ARTISTIC WORKSHOPS
n 2017, we began hosting a number of different workshops aimed at helping our vendors develop skills beyond writing for our newspaper. On any given day, our vendors are illustrating, painting, recording podcasts, taking photos, rehearsing plays, organizing advocacy groups, and coming together as a community.
We ran workshops in 2023
THE TEAM
VENDORS
A. M., Abel Putu, Abraham Aly, Aida Peery, Akindele Akerejah, Amia Walker, Andre Brinson, Andrew Anderson, Angie Whitehurst, Anthony Carney, Archie Thomas, Beverly Sutton, Brian Holsten, Brianna Butler, Cameé Lee, Carlos Carolina, Carlton Johnson, Charles Armstrong, Charles Woods, Chon Gotti, Chris Cole, Conrad Cheek, Corey Sanders, Darlesha
We publish vendor art and writing every week!
Joyner, Daniel Ball, David Snyder, Debora Brantley, Degnon Dovonou, Dominique Anthony, Don Gardner, Donald Davis, Donte Turner, Earl Parker, Elizebeth Bowes, Eric Thompson-Bey, Erica Downing, Evelyn Nnam, Faith Winkler, Floyd Carter, Frederic John, Frederick Walker, Gerald Anderson, George Gray, Gracias Garcias, Greta Christian, Henrieese Roberts, Henry Johnson,
Invisible Prophet, Ibn Hipps, Ivory Wilson, Jacqueline “Jackie” Turner, Jacques Collier, James Davis, James Hughes, Jeanette Richardson, Jeff Taylor, Jeffery McNeil, Jeffrey Carter, Jemel Fleming, Jenkins Dalton, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jet Flegette, Jewel Lewis, John Littlejohn, Josie Brown, Juliene Kengnie, Kenneth Middleton, Kym Parker, L.Q. Peterson, Laticia Brock, Lawrence Autry,
Levester Green, Marc Grier, Marcus McCall, Maurice Carter, Maurice Spears, Melody Byrd, Micheal Pennycook, Michele Modica, Morgan Jones, Nathanial Piscitelli, Nikila Smith, Patricia Donaldson, Patty Smith, Peggy Jackson Whitley, Phillip Black, Qaadir El-Amin, Queenie Featherstone, Rachelle Ellison, Randall Smith, Rashawn Bowser, Reginald Black, Reginald
COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIST HOUSE, COVER DESIGN BY ANNEMARIE CUCCIA
Denny, Ricardo Meriedy, Rita Sauls, Robert Vaughn, Robert Warren, Rochelle Walker, Ron Dudley, Ronnell Wilson, S. M., S. Smith, Sasha Williams, Saul Presa, Shawn Fenwick, Sheila White, Shuhratjon Ahmadjonov, Sureyakanti Behera, Susan Wilshusen, Sybil Taylor, Tasha Savoy, T.K. Hancock, Tony Bond, Tonya Williams, Vennie Hill, Vincent Watts, Warren Stevens, Wayne Hall, Wendell Williams,
Wendy Brown, William Mack, Willie Futrelle
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ashley McMaster, Blake Androff, Clare Krupin, Corrine Yu, Jonquilyn Hill, Matt Perra, Michael Vaughan Cherubin, Michael Phillips, NanaSentuo Bonsu, Shari Wilson, Stanley Keeve
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Brian Carome
The Cover
The Cover
COVER BY JIHOO YANG
STORY
EDITOR’S NOTE
Thanks for making 2024 possible
ANNEMARIE CUCCIA Editor-in-Chief
hat a year it’s been.
WSince I wrote you last, Street Sense’s newsroom has published hundreds of articles. We’ve launched a series reporting on encampment closures in the city, tracked development and tenant rights in Chinatown, and covered a landmark ruling restricting the rights of people experiencing homelessness. We’ve followed an at-capacity shelter system, tapped-out rental assistance program, and the end of many housing subsidies residents rely on. We’ve published over 600 pieces of writing from our vendors, ranging from multiple-part epics to witty haikus to heartbreaking personal essays. We’ve published 26 papers, many featuring colorful, hand-drawn art from vendors on the cover. And, we’ve been able to do some really cool projects, like rolling out a vendor-devised podcast, launching a guide of definitions related to homelessness, and bringing back the Homeless Crisis Reporting Project, coordinating 15 newsrooms to produce 22 stories about homelessness in one week.
None of this felt possible a year ago. But thanks to a dozen exceptional interns, a wonderful new deputy editor, endlessly supportive Street Sense staff, and, most importantly, innovative and immensely talented vendors, we’ve been able to keep bringing you the news and views from the street while even taking some steps to grow.
In 2025, we want to keep going. We have some process and business tasks to care of — think organizing files and combing through data; I’ll spare the details — but we have exciting ideas we’ll be able to share with the Street Sense community soon. Our reporters and vendors are writing just as much, if not more, as when we were publishing a weekly paper, and we’re exploring some ways to get all of their work to you. We want to work with vendors to continue expanding their role in the production process, and help vendors interested in journalism with reporting and writing stories. And we want to engage more with all of you, our audience and supporters, to make sure we’re bringing you the news you need.
We still have a long way to go to get back to where we were in 2022 (and trust me, that’s what I’m working toward), and I’m sure we will make and have made some mistakes along the way. I couldn’t even fathom how much I had to learn when I took over this role a year ago. I thought I understood how important the paper is to our city and our vendors, but every day I see new ways the paper makes an impact, or could make an impact in the future.
Last year, I said my goal was to build a newsroom that could rise to meet the financial and structural challenges of the nonprofit local news industry. In hindsight, this was a bit silly. Street Sense has always had a resilient, driven newsroom, and the people around me continue to show how ready they are to make this the best paper in D.C. This year is all about finding a way to make that happen.
BIRTHDAYS
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS
Darick Brown
DIRECTOR OF VENDOR EMPLOYMENT
Thomas Ratliff
VENDOR PROGRAM ASSOCIATES
John Littlejohn Jan. 1
ARTIST/VENDOR
Ricardo Meriedy
Jan. 2
ARTIST/VENDOR
EVENTS AT SSM
ANNOUNCEMENTS
□ Street Sense Media offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 20, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
□ The January vendor meeting will be Friday, Jan. 17, at 2:00 p.m. Come for pizza, business, and fellowship.
□ Is the office closed for a holiday or bad weather? Call the front desk (x101), check your texts or emails from Thomas, or go to the vendor announcements page at streetsensemedia. org/vendor-info. And make sure Thomas has your current contact info!
Willie Futrelle Jan. 1
ARTIST/VENDOR
Jeanette Richardson
Jan. 7
ARTIST/VENDOR
Rochelle Walker Jan. 11
ARTIST/VENDOR
Lawrence Autry Jan. 13
ARTIST/VENDOR
VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT
Read this democratically elected code of conduct, by vendors, for vendors!
1. I will support Street Sense Media’s mission statement and in so doing will work to support the Street Sense Media community and uphold its values of honesty, respect, support, and opportunity.
2. I will treat all others, including customers, staff, volunteers, and fellow vendors, respectfully at all times. I will refrain from threatening others, pressuring customers into making donations, or engaging in behavior that condones racism, sexism, classism, or other prejudices.
3. I understand that I am not an employee of Street Sense Media but an independent contractor.
4. While distributing the Street Sense newspaper, I will not ask for more than $3 per issue or solicit donations by any other means.
5. I will only purchase the newspaper from Street Sense Media staff and volunteers and will not distribute newspapers to other vendors.
Aida Peery, Chon Gotti, Nikila Smith
VENDOR PROGRAM VOLUNTEERS Ann Herzog, Beverly Brown, Madeleine McCollough, Roberta Haber
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Annemarie Cuccia
DEPUTY EDITOR Donte Kirby
EDITORIAL INTERNS
Fiona Riley, Tierra Cunningham
DESIGN INTERN Jihoo Yang
SOCIAL MEDIA INTERN Madi Koesler
ARTISTS-INRESIDENCE Bonnie Naradzay (Poetry), David Serota (Illustration), Leslie Jacobson (Theater), Roy Barber (Theater), Willie Schatz (Writing)
EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS
Abigail Chang, Aiesha Clark, Andrew Chow, Ann Duan, Annie Hoge, Anne Eigeman, August Dichter, Benjamin Litoff, Candace Montague, Cari Shane, Chelsea Cirruzzo, Dan Goff, Emily Blumburg, Franziska Wild, Grier Hall, Jack Walker, J.M. Ascienzo, Josh Axelrod, Kate Molloy, Kathryn Owens, Latechia Chambers, Loren Kimmel, Mark Rose, Matt Gannon, Micah Levey, Nina Raj, Rachel Dungan, Ryan Bacic, Steve Lilienthal, Susannah Birle, Taylor Nichols, Zach Montellaro
6. I will not distribute copies of “Street Sense” on metro trains and buses or on private property.
7. I will abide by the Street Sense Media Vendor Territory Policy at all times and will resolve any related disputes with other vendors in a professional manner.
8. I will not sell additional goods or products while distributing “Street Sense.”
9. I will not distribute “Street Sense” under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
10. I understand that my badge and vest are property of Street Sense Media and will not deface them. I will present my badge when purchasing “Street Sense” and will always display my badge when distributing “Street Sense.”
Harm reduction 101, with Johnny Bailey
DOMINIQUE ANTHONY
Artist/Vendor
My experience with harm reduction is from when I found out I was HIV positive. I learned about harm reduction, started going to support groups, and learned to use harm reduction tools. HIPS and the Women’s Collective taught me the tools I use to live a better life, learn how to advance lives, and build my self-esteem and confidence. I learned how to be a positive woman and talk about my situation and HIV. I learned how to tell everyone, “I am HIV positive and I don’t care if anyone doesn’t want to be my friend, I love myself.”
We should teach people harm reduction services. HIPS has served the DMV community since 1992. I talked to Johnny Bailey, HIPS hot spot program manager, about harm reduction in the city.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Dominique: Good morning. I have some questions for you, but I would like you to start and give me your background in harm reduction. What degrees do you have?
Johnny: I have a social work degree, but I always say it was the 30 years of fucking up that was more productive towards my career than the four years of college. My background in harm reduction is survival. But yes, I have a social work degree. I see my niche [at HIPS] as being the social worker at a public health organization.
How
long
have you been at HIPS?
I’ve been at HIPS for about five years. I started as an outreach coordinator, but that’s not what I did, because I started right before the pandemic, and my job was to get people together in a room, do focus groups, coordinate with other organizations to do things together, and that all kinda flew right out the window. So I jumped into being out in the van every day, in direct outreach mode, and then I slowly got back into coordinating stuff.
Let
me ask you this first, how do you define harm reduction? I know how I define it, but my definition could be totally different.
I mean, it’s meeting people where they’re at and celebrating positive change. It’s what it is, it’s reducing harm.
We all sat down to agree on a collective definition once for D.C.: Harm reduction refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors.
Does harm reduction save lives or help people?
Absolutely, that’s not even like an ideal, that’s a statistically proven thing. Like when HIPS started doing the needle exchange, the transmission of HIV through intravenous drug use went down by like 98%. Thousands of overdoses are reversed every year. And that’s such a small fraction of what happens, so it absolutely, provably saves lives.
The harm reduction vending machines were a great idea, they allow people to have more autonomy. Some people do not feel secure going to a facility or talking to someone on a street corner, which is valid, cause there are a lot of reasons why someone wouldn’t feel secure doing those things.
Does harm reduction play a part in mental health?
Yes, harm reduction is holistic. Everything about a person works in conjunction with everything else about a person, so mental health is a part of drug use, and there are so many studies that show how mental health and physical and material conditions affect not only if people use drugs, but how they use drugs. You look at someone who is more mentally healthy, say, they’re more capable of handling something in a social environment than someone who has other issues. Mental health, housing, physical health, it all rolls in. We’re complete people, not just one aspect.
How do you feel about harm reduction and the unhoused? What’s your insight?
I guess within the unhoused population, you see the crux of what is harm reduction as we can do it. Because first of all, housing first needs to stop being a dirty word altogether, cause every study, anything you’ve ever seen shows people with housing have an easier time with
mental health, an easier time with employment, an easier time with recovery, everything. So we want to try to shoot for that, but in the meantime, often harm reduction is the only thing that helps between those times.
I have 11 years sober, but I also came home last night and sat here and watched TV. Something that innocuous and boring is something a lot of folks get out of rehab and don’t have the ability to do. We get people out of rehab, we drop them off on a corner, a corner where people are selling dope, or to an encampment. You gotta think about what you do to entertain yourself when you’re sober, these things aren’t available to you, you don’t have the money to go to a movie, or anything like that, and no one’s around. Very few people want to sit alone in a camp at night and be sober. I mean, it sounds like it sucks.
Do you believe in decriminalization for drugs? Like if a person has an addiction, do you think it’s okay to just lock them up and put them away, or is it okay to send them to treatment?
I think it’s okay to go to treatment, decriminalization is the official position of HIPS. Personally, I’d have everything completely legalized and out cause to me, looking at the statistics, something like 82% of the people who died died not from an overdose, but from poison. They died from having an alien substance that was not necessarily what they wanted in their drug supply, and almost every one of those would be saved by just having the Food and Drug Administration inspect dope. It would save more lives than any other idea. Drugs are neither good nor bad. They can be a tool, they can be a destructive force, they’re not good or bad, it’s how you use them and what you do. So if someone is looking to get help, then offer it. If someone is committing crimes, like violent crimes, deal with that, but the drugs themselves are neutral.
The reason I asked you that is I feel like the D.C. Council and the mayor should give us a consumption site for clients and have people monitor them while they use drugs. We’re both on the 7th and T project and you should see how many people be laid out in the street by the school, that’s why we having issues with the school. I wish we could get more money for harm reduction services, I wish we could push for the consumption sites, cause I believe in that.
I believe in the consumption sites as well. The larger issue though, especially in the current political climate, I mean the consumption sites polled very well, and many people within the D.C. Council and politics want them. But the big thing is, we are already at this crossroads of losing home rule, and what will the Congress let us do, and right now I can only say the next four years, it’s not gonna happen.
A consumption site can look like a lot of different things. Most of them look fairly medical. It’s essentially a place where someone can go and use their drugs in a safe, clean environment, and it would be staffed with folks who know how to handle an overdose, know how to deal with things, know how to trip sit, whatever is needed. It sounds radical, but if you stop and think about it, what is a bar? A bar is a place where people can safely go and do a substance. As far as legality, legality is just what we decide is legal. I can say from personal experience alcohol did more to destroy my life than any other substance. So it’s somewhere between a medical facility and a bar, but the main points are off the street, somewhere safe, and trained people around you.
Speaking as an individual, I think a consumption site would solve a lot of issues. Places that have had consumption sites have had zero deaths in them. It also moves people off the streets and into a place where you can better give them services and they aren’t as much of a problem for the folks who just, you know, there’s no conflict there, but politically speaking, it’s not where the country is at this year. I would love for our council to push it but I also understand it’s a delicate political balance. Congress likes to step in anyway, we gotta do what we gotta do and walk thin lines.
Do you think the city council should be doing more to help different organizations get more funding for harm reduction?
I mean, the answer to that is yes, but the answer to that is always yes. Even if they did more, I’d be saying yes, there’s just so much need that there’s no way. For the most part, our council does care and does try, and working in Ward 1 with Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, she’s
been instrumental in getting us in there, but I don’t know that I will live in a time period where more resources wouldn’t be needed.
If harm reduction services were to be cut, what would that be like?
People would die, it’s that simple. And also people would not progress in the same way. Studies show folks who work with harm reduction are more likely to stop injecting, they move to smoking, which is harm reduction. We’re proving ourselves effective and useful.
How do you feel about HIPS coming up on our 30th anniversary?
Great. This place has been around for as long as I can remember. I had involvement with it before I worked here. HIPS is a pillar for the city really, it means so much to have someplace like this, when people know where you work and everyone is like “oh my god, I love them.”
Being a peer support I get that as well, when I tell people I work at HIPS, their faces light up.
Yeah, being a part of something that means so much to so many is great. I learned so much from people above me.
They paved the way for us. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without HIPS and the people who helped me.
In 1993, it was a condom van driving around with candy talking to sex workers, and then a path came to move into harm reduction as a broader world, and wanting to work with every organization that works anywhere close to common ground, because people are whole people. You can’t just be over here working on one aspect of them, and HIPS has really grown in that. I’ve never had an employer I had nothing bad to say about.
Editor’s note: Dominique Anthony is also a member of HIPS and works with Johnny Bailey.
Johnny Bailey. Photo courtesy of Johnny Bailey
First Amendment, not subjective
INVISIBLE PROPHET
Eastern philosophies such as Taoism/Daoism and Buddhism thought “darkness” could be seen as a necessary part of life’s expansion and growth. Self-reliance is a voice for solitude. We the people, our voices matter.
I’ve shared my experiences, as have others throughout United States history, documenting our stories either as civilians, active government officials, or retired government officials. A reader can find these stories in history books, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology research; personal experience can carry baggage in battling darkness.
In college, I read an unclassified research document, dated June 9, 1983, by The Central Intelligence Agency on an analysis and assessment of the Gateway Process, a system to alter consciousness. The U.S. Army Operational Group states the gateway and hemi-sync theory of consciousness is a paradox to expressing personal experiences using Kundalini psychosis, or transcendence.
In this article, I provide supporting evidence of personal experiences and a thought process dually researched by military physicists. I’m using this document because I’ve discussed and made videos based on my Kundalini journey.
My voice is a response to living in taught behavior as a nonverbal child obedient to silence. I have practiced Kundalini transcendence meditation since 2016, and it has become a useful part of my voice when using my First Amendment rights. As an artist writing this piece, I’ve met my share of misguided individuals who have believed my voice needs to be silent. I don’t slander or defame anyone. I don’t hold power against any individual or government.
Government officials always make radical deceptions of what the First Amendment means in civilian life. The context of such an amendment can hold a barrier not exceeding a false statement of imprisonment, trafficking, mental health, disability, survivors, and achievers healing trauma.
I want to acknowledge James Madison, who wrote in the amendments as a solution to limit government power and protect individual liberties through the Constitution. As follows:
The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the following rights: freedom of speech, the right to express oneself through speech, including in the arts and entertainment; freedom of the press, the right to express oneself through publication and dissemination; freedom of religion, the right to practice one’s religion without government interference; freedom of assembly, the right to peacefully assemble; and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Consciousness is the ultimate contingency when discussing matters that have become subjective, as an opposed opinion based on the examples below. Here are examples of opposing rebellion of the First Amendment:
Example one: The killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, where three white supremacists said they were using taught behavior and their “First Amendment right” to end his life.
Example two: Hearing people speak with misguidance to harm, sexually harass, sell drugs, commit assault, and attempt murder because it is their “First Amendment right.”
Example three: I can share an experience with an official who has property. He emailed a friend stating she owed him. He can enter her apartment anytime because he helped with an apartment. This was followed by repeated harassment and sexual harassment by others as well. There would also be the matter of illegally putting cameras and voice recorders in her apartment walls while damaging water pipes. Matters like this are evidenced on social media with women living with similar experiences.
Example four: Government officials violated the color of law by creating a false case against a civilian and imprisoning civilians under false abuse cases re-victimizing trauma.
Example five: The matter of the Department of Justice, FBI, U.S. Marshals, or police not investigating properly when other government officials, especially in military service, stalk civilians. In this process, there should be a thin line between the two when harm is created under false narratives about civilians.
Example six: Bribes and blackmail go far while using the mental health and disability community. The true nature of government and law enforcement is supposed to protect “We the people,” especially when there is harm against a civilian. Is this false under the First Amendment right?
The reason I know my rights is not because I’m a rebel or uncontrollable; fearless. I grew up with a family in the government and individuals who knew of their misdoings; the good government introduced me to the color of law.
Educational tools are used when government officials answer to someone in authority, especially when holding their positions. A lot of times, things are done without being sanctioned and are hidden in the darkness.
We, the people, have a right to report government official’s misdeeds under their law. It’s in their contracts to be mentally stable and not a threat to civilian life. There is a distinction between voicing my concerns as a civilian and addressing the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances using my civil rights. Our forefathers have written fairness, and this is the foundation for our First Amendment.
Lastly, the reader may be thinking about why I have shared this First Amendment, which is not subjective, as a theory and hypothesis to survive. Individuals in the government assume a position believing they are greater than civilians. Government officials must read their own research, such as the Central Intelligence Agency’s released documents.
I will only obey my mental wellness because Kundalini meditation is priority over trauma. I am not defined by the many who have lost their minds over my existence. That makes me free to be loved. My existence matters, my consciousness matters, and evil has no place in my voice or life. Invisible Prophet is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
In 2025, stop more people from dying unhoused by fully funding homeless services and housing for all
ROBERT WARREN
We are getting very disturbing reports from D.C.’s Department of Health as we prepare to remember those who have died without the dignity of a home and a proper burial for last month’s memorial service and vigil. The number of people who die each year due to all sorts of preventable causes is heinous. If adequate resources were allocated to the Continuum of Care, and the wellness engagements to unhoused and unstably housed individuals had real wrap-around services and peer support, we would be able to bring the number of deaths in our community down from this alarming rate.
The upcoming budget season for fiscal year 2026 could, and will, be one of the most important budget seasons we’ve had, notwithstanding last year’s dismal budget season. This fiscal year, we saw significant cuts to homeless services and programs. We also saw the negative impacts of inadequate staffing, case management shortages, and the burnout of nonprofit staff coming through a public health emergency. We look to regroup and put forth new plans to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring in the District of Columbia as we complete Homeward D.C. 3.0. We must acknowledge the accomplishments and the failures and look for the best way to move forward with what may be limited resources. This year’s budget advocacy will call for an increase in community engagement and organizing efforts. Traditional advocacy partners need to bring together a broad coalition of civic groups, the faith-based community, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, and anyone willing to fight to end homelessness by demanding a moral and equitable budget. The budget should do more when it comes to safety net programs that support our most marginalized community members. Public policy needs to address people who are experiencing housing instability and displacement due to gentrification and price gouging of housing units by developers and realtors. The fairest solution would be fully funding a universal housing voucher system.
Robert Warren is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
Inauguration in D.C. is never peaceful for those living outside
REGINALD BLACK
Washington, D.C., is the epicenter of the United States government. Still, within the ten-by-ten-mile radius of Washington, there is another city within a city, which is the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia is where the locals deal with constant changes, both federal and local.
The president’s residence is smack in the middle of all of this. In this twin city, the changes in that building and surrounding governmental areas significantly affect those facing housing instability.
Every four years, most of the city is disrupted by the peaceful transfer of power our nation is based on. For the homeless and many organizations serving them, the disruption of the incoming administration can be cumbersome. There are security checkpoints, fences, and closures that greatly affect this population. This coming month’s will be no exception, but it will be unprecedented, as a new wave of mindset enters the city. It will be interesting to find out how this inauguration will play out.
This year, outreach organizations in Washington D.C. are being referred to an inauguration website by HSEMA, the District of Columbia’s Agency of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. At a recent Interagency Council on Homelessness Emergency Response and Shelter Operations meeting, the committee quickly discussed the inauguration. Anthony Newman of the Department of Human Services (DHS) and co-chair of the committee said there were not any major updates but DHS and other partners will be reaching out between now and the inauguration.
The uncertainty makes planning as an unhoused person, especially someone street-bound, difficult. D.C. had to push back its Point-in-Time Count to prepare for the inauguration. D.C. is no stranger to big events like the National Alliance to End Homelessness conferences, rallies, protests, etc. All of these significantly impact unhoused services and the unhoused themselves.
I have been through at least three inaugurations during my time being homeless. The most memorable was the election and reelection of Barack Obama. Both of these inaugurations took place while I was unhoused. I got to attend both events, but not without some difficulties finding and getting to a shelter. It was a tall order and by no means easy. Both times, I was met with blistering cold, and it was not easy to catch shelter transportation with roads closed and fences all around. I remember having to make ad hoc arrangements for lodging during Obama’s first inauguration. As historic as it was, it still had a negative effect on the homeless at the time, with encampment sweeps and an extended alert to keep the extremely poor out of sight. Bus routes were cut short, and all of downtown was a no-drive zone. To say the least, it was a chore to make sure I had a safe place to go.
This month, many people who are experiencing homelessness will have to survive those few days essentially on their own, because of the extreme public disturbance. If you see someone who is homeless during the inauguration, remember the peaceful transfer of power is anything but peaceful for the unhoused.
Reginald Black is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
s a registered voter: Did you vote or “not vote?”
AYes. It’s a “trick” question. The “trick” is you DID vote, even if you thought the entire ballot content was pure garbage. The real question is this: As a registered voter, did you consent or WITHHOLD your consent?
Ever since 1776, especially within these united States of America, our strictly limited national democracy (as opposed to the republican form of government) demands whomever or whatever is on the ballot get more than 50% of registered voters to consent, or it fails due to a lack of consent.
It is truly that simple. I addressed the legal contractual details in an earlier article.
The real question now becomes: Are you willing to protect your non-consent vote or that of your neighbor? Or, once again, bury your heads in political B.S. that keeps getting worse?
It is never too late to start repairing a corrupted system. But never starting is too late.
A lot can happen in our, the governed people’s, favor, but only when we act as a unified body of united States Americans to rightly control our government and its officers.
It is long past time for us to defend all of the non-consent votes and right our fallen nation.
Daniel Kingery owns and runs CleanHonestGov.Com; a website that teaches others, in a matter of hours, what it took him 25 years to discover about our government. If anyone wishes to debate or challenge any content within, please email Daniel Kingery at danielmkingery@gmail.com.
Some protestors clashed with police on Jan. 20, 2017, Inauguration Day. Photo by Benjamin Burgess
A man on the ground during Inauguration Day protests in 2017. Photo by Benjamin Burgess
DANIEL KINGERY
With homelessness on the rise in D.C., the death toll is rising too
DONTE KIRBY Deputy Editor
n the longest night of the year, over 60 people marched through D.C.’s streets. They followed a group of six pallbearers carrying a bare, wooden coffin. The coffin itself was empty, but it represented the very real deaths of dozens of D.C. residents experiencing homelessness.
At least 120 people died while experiencing homelessness in D.C. over the last year, according to numbers compiled by The Community Partnership. More than 100 were in line to move into housing but were still sleeping outside or in shelters when they died, stuck in the city’s long voucher and subsidy process.
In late December, the People for Fairness Coalition (PFFC), a group of formerly unhoused people who advocate for and provide outreach to homeless community members, hosted the 12th annual memorial and vigil for people who died while experiencing homelessness. For over a decade, PFFC has gathered advocates for ending homelessness in the District to remember those who’ve lost their lives in what many consider preventable deaths.
This year, the two-day event began on Dec. 20 with a service at Luther Place Memorial Church service and a procession to Freedom Plaza. A few dozen people spent the night in the plaza as an homage to those who sleep outside every night, and who passed without the dignity
of a home. The vigil ended on Dec. 21 with a memorial service at the Church of the Epiphany and a reading of the names of those who died.
Between 2023 and 2024, the District saw rates of homelessness rise for the second year in a row, with older residents representing the fastest-growing group of unhoused people, according to the 2024 Point-In-Time (PIT) Count results. Unhoused people are especially vulnerable due to a lack of access to health care, and with rising rates of people over 55 experiencing homelessness, those medical issues become more dire.
Homelessness increases the risk of experiencing violence, trauma, health and medical problems, mental health issues, and substance use disorders. People experiencing homelessness have a mortality rate 3.5 times higher than those who are housed, according to a study from the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics.
In 2022, 104 people died while experiencing homelessness in D.C., according to data from the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). In 2023, 101 people died. The vigils in 2022 and 2023 were held in remembrance of 77 and 90 people, respectively — the list for the vigil is assembled by the community, but the death toll reported by the medical examiner can be higher. This year the trend flipped, with the community reporting more deaths than the
Six volunteers from a memorial service for people who died while experiencing homelessness carry an empty casket outside of Luther Place Memorial Church. Photo by Donte Kirby
OCME. The Community Partnership, the nonprofit corporation that coordinates the D.C’s continuum of care and collects the data for the vigil, gets its numbers from its Homeless Management Information System, which is also used to track the services people experiencing homelessness recieve.
Meanwhile, OCME has confirmed only 43 deaths of individuals experiencing homelessness during 2024. Most of the deaths were ruled as accidents, though at least three people were victims of homicide.
Of the 120 people who died this year, 104 were matched with a nonprofit agency to help them through the process of obtaining housing through a voucher, according to PFFC.
While PFFC members read the full names of the 120 people remembered, the names are not public, as not all of their families have been notified.
At the memorial, the community added the name of Redbook Mango, a Street Sense vendor and artist, to the list, after her body was found last week. Her poems talked of her hopes, her faith, and her regrets.
“Realization is missing you all the time,” she wrote.
Earlier this year, community members also wrote to Street Sense to remember Tad Holt, who had lived at many encampments across the District and died shortly after moving into housing.
“You were the sweetest individual ever,” Cyria Knight, a case manager at Miriam’s Kitchen, recalled for his obituary. “If I was looking for a client, you knew exactly where they were. Any client or person that disrespected me, you always put them in your place.”
Every year, the mood at the vigil is somber, but 2024 was especially difficult. Many of the advocates who spoke, such as Robert Warren, co-director of PFFC, and Lara Pukatch, chief advocacy officer for Miriam Kitchen, laid out the stakes of the fight to advocate for an equitable budget in 2025. 2024 saw an uptick in housing instability due to the mass exit of 2,200 families from D.C.’s Rapid Rehousing (RRH) program, an administrative error causing hundreds of vouchers funded in the budget for 2025 to be unavailable, and limited availability of rental assistance. Nationally, the Supreme Court upheld cities’ ability to arrest people for sleeping outside by ruling in favor of the town of Grants Pass, Oregon.
“This year’s numbers are very saddening, much like all numbers have been in this public health crisis we’re going through,” Warren said in his speech on Dec. 20 at Luther Place Memorial Church.
Laura Zeilinger, the outgoing director of D.C.’s Department of Human Services, spoke on Dec. 20 as well, leaving advocates and supporters with lessons from her almost decade-long tenure with city government, which ends this year.
“The progress that we’re making, we need to talk about that too, as loudly as we talk the shame of having lost lives on the street,” Zeilinger said. “Because it is in what is possible that drives people to continue to invest, to support, to back us to do what we do what we must, which is to welcome our neighbors.”
As they do each year, vigil organizers called for the D.C. government to improve its homeless services system and prevent the deaths of people without homes. But this year, advocates worried the upcoming budget battles would be more ferocious than ever under a new presidential administration looking to cut back on federal spending and a D.C. mayoral administration that seems to be deprioritizing funding for homeless services. Members of PFFC spent the day before the vigil lobbying D.C. Council members to put resources towards ending homelessness.
Longtime housing advocate Dana Woolfolk said he hopes every year will be the last he needs to speak at the vigil. But this year, during the memorial service at the Church of Epiphany, he said he decided to stop “embracing the delusion.”
“Most likely, we’ll be here again next year,” Woolfolk said. “But what I would hope is that each one of us can rededicate ourselves to trying to help just one person end their homelessness. And therefore, we can decrease the numbers so that we won’t have 120 names to read.”
Vigil attendees march to Freedom Plaza as they chant, “Housing is a human right!” Photo by Donte Kirby
The casket and six voulunteer pallbearers begin the procession from Luther Place Memorial Church. Photo by Donte Kirby
Love star
LEVESTER GREEN Artist/Vendor
Content warning: This article mentions suicide.
It wasn’t until I arrived at Benjamin Stoddert and laid eyes upon the heavenly Starr that I was wowed and awakened to her loveliness, and thus #LOVESTAR was ignited and sparked!
It was a combination of our names, even if not a joint commitment and relationship, but I was down for a good run and attempt at it. We had a few run-ins of being in the same places at the same time outside of school.
My fashion wasn’t up to par back then so I had gotten a little down and depressed one afternoon and tried to kill myself by taking some of my mom's pink pills. I’d awaken later only to vomit up the pills and I guess a new beginning!
I’ve been theorizing lately as I’ve been getting more acquainted with the Len Bias story. I’ve been trying to pinpoint my attempt with the timeline of his passing and it’s close. My feeling about it is you just don’t do good people like that! He was so promising! Spirit set free…
Here’s another component to my theory: I only recently finally figured out what movie has haunted me with its memory though I saw it only once in my childhood. It was “Wonder Man.” and I never knew it by its name, but guess what the plot was? Twin brothers, one of whom’s ghost returns to possess his twin at times to convey a message!
Another occasion is the one time a shadow figure appeared on my game NBA ShootOut! He ball-hogged all the way down the court and dunked all on his own and all I could do was watch and be amazed at it all. I think the name showing said Aziz… something else. I had created ELVEST on there too by that time. I’ve noticed no other Levester I’ve discovered has come up with any of the same variations of my name, perhaps due to a lack of the same circumstances and situations?
I also look at some of my lyrics like when I say “Sometimes I ball. Othertimes I fight. So won’t you put money up and watch me be like Mike!” Now I’ve been a very excellent street fighter but my basketball skills, as I might, have no hops, but Lenny did for sure! Consider Mike’s best competition or competitor torn down in his prime! As was Kobe who seemed like he was born to play that part at that level of excellence to fill a void left by Lenny. Even the way he departed was like mission complete! Took off like mamba out! Rest in peace mighty impressive spirit…
And I further promote my point by the plot and basis of the Yu-Gi-Oh show in which the lad is guided by an ancient wise spirit sharing his body, his vessel, for the greater good.
Flawless
SMITH
NIKILA
Artist/Vendor
I vow to you, taking in what you believe to be flaws, I see a rare edition. It’s less than flaws, it’s flawless. My natural feelings have no flaws. I'm obsessed with your scars, they’re my love handles. Your scars make me touch you more, I always want to touch them. Your flaws are painless when seen with my flawless eyes. My brows rise like a mischievous smile. You are flawless! I’ve told you before, I'm the beholder, to me them there scars are beauty. Your flawless smell is a tell of my flawless attraction vacuuming you full with joy. You can't see what I see, because these are my eyes, not yours. Your smile is all the feedback I need. That smile encourages me to go forward and seek out other flawless smiles. Well, I’ve snapped back. It was that stupid mistletoe making me have a flawless love moment!
Peace so bright: A wish for every year to come
ANGIE WHITEHURST
Artist/Vendor
Peace is so bright
One cannot see it
No photo, handprint, or digital mark to prove its existence
Cannot tell
Most times one does know it is there, and coming around here
Peace has no pre-fab pattern on the clock
Living within it has no space
The feeling is invisible until broken, cracked, chipped, splattered into oblivion
Gone, no more, evaporated, never there
No proof, no evidence
Miss it when it is not present
Keep the peace like sunlight bright
Always idealistic peace assumed
The permanence of peace is the elimination of what causes no peace
End poverty, racism, geographic trade manipulations
End those wars of minds, pockets, and money
Then the sun will shine brightly.
The terms poverty, homelessness, displaced refugees, immigrants
Illustration by Nikila Smith
Cosmic dance
LADY SASHA
Artist/Vendor
Under neon lights, we sway in space
Distant stars set the cosmic pace
Asteroids grooving in their own race
On this moonrock stage, we all embrace
Galactic sounds in an endless night
Planet rings spin in colored light
Meteor showers on a daily flight
No gravity here to hold us tight
We're dancing in the Milky Way
Feel the pulse of a star's array
Lost in rhythms of stellar play
In the cosmos where we stray
Comets shoot 'cross a galaxy wide
Solar winds on which we glide
Alien DJ takes us for a ride
In this universe, we confide
Moondust glitter on our shoes
Starlit skies give us the blues
Venus whispers otherworldly news
In a space where there's nothing to lose
We're dancing in the Milky Way
Feel the pulse of a star's array
Lost in rhythms of stellar play
In the cosmos where we stray
Days of life
DEGNON DOVONOU
Artist/Vendor
Every three days I have to water my life. Day by day, I have left that life watered. That life becomes my flower, which really needs to be watered four hours, three times a week. I need six seeds and grains to make my flower seeded and gained, to avoid my flower withering. Sometimes it’s complicated to think about it, but it’s worth living it. My days of life, my life of days that need to be lived sound and safe. Safe? Yes, but sound.
Musicians digging the scene in old clubs
FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor
Our story opens some 45 years ago on then-sleepy Sixth Avenue, Chelsea, a slice of New York heritage home to longshoremen, lounge livers, penniless romantics, and God knows what kind of earworms sliding through the swinging doors of Peter McManus’ Tavern, founded in 1936 (though it hints at Civil War era vibes).
While sometimes a live music venue, McManus’ bubbly 1959-vintage “Rock-Ola” has always been a niche for cramped 45-RPM renditions from local Chelsea crooners like my “running buddy” Chuck Love. His latest “hit” for ‘79 was 150 orange-label platters (Title: “Something Beautiful,” B/W “Rockets in clover.”)
Chuck, all aglow beneath the crimson, violet, and kelly green year-round Christmas lights, was stymied by rights on this particular night.
Bolstered on either side at her table by the aisle-mates from central post office, a rotund shipping clerk cradled her short beer to her thick leather apron, tossed her felt cap-topped noggin back, first lightly humming, then breaking into a soulful wail along with the smokin’ new hit from the O’Jays. “Forever Mine.” “You my kind, whoa baby…” Chuck surrendered his short stack of 45s to a corner table, gulped some Rheingold and willingly (almost on pitch) joined in the chorus. “Don’t you ever think of leaving baby… You like what I like, I like what you like…We were mea-ant for each other…” The table of PO people laughed, then resumed their descant with the mellow lead of Eddy Lavere. Then came the comforting tinkle of soul xylophone as Teena Marie and the breathy Rick James oozed out the tinselled speaker with “You’re – my – Fi-yah an’ Dee- si - yah…” whooping and sensuously yelping over the sparkly peripheral instrumentation. But the glacial pace of the love ballad matched the almost frozen-in-amber aura of McManus’ bar. Chuck was chill. He was on his third brew and he’d abandoned his quest for promoting tonight.
Me? I was just obsessing over the passion of Rick and Teena Marie and the unrelenting emptiness I’d just experienced with the gorgeous Baltic actress having slammed the door on our brief but idyllic affair. (The abrupt goodbye took place on the top of Windows on the World).
Just before New Year’s, my buddy Allen, the head usher at the Selwyn Theater in Times Square, slipped an unlabeled mixtape into my pocket. “Fire and Desire” was smack dab in the middle of side one.
Two clubs, four decades, one message
Now, we made the parabolic leap from the old sidewalk of Lower Manhattan, in the shadows of the haunted hulk of empty Hugh O’ Neill cast iron department store, to the always toney Georgetown, D.C., 2024.
On a rain-splattered Wednesday night, Nov. 20, I had made the quantum move to a back bar stool with perfect sightline and acoustics: Blues Alley, approaching its 60th year as one of the world’s most respected and beloved jazz venues. No brag, just fact.
Two G’ town moments: in 1990 I sat on the very same stool at the behest of Buddy Guy. It was our reunion from the old days of 1980 on Chicago’s South Side. And sometime around 1975, I experienced the original great guitars of Charlie Byrd, Herb Ellis, and Jim Hall, all of them now in string heaven, in the tiny Cafe de Paree, then situated at 3056 M St. Now, for the benefit of iconic FM “Jazz and Justice” radio station WPFW-FM, David Chappell, Rick Whitehead, and Anthony Pirog were revisiting the theme of great guitars for our era. Anthony opened occupied by his wife Janel on cello. Amazing how the cello intertwined with Anthony’s floating 1978 telecaster, creating a unique environment of conceptual, sometimes Himalayan-steppe-inspired, sound.
Then Chappell, who has for my money done more to extend and perpetuate the legacy of the late Danny Gatton, a multi-disciplinary talent of every style from chicken picking country to roaring surf guitar to premier improvs with effortless pairings with such masters like Roy Hargrove and Joey DeFrancesco.
David’s take on “Blue Dream” echoed subtly through the room to the point one could almost imagine Danny standing in the dark, plucking, slurring, and smiling. A pretty woman and saxy Fifth Avenue added to the stirring homage from a current tele-master.
Rick Whitehead appeared out of the shadows of the green room, his vintage Gibson semihollow perched above his right shoulder. “Promised to drop down a few decibels below David,” he murmured. And he commenced on stage to roll some honeyed expertly crafted guitar runs. The rhythm section still consisted of ace bassist John Previti, and a versatile drummer, “Steve,” who perfectly spelled the adept stylings of recently departed Barry Hart, Rick’s longtime aide on the skins.
Whitehead’s fingers brushed through airy chord as Streisand might allude “like butter.” Flawless “Joy Spring” by Clifford Brown and “Waltz for Debby” preceded most indelibly, Rick stretching out Hoagy Carmichael’s “The Nearness of You” (popping every fret tone he could find) and concluded his short set with an encyclopedia journey of riffs that crystalized my favorite — “Little Suede Shoes,” from Charlie “Bird” Parker. In the dim but joyful aura of Blues Alley, the notes shone brightly!
Rick Whitehead. Photo by Frederic John
David Chappell (left) and Anthony Pirog (right). Photo by Frederic John
It’s snow out there
BRIANNA BUTLER Artist/Vendor
Last winter, the snowflakes were falling, a portrait of white beauty on top of the streets.
The buses were slowly rolling at each stop, with a lot of people stuffed on them, trying to get where we wanted to go on time. On our bus, the heat finally kicked in about halfway on the route to fun.
We got off at a park where people from various cultures came to play with us. We played ball. We had snowball fights in the thick snow. I was happy to bond with people over coffee and grilled bologna and cheese sandwiches.
Before getting on that bus, I had to put on two pairs of gloves, two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, and two sweaters! That’s what it took to keep me warm. It also helps to have a friend sit close to you. Afterward, my friend and I went back to our neighborhood and shoveled snow for the elderly folks we know and love. I thanked God for the salt that paved our street so the bus could come through. Fortunately, no one slid across the sidewalk pavement.
I know some people predict we will get more thick snow this winter. If that happens, you should also think about other people, serve food, and help out at a health center or community center for those who don’t have plenty like you do.
New Year's resolution
JEFFREY CARTER
Artist/Vendor
Serenity
BRIAN HOLSTEN Artist/Vendor
To achieve this, consider sitting inside an arboretum, a quiet world unto its own with yellow, brown, orange, and red leaves unblown by the wind. The squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and birds are all calm. My body revels in the lower temperatures. I sense dampness. How is it my senses can be so serene? Autumn makes me sleep like Rip Van Winkle! And those fall days feel like summer in New England as our forest animal friends harvest food resources and geese are southward bound to escape Old Man Winter. Magnificent! However, winter has arrived! What may one do? A cold, clambering inside our imaginations. Do we panic with the frosty dew on the ground? NO! We beseech Mother Nature to "please provide us with another day of late summer so we can swim, hike, play, and gather resources." However, it is all to no avail as Father Time strikes the change of the season bell.
For some, that means serenity is lost. But not for me; the quiet calm of memories fixes my mind with daydreams of years gone by. As the surreal future approaches, all awaken to catch a mechanical machine to go home. To live again. To plan the day. To leave the dead plants behind.
The smell of burning leaves calms me again, fueling my consciousness with dreams and hopes that never passed.
Mine is to get a job and get back into the mainstream of life. The reason I haven't worked in 30 years is my nervous breakdown. But now I feel like I can work again! So, separately, I've been thinking that when I go back to work I would have more money to do things with. As of now, I struggle to pay bills. However, I have a job offer and I believe I'm going to take it so I can do better in life! Thank you for reading this article. Peace be with you.
The joy of a new year
JACKIE TURNER
Artist/Vendor
The new year is the starting point to learn from last year's mistakes and a chance to seek joy and pursue happiness.
I look at it as an opportunity to be grateful for life; to not worry about things you did that were not so good; to appreciate the blessings that came your way throughout the previous year; and to reflect on the small and large things you did that brought you joy and made you smile and laugh.
The new year also presents a time to see family you haven't seen in years (for all the reasons that happens) where you can hear your children and grandchildren — yes, those delectable desserts of life — sing and shout their excitement. A time to get that beautiful dress you couldn't afford, but now you can. A time to get the fulfilling feeling of doing something for someone that makes that person feel loved, such as sharing a conversation. People too often take too many things for granted. Fortunately, thinking of a new year brings more comfort and experiencing things that make you happy!
Joyfulness
CARLTON JOHNSON
Artist/Vendor
My favorites for holiday mornings are the heat my body will feel from the hot coffee and the moon tea.
May the holidays come with joy.
Blanket of snow
TREVOR FREEMAN
Artist/Vendor
I watch the snowy trickle down a blowing storm
Covering the world's winter blanket
Trickling down, down, down comes the storm
Trying to stay warm
In the blanketing winter snow
Down, down, down, trickling
Knowing winter had come sooner than later
Keeping warm in the blanket of snow
Holiday reflections
WENDY BROWN
Artist/Vendor
The holidays are a time to reflect on the year and be grateful for the things we accomplished, as well as make new goals and get together. I am glad I can count on Street Sense with its case management and its friendly staff.
I've had to learn to be strong no matter what. I want to encourage any homeless person and all my fellow vendors to remember: together we can make it! Stay prepared and vigilant. Thank God also for the Church of the Epiphany (thanks!). Sometimes you are in need but the world meets you halfway.
Other places I want to thank are the Harriet Tubman Shelter, from which I received housing while staying there, and Henry's Soul Food, which donates food to that shelter.
The shelter also helped me become more independent, and I will always be grateful.
Then there's Martha's Table, with its lifetime membership to its store and its referrals I've used to my benefit. Martha's Table feeds people throughout the city. Thank you!
Street Sense suggestions
JENKINS DALTON Artist/Vendor
What can change at Street Sense: Front page story or pictures.
Other sections: Food, shelters, advertisements, book review, sports, politics, or our city. Name your sections and your best story. Maybe you will win a trip to California, San Francisco, or Paris.
My story is about homeless life and business. Let’s classify it as “Business,” and call it “New Year’s resolution and all year-long activities.”
You may say this year I am going to change. Maybe get a better job, stop smoking, get more friends or a degree, maybe learn a second language. Before I talk about my New Year’s resolution, I am going to tell you what I know about my days. There are seven days in a week. There are 365 days, or 12 months, in a year. The four seasons are winter, spring, autumn, and summer.
The calendar’s lost days
SURYAKANTI BEHERA
Artist/Vendor
In 1752, from Sept. 3 to Sept. 13, people witnessed a unique historical event. Eleven days were cut from the calendar and deleted forever. These days simply don’t exist, with no births, no marriages, and no deaths. The people in Britain went to bed on Sept. 2, 1752, and woke up the next day on Sept. 14, 1752, because they switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
Our clock time and calendar move faster than solar time. To keep the clocks and calendar aligned with solar days, Julius Caesar introduced the leap year concept in 46 B.C., but the Julian calendar was moving one day back every 128 years, making the year longer and slower than the actual solar year. In 1582, the Julian calendar was 10 days behind the solar calendar. So Pope Gregory XIII corrected the Julian calendar by pushing the calendar 10 days forward. In 1752, the British followed.
What’s life
CARLOS CAROLINA Artist/Vendor
Life is not what you
Think it is
So what is it you think
Of life
Oh really?
Ok
That’s nice
Stay focused
Life is not what you
Think it is
I’m moving forward
Don’t you turn back
Sick
QUEENIE FEATHERSTONE Artist/Vendor
Let’s be for real, it’s just no fun to be sick as hell
One can tell when their body is not well
You really know you're not well
When your body is sick as hell
It may happen at any time and season
Winter, spring, summer, fall
Being sick is not having a ball
Aches and pain, it’s not swell
When your body is sick as hell
Workers, not flunkies
LATICIA BROCK Artist/Vendor
What's the difference between me and you? The work I put in, I bet the average person couldn't do. It takes a lot of pride to convince someone for their hard-earned dollars.
I just love saying good morning to my ongoing customers and seeing a smile or even a slight response. That is how I feel when my unhoused community calls me “Ma.”
I never knew Street Sense would be my avenue to open the doors to something I love to do. So I’m here to give the love back. I love my vendors. Our lives matter! We take a lot of abuse so we deserve a lot of credit. And all my angels who carry a little cash because we're not a charity case deserve credit, too.
My unhoused and housed sleep with rats, so however we got to eat, we eat, to feed our munchies. Appreciate vendors as workers — not as flunkies.
Hotline to salvation
ROCHELLE WALKER
Artist/Vendor
Hello!
I would like to speak to Jesus, a man I know will answer me because I am SO tired of calling on you people, “my people.” All I ever get is your answering machines.
“Your wait time is approximately one hour. If you would prefer us to call you back, please press 1. You will not lose your place in line,” said the answering machine.
Jesus, I am so glad you are not like that. I’ve heard you died for my, and the whole world's, sins. I want you to pray for me, just as I’m always told to pray to you. Thanks for that.
And thanks for always being on the main line when I call you. Thank you for the second chance in life you are giving humanity. Thanks also for never hanging up on me and just being there when I call your name and number:
1-800-Lord-Jesus.
Safety and security
DARLESHA JOYNER Artist/Vendor
Yes, we have security guards and police officers on train platforms and on and off the train, but we need metal detectors. You don’t know who has what on them when the doors close on the train.
FREDERICK WALKER Artist/Vendor
The holidays are an extra special time to help the homeless. We're tired of sleeping in front of libraries because often it's the only place we have. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. government should do more to get us housing and help get us off the street and into the residences we need and deserve. Please start doing this now!
FUN & GAMES
Across
1. Support system measurement that uses CC? (1-3)
5. G.I. entertainers grp. that brought Hope to millions of soldiers (abbr./acron./initialism)
8. Of an arm bone
13. Edison’s middle name
14. Queue before Q?
15. Letters that are fittingly part of “She fa_c__s her un_l_ more than her aunt”
16. Greek T’s
17. Europe’s highest volcano
18. Network that keeps an eye on your screen? (2 wds.) (3,2) (incls. initialisms)
19. Paradoxical response to: “Are you aware you left the door ajar? (2” wds.) (4,8) (NIGHTLY LYSOL anagram)
22. Adorned with a cummerbund or obi
23. They raise dough (EASY ST. anagram)
27. Paradoxical response to: “What will happen to magicians who make things disappear if TV variety shows stop booking them?” (2 wds.) (6,6)
30. Dutch sea walls
33. ___ and terminer (criminal court)
34. ___ chi (martial art)
35. Footnote word that means the “same” (Lat.) (DIME anagram)
36. Filmdom ogre
38. Word before “...into a frog” or “...tail and run”
39. Shoot the breeze
40. Horse of a certain color
41. Boozed up a bit
42. Paradoxical reply to: “Where did you put that DNA trial exhibit report?” (4 wds.) (1,6,1,4) (A TUNA VEHICLE anagram)
46. The opposite of everyone
47. Nasty-tempered resentment
50. Paradoxical reply to: “Did you experience nervous fatigue when you pushed your whole stack into the pot?” (5 wds.) (3,1,3,3,2) (WILY SEA SNAIL anagram)
54. Pass-the-baton race
57. Body art created and obtained in parlors, informally
58. Slave girl of a Verdi opera set in Egypt
59. Plains Indian and river to the Missouri
60. Double Stuf ____
61. Reindeer in “Frozen”
62. Fencing equipment
63. They may be needed to settle scores (abbr./initialism)
64. 100 centavos
Down
1. Historic “elder” statesman of Rome (TACO anagram)
2. Family groups like the Hatfields or McCoys
3. Throat dangler
4. How the principal gets the word out to the whole student body at once (2 wds.) (2,6) (incls. abbr./initialism)
5. Messy and disordered
6. Neil Diamond hit “____ Sung Blue”
7. Brightly colored fish
8. Like incomplete or confusing instructions
9. Like the vast majority of Tripoli residents
10. Nintendo’s Super ___
11. State lines?
12. Increase, with “up”
14. More than a scuffle
20. Some theater rebukes
21. Dupont trade name fora nonwoven synthetic substance widely used as a homewrap
24. Ab strengthener (3-2)
25. Winter Palace residents
26. Like Rudolph’s nose
28. “___ Doone” (1869 novel)
29. Heavy-duty cleanser
30. “Chow down!” (2 wds.) (3,2)
31. Its license plates say “Famous potatoes”
32. Fare on a stick
36. Many Japanese-made Blu-Ray players
37. Beanie, beret or boater
38. Haberdashery accessory (SLIT CAPE anagram)
40. Early morning SeaTac arrivals, familiarly
41. Possible ordering option for a sushi bar customer who says “I won’t eat unagi!”
43. Christopher Columbus made one to the New World in 1492
44. Jalopies
45. Soccer coach Ted, in a hit cable TV show
48. Popeye tensed his biceps to impress her
49. Carnival attractions
51. “Am ____ late?” (dilatory would-bediner’s query?)
52. Compound W target
53. Prefix meaning “one-billionth”
54. Fish-to-be
55. Medium strength? (abbr./Initialism)
56. Ka ___ (southernmost Hawaiian point) (ALE anagram)
This crossword puzzle is the original work of Patrick “Mac”McIntyre. It is provided to us courtesy of Real Change News, a street paper based in Seattle, Washington. Learn more about Real Change News and the International Network of Street Papers at realchangenews.org and insp.ngo.
ILLUSTRATION
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento Case Management Coordinación de Servicios
Academy of Hope Public Charter School
202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Pl. NE
202-373-0246 // 421 Alabama Ave. SE aohdc.org
Bread for the City 1525 7th St., NW // 202-265-2400 1700 Marion Barry Ave., SE // 202-561-8587 breadforthecity.org
Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Marion Barry Ave., SE calvaryservices.org
Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp
Central Union Mission // 202-745-7118 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW missiondc.org
Charlie’s Place // 202-929-0100 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org
Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org
Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach
Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org
Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 4 Atlantic St., NW communityofhopedc.org
Covenant House Washington 202-610-9600 // 2001 Mississippi Ave., SE covenanthousedc.org
D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org
Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 North Capitol St., NW fathermckennacenter.org
Food and Friends // 202-269-2277
(home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc) 219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org
Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW foundryumc.org/idministry
Identification services
Friendship Place // 202-364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave., NW friendshipplace.org
Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org
Jobs Have Priority // 202-544-9096 1526 Pennslyvania Ave., SE jobshavepriority.org
Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org
Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org 2375 Elvans Rd, SE
2204 Martin Luther King Ave. SE
Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org
My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org
N Street Village // 202-939-2076 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org
New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE
Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW
Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org
Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org
Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org
So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org
St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-363-4900 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org
Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org
Unity Health Care unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699
1500 Galen Street SE, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3924 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 850 Delaware Ave., SW, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 1151 Bladensburg Rd., NE, 4515 Edson Pl., NE
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org
The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW. epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable
Whitman-Walker Health 1525 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 1201 Sycamore Dr., SE whitman-walker.org
Woodley House // 202-830-3508 2711 Connecticut Ave., NW
For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide
La Colombe // Chinatown
Part-time
The barista brings La Colombe to life by creating a world-class coffee experience, genuinely enjoys making people happy with coffee and thrives working in a fast-paced environment, and takes pride in being part of our team.
REQUIRED: Able to lift 40 lbs. or more
APPLY: tinyurl.com/BaristaLaColombe
Panera // 800 21st St. NW
Part-time
As a baker at Panera, your job is to bake all the fresh bread and pastries your cafe needs each day; maintain high standards for flavor and quality, using 100% real ingredients; perform stocking, food prep, cleaning, and sanitation tasks as needed; help build our culture of warmth, belonging, growth, and trust; step in and support your manager and team.
REQUIRED: Be at least 18
APPLY: tinyurl.com/BakerPaneraDC Line Cook
Half Smoke // 651 Florida Ave. NW
Full-time/Part-time
Accurately and efficiently cook meats, vegetables, flatbreads, and other hot food products as well as prepare and portion food products prior to cooking. Also perform other duties in the areas of food and final plate preparation.
REQUIRED: Be able to reach, bend, stoop and frequently lift up to 40 pounds. Be able to work in a standing position for long periods of time (up to 9 hours).
APPLY: tinyurl.com/HalfSmokeLineCook
Barista
MAURICE CARTER Artist/Vendor
GRETA CHRISTIAN Artist/Vendor
ANDRE BRINSON Artist/Vendor