!

I say, “Damn!”

I could see him on me, but at the same time he look like he reaching.

He grab my shirt. Bam! I fell down on the ground.

He say, “I told you to freeze!

Now where your friend?!”

I say, “I don’t know that guy!

What do I do about it?!”

Gregory made it. He made it. I know he made it, he always real fast. I’m talking about he was fast.

Police can be up on him, he can shake ‘em, shake ‘em, shake ‘em up off him.

So the police tell me, “Either you tell me where he went or we gonna lay there and get you. You going to jail.”

I say, “Man, I don’t know that man!”

So they say, “What’s your name?”

I said, “My name’s Gerald Anderson” He say, “You ever been locked up?”

“Yessir.”

“For what?”

“For all kinds of stuff.” “‘All kinds of stuff.’ Like what?”

“All kinds of stuff.”

He say, “You know you going to jail for auto-theft, no license…”

Shit like that.

I told him, I said, “Man, my friend give me the car, man.”

He say, “If your friend give you the car, where the goddamn keys at?”

I say, “Oh, he told me he had the keys.”

At the same time it wasn’t really funny, but I was like, “Damn, now the shit getting upgraded.”

You know, I done been to jail for this and that and that. But not no car theft.

To be continued. Gerald’s book, “Still Standing: How An Ex-Con Found Salvation In the Floodwaters of Katrina” is available on Amazon.com

Third year gone, but never forgotten

BY MARCUS GREEN // Artist/Vendor

Her legacy lives on in my heart, her family and the Street Sense Media family. Roberta Bear, my Bobby, took care of people with mental health issues and was an active supporter of helping the homeless. She worked for St. John’s group homes and meant so much to so many people. I miss her every day, and it’s a struggle every time the 24th of November comes around.

The flame will always burn for our love. Tell your loved ones how much you love them while they are living, because when they’re gone, there’s so much left unsaid. Grieving is a part of life, but accepting it is the hardest thing. Your level of coping skills are put to the test.

The bright side is those priceless moments you play over and over in your mind. At times, I get emotional and cry, and cry. It happens at the worst of inopportune times, like on a crowded train or bus, and there I am crying like a baby.

I bought Roberta the headstone I wanted for her and am getting close to having saved up for the install price.

Thank God for the nurturing love from all of you. It means the world to me.

Author Gene Weingarten is a college dropout and a nationally syndicated humor columnist for The Washington Post. Author Dan Weingarten is a former college dropout and a current college student majoring in information technology. Many thanks to Gene Weingarten and The Washington Post Writers Group for allowing Street Sense to run Barney & Clyde.

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Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org

Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW food (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach

Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org

Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

Covenant House Washington 202-610-9600 // 2001 Mississippi Ave., SE covenanthousedc.org

D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org

Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org

Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW ID (Friday 9am–12pm only) foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities

Friendship Place // 202-364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave., NW friendshipplace.org

Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org

Jobs Have Priority // 202-544-9128 425 2nd St., NW jobshavepriority.org

Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 2114 14th St., NW marthastable.org

Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-800-799-7233

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

1-888-793-4357 Laundry Lavandería

Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW

Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org

New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE

JOB BOARD Restaurant Team Member

Chipotle Store 1484 // 2338 Wisconsin Ave NW This position assists with hand making food during shift and is expected to be a friendly face to customers and other crew members.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/glover-park-chipotle-job

Food Service Worker Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW // 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org

MedStar Health // Columbia Heights This position performs a variety of tasks in support of the department, including, but not limited to: cleaning and assisting in maintaining all areas of the department in a sanitary condition including heavy cleaning, receiving and storing departmental supplies and food, and washing dishes, pots, and pans.

REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED, ability to read, write, and do simple addition.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/medstar-health-job

General Support So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org

St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-333-4949 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org

Unity Health Care // 202-745-4300 3020 14th St., NW unityhealthcare.org

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org

The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

N Street Village // 202-939-2060 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org

// 15

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org

For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide

Bed, Bath, and Beyond // Washington, D.C. This position engages customers in a courteous, helpful, and respectful manner, promptly and politely responds to customer inquiries and customer requests for support, and performs additional tasks, like stocking shelves, collecting carts, and general cleaning.

REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED, 0-1 years experience working with retail.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/bbby-job

Restaurant Assistant Manager

Hot N Juicy Crawfish // 2651 Conn. Ave NW Full-time This position supervises the front of the house and ensures compliancy of all staff with Hot N Juicy Crawfish policies, procedures, and standards. REQUIRED: Prior experience in a full service restaurant, ability to obtain a food protection certificate.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/manager-crawfish

Auto Damage Adjuster Trainee

GEICO // Washington, D.C. Full-time This position inspects and assesses vehicle damage ranging from minor fender-benders to extensive damage caused by major accidents, hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters, and works directly with other Adjusters and supervisors in a field environment while working with multiple external stakeholders such as body shops, rental partners, and parts providers. REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED, valid driver’s license.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/insurance-adjuster-trainee

Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org

Dear reader, Street Sense Media needs your support

F

ifteen years ago, a new and unique partnership was forged in Washington, D.C. Concerned about the growing affordable housing crisis, volunteers joined forces with men and women who were homeless to publish a newspaper called Street Sense. Their relationship was built not on handouts, but on a belief that shared talent, ability, and collegiality could act as a springboard for individuals to propel themselves beyond homelessness.

To be successful and lasting, they needed a third partner. You.

Your generous gifts have helped print over 3.7 million newspapers. You have given over 600 men and women a job.

A pathway to a better life. An opportunity to redefine themselves. A platform to share their story. None of this would have been possible without you.

Because of you, Patty, David, Ken, Anthony and countless others now have a home. Because of you, Morgan, Reggie, Robert, Sasha, Cynthia, Angie, and Levester were able to produce films that premiered before sellout audiences at E Street Cinema. Because of you and your sustained support, Street Sense, that tiny little startup newspaper, was able to evolve into Street Sense Media, a full spectrum media company producing content in print, film, theater, photography, illustration, and audio.

The rate of homelessness in Washington, D.C. is the worst in the nation, and we know you are as concerned about this as we are. Street Sense Media provides an immediate economic opportunity for our homeless neighbors, but we could be doing be more. We have long wanted to move to weekly publication of the newspaper (we publish bi-weekly). This would increase the earning potential of an average Street Sense Media vendor by over 40 percent. But doing so would double our printing costs and require an additional staff position. We cannot do it without your help.

For four years we have been piloting a small, innovative job training program that prepares participants for work in the lucrative field of digital marketing. To grow it and enroll more vendors, we need your help.

Eighteen months ago, we launched a new case management program to help vendors navigate the complex pathways to housing, income supports, health and mental healthcare. This program literally saves lives, getting vendors off the street and into housing where their life expectancy drastically increases. This effort was begun with a two-year grant from a single donor that expires in the spring of 2019. To maintain this program, we need your help.

In honor of our 15th anniversary, and to help us achieve these critical goals, please consider making a generous contribution today. To encourage you to do so, our Board of Directors will match any amount you give, up to a total challenge amount of $30,000.

You have always been a critical part of our success. Your generosity has changed lives. We hope that we can count on your continued partnership through a generous year-end gift using the enclosed reply card or by going online at www. streetsensemedia.org. We thank you for your support and wish you the very best this holiday season.

HELP SUPPORT OUR MISSION TODAY!

Sincerely,

donate online

BRIAN CAROME Executive Director

www.streetsensemedia.org

DEC. 12 - 25, 2018 VOLUME 16 | ISSUE 3

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