Streetvibes April 2005 Edition

April 2005

STREETVIBES Casualties of War - Impact of Iraq War is Felt in Cincinnati Day Of Protests Mark 2nd Anniversary Of Iraq War

and failed to uncover weapons of mass destruction — a major reason for the March, 2003 invasion.

“A nation whose natural resources and reconstruction all belong to U.S. corporations can Story and photos by Jimmy Heath never truly be sovereign,” said Treven La Botz, a 17-year-old Walnut Hills It was a chance to get their High School student and a speaker at voices heard as an estimated 300 the rally. “This war hasn’t come home people gathered on downtown to many people and so they don’t see Cincinnati’s Fountain Square on the great tragedy that it is.”

Saturday, March 19, the second Cincinnati Councilman David anniversary of the Iraq conflict.

The rally was organized to be Crowley, speaking from the podium, one of hundreds taking place around said that the war has a high cost for citizens in Cincinnati, adding that he the world for a “Global Day of supports the troops, but not the Action” against the war in Iraq. policy that has them fighting in Iraq.

Holding signs, braving rain The war affects the city’s poor, who and thunder and a cold wind, the group listened to a series of speakers are looking at a reduction in federal who urged the U.S. to pull out of Iraq aid the city usually gets. Crowley concluded that the war is causing and denounced the war effort as steep reductions in Medicaid, funding illegal, immoral and contrary to for first responders, and money that world-wide public opinion. could be used for services for lowIn his weekly radio address, income people.

President Bush defended the war, Over $185 million dollars of saying it took place “to disarm a the $207 billion dollars spent so far brutal regime, free its people, and on the war in Iraq could be targeted defend the world.” to serve the city of Cincinnati, “Now, because we acted, according to the Washington, DC Iraq’s government is no longer a based group, National Priorities threat to the world or its own people,” Bush said, during the weekly Project. (http:// www.nationalpriorities.org) radio address.

“That’s the price we all are But across the globe, demonstrators congregated to protest paying to conduct this savage war,” said Crowley, a Navy veteran. the U.S.-led actions, which they assert has caused needless bloodshed

Cincinnati City Councilmember David Crowley speaks at rally

Walnut Hills High School student Treven LaBotz addresses protestors on Fountain Square

Protests marking the second anniversary of the “shock and awe” bombing of Baghdad were held in cities worldwide; Tokyo, Istanbul, Athens, Stockholm and cities throughout the United States.

More than 750 rallies were held across the globe.

An estimated 45,000 people marched past the U.S. embassy in London. Two former British soldiers placed a cardboard coffin bearing the words “100,000 dead” outside the embassy. “George Bush, Uncle Sam, Iraq will be your Vietnam,” marchers chanted.

About 350 people listened to speeches near the United Nations in New York before marching down 42nd Street.

On the eve of the Day of Protest in Vermont, 48 town meetings voted to condemn the war in Iraq and to call on political leaders to bring home the state’s National Guard.

Vermont has lost more soldiers per capita than any state, and has the second highest mobilization rate for its National Guard and reservists.

(Ohio ranks 7th in the rate of fatalities by state.)

More than 4,500 people marched in Tokyo during a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

In Sweden, about 300 protesters filled up Sergel square in downtown Stockholm, chanting: “USA, out of Iraq!”

Media outlets also took stock of the war’s death toll. But the national newscasts undercounted the most dramatic loss of life: the deaths of Iraqi civilians.

On the March 18, CBS Evening News, reporter Byron Pitts gave these figures: “Today, U.S. deaths number more than 1,500.

There are no exact figures for Iraqi fatalities, but estimates are for every American killed, 11 Iraqis died.” In other words, more than 16,500 Iraqi deaths.

NBC’s Brian Williams offered a slightly higher estimate: “So far, 1,513 American military personnel have been killed, 11,344 injured, and many of those are

War cont. on page 8

Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Streetvibes Streetvibes, the TriState’s alternative news source, is a newspaper written by, for, and about the homeless and contains relevant discussions of social justice, and poverty issues. It is published once a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

Becoming a Streetvibes Vendor is a great way for homeless and other low-income people to get back on (or stay on) their feet. Streetvibes Vendors are given an orientation and sign a code of conduct before being given a Streetvibes Vendor badge. Vendors are private contractors who DO NOT work for, or represent, the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homleess. All profits go directly to the vendor.

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a group of shelters, agencies and individuals committed to ending homelessness in Cincinnati through coordinating services, educating the public and grassroots organizing.

GCCH Staff Georgine Getty - Executive Director Allison Leeuw - Administrative Coordinator Andy Erickson - Education Coordinator Rachel Lawson - Civil Rights VISTA Kate McManus - Civil Rights VISTA Mary Gaffney - Receptionist Streetvibes Jimmy Heath, Editor Photographers Jimmy Heath, Ben Boswell Cover 2nd anniversary of Iraq war protesting on Fountain Square, downtown Cincinnati Jimmy Heath photo Streetvibes accepts letters, poems, stories, essays, original graphics, and photos. We will give preference to those who are homeless or vendors.

Subscriptions to Streetvibes, delivered to your home each month, can be purchased for $25 per year.

Address mail to: Streetvibes Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 421-7803 e-mail: streetvibes@juno.com web: http://cincihomeless.org

Page 2

Streetvibes Letters

Dear Editor, I was shocked and confused why anyone supporting recovery of women at the Nannie Hinkston House would put that house at risk of being ripped down for a wealthy corporation and the likes of Erich Kunzel and company.

These major moves have been made by people who call themselves leaders of the poor.

I challenge if any poor or homeless people voted on these issues. Please think twice before collaborating with the rich!

S. Williams

Dear Jimmy Heath, I have been buying your paper from Randy (sic) for years at Bellermine Chapel and I have agreed on many things you have written about…this one I did not!

The Taser gun is great – we have far fewer shots on citizens than ever before and that is good. The number of fatalities is small and the use of it here in town is great. It was not designed to be used against kids.

It is for bad guys, and we have a lot of them.

Just last week, there were four people here in town shot with a Taser…no harm was done, but they were people going after a cop with a lethal weapon and they were stopped…No harm done and no cop killed.

Report with a sense of responsibility and the facts not slanted.

Kinny McQuade

Send your letters or comments to Streetvibes, 117 East 12th Street, Cincinnati Ohio 45202, or email to Streetvibes@juno.com

Writers!

Submit your Poetry to STREETVIBES email your writing to Streetvibes@juno.com

Our View: A Victory for the Homeless

by Scott Samuel J. Call it a fitting conclusion, or maybe even karmic justice.

Three years after releasing the video “Bumfights: Cause for Concern” and two years after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges and receiving a sentence of community service, “Bumfights” producers Ryan McPherson and Zachary Bubeck are finally heading to jail to serve a six-month sentence.

Regular readers of this paper may remember that we spearheaded a campaign in 2003 to urge Newbury Comics to stop selling “Bumfights” and “Bumhunter” videos in their local stores. The videos were made by coercing homeless individuals – including two Vietnam veterans – to perform violent acts, such as pulling out one’s own teeth or breaking another’s leg, in exchange for food or small amounts of cash. While the producers claimed that the participants all consented to the actions on the videos, this claim essentially equated consent with exploitation. If someone is desperate – with no place to stay; possibly traumatized, addicted or ill; or needing a few bucks, a meal or

exploited poor men and women. But this time someone – perhaps it was Deputy District Attorney Curtis Ross or Superior Court Judge Charles Ervin – kept an eye on this case.

Last month, McPherson and Bubeck asked the court to release them from their probation because they claimed they had completed the Rufus takes one for the camera community service. Ervin denied the request after shelter officials said they friendship – is this ever a fair trade? had no record of the two men Luckily, prosecutors saw completing the required work. While through the producers’ defense and the pair blamed the shelter for poor filed seven felony charges against record keeping, the judge sentenced them in 2002. The next year, them to six months in jail and put McPherson, Bubeck and two other them on probation for an additional producers of the videos – Michael Slyman and Daniel Tanner – struck a two and a half years.

For the next two years, the deal and pled guilty to a lesser charge of conspiracy to incite violence. They idea of becoming beaten or humiliated for the pleasure of others were sentenced to 280 hours of may become a more personal issue community service at a homeless for McPherson and Bubeck. We shelter. All four were young men in hope this time behind bars will teach search of profits. Estimates are that them that hurting and exploiting the video has sold more than vulnerable people is no laughing 300,000 copies over the Internet, matter. And perhaps other steelygarnering the producers millions of eyed opportunists out there will think dollars.

That plea bargain might have twice before seeking to use a homeless person for profit. been the end of that story – a bit of community service and a whole heap of profits for young men who

The Zen of Streetvibes

by Jimmy Gipson, Vendor I would love to express the need of homelessness in the Greater Cincinnati area. This is a heart warming and heart breaking thing that is happening.

First of all, 30% of the homeless are children. There is uncommon suffering and pain. They are abused emotionally, physically and repeatedly. Then you have women who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. They are easily

influenced because of their gender and abuse is common. Then you have the men whose lives are hopeless and to them, seemingly useless. The mental state of these people is that they will stay homeless and will spend their lives no other way.

Their needs are great – greater than you can imagine. The love they need is, and should be, unconditional. Love that Jesus expresses in the writings of the bible.

He will acknowledge these blessings that you give from the heart. The need is there.

Streetvibes is a publication for spreading the word of giving and kindness. Vendors share monthly that the hopeless can become hopeful.

Each day, Streetvibes vendors go out and sell the paper and spread the word. They need your support and patronage to become successful.

Give, and be blessed for a cause well deserved. You can make a difference.

Streetvibes exists as a forum for the expression of the views and opinions of our readers and supporters. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Streetvibes staff or the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Streetvibes

Homeless News Digest

Compiled by Jimmy Heath On the ninth floor of Miami-Dade County’s main jail, a tall, naked man with matted hair paces back and forth in his cell, bowing his head and muttering to himself.

“It’s just sad,” says Judge Steven Leifman, through whose court this man has passed many times.

“We’re incarcerating people in cells, and they’re sick. We still treat people with mental illnesses like criminals, as opposed to treating their illness.”

Miami-Dade has the highest percentage of people with mental illness of any urban area in the United States — 9.1 percent. On any given day, 30 percent of the county’s jail population is mentally ill — and up to 30 percent of those inmates, like the schizophrenic man on the ninth floor, are homeless. Sad as it might be, the courts have become one of the key vehicles to getting people off the streets.

About 45 percent of the county’s homeless suffer from some sort of chronic mental illness, substance abuse problem, or both.

Leifman says that about 30 percent of the people that his courts divert to the mental health system were homeless when they were arrested.

Started in 1989, this is the first and oldest drug court in the country.

This day, 11 of the “clients” on the docket are being considered for the county’s HART program — Homeless Assessment, Referral and Tracking. Nonviolent offenders who are willing to fight their addiction get access to education programs, free transportation, job training and even housing loans.

The re-arrest rate for successful drug court participants is 4.2 percent — five to six times lower than for defendants who refuse to participate or drop out.

Home is not a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of Americans. It’s a street corner, an empty park bench or a mattress in a shelter.

There are an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 homeless people in America. Some have mental illness and substance abuse problems, but others have simply been beaten down by life.

A Cincinnati man said he’s lived in a “homeless camp” since his 1996 divorce. The man, who identified himself only as Jeff, said his ex-wife “took everything.”

Harleigh Marsh is a former Navyman who could strip and rebuild cockpits. Now, he lives in a

homeless shelter in West Virginia. He said his nursing home job doesn’t pay enough to cover child support and an apartment.

In Chicago, the Rivera family has been without a home since the apartment building they lived in burned down in 1998. Eileen Rivera said when she’s sad, her four kids make her “feel like there is hope.”

What do homeless people cost American society? Here are some figures from a nine-city survey done for the Corporation for Supportive Housing: In Atlanta, a bed in a shelter costs $11 a night. In Columbus, it’s $25. In New York, $54.

A bed in a facility that helps people get treatment and social services doesn’t cost much more. A night in jail is much more expensive, and a night in a hospital can cost more than $1,000.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that a mentally ill homeless person can use about $40,000 in services in a year.

These researchers concluded that society has two choices if it wants to help the homeless: continue to spend money on existing programs, or spend nearly the same amount to provide permanent housing.

A poll taken for The Associated Press suggests the great majority of Americans think homelessness is a serious problem.

Eighty-nine percent of about 1,000 adults surveyed said homelessness is a “very” or “somewhat serious” problem. Only 11 percent believe it’s “not too” or “not at all serious.”

Just over half of those polled said people who are homeless for long periods of time are “victims of circumstances beyond their control.”

Thirty-eight percent said those who are homeless are “responsible for their own situation,” while six percent said they were “not sure.”

The poll was conducted last month for AP by Ipsos-Public affairs.

Its margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.

Forty-year old Paul Hernandez spends his days overturning New York City trash cans for a living.

In some ways, it’s just what he used to do when he was homeless. But since he entered a program called Ready, Willing and Able, there’s a world of difference.

Some 2,000 men have come

through the program. In Hernandez’ case, he gets a dormitory bed in a Harlem shelter, three meals a day and $7 an hour to empty trash cans.

And though he’s working, Hernandez has strong memories of being down and out.

The isolation was the worst, he said. Begging on the street, he said, you might get money.

But the donor’s attitude is, “please don’t touch me. Touch the dollar.”

San Francisco’s Mary Elizabeth Inn represents changing views on attacking the problem of homelessness.

The inn’s approach is called “supportive housing.” More than emergency shelter, it’s intended to help its 25 resident women with the problems that have made them homeless in the first place: They get medical attention. Learn job skills.

Go through drug rehab. Get help with child care.

A charity has pledged $37 million toward creating 150,000 supportive housing units nationwide.

That’s double what exists now. .

Some South Korean homeless are dressing in style after the government gave away thousands of fake designer garments confiscated by customs agents.

The Korea Customs Service distributed more than 3,500 fake pieces in the southern city of Pusan this month with the permission of the fashion houses whose designs had been pirated.

A customs official declined to name the designers whose ripped-off creations are now being worn by the homeless but said both they and the state prosecutors had approved giving away the jackets, blouses, shirts and pants.

“We hope this will be of some help to the poor who need practical assistance in such hard times,” the official said.

Customs agents removed the labels from the clothes before giving them to a welfare agency for distribution. South Korea has a vibrant illegal market in pirated designer clothing and customs officials said there would be more handouts.

Each year Staten Island comes a little closer to understanding the city’s singularly elusive homeless population. On a frigid February night last winter, it conducted the first-ever homeless count here, deploying hundreds of volunteers into the borough’s endless shadowy nooks.

That night, homeless advocates were surprised to learn that an estimated 216 people sleep in the Island’s parks, abandoned cars, remote woods and marshlands, more than twice the number they

Streetvibes

suspected. Added to that are the roughly 120 people who bed down in Project Hospitality’s drop-in center, Island churches and the lobby of Borough Hall.

To increase public confidence in the survey’s accuracy, about 150 college students, some dressed as homeless people, will act as decoys to test volunteers’ thoroughness.

In Rapid City, S.D. figures from a new statewide survey of homeless people probably aren’t realistic, according to Jim Castleberry, assistant director of the Cornerstone Rescue Mission.

Castleberry said he thinks South Dakota has twice as many homeless people as the 1,029 that the South Dakota Housing For the Homeless Consortium counted on Jan. 25. One-fourth were children.

When survey workers went to various locations, many homeless did not want to talk with them for purposes of the survey, he said.

“One of the problems we had this year is the Housing and Urban Development folks wanted us to do a survey,” said Castleberry, a member of the consortium. “So we sent teams to various locations, and we had folks that didn’t want to participate in the survey. So they didn’t get included, at least in entirety, in that count.”

Numbers of homeless people would be more accurate if the counts were done more than once a year, Castleberry said. Also, survey workers would have more access to people in the summer, when it’s warm, he added.

The Jan. 25 tally showed 143 homeless adults living in hotels, 240 living temporarily in shelters and 328 living in transitional housing.

On a recent night in Tallahassee, FL Karu Bytth and her mother Annette Farina didn’t think they could endure another night of being homeless.

The only place they could call home was a 1982 white van that served as semi-reliable transportation and a refuge from frigid nights and safety from street crime.

But Bytth, 62, received word Friday afternoon she wouldn’t have to worry about which parking lot she would call home for the night. She and her mother would be two of 60 residents to move into a new familydorm facility erected by the Tallahassee Coalition for the Homeless and HOPE Community.

Each room was decorated by a group, church or volunteers topped with gold-plated individual themes and names. Some of the rooms include a “Garden of Hope,” “Tranquility,” “Pink Panther” and “Omega.”

The ribbon-cutting ceremony attracted more than 150 supporters, sprinkled with city and county officials and volunteers.

Page 3

“One of the main reasons that it is so easy to march men off to war,” says Ernest Becker, is that “each of them feels sorry for the man next to him who will die.” Annie Dillard There’s a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves.

But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn’t a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature. Barbara Kingsolver There never was a good war or a bad peace.

Benjamin Franklin Religion and science both profess peace (and the sincerity of the professors is not being doubted), but each always turns out to have a dominant part in any war that is going or contemplated. Howard Nemerov It is essential to know that to be a happy person, a happy family, a happy society, it is very crucial to have a good heart, that is very crucial. World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just the absence of violence but the manifestation of human compassion Dalai Lama Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people. Jawaharlal Nehru

All Terri, All the Time Show your support! Get your STREETVIBES T-Shirt Today!

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Only $15 We will send your Streetvibes T-shirt to your door All proceeds benefit the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and the Streetvibes newspaper. Call 513.421.7803 x 16, or come in to our office at 117 E 12th Street in Over-the-Rhine Page 4

Streetvibes

Quickly searching the “Major Papers” selection in Lexis-Nexis the term “Schiavo” in the headline or lead term produced 549 hits.

Searching “Iraq” and “War” produced 597 hits.

That the two issues are even close in the amount of hits is mystifying, despite the fact that the Iraq War is seemingly “old news” to many editors. Last month saw the 2nd anniversary of our invasion, largescale protest, and the announced withdrawal of troops by Italy - who have the third-largest contingent of troops in “coalition of the willing” behind Britain and South Korea, according to GlobalSecurity.org.

Let’s run down some major television and radio outlets: ABC: Iraq War, 4; Schiavo, 40 CBS: Iraq War, 10; Schiavo, 36 NBC: Iraq War, 12; Schiavo, 45 CNN: Iraq War, 33; Schiavo, 121 Fox News: Iraq War, 10; Schiavo, 56 NPR: Iraq War, 19; Schiavo, 42 Basically taking at face value all of the institutional flaws that the press possesses - I can entertain the notion that the stories be covered roughly the same amount.

But for the major American broadcasters to decide that a Florida woman in a permanent vegetative state, whose cerebral cortex is filled with spinal fluid, is about four times as important as the 1500 or so American troops and 100,000 or so Iraqis dead for no good reason is a grave abuse of power and responsibility.

On a side note, what if Terri were black? Poor or homeless? A recovering heroin addict? Would the Bush family and it’s “culture of life” be rushing to save her?

of lies for you about how or when he in the same way. There are good can have more for you etc. Few of intentions with some people though circumstances and situations can lead those who hang in the alley are honest

by Riccardo M. Taylor hustlers.

It is so often that I find room a person astray. The difference is With this in mind lets take a for change, or have the opportunity to what one puts into it. As that may be tour down the alley. The first thing I want to introduce you to the way I change the way things are, or at least we have to do is to get a spot. In the see things. make the changes which I need to alley there is always trash, so we In this first writing in a series enhance my life, yet when my vision is have to pick up an area that we will of essays that I would like to share I set in the direction of this stand in. This is our spot. We want to take you with me to hang in enhancement I always seem to get already know whose back here and the alley.

This is an area where all are distracted. I am very much whose coming, invited, yet only some perplexed as to how I continue to smoking dope, belong. It’s a place repeat the same mistakes over and drinking beer, or over again, it’s like I just don’t get it! where ritual, sadness, urinating. Huddled and apathy rule. It’s a I go through this scenario up to one side, hustlers ground. time after time, I look to the right I reaching and Everybody has some look to the left, I search high and I grabbing, passing kind of scheme they search low for the answers to my things. Someone’s dilemma without ever seeming to find are working, so always talking; anything goes. the direction. It’s as if I am on a “watch for the boys,” Hustlers come in two treadmill, moving forward without Riccardo Taylor watch yourself! distinct categories the getting anywhere. It’s almost Anything honest ones and the impossible to relate the feelings of goes, back here, everyone is on their dishonest ones. discouragement and I am often left own. From time to time robbery and The honest hustler is of the wondering if, how, or does it effect best. I see a guy working for potato violence is a part of the tour, yet even others the way it does me? I am the mark is a part of the game, so this chips and cans of pop. He resells talking about those who live, the quarter chips from his pay and makes can be expected. Back here where same way as I do, those who are in a few dollars! Working for quarters, only hustlers and slick broads hang the life of the street person. you have to have a mouthpiece. The Even though most of the way imagine that! That is an example of an honest hustler - still, sometimes the faster you can tell a lie the more you we live seems to me to be out of order, I realize that there are so many distinction between the two is hard to can get; that’s of whatever you’re things missing in the lives of the street figure. An easy way of putting it, here your back here for.

Here’s a typical scene. Two is a guy who sells you something and person that chaos rules and the idea guys hustling all day with a cart, then before you can take your of the norm differs from what others merchandise away he’s trying to steal collecting metal, they make a dollar, see. Yet, I cannot believe that all its off to the alley, buy a small hit and street people are or can be classified it back from you, or he has a bunch

Street Life

it all happens. Someone followed, or was back here. They get right in the mix. Hand out for a share of the product. Constantly telling you they have a ‘lick’ up i.e. a score. Making promises without sustenance. You can always be sure that a crowd will gather. Coming out of buildings, yards, and wherever else. You always get stuck for a minute, but you can be sure that when you leave you will be broke!

Then there’s the pair who are on the slick s@#*. Got one dollar between them, trying to sell you a pipe that they want back when you are done. Trying to drink up all the beer; they will get on your nerves, constantly telling you this or that or asking about your pocket. They’ll follow you until you’re broke. Too often they cannot be trusted, they will walk out of the alley with your bag if you are not paying attention. For the honest hustler the alley scene is pathetic, yet alluring.

Well I’m out of the alley, back up front. Take a look up and down the street choose a direction and down the block we go. The alley has always attracted me though I know I don’t belong. So, I know that I will visit again.

If you would like to go then catch the next issue of Streetvibes and we will visit there again.

So until next time, be safe.

St. X students help low-income families become homeowners

by Grady Cook and David Hastings St. Xavier High School students volunteer once a month at the Community Land Cooperative of Cincinnati, a non-profit affordable housing provider that helps low-income families become homeowners, primarily in the West End. Students have been cleaning out and painting vacant houses, doing yard work, and performing other rehabilitation activities since the school year began. They are part of a long tradition of community service that St. Xavier students have been involved in for years with organizations like the Community Land Cooperative.

Grady Cook, one of the Coalition for the Homeless’ current Streetvibes vendors, has been working with the Community Land Cooperative for 15 years. He was recently asked to supervise a group of St. Xavier students during the rehabilitation of a house on McMicken Avenue.

“I was so happy to work with this group of young people from St. Xavier,” said Cook. “I think that they are a big asset to the community. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them and possibly other high school students in the area.”

Matt Kemper is the Community Service Director at St.

Xavier High School. Matt indicates that the Housing Rehab program “provides students with an opportunity to leave their comfort zone and serve those in need.

Ideally, these types of experiences are the hallmark of transformative Jesuit education that seeks to create students who will become ‘agents of change.’ Ideally, these young men draw on their high school service experience to create systemic change for our world.”

Bob, a St. Xavier senior who has been a regular volunteer with the Community Land Cooperative/St. Xavier Housing Rehab program says, “The world is a classroom, and I feel that I have learned the most through volunteering for the Community Land Cooperative. I feel that by participating in this program I have grown closer to becoming the person I am supposed to become.”

The staff at the Community

Students at work

Land Co-op say they enjoy working with the Xavier Students.

“I couldn’t be happier with the work that they’ve done,” says David Hastings, Executive Director.

“They play a vital role in keeping our housing affordable for co-op families.”

To find out more how you can become a homeowner through the Community Land Co-op or to volunteer, call 721-2522.

Grady doing some painting

Streetvibes

Page 5

Remembering a Friend

Nourishment for the Soul

To the readers and friends of and bereavement. She has been Streetvibes, I missed my article last there when my family was going month – sorry about that. through hard times. She has always I am dedicating this month’s served in a quiet way, involved with article to a very gracious lady whom I the church, and friends and especially have known since she was 9 years children. old.

She can no longer participate She and her family had just in all of these duties that she did for joined Saint John A. M.E. Church. so many years. I want to thank you, Her name is Gussie Bell Jefferson, Gussie Bell Jefferson, and God be the also known as Mother Jefferson. glory, for all you have done for your She was honored in February by fellow man, and you will always be radio station WAIF remembered for with a benefit program. your care and love, This lady, down not only at St. John’s through the years, has but in Cincinnati too. been a friend and a I say many mother to many a thanks also to person – children and Reverend Perkins the elderly. She has for your love and worked for the concern for my dear Christian Education friend, Gussie Bell Miss Mary Gaffney Department serving the Jefferson. sick and shut-in’s. She May God has tended to all the needs of these bless each and everyone one of you people, making sure they get to the at radio station WAIF. doctor, etc. Her concern for her To our readers and my fellow man is one of her joys. homeless friends, as I have always She has been with WAIF for said, remember that whatever many years going back to the days of hardships come into your life, God the Alms Hotel, working with loves you regardless of who you are.

Reverend Stewart to the present with Until next month - Peace.

Reverend Columbus Perkins.

Sadly, shortly after I She has been a dear friend to finished this story for Streetvibes, me and my family and has always Gussie Bell Jefferson passed been right by my side during illness away. She was 65 years old.

The most fascinating story for

by Rachel Lawson me was the tale of an older sibling I recently sat down to a who every Thanksgiving created a delicious meal that consisted of humus and crackers, Mississippi style feast for not only their immediate family but friends of the family as fried chicken with hot sauce, mixed well. The story was an exact bean soup, green salad, German mirrored image of my mother’s goeta, and mint jelly. family; my aunt and uncles plan a Of course that might sound huge meal every Sunday and major like a combination of dishes that holiday that allows us to come doesn’t go all that well with one together in unity and celebration. another, but in reality, that could not “Women Change America” be further from the truth. allowed me the cherished opportunity On March 10, to reflect back on my Peaslee Neighborhood own family and the Center held an event important women in my entitled “Women life who have been Change America,” beacons of light. The which celebrated the evening ended with two significance and the role inspirational written of women in our word pieces, both individual lives.

Rachel Lawson encouraging the belief Each individual and understanding that through it all was encouraged to bring a dish that dignity, hope, strength, and had some significance and to later share why that dish was important to perseverance have been key factors him or her. Not only were the meals in the life and role of women. Most importantly, although women have distinctive, so were each of the come this far, we have so much individuals who provided them. further to go.

While I was dining and learning about the invigorating women who created these unique dishes, I 20 YEARS was able to learn more about SERVING THE individuals in an hour than I have NEIGHBORHOOD gathered in 5 months.

We were given the opportunity to not only gain nourishment for our stomachs, but also for our minds and souls. After the meal ended, we were invited to share a story or two, whether it was about the person who made your dish, or simply an individual who had an influence or empowered you in some way. Some of the stories were about a grandmother whose cooking style was as untouchable as her loving memory or a mother who enforced Empowering our not only cooking skills but also neighborhood children cultural understandings.

The stories shared were more through peace, art and than just spoken words; they were education the entrance to the soul. We discussed the role of women from a Peaslee Neighborhood variety of cultural aspects, from the Center “olden” days of passing along 215 East 14th Street traditional understandings of the Over-the-Rhine “women’s role” to the current Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 position of being the provider, mother and father in the household.

(513) 621-5514

Food Stamp Participation Increases to More Than 25.4 Million Persons Participation in the Food Stamp Program in December 2004 (the latest data available) was 25,487,768 persons, an increase of 2,207,685 persons from December 2003. The Food Stamp Program growth in recent months reflects continuing joblessness, state actions to improve access, and the effects of the food stamp reauthorization implementation.

The number of people participating in the Food Stamp Program in December 2004 was 8.6 million more persons than July 2000, when program participation nationally reached its lowest point in the last decade.

Caseloads dropped through 1998 and 1999 as the economy

improved and many states failed to get food stamps to low-income families who had left cash welfare for low-paid work. Caseloads then stabilized and began rising in 2000.

Increases in participation since 2001 likely have been driven by improved access to the program in states, including most recently for legal immigrants, and by the weakened economy.

Participation has risen in 44 of the last 48 months. Participation in December 2004 rose in the District of Columbia and in 47 of the 50 states compared to a year earlier.

Nonetheless, research suggests that nearly half of all eligible people are not receiving food stamp benefits.

Looking for a Second Chance Lynda Russo I have made mistakes in my life, but I’m still trying to fight for my kids. I haven’t given up. I want you to understand my side of the story.

When I was about four years old, my mother was never home. I had to take care of my little sister and myself because my mother was drinking and drugging. My oldest sister was always out. I never had any fun, and I never got to go out with my friends. I did all the things

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that a mother was supposed to do, but I was just a kid.

My oldest son was born in 1987, when I was 19 years old. I was pregnant when I graduated from Wakefield High. My second oldest, a daughter, was born a year later. I was raising them alone while working and going to school. I was on welfare, living off of $560 per month and food stamps. My rent was $500 per month. I spent the $60 cash on diapers.

In 1991, I met “Horace,” and he moved in three months after we started dating. We were happy at first, getting along well. In 1994, we got married, and, over the next five years, we had ended up with six kids – two girls and four boys. All of my boys have Coffin-Lowry Syndrome, which is similar to Down’s Syndrome, a form of mental retardation. My son Tyler also has Stridor Syndrome, which can affect his speech. I loved raising my kids. I

Streetvibes

loved being a mom and had always wanted a big family.

At the very beginning, Horace wasn’t working, so he helped take care of the kids while I worked at McDonalds and took classes at Charlestown Community Center.

Soon, however, things began to change.

One day in 1992, I was at school. Horace was supposed to get Mike (my oldest) onto the bus for the

Second Chance cont. on page 9

for those who died this year A Marathon Run candle due to homelessness and giving

by Jac-Lynn Stark February 14 was a raw and chilly winter night with occasional snow flurries and periods of intermittent rain. Outside Columbus House, a homeless shelter in New Haven, Connecticut, Jeremy Weir Alderson sat in a plastic tent he called the Tabernacle of Truth.

This was the temporary studio for the eighth annual Homelessness Marathon, which was broadcast from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. on over 80 radio stations nationwide, as well as the Internet. In Boston, the entire broadcast was aired on WMBR 89.1.

Alderson founded the Homelessness Marathon in 1988 as an offshoot of his weekly program “The Nobody Show” on WEOS, a public radio affiliate in Geneva, New York. From the beginning, the marathon broadcasted outdoors to dramatize the plight of homeless people. The number of listeners has grown each year. The webcam at the marathon’s website, for example, received over 350,000 hits during this year’s broadcast, seven times more than last year.

Alderson began the broadcast by lighting a memorial

listeners two call-in numbers. “This program is dedicated to getting homeless people into houses,” he said.

The Homelessness Marathon includes short, pre-recorded segments on topics related to homelessness and poverty, longer discussions and interviews with experts, as well as questions, comments and stories from people who called or walked up to the broadcast location.

During the broadcast, people of all ages and backgrounds told how they had become homeless. Some read poetry. People talked about living in abandoned buildings and “tent cities.”

Again and again, people discussed how much they hated being looked down on or blamed because they were homeless. Maggie, whose father kicked her out at 12 when she came out as a lesbian, said, “When I was first homeless, I didn’t understand what homelessness was.

Out on the street, people looked at me and crossed the street. Even a smile can make someone’s day when you have no place to go.”

Katherine, a caller from Ohio, emphasized that when people

say the homeless have chosen their situation, they need to think about why they made those choices.

“Wondering if you’re going to be hungry is better than worrying who’s gonna climb into bed with you when you’re 12,” Katherine said.

The Homelessness Marathon was a wide-angle lens that panned the broad landscape of America and focused on aspects of life that are ignored by the mainstream media. It painted a picture of an America where affordable housing is scarce to non-existent, where people who work hard are unable to afford to keep a roof over their heads, and where struggles over adversity are common.

Many panelists and callers talked about the shortage of affordable housing. “I can’t afford to pay rent, but I work full time,” said Philip, a caller from a tent city in New Haven who makes $7.10 an hour.

“Living in a tent gives me freedom, but I don’t want to live in a tent the rest of my life.”

“The most important thing the marathon demonstrates is that the homeless are ordinary people,” said Alderson in an interview. “Politicians often portray the homeless as a bunch of crazies and drunks, but that is not true.

All kinds of different people can become homeless.”

The broadcast showed the wide variety of people affected by homelessness. Throughout the night, callers from all over the country made it clear that homelessness cuts through a wide swath of our population and occurs for many reasons.

“There is nothing more important than low-income and poor people finding their voice,” Boston Emergency Shelter Commission acting director Jim Greene said of the program. “The marathon is an annual exercise in providing people the opportunity to speak out from their experience so decision makers in society understand their points of view and make decisions accordingly.”

Alderson plans to continue the Homelessness Marathon even though it is increasingly difficult to raise funds for the show. He compared the marathon to trying to bail out a boat that is sinking. “As long as there is some hope, you keep trying,” said Alderson.

The Homelessness Marathon’s website is at http:// www.homelessnessmarathon.org.

Reprinted from Spare Change News, Boston, MA, March 2005

Rural Homelessness Hits Washington State

by Israel Bayer Last month volunteers counted more than 1,050 individuals experiencing homelessness in Clallam County, Washington. 322 were living on the West End of the peninsula.

Nearly one in four counted where children.

“Homelessness is a problem in our community,” said Jackie Windle, a case manager with West End Outreach Services, an organization offering mental health, chemical dependency, and employment services. The organization also has 3 shelter locations in Forks. More than 20 people are currently on the waiting list. “I’m not sure everyone understands what a big problem it is.”

Homelessness in Wasington State rural areas has seen a dramatic increase over the past decade with the loss of employment, the outsourcing of jobs, the cost of housing, and the lack of a living wage.

“It’s not like the big city,” said Ruth King with West End Outreach Services. “People go into the woods and camp.”

188 individuals in the Forks area and 77 in La Push were identified as being homeless - families and veterans were the most at risk population. The state of Washington considers anyone who is living in substandard housing, shelters, or sleeping outside to be homeless.

Substandard housing would include not having cooking facilities, a working bathroom, running water or heat.

Domestic violence, drug addiction and mental illness have also been attributed to the surge in homelessness throughout the county.

King said many people are falling through the cracks that have bad credit, a felony or are unemployed. “There are no jobs in the community right now. It’s hard out there for many people, especially families. We are seeing single mothers with young children who have no place left to go.”

King went on to say that many of the individuals are from out of town. “We had one woman with a child from Arkansas who had looked up Forks on the Internet. She was in a bad situation, so she came to town hoping to find work because she thought the cost of living was lower here. The problem is there are no places to rent, no jobs and still people are coming to town looking for opportunities.”

“We have a lot of people stealing from Peter to pay Paul,” said Sharon Ryan, the workforce specialist for the state in Forks.

“Even people who are working can’t afford everything.”

Hope is on the horizon in La Push though, according to Grafstrom, who said that the tribe is shifting its focus to economic development and

building a stronger, healthier community to create more jobs.

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Washington is unknown. In Seattle, more than 8,000 are experiencing homelessness. 3.5 million people are estimated to be on the streets nationwide, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington D.C. More than 500,000 of those individuals are U.S. veterans, many from the Vietnam era.

“Some say Clallam County has the best services, and that’s why people are coming,” said Mike McEvoy, a veteran outreach worker in Portland Angeles. “But there are more services in other counties, so who knows.”

“We are seeing a lot of people who are dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and mental illness,” said McEvoy. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a term used for psychotic stress caused by an event. Earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, airplane crashes, and shock during battle are common events causing what is otherwise known as “shell-shock.”

“It’s hard - we have vets living in cars, living in the forest, and people in shelters,” said McEvoy.

“The forgotten vets are the Vietnam vets. We need to make sure none of our vets are forgotten, and treated with respect, even those who are homeless.”

Streetvibes

And while the community is struggling with the current surge in homelessness, there is another kind of homelessness effecting Forks as well - caused by domestic violence.

“We see people who are stressed out by their life circumstance,” said Nancy Rohde, a legal advocate with Forks Abuse, an agency in town offering shelter, advocacy, and legal advice for people affected by domestic violence.

“They have no safety net,” Rohde said referring to people coming through the shelter. “They don’t have family or a place to go.

Most of the homelessness we see are men and women who have to flee home because of safety, and they are homeless because they don’t feel safe at home. It’s a transition.”

Advocates in the community are hoping by raising awareness about people experiencing homelessness in the region that community members will be more understanding, tolerant, and help by donating to organizations working to transition people into housing, like Forks Abuse, and West End Outreach.

“We are really a giving community,” said Ryan. “We are going to have to figure something out.

I think we can do it though.”

Reprinted from Street Roots, Portland, OR, March 2005. ©Street News Service: www.streetpapers.org

Page 7

War cont. from page 1 amputees. Estimates of the Iraqi death toll are hard to come by officially, but the civilian toll is thought to range from 17,000 to nearly 20,000 dead and beyond.”

Earlier last month, ABC’s World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings reported: “There are no official numbers of Iraqi civilian casualties, but Iraqi Body Count, an independent web-site that compiles media reports of the deaths there, says as many as 18,000 Iraqis may have been killed.”

According to a study published in the respected British medical journal The Lancet, about 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the war. The majority of deaths were due to violence, primarily as a result of U.S.-led military action. One of the

researchers on the project said that the estimate is likely a conservative one.

It’s certainly a more scientific estimate than the Iraq Body Count figure cited by ABC, which is, as that project’s website notes, a “compilation of civilian deaths that have been reported by recognized sources.... It is likely that many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported by the media.” (http:// www.iraqbodycount.net) Recent polling indicates that the vast majority of the American public believes that U.S. casualties in Iraq are unacceptable.

One can only wonder what Americans think about the level of Iraqi civilian casualties; unfortunately, the media’s count dramatically minimizes that death toll. But for certain, American death tolls are reported every night on the evening news broadcasts.

A Thumbnail of US Homeless

(Top) banner displayed on Fountain Square stage. (Above) Protestors gather in the rain. (Below) Protestor on the Square.

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Most people, including the The National Law Center for homeless, are not inherently lazy. But Homelessness and Poverty reports the US economic system does not that over 3 million men, women, and children were homeless over the past adequately support those at the year – about 30% of them chronically lowest skill levels, even if they are willing to work – leading to and the others temporarily. In many unemployment and millions of cases people are in and out of the “working poor.” Incomes for the homeless system, which includes poorest Americans have not nearly shelters, hospitals, the streets, and kept pace with rising housing costs. prisons. It is these chronic users of Therefore, millions of hard workers the system that utilize up to 90% of are shut out of the private housing the nations resources devoted to the market. Job training, education, problem.

Homelessness can be caused trade schools, and other systemic economic incentives and welfare by a variety of problems. The main disincentives should be applied with cause is unaffordable housing for the whatever funds are available from poor. Secondary causes include foundation or government sources. mental illness, physical illnesses, substance abuse, lack of incentives to This will raise income levels overall work and lack of a decent education. and make housing more affordable.

This, coupled with the benefits poor On top of the 3 million who and homeless receive like were homeless or marginally Supplemental Security Income (SSI), homeless there are an additional 5 food stamps, and TANF (welfare), million poor people that spend over should lower the overall future level half of their incomes on housing, of homelessness. leaving them on the verge of For mayors, city councils, homelessness. A missed paycheck, a and even homeless providers it may health crisis, or an unpaid bill can seem that placing homeless people in easily push poor families over the shelters is the most inexpensive way edge into homelessness. of meeting basic needs. This is It has been reported that the deceptive. The cost of homelessness types of assistance homeless adults can be quite high, particularly for felt they needed most were help those with chronic illnesses. Because finding a job, help finding affordable housing, and help paying for housing. they have no regular place to stay, people who are homeless use a However, the main types of assistance they usually received were variety of public systems in an clothing, transportation and help with inefficient and costly way. Preventing a homeless episode, or ensuring a public benefits. Few homeless speedy transition in to stable actually receive help finding housing, permanent housing can result in a likely because caregivers know it’s significant overall cost savings. unaffordable or otherwise unattainable.

According to figures provided by the US Departmeny of Health and Human Services up to 600,000 men, women, and children go homeless each night in the US. In New York City alone, city officials estimated that there were 30,000 people utilizing the shelter system on a daily basis, more than at any other time in the city’s history. A survey of 25 U.S. cities found that in 2000, families with children accounted for 36% of the homeless population (U.S. Conference of Mayors)

Streetvibes

Second Chance cont. from page 6 special school he attends for mentally delayed children. The bus driver reported that she saw Horace kick my son’s back in the hallway of the apartment building as the bus driver was beeping his horn. At this point, I wasn’t sure what to think. Part of me felt he couldn’t have done such a thing. Part of me worried that he had. Because of his developmental delays, my son couldn’t tell me what really happened.

A 51-A was filed with DSS as a result of the bus driver’s charge, which meant a social worker came out once a month for an hour to ask questions about what happened and about our parenting in general. We had to attend parenting classes, and Horace had to go to a batteringmen’s group. We were psychologically tested by a doctor.

They also tested my kids for sexual abuse. We were allowed to keep our kids at that time.

In 1993, Horace’s mother died, and he began drinking a lot. I also found out he was smoking dope.

One day he took my daughter to school, and a teacher heard him call her stupid. Another 51-A was filed, and DSS did more research into our background. I wasn’t sure what to think. When I was around, he treated the kids like a father. He was respectful to them; he’d play with them and take them places. But then, after hearing the concerns of the teacher and bus driver, I didn’t know what to think.

Over time, my worst fears were confirmed. Horace began beating, harassing, and mentally and physically abusing me. The first time it happened, he came home really drunk and began yelling at me. He pulled my hair and kicked me in the stomach. He had been in the army, so he knew how to hit without leaving marks. He told me that if I told DSS or anyone, he would hurt me and my kids.

One day when I was at my DSS parenting class, a social worker took away my three kids while they were in school. They told me there was evidence that the children were neglected and abused, and that I would have to do parenting classes to get them back – even though I was going to parenting classes and had passed them all with flying colors.

That same month, Horace and I lost our apartment. After a brief shelter stay, we found a new place. I continued my parenting classes, as ordered, and I collected letters of support from my counselor, the parenting class teacher, and my psychiatrist. All of them wrote in strong support of me getting my kids back. My school and work offered to write me letters, but DSS didn’t want any letter from them. They said they shouldn’t be involved.

DSS allowed us to keep our

younger two children – as long as we kept up parenting classes and counseling appointments.

One day, I went to a friend’s to do laundry. I told Horace to watch the baby; she was about nine months old and asleep in a crib. I told him I’d be back within an hour.

When I came home, I heard my daughter screaming and crying . I looked in the bathroom and the backyard, but there was no one in the house but the baby. I called Horace on his cell phone to find out where he was. He told me he was “out.”

Things were calm for a while, but a few years later Horace got arrested for allegedly exposing himself in the park to a mother and a child. The day he got arrested – August 12, 1999 – I went into labor with my youngest child. Horace had to leave the house, and I filed a stayaway order against him. He had to be tested to see if he was a pedophile, and the results indicated that he wasn’t. He was staying with his brother at this time, and I was alone with my new baby and two children.

A month later, Horace went to court. The judge ruled that he could return home since he had passed the test. I didn’t want him home, but the judge said he had a right to see his kids. Horace showed up at the house. I wasn’t in court.

Horace said he was allowed to come home. I asked him for proof, and he couldn’t present any. I asked him to leave. He said “no,” and we got into a big conflict. My friend, Chere, was staying there, helping me take care of the kids. She asked Horace to leave, and he said, “Who are you to tell me to leave?” I called the police, and they said he had a right to stay there because the lease was in his name. I was looking for some place else to go, but I had two kids and a newborn and no place to go with them. He said that, if I left, he would hurt me and the kids.

I contacted a lawyer, and she was filing motions to try to get him out. Another 51-A was filed against Horace for exposing himself again – this time to the social worker visiting the house. Because of this incident and our past history, DSS took my three youngest children away from me, even though I tried to keep Horace away.

Not long after, we got evicted from our apartment. Horace said he “spent all his money on other things.”

He said it was his money, and he could do what he wanted.

I was working, going to school and paying all the bills.

Everything I made went to my kids. I was meeting with DSS at that time, and they gave me a psychological test. They said I had a learning disability – only one side of my brain worked well.

When we lost our place and DSS had my other kids, I went alone

to a shelter. Horace asked me where I was going, and I said, “Getting away from you and trying to get my kids back.” He said, “You can’t get your kids back without me.”

Once I got into the shelter and away from Horace, I started talking to staff and other residents about Horace’s abuse and how I might leave him. I told DSS about his violence and threats, and even though they said they suspected abuse, they blamed me for not coming forward sooner. I told them I was afraid to say something because DSS never spoke to me alone.

Horace always made sure he was there and answered the questions when they interviewed us. I told DSS that I had never done anything to hurt my children – other than not get away from Horace sooner – and they didn’t believe me.

Horace and I had been separated for six months when I finally met up with James, a friend at the shelter. He helped me file for divorce and make my break from Horace for good. Even though I left

Horace – and even though no charges had ever been filed against me – DSS still kept my kids away.

Again, I went to parenting classes, a counselor and a therapist. Now DSS said I should not be allowed to parent because I could not read or write well and wouldn’t be able to read to my kids.

Today, my sister is helping me to fight for my kids. I don’t even have visitation rights, and I only get a letter once a year from foster parents.

My sister is getting court records and trying to understand the paperwork.

I hope she can help me get a hearing before a judge and, at least, get visitation rights for my children – and maybe someday get them back. I want them to know they have a mother.

I know it was a mistake not to leave Horace sooner, but it’s a mistake I would never repeat. I would never put my kids in jeopardy again. Why does everyone else have more than one chance to raise their kids, but I can’t? It is not fair. All I am looking for is a second chance.

Got The Vibe?

This beautiful, original artwork depicts the vibrant role that Streetvibes plays in downtown Cincinnati and neighboring communities. Created by local artist and activist Mary Ann Lederer in collage form, this colorful 18" X 10" reproduction can be yours to own for only $10. Commemorating Streetvibes 100th issue, proceeds from this limited time offer will go to support the Streetvibes Program and Vendors.

To order, call the Homeless Coalition at 421-7803

Streetvibes

Page 9

We started with the upper grades and found out very quickly that neither the topic nor my teaching style could make much of a dent in the attitudes of the 7th and 8th graders. King and his ideas were not important. A few posters were drawn, several children were sent out of the session to the principal’s office, and the experience was disheartening.

5th and 6 graders were almost at the same point; only, there were more people interested in both

tell me their “oaths of office” that they took on the same day that president Bush took his oath. Their great oaths of justice, compassion, and safety were offered, one after another, with

by Steve Sunderland pride, seriousness, and good feeling.

While we all drew, a child would Recently, I had the great come over to me to draw with me. pleasure of visiting the library at Taft Or, hold my hand. Or, to say to Elementary School in Cincinnati to me,”thanks,” and, “I love you.” One meet with children from kindergarten asked if it were possible to walk with to the 7th grade. We have been me to the door and to say good by to meeting to do posters about Martin me more formerly.

Luther King’s dream and their own These children, the youngest, hopes and dreams for were the most eager to work, to this world. Taft is a share their stories, and to draw their school made up of all pictures of King and their dreams. inner city kids, all poor, Jerome and I were overwhelmed by largely African the quiet kindnesses, gestures meant American. The for private discussion and shared with librarian is Jerome our whole group and with a stranger Madigan, long time like me. These children came from friend and master the same neighborhoods of trouble as teacher in the Cincinnati the older children, many from the school system. Jerome same families and streets. But the is a tall and imposing hopeful spirit was alive and well, free person, possessed of a flowing, and unchecked by the poison dramatic deep voice, that affected the older ones. It carrying a no nonsense Dr. Steve Sunderland seemed like two different schools, attitude toward any two different locations for the library, “foolishness” in his discussing King, learning about his life two different worlds that were being library or presence, and, as much as and death and beginning the process revealed to us. he sometimes tries, Jerome cannot of finding their own dreams to follow.

Before I left the younger hide his immense love for these Most of the posters were about grades, I took some pictures of the children when they appear in his flashy cars, homes for the mother, lots kids holding their posters. You can setting. His library is not very large see the seriousness on some faces as but able to easily handle a class of 20 of money and almost none about improving society, or going on in they hold their “dreams.” Most are children. Old books, newspapers, school. The conversations that each just so eager to get in the picture, to maps, and graphs are arranged poster generated were valuable. show off their energy and creativity. throughout the borders of the library These are Peace Village kids while nine tables dot the center of the Sometimes, quite amazingly, a quietness fell over the room as somehow holding onto their energy, room. children really worked hard on their joy and strength. So, I ask myself, Our format was to bring posters, concentrating on making what happens in the 4th grade to classes of children to the library. something important. These times these children, to these students, to Jerome introduced me as someone were followed by the artist standing these citizens of a failed democracy who was in MLK’s civil rights up and describing his or her poster, and a callous educational system? movement and that wanted to share very often in a barely audible voice, What has broken down their interest stories and ideas about what King indicating a little about how private believed. After a short talk, we would all draw posters on cardboard and secret their dreams and ideas might be. The feeling of pride in the with markers about what we felt drawing, making their “mark” and about King’s dream to be still telling its story carried each speaker important. The posters would be and infected the next one ready to hung on a wall outside the library for jump up and talk in the quiet whisper all of the school to see. A class of that had become our method of students would be brought in for sharing. about an hour for the whole But my great surprise came in experience. the experiences with the kindergarten to fourth graders. One group of the Don’t be Squirrelly! youngest listened in deep attention, interrupting to tell me their details about King’s life when I seemed to omit what they knew. Eager to draw their ideas, they immediately went to work, using lots of colors, and sharing markers, and treating both interesting posters and stories. I started one group by telling them about our song sessions in the civil rights movement and asked, “Who knows the song, “This Little light of Mine?” Lots of hands went up and immediately we were into choruses of this wonderful song as a prelude to drawing and sharing the stories.

Another first grade group wanted to

The Peace Village

Buy Streetvibes!

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Streetvibes

in dreaming of a future that holds out some of the passion and spirit that is so abundant in the early grades?

Some of the survivors of the upper grades “helped” out with my classes with the younger grades, as Jerome found service opportunities that gave the older ones a chance to reflect on where they had come from just a few years ago. My “aides” took their jobs seriously and both helped the younger ones and drew their own versions of the dream they couldn’t draw just a week earlier. Whatever had been lost or uried in these “aides” reappeared for a moment, was captured in drawings of seriousness, and then, equally suddenly, disappeared as they ran out of the library.

I shall not easily forget the faces of all of these children, both those caught in a trap that awaits their early escape, and those kids who have that wonderful spirit of joy, love, and hope that makes teaching and learning in the early grades such a satisfying experience. Big eyes, little faces, long smiles, unlimited energy, and a song voice that sings: “Let me dream, let me dream.”

Dr. Steve Sunderland, professor of Social Work at the University of Cincinnati, is the Director of The Peace Village, a group of individuals from the national and international community committed to examining all issues of Peace in the world. Dr. Sunderland also heads up Posters-for-Peace which engages people in expressing their visions of Peace, in their own words through the creation of posters.

Bush Pushes Private Accounts as Public Support Drops President Bush has recently increased his efforts to sell the American public on his plan to privatize Social Security despite continuing evidence that more and more Americans are rejecting his proposals. Yet even while launching a “60 cities in 60 days” tour, the president and other administration officials have been carefully maneuvering to allow whatever reform is adopted to be seen as a victory for the administration.

Congress began a two-week recess on March 18 and many Senators and Representatives will

devote much of their time in their respective districts to the Social Security issue. Republicans in particular will continue to gauge their constituents’ feelings on reform options. The president’s failure to generate overwhelming support for his proposal among the general public has increasingly made congressional Republicans nervous.

Recent polls have shown very weak public support for the president’s approach to Social Security reform. An ABC News/ Washington Post poll conducted from March 10–13 revealed that only 35

percent of respondents approve of the way Bush is handling Social Security, and 55 percent stated they “oppose” Bush’s proposals on Social Security. Forty-nine percent of the respondents in opposition were between the ages of 18 and 29 — a key demographic group from which Bush hopes to receive tremendous support Another poll conducted by USA Today/CNN/Gallup from Feb. 25–27 found similar results; only about 35 percent of respondents approved of the way Bush is handling Social Security. This poll shows a marked drop in support from one

conducted three weeks earlier which had found that 43 percent of respondents — eight percent more — had supported the president on Social Security then. Bush continues to stress that with increased education on social security and the problems the program faces in the future, the public will come around to his plan. Reiterating his standard Social Security tagline, Bush recently said, “I’ve got a lot of educating to do to convince people not only that we have a problem, but we need to come together and come up with a solution to Social Security.”

to taze Tye, jamming the tazer painfully into his side but not engaging the electrodes. They also threatened to mace him. During this period, the officers threatened to taze the mailman, Postman John Vickers.

Thomas, Tye’s son, was illegally detained after being attacked by two Cincinnati Police officers.

After the violent incident, the officers were caught on police radio transmissions discussing how they could cover up the abuse of throwing Tye down the steps. One officer was also recorded saying that he enjoyed throwing “the old man” (Rev. Tye) down the steps.

Mr. Beck’s restored Camaro and another car were towed during the fiasco. Mr. Beck, who is white, was given his car back free of charge.

However, the owner of the other vehicle, a local woman who is black, was not able to get her car without paying. She was also told by the Cincinnati Police that they would help her sue Rev. Tye. Another issue brought to light as a result of this incident, is the fact that the Cincinnati Police Department

has a Point System, wherein officers get points for such things as getting junk cars towed and getting people cited for weeds in their yard. On the point score sheet there is specific mention of getting 30 points, the maximum number, for having cars towed from May St. in Walnut Hills, were the Tye family operates their shop.

The abuse of Rev. Tye and his son is unacceptable. There was no cause for the violence against Rev. Tye and his family at the hands of the police. Rev. Tye and his son did not resist questioning, nor did they break any laws. It is clear that the treatment of Rev. Tye, his family and his business was unjust. The evidence is clear - based on police actions, their recorded words, and their point system.

The Citizen Complaint Authority has confirmed that the police acted wrongly and now the final fate of this case lies in the hands of the City Manager , Valerie Lemmie. ***

Police Abuse of Rev. Donald Tye

by Brian Garry Rev Donald Tye recently suffered abuse at the hands of several Cincinnati Police officers. Tye is a well respected, middle class business owner in Walnut Hills. Reverend Tye has been very active in giving back to the community; he sat on the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board, as well as the Black Male Coalition, NAACP and others. Tye runs the family-owned body shop, Tye Collision.

On the afternoon of March 13th, 2004, Reverend Tye was doing business as usual at the body shop, when the Cincinnati Police showed up. The police said that there was a junk car with expired plates sitting on the street in front of Tye’s shop.

They also stated that the church across the street had complained about Reverend Tye parking cars in the church lot.

(The church, Christ Emmanuel, which has close ties with Rev. Tye, has since written a letter stating that they have never made a complaint against Rev. Tye.) The car in question, a freshly painted and

restored 1957 Camaro belonged to another local business owner and altruistic community member Stan Beck of Beck’s Hardware. The historic car was dropped off to Rev. Tye without plates, as it was being restored and would receive plates after restoration was completed. A police officer approached Thomas Tye about the car which had only been on the street for a few minutes.

At this point, the officer began calling for back up. A few seconds later, when back up arrives, the officer immediately jumps on the back of Rev. Tye’s son, Thomas Tye. Thomas, as can be seen on police cruiser video, then walks outside into the light of day with the officer on his back. During the time when the police were jumping on Thomas Tye his father, Rev. Tye, had been moving the restored car onto his private parking lot.

After attacking his son, the officers then turned on the father, Rev. Tye himself.

The Police officers violently slung Rev. Tye down the steps injuring him. The officers threatened

Adventures in Irony with Dr. Wes Browning

by Wes Browning Let’s continue to talk about people who make controversial statements in public!

Larry H. Summers, research economist and Harvard University president, made a little speech (you can read it yourself at www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/ 2005/nber.html) to a conference of the National Bureau of Economic Research in January which got a few feminists more than a little angry, and now they want him to lose his job, or, failing that, be gently dismembered.

Ha! I was just kidding about the dismembered part. But they ARE ticked off, mainly because Summers said that he thought that one reason why women are underrepresented in science professions is the “different availability of aptitude at the high end.

“What he said sounds awfully close to “different aptitudes” and that sounds like saying women are dumb, but actually what he’s saying is that men

are statistically more likely to be freaks.

This theory isn’t new. It was even discussed back when I was teaching college math back in the olden days, when the internet existed mainly to pass raw data around colleges and nobody ever dreamed it could someday help make your penis bigger. The theory is based on the true observation that for a large number of measurable attributes, women’s measurements tend to be less extreme than men’s. So in any large random population most of the freaks will be men. This applies to all kinds of freakdom. In a large random population, for example, it will be the men who will exhibit most of the freakishly high IQs. It will also be the men who will exhibit most of the freakishly low IQs. So the same theory used by Summers to explain women’s under-representation in the sciences also has been used to explain why it’s also mostly men who win

Darwinian Awards for dying stupidly.The important thing is he had the nerve to talk about it at all, and now because of that people are thinking about it more. Maybe the discussion will result in better ideas coming out than Larry’s, and maybe he’d welcome them.

I think I have a better idea. I got my idea in 1980 when I was teaching basic algebra to a community college class that was three-quarters female.

I had a problem. I was explaining algebra the way the book explained it, which generally introduced new ideas by relating them spatially. Most of the class wasn’t getting it. It occurred to me that it might make more sense to just say what algebra really is and leave the geometry out of it. So I explained how algebra is just talking about numbers. Equations are sentences, x’s and y’s are names, etc.

The class had an amazing

Streetvibes

turnaround. Before, most of the boys understood the geometric approach and only a couple of the girls. Now, it was most of the girls who got it, and only one of the boys! I started using both approaches to try to get through to everyone.

Now the bad news: a senior professor with control over my job found out what I was doing and told me to stop. His objection was, “The girls don’t need to know math.

They’re just going to either get married, or be nurses.” Worse, the senior professor had co-written the book, and he was going to get me fired if I didn’t follow it word for word.

So here’s my idea. I think that for about 25 centuries, math and science education has been deliberately geared to the interests and learning styles of boys, even at the cost, at times, of distorting content.

I think it’s time to find out what science would look like if women did it. It could be an experiment.

Page 11

Streetvibes Vendor Code of Conduct About the Greater Cincinnati All Vendors Sign and Agree to a Code of Conduct Coalition for the Homeless and Report Any Violations to GCCH - 421-7803 Streetvibes....

1. Streetvibes will be distributed Vendors must not tell customers earned. This program has helped for a $1 voluntary donation. If a customer donates more than $1 for a paper, vendors are allowed to keep that donation. However, vendors must never ask for more than $1 when selling Streetvibes.

2. Each paper purchased from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) costs 30 cents. Papers will not be given out on credit. Old papers can not be traded in for new papers.

3. Streetvibes may only be purchased from GCCH. Never buy papers from, or sell papers to other vendors.

4. Vendors must not panhandle or sell other items at the same time they are selling Streetvibes.

5. Vendors must treat all other vendors, customers, and GCCH personnel with respect.

6. Vendors must not sell Streetvibes while under the influence.

7. Vendors must not give a “hard sell” or intimidate anyone into purchasing Streetvibes. This includes following customers or continuing to solicit sales after customers have said no. Vendors must also never sell Streetvibes door-to-door.

8. Vendors must not deceive customers while selling Streetvibes. Vendors must be honest in stating that all profits go to the individual vendor.

that the money they receive will go to GCCH or any other organization or charity. Also, vendors must not say that they are collecting for “the homeless” in general.

9. Vendors must not sell papers without their badge. Vendors must present their badge when purchasing papers from GCCH. Lost badges cost $2.00 to replace.

Broken or worn badges will be replaced for free, but only if the old badge is returned to GCCH. 10. Streetvibes vendor meetings are held on the first weekday of the month at 1pm. The month’s paper will be released at this meeting. If a vendor cannot attend the meeting, he or she should let us know in advance. If a vendor does not call in advance and does not show up, that vendor will not be allowed to purchase papers on the day of the meeting or the following day. Five free papers will be given to those who do attend.

11. Failure to comply with the Code of Conduct may result in termination from the Streetvibes vendor program. GCCH reserves the right to terminate any vendor at any time as deemed appropriate. Badges and Streetvibes papers are property of GCCH, and must be surrendered upon demand.

The mission of the North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) is to support a street newspaper movement that creates and upholds journalistic and ethical standards while promoting self-help and empowerment among people living in poverty. NASNA papers support homeless and very low-income people in more than 35 cities across the United States and Canada.

Streetvibes Vendor: 70 cents

Printing and Production: 30 cents

Page 12

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) was formed in May of 1984 for one purpose: the eradication of homelessness in Cincinnati. What started out as a coalition of 15 volunteers meeting weekly in an unheated church basement has since grown into a Coalition of over 45 agencies and hundreds of volunteers dedicated to improving services for homeless individuals, educating the public about homelessness and empowering homeless individuals to advocate for their civil rights and housing needs.

Streetvibes is a tool of GCCH used to help us achieve our goal of ending homelessness.

On the one hand it is a selfsufficiency program geared towards the homeless and marginally housed individuals who are our vendors. Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 30 cents per copy and sell it for a suggested one-dollar donation, keeping the profit that they have

hundreds of people find and maintain housing. The vendors also sign a code of conduct stating that they will behave responsibly and professionally and they proudly display their official Streetvibes badge while selling the paper. Our vendors put a face on “the homeless” of Cincinnati and form lasting friendships with their customers.

On the other hand, Streetvibes is an award-winning alternative newspaper and part of the international street newspaper movement. Focusing on homelessness and social justice issues, Streetvibes reports the often-invisible story of poverty in our community. Streetvibes is also proud to include creative writing, poetry, articles, photography and interviews written by homeless and formerly homeless individuals. Streetvibes enjoys a loyal reader base that respects the honest portrayal of the joys, sorrows, and challenges facing the people of Cincinnati.

Streetvibes is a member of the:

The International Network of Street Papers (INSP) unites street papers sold by homeless and people living in poverty from all over the world. INSP is an umbrella organisation, which provides a consultancy service for its partner papers and advises on the setting up of new street papers and support initiatives for marginalised people.

Where Your Dollar Goes...

The Streetvibes program maintains a minimal overhead cost so that our vendors can keep as much of the proceeds as possible.

Please call our office at 421-7803 for more information about the program. Many thanks for your support.

Streetvibes

The side effects of Medicine

by Linda Corey Heart burn, upset stomach bleeding, liver damage and breathing problems.

You take a pill to cure one thing and the side-effects are worse than the medicine the doctor ordered for you.

Is there really a cure for anything? I’m not a doctor as Marcus Welby says, I just play one on TV. All of us who attempt to heal the wounds of others will ourselves be wounded; it is, after all, inherent in the relationship.”

-from “Healing the Wounds” by David Hilfiker, M.D

Bush Budget to Increase Deficits $1.6 Trillion over 10 Years The Congressional Budget Office released its estimates March 5 for the cost of President Bush’s fiscal year 2006 budget, showing deficits increasing by $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years. The CBO report will greatly impact the way the House and Senate budget committees write their FY 06 budget resolutions set for markup this week.

CBO, the nonpartisan agency of Congress that regularly estimates the cost of legislation and policies, projects federal deficits would grow by about $200 billion annually for the next decade. It also changed its estimation of the FY 05 deficit to $395 billion and FY 06 deficit to $332 billion.

CBO also lowered its estimate of how much the president’s proposed changes to mandatory spending would save in FY 06, to $26 billion from the $38.7 billion cited by the president and for savings

in Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance programs from $45 billion to $27 billion — almost half of the amount projected by the White House. Because the president’s budget only considers the next five years, it hides the worst effects of his proposals. Over the next decade, the changes to all mandatory spending proposed by the president, including tax credits, will actually put the government more into debt by $16 billion, not save $70 billion as the president claimed in his budget.

Perhaps the most damaging conclusion in the report for the president, coming only two months into his second term, is that he will fail to keep his promise to cut the deficit in half by 2009. CBO projects a deficit in 2009 of $246 billion, fully $40 billion short of his goal. Further, neither Bush’s budget nor the CBO report include many expensive policies likely to be enacted in the

future, such as costs for overhauling Social Security ($1 to $2 trillion over 10 years), fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax ($754 billion over 10 years), increases in the cost of the 2003 Medicare prescription drug benefit (hovering around $750 billion over ten years), or supplemental military costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year (currently $82 billion for 2005).

Despite this grim forecast, the administration and Republican leaders in Congress are steadfast in their support of making CBO’s projections a reality by extending tax cuts to the wealthy without offsets to pay for them. To that end, the House and Senate will most likely push two sets of reconciliation instructions in their budget resolutions this week, one to deal with reductions in mandatory spending and one to extend expiring tax cuts. (See Congressional Leaders

Begin Negotiations on Budget Resolution).

In the past, Congress has used reconciliation instructions as a deficit reduction tool — protecting legislation lowering entitlement spending, or raising taxes from being filibustered in the Senate. In recent years, the Bush administration has hijacked this process to fast-track huge tax cuts that are not offset and have consequently caused deficits to soar.

It appears this process will be used again during the 109th Congress to continue cutting taxes for the wealthy and spending on programs such as Medicaid that benefit mostly low-income Americans. This misuse of the reconciliation process by a few in Congress is damaging to the federal government’s ability to meet its funding obligations to the American people and should be rejected.

Car Crash The following quotes are actual statements from insurance forms where car drivers tried to summarize accident details in as few words as possible. Such instances of faulty writing serve to confirm that grammer bloopers can be highly entertaining.

The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intent.

I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.

In my attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.

I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection, a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car.

I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.

I was on my way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident.

My car was legally parked as it backed into the other vehicle.

As I approached the intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no sign had ever appeared before, making me unable to avoid the accident.

“Don “Don’’t Leave Home W ithout IIt...” t...”

U.S. Ranks at Bottom for Child Poverty households with income below 50 per cent of the national median. The report emphasizes the capacity of governments to reduce child poverty rates and demonstrates that higher government spending on family and social benefits is clearly associated with lower child poverty rates.

I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him.

The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.

I was thrown from my car as it left the road, and was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.

To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I struck the pedestrian.

Str ee

The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.

tvib es

“Child Poverty in Rich Countries 2005” UNICEF, 2005 A new report published by UNICEF finds that the proportion of children living in poverty has risen in 17 out of 24 industrialized nations of the OECD over the past decade.

This amounts to some 40-50 million children growing up below national poverty lines in the world’s richest countries. Denmark and Finland rank best, with child poverty rates of less than 3 per cent. At the bottom are the United States and Mexico, with child poverty rates of more than 20 per cent. The figures refer to relative poverty, defined as

I told the police I was not injured, but upon removing my hair, I found that I had a fractured skull.

The pedestrian had no idea which way to run, so I ran over him.

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An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.

Buy Streetvibes

I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment.

Streetvibes

Page 13

Something Like a Prayer

The Homeless Are The Strongest

by Michael Henson

by David Cummings

For whatever it is has set the stars to arc across the sky that lifts the crow over a field of corn that charges the mole to mine the lawn of the park that charts the clay pipes of the mud dauber’s nest that lends the sea its salt and fecundity that places and replaces the damp oxygen of these lungs that stirs the caddis in the gravel of the creek that fits the vegetal lances to the tips of the maples that drives the winter rains that washes the street with amber light, the light that ignites the windows of the laundromat and draws the radiant weeds out of the brick dust and broken glass of the vacant lot: All praise. All praise.

The homeless are the strongest through thick and thin. Lets face the facts, this is a harsh, tormenting, world were living in a tremendous sin, what some police portray the homeless in as if all the poor is belligerent criminals, what’s wrong with them! Whether they are beggars or not, they should not be under contradiction. Many of the poor are bona fide, they need benediction, often excluded from society, and life isn’t a fair game. With no food, you get arrested for asking for spare change. Now drugs are becoming a problem, because some people are getting desperate. There are homeless shelters, but the families are getting separated. Through cruel intentions pride, some police rarely showed this. But they still overcome, that’s why the homeless are the strongest.

Woman

by Nikki Giovanni

she wanted to be a blade of grass amid the fields but he wouldn’t agree to be the dandelion she wanted to be a robin singing through the leaves but he refused to be her tree she spun herself into a web and looking for a place to rest turned to him but he stood straight declining to be her corner she tried to be a book but he wouldn’t read she turned herself into a bulb but he wouldn’t let her grow she decided to become a woman and though he still refused to be a man she decided it was all right

Off now, children! Off to war! Kill in your country’s name!

For murder on behalf of kin is what allows our boys to win And rest someday in cherished lore. So off now, off to war!

Off now, children! Off to war! Make your fathers swell with pride!

For though you’re young, they love to hear that you’re a splendid bombardier And dodge death like a matador.

So off now, off to war!

Off now, children! Off to war! Bring smiles to your mothers’ eyes!

They hate to lose you, sure that’s true, but if flags of red, white and blue Are at your funeral, souls will soar.

So off now, off to war!

Page 14

No-name Poem

by Steve Kors III Coke is white and grass is green.

But I liked to drink Because it made me mean.

I drank from the left And drank from the right.

I drank all day.

And drank all night, I drank in the sun, I drank in the rain.

I would get burned Or soaked with no pain.

I have a shot of Beam In that stinky bar.

Feels like a wet dream, Then I have to find my car.

When I was drinking I got real numb!

The Dayton police Knew I was dumb.

I was real dirty.

I had lost my pride...

Sometimes I would wake up, And wish I’d died.

I was like a fish.

I thought I drank well.

But it all turns out I was a cracked bell.

The devil had owned me To where I was beat.

I lost all my family.

And lived on the street.

I have a new family who helps me stay dry And when I’m with them I sometimes cry.

Now that I’m sober And all is well I found Jesus Christ who keeps me from Hell.

The Wind of a New Day

by Tony Cavalli The house of racism over there Have people inside With the most peculiar stare That house not like mine It’s built to stand alone Long past it’s time…

Long live the wind That blows down the divisions You can’t stop the wind That knocks down the fences, flags, and borders No matter where I go It’s the same old story…

Everyone’s working for the house A house that has no foundation…

If there was one thing that I prayed for In this crazy mixed up world That we somehow join together Men and women, boys and girls I want to do right Is it too much to ask I want to do right Make up for my past Better the past – better the future Riding the winds of vision We’re going to build a new house for the seekers It is a new day New day It’s a brand new day It is a new day Teacher; it’s a brand new day for the seeker…

Seeker; it’s a brand new day for the teacher…

Teacher; it’s a brand new day for the seeker…

Seeker; it’s a brand new day for the teacher…

The words of the newest CD, “New Day,” by the reggae group, Big Mountain, were twisted, and manipulated by Tony Cavalli to bring you this Poem/Song.

Streetvibes

Epiphany

Right Now

by Robert Blanchard

by Rachel Lawson You know what I honestly hate When someone gives you advice that you really don’t appreciate If you aren’t in my situation than you have no idea what I’m going through And it easy to say, “to thine own self be true” But it’s a completely different story when its something you have to do Repeatedly making the same mistakes I promised I’d never make again It’s as if I’m dragging along my old faults and thinking of new ones I can create Finding out the hard way it’s easier to be weak than to be strong And it’s harder to start over and learn to let go Advice such as let go and let God really sounds nice when you’re full of faith Unfortunately it doesn’t help when you’re unsure of your future It’s something no one knows Sometimes I’d rather be that preacher telling his congregation what to do Instead of being the indecisive follower fidgeting in the pew But what’s really ironic is when you just want to let it all out Simply have someone you can vent to Someone always wants to speak up and tell you what to do Sometimes you just need an ear to hear your pain And sometimes you want to be selfish and have all attention focused on your situation You don’t want to hear about someone else’s motivation You don’t want to hear about what they did when they faced a moment like yours Because right now they’re not, you are

Dawn pinked but briefly in the eastern skies, ‘til it surrendered to the blue.

Sleepy street lights dimmed and closed their eyes, it was the time to make it through.

Staccato accents bleated to traffic’s roar and smoke, silencing the soft shuffle of feet.

Broken men in broken shoes listened and in turn spoke, of their epiphany in the street.

“I found a loaf of wheat bread,” pointing to a door, “I got us some sardines to share.”

Here were loaves and fishes reverently eaten by these poor, in a communion of brotherly care.

The day was slowly passing in its concession to the night, the world wound down still to rest.

A single star was shining brightly as flowing light, surely, tomorrow, again would be blessed.

One Day Soon

by Robert Manassa

Just to Justify

by Fran Yeager On the campus The place we call U.C. They were in need In need of a reason To spend money Clearly now you must see The structure was ‘spose to be About moving free So, they decided to take it up racially When the truth be known It really wasn’t about black or white It was people being people Moving fast and tryin’ to be on time But, money is money And it’s all a big play So, they got to have a reason For the bills that must be paid While you and me are the puppets Left with the pain The tension from the speed And wanting everything yesterday For as much as we gain Is as much as we can lose For they’ll starve us all To take it all away Just to justify Spending money today It’s love and war And we all got to hold our own pain And keep on working together No matter what any man say They’re fighting it all On needful things!

I’m trying my best to reach higher ground.

In this life of mine, I’ve been up and down.

Reaching for the sky, beyond the stars, I’m heaven bound One Day Soon I’ve been told; don’t put off today for tomorrow ‘cause tomorrow will bring sorrow.

I’m going to a land that’s full of milk and honey I’m sure to reach that land, without any money One Day Soon God said, Come unto me, I’ll give you rest, especially when you’ve done your best.

I’ve done a lot of good things down here on earth, I’m ready for God to call me home.

Hoping one day for being reborn One Day Soon

“Steps Closed” Streetvibes

by Ben D Boswell Page 15

TREATMENT: Both N.A. Hopeline 820-2947 A.A. Hotline 351-0422 C.C.A.T. 381-6672 Talbert House 684-7956 Transitions, Inc 859-491-4435 VA Domiciliary 859-559-5011 DIC Live-In Program 721-0643

TREATMENT: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 Prospect House 921-1613 Starting Over 961-2256

TREATMENT: Women First Step Home 961-4663 Full Circle Program 721-0643

HOUSING: CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 Miami Purchase 241-0504 OTR Housing Net. 369-0004 ReSTOC 381-1171 Tender Mercies 721-8666 Tom Geiger House 961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services, Inc 751-9797

Caracole (AIDS) 761-1480 Friars Club 381-5432 Drop Inn Center 721-0643 Haven House 863-8866 Interfaith Hospitality 471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center (Teens) 961-4080 St. John’s Housing 651-6446

Need Help or Want to Help?

If you need help or would like to help please call one of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless members listed below.

SHELTERS: Women and Children YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 (Toll Free) 1-888-872-9259 Bethany House 557-2873 Salvation Army 762-5660 Welcome Hse. 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335

357-4602

SHELTER: Men City Gospel Mission 241-5525 Garden St. House 241-0490 Joseph House (Veterans) 241-2965 St. Francis/St.Joseph House 381-4941 Mt. Airy Center 661-4620 Volunteers of Amer. 381-1954 SHELTER: Both Anthony House (Youth) Formed in 1984, The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a membership organization. Our member groups serve the homeless through emergency shelter, transitional living facilities, permanent housing, medical services, social services, soup kitchens, and mental health/addiction services.

The Coalition also consists of individual citizens who want to take an active role in ensuring that Cincinnati is an inclusive community, meeting the needs of all of its citizens. Join the fight to end homelessness; contact the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless at (513) 421-7803, 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

OTHER SERVICES: AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati 421-2437 Appalachian Identity Center 621-5991 Beech Acres 231-6630 Center for Independent Living Options 241-2600 Churches Active in Northside 591-2246 Cincinnati Health Network 961-0600 Community Action Agency 569-1840 381-4242 241-2563 Contact Center Emanuel Center

Freestore/ Foodbank 241-1064 Fransiscan Haircuts 651-6468 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 Hamilton Co. Mental Health Board 946-8600 Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 Hamilton Co. TB Control 632-7186 Health Rsrc. Center 357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van 352-2902 House of Refuge Mission 221-5491 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Madisonville Ed. & Assis.

Center 271-5501 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids 357-5720 St. Vincent De Paul 562-8841 The Emergency Food Center 471-4357 Travelers Aid 721-7660 United Way 721-7900 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Women Helping Women 872-9259 MIDDLETOWN/HAMILTON (Butler County) St. Raphaels (Food Bank/Soup Kitchen) 863-3184 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 New Life Baptist Mission (Soup Kitchen) 896-9800 Hope House (Homeless Families/Singles) 423-4673

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cover story

Casualties of War

Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless