Gratitude for My Home — and Sympathy for Those Without
In my nice neighborhood, I see many destitute people standing by the side of the road with cardboard signs, begging so they can buy something to eat. When we understand our common humanity, we are...
View ArticleGetting the Story Out — Terry Messman and the Power of Activist Journalism
Reporting from “the shelters, back alleys, soup kitchen lines and slum hotels where mainstream reporters rarely or never visit,” Street Spirit runs stories on economic inequality and the daily grind of...
View ArticleTrials and Tribulations of Homeless Folks in San Francisco Courts
After spending 30 days in jail, a 52-year-old homeless man was sentenced to three years probation for illegal lodging, or sleeping outdoors. “A tired homeless man faced up to three years in prison for...
View ArticleCorrecting misconceptions about homelessness
I have a group page where I post stories and also answer questions about homelessness. Recently, someone posted the following comment: You can only help those who want help…the rest are content with no...
View ArticleAffordable housing: One size does not fit all
As the homelessness crisis worsens, cities all over the U.S. are desperately trying to come up with solutions. California, for example, is in a frenzy to build new homeless shelters that will fit...
View ArticleRebuttal to the SF Chronicle: Visibility for homeless families
The 2019 one-night homeless count found 201 families (612 people), a count similar to the 2017 one-night count of 190 families (601 persons). That means 8 percent of the total counted homeless...
View Article‘I have never called my cell a home’
All throughout my incarceration, I have never called my cell a home. Moreover, I consider the bars that cage me disrespectful, even to animals. So, I think Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf let down some very...
View ArticleHating the holidays
After a series of horrific events I found myself living on the streets at the age of 49, and Christmas suddenly took on a whole new meaning The post Hating the holidays appeared first on Street Spirit.
View ArticleWhy would anyone want to live on the street?
Only after I accepted the fact that the person I was before was never coming back…could I begin to accept another life. The post Why would anyone want to live on the street? appeared first on Street...
View ArticleTheir original faces: a soul, not a homeless person
"I do not think of people as homeless; I think of people as having been betrayed," Mentken writes. The post Their original faces: a soul, not a homeless person appeared first on Street Spirit.
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