Toledo Streets Issue #13

CRYSTAL BOWERSOX:

toledo’s daughter is 1 who matters

THE

ARTS

Featuring

ISSUE

HARRY SANDLER 30 years of music and life through his lens ISSUE #13 Your donation directly benefits the vendor. Please only buy from badged vendors.

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Heidelberg Project

Living Faith:

Also

Ripe Farming in the city Vendor Story: Jim Thompson Therapuetic arts Poetry: Speak Artist profile: Frank Murphy Willy, Philly & the GhettoBilly Graffiti artists join doctors Sounds of the street Hoboscopes

Art as a LifeLine

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Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Issue #13

Get rich quick

It’s easier than you think Amanda F. Moore, Managing Editor We’d like to thank you for purchasing this copy of Toledo Streets. We hope you’re enjoying it and discovering a new facet of your community.

Please continue to support our vendors when you get the chance. For other ways to support them and the paper, contact us or visit our website for more details.

Toledo Streets is a monthly publication called a street paper. We are part of a worldwide movement of street papers that seeks to provide simple economic opportunities to homeless individuals and those experiencing poverty.

Our vendors purchase each paper for 25¢, and ask for a dollar donation.

In exchange for their time and effort in selling the paper, they keep the difference. They are asking for a handup, not a hand out. By purchasing this paper, you have helped someone struggling to make it. Not just in terms of money, but also in the dignity of doing something for themselves. Many thanks again!

We are a non-profit organization operating under a 501(c)3 fiscal agent.

This means that any donations made to us c/o 1Matters.org (our fiscal agent) are tax deductible - not to mention greatly appreciated.

Our mission is to empower individuals struggling with extreme poverty to participate on a new level in the community through self-employment, job training, and contributorship.

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M

y friend Steve likes to say he’s the richest man in the world because of the relationships he has and all the adventures in which he participates. Well, if he’s the richest man, I am the richest woman.

I remarked how much I love Toledo the other day to my friend Gary (a.k.a., “Bonfiles”) while driving through Toledo. Five years ago—heck, two years ago—I would not have said that. But I recently had occasion to inventory my life and, as hard and even tragic some of 2011 has already been, I love my life and the city which holds the people who make it so amazing. And the things we do. Wow... the things we get to do.

It makes me wonder at those who complain about Toledo—how dead and boring it is. Seriously? On any given day, someone I know is saving someone’s life and changing the world.

Really. How could that be boring?

Then it occurs to me those who

don’t like Toledo don’t know my people.

Let me make some introductions...

• Michelle Davis, page 3 • “Fahey,” page 3 and 4 and 8 • Mandy Lehman, page 4 • “Bonfiles,” page 8 • Ken Leslie, page 8 • Mike Fisher, page 6 • Steve North, page 5 and 11

Of course, that list is the tip of the iceberg. I mention many more on page 11.

Now that I’ve made some introductions, I’d like to make an invitation to Get Rich Quick. The scheme is simple, and there’s no catch.

The investment? Well, that would be YOU. And I would like to use myself as the testimonial. As I explain further on page 11, there’s a small but growing, quiet but powerful movement here in Toledo—all based in community. Lifechanging, life-giving community.

No product to buy. No mantra to chant (except, maybe, “I matter”). No

You’re now part of a local, social microenterprise program. It’s simple...

blood sacrifices (though sweat sacrifices are common, as are tears).

In exchange for your time—and there are no minimum requirements on that end, either—you’ll receive: Authenticity. Hope. Joy. A sense of safety. One-of-a-kind adventures. Either overnight or slowly, you will realize Toledo is far from dead or boring, and you are part of its heartbeat. As you spend yourself, you will become rich, and you’ll know from experience...

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SMALL CHANGE.

Cover Photos, clockwise from left:

Robert Daltrey—Harry Sandler Crystal Bowersox performing at St. Paul’s Community Center—Mark Andrews Tim Burke’s sculpture at The Heidelberg Project—Amanda Faith Moore “Buszilla” in service at a tornado clean-up site last year—Robin Charney

Vendor pays 25¢ for each paper, and profits 75¢ from your $1.

Vendor code of conduct

W

hile Toledo Streets is a non-profit, and paper vendors are considered contracted self-employers, we still have expectations of how vendors should conduct themselves while selling and representing the paper.

The following list is our Vendor Code of Conduct, which every vendor reads through and signs before receiving a badge and papers. This Code is also printed on the back of each badge. We request that if you discover a vendor violating any tenets of the Code, please contact us and provide as many details as possible. Our paper and our vendors should be positively impacting the city.

All vendors must agree to the following code of conduct: • Toledo Streets will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $1. I agree not to ask for more or less than

a dollar or solicit donations for Toledo Streets by any other means.

• I will only purchase the paper from Toledo Streets staff and will not sell papers to other vendors (outside of the office volunteers).

• I agree to treat all others— customers, staff, other vendors— respectfully, and I will not “hard sell,” threaten or pressure customers.

• I agree to stay off private property when selling Toledo Streets.

• I understand I am not a legal employee of Toledo Streets but a contracted worker responsible for my own well-being and income.

• I agree to not sell any additional goods or products when selling

the paper.

• I will not sell Toledo Streets under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

• There are no territories among vendors. I will respect the space of other vendors, particularly the space of vendors who have been at a spot longer.

• I understand my badge is the property of Toledo Streets and will not deface it. I will present my badge when purchasing the papers and display my badge when selling papers.

• I understand Toledo Streets strives to be a paper that covers homelessness and poverty issues while providing a source of income for the homeless.

I will try to help in this effort and spread the word.

Issue #13

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Ripe

Farming in the city: A story based in truth Michelle Davis

W

hy does it seem a hard life often goes hand-in-hand with an artistic spirit? Why does it seem pain produces a depth of creativity that cannot be achieved through any other means?

Is it necessary to struggle in order to be a visionary, a dreamer, a creator?

I think strife forces us to view the world through eyes normally blind to the beauty constantly surrounding us, yet we are too busy to see. Strife forces us to slow down long enough to study the world around us. All of a sudden, colors, shapes and ideas materialize.

Were they there all along? If a tree falls in a forest where no is there to hear it, does it still make a sound? Does beauty exist only when we’re there to discover it, to capture it, to portray it for others to experience with us? Is beauty only there when there’s an appreciative eye?

When I was 13, my art consisted of portraits of children, of flowers, of scenery I hoped one day to see. I had yet to really go through anything of real significance yet in my life, and my artwork showed that. I was young, naive, untouched by strife. Then came a storm of addiction brought on by circumstances beyond my control. I was unable to have a voice during the events happening in my life, but I could scream out my pain on canvas. I could control my addiction (or thought I could), so I dove head-first into what brought me the control & stability I was so craving.

Although my mind thought I was in control of this addiction, my creative soul knew differently, and it showed in my artwork. My art now had a darker side, and I began to sketch the pain and confusion my life was now filled with. I sketched my fears of what my life would look like if I continued down my road of addiction. I painted my pain, I worked with an abandonment of what others thought of my art. It was becoming my own, and I no longer cared what others’ reactions to my art would be.

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William James O’Fahey

T

“Lament” pencil sketch by Michelle Davis

When entering my 20’s, my husband and I both went through lifethreatening events that shook our sense of safety and stability to the core. I no longer trusted life was fair, and was beginning to doubt God’s love for me.

My artwork soon became my escape from this scary reality that became my life, which was no longer guaranteed, but fragile and something to fight for.

Love was no longer automatic, but hard work and a daily choice. Recovery was not something for someone else, but a choice both my husband and I had to make every day. He had to choose to learn to walk, talk and become independent again after his brain surgery. I had to choose to be healthy after losing a child and wanting to just give up on this cruel thing we all call life.

Following these phases, and now in my 30’s, my artwork is no longer dark, nor is it an escape. It is simply a reflection of where I am at in life, which is still hard, but I’ve learned how to stand and not let these waves wash me off my feet. My artwork reflects this. It is aware of the pain in life, while still showing signs of hope, of the good to be found in any situation.

I sketch my fist shaking at an unfair God, but it’s a fist unafraid of God’s retaliation of my anger. I paint a heart held up by the prayers of loved ones, hoping for a miracle in what seems a cruel and unfair event to bring into a young girl’s life. I depict

“Ripe” continued on page 10

he snake oil salesman just needed anything alive... He was picking over some clumps of dirt in the community garden on Jackson street near Adams, and just wanted to stumble over some green plant...

Any green plant that he could grow and bottle and sell as a medical Elixir.

There was a vibrant mural of a beautiful young woman painted on the bricks of a nearby building. She exuded health and happiness through her portrait.

The snake oil salesman wore dirty clothes and sort of mumbled to himself aloud, “Small business and small family farms must prevail over monolithic corporate power if America and the whole earth are to survive and thrive.” Suddenly, a squirrel chattered and and startled the snake oil man as it raced right beside the man’s feet, and over to the painted brick wall. Amazingly, there was a chipmunk and some crows standing on the freshly tilled soil beside the brick building, and they were looking up at the mural.

But the snake oil man just kept stepping around the garden, and kind of ranting out loud to himself, “Sustainable farming will positively impact world healthcare by improving the food source, the

mainstay, with more abundant and nutritious food...”

The snake oil man picked up a large rhubarb leaf from the ground and blew his nose on it. It was the squirrel now who was a little startled at the man’s honking blow, and the man went on babbling, “Sustainable farming creates ‘material’...

The non-food bio fuels, bio plastics and bio chemicals, and the good-payin’ green economy jobs to manufacture them...”

The snake oil man now started screaming out loud, as if to no one, “And new plant-based conductive fibers for neural and cardiac transplants. And breakthrough BOTANICAL DRUGS!!! Mainstay, material and medicine!!!”

Suddenly, the nearly lunatic snake oil man was abruptly silenced by the sight of the squirrel and chipmunk pointing with their paws...

And the crows pointing (honestly, pointing!) with their talons... The birds were pointing to the soothing, wise and healing eyes of the young woman... and the young woman’s eyes were fixed calmly and surely... on a path that led through the ts garden...

Toledo Grows volunteers working on the Jackson Street garden.

Photo: Robin Charney

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Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

My Story

Issue #13

Therapeutic arts bring healing to the hurting through play

Vendor profile: Jim T. (a.k.a., “Polecat”) Jim Thompson

T

I

n 2001 I was driving an 18-wheeler, making $170,000 plus as an owner/operator. Life was going great for me. The house was all but three payments to being paid off. The truck was paid off… Three more months and all our bills would be paid off, including our car, pick-up and even our credit cards. We would be debt-free with $50,000 in the bank.

I came home one night to find another man in bed with my wife. I filed for divorce. Three months after the divorce the company I leased my truck through went under. I applied to another company. I was told that my CDL was suspended. I checked and it was for child support.

I then checked to find out why. My paperwork said I had been paying $638.00 per month. I found out that my previous boss was withholding it, but not paying it in. I could no longer drive my truck. So I started looking for another job. Every time I applied for a reduction in child support it was denied. Having no other high-paying skills, I had to take minimum wage jobs, of which they would draw 66% of my earnings. I quickly used up my savings and had to sell the truck in order to get by.

In 2002 I started a gift shop with the last $5,000 I had. It was doing well. I started thinking I might make it.

Then my girlfriend passed away. Her income was keeping the house going while I was working at the store. Then three months after she passed, I called my Mom and she asked if I wanted

Mandy Lehman he creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. —Carl Jung

Photo: Jim Thompson

to come stay with her in Tennessee, so I moved down there. My brother and I were job hunting when he got pulled over. The police ran my ID and it came back that I had a warrant for child support. They brought me back to Ohio. When I was released from jail two years ago all I had were the clothes on my back. I couldn’t go back to family in Tennessee. The state would not take over my probation.

I applied and received disability from social security, but it took six months to get it started, during which time I met Amanda and she told me about the Toledo Streets paper.

I started selling them while staying in a homeless shelter. I was about to move into a rooming house when I got notified that my disability went through.

I now have an apartment with furniture, and somewhat a normal life.

As you can see, although I still have problems, I am not homeless anymore.

I still sell the papers and save half of the profits to help others pay bills like light and gas, or even food. ts

HELP US HELP VENDORS LIKE JIM. Donate.

Volunteer.

Buy ad space.

419.902.0333

Natural objects, such as these pineconces, can be used creatively and therapeutically. Photo: Mandy Lehman

Too often as we grow we lose sight of the love of play… in that loss of sight we lose sight of our truest self as well. I believe in the ability of play, creativity, and art to bring healing, increase the ability to cope with challenging circumstances, and improve the ability to get along with others.

It also strengthens the ability to build positive feelings of self worth, acceptance, accomplishment, and peacefulness. We often think of play and art as a frivolous thing that we don’t have time for, don’t deserve, or can’t afford. I’m here to tell you it’s a vital part of being human— transcending class, disability, or age.

According to Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation,” we have a list of needs that must be met. Without meeting lower level needs we cannot achieve higher level needs. We may have our basic needs met – the need to feel safe, have food and shelter, etc. However, without meeting the need for self expression, acceptance, and belonging we cannot become our truest self. We each have our own challenges whether financial, physical, emotional or social.

Through play we can learn to cope with these challenges more effectively and improve our independence.

We become more creative and our critical thinking improves as well.

These needs are just as important as our basic needs.

How do we regain our love of play? We must live with intention… make time for it and see it as important as other aspects of our daily lives. Think out of the box… what can you do with what you have around you? Can you make art with nature? With items you would typically throw away? Where can you find inexpensive supplies?

What free or cheap events are going

on in the community? Art, creativity, and play don’t have to be expensive.

The Toledo-Lucas County Library, the Toledo Metroparks, and many other local organizations offer many activities at low or no cost. You can find cheap items for crafting at Scrap4Art on Adams St.—a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging repurposing arts & craft as well as other random items through education and through their store. I frequently use old cardboard, leftover wallpaper, and old reams of printer paper to make inexpensive handmade journals. I recently went to the park and created art using things found in nature—leaving my work for others to find later.

I have seen firsthand how the play experience can positively impact the lives of others through working with the unhoused doing creative activities. I saw the same effect on the at-risk youth I worked with last summer through a program at the University of Toledo. I see it every time I teach a class or host an event.

It amazes me how transforming an hour of creative space or play was to my clients. I really believe it is in these moments that we get a glimpse of each other’s truest self.

Mandy has worked with the unhoused at St. Paul’s Community Center and with at-risk youth through the National Youth Sports Program doing therapeutic activities as part of her work toward her bachelor’s degree in recreation therapy at The University of Toledo. She has been working with all ages—preschool children through elderly adults—with and without disabilities for over 13 years, planning and leading activities as well as arts and crafts. She currently offers therapeutic activities and arts & crafts instruction through her company Intrinsic Joy Productions, and can be reached at intrinsicjoy@gmail.com. ts

Issue #13

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Poetry Speak You’ve a voice to speak and a pen to write, An incisive eye, and an affinity for humanity’s pain.

Your world needs to hear what you’ve got to say.

K A E P K A E P K A E P

S

S

S

A cacophony of sound fills halls of learning, Headquarters of commerce, and Hallowed chambers of government.

Whether raised in proclaimed certitude, Indignant in protest or detestation, or Urgent in benevolent warning, Myriad voices pour out their expression, Each insisting it’s worthy of the list’ning.

In the deaf ’ning assault not every voice is heard – Nor should they, truth be told.

Contrary to popular opinion, Not every idea is laden with equal merit.

Don’t be swayed by the prevailing winds, but Instead press on to the destination Of what’s real, deep, unjust and painful, And speak to these things that matter most.

Don’t measure success by the moment’s applause; Instead, the look back, which alone can reveal The credence of the real hearing you won.

If, in the end, you have spoken the truth, And prompted the stuff of a more just world; If you’ve been the mute’s expression, There’ll be no regret for the expenditure, And your presently pounding heart can rest.

You’ve a voice to speak and a pen to write, An incisive eye, and an affinity for humanity’s pain.

Your world waits to hear what you’ve got to say.

Steve North

Poetry Venues

Second Saturdays @ 4pm on July 9th & August 13th Collingwood Arts Center, 2413 Collingwood Boulevard, Toledo

Robert Milby, with Franklin Schneider & Jim Kenny @ 8:30-11:30pm, July 19th Collingwood Arts Center, 2413 Collingwood Boulevard, Toledo

Toledo Art Walks—July 21st, August 18th, September 15th Sponsored by Toledo Free Press

Zygote in My Fez Poetry Feztival @ 4-10pm, August 6th

Collingwood Arts Center, 2413 Collingwood Boulevard, Toledo | Co-sponsored by Toledo Free Press

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Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Frank Murphy

Willy, Philly & the GhettoBilly:

Artist profile

A story of perseverance & influence William James O’Fahey and Robert Ellis

Michael Fisher

I D

uring one of Frank Murphy’s exhibitions of his artwork, the glass over Frank’s Metroclub was accidentally broken. It was then that educator and activist Dr. Lorna Golsalves suggested that Frank should not repair the damage, “Because the piece is about brokeness... It’s about broken bottles in the street, and broken souls and broken lives...” So recounts Frank, five years later.

The founder of Toledo’s Funhouse Writer’s Group and organizer of countless events promoting social activism through art, Frank Murphy is also a talented visual artist. A visual artist who is, to our mind, consistently underrated.

Underrated and controversial.

In Frank’s pencil drawings “Christ Of the Streets” and “Cosmic Christ,” Murphy has enraged some viewers with his contention that our marketdriven system is “un-Christian,” because, as Frank says, “Every person’s worth comes from their unchanging status as a child of God... And not status based on a person’s ability to mass-produce gadgets and junk.”

Frank answers critics who call him a “Leftist” and a “Marxist”, by remind us that he was rejecting what economist Milton Friedman has called, “the concept of human capital”.

(Milton Friedman, University of Chicago Press, “Capitalism and Freedom”, 1962). He deeply resents the phrase, “human capital”, and has said that “capitalism is inherently

Issue #13

Frank Murphy at an art show exhibiting his work.

Photo: Spencer Cunningham

soulless and mechanistic”, though he does not reject “ethical free-market principles”.

Frank champions the “people who have been written off because they are solely on their ability to produce stuff to be sold”.

Murphy’s controversial visual encounter with Jesus is this, “Christ of the Streets,” connecting homelessness with broken beer bottles outside the Metroclub; and revealing the sacred humanity of a prostitute or a street beggar.

Murphy’s own story is a blur of Valuim and homelessness from 1975 to 1991. Frank credits the works of addiction-recovery pioneer Stanton Peele for showing him the way off drugs.

Frank is a very accomplished film historian, specializing in American western movies, and Frank formerly taught at the University of Toledo.

Musician and photographer, Spencer Cunningham, has remarked, “Frank has an amazing life force and resiliency... After all the addiction, and poverty, and homelessness, Frank may have just caved in to despair... But Frank just keeps on going... and trying...”

William James O’Fahey and his accomplice, Robert Ellis, can be found online at amishcountrydoctors.com or on Facebook as “Amish Country Doctors”. They frequently play as part of a group (yes, called Amish Country Doctors) at The Happy Badger in Bowling Green. ts

let the artist in me die once.

Like many others, I allowed it to happen when I hit my mid-twenties and perceived that creating music and achieving stability were enemy lifestyles. They seemed contrary notions at battle for my soul, mind and wallet.

I’d “graduated” from the sweat and swagger of stomping stages to the normality and respectability of an acceptable professional life. I was working a suit ’n tie type job as a service provider for the criminal justice and rehab industry (whatever that means). I defined myself as a former musician who’d gone legit, y’know? It was lucrative and I was fortunate by mainstream measurements but I felt very un-me in many silent moments of reflection.

So, check this out. It was winter, about 12 years ago, now, and I was pondering my wayward success in this unplanned career while in Baltimore at a weeklong certification training in some kind of Violence Intervention classes…or something like that. I loved what I was doing for a living but I missed what I intended to be. Make sense? Cool.

Anyhow, I knew I never really fit in at these kind of events. My experience was that it brings out the worst in people to bring them from out of town on the company dime for a predetermined period of time with no accountability after they’d all been living in tiny boxes with cute fences for far too long.

True to form, everyone in my class began plotting their debauchery and indiscretions for each night after each day’s training was done.

Predictably, they all wore their business attire during classroom hours, but acted like unleashed prisoners on a free-for-all once the sun began to drop. They plotted what bars and strip clubs to hit over lunch sandwiches. They acted like no one could see the southwest suns’ tan line where their wedding ring was last week, back home. They lied to each other about their life. They pretended to be more exciting than they were. I had little regard for their company and resented being caged with them. I recognized my own

proclivity to act the same when I was around them for too long.

So, I drove to Philadelphia one night. It was only about an hour and a half away and I wanted to explore a new city without bumping into classmates. I’ve always enjoyed me more than most other people anyhow.

While there, I roamed downtown. It was alright. I spoke to strangers at local shops, gawked at some historical things and then….I made a new friend.

He was about 60 years old going on 90 judging by the wear & tear on his face and garb. He was singing acappella on the street corner as a busker without an instrument. A small black man with plaid colorful pants and an eccentric collar, he was performing for change. He sang with a baritone gravel that exceeded his stature. He sounded as if he was channeling Louis Armstrong but unaware of it.

Some folks veered a halfmoon path around his corner. Some admired him from a small distance.

Some strangely paid him a couple of bucks mid-stride oblivious that he was even earning it. I was enthralled though. I missed my days as a crowd builder. I missed collaboration and this kind of proximity to talent. This man was a drug for my ears.

He changed his set list abruptly and bounced into a Beatles medley. Uncalculated, I walked up and began harmonizing his voice, singing backups to “Oh Darling” in front of everyone. I, in my suit and trench coat, he, in his loud layered outfit, caused a stir. The bodies thickened and paid for the awkward sight of us two mismatched vocalists.

This went on for a good half hour.

Just two dudes singing. We sounded accidentally great usually but would break into ashamed laughter after we’d hit some clunkers or forgot our lines. We had to banter in a close, hushed tone between songs; smiling, and saying “Do you know this one…?” with apologies when the answer was “No.” Then an immediate challenge of, “But what about this one…?”, etc.

“Willy” continued on page 10

Issue #13

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

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Graffiti artists join doctors on Sounds of the street: Music City’s sidewalks provide stages, chances for health campaign unhoused artists

Joe Nolan, The Contributor

Amanda Fortier, Street News Service

W H

This notebook is the bubbling cauldron of Docta’s future projects. Here he shows a mural planned for the very near future. Photo: Paul Farrall

ip hop and health are an unlikely combination.

But in Senegal’s capital city, Dakar, graffiti artists and doctors have joined forces to help raise awareness about disease such as AIDS, diabetes, malaria and tuberculosis.

The project, known as Graff & Santé (‘health’ in English), was spearheaded in 2008 by the pioneer of graffiti art in Senegal. It’s no coincidence that this artist’s tag name is Docta.

Docta, whose real name is Amadou Lamine Ngom, first started using the bleak cement walls of Dakar as his personal canvas in the mid 1980’s. Back then nobody understood what he was doing.

“At the time people were confused by my work, because it was more artistic,” explains Docta from his home in Medina, an inner-city neighborhood in Dakar. “But at one point I had to simplify the messages so that people could read and understand what I was saying.”

The idea for the Graff & Santé came as a response to how Docta sees the evolving role of graffiti art in Senegal.

“Graffiti can be a trampoline of communication between the population and urban art,” says Docta.

“In the beginning the goal of graffiti was to instigate revolts, but at some point you also have to bring something

to the population. We can’t just be there saying no, it’s not going well, we also have to bring forward solutions.”

Graff & Santé is a threeday event that involves Docta’s team of graffiti artists, known as the “Doxandem Squad”. They go out to the lower-income neighborhoods of Dakar to paint public murals decorated with massive colorful images and slogans.

They write messages in the local Wolof language such as “health has no price” and “unity in diversity” Doctors are then invited to come to set up tents directly in the street where they give free testing and consultations, hand out medication and provide mosquito nets.

During the first Graff & Santé event, doctors were able to test 87 people - many of whom would, otherwise, never visit a doctor.

“Most Senegalese have an aversion to going to hospitals,” explains Docta. “They think the medical staff is rude or the drugs are too expensive. Graffiti artists can encourage the population and doctors to come together in the street, which is important because it is a neutral space where locals feel less intimidated.”

Compared to many African countries, Senegal has achieved relatively good headway in its health progress. They have one of the lowest HIV rates on the continent, at around one percent. But according to the international AIDS/HIV charity group “Graffiti” continued on page 12

ith neither a dime nor a friend, only with the dream of using their talents to make it big in the city of music, two homeless men succeed as songwriters in Nashville, USA, home of Johnny Cash and Jimi Hendrix.

In 2005, Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez wrote a series of stories about Nathaniel Ayers, a mentally ill, musically gifted, homeless man. Lopez met Ayers on the streets of downtown L.A. where he found him playing a violin with only two strings. In 2009, Lopez’s hugely popular columns were made into the filmThe Soloist starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx, a movie that brought a message about mental illness and homelessness to a mainstream audience. It also presented a cautionary tale, prompting viewers to understand that talent doesn’t discriminate, and that it’s always a mistake to judge others by their appearances or station in life. Ayers was a schizophrenic homeless man, yet he was also a remarkably talented musician who had once attended the famous Juilliard School.

In Nashville, Tennessee, people come from around the world to pursue their musical dreams. For some, the path leads to fame and fortune. For most, it leads to rejection, frustration and the formulation of some new, more practical career plan.

But, for a few, a life of artistic struggle is itself a part of life on the streets. This is the story of two formerly homeless songwriters and a musical endeavor that spotlights the creative talents of Nashville’s homeless community.

Streets of Music City is a new CD project spearheaded by songwriter/musician Richard Aberdeen and produced by Razzy Bailey at his studio, Razzy’s Hit House.

Bailey is a singer/songwriter in his own right, having released a string of number-one and top-10 country singles in the late 70s and early 80s.

The album will include 20 songs ranging from country and blues to rock and folk, featuring lyrics by homeless and formerly homeless songwriters and poets. Many of their original compositions were first conceived as poems on the pages of the street paper

The Contributor and Aberdeen and his co-writer Scott Hunt contribute additional lyrics and melodies to transform the poems into songs.

Having read—and been impressed by—the songs and poems published in The Contributor, Aberdeen envisioned an ambitious musical project that will find these writers’ words brought to life on the CD, and distributed through his Freedom Tracks label. “Some songs address the homeless situation directly while others address related issues such as life in a wheelchair, lack of jobs and special needs,” he explains.

“Other songs are inspirational, humorous and offbeat in nature. So, hopefully, the completed CD will be interesting for music fans in general as well as inspiring and informative.”

“Rare Days” features lyrics by popular Contributor columnist Ray Ponce de Leon. It’s about “a day when everything goes so great it’s phenomenal,” explains Aberdeen.

“He wins the lottery. He throws a bare hook in the water and starts catching fish.” Another eagerly read Contributor writer who adds his talents to the project is Chris Scott.

Before Scott moved to Nashville in 2009, he’d suffered through four years of crack cocaine addiction in Florida. “I’d lost everything-my family. I had a felony against me for possession,” he explains. But one thing Scott didn’t lose was his passion for music. Scott’s life-long love of music-making began when he started writing poems and songs at the age of five. He put together a full CD of his tunes before making the move to Music City.

Since arriving in Nashville in 2009, Scott has published more than 40 songs and poems in The Contributor. “I didn’t sing or play guitar,” says Scott. “So the only way I could do it was in the paper.” And while Nashville is full of hopefuls who may lack the focus, drive or talent to create powerful music, Scott is most definitely a songwriter.

Whatever he lacks in musicianship and training, he makes up for with sheer energy, enthusiasm and a sense of mission. “I decided to use my music to help others,” he says without “Sounds” continued on page 13

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Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

The Heidelberg & Tim Burke

“Bonfiles” and William James O’Fahey

Issue #13

Because 1Matters: Bowersox

Ken Leslie

T

his is about a lot of things: Tent City; domestic autonomy; recovery; art; lifeline(s); biblical rescue; community; God, and humanity. So many things. I am thinking about so many things because a few Toledo Streets staffers went on a short ‘road trip’ to Detroit’s lower east side, and the Heidelberg Project. Begun 25 years ago, when artist Tyree Guyton returned to his neighborhood to find it run down and dying. Today it has survived four Mayors, the wear of time, and how sometimes the art world can be an elusive friend—the Heidelberg Project sits and challenges, and is the voice of many artist, and residents in this lower east side community.

I met Tim Burke, one of the artists who works on the Heidelberg Project, and the only one who keeps his studio on the site of the project. Mr. Burke, who describes himself as an ‘industrial artist’, and an ‘outsider artist,’ spoke candidly to Toledo Streets about the Heidelberg Project, his work on the project, recovery, and his life as an artist in Detroit, Michigan.

The term “Outsider Art” broadly refers to artists with no formal training, but primarily it has come to describe the work produced by artists with all kinds of disabilities. Tim Burke and I have much in common, so conversation was free and easy. We settled on recovery because much of his work presented in the Heidelberg Project has to do with recovery, and his own restoration. A piece comes to mind, his hand painted sign: “found, weapons of mass destruction,” and sitting on top of the sign are beer and liquor bottles. Simple, yet very compelling.

Tim has been on the Heidelberg Project for about 10 years. He works full time in an area factory, making him very much in touch with the pulse of the people of Detroit, and surrounding communities.

As an artist, he is just beginning to spread his wings, and with his own unique voice, is poised to make the kind of impact on this community as the Heidelberg Project founder, Tyree Guyton.

The Heidelberg Project creates art from inner city rubble. It is a voice for a community that was derelict and run down. I spoke to some residents that have lived in the Heidelberg community for 25 years, and all were informally in love with the Project, and its impact on the community. Astonishingly, a quarter of a million people visit the Project each year.

It is frequently visited by Detroit Public

Outsider artist Tim Burke has been part of the Heidelberg Project for over 10 years, and his studio/gallery is right in the middle of it all.

Photo: Amanda Faith Moore

Schools, and is used as a teaching vehicle for area colleges. The first time I visited the Project, there were four bus loads of patrons—over 300 people—so it is easily one of the most utilized venues in Detroit.

Toledo Streets is proud to feature Tim Burke and to call him friend, and equally proud to recommend its readers visit the Heidelberg Project. —Bonfiles

A

t first, the Heidelberg Project was composed of paintings on houses by local artist Tyree Guyton, who returning from a stint in the army to find his old neighborhood looked as if “a bomb went off.” Today, the Heidelberg Project is recognized as a demonstration of the power of creativity to triumph over urban blight and abandonment.

It strikes me there is a lot to be said about the beauty and even danger of the daily objects of city life... That is, the everyday objects... The colorful clothing and the electric gizmos, the food wrappers, the signs and posters, and the other media one encounters everyday in the city. The Heidelberg project is a living museum of such objects.

And there are simpler objects, objects that seem to transcend time and place... Objects one would as likely find on an Amish farm or a Tibetan mountain village; teapots, needle and thread, wooden staircases, hammers and saws, blankets and pillows...

Many believe the Heidelberg Project engenders hope. Amid the ruins of the Detroit industrial corridor, an aesthetically pleasing genre scene has arisen... Even out of junk piles and dilapidated houses, art is reborn and again art leads the way to a defiant hope for tomorrow. —William James O’Fahey

Crystal helps out in the kitchen of St. Paul’s Community Center, where she used to hang out during lunch and play her music while attending Toledo School for the Arts. Photo: Mark Andrews

I

n life, it is our actions which define us. If I had to pick one word to describe Crystal’s actions, it would be “honor.”

I think her visit to Toledo, Ohio, in May was all about honor. She honors where she came from and honors those who helped her survive long enough to get where she is today: still a wife, mother and friend who happens to play music for a living. Just more people listen now.

She honors people like Dave Gierke and others from Toledo School for the Arts.

They helped her stay connected to music, the stuff that kept her sane during a most difficult time in her life.

Part of her soul was born on the streets, nurtured among people who cared for her, and people she cared for; people who loved just who she was, and people she loves the same way; people who simply matter to each other.

While in Toledo for a concert to benefit TSA, Crystal planned to shoot public service announcements for World Homeless Day and 1Matters, as well as start production of a small documentary.

While covering the details, she related how she used to have lunch and play her music at St. Paul’s Community Center during her TSA days. She wondered if they would let her come back and play again.

The following week, Gina Orr, Crystal’s manager, evolved the idea of shooting the PSAs in a small room at the shelter. Crystal loved the idea of changing the shooting location for the song “Holy Toledo” there, too. As was the case with Mr. Mellencamp, we decided to keep the visit quiet to be sure it was the guests who got to see the performance.

What was planned to be lunch and a four song set became an emotionally charged one hour show. Well, more like a family reunion with cousin Crystal stopping between songs to say hi, catch up

on the latest, or check on the whereabouts of people she she remembers.

There was more real power and love in her performance than I have ever witnessed before, anywhere, by any artist.

Crystal Bowersox sang her heart out.

She was nearly overwhelmed by emotion during one song. It was as if she realized at that very moment how far she had come from where she had been.

Being there fulfilled a promise she made to her good friends, whom she missed. A promise made sitting at one of those same tables a few years ago, eating lunch with those same friends. Crystal promised if she ever made it she would come back.

As the show progressed, it seemed her emotions and efforts to connect with their souls increased with each person she recognized, as if her only goal was to connect to each and every single one of them—one at a time—to let them know they really, really do matter. She sang and opened her whole heart out and connected.

Since the show many of the guests have told us what it meant to them. Feelings of being important, being proud, because the singer with a huge heart came back just for them. Some said they really feel they matter to someone for the first time in a long time. Someone cares. It is the woman with honor and love as big as a mountain.

This is what 1Matters is all about.

On behalf of everyone here working and living on the streets, and all those at St. Paul’s, thank you, Crystal. Thank you for remembering us, for caring about us.

Thank you for proving by your actions, every 1 does matter! We are honored.

Having founded Tent City over 20 years ago, Ken Leslie is continuing and expanding the vision for sustainable solutions to end homelessness. He likes sushi and wearing hats. He’s also pretty fond of his wife Norma.

Email him at ken@1matters.org. ts

Issue #13

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Page 9

Harry Sandler: 30 years of music and life through his lens

Amanda Faith Moore

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ou could say I first met Harry in Detroit last fall, if a hurried “Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” counts while a guy is escorting a rock legend around to meet over 50 people in the cafeteria of a homeless shelter. As experiences go, being five feet away from John Mellencamp kept most of my attention, and making sure said legend was getting through the crowd okay kept Harry’s attention.

Not until this spring, when Harry drove through Toledo on his way to Indiana for one of his iPhoneography classes, did I really get a chance to talk to this guy who’s spent most of his life rubbing elbows with some of the most talented and popular musicians of our culture. But we’ll get to that.

Not until this spring, when Harry drove through (he hates flying) and stopped to have dinner with a few Tent City volunteers, did I chat with Harry about the passion that really drives him: photography. But we’ll get to that.

It’s this passion that will bring Harry back to Toledo again in October to kick off his art show at 20 North Gallery.

The show, “Harry Sandler: Music, iPhones, and Other Neighborhoods,” will run from October 9 - 30, and all proceeds will benefit the non-profit group 1Matters. His wide range of images—spanning film captures over three decades old to “iPhoneography;”

from portraits of rock stars on stage to wild landscapes; from soft, whimsical pictures to “in-the-moment” snapshots that silently speak volumes—will provide a look into a unique life and perspective.

But here’s where we “get to that,” my chat with Harry...

AMANDA MOORE: You’ve been in the entertainment biz for over 35 years.

What’s the story behind getting into it, and in what ways have you been involved?

HARRY SANDLER: I was never really into music until I was released from military service in 1964. I was discharged in San Francisco and went to visit some high school friends before traveling back to New York. Well, long story short, I ended up staying in San Francisco and got involved in music and the business of music. I have done many jobs in music from driving trucks, mixing monitors, road manager, tour manager and the last eight years in the business I was the head of touring for a large management company.

AM: Are you musical at all yourself? Do you play an instrument?

HS: Sort of play guitar and a bit of drums and bass...

AM: Who have you worked with? Who has the best sense of humor? Most artistic vision? Who is the most misunderstood?

Has the biggest heart?

HS: Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, John Mellencamp, Barbara Streisand, Van Halen, Jewel, and Stevie Nicks are a few artists that I have worked for. I’ve also done work with Dancing with the Stars and America’s Got Talent. I found Jewel had a great sense of humor—all of these acts had great artistic vision—large heart goes to Billy Joel, and Van Halen is definitely not understood.

AM: All sorts of things can happen on the road. What’s the craziest situation you’ve ever found yourself in?

HS: I once had a gun pulled on me during a settlement—guess they did not want to pay.

AM: You’re quite the artist yourself. How long have you been using photography to capture your experiences travelling all over the world with some of the greatest musicians ever? How does your hobby fit into your career?

HS: My avocation has always been attached at the hip for me. On bad days I would get up early and go find some images to make—most of the time it seemed to calm me down. I get lost in making images and the world disappears for that period of time...

AM: You’re obviously not paparazzi. But how do artists tend to react to you having a camera around? Ever present a problem?

HS: Never was an issue—I think there was an understanding that I would never make anyone look bad...

AM: You’re on the cutting edge of iPhoneography, but when did you first go from film to digital? How has that impacted your images and approach to taking them?

HS: Made the switch around 2004, but it was a slow learning curve. Had to embrace the post capture image management which was so different from the darkroom days. I do like making images in color and then deciding if it should be black and white or color—never really had that choice in the film days until the advent of good scanning devices. Also, one can shoot many more images without having the cost of film and processing—this is huge—the only thing that matters is getting the image so why not shoot as many as you can?

AM: And what, by the way, is iPhoneography? (Do you really have to have an iPhone?) What about it intrigues you, and how long have you been exploring this new medium? How’d you get into it?

“Harry” continued on page 14

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Page 10

Ripe

continued from page 3

life’s mysteries in the way my soul views them; I paint Faith, Hope, Love, Prayer, Anger, Mercy, Grace, Jealousy, Pain. I try to visualize the emotions ripping through my soul, carving out canyons that make my character and create my history. These struggles have left footprints on my heart, and I need to pay homage to the path they have forged in the name of Strength.

They are a part of me, and my artwork comes from that inner place where these struggles were born.

Strife reaches right down into our core like nothing else. It grabs hold of our soul. While being there, in that loneliest of places, creativity is in fertile soil that grows in a way it cannot anywhere else. Strife cuts all the distracting noises out of our lives and helps us to focus on what is truly important. We become stuck in survivalmode, just trying to make it through each day. Only the truly important things have room in our frantic, pain-filled minds.

While flat on our back, we cannot run away from inspiration. It has a way of finding us; haunting us, nagging us, pulling at our hems until we turn around to acknowledge it. Monet, Vincent van Gogh, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Mozart, Beethoven, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Sylvia Plath... The list could, and does, go on and on. All of them haunted by demons in their lives.

Had their lives been easy, and their crosses light, I doubt we’d have the masterpieces and legends we do today.

Strife brings about depth, empathy, appreciation and an open mind - all necessary ingredients to pure brilliance and non-restricted creativity. Those who are unbound by others’ opinions, who’ve already lost their dignity through live’s trials and other’s judgements of them, have the least to loose. When you have nothing to loose, you tend to brave the most to bring the world works unlike anyone else’s. True art stands apart. It stands out. You need to be a bit of an outcast to achieve this level of brilliance.

When life has you at your end, that’s right where creativity stands ready for you. You’re ripe for art.

Michelle Davis is a regular contributor to the paper, as well as a familiar face downtown on Saturday mornings, where she and her two children bring their creativity into the midst of suffering. ts

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Issue #13

Willy

continued from page 6

We were fast friends.

He told me the fun had to end at 10 o’clock or the cops would get us.

He then offered me half of the earnings.

I declined and wished he hadn’t. He urged to treat me to a hot dog instead. I accepted.

His name was Willy. We spoke candidly at the diner about our lives. His homelessness was neither a taboo subject for him nor a tearjerker.

It was just his story. He genuinely seemed more interested in mine and was irritated that I had disowned music. He found it unacceptable. He told me to change. He was eloquent, earthy and bold.

I couldn’t defend my defeat when he pointed out that although he has nothing to own, he does recognize God gave him a gift of voice unique and coveted by the very same folks who do own many things.

It made him happy to use it and others happy to hear it.

He argued that it’s our very responsibility to enjoy, work and share our artistic gifts of creation.

He spoke to the young, striving father in me. He had metaphors; that to do otherwise is comparable to my own daughters taking my best birthday presents and knowingly throwing the gifts in the trash, unused, with full disregard for the pleasure it would bring me to see the goodies enjoyed as intended.

Willy made it my burden to chase my craft. To live a life of appreciation.

I asked to hang out longer. He took me on a foot tour through the city in the foggy cold. He showed me where he slept, usually. He introduced me to other street folks, homeless fellas and prostitutes. I shared with Willy that homelessness ran in my family despite the fact that hard work did, too. He nodded knowingly. He spoke proudly of his own kin, as the father of a successful Baptist preacher.

His son visited the streets often and made it clear there are programs and options available so Willy never felt too hopeless, but he did feel prideful about accepting the help. There was a twinge of a fear of letting his boy down.

He didn’t want to burden his child with his drinking problem, reputation or shameful life. I didn’t feel it proper to

Grits and a Whistle is Michael Fisher’s latest solo release.

Photo: Michael Fisher

try to convince him otherwise.

Willy obviously was a clearheaded man who had accepted where he is in life but knew he could maybe someday be somewhere else.

I left at 4 a.m. and drove back to Baltimore for another day of training. I had recorded some of our street singing on my handheld tape recorder. I also let it run while he spoke sometimes. It was my soundtrack for the return home.

It hit me slowly that Willy was right. I didn’t have to make it a war of choice between “stable respectability” vs. “innovative art.” One did not guarantee the success nor failure of the other. I, alone, was to blame for making it a battle rather than an alliance. My false narrative was exposed by a gentle man with no home, who lived inside his own smile.

I won’t tell you I went home and devoted my life to rock-stardom but I will tell you this; he started an evolution of my thinking. My priorities, my drive and my output weaved to include not only being an attentive dad, a strong husband, a laborious breadwinner and an intense God-chaser, but also to remain a devoted daydreamer, a no-rules songmaker, a stage slithering ass-kicker and a solid performer.

These may sound contradictory but Willy proved things do not always sound like what we assume.

I began playing again professionally about two years

after meeting Willy, and am still pushing forward with my strange “Ghettobilly” brand of hard rock music, non-stop. At 38, I’m a bit of a veteran on Toledo’s original rock scene these days. So, I appreciate and savor that I’m still relevant in such a vital pool of great players. I kinda dig being an old dog with a band of young hounds proppin’ me up when I feel raggedy. And, I rather enjoy using my tenure to give a helping hand to the slamming new acts which keep sprouting up, too. This town has an intense amount of talent that needs exposed and pushed.

I like to think Willy’s still out in Philly, safe, happy and performing.

I do recognize this may not be the reality, though. Either way, he affected me. Now, I can pass on his message to other music makers: Don’t give up.

The ripples of Willy’s craft and influence live on this way.

Michael Fisher, Society’s Ugly Son, heads up the band Ugly Tribe Revival as well as producing solo work. Check out the band’s Facebook page, as well as “Michael Fisher’s Music Page” online, or the band’s website at uglyonline.net, where his latest solo album, Grits and a Whistle, plus the band’s multiple releases can be purchased. ts

Issue #13

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Living Faith: Art as a LifeLine

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oetry saved my life.

I write this because there is a community in Toledo I want to tell you about, a community whose soul is poetry, and whose hands are dirty with hard work. A community of faith, and of family—the most diverse family I’ve ever encountered. A community that transforms lives by welcoming all, and letting all that come just be.

Have you, reader, ever experienced being loved for who you are, just as you? Not loved for who you might be, what you might do, who you’ve been, or who you are in a particular role, but simply just as you are, no matter what? I ask you this because if, two years ago, I had any clue I would experience being loved just as I am, over and over again, I probably would have run as far away as possible.

Because, if someone could show me love like that, it would mean I would have to be vulnerable to accept it and let it heal me. Love like that is dangerous.

Love like that can change people, can change the world.

I never considered myself a poet, but I wrote copious amounts of angst-filled verses from my teens into my early twenties. I slowly stopped writing and a vital part of me, the passionate part that needed expression, shriveled up and all but died. I stopped believing in my talents, stopped taking

Amanda Faith Moore

“If somebody would have told me before I came to Toledo that one of the keys to the lock for LifeLine in Toledo would be poetry, I probably would have laughed. Out loud. I hadn’t written a poem since, like, fifth grade…

“But that is, in fact, exactly what happened. Meeting my friend, Jim, who introduced me to an amazing group of urban poets, was like turning the right key in a lock. A whole world was opened to me and the others who share the ministry of LifeLine that would otherwise likely have remained quite closed; and that world has formed the foundations of this ministry.”

—Steve North, from www.lifelinetoledo.com/art risks, about that same time. Life limped along, but I didn’t love myself and I was mired in the idea nobody else could love me either. I was pretty doubtful G-d did, despite all I had heard and even professed to believe.

Enter Steve North, and with him, the community and ministry of LifeLine. Also enter, eventually, a host of other life-changing characters and events: Becky Przybylski, Jim Fahey, Gary Bond, poetry night at the Collingwood Arts Center, Greg Peters, Robin Charney, Mandy Lehman, Shawn & Milana Kellerbauer, Terri Swartzlander, 4.5’s, Servant Leadership, Simon McNeilly, Valerie Kleinheksel, Caitlin Cousino, Doug Lutman, tornado clean-up, the Davis family, migrant camps, and

most of all, in the midst of everything and everyone… real love. For me.

As I was. (And also present for most of these: a giant purple bus called “Buszilla.”)

Because of love, Steve said, “Speak” and I spoke through poetry.

Poetry gave me my voice back, and carried me through some very dark times, then eventually gave me the confidence to take risks. In rediscovering my voice, I realized the importance of giving others the ability to have their voices heard. All this to say, Steve and LifeLine brought poetry back into my life. Without them, no Toledo Streets. Maybe even—all melodrama aside—no me.

When I first planned this column for the paper, even before

Be a LifeLine for “Buszilla”

Since October 2009, “Buszilla” has become the very large, very purple symbol of LifeLine’s urban missions work, serving as a medical missions bus and transportation of people and supplies for tornado relief efforts, poverty immersion experiences, migrant camp visits, and much, much more. Unfortunately, LifeLine’s work amongst the poor has been crippled by Buszilla’s need for a rebuilt engine. Please consider making a taxdeductible donation to get Buszilla back on the road as a LifeLine to our community.

Michelle Davis: “My favorite memory of Buszilla is definitely the night we said goodbye to our migrant ‘family.’ The relationships we had developed there were so real, and our ability to have ‘community’ even when we didn’t speak the same language was touching. I can’t wait to go back!”

Gregory Peters: “I consider all members of LifeLine my family. Almost all of my family has passed on – there is only me and my sister left, and we aren’t close. I love [my LifeLine family], you are my brothers and sisters. You have given me so much, you have always been there for me.

I am homeless and you still loved me.”

Douglas Lutman: “When my family lost their house in the tornado, Steve brought in the cavalry and Buszilla to save what was left of our lives. When I saw it coming around the corner the first day of cleanup, I only remember crying because it was the most beautiful thing I’d seen in my life: hope.”

Terri Swartzlander: “My best memory of the LifeLine bus is when two people returned to thank me for saving their lives. It really touched me. There have been so many times that we have caught people with either high blood pressure or high and low blood sugars.”

Checks can be made payable to “New Harvest” with memo “LifeLine” and sent to New Harvest Church, 3540 Seaman Road, Oregon, OH 43616.

www.lifelinetoledo.com

Page 11

starting Toledo Streets, there were only three requirements for it: 1) it had to be written by a pastor or other recognized faith leader; 2) it could not be focused on garnering support for an organization, program or event; and 3) it had to be focused on what faith teaches about social justice. With this article, I am breaking the first two of my own rules, all because the third is so completely fulfilled, making this absolutely the right thing to do. The name of this column is Living Faith, and few people I know live their faith like Steve lives it. LifeLine is the name of it, Buszilla is frequently the literal vehicle for it, and saving lives through love is the result of it.

Poetry saved my life, but LifeLine gives me a reason to live.

I want you to know these things, reader, for two reasons: 1) in case you doubt you can be loved as you are, or that love can change the world, and 2) because LifeLine desperately needs help getting Buszilla back on the road. You also need to read the stories below, stories from other people who’ve been changed, maybe even saved in some part, by LifeLine. I am not the only one.

Amanda Faith Moore reads poetry every other Tuesday night up in “The Nest” at Steve’s house, along with other LifeLiners ts who are compelled to “Speak.”

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Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Issue #13

Graffiti

continued from page 7

Avert, there is still the risk numbers can go up as it has in other West African nations, such as Cameroon and Gabon. Tuberculosis, which is often fuelled by the spread of HIV, is not as rampant as it is in South Africa or Nigeria, but it is still considered a ‘major health burden’ in Senegal by the international aid group, USAID. And in the fight against malaria, Senegal is taking remarkable steps forward. A nationwide distribution of mosquito nets and a now standardized use of rapid diagnostic tests have helped reduce reported cases of malaria by 41% between 2008 and 2009. But there is still much work to be done and Docta and the Doxandem Squad are not about to sit back.

This year’s upcoming Graff & Santé Festival is scheduled for the beginning of September when the rainy season is at its height. The group plans to work in the outskirts of Dakar in some of the poorest neighborhoods where people are

most affected by persistent flooding.

Combined with a lack of drainage facilities and proper sanitation, these areas become fertile grounds where malaria and tuberculosis often become endemic.

“If we can help Senegalese people then it’s our job,” affirms Docta.

“We have to do it. It’s this type of socialengagement that graffiti has always had, but that we are actually materialising. It is only by doing this that they are able to envision a future different from the one they are currently living.”

Amadou Dior Ndiaye is a cultural manager in Senegal who applauds the initiative Docta took to launch what, to his knowledge, is the only project of its kind in Africa.

“We’re living in a world where we can’t wait for anyone, especially in terms of our health,” says Ndiaye. “It is like a person who’s thirsty. They’re not going to wait for someone to give them a glass of water. The young people in Senegal today want to take

their destiny in their own hands and they don’t want to wait for anybody.”

ENGAGING THE YOUNG IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

When graffiti first made its way across the Atlantic from the United States, over two decades ago, there was much debate over its legality. As in many parts of the word, graffiti in Senegal is still illegal.

But unlike in many Western and even some African countries, it is generally accepted in Senegal. The likelihood that an artist is arrested for painting murals with social or political messages is very slim.

Professor Abdoulaye Niang, a sociologist and researcher specializing in graffiti art and urban hip-hop culture at Gaston Berger University in Senegal, believes the Senegalese tend to see graffiti as something that is multifunctional, with a social, cultural and political value, as well as an aesthetic purpose.

“People here are more likely to accept graffiti compared to the West or even other parts of Africa, because they consider it more as beauty than vandalism,” says Professor Niang. “It has become a way for young people to express themselves in a society that still has strong respect for its elders. It allows the young people a certain amount of honorability. They can become producers and not just consumers of their society.”

As it happens with many art projects, it is difficult to measure the impact of an event such as Graff & Santé in improving health. Professor Niang admits this often makes people skeptical of its real value.

“All I can say is that after the (health) murals went up, the number of testing went also went up. But this was only in the areas where graffiti artists worked alongside the doctors. I think this is a good sign and it shows their messages have an impact on the ts population.”

Issue #13

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Page 13

Sounds

continued from page 7

self-satisfaction. “I’ve learned some really hard lessons. When people face those same challenges they might remember my words and not have to bump their heads as hard as I did.”

Like many music luminaries in Nashville, Scott’s sense of commitment and caring comes from a personal religious conversion. “I’ve committed everything to the Lord,” says Scott. “He’s my boss. He gives me the words and inspires me to write.”

In turn, Scott is inspiring others. He was recently invited to lecture at a poetry class at Nashville State Community College. One can imagine that Scott’s gregarious, generous personality would make him a natural teacher, and his visit to the college included a surprise in the form of an honorarium check.

“I didn’t know what an honorarium was,” he confesses. “But I was sure glad to see it!”

It’s clear that Scott labors over his work. “Every word that I choose leans on the word before it and leads to the one after it,” says Scott. “You have to take out every word that doesn’t have to be there, then you have fine, distilled work.”

Scott was named Poet Laureate of The Contributor in January of this year at the organization’s annual art show, concert and fundraising event. However, Scott’s not resting on his laurels. In addition to his work on the Freedom Tracks project, he’s busy compiling his published pieces into a collection of 100 poems and songs. He’s also looking forward to attending the 9th Annual Nashville Songwriter’s Festival in June. “They are life-changing for any songwriter,” he enthuses. “You learn from gifted people, gifted artists, gifted writerspeople who’ve heard the whispers of angels and written down the words.”

While Scott is living through the highs and lows that mark the path of any up-and-coming songwriter, his capacity for being inspired by Music City is on display when he talks about walking the same streets as the country music greats who’ve come before him. “The same molecules that they breathed in, that came into their bodies-some of the greatest talents that Nashville’s ever seen-they’re still

Homeless, formerly homeless, and never-been-homeless musicians alike share a stage on the street in downtown Nashville.

Robin, a retired homeowner, is a street musician playing on Broadway most days of the week. In regards to modern country music, he says, “If my baby thinks my tractor is sexy, I’m looking for a new girlfriend.” Photo: Raven Lintu

here! How can you not be creative in Nashville, Tennessee? You’ve stood where they stood. You’ve seen what they saw. It was a part of their journey and now it’s a part of yours.”

Another formerly homeless, local songwriter on a journey of his own is Adam Smith. Born in Virginia and raised in the small town of Cumberland, K.Y., near Harlan, Smith is a self-taught musician. Even as a teenager Smith was winning his chops as a singer/songwriter. “I’d been writing for years and recording at home for years,” he recalls. “I wanted to pursue it but there was no way to do it in this small town I was from.”

After a falling out with his parents, Smith left home and lived in his car for a month before deciding it was time to try to make it in Music City. “I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving so they wouldn’t worry,” he says. “I knew there was no turning back.”

Smith rolled into downtown Nashville in the middle of the night almost exactly two years ago. The bars and clubs had closed, but workers bustled about, sweeping up sidewalks, turning down blinds and shutting off the neons before heading home for the night. “I found Broadway, but I didn’t even know what Broadway was,” laughs Smith. “I asked about the Bluebird because I’d heard of it, but I didn’t know where to find it.”

Realizing he was on the wrong side of town to take the stage at the fabled music spot, he improvised one of his own. Smith took to playing on the street corners and open mic nights of the Lower Broadway scene—all the while making due, sleeping in his car. Smith played for tips and also sold a homemade CD that he’d recorded back in Kentucky.

One night Jim Colletti, the owner of a local creative firm, stopped to listen to Smith performing at the intersection of Second Avenue and Broadway. Enjoying what he heard, he bought a couple of CDs.

Impressed by the recordings, Colletti touched base with music business connections he’d made through his association with the Sedona International Film Festival in Arizona. Along the way, Adam Smith’s music won over one listener after another and Colletti and friends decided to fly Smith out to Arizona to record what became his latest CD, Another Way to Get to Heaven. “It was my first time even on an airplane,” recalls Smith. “It was my first time in the desert. It was like another planet.

They treated me like a princess! It’s a real Cinderella story.” Given the opportunity of a lifetime, Smith made the most of it. “I got three days and three nights in the studio. I slept on the couch for a few hours, but mostly I just worked day and night.”

With Colletti now in place as his manager, Smith has established himself as an independent recording artist, and he’s taken to the road on two Home Sweet Home tours that find solo artists teaming up to play itineraries that travel through each other’s home towns. Most recently, Smith placed a song in an upcoming documentary about teenage bullying in which he is also interviewed on camera. When he’s not recording, playing gigs or getting involved with film projects, Smith now divides his time between Nashville and Sedona.

That talented kid who once lived on the streets of Nashville has now found two homes and the opportunity to live out his dreams.

In a video interview at the website for The Soloist film, Steve Lopez reminds viewers that a formerly homeless, sick, but extremely gifted man like Nathaniel Ayers “has an advantage over the rest of us. He has an absolute passion for something.”

In Nashville, the same is true of a number of the people who live on its streets. Talent doesn’t discriminate.

And just as a person might become a pauper, might not that same person also become a poet?

Download “Outlaw Mary Jane” by Chris Scott & “Popcorn” Robertson on iTunes. Find Adam Smith at adamsmithmusicart.com ts

Page 14

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Issue #13

Harry

continued from page 9 What makes it different from other digital photography?

HS: Yes, you do need an iPhone—the idea is to use that camera and see what you can do with a low res image and the results from around the world are fantastic. It is a camera and darkroom in your pocket— sort of similar to the old polaroid camera where you saw the image instantly. Only now you can apply image management while still in the phone, err, camera....Chase Jarvis said that the best camera is the one you have with you. I started doing iPhone images as a visual diary of my travels and slowly I started to believe this was a viable alternative to the more traditional technology. As the genre grew the quality of image also grew and I started to shoot more seriously with the iPhone. I now have an iPhone mount on my large format camera and capture images with both. Recently I started taking more traditional large camera images and processing them through the iPad with results that I am enjoying.

AM: Dare I ask... Mac or PC? HS: MAC, MAC, MAC, MAC, MAC, MAC...

AM: You’re very active on your blogs, iphone-antics.blogspot.com and hsandler.blogspot.com. I noticed you have been scanning in some of your old film images of musicians from a couple decades ago. Is this part of a large project, or just something you’re doing here and there?

HS: As mentioned before, I was looking for a new way to present older images, both music and other genre... Recently I made a presentation at the Apple Store in Indianapolis - they came up with a name for the presentation - ‘Music and iPhone’ and that triggered my thinking of using the iPad to process the older images—I am liking the results... I think this will turn in to a larger project as I continue to shoot musical events... This week I shot Phish and on Sunday am doing an urban show at Meadowlands Stadium... Chris Brown, lil’ Wayne etc...

AM: You’re a pretty versatile photographer —people, still life, landscapes... Do you have a favorite to shoot, or is it more of a mood/opportunity thing?

HS: Music has always been my first love. I never imagined doing landscape but over time embraced the art form in a huge way.

Still life is something I try and avoid.....

AM: Where is the farthest you’ve travelled to deliberately do some photography?

What was the motivation to do that? Did the trip change you or your art in any way?

HS: Iceland for sure... needed a drastic change of scenery—it totally motivated me in several ways. For one, Iceland is 97 percent renewable energy and that made me think more of things like lights and recycling which is so important for the future of our planet. As well, I noticed the peaceful and friendly way the people of Iceland lived—well worth noting.

On the image front the topography is so different from anything that has ever crossed my path—I had to compensate for many new technical issues in the way I shot to properly show Iceland... this helped me immensely in my day-today work in this country. Learning new technique is alway a good thing.

AM: Your upcoming show, “Harry Sandler: Music, iPhones, and Other Neighborhoods,” will be showing at 20 North Gallery from October 9 - 30. Have you chosen all the pieces for it yet? What should visitors/viewers expect?

HS: Have not made all the choices yet.

As the show is really about raising money and awareness for the homeless this show will present the challenge of presenting different images to tell the story. I look at childhood as a time to learn many different lessons and I will be mixing and matching images to tell the story of my life in image-making. I will be presenting images on canvas and more traditional substrates that cover landscape, music, iPhone and even a few more personal black and white pieces. Basically viewers should be prepared for saturated color images and more bleak black and white—I think the contrast will prove interesting. I keep thinking I have had my entire life to prepare for this so showing images this diverse fits...

AM: In addition to the art show, you are also teaching a class or two on iPhoneography when you’re back in Toledo in October. I noticed you take time to explain your process on many of the images on your sites. Is passing on your skills and knowledge something you’re passionate about? How often do you get the chance to teach?

HS: I feel teaching helps me close a loop

in my own childhood. Without going into too much detail I had (as so many others) a childhood of being alone most of the time. No one really ever taught me what life had to offer and I learned what I learned on the streets. This is me giving back whatever I can, especially to children, to motivate individuals into understanding they can do what they want and are responsible for their own lives... I hope this makes sense... as I told 1Matters, all but for inch to the left or right I could have been homeless or worse.

AM: Last fall, you were with John Mellencamp on his tour which took him to the Fox Theater in Detroit, the nation’s poorest city. Before the concert, you and John and several others stopped at COTS (Coalition On Temporary Shelter) in the heart of Motown, where John introduced himself and made a point of talking to each shelter resident one-on-one. Is that something you’ve had the chance to do a lot, or was this a relatively unique experience for you?

What was the most memorable thing about your stop in Detroit?

HS: This was a first. I always knew that this other side of life existed and have even been close at times. This trip made an indelible mark on my brain that will not go away. To see a major city in that state of decline and to see the impact on other humans was a bit to digest... Once you see that it does not go away easily...

The most memorable thing was to see the spirit and dignity these people showed. With all that is happening I admired their ability to be proud, stand tall and be counted. Even talking about this now brings a chill to my body... it was all truly admirable...

AM: Photography and music are both powerful art forms, capable of capturing and expressing so much. Knowing you have generously agreed to donate all proceeds from both the show and the iPhoneography classes to benefit 1Matters, you clearly know art has the ability to make a positive difference. What is your history with using art for activism?

Greatest example you’ve witnessed of “star power” helping a cause?

HS: I have witnessed star power bringing relief while being part of Farm Aid for many, many years. I have seen what can be done with a bit of social consciousness...

This is the first time for me personally and I think more and more people should get involved. Without getting too political, our government leaders need to get something going for so many reasons...

AM: What is it about homelessness (the issue 1Matters is working to solve) that resonates with you? What, besides financially benefitting 1Matters, do you hope your show in Toledo might accomplish or communicate?

HS: I was lucky. I had some inner drive that kept me going and off the streets.

As mentioned before, all but for an inch this way or that way... So when I met Ken [Leslie of 1Matters] and saw what the organization was about it was imperative to become involved. I am trying to communicate this through images that indeed everyone and everything matters —not just money, fame and fortune. Also, having worked with Don Henley for quite some time, I admired his involvement in saving Walden Woods and Caddo Lake form being destroyed...

That is ‘star power’ giving back, not just lip service—if you talk the talk, then walk the walk... simple as can be... ts

Issue #13

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Hoboscopes CANCER | The green tree python and the emerald tree boa are both bright green arboreal constrictors that look alarmingly similar but evolved independently on entirely different continents. Similarly, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Liebniz were 17th century strangers in different countries who both invented calculous at roughly the same time. In much the same way, Regina Spektor and Ingrid Michaelson labored independently for years before both coming to light with a very similar style of piano-driven postfolk pop. I suppose one could argue that the green tree python is just a big faker who totally stole the emerald tree boa’s idea, but isn’t it more likely that they both just arrived in the world at the moment the world was ready. You value originality, Cancer and it’s hard to tolerate the idea that other’s might be riding on your coattails. Just remember that, as hard as you’ve worked, your coattails are just the summation of the coattails that came before you.

LEO | It’s hard to recreate those perfect, beautiful moments, but goodness we do try. You know what I mean, Leo. Like how Woodstock was a spontaneous cultural phenomenon with just the right mix of rebellion, beauty, politics, corporate interest, and unpredictability. But still, every time you pack up your tent and cooler and head out to a field to hear some music, you’re expecting a revolution and then you’re disappointed when it doesn’t come. The biggest moments in our lives can’t be made by our own doing. Keep showing up in that field, Leo. You’ll make some friends, you’ll hear some songs, you may pass out in the heat and you’ll sure remember it. Just don’t try to force it to be something it’s not.

VIRGO | It is said that during the recording of his first song, Meat Loaf hit a note so high that he managed to blow a fuse on the monitor. While the stars don’t indicate whether or not this is actually possible, they do seem to imply, Virgo, that your natural abilities may outperform the equipment you have available. You can still make the machine work for you, just know that your great talent, like Mr. Loaf ’s, will shine brightest when you push the boundaries of the possible.

LIBRA | Since the 1950s, researchers have been recording and listening to the

Page 15

Mr. Mysterio strange subaquatic songs of male blue whales. Only recently have scientists noticed the songs get lower every year.

Worldwide, the pitch of whale song has gone down by as much as 30% over the past six decades and nobody knows why. Nobody knows why your songs are getting bluer either, Libra. We all hear the pitch get deeper, we know you’ve been down. Maybe its time to let us know what’s got you feeling so low.

SCORPIO | Australia’s superb lyrebird is one of the greatest vocal mimics in the world. Not only can the lyrebird precisely reproduce the songs of magpies, cockatoos and kookaburras it can also reproduce songs played on flutes and other musical instruments. The lyrebird doesn’t make much distinction between what we might deem “musical” and other repetitive sounds. Lyrebirds near construction sights can sometimes be found mimicking with remarkable accuracy the sounds of hammers, car horns, drills, engines and other machines.

This month, Scorpio, you might need to mix up your usual drone and pay attention to the sounds around you.

Practice saying back the words being said to you. Now try to imagine why anybody would say that. Maybe they’ve got a point, maybe they don’t, either way you’ll be understand your situation better when you hear some other perspectives come out of your own mouth.

SAGITTARIUS | When Les Paul built his first electric guitar, he found he no longer needed the traditional guitar body, which was designed to allow sound to resonate inside. His design needed only a fretted-neck attached to a length of 4x4 lumber with strings and a pickup. He called his creation “The Log.” It played great but it needed something. He added a guitar body, not for function, but so it would make more sense to look at. Sagittarius, you’re making big changes lately. Hang on to everything new, but try dressing it up like the old-you. Now you aren’t just new. You’re new and improved!

CAPRICORN | Why aren’t there any more songs about rainbows? There used to be so many, or so I’ve heard.

Now that I think of it, I can’t even remember the last time I heard a poem about a rainbow, or for that matter a jingle. Capricorn, if I’m reading everything right, the stars think this

is a great month for you to get into the rainbow-based entertainment industry. How about a ballad about the disembarking of Shem? Perhaps a dramatic live action revival of Rainbow Bright? Maybe a musical about a bank teller named Roy G. Biv? It doesn’t matter what direction you go with this, just pick up a prism and a pen and see what you can come up with.

AQUARIUS | When performing CPR, it is recommended you time your chest compressions at 100 beats per minute. In case you aren’t a metronome, a good way to approximate 100 beats per minute is to sing The Bee Gee’s 1977 disco classic “Stayin’ Alive”, which you may also find inspirational while in the kind of life and death situation that often accompanies CPR. But if you just can’t bring yourself to boogie with the Gibbs while your waiter is unconscious on the floor, you might opt instead for the 100 BPM masterpiece from Queen, “Another One Bites The Dust.” Is it coincidental that these songs that could save a life seem to deal so directly with life and death?

Probably so. But the stars indicate that it’s a coincidence you might be grateful for sometime soon.

PISCES | When Bryan Adams was approached to perform the song Danger Zone for the Top Gun soundtrack he took some time to think it over. As he watched the film, he decided that it’s aggressively pro-American, militaristic themes were contrary to his own convictions and he turned-down the offer. As you know, Pisces, the song was recorded quite capably by Kenny Loggins and it became an iconic top 10 hit. The lesson we can learn here is that you must stick to your convictions, even if it costs you fortune and fame.

Either that or that you should go ahead and do what people want you to so you can be successful and have an awesome beard. The Stars were a bit unclear.

ARIES | David Gilmoure vs. Roger Waters, Sting vs. Stewart Copeland, Noel Gallagher vs. Liam Gallagher (was Liam the one that smashed watermelons?); it isn’t just british rock bands that have difficulties working through conflicts, Aries. You may run into your share of group turmoil this month, too. The stars say you can get through this, but don’t try it alone.

Seek out a mediator, someone who

knows both you and your adversary well enough to play Bob Geldoff and get the two of you talking again. The break up was rough, but the reunion concert is gonna be mind-blowing!

Work out your differences ad I’ll get to work on the laser show.

TAURUS | Some statistics (as represented by recent reality television programing) indicate that 5% of the western population might be hoarders.

That’s only 5% fewer than the number of people who might be left-handed.

Not that I’m saying left-handed people are hoarders. Although it’s difficult to confirm what the left hand might be doing that the right hand doesn’t know about. All I’m saying is that obviously recessive is different than reclusive (and not just for the sake of being recursive). You may be wondering, Taurus, what the stars could possibly have revealed that would involve this complicated and possibly offensive lead-in. All I can tell you for sure is that while we already knew statistics could be manipulated to say anything, you may not have realized that they can be used to say nothing at all.

GEMINI | Richard Wagner was not only an influential composer and writer in his day he was also a friend, hero and symbol of hope to a young, wide-eyed Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche adored Wagner’s work and valued his friendship, but as these two men of ideas became increasingly absorbed in their own diverting philosophies, their friendship suffered. It’s important to know what we believe, Gemini. It’s valuable to be able to express the specifics of the ways we see the world. But this month, don’t let your big ideas get between you and your friends. What would Zarathustra think if he could see you all alone with your Valkyries? Actually, don’t answer that.

But do put your relationships before your philosophy.

Mr. Mysterio is not a licensed astrologer, an authenticated genuine Stradivarius, or a road-weathered guitar-tech.

Want more notes of gnarly knowledge?

Follow Mr. Mysterio on twitter at: http://twitter.com/mrmysterio Hoboscopes appear courtesy of The Contributor street newspaper in Nashville, TN.

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2011 Tent City

1Mile Matters

“Building Foundations, Building Hope”

WALK THE TALK

October 28th-30th

October 9th, 2011

You matter! Here are some ways to get involved: 1. Come to a Tent City planning meeting!

• Second Thursday of each month, 7pm • American Red Cross, 3100 W. Central Ave. 2. Organize a clothing drive at your workplace, church or school 3. Gather or join a team to walk 1Mile Matters • Set for Sunday, October 9th 4. Donate your time, talent or treasure. We have a lot of work to do, and we need your help!

5. Spread the word about Tent City, 1Mile Matters, World Homeless Day, and so many more worthy causes and events!

2010 Tent City; Photos: Dawn Hall