Marc Estrin : Who Needs Tear Gas?

"Port-A-Potty." Art by Ali Spagnola / alispagnola.com.
Who needs tear gas?

The switch from blameworthy military attack to invisible counterinsurgency is a smart one for cities and towns strapped for budget.

By Marc Estrin / The Rag Blog / November 29, 2011

BURLINGTON, Vermont -- Nonchalantly pepper-spraying sitting students, or charging with batons swinging into nonviolent crowds, or middle-of-the-night attacks with gas canisters flying in the streetlights' glare don’t seem to be increasing the popularity of protectors and servers throughout the land.

Some mayors and police chiefs, like our own in Burlington, understand that they can expect to clear Occupy sites with three much more subtle, non-YouTube-able, plausibly deniable techniques, one transient, two permanent.

The first is simply to wait for winter, a time when most outdoor beasts, warm-blooded and cold-, migrate or hibernate, or somehow dig in, and abandon their normal playing fields. Landscapes of all kinds thin out naturally until the burgeoning of spring. In Vermont, that’s at least four months with very unlikely encampment. Things may be different in Florida.

But the second and third tactics are not so iffy, so geographically determined. They are easy, and cheap:

2. Provide no porta-potties. This has been a longstanding tactic. Permits have long been granted for potentially large, one-day demonstrations, extra police are hired, traffic plans are made, barriers and watchtowers are imported, Free Speech Zones demarcated (!), etc. And in spite of all this planning and expense, guess what is absent?

And then consider the decision-making process of potential demonstrators with prostate problems, menstrual issues, nervous bladders, bowel disorders, of any who may not be able to hold it -- whatever "it" is -- for more than a few hours. Discourages going to the demo, doesn't it? Cuts down on the numbers. And with no propaganda, no expense. It also puts pressure on local businesses to guard their facilities, and detest the 99%. A twofer. Here, there are possible technical solutions used by pillheads and astronauts.

3. But the best, and most effective approach of all, potentially lethal to every Occupy site, and for the authorities, killing three big birds with one stone, is simply to rely on the openness, kindness, and communitarian ideologies common to the Occupiers. In Burlington, it was the suicide of a homeless man at the encampment which was the game-changer, and brought down all the tents.

In larger cities, with far larger homeless populations, the situation is far more difficult, and is counted on as such by authorities. The homeless rightfully seek out non-judgmental soup kitchens, and communities in which they are not likely to be awakened in the middle of the night by nightsticks or racist gangs. And if they pay attention at all to the rhetoric of those around them, they know that they are not only part of the 99%, but perhaps the poster children of same.

They belong there. They recognize communities that strive to make them welcome without proselytizing or judgment, that try to cross socio-economic boundaries and learn from their hard experience of life ever more common in America. The homeless wind up in Occupy sites, and they should, and they always will -- for good reason.

Not to mention that Occupy often moves into places and parks that belonged to the homeless in the first place, until they became "contested public spaces." The street people who spent their days in Burlington's City Hall Park during the hours homeless shelters are closed were quite literally overrun by the marchers that "claimed" the park.

The occupation began more like the occupation of Palestine than of Burlington. But with much work, caring, and growth of tolerance, the problems were largely overcome, and the occupiers cohabited with the homeless behind our City Hall. They allowed us to occupy their space. Then came the suicide.

The fact is, and for obvious reasons, the homeless bring many problems with them that become a great burden to any intentional participatory community. There have been a lot of words about everyone being able to have their say during the remarkable people's mic, about rules being formed democratically, etc.

But the fact is that some people are just not into announcing a mic check, and laying out their ideas in short, repeatable phrases. Some people are not into obeying rules at all, whatever they are, whoever made them. Some people are habitually drunk, or drugged, and wildly disinhibited around sexual behavior.

These are the people, and this the sociology, that sophisticated police departments count on to do their work for them, invisibly creating stressors in Occupy situations, and picking up the tab for feeding, housing, and caring for the city's poorest.

A three-fer this time, a win-win for law 'n order: break up the encampments, save money on tear-gas and overtime, and until that is achieved, relieve the strain on food shelves and homeless shelters. There were reports of police picking up drunks in other parts of the city, and chauffering them down to Zucotti Park in the days before Kristallnacht.

The switch from blameworthy military attack to invisible counterinsurgency is a smart one for cities and towns strapped for budget. "Let the buggers eat each other up" has always been the rationale for divide and conquer. Oh, and don't give them any place to pee.

[Marc Estrin is a writer, activist, and cellist, living in Burlington, Vermont. His novels, Insect Dreams, The Half Life of Gregor Samsa, The Education of Arnold Hitler, Golem Song, The Lamentations of Julius Marantz, and The Good Doctor Guillotin have won critical acclaim. His memoir, Rehearsing With Gods: Photographs and Essays on the Bread & Puppet Theater (with Ron Simon, photographer) won a 2004 theater book of the year award. He is currently working on a novel about the dead Tchaikovsky. Read more articles by Marc Estrin on The Rag Blog.]

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Jay D. Jurie : Orlando Cops in 'Feeding Frenzy'

Image from Orlando Food Not Bombs.
Orlando's feeding frenzy:
Cops bust volunteers feeding the homeless

By Jay D. Jurie / The Rag Blog / June 8, 2011

ORLANDO, Florida -- On June 1, 2011, life in downtown Orlando's Lake Eola Park was pretty much the same as on any other Wednesday this time of year: in one corner of the park a group was set up to dish out food to all comers. What turned out different on this particular occasion was that the Orlando Police Department crashed the line and arrested three members of the anti-militarist and anti-poverty organization, Food Not Bombs (FNB), for the "crime" of providing free food to the homeless.

Arrested were Jessica Cross, formerly a student activist at the University of Central Florida; Ben Markeson, a long-time participant in Orlando FNB and a member of Orlando's short-lived chapter of Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS); and Keith McHenry, a co-founder of the national FNB organization.

On Monday morning, June 6, after serving doughnuts and pancakes, four more FNB members -- Noelle Bivens, Dylan Howeller, Brock Monroe, and Steve Willis -- were arrested by Orlando Police. FNB has vowed to continue defying Orlando's ban against feeding the homeless.

Ben Markeson, arrested along with Jessica Cross (left) and Keith McHenry for feeding the homeless, says that Orlando Food Not Bombs will continue to feed those in need at Lake Eola Park in Orlando. Photo from Orlando Sentinel / Mail Online (U.K).
Food Not Bombs began in 1980 as an offshoot of New England's anti-nuclear power Clamshell Alliance. For more than 30 years FNB has organized chapters worldwide with a two-fold mission: to graphically illustrate poverty in the face of bloated military spending, and to provide a direct service to those in need.

According to their Facebook page, "Food Not Bombs is a worldwide effort to feed anyone hungry and end violence."

FNB's website tells us that "Food Not Bombs shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities around the world to protest war, poverty and the destruction of the environment." Then it asks, "With over a billion people going hungry each day how can we spend another dollar on war?"

Beginning in January 2005, Orlando FNB served people in Lake Eola Park without incident. In 2006, reacting to complaints from nearby merchants who wanted the homeless moved "out of sight, out of mind," the City passed an ordinance that prohibited feedings of more than 25 people at a time without a permit, and limited permits to a twice-yearly basis.

Orlando FNB continued the feedings and as a co-plaintiff with a church organization, filed suit in federal court, alleging violation of First Amendment rights. One member of the group was arrested in 2007, but acquitted at trial.

In 2008, federal judge Gregory Presnell partly ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. He did not find that the City's feeding ban violated freedom of religion, but found that the ordinance did violate free speech rights. Orlando decided to appeal, and a three-judge panel from the conservative 11th District Court of Appeals in Atlanta sided with the City.

However, in an unusual move, they forwarded their ruling for consideration by the full 10-member appellate panel. Some held out hope that this was a signal that the full court would deny the appeal. In April 2011, that hope was dashed as the Court voted unanimously to uphold the City's ordinance.

While Orlando FNB continued the feedings, on two separate dates after their court victory, May 18 and May 23, the City "paid" for permits that FNB had not requested and which they rejected. There was one additional "unpermitted" feeding on May 25 before the City apparently decided to move forward with arrests. It remains to be seen how all this will play out.

Meanwhile, the critique made by Food Not Bombs is worthy of serious consideration.

In fiscal year 2010, $9.7 billion was expended on school lunch programs nationwide. The Women, Infants, and Children program spent $6.7 billion on combined food and nutrition services. For fiscal year 2011, it was estimated $85.2 billion would be spent on food stamps. Aggregated, these expenditures aimed at meeting the food needs of the nation's neediest come to $101.6 billion.

These figures can be contrasted with the Pentagon's $671 billion budget request for fiscal year 2012, which shows that the totals for low-income food support are less than one-sixth that of the military budget. Taxpayers might wonder why they are not getting a better deal when 19 fanatics armed with box cutters did the most damage to this country since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and all the trillions spent on "national security" or "defense" in the intervening decades provided no protection.

If looked at from the local perspective, most are not getting a better deal. While pressing for lower tax rates for business, Florida Governor Rick Scott recently signed legislation that will limit unemployment benefits for the laid-off. He also signed a bill, which he avidly promoted, that will require welfare recipients to be drug-tested.

Food Not Bombs members have been arrested several times over the past few years in Orlando, though all have been acquitted so far. Image from orlandofoodnotbombs.org / Mail Online (U.K.).
Orlando has spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to build three "venues" that will primarily serve the interests of the affluent at the expense of the middle class. Among these venues is the new arena demanded by billionaire Orlando Magic basketball owner Richard DeVos. His team put up about $60 million while taxpayers footed the remaining $420 million of the bill. Included in the arena are skyboxes the City has reserved for itself, so the same Mayor Dyer and the City Council who passed the anti-homeless feeding ordinance can view the Magic games in luxury.

Ironically, at Lake Eola Park, the locus of the feeding controversy, the fountain which is the park's central feature was recently repaired at a cost of $1.6 million. While most of the repair was funded by insurance pay-outs, it was yet another reflection of the City's problem-solving capabilities, at least when it comes to what is viewed as a priority.

As if to underscore the most fundamental point made by Food Not Bombs, according to Richard Reep in the June 2, 2011 issue of New Geography, Orlando has become the host to the nation's largest war simulation center, with an estimated 18,000 employed in this "growth industry." Some would argue, along the lines of "trickle down" theory, that all the tax dollars thrown at Orlando's tourism industry, attractions, venues, and military research are needed to support programs that help the homeless.

In 2009, the City of Orlando Housing and Community Development Department received and dispersed some $7.3 million in federal funds for low-income housing support. Note the emphasis on federal, not local funds. Other low-income housing services are funded and provided by nonprofits, not the City of Orlando. This is also the case with food banks, soup kitchens, and so on, which are provided by nonprofits and charitable organizations.

Any claims that the City is providing for the needs of its less fortunate residents rings hollow in the face of the evidence that the City marginalizes this population while spending hundreds of millions of middle class tax dollars to serve the interests of the most affluent.

Those in the middle class have far more to gain by insisting these priorities be reversed. Given the shape of the economy, far more in the middle class are in need of a social safety net, as the ladder of upward social mobility has been yanked out of grasp.

In upholding the City's ordinance, the 11th District Court of Appeals has further diminished the rights and liberties of all citizens, not just the homeless and their advocates. As an old labor slogan put it, "an injury to one is an injury to all." In its ruling, the Court proclaimed the "time, place, and manner" restriction of the ordinance was justified.

It used to be presumed that freedom meant persons were at liberty to act in accordance with First Amendment rights and government was constrained from interfering with the exercise of those rights. Current "time, place, and manner" restrictions have stood this assumption on its head. These days, the presumption is that persons are not at liberty to exercise such rights unless the government says so.

[Jay D. Jurie is a proud Rag Blogger who teaches public administration and urban planning and lives near Orlando, Florida. Read more articles by Jay D. Jurie on The Rag Blog.]

Sources: Orlando Food Not Bombs, Food Not Bombs, New Geography, UK Daily Mail, Orlando Sentinel, the City of Orlando Housing and Community Development Department, the Food Research and Action Project, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

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BOOKS / Alex Knight : Max Rameau's 'Take Back the Land'

Take Back the Land:
Give root to democracy

By Alex Knight / The Rag Blog / September 8, 2010

Take Back the Land: Land, Gentrification and the Umoja Village Shantytown, by Max Rameau (Nia Press, 2008); Paperback, 134 pp.; $12.95.

I first heard about a group called Take Back the Land, which was illegally moving homeless families into empty homes in Miami, in a study group about the Civil Rights movement and the grassroots organizing that made it so powerful.

The reference was highly appropriate. In many ways, Take Back the Land is a direct heir to that bottom-up, Black self-empowerment, civil disobedient, movement-building tradition, and is one of the most inspiring examples of a group renewing and developing that tradition today.

In our moment of crisis and stagnation, here is a group full of creativity, improvisation, and highly potent political analysis. Through its actions, the group proclaims: "Families are being foreclosed on and kicked out onto the street? We’re not going to lobby Washington and hope for some crumbs to come down. We’ll take matters into our own hands and move people directly into homes!"

This is precisely the spirit of direct action and participatory democracy that kick-started the Civil Rights movement, and the spirit that we need if we are to escape the human suffering that the elite are imposing on the poor and working class in this economic crisis.

Max Rameau, author of this book and a principal organizer in Take Back the Land Miami, came and spoke in Philadelphia a few months ago. I was struck not only by how charismatic and effective a speaker he was (something I could say about many smooth-talking political or corporate salesmen of our age), but by how Max was able to break down complex, abstract theoretical questions into common language that was easily understood.

In this way, he demystifies politics and translates concepts usually reserved for academics or professionals in such a way that average, everyday people can take away something new and useful from the exchange. It’s clear that his primary goal is not an ego trip to show off his brilliance, or to sell books and make money, but to do something much more difficult and meaningful: to spark movement to force the U.S. government to recognize housing as a human right.

This book is written in that same frank style. In fact, it’s basically a how-to on grassroots housing organizing. It’s short -- only 132 pages -- but all you need to know is laid out here: the political context of Miami and the nation in terms of lack of affordable housing and gentrification that drives poor and Black people out of their homes, the strategic decisions and organizing that go into launching a new organization and campaign, the challenges and joys of working with homeless people, and the difficult and deceptive terrain of interacting with politicians, who are often agents of larger and more powerful corporate forces.

Max Rameau just tells the story of his group, but in such a provocatively specific way. He explains to us exactly how things were done, who did them, who interfered and how, and he’s not at all afraid to name names.

The book centers on the incredible story of the Umoja Village, a shantytown built by Take Back the Land and allies on a vacant lot in a poor Black section of Miami. Because “In South Florida... local governments responded to the [housing] crisis by actively decreasing the number of low-income housing units” (pg. 23), Take Back the Land took the initiative to seize land and invite homeless people to take up residence there. The purpose of the action was not only to house people, an immediate need, but to draw attention to the crisis and to the government’s inaction, thereby hopefully shaming them into creating more low-income housing.

In the long run, the group’s “Political Objectives” were as follows (72):

1. House and feed people.
2. Assert the right of the black community to control land in the black community.
3. Build a new society.

Even before the land seizure, much groundwork had been laid, including debating the strategy and politics of this type of action, discussing the possibility with allies and neighbors of the site, and trying to line up legal, fundraising, and other forms of support that would be necessary. Citing a legal precedent that homeless people had a right to not be evicted from territory where their basic living needs were met, the group was able to dissuade the police from immediately evicting them once they did move onto the land.

Seeing the police cars back away without arresting anyone made a strong impression on the homeless and poor people moving onto this land. “This was a real, tangible victory that the people witnessed with their own eyes” (65).

With shanty homes and compost toilets built, the Umoja Village stood on the land for six months, and was self-organized by the homeless residents. Take Back the Land prioritized that their group, while inspiring and leading this takeover, would become increasingly unnecessary in the day-to-day operation of the shantytown, so that the residents had total control.

The self-empowerment of the homeless was one of the most inspiring aspects of this book. You read about individuals who had been victims for decades, or their entire lives, and were grappling with mental illness and/or drug addiction, becoming confident by working with one another and making the decisions that affect their lives.

[W]e assert that the most marginal members of society are better qualified to run their "city" or "village" than the college educated elected official and bureaucrat. We not only asserted the proposition, we proved it as Umoja’s residents made real decisions about the rules of the Village and the manner in which it was run (75).

Here is precisely the principle of participatory democracy that Ella Baker championed in the Civil Rights movement. Rather than turn for help to political elites, religious leaders, business leaders, or whomever, we can take matters into our own hands and manage our own affairs. Forget what passes for “American Democracy.” Real democracy is about "people power." Demos in Greek means people, cracy means rule. Put it together -- Democracy: Rule by the people.

Unfortunately, true democracy is rarely tolerated by the U.S. corporate and governmental establishment, and that was the case in Miami. Shortly after the Umoja’s six-month anniversary celebrations, a “suspicious” fire burned down the entire village. Before Max, the homeless residents, and allies could clear the wreckage and begin the process of rebuilding, the city of Miami sent in the police to permanently evict them from the land.

What follows the disastrous fire and eviction is perhaps the most intriguing section of the book. Take Back the Land, still trying to reoccupy the site, is approached by a "progressive" city councilperson, who offers to house all the homeless residents in a new low-income housing unit that Take Back the Land would develop. The group then has to debate whether to accept this deal, which would mean giving up some of their oppositional character against the government, in order to gain the immediate goal of moving people off the street and into homes.

The difficulty of this decision opens up an important question that all grassroots movements need to address at some point: whether to compromise with government/”the system” and receive tangible gains, or hold fast to ideals and principles and potentially miss some opportunities. It is never an easy decision.

In Max’s words, “

as the opposition, it is difficult for us to accept victory, even when we win. Virtually any settlement between us and our political targets can be interpreted as a sell out simply because there is an agreement or because those in power no longer stand against the demand. Consequently, we, as a movement, must clearly define what constitutes victory, particularly in the context of the US political and economic system (118).

If the goal is to “Build a new society” and that necessitates sweeping away the existing order of oppression, how do you compromise with elites whose job is to uphold that very order? On the other hand, because those elites have the power to give you what you need, at least in the short term, how can you avoid accepting a deal when they agree to give you something you need?

Ultimately, it is a question about “revolutionary reforms” -- theoretically a change in policy (reform) that leads to the empowerment of a movement, and therefore the ability to carry on further campaigns towards revolution. But what does that actually look like in a capitalist society that has successfully undercut and co-opted grassroots social movements for the last century or more, and which even more skillfully ignores and silences those movements so that they feel powerless and marginalized?

In a situation as desperate as our own, how do you avoid the temptation to work within the system, even if it means abandoning some of your political principles? And how do you stay true to those ideals while at the same time engaging that system to gain concrete victories?

I encourage all to read this book and discover how Take Back the Land wrestled with these and other pressing strategic questions. I hope it won’t be a “spoiler” to say that in the end the city of Miami betrayed the “deal” and the land was never restored, nor was there any new low-income housing construction. The government failed the public yet again.

The U.S. housing crisis has only gotten worse since this book was written in 2007, especially now that the economy has tanked. An estimated 3.5 million homes will be foreclosed on in 2010, a 25% jump from 2009. The work of Take Back the Land therefore becomes increasingly relevant and inspiring. As Michael Moore’s latest film Capitalism: A Love Story highlighted, the group has gone from taking over one piece of land to moving many homeless families into abandoned buildings throughout Miami. In this way, they have continued to make headlines and push the issue of housing as a human right.

There is no way to sugarcoat the loss of Umoja Village. The land we controlled for just over six months is now out of our control, a tremendous defeat for the community and the movement. Our efforts to take full and legal control over the land also ended in failure. However, none should confuse the killing of a deal with the killing of a movement. Umoja not only forged a model for the adversarial takeover of land, but also established a potential conclusion to the struggle: community ownership of that land.” (130)

To solve the immense problems we face in this crisis, not just housing but unemployment, lack of health care, attacks on immigrants and Muslims, the endless wars, climate chaos, etc., requires active, confrontational, and creative social movements. Even more, it requires a return to Ella Baker’s principle of participatory democracy, the taking of power away from unsympathetic elites and putting it into the hands of people who are directly affected by issues on the neighborhood level. Take Back the Land is a particularly striking example of a group hard at work pursuing this vision.

[Alex Knight is an organizer, teacher, and writer in Philadelphia. He maintains the website endofcapitalism.com and is writing a book called The End of Capitalism. He can be reached at activistalex@gmail.com.]

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Marc Estrin : Night Dreams of Another Life

Photo by Eric Pouhier / Wikimedia.
Listening to our local Leiermann:
Night dreams of another life

By Marc Estrin / The Rag Blog / May 31, 2010

Every now and then -- and again last night -- I am awakened at 3 a.m. by the sound of a shopping cart rattling past my house. No voices. Just a lonely, ghostly, shopping cart. It has that eerie sad-ness Woody Guthrie used to sing about -- like “that long lonesome train a-whistlin’ down.” Ex-cept it rattles.

The sky is dark, the street lights bright outside my window. All other noise has ceased. Squad cars prowl silently, if at all. Donna is sleeping, and the cats breath quietly at our heads and feet. Wordsworth said it: “The holy time is quiet as a nun/breathless with adoration.” Except there is a shopping cart. Rattling.

Who is out there, pushing? Who is searching the recycle bins and garbage for nickel bottles and cast-off clothing? Who must be up this early in the morning to ensure his meager catch?

In daylight hours I would probably revert to my social/political thought chain: the ghastly state of current American capitalist politics, the ripping away of the safety net from under the free-fall of the poor. But in the middle of the night, my thoughts often go to the amazing end of Schu-bert’s song cycle, Die Winterreise, the Winter Journey.

In the standard frame of nineteenth century romantic poetry, a lover, spurned by his beloved, must “get away” from his memories of her, must avoid the possibility of seeing her with her new husband. He wanders out into the winter, his tears freezing in the icy landscape. He has dreams and nightmares. He longs for mail, though he has no address. He communes with birds and beasts; he hallucinates.

There are many amazing and moving images in these 24 connected songs, but none is more mysterious and compelling than that of the last song, “Der Leiermann," the Hurdy-Gurdy man. Of all the songs, it is the quietest and simplest, a bare vocal line alternat-ing with a little organ-grinding refrain in the piano.

After all the wildness of nature and passion -- this last strange encounter: with an old man out-side a village, playing his music as best he can, his fingers numb, standing near his empty cup, barefoot, on the ice. Nobody listens to the organ-grinder, nobody pays any attention to him -- except the dogs, who come -- to bark and growl. But the old man just lets it all happen without complaint, grinding out his simple tune, never stopping. Coming upon him, our heart-weary traveler is dumb struck.

We think it is a simple little story, a narration about some striking character met along the path. The first surprise comes in the last verse. Is our sad young man repulsed by the organ grinder, frightened by his situation, thinking “there, but for the grace of God, go I”? No. “Strange old man,” he says to himself, “shall I go with you? Will you grind out music if I sing?” And the sec-ond surprise is -- that’s it. That’s the end. The hurdy-gurdy phrase runs it’s course and this in-comparable masterpiece just stops -- quietly, with a question, a question leading out into infinity.

As I lie in bed listening to our local Leiermann, his shopping cart singing its sad, repetitive song, I -- this person snuggling next to his sleeping wife, nuzzled by his trusting kitties -- I want to go out there and join him. I want to experience the emptiness and beauty of the street late at night, the sense of the world stopped around me, the non-hustle and non-bustle and time of my own creation.

I want to give up my deadlines and assignments, my enslavement to the little property I own. I want to simplify my life, and have the basic tasks of my cro-magnon ancestors, to live from day to day, to hunt and gather, to relate to the turning of the sky.

Not to romanticize the brutal life forced on the poor by devil-don’t-care capitalism. My late-night dream does not contain having to figure out where I can poop, or where to get a shower after two weeks without. I don’t have to scrounge for quarters for the laundromat, or worry about my things being stolen while I sleep on someone’s porch to stay dry.

I don’t even have to hang on to my empty bottles and cans -- but can give them, a pathetic, inadequate gesture, to those who build their lives around them.

Still, there is freedom out there, late at night. Dream-freedom. We humans have always paid a lot for freedom. At this very moment, somewhere on earth, there is blood being spilled -- for free-dom.

[Marc Estrin is a writer and activist, living in Burlington, Vermont. His novels, Insect Dreams, The Half Life of Gregor Samsa, The Education of Arnold Hitler, Golem Song, and The Lamentations of Julius Marantz have won critical acclaim. His memoir, Rehearsing With Gods: Photographs and Essays on the Bread & Puppet Theater (with Ron Simon, photographer) won a 2004 theater book of the year award. He is currently working on a novel about the dead Tchaikovsky.]

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Marc Estrin : Survival Tips for the Bailout Challenged

Photo by Donna Bister / The Rag Blog.
Gotten your bailout yet?

By Marc Estrin / The Rag Blog / April 12, 2010

No? Unemployment insurance running out? Mortgage under water? Yes and yes? Well, fear not. Since the war on terror is chugging along nicely, and the government/military is planning for survival in the face of climate catastrophe, infrastructure decay, financial crisis, disastrous health care, and deepening debt, you -- as a free American -- are at liberty to look to your survival in your own personal way.

You may need help. Advice. We have therefore undertaken to investigate survival techniques potentially useful to the literary and Facebook-reading classes. Over the past year, your author has been surveying homeless populations in four major cities; this is the first report of information gleaned from their years of human experience in exceedingly trying circumstances. It is hoped that as homeland political, social, and economic circumstances deteriorate, you may be able to take advantage of some of these techniques.

Optimal integration of food, clothing, and shelter

Multiple use of existing materials makes for economy in scarcity situations. Food, for instance, can serve for clothing, insulation, and even privacy. Consider for example the following not uncommon situation:

After a sleepless night in a public shelter or lavatory, exhausted by guarding your possessions, you will surely need a good daytime place to nap. In inclement weather, public libraries are ideal, especially for the well-educated. However, library policy has recently turned draconian, and anyone sleeping rather than reading is usually asked to leave.

Two slices of baloney can solve the problem. Choose a brand as close to your skin tone as possible. In the center of each slice, cut an eye-shaped hole. Choose a good book or journal, open it, sit well-propped in a chair, and place a slice of baloney over each eye. A cap or kerchief low on the forehead will improve the illusion. Then, off to the arms of Morpheus. It will take a sharp-eyed, highly motivated guard to catch you napping, and, what with budget cuts, these are in ever-rarer supply. After your nap, put the baloney away for further use.

Soft white bread, such as Wonder Bread or Tiptop is not only inexpensive, but is also an excellent insulator. Due to trapped air, its R rating is high, comparable to fiberglass or foam: a must investment, even with diminished funds. Slices can be stuffed in clothing, and in key body areas such as the small of the back or lower abdomen to maintain core temperature in hypothermic environments. Don’t forget the head! -- 70% of body heat escapes from the scalp. Wonder Bread fits nicely under any hat or cap, or can be trimmed for a custom fit.

Fast food restaurants invariably have packets of yellow mustard available for the taking. You’d be surprised at how well Grandma’s recipe for cold still works! Simply smear yellow mustard over your chest and abdomen, and along your sides (get up under those arms!) for long-lasting, bio-chemical warmth. It's free -- and it’s good for you, too.

Forget Kleenex from now on, and don’t keep a cold in your pocket with cloth hankies. Even the worst exposure-induced upper respiratory condition can be contained by blowing the nose into lettuce leaves, available free in great quantity in supermarket dumpsters. A day’s supply can easily be carried in pocket or purse.

Now here's a trick: At the end of a long day, when the baloney is a bit soiled and the bread somewhat tamped, scrape a small amount of mustard from the small of your back, whip out a few lettuce leaves, lay meat eye-hiders to bread insulation, and voila -- a classical baloney sandwich -- utilizing three of the four major food groups -- for your evening meal. Well fed, you can re-pack for a nighttime of maximum insulation.

Other food possibilities

It is an open secret among the poor that pet foods are perfectly fit for human consumption. Don’t be embarrassed to survey the huge selection in your supermarket -- no one will suspect you are shopping for yourself and not for Fido or Kitty. There are so many choices that it may take a while to discover your favorite brands and flavors. No need to restrict yourselves to “gourmet” varieties. The “gourmet” label is simply a marketing device targeted at upscale pet owners. The contents are virtually the same as that of cheaper brands.

Dry dog or cat food travels well, and can be wetted down at public drinking fountains. It is also ecological, since there is no can to dispose of. For the more affluent, canned cat food is probably your best bet. 9-Lives remains the trend setter, though it is virtually indistinguishable from other canned varieties. For an occasional treat, this writer recommends Sheba Moist Tender Chunks: Salmon Entree.

There do seem to be gender difference in the choice of food types, with men preferring dog food, and women, food for cats. For you he-men out there, we can recommend Mighty Dog -- Beef.

A modest proposal

The Obama presidency boasts a radical neo-conservatism combined with a fearless approach to the future, a commitment to institutions of the past, and strong motivation to deal with the problems which lie ahead. In the interests of political clarity, I would urge the president, and his advisors -- Messrs. Summers, Geitner, Bernanke, Emmanuel, and Netanyahu -- to have the courage of their convictions, and take things all the way.

With bipartisanship guiding all three branches of government, there should be only minor difficulty in bringing back an idea whose time has surely come again. Slavery has gotten a bad name with the liberal press, yet an unprejudiced mind can easily see its many benefits. Who can deny that living in the homes of wealthy families -- even without pay -- is preferable to a life of hardship, disease, and crime on cruel streets?

Family values would be maintained and promoted as mammys took care of the children, aiding harried executive moms. Cultural diversity would prevail as songs of the old South were heard again, and mixed races and cultures would be seen once again in the more exclusive neighborhoods. This is compassionate conservatism at its best.

However divided liberal opinion here may be, given the advancing pauperization of the middle class, it is not hard to imagine a time in the near future when it, too, could benefit by such a system as greatly as people of color. Congressional debates will be heated, of course, but with a bi-partisan Senate, there should be no problem with having the majority prevail. Another hard-won triumph for democracy.

[Marc Estrin is a writer and activist, living in Burlington, Vermont. His novels, Insect Dreams, The Half Life of Gregor Samsa, The Education of Arnold Hitler, Golem Song, and The Lamentations of Julius Marantz have won critical acclaim. His memoir, Rehearsing With Gods: Photographs and Essays on the Bread & Puppet Theater (with Ron Simon, photographer) won a 2004 theater book of the year award. He is currently working on a novel about the dead Tchaikovsky.]

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Austin Street Scene : 'CAPITALISM SUX!'

Sign of the times. Photo by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Now that hard times are back, I regard this fellow as a reminder that there are smart guys at the bottom who know the score.

By Roger Baker / The Rag Blog / September 10, 2009

One thing that most drivers here are familiar with is the car beggars who frequent the major intersections in Austin, a fairly tolerant city. I see the homeless regulars and some social help ministries. Even firefighters collecting with their boots. Now and then a squeegee windshield washer. The old vets, grandmothers, crippled beggars missing limbs. More women car beggars. I see sad little shelters under freeways that come and go. Occasionally I see the homeless paper peddled at intersections. I see few if any flower vendors that were familiar in years past.

This fellow at 32nd and the southbound frontage road at the IH 35 freeway stood out for sure. So I circled around snapped his picture from the car and gave him a few bucks for his brave message of honesty and class consciousness. You might want to slip him a little change if you see him. Now that hard times are back, I regard this fellow as a reminder that there are smart guys at the bottom who know the score. A reminder that we're all in the same boat and need to work for social justice and a safety net as poverty and homelessness increase.

Want the latest details on increasing poverty? Go here.

Want to know who has been getting most of the gravy? Go here.

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Treatment of Homeless Kids : Texas is DEAD LAST

This map shows state rankings on the issue of homeless children. Click on image to enlarge. For an interactive version, go here.
In the grand tradition:
Texas is dead last in its treatment of homeless children

By Roger Baker / The Rag Blog / July 6, 2009

Texas is one of those states like Mississippi that tends to rank up near the top in things that are bad, and way near the bottom in things that are are good, especially concerning things that take money to fix. Texas has a governor, Rick Perry, who is now leading a crusade against taxes to get reelected, with predictable results on the neediest citizens.

Now Texas has done it again by ranking DEAD LAST among all fifty states in how Texas treats its homeless children. Children cost money to house and feed, and of course they can't vote. Go here to see the report card explaining how all the states rank:

To get the details for Texas, go here for either an executive summary or a more detailed report:

Here are some lowlights of the report on child homelessness in Texas:

Minimum wage: $6.55
Average wage for renters: $14.94
Hourly wage needed to rent a 2 bedroom apartment: $15.02

High school graduation rate for homeless children -- 25%

under 6 years of age = 141,584
Grades K-8, enrolled = 164,086
Grades 9-12, enrolled = 31,484
Total = 337,105

Total housing units available for homeless families. 3,694
Extent of child homelessness. Rank: # 49
Child well-being. Rank: # 44
Risk for child homelessness # 50
State policy and planning: Inadequate
Overall rank. #50 (50 is worst)

Percent of uninsured children: 21.8%
Funds allocated to schools for education of homeless children: $16

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California Homeless : Hundreds March For a Legal Place to Sleep

John Kraintz (top), who is homeless, was part of the procession that began at Loaves & Fishes in Sacramento. Photo by Lezlie Sterling / Sacramento Bee. Karen Hersh (below), a homeless woman, carries her belongings at the tent city in Sacramento. She and hundreds of other residents living in the tent city along the American River were issued notices of eviction by Sacramento police. Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images.
Hundreds of California homeless march for land rights

"We're supposed to be the eyesore, but actually we're citizens and we're human beings. We're supposed to have rights like everybody else; it don't matter what we have in our pockets." -- Philip Grice, Homeless, 45

By Richard Gonzales / July 3, 2009

It has been about three months since city officials shut down a large "tent city" occupied by Sacramento's homeless people.

Now, some of the tent city's residents say they feel like refugees, with no place to go. They staged a loud demonstration Wednesday, in hopes of pressuring Sacramento officials to find them a new place to camp.

'Where Am I Supposed To Live?'

Philip Grice, 45, has been on the move ever since the tent city closed.

"When we moved out, we moved over to a private area two fields over. They wanted us off of there too. Just like shuttling cattle, that's all it is," said Grice, a carpenter by trade, who wears a T-shirt that reads, "Where am I supposed to live?" "We're supposed to be the eyesore, but actually we're citizens and we're human beings. We're supposed to have rights like everybody else; it don't matter what we have in our pockets."

Grice joined about 250 other homeless people and their supporters for a march through the northern end of Sacramento.

Their action coincided with the closure this week of a temporary shelter where many of the tent city residents had found a roof for the winter. Now these individuals say they need a year-round legal camp on what they call "safe ground."

Rodney Frazier, 43, a single father and disabled brick mason, participated in the march.

"A lot of these people are brick masons, they are tile setters, they are dentists, they had some very nice jobs," said Frazier. "They contribute to the world, to society, and they had a downfall in life. They need help getting up."

No Legal Place To Sleep

The march ended up in a hot and dusty city-owned lot next to a police station, where organizers set up a symbolic occupation. Val Jon Farris, founder of a group called iCare America, set up a tent on the lot.

"There is no legal place for people to live unless they own, rent or lease a home. So if you're homeless it's illegal to exist. You can't even lay your head anywhere without getting arrested, prosecuted or criminalized," said Farris. "So this is a demonstration in order to create a civil liberty that ought to already exist, which is [that] people have the right to be, to live without the threat of being incarcerated in their own country."

Sacramento police officer Mark Zoulas, who has served on the homeless beat for the past decade, said a legal campground makes sense to him.

"You need something for that immediate need," said Zoulas. "I like the winter shelter. I'm not saying that's the best answer in the world necessarily. But at least it gives you a choice. And that's now closed and everyone using it is out. And that leaves, for the minute, nothing, and nothing is never the answer."

The idea of a safe ground for homeless campers divides officials in city hall. The mayor, Kevin Johnson, has been receptive, but others, including the city manager, Ray Kerridge, is not. There is also a disagreement over how much it will cost at a time when the city and county are already slashing basic services.

What is not in dispute is that this week Sacramento has 200 more people with no place to sleep.

Source / All Things Considered / NPR / July 2, 2009

Thanks to Jeffrey Segal / The Rag Blog

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'Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there.'

Jane Darwell as Ma Joad and Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.
Above the din, Ma Joad's voice still confident, clear
By Pierre Tristam / April 7, 2009

Homeless camps now sprawl instead of developments. Unemployment numbers are spilling off front pages into our lives. Employers are turning workers into modern-day sharecroppers (every man his own contractor). And next week, as if on cue, marks the 70th anniversary of the publication of "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck's novel of foreclosure and dispossession in the 1930s. How timely.

The Oakies at the heart of the story were sharecropper migrants drummed off their land by banks and the Dust Bowl only to be terrorized by locals across the West in what Time in 1939 called "one of the grimmest migrations of history." By then the Depression and Franklin Roosevelt had shaken up the country's conscience, but Steinbeck gave the decade's angers its voice. It was outraged and lyrical -- as revolted over the country's exploitative instincts as it was hopeful of its redemptive capital. Have we lost something since? The din of hateful sanctimony mugs the airwaves, giving no chance to a voice like Steinbeck's, at once protesting, confident and forgiving. But nothing has been lost, exactly.

"The Grapes of Wrath" resonated with American empathy as few works of art ever have. It sold 100,000 copies in less than a week and became the biggest-selling novel of 1939. Within six days of publication Twentieth Century-Fox had acquired the movie rights for $75,000, close to a record for a novel back then. Within 20 days Henry Fonda was cast as Tom Joad and the ending was rewritten, supposedly to make it less grim, but in fact to avoid the image of Tom's sister, Rosasharn (who's given birth to a stillborn baby), breastfeeding a stranger demolished by starvation. The most charitable image of the novel somehow turned, in the perverted little minds of Hollywood producers, into an objectionably unhappy ending.

In the movie ending, what's left of the Joads amble down a road toward the promise of 20 days of cotton picking while Ma, played by the wonderful Jane Darwell, who won an Oscar for the role, sums it all up: "I ain't never gonna be scared no more. For a while it looked as though we was beat. Good and beat. Looked like we had nobody in the whole wide world but enemies, like nobody was friendly no more. Made me feel kinda bad and scared, too. Like we was lost and nobody cared. . . . We keep a comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out, they can't lick us. We'll go on forever Pa, 'cause we're the people." The End.

Steinbeck loved it. "In fact," he wrote his agent, "with descriptive material removed, it is a harsher thing than the book, by far. It seems unbelievable but it is true." He couldn't have objected to the ending because his books were nothing if not sentimental anyway. It was their weakness and their strength, what makes reading Steinbeck the kind of guilty pleasure that secretly wishes irony wasn't every contemporary novel's inside joke.

Judging from the bestseller list's biggest titles of the past 40 weeks (a novel about one woman's resistance to space aliens and comedian Chelsea Handler's "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea") you'd think Tom Joad's famous last words, in the book and the movie, would themselves sound like alien gibberish to contemporary ears: "Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there . . ." Steinbeck took the lines from Eugene Debs, the social democrat and union founder who said, "While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal class, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free." Speak these words today -- words that once redeemed America -- and you're more than likely branded a scumbag, a socialist, a loser, or worse.

But self-pity would be very un-Ma like. So would romanticizing Debs and Tom Joad as some sort of irrecoverable standard of decency. Recently I came across words similar to theirs: "Where there is injustice, we should correct it; where there is poverty, we should eliminate it; where there is corruption, we should stamp it out; where there is violence we should punish it; where there is neglect, we should provide care; where there is war, we should restore peace; and wherever corrections are achieved we should add them permanently to our storehouse of treasures."

Those weren't in any fiction. You can read the words on one of the most famous tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery -- that of Earl Warren, the lifelong Republican and Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. You can also see the line from Tom Joad's last words to Ma Joad's to Warren's, with this difference: Warren and people like him, when they had the power, made them real. That voice, that instinct, is as American as grand old plagues of greed and exploitation. It was on the defensive for a few decades. But it was never absent. Last November, it was 10 million voices louder than the cynics'. There's wrath in those grapes yet. And wine, too.

[Pierre Tristam is a Daytona Beach News-Journal editorial writer. Reach him at ptristam@att.net or through his personal Web site at www.pierretristam.com.]

Source / Smirking Chimp

Thanks to Jeffrey Segal / The Rag Blog

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Economic Crisis Yielding More Homelessness

An encampment of tents under an overpass in Fresno. Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times.
Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns
By Jesse McKinley / March 25, 2009

FRESNO, Calif. — As the operations manager of an outreach center for the homeless here, Paul Stack is used to seeing people down on their luck. What he had never seen before was people living in tents and lean-tos on the railroad lot across from the center.

“They just popped up about 18 months ago,” Mr. Stack said. “One day it was empty. The next day, there were people living there.”

Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shantytowns. At his news conference on Tuesday night, President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was “not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.”

While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root — or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing — in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.

In Seattle, homeless residents in the city’s 100-person encampment call it Nickelsville, an unflattering reference to the mayor, Greg Nickels. A tent city in Sacramento prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to announce a plan Wednesday to shift the entire 125-person encampment to a nearby fairground. That came after a recent visit by “The Oprah Winfrey Show” set off such a news media stampede that some fed-up homeless people complained of overexposure and said they just wanted to be left alone.

The problem in Fresno is different in that it is both chronic and largely outside the national limelight. Homelessness here has long been fed by the ups and downs in seasonal and subsistence jobs in agriculture, but now the recession has cast a wider net and drawn in hundreds of the newly homeless — from hitchhikers to truck drivers to electricians.

“These are able-bodied folks that did day labor, at minimum wage or better, who were previously able to house themselves based on their income,” said Michael Stoops, the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group based in Washington.

The surging number of homeless people in Fresno, a city of 500,000 people, has been a surprise. City officials say they have three major encampments near downtown and smaller settlements along two highways. All told, as many 2,000 people are homeless here, according to Gregory Barfield, the city’s homeless prevention and policy manager, who said that drug use, prostitution and violence were all too common in the encampments.

“That’s all part of that underground economy,” Mr. Barfield said. “It’s what happens when a person is trying to survive.”

He said the city planned to begin “triage” on the encampments in the next several weeks, to determine how many people needed services and permanent housing. “We’re treating it like any other disaster area,” Mr. Barfield said.

Mr. Barfield took over his newly created position in January, after the county and city adopted a 10-year plan to address homelessness. A class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of homeless people against the city and the California Department of Transportation led to a $2.35 million settlement in 2008, making money available to about 350 residents who had had their belongings discarded in sweeps by the city.

The growing encampments led the city to place portable toilets and security guards near one area known as New Jack City, named after a dark and drug-filled 1991 movie. But that just attracted more homeless people.

“It was just kind of an invitation to move in,” said Mr. Stack, the outreach center manager.

On a recent afternoon, nobody seemed thrilled to be living in New Jack City, a filthy collection of rain- and wind-battered tents in a garbage-strewn lot. Several weary-looking residents sat on decaying sofas as a pair of pit bulls chained to a fence howled.

Northwest of New Jack City sits a somewhat less grim encampment. It is sometimes called Taco Flats or Little Tijuana because of the large number of Latino residents, many of whom were drawn to Fresno on the promise of agricultural jobs, which have dried up in the face of the poor economy and a three-year drought.

Guillermo Flores, 32, said he had looked for work in the fields and in fast food, but had found nothing. For the last eight months, he has collected cans, recycling them for $5 to $10 a day, and lived in a hand-built, three-room shack, a home that he takes pride in, with a door, clean sheets on his bed and a bowl full of fresh apples in his propane-powered kitchen area.

“I just built it because I need it,” said Mr. Flores, as he cooked a dinner of chili peppers, eggs and onions over a fire. “The only problem I have is the spiders.”

Dozens of homeless men and women here have found more organized shelter at the Village of Hope, a collection of 8-by-10-foot storage sheds built by the nonprofit group Poverello House and overseen by Mr. Stack. Planted in a former junkyard behind a chain-link fence, each unit contains two cots, sleeping bags and a solar-powered light.

Doug Brown, a freelance electrical engineer, said he had discovered the Village of Hope while unemployed a few years back and had returned after losing his job in October. Mr. Stoops, of the homeless coalition, predicted that the population at such new Hoovervilles could grow as those without places to live slowly burned through their options and joined the ranks of the chronically homeless, many of whom are indigent as a result of illiteracy, alcoholism, mental illness and drug abuse.

That mix is already evident in a walk around Taco Flats, where Sean Langer, 42, who lost a trucking job in December and could pass for a soccer dad, lives in his car in front of a sturdy shanty that is home to Barbara Smith, 41, a crack addict with a wild cackle for a laugh.

“This is a one-bedroom house,” said Ms. Smith, proudly taking a visitor through her home built with scrap wood and scavenged two-by-fours. “We got a roof, and it does not leak.”

During the day, the camp can seem peaceful. American flags fly over some shanties, and neighbors greet one another. Some feed pets, while others build fires and chat.

Daniel Kent, a clean-shaven 27-year-old from Oregon, has been living in Taco Flats for three months after running out of money on a planned hitchhiking trip to Florida. He did manage to earn $35 a day holding up a going-out-of-business sign for Mervyn’s until the department store actually went of out business.

Mr. Kent planned to attend a job fair soon, but said he did not completely mind living outdoors.

“We got veterans out here; we got people with heart, proud to be who they are,” Mr. Kent said. “Regardless of living situations, it doesn’t change the heart. There’s some good people out here, really good people.”

But the danger after dark is real. Ms. Smith, who lost an eye after being shot in the face years ago, said she had seen two people killed in New Jack City, prompting her to move to Taco Flats and try to quit drugs. Her companion, Willie Mac, 53, a self-described youth minister, said he was “waiting on her to get herself right with the Lord.”

Ms. Smith said her dream was simple: “To get out of here, get off the street, have our own home.”

Source / New York Times

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No Place Like Home (For the Holidays) : When You've Got One

Americans now losing their homes to the mortgage crisis and the millions more, like us, who have fallen prey to the healthcare crisis in this nation are losing far more than just an address or an extra bedroom or a driveway or a lifestyle.

By Donna Smith / December 24, 2008

A little box arrived from Chicago last week to my temporary digs here in Washington, DC. Inside were some of the trinkets of Christmases long past. Ornaments that used to hang on trees surrounded by mounds of gifts, plush Mickey Mouse stockings I used to fill with fruit and candy and little toys when my sons were younger, and a candle holder - absent the candle, of course, which had long since been burned on a holiday table brimming with food and with good cheer.

The box holds what is left of those middle class holiday memories. The box has become the only link to a home-for-the-holidays Christmas I can never again share with my children or my grandchildren. You see, like millions of other Americans, we lost our home. And with that loss goes not only the physical security of home and hearth but also the generational ties to stability and security and the sense of well-being that come with being home... with having a home to come to and a home in which to frame the happenings of our lives. We are the new economic refugees of this society. And no bail-outs are pending.

Who among us has not spent a time longing for the comforts of home? And that universal longing has little to do with square footage or amenities and much more to do with a place of comfort and clarity and sameness and steadiness that helps soften the twists and turns of life that we all must experience. But for those of us who become unwilling nomads with no permanent place to stash our stuff, home became a more elusive place - and not really a physical place at all, but a feeling, a memory, a fleeting image of happier days gone by.

Americans now losing their homes to the mortgage crisis and the millions more, like us, who have fallen prey to the healthcare crisis in this nation are losing far more than just an address or an extra bedroom or a driveway or a lifestyle. We are losing the boundaries of our lives - those intimate details of everyday living that make home a safe place to land and place to retreat when daily pressures are too great and - most vivid during this season - a place where our children and grandchildren can return for generational sharing and all the ups and downs that brings to a family.

One of the most heart-breaking losses we've felt in recent years as we tried in vain to cling to some semblance of middle class reality as health crises crushed us is the loss of holidays, the loss of traditions, the loss of intimacy and the loss of respect from our own children who see no home to come to - and no reason to interrupt more exciting holiday pursuits when we can no longer play host to any sort of Smith family soiree with the same sort of meaning.

Oh, folks will try to say that home is wherever the people you love are gathered, but don't believe it. Our lack of financial stability and the lack of that home in which to gather have damaged far more than just the edges of our lives. When pushed, the grown kids say they don't come to visit because we're not grounded - "There isn't exactly a place where we all grew up and you kept to come home to, is there?" asked one of our sons. No, son, there isn't. So, this year, like the past few years, he'll gather his children (our beautiful grandchildren) and take them to another state and another grandma's house that sits on land that the family has owned for many years and to a home with a whole basement converted to play space that holds literally thousands of dollars worth of toys. No, son, I cannot offer that.

I can offer the little toy box I faithfully move from apartment to apartment and a place at my feet to play. I can offer love beyond what I could explain. But I cannot offer stability of place and the home I so hoped to have until I died - or at least until I could no longer handle the physical constraints of home ownership. But the things I have left to own are not things, and our culture thrives on the ownership of things. So, I am the grandma without enough. And my wonderful husband, the man who gave his body and being to creating a home for us for so many years, is now the grumpy grandpa without enough stuff and without a house.

This is what millions of Americans now losing their homes and their jobs are going to go through all too soon. The unbending cruelty of judgment that comes from having lost one's home in the United States - or worse yet, having gone bankrupt in America.

You see, say what you will about forgiveness and love and peace on earth, but we Americans judge one another by our stuff and our attainment of things. Those who don't have a lot must not have wanted it badly enough, we think, or we didn't work smartly enough. And those who attain homeownership and then lose homes or go bankrupt just managed poorly, lived beyond their means, didn't tighten the belt enough... on and on and on we go with our judgments. I just heard it again this week on a mainstream media news program... people who go bankrupt, they mused, are gaming the system somehow and need to learn to behave better. Going bankrupt was viewed as sinful and irresponsible. These old and ugly views are part of our middle class DNA. I know, because I was taught the same way.

But then the bottom falls out. Health insurance leaves you bare to huge financial burdens. Job loss strips your ability to have enough cash coming in to covers the basics, savings dries up, all the bartering and begging to stay afloat begins to give way, and the wealth it took years to build is gone overnight.

And with that wealth goes a great deal more in personal costs. Some relationships are damaged beyond repair while others are twisted and tinged with guilt, shame or anger. And the holidays are packed away in little boxes of trinkets where peace on earth and joy to the world still can dwell, if but for an instant.

Home for the holidays? Never again. It takes years to recover from bankruptcy or foreclosure and for some of us, there are not enough working years left to do so; the big banking interests we just helped bail out will view us as too risky for a very long time. And our government will not challenge that reality. The best we economic refugees can hope for is that we can hang on to that little box of ornaments, stockings and candleholders as we move from lease to lease to lease making sure our rent is paid and we are warm. There really is no place like home for the holidays, and for many Americans, that Norman Rockwell sort of holiday setting will never again be possible.

When home is no longer home for so many, the generational and cultural foundations are crumbling in ways that will forever alter our national being. The ground truly is shifting beneath our feet as 2009 dawns. And this year, home is even more elusive for many. For some of us, it's carried in a little box.

[Donna Smith is a community organizer for the California Nurses Association and National Co-Chair for the Progressive Democrats of America Healthcare Not Warfare campaign.]

Source / CommonDreams

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Bailout Plan : Activist Moves the Homeless into Foreclosed Homes

Marie Nadine Pierre and her baby, Nennon, are squatting in a foreclosured house in Florida. Photo by J. Pat Carter / AP
'"We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a grin.'
December 1, 2008

MIAMI - Max Rameau delivers his sales pitch like a pro. "All tile floor!" he says during a recent showing. "And the living room, wow! It has great blinds."

But in nearly every other respect, he is unlike any real estate agent you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment.

Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes.

"We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a grin.

Rameau and a group of like-minded advocates formed Take Back the Land, which also helps the new "tenants" with secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep. So far, he has moved six families into foreclosed homes and has nine on a waiting list.

'Everyone deserves a home'

"I think everyone deserves a home," said Rameau, who said he takes no money from his work with the homeless. "Homeless people across the country are squatting in empty homes. The question is: Is this going to be done out of desperation or with direction?"

With the housing market collapsing, squatting in foreclosed homes is believed to be on the rise around the country. But squatters usually move in on their own, at night, when no one is watching. Rarely is the phenomenon as organized as Rameau's effort to "liberate" foreclosed homes.

Florida — especially the Miami area, with its once-booming condo market — is one of the hardest-hit states in the housing crisis, largely because of overbuilding and speculation. In September, Florida had the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 178 homes in default, according to Realty Trac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. Only Nevada's rate was higher.

Like other cities, Miami is trying to ease the problem. Officials launched a foreclosure-prevention program to help homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage, with loans of up to $7,500 per household.

The city also recently passed an ordinance requiring owners of abandoned homes — whether an individual or bank — to register those properties with the city so police can better monitor them.

Elsewhere around the country, advocates in Cleveland are working with the city to allow homeless people to legally move into and repair empty, dilapidated houses. In Atlanta, some property owners pay homeless people to live in abandoned homes as a security measure.

From shelter to home

In early November, Rameau drove a woman and her 18-month old daughter to a ranch home on a quiet street lined with swaying tropical foliage. Marie Nadine Pierre, 39, has been sleeping at a shelter with her toddler. She said she had been homeless off and on for a year, after losing various jobs and getting evicted from several apartments.

"My heart is heavy. I've lived in a lot of different shelters, a lot of bad situations," Pierre said. "In my own home, I'm free. I'm a human being now."

Rameau chose the house for Pierre, in part, because he knew its history. A man had bought the home in the city's predominantly Haitian neighborhood in 2006 for $430,000, then rented it to Rameau's friends. Those friends were evicted in October because the homeowner had stopped paying his mortgage and the property went into foreclosure.

Rameau, who makes his living as a computer consultant, said he is doing the owner a favor. Before Pierre moved in, someone stole the air conditioning unit from the backyard, and it was only a matter of time before thieves took the copper pipes and wiring, he said.

"Within a couple of months, this place would be stripped and drug dealers would be living here," he said, carrying a giant plastic garbage bag filled with Pierre's clothes into the home.

He said he is not scared of getting arrested.

"There's a real need here, and there's a disconnect between the need and the law," he said. "Being arrested is just one of the potential factors in doing this."

Miami spokeswoman Kelly Penton said city officials did not know Rameau was moving homeless into empty buildings — but they are also not stopping him.

No actions to stop

"There are no actions on the city's part to stop this," she said in an e-mail. "It is important to note that if people trespass into private property, it is up to the property owner to take action to remove those individuals."

Pierre herself could be charged with trespassing, vandalism or breaking and entering. Rameau assured her he has lawyers who will represent her free.

Two weeks after Pierre moved in, she came home to find the locks had been changed, probably by the property's manager. Everything inside — her food, clothes and family photos — was gone.

But late last month, with Rameau's help, she got back inside and has put Christmas decorations on the front door.

So far, police have not gotten involved.

Source / AP / MSNBC

Thanks to Sarito Carol Neiman / The Rag Blog

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Galveston Homeless : Where Will They Go?

Galveston: clean-up continues; many still homeless.
Post-Ike tent city for homeless to close with no back-up plan.
By Sue Sturgis / October 14, 2008

Before Hurricane Ike devastated Galveston Island on the Texas coast, about 60 homeless people spent their nights at the local Salvation Army building. But that building was extensively damaged in the storm and won't reopen for at least two months -- and the people who depended on it may soon have no place to go.

The shelter's clients are currently living in a Red Cross tent city set up behind a local elementary school, the Galveston Daily News reports. But the tent city is scheduled to close on Oct. 26.

Major Elda Flores, director of the Salvation Army shelter, says she has heard the authorities want to pressure her to reopen soon. But she says that's impossible because the building has been gutted. The electrical systems have to be replaced, and the flood-damaged first floor will have to be almost completely rebuilt.

At a city news conference held yesterday, it became clear that officials have no idea what will become of Galveston's homeless when the tent city closes.

This is the latest housing problem to afflict the island's poor residents since Ike struck a month ago. We recently reported that Galveston's public housing residents were ordered to leave their homes but were given no answers about where they were supposed to go. Some presumably ended up in the soon-to-be-closed Salvation Army encampment.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced it will launch a program providing rental assistance to families displaced by Ike, but that isn't set to start until November -- a week after the Red Cross tent city is scheduled to close.

Source / Facing South

Also see Ike Aftermath : Residents of Galveston Public Housing Given Heave-Ho / The Rag Blog / Oct. 1, 2008

The Rag Blog

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Ike Aftermath : Residents of Galveston Public Housing Given Heave-Ho

Clean up after Ike in Galveston. Now it's the human toll that must be dealt with.
Galveston's public housing residents ordered out with nowhere to go.

Residents of Galveston's storm-devastated public housing projects have been ordered to clear their belongings out -- but they're still waiting for answers about where they're supposed to go.

A reporter with the Galveston Daily News visited the city's housing projects this week and found inhabitants -- many of them elderly or disabled -- at wits' end. The paper reports:

Angry residents stopped every car that drove by the housing projects to search for answers.

Latrice Walker, who's five months pregnant, cornered the housing authority crew that was battering down doors.

"What are y'all doing?" she shouted. "I live here -- you can at least give me some answers."

She cornered a smartly dressed housing authority building supervisor and started peppering him with the same questions everyone was asking Wednesday morning: Where am I supposed to live? How long do I have to get my things out? Where is FEMA? Where is the housing authority? Are they going to tear this place down?

The housing authority's employees had no answers for residents. One member of the battering crew said he wasn't allowed to talk to the media but hoped the "real story" got out about what's happening.

Many of the residents never signed a lease, he said, and there's concern they might not quality for federal assistance. He also noted that in order to stay in a hotel paid for by FEMA, the agency requires a credit card -- but many residents don't have one.

The only option left for those with nowhere else to go is a public shelter, but spaces have been scarce. Galveston opened its first shelter Wednesday at a community center, but it offered room for only about 100 people and filled up fast, the Associated Press reports. The city set up a second shelter -- tents at an old elementary school -- yesterday.

Also yesterday, the Red Cross opened a shelter in Galveston offering 500 slots. But some public housing residents expressed a reluctance to stay in mass shelters because of uncomfortable conditions.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas testified before Congress this week about her city's needs, but she did not discuss public housing in her prepared statement. Also this week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Federal Emergency Management Agency announced an 18-month housing assistance plan for families displaced by Ike, but it's not slated to begin until November.

Source / Facing South / Posted Sept. 26, 2008

Also see Galveston needs a housing plan by Heber Taylor / Galveston Daily News / September 27, 2008

Thanks to Houston Indymedia / The Rag Blog

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Why Not "Give Aid Rather Than Harassment"?

Nickelsville residents George Williamson, left, John Clark and Aaron Colyer socialize in a tent next to a new no-trespassing sign that was staked into the ground several hours earlier by the Seattle Department of Transportation. Photo: Chris Joseph Taylor/Seattle Times
A Pink Housing 'Bubble' I Could Get Into
By Diane Stirling-Stevens / September 26, 2008

This article reminded me of something that I organized in 1993 down in Dana Point, California. I was helping the homeless by bringing them used clothing (and discarded clothing I found in dumpsters throughout the area). I would take the discarded clothing to my condo'; wash it, put it into my motor-home, and take it to Delaney Beach where there were about 20 to 30 homeless people who milled around on a regular basis.

I would open up the motor-home; told all of them to go in (just like a mobile clothing shop), and pick out clothing that fit them. It was wonderful to get actively involved one-on-one with each and every individual. I would listen to their stories about how they became homeless; we would build bon-fires on the beach, make coffee, and sit around sharing the conditions by which they no longer had a roof over their head.

Not one of the people I listened to were in any way 'professional vagrants' - they'd all been employed fallen on hard times, and were in limbo and anxious to find jobs.

I decided to bring my typewriter to the beach; used the generator to power up both my computer and my electric typewriter, and started re-writing their resumes so they could start job-hunting.

I also had (in storage) two grand pianos; stored after I'd lost my home because of a contractor who owed me $128,000 but couldn't pay it because he'd recently filed bankruptcy. I decided to sell one of the grand pianos for $8,000, and used that money to help the homeless find a place to sleep and shower each night. I rented just one hotel room near the beach - it was $120/night. I negotiated a monthly rate for $2900, and during that month each and every person was able to shower; use their food stamps to get food which all of them shared, and I kept them in clean clothing by going to my home to do the laundry. They took their resumes; climbed on busses, and searched for jobs. The agreement was that all of them would put back 10% of anything they might earn for the next 3 months, into a common fund to buy another night at the hotel and keep providing for the rest of those who were not successful.

It was one of the most exciting times in my life as I saw how powerful the commitment was to have everyone succeed; it became a strong family, and one by one individuals were finding work and putting back into the 'fund' we'd developed. Because I couldn't afford to put more than the $8,000 into the program, I knew at some point in time the money would be depleted but hoped everyone would be on their feet by the time I ran out of funds.

All but 3 were either employed full-time or part-time when my funds ran dry. Still, those 3 were sheltered by the rest of the group as each found housing, and opened up their doors to those 3 who had yet to find jobs or a place to live. I remained involved by doing the laundry; finding more clothes in the dumpsters, and by the time I relocated to another part of the state, no one was in dire need.

When I read through this article, I noticed how colorful the tents are and feel it could be an invitation to the rest of the community to get involved in a similar way. Rather than removing these people; threatening these people, I see these pink 'bubbles' as a signal for the city to start appropriate food and clothing drives to give aid rather than harassment.

I used to live in the Seattle area, and I so wish I did now because I'd be down there trying to lend a hand and ideas to these people. Potentially you, and any readers of your blog, might see what they might do to make suggestions similar to what I did in California 15 years ago - I saw it work with great success, and believe there should even be a campaign (no pun intended) to get Bill Gates and Microsoft involved. There should be a campaign to end the 'pain' of this camp; pink tents are signaling a need that can be answered without burdening any one individual or entity severely.

Here's the article:

Homeless play waiting game in Nickelsville
By Erik Lacitis, Seattle Times staff reporter / September 26, 2008

The 5 p.m. deadline came and went on Thursday, and no city workers or cops arrived to sweep away Nickelsville, its 150 illegal fuchsia tents and its 100 or so residents.

Most everyone at the encampment expected that sometime this morning, the city would evict the encampment's residents and arrest those who won't leave voluntarily.

Nickelsville is spread over a grassy area, parts overgrown with Scotch broom, near West Marginal Way Southwest and Highland Park Way Southwest.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' office said it won't say in advance when the sweep will take place.

Earlier Thursday afternoon, workers with the Seattle Department of Transportation posted 2-by-1-½ foot "NO TRESPASSING" signs that promised those in violation could be charged with criminal trespass. The bulk of the land where the encampment is situated is owned by the SDOT.

As the workers put the signs in the ground, a couple of Seattle police offers stood by and watched. There were no confrontations.

The 150 tents were set up by the homeless and volunteers in the predawn hours Monday.

On Thursday evening, about 200 of the homeless and volunteers milled around. Some, like volunteer Joe Taylor, 23, who's just starting on his master's degree in engineering at the University of Washington, became de facto foremen. Taylor led a group of men putting together a small camp-administrative office using two-by-fours and wood from pallets.

He said he knew the structure might only last a day.

"I kind of designed it to be taken down," said Taylor.

Some of the volunteers, such as Lindsay Andersen, 25, a program assistant at the Alzheimer's Association in Seattle, had to learn on the job how to use a hammer or a pry bar to pull apart a pallet.

Andersen is 5-foot-2 and weighs 120 pounds. "My arms aren't very strong," she said.

If the cops arrived, she said, "I'm bailing." Jail time doesn't look that good on a résumé, she said.

There was an air of resignation at the camp about what will happen next.

Aaron Colyer, 28, was using donated pink paint to put color on a large wood structure now surrounding his tent and propping it off the ground.

He and volunteers had nailed it together on Thursday. He was listening to a Christian radio station as he painted.

Colyer said that when the city arrives to evict, "I'll just sit on my porch, listening to the radio. If they want to take me to jail, let them take me to jail."

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

Source / Seattle Times

The Rag Blog

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