9-24-14
Through what might be called at the least a coincidence, I
find myself sitting here writing this entry from one of the best if not the
best homeless shelter in the city. A
week ago I went to the Central District to find a marijuana store I had heard
of from a homeless guy in the park in China Town, I As I wrote the email I
heard three people having a conversation behind me that kept mentioning the
word “housing.” I waited to the appropriate
time and then jumped into their conversation and told them I was looking for
housing and that I was homeless. I said
those exact same words several years back when Carlton Jones went to eat in a
restaurant in China Town and I over-heard people talking about housing. I did
the same thing this time only it was me alone this time. That was over two years ago and I've been
homeless all this time since then. There
were three people sitting behind me – two black men, and a black woman. It just so happened that one of the men was
the executive director of a transitional housing organization, and the other
man was the head coordinator of the shelter from where I am writing this
entry.
I got into the shelter on Steve's
word without having to go through a place called Night Watch The shelter itself
is more open than most other shelters.
As you walk through the front entrance, a wide area opens up with long
eating tables and chairs and a big flat screen tv rests on the back wall. The wi-fi code is plainly written on a large
chalk-board to the left of the entrance, and they actually have what are called
“night-plates” Night plates are plates of food from whatever was for dinner and
placed in a large refrigerator for people who might be working late!!!. It is fairly clean (except for the fruit flies)
and they seem to have an organized way of doing things. The entire staff is
black, and the man in charge seems very personable and friendly, but like most
older black men, he looks like he's also ready to get in your face if
necessary.
The ethnic break-down is some
like 70% african-american, 30% white and the rest Hispanic. I think this place is very new. My guess would be it has been open for about
a year. Also, it bears pointing out in
particular, that the mattresses are very thick as far as shelter mattresses
go. When you're homeless, finding a
thick mattress to sleep on is like finding money. No hip pains, no knee pains, and no elbow
pains. They say you get used to the thin
mattress like in jail, but I never got used to it in jail, and I don't think I
am ever going to get used to it in a shelter.
Subsequent to the conversation with Steve Curry (coordinator of this
shelter), I decided to give Pete's place a try.
As I walked to the shelter Steve stopped, picked me up and gave me a
ride the rest of the way to the shelter. I feel kind of special because I don't
have to do the whole night watch thing.
Tonight was a little wiered because when I arrived at the shelter I had
expected Steve to call ahead and tell them I was going to be staying until Sunday,
but they had not heard from Steve when I asked them about it. I waited for about 15 minutes and then one of
the shelter workers answered a phone call.
Next thing I know he's telling me that Steve got me into this place
permanently!! On top of that, Steve and I had discussed earlier that on Sunday
we would go see the Transitional housing place and I could decide whether or
not I wanted to pay the 450.00 per month they are asking. As I am recounting all of this stuff I
realized that this is very good news. It
would be excellent if the transitional housing place was comfortable enough for
me.
A couple of things worth mentioning. After the Emerging Advocates class trip to
Olympia, me and Ben Mischk had coffee and talked about policy, my career plans,
and just life in general. We also ended up discussing a possible position in
Olympia as a congressional aid's assistant. I didn't think I would hear back
from him but today I received an email saying he had talked with the
congressional aid about me and she wants to meet me. According to Ben, it pays more enough to live
on modestly (I wonder what “modest” means to Ben), but I bet it pays more than
I am making now or at least similar (without Lucas, Antonio, some nigga I
almost got into a fight with today) and a slew of other mentally-ill clients at
DESC. After a brief discussion over the
phone about the position and the congressional aid and the congressman, Ben
said he would email me the link to the Senators web page. After getting up on the internet and checking
my email for a response to my email to Edgar (which I will talk about later) I
surfed to the senator's web page and examined his credentials: Harvard grad,
Yale law school grad Sum Cum Laude, a
supreme court internship, and years of experience working for Bill Gates'
father's law firm... And he lives on Capitol Hill....with his husband and two
kids!!! My initial reaction was shock,
then amazement, then I thought of Ben Mischk.
I'm fairly certain Ben doesn't think I'm gay, so maybe there is some
kind of agenda behind his choice of senator.
If that is too paranoid, maybe it's just an opportunity that happened to
open up (sounds naïve). It also goes completely against my religious beliefs.
I don't know how comfortable I will be
supporting a gay senator's legislation supporting LGBQT legislation. I would be putting my career above what I
believe about God. To the notion that
God is leadingme in all that I do as a christian I have to express some doubt.
However, God also put Joseph in Egypt and in Potifer's house – not what I would
consider a great career move on Joseph's part except for the fact that he ended
up ruling the entire house and becoming a great leader in all of Egypt. I know I'm no Joseph, but I don't put
anything past God or the devil anymore.