Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Homelessness
Friday Round-Up: The First Week of My New Life
It was a week without make-up. At first because there was no time because I was getting up at 3:45 am to drive across town to work at one of our town’s warming rooms for the homeless. But then it was because I liked… Continue Reading “Friday Round-Up: The First Week of My New Life”
Inside Out
Use the side door, out of sight Ring the buzzer just once Imagine hot bowls, padded chairs Hunger for the light, all the light Shuffle quarters in your pocket, the dime Nonchalant, used to waiting your turn Someone will come, don’t ring twice Twist… Continue Reading “Inside Out”
Doorway Talk
A conversation this morning with one of the homeless women I talked to last week who remembered working with me forty years ago in an anti-poverty agency. “How are you?” “How are you?” “What are you doing today?” “What are you doing today?” “I… Continue Reading “Doorway Talk”
Truckin’
My sister sat outside the bathroom door yelling instructions to me. It went on forever, mostly because what she was telling me to do was unbelievable. It was my first tampon lesson. Now I collect tampons and pads and give them to women who… Continue Reading “Truckin’”
Noteworthy
The Christmas decorations are up in the dark park. We can see them because of the streetlights and the light coming from the fires in the yellow barrels. It is Sleep Out Saturday, an event held by a local elected official to draw attention… Continue Reading “Noteworthy”
Long Night
His hand left a mark on the tent, singed the canvas like a brand. Light shone through the thinned cloth, a halo, a haunting cast upon her. Trucks rumbled on the bridge overhead, windshield wipers slapping rain. She waited.
Time and Stuff
I’m reading a book called Tell Them Who I Am by Elliot Liebow, an ethnographer made famous by his book, Tally’s Corner. An ethnographer is a social scientist who investigates social phenomena by immersing him or herself in the setting being studied, like an… Continue Reading “Time and Stuff”
Friday Round-Up A Day Late
A Friday Round-Up a day late could make it a Saturday Round-Up. There is that thought. Never mind. The oddest thing about my week is that someone left a piano in front of my house. People down the street moved out, left the piano at… Continue Reading “Friday Round-Up A Day Late”
A True Fact
Alaskans like to ask visitors “What’s the difference between a caribou and a reindeer?” The visitors talk about antlers, size, color, all kinds of possible differences until they give up. “Well,” a good Alaskan will say, “They’re the same except caribou are wild and… Continue Reading “A True Fact”
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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