Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: Homelessness
Kind Donation
“I have some socks. Do you want some socks?”She held out the bag so he could pick a pair he liked. “I don’t want socks. I want to come home with you.” He looked straight at her. Locked on her. She flinched and rattled… Continue Reading “Kind Donation”
One
I can’t change everything but I can change this one thing. A homeless man comes in from the cold, takes off his leaking boots, and peels away the socks he’s been wearing for months. But he has no clean socks, so once he warms… Continue Reading “One”
Time of the Month Club: Indignity Prevention
Is there possibly a cruder phrase than ‘she’s on the rag?’ We hear it now as a nasty, sexist reference but it wasn’t all that long ago that this was a woman’s monthly reality. My mother told me that when she was a teenager growing… Continue Reading “Time of the Month Club: Indignity Prevention”
Instead of Mittens, How About a Job?
It’s that time of year again when we are collecting up things to give to people who are homeless. Gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, sleeping bags. Here. Doing a little urban camping right now? Here’s a nice blanket. I sound cynical. I’m not really, I’m… Continue Reading “Instead of Mittens, How About a Job?”
28,776 Times
We just finished the third Time of the Month Club donation drive. The ending tally was 28,776 tampons, pads and wipes for women who are homeless in Milwaukee. The supplies are delivered to emergency shelters and outreach programs and put to use right away.… Continue Reading “28,776 Times”
We Need Panhandlers to Tell Us the Truth
No more asking strangers for help. No more begging. It’s bothering us. We’re going to make it against the law. Then we can issue municipal citations which people will be unable to pay. After a while, their unpaid fines will land them in jail… Continue Reading “We Need Panhandlers to Tell Us the Truth”
No Strolls Tonight
That it was dark didn’t worry him much, more that the board-up man might have nailed the last window shut, the one he’d been using as the door to his little place, home would be airtight now, no more coming or going.
A Blessing on This Day
Talked today with a woman just retired from the shelter she founded years ago, she beamed describing bringing homeless people inside, hardest to serve, rough, drunk, rule-breakers, her people, ‘there but for fortune’ she told me, no distance between us and them.
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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