Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Homelessness
5 Sentence Saturday Round-Up
This morning, the owner of a coffee shop handed me a check for $500, half his sales from the day before, to support Street Angels, his reason being that he had been homeless himself once and hadn’t forgotten. In the past two days, 650… Continue Reading “5 Sentence Saturday Round-Up”
Friday Heartache
Someone torched one of the Street Angels buses last night and it is a total loss. We have two buses – the white one is larger and the blue one, relatively undamaged, is smaller. Both of them were out last night, driving routes in… Continue Reading “Friday Heartache”
Stoplight Hand-Off
Roll up five dollars Roll down the window, say hey Roll away, say thanks ________________________ Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash
Behind the Bench*
It was a very long night. I’d decided that I had to sleep, that I wouldn’t be able to deal with the next day if I stayed awake all night. So I rolled out my sleeping bag on a slight hill covered with wood… Continue Reading “Behind the Bench*”
Maybe I’m Amazed
What is it with women? I went to the volunteer training for the Street Angels warming room tonight. Eighteen prospective volunteers attended. Guess how many were women? Seventeen. These are the volunteers who are going to greet homeless people, mostly men, at the door… Continue Reading “Maybe I’m Amazed”
Homeless Education
On one of the first nights I went on outreach with Street Angels, I tagged along as the driver grabbed two hot dinners and lit out for a heap of blankets under the freeway overpass downtown. It was deep winter and very cold, although… Continue Reading “Homeless Education”
A September Night on Outreach
All I can say tonight is this, that the young pregnant woman I met in July on street outreach is still homeless and still pregnant and still has a partner which is better, I guess, than being fully alone in the woods where no… Continue Reading “A September Night on Outreach”
The Night I Met Jimmie
It was my third night volunteering on the homeless outreach bus. There was light snow, but it wasn’t cold enough for warming rooms to open. This meant that homeless people would be in the woods, under bridges, in alleys. Our job was to find… Continue Reading “The Night I Met Jimmie”
Jimmie
A few days ago, I finished up an essay I wrote about a man I met in the woods one night while on homeless outreach and yesterday he died. He was tall and substantial, a good looking guy with great confidence and bravado but… Continue Reading “Jimmie”
She Was….A Hope Dealer
A year ago, a friend of mine died. We’d been colleagues for a long time. But, for much of that time, we were very wary of each other. I thought she was too sincere for deal-making and she thought I was a conniver. She… Continue Reading “She Was….A Hope Dealer”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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