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The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
February 16, 2010
Making kindess count on campus by Tricia Remark Daily Lobo
Gabbi Campos/ Daily Lobo Johnny, a homeless man who frequents the Albuquerque area, glances to the right during an interview Saturday. Johnny has lived on the streets for more than 10 years. Johnny’s story is the first in a series investigating Albuquerque homelessness called “Without a Roof.”
The face of homelessness
Roofless by Andrew Beale Daily Lobo
Some quick calculations done my Freshman year showed me that if I gave 50 cents to everyone who asked for change, I would quickly go broke. In three years of living here, it struck me that Albuquerque seems to have a much larger homeless population than other cities. So I decided to figure out if this is true and, if so, why. The following piece is the first part of a new ongoing series, Without A Roof, that will investigate homelessness in Albuquerque. The first part of the series is a personal examination of one man’s life. The goal is to paint a picture of what life is like without a place to live. *** Johnny smokes his cigarettes down to a smoldering filter. Over the years, this has turned his fingertips black. Johnny is 43 years old and homeless. He’s been homeless “10, 14 years, maybe,” since his mother died. He gave a simple reason for being homeless: He doesn’t know how to do anything else. He said he tried to work, but couldn’t keep a job. “I never really had a job. I had two part-time jobs, but they didn’t like me. One of ‘em, I only lasted four
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days. One I only lasted one day. I was painting,” he said. “People don’t see what I do as work, but it’s work. All the walking, talking. No sleep.” He didn’t go to college, or even graduate from high school, but he earned his GED after dropping out of high school. He used to carry the certificate with him everywhere, but he no longer has a copy. “I dropped out in the 10th grade. Then I got my GED at TVI, when it was still TVI, not CNM. But I don’t have it with me, they took it from me. When I got beat up, all my stuff got tooken,” Johnny said. He also lost his birth certificate in the attack. Selling drugs (well, marijuana anyway) was a good source of income for
Johnny until he was attacked and his drugs were stolen. Now it’s too dangerous, he said. “I made a lot of money selling pot, till I got shot in the leg,” Johnny said. “This guy had beat me up twice before, but I didn’t have my glasses. I’m glad that guy shot me, now. Back then, I would have shot him, but then I’d be in trouble.” Johnny repeatedly worries aloud that the police will read this article and use it against him, so, to be clear — today, Johnny said he does not sell or use drugs. It’s important for him to make this clear, because he’s been in jail more times than he can count. “I haven’t been to jail for going on
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five months. No tickets. Record for me,” he said. He has a negative view of most cops — “There’s very few good cops. There’s more that abuse the badge” — but he said he respects “the good ones.” “If a cop beats up a homeless, they’ll get away with it. I was beat up, roughed up three times by cops. One guy filmed it, but I let it go. I didn’t want to get killed. Because I heard of a homeless guy, won a settlement against cops. And later on, the cops killed him,” Johnny said. I long suspected that the University area has more homeless people than other parts of town because students are more sympathetic to the homeless, and Johnny (an unscientific study group, to be sure) more or less confirms this for me. “The college kids are more cool. Other people can be mean. Because there’s a lot of mean people out there. The people with money, they won’t give you nothing, but poor people, they’ll give you their last money, cause they know how it is. They’ve been through it, they feel for you,” he said. Unfortunately for Johnny, he’s now banned from campus. “I enjoy talking with kids like you, you know,” he said. “But now if I go to campus, I go to jail if I set foot on it. I haven’t been there for, like, eight years. I’ve never even seen the new SUB. I remember the old one.” He says his favorite pastime is
Nom Nom Noms
Stabbing Witness Online
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The UNM community has faced tough subjects lately, including looming budget cuts and the nationwide recession, but one UNM department decided it is the perfect time to chase away stress with some kindness. This week is Random Acts of Kindness Week at UNM, and some students think that it is an opportunity to spread good deeds around campus. “I think people can always be kinder. There is always room for improvement and people should try harder, especially on campus because school is so stressful,” student Sarah Morgese said. The Division of Student Affairs decided to celebrate the national week with a donation drive for two nonprofit organizations, said Kim Kloeppel, Student Affairs fiscal and planning officer. Cuidando Los Niños, which helps children in homeless families, and Albuquerque Rescue Mission, which serves the homeless
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DL
Suspected stabber at large around UNM by Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo
A woman claiming to have been stabbed ran into a classroom in the Anthropology Building around 7:55 p.m., according to several witnesses who were in the classroom. Student Mike Johnson, who was visibly shaken, said a woman ran into his music appreciation class clutching her throat and asking for help. “I set my set stuff down and this poor lady walks in. She was holding her throat. She said, ‘somebody stabbed me, please help,’” he said. “We all kind of looked at each other like, ‘She’s joking.’ She moved her hand. There was blood all over her shirt.” A red substance that appeared to be blood was splattered on the sidewalk in front of the north entrance of the Anthropology Building, and the area is marked off by police tape. UNMPD responded to the scene, but deferred all comment to Lt. Robert Haarhues, UNMPD spokesman. Haarhues did not return several calls
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