The Contributor: December 11, 2019

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Volu m e 1 3

| Number 36 | December 11 - 26, 2019

W r appin g Pape r I s s ue!

S P O N S O R E D B Y T H E S A LVA T I O N A R M Y

A BOUT US

About this Special Wrapping Paper Edition The holidays are upon us, and many of us are going to need at least a few sheets of wrapping paper to cover the gifts we so lovingly picked out for our friends and family. We at The Contributor are celebrating 12 years as a nonprofit this year. As co-editors of this paper, we’ve taken care to make sure our vendors’ experiences shine through. Each sheet of this paper represents the hard work and love put in by each and every one of our vendors at The Contributor in our 12 years. Some of those vendors helped design these sheets. Some of them wrote poetry and stories you’ll read in these pages. All of them appreciate your love and support. — Amanda Haggard & Linda Bailey

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

The Contributor now accepts Venmo!

Cathy Jennings, Chair Tom Wills, Bruce Doeg, Demetria Kalodimos, Ann Bourland

Contributors This Issue Linda Bailey • Amanda Haggard • Hannah Herner • Tom Wills • Mary B. • Cynthia P. • Mr. Mysterio • Tanya Ramirez • Elizabeth Jones • Treena Do • Joe Nolan • Maurice B. • Harold B. • Christopher W. • Wild Bill • Mario Martinez • Mary Louise Meadors

Contributor Volunteers Cathy Jennings • Tom Wills • Joe First • Andy Shapiro • Michael Reilly • Ann Bourland • Patti George • Linda Miller • Deborah Narrigan • John Jennings • Barbara Womack • Colleen Kelly • Janet Kerwood • Logan Ebel • Christing Doeg • Laura Birdsall • Nancy Kirkland • Mary Smith • Andrew Smith • Ellen Fletcher • Michael Chavarria

WANT TO BE A VENDOR?

Scan the QR Code to the left, or find us @The-Contributor!

Make sure to include your vendor's badge name and number in the description!

New vendor training Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10 a.m. at Downtown Presbyterian Church, 154 5th Ave N. and 10:30 Thursdays at Room in the Inn, 705 Drexel St. Next vendor meeting Dec. 26 at DPC 9:30 a.m.

And don't forget to take the paper!

BY TOM WILLS, CO-FOUNDER create products or provide a service.

Rather, we sell newspapers to homeless people who work for themselves. We train them to sell those papers to you, keep the money they earn, and buy more when they need to replace their stock.

Our biggest fans don’t always get this.

Like lightning without the thunder, they see the humanity of the vendor but misunderstand the model. Case in point: In 2013 during a funding crunch, a representative of one of Nashville’s biggest foundations exclaimed, “I’m such a big fan that I never take the paper!” We responded, “Well, that’s why we are in a funding crunch.” BOOM! Thunder was heard. Taking the paper makes our model work — not taking it breaks it.

And selling the paper twice doesn’t just fund the paper, it funds housing and change. BOOM! Our vendors report their sales to qualify for subsidized housing and even for standard housing deposits and mortgages. They don’t consider your buying the paper a “donation.” It is a sale.

When they sell out, they buy more and build the paper trail of a profitable business. Until making these sales, many of our vendors had never experienced the satisfaction of seeing their investment pay off. And when it does, it liberates!

They have become “contributors” to their

Cathy Jennings Executive Director

Andrew Krinks Editor Emeritus

Will Connelly, Tasha F. Lemley, Steven Samra, and Tom WIlls Contributor Co-Founders

How ‘The Contributor’ Works The paper you just paid for was bought by someone else first, otherwise it wouldn’t exist. That’s how The Contributor works. A vendor who experienced homelessness paid 50 cents for this paper and then sold it to you. By buying it and taking it with you, you’ve just encouraged that vendor to buy another. BOOM! That’s the solution. Now keep reading.

This paper has something to say to you.

Street papers provide income for the homeless and initiate a conversation about homelessness and poverty. In 2007, The Contributor founders met at the Nashville Public Library downtown to form one. In a strike of lightning we named it The Contributor to infer that our vendors were “contributors to society,” while their customers could contribute to their work. But, thunder from lighting is always delayed …

It took three years, but Nashville embraced us like no other city in the world.

The Contributor became the largest selling street paper per-capita on the globe.

And today 50 percent of our six months or longer tenured vendors have found housing. BOOM! The thunder has struck.

The Contributor is a different kind of nonprofit social enterprise. We don’t serve meals or provide emergency shelter. We don’t hire people in poverty to

Contributor Board

own destiny. And Nashville has become a city of lightning and thunder. BOOM! Now that you are a SUPPORTER, become an ADVOCATE or a MULTIPLIER You are already a SUPPORTER because you know that taking the paper makes the model work. You bought the paper and you are reading it. Now your vendor is one copy closer to selling out, which is exciting!

Now you can become an ADVOCATE when you introduce your friends to your favorite vendor, follow us and share our content on social media, contact us when you witness a vendor in distress or acting out of character, or explain why others should pick up a copy and always take the paper when they support a vendor.

And, you can become a MULTIPLIER when you advocate for us AND directly donate to us or become an advertiser or sponsor of The Contributor. Our income stream is made of 50-cent- at-a-time purchases made from our vendors, matched by contributions, ad sales and sponsorships from multipliers like you. Because our vendors are business owners, your donations are seed-money investments in their businesses and multiply in their pockets. Every donated dollar multiplies four-to-seven times as profits in the pockets of our vendors.

T h a n k s fo r c o n t r i b u t i n g .

PAGE 2 | December 11-26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Editorials and features in The Contributor are the perspectives of the authors.

Submissions of news, opinion, fiction, art and poetry are welcomed. The Contributor reserves the right to edit any submissions.

The Contributor cannot and will not endorse any political candidate.

Submissions may be emailed to: editorial@thecontributor.org Requests to volunteer, donate, or purchase subscriptions can be emailed to: info@thecontributor.org Please email advertising requests to: advertising@thecontributor.org

Mailng Address The Contributor P.O. Box 332023, Nashville, TN 37203 Main Office: 615-499-6829 Vendor Office: 615.829.6829

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Copyright © 2018 The Contributor, Inc. All rights reserved.

NEWS BRIEFS

NEWS BRIEFS Metro cuts Barnes Fund grants by about half Mayor John Cooper announced in early December that the Mayor’s Office has awarded $5 million in Barnes Funds grants – only about half of the normal allocation.

Metro Housing Trust Fund Commission had approved recommendations from the Barnes Application Review Committee for a new round of grants to support the development and rehabilitation of 549 affordable housing units in Nashville, according to a release from Metro.

Cooper says that hopefully Metro can back an additional round of awards in the spring of 2020 using excess fund balance for this fiscal year.

“Even with our current budget difficulties, we are pleased to announce that the Barnes Fund will make grant awards due to their critical importance to housing affordability in our city,” said Mayor Cooper. “The Barnes Fund is a critical part of making sure that affordable housing is at the center of everything we do in Nashville. Providing housing stability for our children, taking stress off our local workforce, and creating opportunities for seniors to remain in their communities are all goals that help achieve a stronger Nashville for all of us.”

Workers’ Dignity holds action at McMurray Middle School Workers’ Dignity held an action in front of McMurray Middle School “to educate the public about construction workers’ claims of $43,000 in wage theft

for laying concrete at the Metro school,” according to a release from Workers’ Dignity.

According to the release: Between August 2018 and May 2019, Armando Arzate and fellow workers at RSA Concrete put long hours of skilled labor into McMurray Middle School’s renovation, pouring concrete for new sidewalks, ramps, and other projects. Metro Nashville Public Schools contracted with Orion Building Corporation, their frequent construction partner, to oversee the project. Orion then subcontracted with Joe Haas Construction Company for cement work, and Joe Haas Construction hired Armando and his team at RSA Concrete. Despite having finished the job in May of 2019, Armando and his team are still seeking $43,000 they say they are owed for their work.

Brad Paisley announces celebrity dodgeball tournament to benefit The Store Brad Paisley announced an annual celebrity dodgeball tournament to benefit The Store, a new nonprofit free grocery store Brad and his wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley are starting in association with Belmont, Brad’s alma mater. The eight-team National Dodgeball League (NDL)-officiated tournament will be held from 6-9 p.m. on Feb. 20 in Belmont’s Curb Event Center. The event will also feature musical performances from Brad and friends.

Tickets may be purchased either by phone (615-460-2255) or through the Belmont Box Office.

December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 3

Q&A

PHOTO COURTESY OF CATHERINE KNOWLES

Q&A: CATHERINE KNOWLES KNOWLES REFLECTS ON HER SERVICE AFTER RECEIVING NATIONAL AWARD

BY TREENA DO Catherine Knowles has been working with children experiencing homelessness for more than 20 years. As the Homeless Education Program Coordinator for Metro Nashville Public Schools, her hard work and dedication toward helping those in need has earned her the Homeless Liason of the Year Award from the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. Knowles says she lives by the mantra to “leave the world a better place than you found it.”

Knowles sat down with The Contributor to discuss her recent honor and explain why she’s spent two decades working with the community.

How did you begin working with children who are homeless?

I have been in the exact same job in the district for 22 years. I was born and raised in Nashville. I actually started tutoring part time at one of the local homeless shelters that doesn’t exist anymore. I went to the shelter two nights a week and helped kids with their homework. Then, the director for this program left, so I applied for the job, and it’s just what I continue to do. But my background is in social work.

How would you describe your role as homeless education program coordinator?

It’s multifaceted. A significant amount of my work has to do with the compliance piece with the federal law. My team — we are responsible for ensuring that everyone in the district is compliant with the federal law. Then, there’s the direct service piece. Last school year, we served about 3,400 students. … We provide backpacks and supplies, we provide clothing, we provide food assistance through a partnership with Second Harvest. We also provide special transportation to keep students in one school, no matter where they’re living.

We also do referrals to help families find housing and I also serve on a couple local and statewide committees. It’s really multifaceted — no day is ever the same; it’s not a boring job.

What would you want people to know about child homelessness that is often misunderstood?

The biggest issue really is that definition of who we serve. Under the Department of Education, the definition of “homeless” they use is prescribed through the McKinney-Vento Act. Under federal law for education, you qualify as a student experiencing homelessness if you lack a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence. What that means

for us and nationwide, is that 80% of students that school districts identify as homeless are living with friends and relatives because they don’t have housing of their own. So that’s the “doubled-up” category of homelessness. The broader definition includes students and families that are living in weekly rental motels. It certainly includes people in shelter programs or transitional housing programs, and unsheltered folks.

What resources do you need to better do your job?

I think Nashville just needs a greater stock of affordable housing. I think that’s a struggle and challenge for our city. As we grow and prosper, we need to be sure that we’re creating housing opportunities for everyone, whether it’s workforce housing or affordable housing. I think we need to pay a little bit more attention as a city to develop those lower-income rental units.

What is the most rewarding part of what you do?

In the last two years, we got some legislation passed in the state. It’s been nice after this many years to feel like we’re changing things on a statewide level. The individual rewards are really being able to

PAGE 4 | December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

respond to the limited individual needs that I can. When someone calls and we have terribly cold weather, yes they need a place to live, but what they also really need is a coat for their child. And we can provide that immediate need that someone has.

What is the hardest part of what you do?

I think the hardest part is hearing the same stories from families over and over again and dealing with the reality of how limited our affordable housing options are for families. As someone who was born and raised in Nashville, I’d really love to see our city move into the direction where we really are a city all people, for all workers of all income levels, for all families of all races — being an inclusive city and making sure we are building a Nashville that has a place for everyone.

How do you feel about being honored as Homeless Liason of the Year Award?

It was a very nice honor! It was certainly a boost to my spirit, after 22 years of work, to be recognized in that way. I am really hopeful that I can use the attention and recognition of that to raise the profile of the issue and our program in the community. I want to be sure there are long-term benefits for the families that we serve.

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

Contributor Vendor Bryan H. steers his bikes, and life, in new directions

BY HANNAH HERNER

Bryan H. says he’s always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie. It comes from his love of riding dirt bikes back at home on his family farm in Missouri. Growing up, his parents always told him, “Don’t ride in the road!”

Now he does that every day as a bike delivery driver.

“Your body is pumped full of adrenaline when you’re riding a 10-speed — going 30, 40 miles per hour through downtown — weaving in and out of cars, trying to keep them from hitting you,” Bryan says.

Bryan H. was last featured in The Contributor five years ago, when he talked about his long-distance bike riding. Now he is no longer living in a tent and got a job at Jimmy John’s. He’s taken up a side hobby of motorizing bikes and got involved in a local nonprofit, Ride for Reading, which delivers books to low-income kids and educates on literacy and biking.

“It gives me a sense of peace when I’m out riding, even if I’m trying to find a house or a business while at work,” Bryan says. “Just being on my bike, you don’t exist, the world doesn’t exist, all my problems don’t exist.

It’s like the purest sense of freedom for me.”

Now selling the paper has become something he does just to supplement his income.

He sells occasionally in Bellevue or Hermitage, and still has regulars from over the years that recognize him.

For a roof over his head at night, Bryan cycles between about six different places.

Some are friends, and others are places he can stay while he works on home improvement. He says he often works on a bartering system. He bounces around all the way from Glasgow, Ky., to Manchester to Murfreesboro or Nashville for different jobs and boarding options. Anywhere he goes, he brings a bike with him.

It sounds like Bryan has a lot of spinning plates, and he likes it that way. He deals with PTSD and is autistic, he says. Having this many projects going on at the same time works well for the way that his mind works, he says.

“My brain is like a ricocheting bullet, all over the place... I’ve got like 10 different projects in my head going on at the same time,” Bryan says. “I can’t do the same thing over and over and over. I get bored, I get worn out with it, and I start to get frustrated. Then, I get fired.”

Bryan says she sees his autism not as a curse, but a gift. He can memorize blueprints, which helps him with his home improvement jobs. Same goes for memorizing the intricacies of motors for his bike motorizing side hustle.

“You know how Ironman can use that 3-D hologram? He can spin it around and take pieces off? I can do that with my mind,” Bryan says.

PHOTO BY HANNAH HERNER

When asked what he wants to happen in five more years, he interrupts before the question is finished to describe his grand plan to create a “barn-diminium” in his home state of Missouri.

He’ll build the barn from the bottom up and frame it into living quarters. He recites

December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 5

the dimensions of each room. He plans on making it like a commune, where his extended family and friends can stay. The barn will be equipped with a shop so he can work on bikes, too.

For Bryan, the blueprint is easy to picture.

PAGE 6 | December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

MOVING PICTURES

Gangsters, Grifts & Gore ‘THE REPORT’ TURNS-IN A FACTUALLY FAITHFUL INTERROGATION OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN TORTURE

BY JOE NOLAN Film Critic Scott Burns’ new film about the CIA “Torture Report” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. The Report was released about the same time that Dark Waters hit screens, and both films mark a return to form for crusading-paper-pusher films. Both movies make much of scenes of researching, texting, reading computer screens and reams of papers in folders, and talking in offices and on telephones. None of this content is dying to be captured in high definition in perfect lighting, but these new investigative offerings recall the genre’s greatest works like All the President’s Men, Good Night and Good Luck and Spotlight. Like those films, The Report and Dark Waters dramatize true stories, and they’re both finding curious audiences in this anxious post-truth age.

The Report tells the story of Daniel Jones (Adam Driver), a staffer who worked

with California Senator Dianne Feinstein (Annette Benning) to compile an investigation into the “enhanced interrogation techniques” that were developed by the CIA in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the early days of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In this age of partisan media, audiences would naturally expect a political film to takes sides, but this movie is consistently winning praise for condemning

the roles that both the George Bush and Obama administrations played in equipping and supporting war criminals including CIA officers like Jose Rodriquez and Gina Haspel who is now the agency’s director.

The names of America’s CIA torturers have never been released, and not one of them has ever been held accountable. The Report reminds viewers that the parties have no problem working together hand-in-glove when it

December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 7

comes to protecting establishment power in the face of a shocking, murderous scandal.

One of the most unnerving aspects of The Report is the juxtaposition of administrative procedures, with flashbacks that dramatize actual scenes of brutal torture, which are seen in flashback as the film slowly but surely drags audiences into the deepest darkest corners of the CIA’s system of inhumane imprisonment and interrogation. This all during a time when the agency was given unlimited funds and unlimited discretion to do essentially whatever they thought was necessary to prevent an attack like 9/11 from ever happening again.

Of course hindsight tells us that unlimited funds and nearly no oversight is probably never a good idea, but The Report takes us through the evolution of enhanced interrogation and the administrative culture that created it and defended it and protected it’s perpetrators. It’s chilling to watch the cold-blooded — and wrongheaded — consciousness about torture take shape, but it’s even more chilling that nearly no one in either the Bush or Obama administrations was willing to confront the practice and punish its perpetrators. In a political climate where the word “Nazi” comes too easy, The Report might be the best movie ever to show us how, with the right circumstances, resources, and motivations, humans can become willingly monstrous and horrifically capable of turning a blind eye to brutality justified by patriotism and vengeance.

The Report is packed with dialog — it largely works because the writing is mostly good, but it’s sometimes packed with exposition. Driver is predictably watchable, but Benning and many of the other performers never seem to settle into their real-life characters. The script and the actors take the credit and the blame for this uneven film’s highs and lows. The Report isn’t perfect or great, but it’s a really good movie about an important subject, and it reminds viewers that the truth is real and that it nearly never serves establishments of any stripe.

Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/ songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.

PAGE 8 | December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

FUN

HOBOSCOPES CAPRICORN

I hear a lot of arguing this time of year about the real stories behind our winter holidays.

Some say our secular culture shook all the truth out of a beautiful religious tradition. Some say our underpracticed religion stole it all from even older, more earth-bound customs. All I know, Capricorn, is that it’s dark out there and we need a little light. Whether it’s a street-lamp snow-globe, a well-lit Christmas tree, or a blazing Yule log — we need some light this time of year if we’re going to see each other at all. Keep your lights on and your eyes open. Everybody’s trying.

AQUA RIUS

Say, for example, that your significant other has been dropping hints for months.

Let’s say they’ve been telling you exactly the perfect gift to get them for the holiday. But let’s say you haven’t been paying attention. You’re in luck. Your smartphone is always listening. Your smart-speaker hears every word that’s said. Even your smart-thermostat is probably keeping tabs on you. If you start seeing targeted ads for something that you would never buy, ask yourself, “is big data trying to sell me the very thing my loved-one has been asking for all this time?” It’s a great opportunity to get this one thing right before we’re all overthrown by our artificially intelligent appliances.

There’s one word that really captures the spirit of this season for me. That word is, of course, “slopperydozafanoondapuck.” In case you’re not familiar, slopperydozafanoondapuck was a word introduced in the 1977 Mr. Rogers Neighborhood Christmas Special. King Friday, ruling monarch of The Neighborhood of Make Believe, has decreed that no one, puppet or otherwise, can open their presents until he says aloud slopperydozafanoondapuck which means (according to the king) “what a difference one person can make.” This is a long way of saying, Taurus, that you embody slopperydozafanoondapuck as much as anyone I’ve ever met. Make a difference today.

GEMINI

My nephew wants a robot for christmas.

What are we talking about here? Like a little plastic robot with arms and legs or a wind-up robot that rolls around? Would a Transformer work? Does it need to move on it’s own? Should it be voice controlled?

Does he want one of those giant articulated arms that builds cars or maybe something artificially intelligent? Does it need to be indistinguishable from it’s human counterparts for a secret mission? I think my nephew needs to be more specific.

I’d like to hear you state your needs more specifically, too, Gemini. It’s the best first step toward getting what you want.

CANCER

PISCES

Santa rides through the evening air on a sleigh pulled by eight flying reindeer to bring toys to children. Sure, that’s pretty cool. On the other hand, the Norse god Odin rides an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir as he leads the Wild Hunt of the ancestral dead across the midnight sky, stealing souls for the fairy realm. Some would say that’s much cooler. But Odin doesn’t get hundreds of thousands of letters from children every year. At least, I don’t think he does. It just goes to show that being cool isn’t always as compelling as being chill.

ARIES

TAURUS

You know that scene in the original 1977 Star Wars when Luke takes a pause at his uncle’s moisture farm and stares into the triple sunset? It’s a beautiful and mind expanding moment. But if a planet was actually in the orbit of three different stars, things would be a lot more chaotic. Physicists have trouble predicting how three bodies in one another’s gravitational influence might affect each other. It probably wouldn’t look anything like a serene daily triple sunset. You’ve got a lot of forces pulling on you this week, Cancer. Any of them you could just cut loose?

LEO

“Frosty the Snowman” is probably the most popular song that specifically tells the story of Frosty the Snowman. “Heroes”

by David Bowie is a close second. It’s a tale of claiming the present moment and defying those seasons that are sure to change. By Bowie’s retelling all we’ve got is now and if all we’ve got is a corncob pipe and a broomstick in your hand you better get out there and thump. Sure, you’re gonna melt. We’re all gonna melt eventually. But what if we could be heroes right now? Alive as we can be, Aries. If just for one day.

Just about nothing closes a Waffle House.

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom.

Neither Thanksgiving nor Christmas nor New Years Day. They stay open through it all. I’ve spent many a holiday at a late-night Waffle House enjoying some raisin toast and a double order of hashbrowns (smothered, covered, and peppered in case anybody’s asking). A restaurant that never closes makes me think about availability, Leo. How often am I available to those I love? Is it enough? Is it too much? Do they understand what those limits are? Have I told them? Just a thought to ponder, Leo. Could you refill my decaf before you go?

VIRGO

In the 1946 Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life two of the citizens of Bedford Falls are a police officer named Bert and a taxi driver named Ernie. In 1969 Jim Henson was working on the pilot episode for Sesame Street and developed a pair of muppets named, of course, Bert and Ernie. The Sesame Street folks say the tribute was entirely unintentional. Maybe those two names just sound nice together. Sometimes when something works, it just keeps coming up. Look out for those combinations this week.

LIBRA

Just watched a Christmas movie where that guy who was in that highschool football movie and that girl from that TV show about vampires fall in love at an iguana sanctuary in the Galapagos Islands. She’s getting over a divorce and he’s emotionally distant because of a tragic loss in his mysterious past. And then at the end you realize it was Christmas the whole time! Maybe it wasn’t really a twist ending, I was only half paying attention. But the one thing I really learned, Libra, is that sometimes you can’t recognize the love that’s all around you until you’re giving Enrique the Iguana some deworming-medicine with an eye dropper. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that for us.

SCORPIO

For hundreds of years it was common practice to dress up as a goat during the holiday season. Sometimes this was a representation of the Scandanavian god Dazbog, who would appear at celebrations asking for gifts. In later years the men in the family would dress up as the Yule Goat and give gifts to children. Frankly, I’m relieved that we’ve let the expectation of goat-deity cosplay fade from our modern holiday celebrations. Now would you please just put on the antler-headband so we can take a picture for Aunt Carol?

SAGITTA R IUS

In 1982 Dolly Parton had a hit with Hard Candy Christmas, a heartbreakingly hopeful litany of maybes. “Hey, maybe I’ll dye my hair / Maybe I’ll move somewhere / Maybe I’ll get a car / Maybe I’ll drive so far” and on the list goes. Maybe you’ve been feeling like a little change would do you good, Sagittarius. But a little change can be more than a little lonely. Before you let the sorrow bring you down, maybe reach out and let somebody know that it’s feeling like a hard road.

Mr. Mysterio is not a licensed astrologer, a trained Yule-Goat, or a dancing robot . Mr. Mysterio is, however, a budding intermediate podcaster! Check out The Mr. Mysterio Podcast. Season 2 is now playing at mrmysterio.com

December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 9

VENDOR WRITING

T

his story goes back 81 years during the Depression in Kansas City, Mo., where four siblings were left to fend for themselves: Three girls ages 13, 7 and 4 and one boy age 10.

Their father was in a V.A. Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo. Their mother worked for ONE DOLLAR A DAY. (One dollar a day! I can’t even begin to imagine working all day for one dollar.)

One day their mother just up and left them.

She wasn’t making enough to keep her head out of the water. In her mind she knew the children deserved better than what she was giving them.

For days the children tried to stay hidden from the landlord. They knew if the landlord saw them they wouldn’t have a place to stay. Eventually, the landlord found the children all alone so he put the children out on the streets. By the luck of God someone saw these children on the streets and asked where their parents were. They called the police who took them to the 1930’s version of what we call the juvenile detention center today.

Once they got there and the judge knew the situation with the children he asked, “Where do y’all want to go?” And since the oldest was 13 she had to make the decision. Her choices were the state orphanage or St Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage. She chose St. Joseph. She knew if she chose the state orphanage they would be separated. The girls would stay together, but their brother would be placed in the boys state orphanage. Little did she know they would be seperated anyway. They still got to see their brother but only a couple times.

While they were there they also saw their mother a couple of times.

My new friend Doris was the youngest sister. I asked her to tell me about the orphanage and she replied, “Awesome!” She said it was a lot of fun even though she stayed in a lot of trouble. Not big trouble. I would say she was just curious. There were several floors to the orphanage and she just wanted to know what was on the other floors. The floors were separated into age groups, so one day she went to the next floor to see what was different about it. Well once she got there she noticed the older girls were make things out of cloth. So she asked, “What are y’all making?’’ They replied, “Bandages for the soldiers in the war.” Little did she know they were making Kotex. They thought she was way too young to understand what they were making. She was only four or five then. Well she began to place them all over body like she was a wounded soldier. I can only imagine how had they were laughing because I was laughing so hard

took me to the office of The Contributor.

Suddenly, I wasn’t just sitting around like everyone else. There was hope. Things were slow, but they were better.

I found a spot off Charlotte & 46th. It was slow at first, but I was steady. Individuals started supporting me and on a regular basis. I began to attend G.E.D. classes after work. The issue about a person at the men’s mission opened up ways for me as a vendor and I thank him as well as the others.

I ended up moving into a motel with someone, which wasn’t positive. I was out selling one day and no one bought a paper, but rent still needed to be paid so I missed G.E.D class and moved to Hickory Hollow Parkway & Bell Road for a period and as before no one was interested at first, but the next day or so the support came about. Well, that was a spot in which I really took over because individuals came by and said they’d rather support me and The Contributor than what was out there before me.

With my bucket in hand daily I was known on the MTA bus routes as a regular working man.

I’d like to say I was inspiring to individual passengers, but I must be honest there were times that I wasn’t at my serenity. It was only by the mercy of our Almighty God that people felt my pain and assisted me through.

I am a firm believer of the oneness of our Almighty God, which makes me a follower of the Deen of Al-Islam. I know that there have been those who have passed me by while I make salah (prayer) in which by my teachings Allah/God accepts and knows my intentions. That’s where I ask you to notice that if I do not acknowledge you, it is because my salah/prayers are obligatory, and they are better to be made at the times they first come in.

My story is that I have been given structure and I strive to apply it. I’ve since come back to Charlotte & 46th and The Contributor sent Channel 5 out to shoot a story about The Contributor accepting Venmo using me as the community celebrity: Maurice. B, The Bucketman. Just a regular individual striving to press forward.

My Little Orphan Annie Story

BY MARY B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR when she told me I almost fell out of my chair.

Then I asked, “What was your favorite subject in school?” She said, “Recess!” I should have known that by the way she was telling me her story. Well believe it or not that class clown graduated at the age of 16.

After she graduated she went to California and stayed with her mother’s aunt where she tried modeling. I have seen pictures of her when she was younger. She was beautiful and would have made a great model. She is still beautiful today inside and outside. Well modeling wasn’t paying her bills, she said, so she signed up for the Air Force. Because she was still a minor, St Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage was still her guardian and the Mother Superior had to give her permission to go into the Air Force.

While she was in the Air Force she was a magician’s assistant. She didn’t do that long — she said a year. While she was there she met Adrian Collins, AKA Pete. You see Pete was engaged when they met, then something happened and the engagement was called off. That was a plus for Doris because she was the lucky lady that eventually became his wife. She was 19 and Pete was 25 when they were married, if I remember correctly.

I asked Doris about the places they lived before they moved into the house they are in now. She replied, “We lived in the projects and we only paid $25 a month.” She went on to tell me that Fran, their oldest (she was 5 at the time), got lost one day coming home from school. When she didn’t come home Doris got worried and went to look for her.

You see, all the apartment buildings looked alike and Doris found her sitting on someone’s porch crying her eyes out. And from that day Doris tied a scarf on her porch so Fran could find her home.

They lived there for about five years.

Pete, Doris and their three kids were living in the projects while he was going to medical school.

What you don’t know is that Pete previously got kicked out of two colleges because he made bad grades and didn’t go to class. He would pretty much goof off. You see Pete was smarter than the teachers so he would get bored and do crazy things.

WHAT IS MY STORY?

BY MAURICE B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR There are so many individuals that are interested in a story. I am just like the next individual in life that had a hard fall — someone who has experienced many trials and tribulations. I am Maurice B., The Bucketman.

I come from a place well-known for all types of history: “Cow-town/Murderworth” Texas.

Because I existed on the streets of mainly the Southside I am able to comprehend many types of people and their mentality and the differences between situations and circumstances because Texas is so very diverse.

I was hospitalized with a blood-clot and found out I am a diabetic on top of already having seizure disorders. I had a choice to make: Move to go forward in life or stay where I was and dig myself

One day he bit the bullet and went to the dean of the college and asked if he could come back to school. He really wanted to become a doctor. He promised he would behave and not goof off. The dean agreed to let him back in school, but if Pete messed up he was out. Well Pete agreed, made straight A’s for two years, graduated and became a doctor — Dr. Collins.

Sure enough he moved his family out of the projects and into a big house that was close to a school so the children could walk to school because Doris didn’t drive. While they were there Doris became pregnant with their fourth child.

When the time came for the baby to be born, the doctor that was supposed to deliver the baby didn’t make it there in time and Pete had to deliver the baby. The house they lived in then was the oldest house in South Shore, Ky. They lived in that house for about eight years.

After Dr. Collins had his office up and running in 1969, he had a house built from the ground up for Doris. That’s when they hired Mr. Murphy to do the yard work, fix things, take Doris to the store and run other errands. Mr. Murphy was just like family. He worked for the Collins for 25 years until he retired. I know the Collins family had to miss him with him being with the family for as long as he was.

With Mr. Murphy being gone, Doris had no choice but to learn how to drive. Yes, she was 70 years old when she learned to drive. She only drives local though.

Dr. Collins’ wasn’t your average everyday doctor. He made house calls and if his patient didn’t have the money to pay their bill he would take whatever they had to offer him. He even took chickens for payment one time. Dr. Collins was the only doctor in their town until their oldest daughter Fran married her high school sweetheart and he became a doctor and joined her dad’s practice. Dr. Collins did woodwork and worked on cars, and his best friend was the garbage man.

At one time when they were older, both of them were in the hospital at the same time. Doris had broken her hip and Pete had a heart attack.

From what Doris told me, Pete was the worst patient ever. I have to say I do believe that. A brick mason will complain on someone else’s work, the same for carpenter, plummer, ect.

Pete and Doris would have celebrated 65 years in December of 2018, however Pete passed away a couple days shy of their anniversary. Doris still resides in the house he had built for her. At the age of 85 she gets around better than most people I know who are 60.

I had the pleasure to meet Mrs. Doris Collins recently at her home in Kentucky. I already knew her daughter Fran. She is a regular customer of mine out here in Bellevue. We talk a lot and she had told her mother about me.

A month or so back I had mentioned to Fran that I wanted to have my front teeth fixed. They had been fixed a while ago after I’d been in a domestic violence situation, but they had started to break again.

One day Fran came and picked me up and told me that her and her mother wanted to pay to have my teeth fixed. I cried like a baby. Her mother has never even met me and wanted to help me. I asked myself, why would this lady want to help someone she has never met?

I had to meet this lady so when Fran asked if I would like to go to Kentucky, I said yes. I have to admit I was a little nervous about meeting her. She is a doctor’s wife and our lifestyles are so different. Her house would be all fancy and stuff like that. And me I sell a homeless street paper.

I’m sure you can do the math.

Boy was I shocked! She is so down to earth.

Humble and just a simple lady I guess are the words that I’m looking for. She will keep you laughing.

I know she had me laughing from the time we got up until the time we went to bed, and what I really liked about her was she never forgot where she came from. She was raised in an orphanage and never forgot that. When I heard her story I had to ask if I could share her story with others.

What I’m hoping is that when people read her story it will remind them of their past. So when they see someone homeless, selling The Contributor or any other street paper they will look at them different. Some of them may have had homes, cars, jobs, business, etc.

When she married her husband, Doris took his last name: Collins. If you remember in the first part of her story her dad was in a V.A. Hospital in Fort Collins, Mo., where he passed away. It’s almost like he was giving her his blessing.

deeper into ruts of existing.

In the early part of 2016, I touched down here in Nashville. At first all I recognized was the old ways I was used to. I didn’t see a way out of the frowns of life in which everyone is discouraged.

But I knew that I must meet up with myself and I pulled away from everyone and their ways and focused on myself. Yes, I know it sounds selfish, but how can I assist someone else if I can’t help myself?

I found myself getting on a new pattern and I began to meet people. I approached a table and requested to eat. Some individuals opened up avenues for me to eat. And as I was eating little by little I was maintaining my serenity. An ol’ school approached me and introduced me to a way to make a better ratio of my time and money. He

PAGE 10 | December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

VENDOR WRITING

MERRY CHRISTMAS HAROLD B.

Been out and about

WHERE ARE YOU? PENNY

CHRISTOPHER W.

What do you know

WILD BILL

Where are you now?

Dying in a rain cloud

We’ve been really busy

Sometimes I have many

Or just suffocating in your own sorrows

Santa put the sleigh in tow

Other times I don’t have any

No regret you see you have to see between the lines

Sometimes on the ground

In the code you’ve forgotten

Still food from Thanksgiving

At times never found

That sun that flashes only once

Enough for us to see

They come they go.

So there you are, or was

What do you know

You just have to go with the flow.

Your eyestance was just trouble for the old school working class

A big Christmas tree

You will be missed, not kissed Buried are your hopes and dreams

“Merry Christmas Everybody”

You will be lucky if you wake up behind Tootsies

Vendor Mario and Rocky would like to thank their customers and wish all them Happy Holidays.

December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 11

PAGE 12 | December 11 - 26, 2019 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Designed by Mary Louise Meadors

Designed by Elizabeth Jones

Designed by Tanya Ramirez

Designed by Contributor Vendor Jennifer A. |

The Contributor is Nashville’s award-winning nonprofit street paper. Its mission is to create economic opportunity with dignity by investing in people who experience homelessness and poverty. Learn more here: www.thecontributor.org

Designed by Mary Louise Meadors

WRAPPING PAPER EDITION • We’ve served over 500 vendors this year who have sold over 190,000 papers and earned approximately $825,000 collectively.

• 70% of our 6 mo tenured vendors work their way into housing.

The Contributor is Nashville’s award-winning nonprofit street paper. Its mission is to create economic opportunity with dignity by investing in people who experience homelessness and poverty.

Here’s how it works: People experiencing poverty and homelessness buy newspapers from The Contributor for 50 cents and sell the papers to their customers for $2.

They keep everything they make (including tips).

All vendors go through training before they can sell the paper on the streets, becomming their

own micro-business owner. Vendors also have the opportunity to have a voice in the paper and are paid for their submissions of original poetry, essays and artwork.

In our 12 years of publication, vendors have sold more than 6 million copies and earned over $15 million collectively!

For this special holiday edition of the paper, local graphic designers and vendors of The Contributor have collaborated to create unique sheets of wrapping paper just for you! We hope you’ll use this wrapping paper to wrap your

holiday gifts and maybe even spark conversations about what we do.

The printing of this creative endeavor wouldn’t have been possible without the sponsors displayed here. We are so grateful for the loyal support of our Nashville community. Our work at The Contributor is made possible by generous individuals committed to supporting our vendors and their right to work. Please consider a year-end donation to The Contributor and help us reach our winter fundraising goal.

Happy Holidays from The Contributor!

• In 2019 we logged 7,100 volunteer hours • We cooked and served over 1,300 breakfasts & Lunches this year at our 26 vendor meetings • Our vendors started taking VENMO this year!

• We offer housing navigation at every meeting and have offered flu shots, housing navigation, health insurance information, bus information • Our name comes from the fact our vendors are Contributors to society.

• We’ve trained 3,423 vendors in our 12 year history and they have put over $15 million back into the Nashville economy.

PRESENTED BY:

THANK YOU TO OUR FAITH SPONSORS! Westminster Presbyterian Church

Holy Name Catholic Church

First Evangelical Lutheran Church

First Presbyterian Church

Congregation Sherith Israel Crievewood United Methodist Church St. Henry Catholic Church

Kevin and Katie Crumbo Background designed by Contributor Vendor Cynthia P.

Christ the King Church St. Ann’s Episcopal Church

St Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church Connection UMC Longhollow Baptist Church Park Ave. Baptist Church