The Contributor: February 27, 2019

THE PATH TO PUBLIC HOUSING

THE PATH TO PUBLIC HOUSING

PHOTO BY ALVINE

7

History Corner

IN THE ISSUE

8

11

14

Moving Pictures

Path to Public Housing

Netflix & Nollywood

Contributor Board

Cathy Jennings, Chair Tom Wills, Bruce Doeg, Demetria Kalodimos, Ann Bourland

Contributors This Issue

Linda Bailey • Amanda Haggard • Tom Wills • Vicky B. • Jen A. • John H. • Hannah Herner • Jessie F. • Ridley Wills II • Don Morfe • Alvine • Joe Nolan • Candy L. • Michael “Smiley” G. • Theresa S. • Mr. Mysterio • Alessandro Jedlowski • Akintunde Akinleye

Contributor Volunteers

Cathy Jennings • Tom Wills • Joe First

• Andy Shapiro • Michael Reilly • Ann Bourland • Patti George • Linda Miller •

Deborah Narrigan • John Jennings • Barbara Womack • Colleen Kelly • Janet Kerwood • Logan Ebel • Christing Doeg • Laura Birdsall • Nancy Kirkland • Mary Smith • Andrew Smith • Ellen Fletcher • Anna Katherine Hollingsworth • Michael Chavarria

Will Connelly, Tasha F. Lemley, Steven Samra, and Tom WIlls Contributor Co-Founders

Editorials and features in The Contributor are the perspectives of the authors.

Submissions of news, opinion, fiction, art and poetry are welcomed. The Contributor reserves the right to edit any submissions. The Contributor cannot and will not endorse any political candidate. Submissions may be emailed to: editorial@thecontributor.org

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St. Patricks Catholic Church in Nashville has always been a servant church.

What the streaming giant’s involvement in Nigeria’s massive film industry means.

Even as the landscape for public housing in Nashville changes, the same struggles remain.

Cathy Jennings Executive Director

Andrew Krinks Editor Emeritus

How

‘The Contributor’ Works

BY TOM WILLS, CO-FOUNDER

The paper you just paid for was bought by someone else first, otherwise it wouldn’t exist. That’s how The Contributor works. A vendor who experienced homelessness paid 50 cents for this paper and then sold it to you. By buying it and taking it with you, you’ve just encouraged that vendor to buy another. BOOM! That’s the solution. Now keep reading. This paper has something to say to you.

Street papers provide income for the homeless and initiate a conversation about homelessness and poverty. In 2007, The Contributor founders met at the Nashville Public Library downtown to form one. In a strike of lightning we named it The Contributor to infer that our vendors were “contributors to society,” while their customers could contribute to their work. But, thunder from lighting is always delayed …

It took three years, but Nashville embraced us like no other city in the world. The Contributor became the largest selling street paper per-capita on the globe. And today 50 percent of our six months or longer tenured vendors have found housing. BOOM! The thunder has struck.

The Contributor is a different kind of nonprofit social enterprise. We don’t serve meals or provide emergency shelter. We don’t hire people in poverty to create products or provide a service. Rather, we sell newspapers to homeless people who work for themselves. We train them to sell those papers to you, keep the money they earn, and buy more when they need to replace their stock.

Our biggest fans don’t always get this. Like lightning without the thunder, they see the humanity of the vendor but misunderstand the model. Case in point: In 2013 during a funding crunch, a representative of one of Nashville’s biggest foundations exclaimed, “I’m such a big fan that I never take the paper!” We responded, “Well, that’s why we are in a funding crunch.”

BOOM! Thunder was heard. Taking the paper makes our model work — not taking it breaks it.

And selling the paper twice doesn’t just fund the paper, it funds housing and change. BOOM! Our vendors report their sales to qualify for subsidized housing and even for standard housing deposits and mortgages. They don’t consider your buying the paper a “donation.” It is a sale. When they sell out, they buy more and build the paper trail of a profitable business. Until making these sales, many of our vendors had never experienced the satisfaction of seeing their investment pay off. And when it does, it liberates! They have become “contributors” to their own destiny. And Nashville has become a city of lightning and thunder. BOOM!

Now that you are a SUPPORTER , become an ADVOCATE or a MULTIPLIER

You are already a SUPPORTER because you know that taking the paper makes the model work. You bought the paper and you are reading it. Now your vendor is one copy closer to selling out, which is exciting! Now you can become an ADVOCATE when you introduce your friends to your favorite vendor, follow us and share our content on social media, contact us when you witness a vendor in distress or acting out of character, or explain why others should pick up a copy and always take the paper when they support a vendor.

And, you can become a MULTIPLIER when you advocate for us AND directly donate to us or become an advertiser or sponsor of The Contributor. Our income stream is made of 50-cent- at-a-time purchases made from our vendors, matched by contributions, ad sales and sponsorships from multipliers like you. Because our vendors are business owners, your donations are seed-money investments in their businesses and multiply in their pockets. Every donated dollar multiplies four-to-seven times as profits in the pockets of our vendors. Thanks for contributing.

Cómo Funciona ‘ The Contributor’

POR TOM WILLS, EL COFUNDADOR

El periódico que usted acaba de pagar fue primeramente comprado por alguien mas, de otra manera no existiría. Así es como funciona The Contributor. Un vendedor que está sin hogar  pagó 50 centavos por este periódico y después se lo vendió a usted. Al comprarlo y llevarlo con usted, usted animo a este vendedor a comprar otro. BOOM! Esa es la solución. Ahora continúe leyendo. Este periódico tiene algo que decirle. Los periódicos vendidos en la calle proveen ingresos para las personas sin hogar e inicia una conversación sobre lo que es la falta de vivienda y la pobreza. En el 2007, los fundadores de The Contributor se reunieron en una librería pública en Nashville para formar uno. Y como golpe de un rayo, le llamamos The Contributor para dar a entender que nuestros vendedores eran “contribuidores para la sociedad,” mientras que los consumidores podrían contribuir a su trabajo. Pero, el trueno siempre tarda más que el rayo. Nos llevó tres años, pero Nashville nos acogió como ninguna otra ciudad en el mundo. The Contributor se volvió uno de los periódicos de calle más vendido en el globo. Y hoy el 50 por ciento de nuestros seis meses o más de nuestros vendedores titulares han encontrado casa. BOOM! Ha llegado el trueno. The Contributor es una empresa social sin fines de lucro muy diferente. Nosotros no servimos comida or proveemos alojo de emergencia. No contratamos gente en pobreza para crear productos or proveer un servicio. En vez, nosotros vendemos periódicos a las personas sin hogar para que ellos trabajen por ellos mismos. Nosotros los entrenamos como vendedores, ellos se quedan el dinero que se ganan, y ellos pueden comprar más cuando necesiten reabastecer su inventario. Nuestros mas grandes aficionados no entienden esto. Como un rayo sin trueno, ellos ven la humanidad de el vendedor pero no comprenden el modelo. Un ejemplo: En el 2013 durante un evento de recaudación de fondos, uno de los representantes de una de las fundaciones más grandes de Nashville, exclamó: “Soy un gran aficionado, y es por eso que nunca me llevo el periódico.” Al cual nosotros respondimos: “Y es por esa razón por la cual estamos recaudando fondos.” BOOM! Y se escuchó el trueno! El pagar por el periódico y llevárselo hace que nuestro sistema  funcione, el no llevarse el periódico rompe nuestro sistema. Y el vender el papel dos veces no da fondos para el periódico, pero da fondos para casas y causa cambio. BOOM! Nuestros vendedores reportan sus ventas para calificar para alojamiento subvencionado y hasta para una casa regular, depósitos e hipotecas. Ellos no consideran el que usted compre el periódico como una “contribución” pero más lo consideran como una venta. Cuando se les acaba, ellos compran mas y asi logran establecer un negocio rentable. Hasta que lograron hacer estas ventas, muchos de nuestros vendedores nunca habían experimentado el placer de ver una inversión generar ganancias. Y cuando logran hacer esto, da un sentido de Liberación! Ellos se han vuelto contribuidores de su propio destino, y Nashville la ciudad de el trueno y el rayo. BOOM! Ahora que te has vuelto nuestro SEGUIDOR, vuelve te en un ABOGADO o un MULTIPLICADOR. Ya eres nuestro SEGUIDOR, porque sabes que al llevarte este periódico sabes que esto hace que nuestro modelo funcione. Compraste el papel y lo estas leyendo. Ahora nuestro vendedor está a una copia más cerca de venderlos todos. Que emoción!

BY JOHN JENNINGS

Ahora que te has vuelto nuestro ABOGADO cuando presentes a tus amigos a tu vendedor favorito, siguenos y comparte nuestro contenido en social media, contactanos cuando seas testigo de un vendedor actuando de manera extraña o fuera de carácter. O explicale a tus amigos porque ellos deben de llevarse el periódico cuando ayuden a un vendedor.

Te puedes volver un MULTIPLICADOR cuando abogues por nosotros, Y directamente dones a nosotros o te vuelvas un anunciador o patrocinador de The Contributor. Nuestra fuente de ingresos consiste en ventas de 50 centavos hechas por nuestros vendedores, igualadas por contribuciones, venta de anuncios, y patrocinios de multiplicadores como usted. Porque nuestros vendedores son dueños de negocios, las donaciones que den son dinero que es invertido y multiplicado en sus bolsas. Cada dólar donado se multiplica de cuatro a siete veces en la bolsa de nuestros vendedores.

Gracias por Contribuir.

PHOTO

ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SERVANT CHURCH

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

This late 19th-century church was built about 1890 to serve Nashville’s Irish community, then still strong in South Nashville. From 1892 until the 1960s, six itinerant Irish family clans, called by some gypsies or “Irish Travellers,” came from all across the country the first Monday of May to hold an “Irish Wake” for their dead in St. Patrick Catholic Church, before the deceased were buried in Calvary Cemetery. B. J. Hodge and M. Hodge, architects, designed the church at 1219 Second Avenue South. Its architectural highlight is a pyramidal spire that tops a redbrick octagonal tower. It is the city’s “only extant ecclesiastical example of the Second Empire style.” The building has a slate mansard roof, brick pilasters, and round-arched windows. In 1998, a

fire damaged the building, but it was successfully restored.

Since it was founded, St. Patrick has been a servant church. In addition to serving as a temporary home for a Catholic school, the church has also hosted civic and social club meetings, community picnics, and an annual St. Patrick's Day celebration. It has also housed the homeless. One weekend in June 1984, my wife and I went there as Presbyterian volunteers to help serve supper to the homeless. At supper, a young homeless woman asked Irene if she went to the Swan Ball held a week earlier.

Irene, taken aback, said she did. The young woman then asked Irene if she met Picasso’s daughter, Paloma Picasso, who brought a sparkling array of jewels from Tiffany’s to sell

at the ball.1 Irene, although stunned by the question, again said yes.  Irene then learned from the young woman that she had attended Bennington College. After supper, Irene went home while I spent the night as one of several volunteers who did so. I remember that one family who spent the night there as guests of the church had a family member who was to be executed by the state of Tennessee the next day. As I left early the next morning to go to work, I happened to see the young woman who questioned Irene about the Swan Ball. She was sitting on the steps of a school down the street.

1 Hebert Fox, Reflections 25 Night at the Swan Ball (Swan Ball Book Committee, 1989), 182.

NEWS BRIEFS

Contributor to hold annual fundraising breakfast

On March 5 at 7 a.m., The Contributor will hold its annual fundraising breakfast at Belmont University’s Janet Ayers Academic Center.

Mayor David Briley will serve as the keynote speaker. Attendees and supporters of the paper will hear from vendors and volunteers from The Contributor as well.

RSVP to cathy@thecontributor.org to attend the breakfast.

State Rep. David Byrd has been accused of sexually abusing three 15 and 16 year old former high school basketball players.

Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada has recently defended Byrd and even gave him a position as the chair of the Tennessee House Education Subcommittee — a move many are calling incredibly inappropriate in light of the allegations.

Several groups have called for Byrd’s resignation.

Several calling for State Rep. David Byrd to resign

‘Contributor’ vendor Mario to speak at Vanderbilt

On Feb. 28 at noon, Mario, a longtime vendor for The Contributor, will speak about his experiences at Vanderbilt University.

St. Patrick Catholic Church Marker. Photo by Don Morfe

LIFE...WITH A VIEW

JESSIE F.

Thirty two degrees and fallin light up the kerosene heater that sound outside, is winter callin I'm gonna make it, cuz I'm a believer.

Walk down the street in these broke down shoes out of the 2 of us, who'd be there for you Look around, are you still denying the clues The time it takes to say "hello" is it a matter of: where, what, or who

I'm trying to build a bridge tall enough to climb your wall. See how far you'll go, to pretend that I'm not here Forget what you've heard, never mind what you saw Tell me, when you see me what do you fear

YES! anyone can lose their beloved home it's crazy how people think, what they allow themselves to believe. Guess you find comfort by staring into your phone it's sad what's happening, not even time to grieve.

The day begins to yawn, as we ALL find a place to rest. Come, lay, rest yourself inside my tent. Being K I N D, it's not a test, it's part of a life, well spent.

FOR A PERFECT REASON

JOHN H.

Many do bad things, as if what they did wasn’t wrong When they act this way, seems they have a heart of stone They mistreat people ‘cause they obey whatever rules their job say What they don’t know is they’ll be held accountable for this on judgement day

When these things happen to me I just smile I smile because I know in my heart it’s God’s style God will deal with these type people in due season Glad I obeyed what God commanded for a perfect reason

On Menstruation

BY JEN A., FORMERLY HOMELESS VENDOR

Let’s talk about menstruation. It’s the natural biological function of a woman’s reproductive system during her child-bearing years. It begins at puberty and continues through menopause. Once every lunar month the ovaries release eggs. As an egg makes its way through the reproductive system, the lining of the uterus becomes engorged with blood to provide a nutrient rich environment for the fertilized egg to embed itself. If the egg is not fertilized, the excess blood and tissue from the lining of the uterus are discharged through the vaginal opening. Women don’t choose to menstruate. It just happens. In order to manage this evacuation of blood from the uterus, women with the means purchase feminine hygiene products such as pads, tampons, liners, cups and douches. But for low-income women the purchase of these products can be a luxury. They manage as best they can. Young women who are not able to afford fem-care products miss school. Women with jobs miss work. This lack of access means they fall behind and our economy loses their promise and their productivity.

A Tax on Being Female

The fact that women menstruate provides a basic, vital social benefit. And yet, society stigmatizes and punishes women for their natural biology. A Tennessee lawmaker, Sen. Brenda Gilmore of Nashville, has put forth a bill this legislative session that would provide some relief to Tennessee women from the monthly expense of managing menstruation. Her bill, SB0060/HB0095, would remove the state and local sales tax on all feminine hygiene products. It is a measure that has been proposed in previous sessions but has failed to gain the support of the 84.1 percent of Tennessee legislators who are male.

Women Helping Women

The revocation of Tennessee’s sales tax on feminine hygiene products will benefit all women. But it doesn’t go far enough to help women who are economically or otherwise marginalized in American society. The government continues to turn a blind eye to this problem. But Tennessee women have stepped up in meaningful ways to deliver care and comfort to their challenged menstruating sisters.

This past August, Dr. Lakisha Simmons of Belmont University, through her nonprofit, The Achiever Academy, launched The Period Project. She challenged Nashville women to donate feminine hygiene products that were then made available to young women attending targeted metro middle schools. Her effort was so successful that it has become self-sustaining. Donations from the community are now regularly dropped off at a Metro Nashville Public School

central warehouse for delivery to schools. Dr. Simmons, through her ongoing Period Project, continues to help young female students navigate the demands of managing their periods.

Sen. Katrina Robinson of Memphis has proposed SB0075/HB0129. This bill would make feminine hygiene and other hygiene products readily available to all women in Tennessee correctional facilities at no cost and in a quantity that is appropriate to the needs of the women. It also proposes that these products be made available without having to secure a medical permit and that the products be available in housing units, not just in medical areas. SB0075 would allow menstruating women to manage their natural function without having to declare a medical crisis. Menstruation is not an illness.

On the third floor of the downtown Nashville library, back by the community area and public computers, the women’s restroom has a new feature. Affixed to the tile wall next to the hand dryers is a clear plastic dispenser filled with pads and tampons. The sign on the front reads: “Compliments of the Friends of the Library. Please only take what is needed in order to sustain this service. Thank you!” For the economically challenged women of our city, it is a welcome and generous gesture. Aside from providing much-needed feminine hygiene products, it says to these women, “We see you and we care.”

The fiscal note on Sen. Gilmore’s bill, SB0060/ HB0095, estimates that women spend $120.00 a month on feminine hygiene. That’s a lot of money for a young student, for low-income women, for homeless women living on the streets with few resources, for mothers who struggle to provide for her children, for trans men who are often forced to the fringes of society. The women of Tennessee have stepped up to do what they can to provide care for these disadvantaged groups. But the burden of managing menstruation, a function of vital social benefit, should not continue to be relegated to women alone. It’s time for all of society to step up.

*To voice your support for SB0060/HB0095 and SB0075/HB0129, contact your Tennessee state Senate and House representatives.

*Since the writing of this piece, the plastic dispenser that held feminine hygiene products in the women's restroom on the third floor of the library has come off the wall. Fem-care products are now held in a blue basket on a shelf next to the hand washing area. If you would like to donate a sturdier dispenser to hold the feminine hygiene products, please contact the Friends of the Library at their website, nplf. org, or at their office in the library, 615-880-2613.

Painted Picture

NEVER LOOK AWAY ’S ART AND ATROCITY ARE INSPIRED BY THE LIFE OF PAINTER GERHARD RICHTER

BY JOE NOLAN Film Critic

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others intimately captured the desperate paranoia of lives lived under totalitarianism in Soviet era East Germany. Von Donnersmarkck’s new film revisits the early days of post-war German partition with an epic story that interweaves the lives of two men — one yearns for a free future and the other is haunted by his brutal past. Never Look Away is a movie about art and evil in the GDR, inspired by the early life and career of contemporary artist Gerhard Richter. The film reminds of the horrors done by those who’d stamp out both individual liberty and individual human dignity. It also illuminates the bravery and resilience of those who resist, survive and fight back.

The film opens at the infamous Degenerate Art Exhibition organized by the Nazi Party in Munich in 1937. A docent explains that modern art means “something new every year,” but that National Socialism wants a return to “German art” rooted in “timeless values.” He explains that modern art celebrates madness and debases German women by portraying them as prostitutes. Such art, says the docent, results from an ocular affliction, which should be eradicated or from subversive anti-authoritarian values, which makes this kind of creativity a crime against the state.

The art exhibition is attended by a young boy named Kurt (Cal Cohrs plays Kurt as a boy; Tom Schilling plays him as a young man) and his free-spirited young aunt, Elisabeth (Saskia Rosendahl). Kurt’s father lost his teaching job and the family’s apartment in Dresden because he was unwilling to join the Nazi party, so Kurt’s family is living with Elizabeth’s family in the countryside. Elisa-

beth is empathic and intuitive — a natural creative being who understands that there is overwhelming beauty to be found in the blare of a bus horn as well as in the chiming of a single note on a family piano in the parlor. Kurt is still a child, but he wants to be an artist. One disturbing scene between the pair finds Elisabeth in the midst of a mental breakdown, but not before she gives Kurt radical permission to follow his own vision of art. “Never look away” from the truth, she tells him.

Over the course of the more than threehours-long film, the Nazis cede East Germany to the Soviet Union, and Kurt’s struggles as a young artist are paralleled by the story of a doctor named Carl Seeband (Sebastian Koch). Seeband is a Nazi S.S. officer and a true believer in the purification of the German race through eugenics. Never Look Away reminds us that it was the Nazi’s T-4 program that targeted the physically and mentally handicapped, resulting in the murder of nearly a quarter of a million German citizens. According the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, T-4 created the blueprint for the genocide of Jews and Roma during WWII.

Never Look Away begins as a harrowing psychological drama, culminating in a Coppola-esque montage between a gas chamber in a psychiatric hospital and an almost surreal staging of the Allied force’s bombing of Dresden in 1945. But once grown-up Kurt finds work as a propaganda sign painter before gaining admittance to an art academy, the film starts to read more like a period romance. The film also owes a debt to the crime thriller genre. This tonal shifting keeps this film from ever feeling overlong, and its unique blending of paranoia and people in love makes Never Look Away feel odd at times, but ultimately multifaceted and original.

Never Look Away opens at the Belcourt on Friday, March 1. Go to www. belcourt.org for times and tickets.

Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.

THE PATH TO PUBLIC HOUSING

BY HANNAH HERNER

IMAGES COURTESY OF MDHA

Community Care Fellowship is quite literally on the edge of Cayce Homes’ redevelopment, yards away from some of the first new apartments built as part of the Envision Cayce process. Even as every building bordering it is leveled and rebuilt, the organization will continue to serve those experiencing homelessness, a population that could certainly grow as obtaining sustainable, affordable housing gets more and more difficult in Nashville.

As guests cycle in and out of the fellowship, located in Nancy Webb Kelly United Methodist Church at 511 South 8th St., the Kirkpatrick Park apartments get their finishing touches.

These new apartments are built for a mix of public housing residents, workforce (middle income) residents, and those paying market rate — all in identical units. As these new units are built, priority will go to current Cayce residents, and no outside applicants will be accepted until all of Cayce’s 700-plus households are placed into new units.

It would be quite a long wait for nonCayce residents to get a chance at the new developments there, but it is not uncommon for prospective residents to spend a year or more on waitlists for public housing as it is.

Demand for affordable housing in Nashville largely outpaces supply, and the market rate prices are getting further and further out of reach. Metro Development Housing Authority is making moves to get more affordable units available, but the high demand keeps its properties at 98 percent occupied at all times, says Jamie Berry, communications for MDHA. For many experiencing homelessness, even subsidized public housing feels out of reach, because of other barriers standing between.

Haley Spigner, housing resource navigator for Open Table Nashville, says people she meets at Community Care when she sets up shop there on Thursdays don’t ask many questions about the new buildings springing up around them — they assume they’re too new and upscale to be for them. However, a need for affordable housing is a daily question.

Spigner says she’s had more success placing people in housing through Section 8 vouchers than adding on to the waitlists for MDHA project-based rental assistance properties. A Section 8 voucher subsidizes the rent according to a person’s income, and moves with them, wherever they find a landlord to accept it.

The challenge is finding a willing landlord in the high-demand Nashville housing market. This system is different than the MDHA project-based rental assistance units, whose income-based rent benefits are confined to its specific properties, like Cayce Homes or Edgefield Manor.

Former Contributor vendor Dana Grollnek lived on the streets and in hotels for almost two years when she moved to Nashville. Now, through working together with Spigner, she uses her Section 8 voucher to live in a private apartment in the 12South neighborhood. Grollnek could not have walked in to the Section 8 office and requested a voucher herself. For this program, there must be a liason who refers the client and completes a lot of behind the scenes paperwork — someone like Spigner, or a representative from Mental Health Co-Op, Nashville Cares, Metro Social Services and the like.

“There’s this whole structure of systems that are so complicated to navigate,” Spigner says. “Dana is one of the most resourceful, independent, and least needy people I’ve known in my life, but she still couldn’t figure it out on top of having to work and stay fed and stay in a place. She still couldn’t jump through all of the hoops.”

The process to getting into housing can also be interrupted by a job, a mental or physical health struggle.

“There are so many barriers and hoops you have to jump through,” Grollnek says. “I had never been in public housing before. I didn’t know what I was walking into, what I was in store for. It’s overwhelming. For somebody with mental health issues, I started on the path and all of this gets thrown at me and I’ll throw my hands up, like ‘No, I can’t do this. It’s too overwhelming.’”

MDHA’s efforts

Berry says MDHA is experimenting with opening waitlists for each property more often and keeping some waitlists open indefinitely, starting with Edgehill Manor senior property. MDHA is also introducing a new project-based voucher program that would encourage landlords to dedicate a small cluster of a big group of newly-built apartments to be affordable. Some waitlists for that program will be opened in early March (see sidebar).

“As you can imagine, in this market that we are in currently in Nashville, it is a bit more difficult to encourage landlords to accept vouchers,” Berry says. “This allows us to utilize our vouchers in a different way in order to serve the growing need of affordable housing.”

MDHA opens waitlists for its various properties at different times throughout the year, usually at noon, and always online. Berry says it is important to be ready to apply at a computer the second those waitlists open, in order to get as close to the top of the waitlist as possible. Spigner and her interns follow that advice, and frantically add around 45 of her clients to every waitlist that comes open. In the last year, she has had eight or nine people out of that 45 get placed.

“That’s enough to keep me doing it,” Spigner says. “It’s not a big turnaround. I mean, if it was just one, I would still do it.

Brick walls

For those wanting to work toward securing public housing, Spigner says it’s important to get criminal records expunged. It’s common for people experiencing homelessness, sleeping outside, to pick up criminal trespassing charges. If they get three or more in a year, it registers as “repeated criminal activity” and can keep them from getting public housing. It’s free to apply to get records expunged, but takes a few weeks to go through.

In order to get public housing, one must also have a government-issued I.D. To get that you must have two forms of ID — most commonly be an original birth certificate and social security card (which will be invalidated if laminated). Gathering these documents can be a challenge for those experiencing homelessness, who often have to carry all of their belongings with them.

Grollnek says she’s lost her documents a number of times due to being flooded out or robbed.

Something that might stand in a person’s way with public housing is previous debt with MDHA or on other public housing properties across the country. Spigner says this comes up on a weekly basis in her work as well. There are a number of agencies who have funds to pay off these debts, up to a certain limit.

Gollnek described the process of getting into public housing as running into brick wall after brick wall, but those walls were surmountable with the help of someone like Spigner.

“Don’t struggle alone,” Gollnek says. “Don’t think there’s not another option out there. Go get help. There are so many agencies and people in this city that will help you. There are so many beautiful people in this city that are ready and willing to help, you just got to go get it. These beautiful people will help get you there, but they’re not going to do it for you. You gotta put in the work.”

THE WAITLISTS

Need to have to get on a waiting list for MDHA housing:

• Computer access

• Government- issued ID

• Birth certificate and social security card

• Expunged record

• Apply on the second floor of the Birch Building, 408 2nd Ave. N.

• Email address

• You DO NOT need a permanent living address

Upcoming waitlist openings: March 6 at 12 p.m. - March 11 at 3 p.m. (Project-Based Voucher program)

• Oakwood Flats: two and three bedroom family units

• Robinson Flats: elderly only property

• Trevecca Towers I and II: elderly and disabled property

All elderly and disabled properties: Late March/ early April (date TBA) Mid-April: Two family properties (location and date TBA)

COMMUNITY CARE

Community Care is providing some relief for the housing crisis as well.

“We are all well aware of the need for affordable housing -- that that almost doesn’t exist in this urban quarter area,” says Ryan LaSeur, executive director of Community Care fellowship.

In December, they introduced a social enterprise program, which employs Community Care guests part time making jewelry and gives them temporary housing, with the goal of increasing hours and therefore income to get them into permanent housing.

Since 2016, MDHA has created separate waitlist for each of its properties, as opposed to the old system of having one big list for each type of property: family, contemporary and elderly/disabled. This way, people can get on up to 20 waitlists at a time, Berry says.

Spigner says Gollnek was an ideal client to work with because she was dependable and quick with completing the steps toward housing that Spigner laid out. Even so, many of Spinger’s clients — including Gollnek at the time she was applying for housing — do not have reliable phone service. It can be challenging for Spigner to stay in touch with her clients and follow up on next steps.

If your name comes up to be offered MDHA housing and you still have debt, you have 45 days to pay it or risk a letter of denial.

IN THE MORNING

MICHAEL "SMILEY" G.

Stormy night, no light in sight.

Driving rain, looking for shelter, Can’t find my way.

Hard rains, pushing on, hope gone.

Flooding path, Looking for shelter Can’t find my way.

Then the clearness, Took its flight, Glint of light, breaking through, trembling fear left me still, I knew the day, my strength renewed in the morning.

ON THE RIGHT PATH

THERESA S.

On the road to depression Have to get on the right path

On the road to unemployment Have to get on the right path

On the road to confusion Have to get on the right path

Take GOD’s hand no matter the road That will put you on the right path

TUFF

CANDY L.

When life gets tuff

The tuff step up Life is always going to throw you curve balls, when it does change the way you play the game.

Don't ever give in don't ever stop praying.

God only wants good things for us so give him praise. And those curve balls won't come as often.

Sometimes knowing how tuff you are is all that it takes.

Vehicular Homelessness: Is Nashville ready?

BY VICKY B., FORMERLY HOMELESS VENDOR

You see them every once in a while in parking lots — vehicles filled to the brim with belongings. Most don't even think twice about it. Some may think, “Well they're not homeless, they have a car.” The realism is yes they are homeless. They are counted among the “unsheltered” homeless and most have jobs. It's heartbreaking that they still can't afford a place to rent, to call home. Most may not even see them during the day. They creep into the parking lots after 10 p.m. and leave by 7a.m. in hopes of blending in or going unnoticed. You see them more around daybreak with the steamy windows, using car heaters and body heat to keep warm.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported that more than 15,000 people live in vehicles, vans, cars and RVs. Seattle/King County’s 2018 Continuum of Care report, Count Us In found an estimated 3,372 people live in their cars, a 46% increase compared to 2017.

With these growing numbers, a handful of “safe parking” programs have popped up around the country to help with this growing trend. Most programs run several lots and are able to provide safe overnight parking to hundreds of vehicles; however, this program often only allows cars to park overnight, leaving out RVs.

San Jose, Calif. recently approved churches, schools and nonprofits to open their parking lots to provide safe spaces to park for the night. Private Security firms monitor the parking lots at night which provides neighboring residents as well at those parking feel much safer from crime.

I talked to a man named Ande who runs one of the local programs in California.

“To have 8-10 hours of down time and no pounding on the window, flashlights in the eyes a program like this is priceless,” Ande said.

Many people using the Safe Parking program tell Ande it's “a Godsend.” Others say it's nice to be able to get eight hours of sleep and be fresh for work the next day. Another benefit is the Safe Parking Program put its clients in touch with agencies specifically geared for their situation.

A Denver Ballot would guarantee the right to take shelter in a non obstructive matter in outdoor public

matter and give people the right to occupy a legally parked car. For many a car is the last important asset that they have and acts as a shelter from the rain, snow and sleet plus it is a ride to work. Living in a car you face new challenges every day. It's almost impossible if you're over 5'8'' to stretch out fully so you bend and cramp up enough to fit. After all it's all you have.

Judith Tackett, Director of the The Homeless Impact Division of Social Services said Nashville needs to figure out how many people are living in their cars and find ways to provide services to them.

“We do not have a solid number of those living in their vehicles, which is why I am embarking on an effort to bring different outreach providers together to see how we can strengthen our outreach coordination approach across Nashville-Davidson county,” Tackett said “There are several organizations that have outreach specialists who are working with people living in vehicles as they encounter them. Some of these programs are embedded in the following nonprofit organizations: Park Center, Mental Health Cooperative, Open Table Nashville, Street Works, the VA, Operation Stand Down Tennessee, Southern Alliance for People and Animal Welfare (SAFPAW), Home Street Home Ministries, and the Metro Homeless Impact Division. This list does not include the many faithbased, congregation-connected outreach programs.”

The US Dept of Housing and Urban Development list those living behind the wheel as the “unsheltered” homeless. The numbers are increasing steadily as more and more Americans don't make a living wage and are forced to find other forms of housing such as tents and vehicles while waiting for more affordable housing.

It's already proven that more affordable housing is desperately needed. How will already strapped non-profits take on more when they're barely making it as it is? They help thousands of our homeless Nashvillians no matter the season. So far a Safe Parking program isn't in place in Davidson county, but will there be a need for one in the near future as more and more lose housing and have to resort to living in their vehicles? Can a Safe Parking program start here before we're as overwhelmed as LA and Denver?

HOBOSCOPES

PISCES

A rainy day doesn’t bother me too much, Pisces. Neither does another rainy day after that. But sometimes it rains for so many days in a row that when the sun does finally come out, it’s more than a bit disorienting. I’ve lost track of what season it is. I’m not sure when the sun is supposed to set anymore. Keep your head up this week, Pisces. There are some sunny days around the bend and you’re going to want to be ready.

ARIES

Hot air balloons are a great idea if you want to get a peaceful and dramatic view of the countryside. They’re a terrible idea if you need to get from Tulsa to Albuquerque in less than five hours. Hot air balloons drift with the wind. There’s no predicting how far they’ll go or where they might land. I feel like you’ve really gotten a good lay of the land lately, Aries. But if you want to get to your next destination, you’re gonna need to come down and swap your methods.

TAURUS

I place the order on my phone and then I watch the little blue dot move across the map. With the press of a button, I’ve changed the course of a complete stranger. Now they’re driving across town toward me, ready to fulfill my wishes. We live in an odd little world, Taurus. Apps tell us where to go and apps bring us what we need. All the more reason to be kind to everyone you encounter. It’s the one thing the apps won’t do without us.

GEMINI

What makes you happy, Gemini? Why aren’t you doing that right now? Well sure, you have to finish your shift at work and then you have to pick up your kid’s prescription on the way to her Taekwondo tournament and then you need to do the dishes and bring the cord box up from the basement so you can find the adapter to plug in the printer and you’re out of cat litter so you may need to head back to the pet store. But after that, you’ll have time for what makes you happy, right? Put your happiness back on your calendar, Gemini. Schedules some time to do what you love and stick to it.

CANCER

I’ve never had an out-of-body experience, Cancer. I’ve just got the one body, and I figure as long as I’m able, I should keep having as many experiences as I can right within it. What I’m trying to say, Cancer, is that as nice as it sounds to go floating formless through the astral plane, I think you can get where you’re going just fine by opening your eyes and seeing what’s really in front of you.

LEO

Who are you when you go to sleep, Leo? I’m not asking you what you dream about, I’m asking who that sleeping person is. Is sleeping-you the same as awake-you? Does your unconscious self put as much weight on your career or your social status as you do in your waking-life? Or is there something in you deeper than that? Maybe today you could try to be more like a sleeping version of yourself.

VIRGO

A cup of coffee is 98 percent water. The human body is more than 60 percent water. I’m no math biologist, but I’m pretty sure this means you have more in common with a cup of coffee than you do with that dry, brittle phone screen you spend all day staring at. What would it mean for you to be more human, Virgo? Could it be as simple as putting away the screen and having a real life conversation over coffee? The world may never know.

LIBRA

When I was a kid I got a reversible raincoat. It was red on one side and blue on the other. I loved it! In adulthood, I’ve learned that most items of clothing are reversible, if you don’t mind the seams showing and the tags hanging out. This week is reversible too, Libra. Don’t worry too much about messing it up. If you get spaghetti sauce on it, just turn it inside out and start over.

SCORPIO

My mom emailed me a list of 25 places you have to see before you die. And they’re right. As far as I can tell, that’s absolutely the best time to see all 25 places. I don’t know what’s at the list of the top of your list, Scorpio, but I know that the best time to get to work on it is now.

SAGITTARIUS

What’s the heaviest living organism on planet Earth? I’ll give you a hint: It’s 80,000 years old, weighs 6,600 tons, and lives in Utah. Pando is a forest of genetically identical aspen that all share a single root-system. Despite appearing to be thousands of individual trees Pando is, essentially, just one plant. I know you feel alone this week. I know you feel like one tree in an overwhelming forest, but you’ve forgotten your roots. You are more connected than you feel. You’re part of something bigger. Stretch out from your deepest parts and you may start to notice that you aren’t so different than those other lonely trees all around you.

CAPRICORN

In the ancient world the market was a place for bargaining. What are these hens worth? In today’s supermarkets, you pretty much have to take whatever price is stamped across the cellophane. You could try cutting a deal with the checkout clerk, but you probably won't have much luck. That's why you're out of practice at bargaining, Capricorn, but this week you may need to give the old wheel-and-deal a try.

AQUARIUS

If you’re like me, Aquarius, (and I’ve often suspected you are) your to do list has degraded into a document less about

pressing

that pull you forward and more a litany of that which you have left undone. But I’ll make you a deal. You’ve got 24 hours from this reading. to do anything on

list that is actually necessary. After that,

need to scrap your list and start over.

NETFLIX AND NOLLYWOOD: WHAT THE STREAMING GIANT’S INVOLVEMENT IN NIGERIA’S MASSIVE FILM INDUSTRY MEANS

BY ALESSANDRO JEDLOWSKI

Last year, the arrival of the movie Lionheart on Netflix, its first original film from Nigeria, was earmarked as the beginning of a new era in the relationship between one of the world's largest streaming platforms and Africa’s most prolific film industry. But is Netflix going to transform Nollywood? The Conversation takes a more thorough look.

Global streaming service Netflix set its eyes a few years ago on Nigeria’s film industry, better known as Nollywood. Distribution of Nigerian movies on Netflix started around 2015. At the time the American giant bought the rights of blockbusters such as Kunle Afolayan’s  October 1st , Biyi Bandele’s  Fifty and several others, after they had already

been distributed in Nigerian cinemas.

During the Toronto International Film Festival 2018, Netflix announced the acquisition of worldwide exclusive distribution rights for Nollywood star Genevieve Nnaji’s debut film as director, the comedy  Lionheart . The film marked the first Netflix original film from Nigeria. Many saw this as the beginning of a new era in the relationship between one of the world largest streaming platforms

and Africa’s most prolific film industry.

But, is this actually true? Is Netflix going to transform Nollywood? And how significant will its impact on the Nigerian film industry be?

Difficult questions

These are not easy questions to answer. Nollywood’s economy and modes of production are unlike those of most other film industries. Over the past 20 years, Nigeri-

an films have circulated mostly on videotapes and Video Compact Discs (VCDs). This distribution system made the industry widely popular across Africa and its diaspora. But it prevented Nollywood from consolidating its economy and raising the quality of film production. Piracy dramatically eroded distribution revenues and producers had trouble monetising the distribution of their films. Nollywood prioritised straight-to-video distribution because

A boy is seen through a camera monitor as he acts in a scene during the making of "Ake", a film based on the childhood memoirs of Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, in Abeokuta, southwest Nigeria July 16, 2013. Nigeria's movie business, often known as Nollywood, is one of the biggest in the world. Most films are produced in local languages - Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo among them - while many others are made in English. Nollywood also has a growing audience among Africans living abroad, keen for a taste of home, whether watched in south London hairdressers or rented from Texas video stores. Nigeria shot its first film, "Palaver" (Trouble), in 1904. Picture taken July 16, 2013. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

cinema theatres had almost disappeared in the country (as in most other parts of Africa) as a result of the catastrophic economic crisis that affected Nigeria in the 1980s.

New multiplexes have emerged since the beginning of the 2000s. However, today there are only about 150 widescreens for a population of almost two hundred million people. The cinemas that exist are often too expensive for most of the population that used to buy and watch Nollywood films when they were distributed on tapes.

Within this context, many in the industry thought that streaming could be the best solution to the industry’s problems with distribution. However, a closer look to the history of what has been labelled the “Nigerian Netflix” (iROKO.tv, the leading streaming platform for Nigerian contents) shows that the reality is more complicated.

When the company decided to move its headquarters from Manhattan to Lagos it encountered countless difficulties. They were mainly connected to the costs of infrastructure development in Nigeria and to the hostility of local distributors who had controlled Nollywood’s economy since its creation.

Weak internet Internet connection in Nigeria is still

too weak and expensive to guarantee easy access to streaming platforms. As a result, Nollywood content distributed by iROKO. tv and Netflix circulates mostly in the diaspora. Netflix is aware of this problem and is investing in infrastructures to secure a better connection for its Nigerian audiences.

But larger investments seem to be necessary to produce a significant impact on audiences’ behaviour. Accessing Nollywood films via piracy or local screening venues will continue to be, at least in my view, the key strategy adopted by the largest percentage of Nigerian viewers.

Netflix could have better chances in penetrating the country’s elite market, as richer people in Nigeria and across Africa have easier access to reliable power supply and internet.

This might be the reason why MultiChoice, the South African telecommunication giant controlling much of Nollywood distribution across Africa through its Africa Magic channels, has reacted nervously to Netflix’s increased interest in African markets. MultiChoice wants Netflix to be more closely regulated.

These two aren’t the only telecommunication “superpowers” in the field. France’s Canal Plus and the Chinese StarTimes have also made a few investments

in Nollywood over the past few years. The competition among all these actors will probably have a positive impact for viewers across Nigeria and the continent. It could bring lower subscription fees for streaming and TV content packages.

There are also likely to be new investments in content production and infrastructures. And there’s larger continental and global exposure for Nollywood films in the offing.

Foreign investments

It remains to be seen how good these developments will be for Nollywood producers. Until now, foreign investments in Nollywood have mostly translated into “more of the same” content. Working conditions for crews and actors have remained the same – basically, low budgets and quick shooting schedules.

In fact, big investors seem to be mainly interested in Nollywood’s already established popularity with African audiences. Making Nollywood more palatable for international audiences doesn’t seem to feature.

This means that in most cases they are not ready to invest bigger money in production budgets. Rather, they invest in better structuring distribution networks to extract as much profit as possible from the Nigerian industry.

And most African audiences are indeed happy with how Nollywood is, even if they tend to complain regularly about the low quality and the repetition of film contents and aesthetics. The fact that Nollywood as it is keeps on attracting audiences makes investors reluctant to change the scale of their production budgets.

There are a few bigger productions, with higher production standards, that have emerged over the past few years in Nollywood. But they have hardly been the result of investments made by foreign firms like Netflix, Canal Plus or MultiChoice.

Nigerian producers are those who are mostly concerned about raising the quality of Nollywood films. They want to give better content to their audiences and reach global screens. In most cases, the people investing money in these kinds of projects have been independent producers or groups of investors related to the new business of multiplexes in Nigeria.

In my view, the question is: will these people benefit from Netflix, so as to continue investing in higher quality content? Or will Netflix and other international companies end up taking over the industry to make it only a bit more of the same?

Courtesy of The Conversation / INSP.ngo