Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Homelessness
Eye of the Beholder
“This feels like homeless porn,” I said to the other women in the outreach van. It felt like all those pictures of the ruination of Detroit, the desolation of its once ornate and grand places, the degradation of churches and train stations. Whole magazines… Continue Reading “Eye of the Beholder”
Blanketed
Sometimes the blankets are warm from having been slept on just minutes before. This happens when someone gets up, gathers up his blankets in a bundle, and makes a beeline to the storage room. They seem to be saying, here’s my bed. I’m done… Continue Reading “Blanketed”
Friday Round-Up: Going to the Dogs
The days of this week couldn’t be more different. But that is how it should be. Sameness ruins people. What came out of this variegated leaf of a week? We dreamt of a new dog, a Samoyed we would name Jak. But because we… Continue Reading “Friday Round-Up: Going to the Dogs”
Morning at the Warming Room
We had already folded and stacked most of the blankets and sleeping bags. A few people stayed sleeping on the floor, abandoned by their comrades who had already awakened, gathered their things, and moved to the other room where there was coffee and big… Continue Reading “Morning at the Warming Room”
Morning Hug
It is four in the morning. I check my phone and turn off the alarm just as it is about to ring. I have been awake for several minutes, looking out the window at the white stucco house across the street and waiting for… Continue Reading “Morning Hug”
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”
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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