The Contributor: Issue 1

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Vol. 1 • No. 1 December ‘07

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www.nashvillecontributor.org

Inside this Issue:

Mr. Lee Veteran on the Edge of the Streets

Who are We? . . . . . . . 2 Theology . . . . . . 5 Food . . . . . . . 6-7 Lee Stringer . . . . . . 8 Arts . . . . . . . 8-9 Book Review . . . . . . . 10

BY STEVE SAMRA Formerly Homeless Writer contributorsteve@comcast.net

Briefs . . . . . . . 11

Ever think about how a person might become homeless?

Consider the case of Mr. Lee, a 78 year old honorably discharged Korean War veteran who’s owned the same house off of Dickerson Road on McAlpine Street for the past 52 years.

Mr. Lee worked as a skilled tradesman until he retired at the age of 65, when he began collecting the monthly sum of $594 from his Social Security benefits after spending $182.54 a month for supplemental Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance.

Over the years, Mr. Lee’s property taxes have increased from $200 to $2,055. Each increase brings with it a greater hardship on his daily existence. Mr. Lee saves a little out of each month’s social security check in order to put enough away to be able to pay the bill at tax time.

Already below poverty level, Mr. Lee can barely afford the basic necessities of life, let alone any luxury items or home repairs.

Death . . . . . . . 12 Cartoon . . . . . . . 14 Self-Deprecator . . . . . 14 Photo by Steve Samra Mr. Lee’s roof has been leaking since 2003. He doesn’t have enough money to cover the cost of the repair, and each year the leak gets worse. Now the water is beginning to damage things inside the home, like his ceiling, computer and floor.

Mr. Lee contacted the Metro Housing Commission at the urging of Congressman Jim Cooper.

Metro Housing handed Mr. Lee off to the Metro Action Committee. They came out to his house, performed the weather-stripping and insulation upgrades and informed him that they’d be out to fix the roof shortly.

A few weeks later a company hired by Metro Action called about performing the roof repairs.

Unfortunately, It seems that Mr. Lee’s ex wife’s name was on some document related to the property and according to Mr. Lee, “this company from somewhere out of state said I was ineligible for the repair.”

Exasperated, Mr. Lee didn’t know where to turn. His health was failing and his wallet was nearly empty.

Continued on Page 3

The Nashville Homeless Power Project critiques the Nashville Rescue Mission

BY TOM WILLS WillyWonkaIs@gmail.com names of these two organizations pretty much sums up the conflict in old style colonialistic terms. The Mission is here to save souls and the souls being saved are exercising their personal power to not be defined by the crusade.

Continued on Page 3

Provider Map . . . . . . . 16

Food Not Bombs Set to Explode

BY RAY PONCE DE LEON Homeless Writer thecontributorstaff@gmail.com For a few years we’ve seen them every Sunday at War Memorial Plaza, sharing a vegetarian picnic with their homeless friends. Well, our local chapter of this international pacifist organization is about to explode with a quantum expansion of their services.

As popular FNB member, Laura Barnett, explains, “We are negotiating to purchase another FNB house near downtown. We’re picking up where the old Firebrand group left off, since we have similar objectives and goals.”

Besides the ever-popular Free Store, the growing FNB compound will be offering all of the Firebrand programs.

Disrobing or Mudslinging?

On Halloween day the Nashville Homeless Power Project launched an all out siege on the institution that Nashvillians think of when they think of homeless outreach, the Nashville Rescue Mission. Known on the street as the “Power Project” and “the Mission” respectively, the short hand nick

Hoboscope . . . . . . . 15

Photo by Steve Samra

Continued on Page 7

Our Editors:

Executive Director

Steve Samra Director of Vending

Will Connelly Administrative Director

Tom Wills Treasurer

Contributors: Nathan Baker Curtis Bathurst Scott Campbell Will Connelly Jenn Cross David Dark Jonathan Field Tasha French Lindsey Glenn Ben Griffith Denny Harris Mark Lemley Ken Locke Mary Duncan Morris Ray Ponce de Leon Steve Samra Lee Stringer Charlie Strobel Thomas Sweet Tom Wills Brandie Wooten The Contributor Inc. P.O. Box 332023 Nashville, Tennessee 37203 nashvillecontributor.org

Steven Samra is a homeless outreach worker who’s spent much of his life mired in poverty, homelessness and drug addiction. He kicked his drug addictions in 2000 went to college and has been able to steadily improve his lifestyle as a result. He runs two local blogs; stonesoupstation.blogspot.com and findsteve.blogspot.com and spends most of his time wandering the streets of Nashville with his dogs, Kialai and Kuma, trying to make the lives of the less fortunate a little better each day.

Tom Wills is a local artist, Nashville native and a member of The Downtown Presbyterian Church where he and other artists have studio space.

He has been volunteering for 13 years at the church's weekly lunch for the urban poor. He was also a founding member of Belcourt Yes!, a non-profit formed to reopen the Belcourt Theatre in Hillsboro Village. He runs a blog reprinting two devotional texts chosen by theologian/poet Charles Williams: tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear

Welcome to our first issue!

The Contributor's goal is to provide a diversity of perspectives on the condition of homelessness while also highlighting the contributions of homeless and formerly homeless individuals. All of the vendors selling this paper are either homeless or formerly homeless, and our goal is to have 50% of the contributors to each issue be from homeless and formerly homeless individuals.

The Contributor began as a spark in the mind of Tasha French in August of 2007. By September a volunteer steering committee was formed and the dream began to take shape. After contacting The North American Street News Association (NASNA), our mission to provide diverse perspectives on homelessness while providing genuine opportunities for advancement solidified.

The steering committee saw the need for a vehicle dedicated to exploring the various voices on issue of homelessness in Nashville, TN and beyond. The model for this paper is the street paper model from cities such as Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington and Montreal where papers concerning homelessness and poverty issues are printed and sold on the street by vendors who have experienced poverty.

The vendor system provides honest work and removes the veil of non-interaction between socioeconomic divides.

Our Editorial Policy Editorials and features in The Contributor are the perspectives of the authors. Submissions of news, opinion, fiction, art and poetry are welcomed in hopes of providing a diversity of perspectives on the issues of homelessness and poverty. The Contributor reserves the right to edit any submissions.

Submissions and requests to donate, purchase ad space or subscriptions can be emailed to: thecontributorstaff@gmail.com Or mailed to: The Contributor P.O. Box 332023 Nashville, TN 37203

An interview with Jerry West

Special thanks to Laura Thompson Osuri, Kevin Barbieux, and Matthew Leber.

Featured Contributor: Ray Ponce De Leon

our Sports Columnist in upcoming issues

BY TOM WILLS WillyWonkaIs@gmail.com

Tom: Can you tell us a little bit about your story?

Formerly homeless, West is a member of the Living Room (a support group for homeless and formerly homeless individuals) and a founding member of The Nashville Homeless Power Project (an advocacy organization that encourages

Jerry: I was born and raised in Nashville. I didn’t graduate high school, because I got into drinking.

I’ve got two brothers and two sisters.

And, my two sisters and one brother, they never got off into the drug thing. They finished school, (but not) me and my younger brother.

I’ve been to six or seven treatment centers and seven or eight halfway houses. My life was out of control.

I’m on disability. I’ve got rheumatoid arthritis real bad, and I’ve been dealing with that.

But my life changed six years and four months ago. I was forty years old and I just got sick of it. I had been to treatment thirty some days, and then I went to a halfway house run by Daryl Murray from Welcome Home Ministries. And, I had been there twice before, but the last time I turned my life over. But it’s still a struggle.

That’s why I volunteer at the door (at The Downtown Presbyterian Church’s Wednesday lunch).

Because it’s hard to just quit. You’re never cured. So, I’ve been volunteering for about five years. I’m a part of the Living Room. My life has

homeless and formerly homeless people to confront the root causes of poverty and oppression). He also volunteers at The Downtown Presbyterian Church’s Wednesday lunch for the urban poor.

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 2

got some direction now. I’m one of the founding members of The (Nashville Homeless) Power Project.

If people met me six years ago, they wouldn’t know me. Now, I’ve got good people in my life.

Tom: One day you said you had cried. When I asked why, you said, “It’s football season.” Can you talk about your interest in sports and being a sports columnist?

Jerry: I told you that because I’m a football fanatic, maybe too much.

People try to get me to go to church.

And that’s one of my feelings, because God’s not through with me yet. People told me, “One day you will have to explain to God, that you picked football over God.” And I say, “Well, I’ll have to explain it to Him.” So, I’ve always been a football fan. I love all sports: baseball, basketball, college football; but profootball, I’m out there. I just love it.

I hope to bring the insights of somebody, who even though I was homeless and on drugs, I still cared about football. That’s a passion.

Continued on Page 14

Tasha French

Tasha French

Will Connelly cut his teeth on the streets as an outreach worker for MDHA providing information and services to the homeless. He now assists homeless individuals in applying for disability benefits and housing through Park Center and the Mayor’s Homelessness Commission. To his embarrassment, his mentors are Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville because they once sang, “I don’t know much, but I know I love you.”

Tom Wills

Editors:

Tasha French is a photographer and graphic designer from Huntsville, Alabama. She became interested in homelessness in 2002 upon moving to Nashville and working downtown. She has since shadowed various outreach workers on the street, photographing and interviewing homeless individuals. This project can be found at www.sanshouses.com. She dedicates this inaugural issue of The Contributor to her Brother, Mike (Chief ), without whom her life would be myopic.

Our Statement of Purpose

Ray Ponce De Leon hails in equal parts from Detroit Michigan and Tampa Florida. Since childhood he's had a passion for telling jokes, drawing cartoons, and writing songs. Ray came to Nashville to become a country and western songwriter, but upon discovering a great dislike for country and western music, he turned his attention to writing an as of yet unstaged rock opera about his like-named predecessor Ponce De Leon.

Currently homeless, Ray likes living in Nashville because "hardly a day can go by where you don't make a new friend. There's jerks, like in every town, but the good people outweigh the jerks."

The Contributor is proud to showcase Ray's journalistic, satirical and comic talents in our premiere issue.

“Mr. Lee” Continued from Page 1 Then Mr. Lee heard about a program through the Veteran’s Administration that provided a small pension for honorably discharged vets who fell below a particular income level. Mr. Lee contacted the Veteran’s Administration and after speaking to someone from the agency. He was informed that he qualified for the pension and would need only to fill out the necessary forms in order to start the process. Mr. Lee quickly filled out the forms and sent them back to the VA. After approximately three months of silence from the VA, Mr. Lee decided to call. According to Mr. Lee, the VA didn’t have a clue who he was, couldn’t find any of his paperwork and told him he’d have to start the process all over again if he was still interested.

Mr. Lee does not own a car. Even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to drive it due to health reasons and a lack of money for needs from gas to maintenance to vehicle insurance to licensing expenses.

Because Mr. Lee walks only with the aid of a walker, taking the city bus anywhere is an ordeal. As a result, Mr.

Lee is essentially housebound and can travel only with the assistance of friends and relatives, both of which are in rather short supply these days for him.

Meanwhile, the Mr. Lee’s home continues to deteriorate. He now has trouble with the toilet, the leaking roof is worsening and has the potential to make the house completely uninhabitable quickly.

He has placed the house for sale but overinflated property values and the mounting problems are scaring away any prospective buyers.

He feels that if something doesn’t change soon, he will have only two options. He will either end up in the old soldiers home, or he will be on the street soon and he’s determined to not go sit in the old folks home and wait to die.

Whether Mr. Lee ends up homeless remains to be seen but his odds on staying in his house seem to be about as good as getting the hole in his roof fixed before winter sets in.

If he does end up on the street, it’ll cost Nashville’s Metropolitan government a lot more than the price of a new roof on a small house – that you can be sure of.

tried to spread the wealth of powerpunches to as uniform a base as possible. And on Friday, November 2nd, This fight has been brewing for 2007 at The Metro Homeless Commissome time, and the Power Project has sion meeting, the Mission’s spokesperintentionally taken the fight out into to son responded to the Nashville City the street. With a Halloween email Paper, saying the accusations “are flat press release to both its base and the out slanderous,” then displacing the press the Power Project has attempted blame with the comment, “There is to capture the imagination of the public. nothing comfortable about being Depending on how you call the shots, homeless.”

The Mission thus denies the validthe Power Project is either throwing mud onto the white Baptist robes of ity of the findings of the Power Project, The Mission or removing them for one though it does not put itself entirely above criticism. And, where there is to see the individuals underneath.

Enough of the drama, the Power weakness, a Christian can find strength Project charges that homeless guests in God to overcome it. In fact it has have been: physically bruised in con- turned this event into a fundraising flicts with mission staff, first denied the campaign for the women’s mission. On Monday, right and Novemthen intimidated from “Depending on how you call the shots, the ber 11th the ResPower Project is either throwing mud filing officue Miscial grievonto the white Baptist robes of The a n c e s , Mission or removing them for one to see s i o n ’ s Family dis c r imithe individuals underneath. ” Life Cenn a t e d ter (the against for not being eye to eye Baptists, and de- official name of the Mission’s shelter for meaned as unworthy of common cour- homeless women and children) antesy. Generally speaking, the charges nounced a $4.1 million campaign to are that particular staff members of the make room for 32 more transitional Mission (actually two missions, a men’s beds.

The crux of this conflict is as old and a women’s) treat their clients as as the conflict created by sending God’s prisoners.

Taking a survey of 186 homeless missionaries out into the wild frontier individuals and interviewing 10 home- seeking to save the lost. The Mission is less case managers from 7 different sending its missionaries into the side of service agencies, the Power Project has Nashville that the vast majority of its

Bridge Ministry Brings Hope

BY MARY DUNCAN MORRIS Homeless Writer thecontributorstaff@gmail.com PHOTOS BY : STEVE SAMRA Who would have thought that every Tuesday night under the Jefferson Street Bridge God brings new life to homeless people?

The Bridge Ministry, Inc. provides homeless men, women, and children an evening complete with a home cooked dinner, and a full praise and worship musical production.

The Bridge Ministry was founded in 2004 by Candy Christmas.

After a successful career as a gospel music singer, she settled down in Nashville to raise her family. She began The Bridge Ministry then, so that she could continue to reach people through music and bring blessings to the homeless people of Nashville.

With some 75 volunteers, Ms. Christmas and crew prepare meals, gather clothes, and pack trucks to aid over 300 homeless people each week. In addition to the contributors from the Nashville area, The Bridge Ministry plays host to additional volunteers who travel from neighboring states to take part in the mission that takes

“NHPP vs. NRM” Continued from Page 1

non-homeless citizens don’t want to see. Thus it has been easy to drum up support with a timely request for donations at thanksgiving from the frontier that the donor never visits. “Save The Children” ads don’t remind the average middle class citizen of their day-to-day lives, and neither do the $1.92 meals advertised by the Mission.

Yet, the Power Project wants homeless men and women to stand up, be seen, and thus be counted as citizens, not savages. They point at the Mission’s conflict of interest towards other valid avenues that the city is pursuing to reduce homelessness. The Power Project’s report quotes an anonymous homeless case manager, “I was told by Rader Walker that the Mission is against ‘housing first’ because it would reduce the need for emergency shelter

place under the bridge.

The Tuesday night production, complete with full sound and lighting, is spectacular to say the least. While folks enjoy a hot, healthy meal, The Bridge Ministry singers wow the homeless audience with uplifting gospel music. Throughout the show, Ms. Christmas takes time to recognize important people in the community who are integral to the ministry, and who make the evening a smash hit.

To bring the show to an award- winning end, goodies such as backpacks, sleeping bags and bicycles are given away through a drawing.

When the show ends, the homeless people prepare to make their way back to the streets. On leaving, each person is allowed to select clothing and is given a bag of groceries.

The Bridge Ministry is truly a highlight in the lives of Nashville’s homeless community. Without The Bridge Ministry’s uplifting spirit, musical production and gifts from the heart, it would be just another lonely night in Nashville.

To find out more about Bridge Ministry, visit their website at www.bridgeministry.org.

and give the Mission less opportunity to save souls.”

The city is then caught in between these two goals. Nashville has relied on the Mission as an alternative to jail for men and women who perpetually find themselves in conflict with the police.

It saves the city money and keeps people off the street at night. The Mission welcomes the battleground to save the city’s lost. Yet the Power Project is urgently asking the city to provide housing for the chronically homeless individuals where they can be stabilized enough to get treatment and break the cycle of chronic homelessness.

Thus it seems the Power Project risks being distracted here by attacking the churchmen and their beliefs. While a sort of power is gained by looking down at others and their hypocrisy, an-

other issue is still on the table. What is the real political alternative? Shut down the Mission? Replace the Mission? We can already hear the cry from the public, “Not in my back yard!”

The Mission has a grip on the imagination of the public that cannot be loosened by complaints of unfair treatment by homeless individuals or even by supposedly objective caseworkers.

As an independent entity, the Mission has no superior to answer to but God. The alternative must come from the city of Nashville to solve chronic homelessness along with or in spite of the Mission. Men and women who share the mission’s beliefs may find their path off the streets there, but all of the others will simply have to find another route.

Lets work on that.

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 3

Dalai Lama Reaches Out to Women's Shelter [Washington D.C.]

BY MELANIE LIDMAN (Street Sense, USA) “At 16, I lost my freedom.

At 24, I lost my country. So my first reflection is that I, myself, am also homeless,” said His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, stately in his maroon and gold robes, as he looked out at a sea of people at the N Street Village, a community center for homeless women.

The crowd laughed at this statement, but the residents nodded in understanding. For all of his fame, the Dalai Lama spoke to the group gathered at the N Street Village as equals. He laughed and joked with the audience, but when he spoke about compassion and equality, the tone of his voice changed and his hands moved emphatically.

“He made me feel important,” one shelter resident said.

“We are the same human Photo by Melanie Lidman/Street Sense beings,” he said over and over in his speech. “We all have the Due to space constraints in the Multipurpose Room, same right to be happy.”

The Dalai Lama was in Washington to accept the not all of the residents who wanted to attend could be in Congressional Gold Medal on Oct. 17 in the U.S. Capitol. the room where the Dalai Lama spoke. Those who wanted President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, Speaker to listen were invited to watch his speech on a large screen of the House Nancy Pelosi and several other members of outside in the courtyard.

“We tried to let women know what was going on so Congress members spoke at the ceremony after two hours they were as much a part of it as they could be or as little of Tibetan dance and cultural celebration.

Following the numerous speeches delivered by his as they wanted,” said Kjersten Priddy, volunteer manager at hosts, the robed Dalai Lama, 72, rose to the podium and N Street. But some women told Street Sense they were spoke of tension in U.S.-China relations over the sover- upset there wasn’t enough room for everyone who wanted eignty of his homeland, Tibet, and the importance of a to attend, and that members of the media were discouraged diplomatic approach based on trust and mutual respect. He from talking to the women.

When called for “meaningseats opened up in ful autonomy for the room where Tibet,” but not indethe Dalai Lama pendence from was speaking, China.

Michelle jumped “Many of the at the chance. world’s problems Around 90 friends, board members and donors joined 35 are rooted in inequality and injustice,” he said. “[We need to address] all these global issues from the perspective of the shelter residents in the large room.

The event was a collaboration between N Street Viloneness of humanity.” lage and the Washington Humane Society, highlighting the The Dalai Lama spent two hours at the N Street Village on Oct. 19 as part of a tour through Washington. organizations’ partnership, through which residents volunWhile awaiting his arrival, the residents of the night shelter teer to help with the rehabilitation and training of rescued milled around outside watching the media circus from animals.

The Dalai Lama seized on this cooperation between across the street with a mixture of interest and wariness.

“At first I had no interest in it, but they say he’s a good humans and animals in part of his speech. “Sometimes [an person,” said Michelle, a resident at the night shelter, before animal’s] affection is more honest. They don’t care about the Dalai Lama’s arrival. Still, she said she didn’t think she social status,” he said.

Jennifer, a resident of the night shelter and a particiwould go into the room to hear him speak, perhaps she’d watch his speech from a large- screen monitor in the court- pant in the day program, said she found that statement to be incredibly meaningful. “He’s right – when you show afyard or go about her regular business at the day center.

About 25 residents and 10 employees, Michelle in- fection, the puppy doesn’t know your status.”

Among the most excited residents were the 12 memcluded, lined up to meet the Dalai Lama as he entered the bers of N Street Village’s Applied Meditation Group, led by main building of N Street Village. The Dalai Lama went Buddhist nun Ani Tenzin Lhamo. down the line, greeting each person individually.

“It’s fantastic!” beamed one resident after receiving a Continued on Page 12 hug from the Dalai Lama.

“At 16, I lost my freedom. At 24, I lost my country. So my first reflection is that I, myself, am also homeless”

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 4

Mckinney Vento Act is Essential to Combating Homelessness

BY STEVE SAMRA Formerly Homeless Writer contributorsteve@comcast.net By the 1980s, homelessness had been a problem in the United States for decades, but it wasn’t until then that the federal government decided it was a crisis large enough to deserve federal resources and intervention.

President Reagan established a federal task force in 1983 to instruct state governments on how to procure federal property designated as “surplus” in order to assist the homeless. The task force did not however, address any of the actual problems associated with homelessness, nor did it offer any policy or programmatic options for implementation by states.

In 1986 homelessness had become so severe that a number of Acts were introduced into Congress to begin combating what had become a miserable existence for many, not to mention an embarrassment for the richest nation on earth.

An intensive advocacy campaign by a group of concerned citizens and legislators eventually garnered enough bipartisan support for what was at that time known as The Homeless Act. The legislation passed into law in 1987, and was eventually renamed after two representatives who supported it had passed away, Connecticut Representative Stewart McKinney and Minnesota Senator Bruce Vento.

The Act was amended four times. Originally, the Mckinney Vento Act provided an array of services to the homeless by utilizing fifteen different programs. In its current form, the Act contains nine titles that have received various levels of funding over the past two decades, from $712 million in 1988 to an all-time high of $1.49 billion in 1995. Unfortunately, declining support for numerous programs in the Mckinney Vento Act has resulted in significant decreases in the share of budgetary funds provided for homeless assistance grants, which has fallen 28% since 1995.

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty’s (NLCHP) executive director, Maria Foscarinis testified; “in passing the McKinney Act, Congress explicitly stated that it was intended to be only a first step in addressing the national crisis of homelessness."

Unfortunately, the Mckinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act has been both the first and the only legislation passed to address the problems associated with homelessness.

Reauthorization of the Act is essential to continue combating homelessness. Two new pieces of legislation designed to reauthorize Mckinney Vento have been introduced. While each would increase funding substantially, they vary considerably in other areas of their approach.

The first, introduced into the House in February 2006, is The Homelessness Emergency and Rapid Transition to Housing (Hearth Act H.R. 840). This act expands the definition of homelessness to include those people who are sharing a home with someone else and individuals who may be camping or staying in motels. Perhaps the most important provision however, is to minimize the criminalization of homelessness by discouraging cities from citing individuals for quality of life “crimes” related to homelessness such as trespassing, sleeping/loitering in public, unlawful assembly, etc.

The second piece of legislation was introduced in May 2006 by Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed; the Community Partnership to End Homelessness (CPEH Act (S.1518).

By far the most critical component of this Act, according to Foscarinis, is “a steady revenue stream for nonprofits to use to pay back financing used for rehabilitation,” and would “enable nonprofits to more easily obtain financing for the rehabilitation.”

As homelessness continues to increase nationally, reauthorizing the Mckinney Vento Act will assist agencies in addressing the needs and demands of this population.

Many nonprofits and faith-based organizations that currently assist the homeless are often overwhelmed and under-funded; Mckinney Vento’s reauthorization would provide some much needed relief.

More importantly, for those individuals currently homeless, Mckinney Vento may mean the difference between life and death on the street.

Housing As a Right

BY CHARLES STROBEL Founding Director Room In The Inn Campus for Human Development thecontributorstaff@gmail.com "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of themselves and their family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services." 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25 Today’s satellite systems have the ability to zoom in on a single house and then zoom out to see the entire world.

We saw those perspectives countless times when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast region. By zooming in and out for clarity, our nation understood all too well the magnitude of loss there.

Given the displacement of thousands from their homes, coupled with other worldwide housing crises from natural disasters and war, I believe it’s time for our conversations finally to zoom out for a vision of housing as a universal right for all people.

The UN Declaration established the reasonable case that all nations affirm housing as a basic right, based on the ethical nature of human beings living in community. It follows that whatever constitutes being “human” constitutes a “human right.” Having steak to eat doesn’t, but having food does. Having a large house doesn’t, but having basic housing does. Anything less than having our basic human rights secured comes at great cost to our human spirit. Denying these rights makes us “subhuman.” Allowing others to live in subhuman conditions is unreasonable, unethical, and, for believers, immoral.

Despite the best understanding of the international community for almost sixty years, we do not have unanimous agreement on this basic truth, even among our most committed homeless advocates. Everyone agrees that housing is a great need and must be a priority but not a right.

But these descriptions of a need or a priority downplay its essential importance, compared to seeing housing as a right.

Denying that housing is a right reminds me of the days

Slaves and Masters

BY KEN LOCKE Pastor Downtown Presbyterian Church thecontributorstaff@gmail.com “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. (…) Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, for you know that you also have a Master in heaven.” Colossians 3:22, 4:1.

of Galileo, when the vast majority of people, including the Church, rejected the best scientific evidence about how the earth and sun are aligned. Likewise, despite the best information of our day about human rights expressed by the UN—the equivalent of Galileo’s scientific evidence—we reject such truths and choose to remain in our ignorance, by claiming only our own authority.

I believe when we only go that far, we allow ourselves an excuse, an easy out, from following through on our commitments for housing. For example, when school integration was only a need and a great priority, even among proponents, legitimate reasons could be offered for not doing it, such as not enough resources to bring it about, not sufficient planning, etc. I am sure there were plenty of integration proponents in Little Rock in 1957, who wrung their hands over not being able to effectively integrate the schools in the face of Gov. Faubus’ resistance. But they didn’t demand it, as an issue of justice. Only when the federal government insisted that children had a right to an integrated school system and then intervened did that integration occur.

The same is true regarding the right to housing. Wringing our hands over the lack of affordable housing may be compassionate, but failing to insist that housing is a human right that society must provide all its citizens as a matter of justice makes our compassion insipid. Thus we say how much we need such housing, but we convince ourselves that we just can’t do it now. What makes matters even worse is that there is no guarantee of the law to insist upon it, as there was in Little Rock. So we say the right words, but do not follow through, and absolve ourselves in the process.

Persuading people that housing is a right is a painfully slow, political process, not just a religious discussion left to prophets. Ideally, communities of faith should take that lead.

At present, guaranteeing housing as a right is not enforceable by law. Consequently, there are no guaranteed resources. Just getting the conversation on the table is a start, but few are willing to begin that conversation.

Paul’s words seem hopelessly out of touch to us today. We know slavery is abhorrent and we do all we can to keep it from happening. But we must remember that slavery in Paul’s time was as common as the sun rising. It was an accepted part of every day life.

Paul could no more imagine a world without slavery than we can imagine voting to reinstate slavery.

But if we strip back the time and distance and cultural differences we’ll find Paul is writing about something very close to (our) home. Paul is saying that in Jesus there is a radical new egalitarianism loose in the world. In Jesus there is equality between people, regardless of their income or station in life. Jesus did not sacrifice more for one person or less for another. Jesus died equally for all of us, which means

Continued on Page 9

in him we are all equal.

What does that have to do with us today? It means we need to treat each other with the same equality of love and kindness Jesus shows us. At the very least, we need to treat all people, regardless of income or social status, with the same civility, common respect and decency. Because of what Jesus did, the police need to respect the homeless and treat them as they would anyone else. Because of what Jesus did, the homeless need to respect the police and value what they do for society. Because of what Jesus did, the residents and workers down-

Remembering Harmon

BY DAVID DARK thedarks1@bellsouth.net “Resurrection is verified where rebellion against the demonic thrives."

-William Stringfellow I’d like to say a word about Harmon Wray. With a spirited legacy of radical hospitality and intense attentiveness to fellow humans on the margins, he passed away in July, and his name will likely be familiar to many readers of The Contributor.

An amazing, inspiring man very worthy of our attention.

The lively, self-deprecating seriousness with which he took the teachings of Jesus (specifically in his friendships with and advocacy of individuals living within the prison system) was an inspiration (and maybe a bit of a scandal) to the people who knew him and knew of him. A deeply irreverent man, Harmon studied, practiced, and embodied a determined (and often amused) irreverence toward any notion, idea, or system which failed to practice appropriate reverence toward human beings. But he had a strong sense of APPROPRIATE reverence. You could feel it when you were around him.

Harmon's way of seeing things is nicely summed up in a line my friend Ray Waddle once heard him intone: “I don’t believe God gives up

town need to show common courtesy and kindness to the people sitting on park benches hour after hour or begging for change. They are not to be molested or verbally abused with taunts to “get a job.” Because of what Jesus did, the unemployed and others need to show common courtesy and kindness to the office workers and residents.

They should not be leaving graffiti, trash or empty beer bottles on other peoples’ property.

Catcalls and suggestive language are out of bounds.

Jesus’ sacrifice for us breaks down the hierarchies between us.

on anyone, and neither should we.”

And there are so many stories of Harmon’s friendship and hospitality to those considered beyond the pale, stories grounded in his faith in a God whose redeeming love is, unrelenting, indiscriminate, and without end. One especially good one comes from Richard Goode, a history professor at Lipscomb who shared in Harmon’s work at the Riverbend Maximum Security Prison where, since 2003, he led a project whereby faculty, from Vanderbilt and elsewhere, conducted classes comprised of divinity school students and inmates.

The week before Harmon’s death, Dean Shoemaker, a Riverbend inmate, told Richard that, upon arriving there, his cellmate had advised him to become acquainted with Harmon at the first available opportunity. While Shoemaker hadn’t been especially interested in furthering his education, he attended Harmon’s class anyway and ended up engaging him in a oneon-one conversation.

As Harmon asked him questions, Shoemaker made mention of the fact that both of his parents had died and casually noted that, from here on out, there was no one left who loved him.

As Richard tells the story, this is the part where anyone who knew Harmon knows what Harmon had to say to this. Without hesitation, Harmon said, “Well I love you.” And for the first time since he’d been incarcerated, Dean Shoemaker broke down in tears.

Continued on Page 11

Standing together with Jesus we find that the ground at the foot of the cross is level. None of us is higher or lower than another. This means we need to treat each other as the equals we are.

By drawing attention to the equality between master and slave, Paul destroyed the theoretical basis for slavery. It took a long time, but eventually slavery’s acceptance in society died out. By drawing attention to the equality between the rich and poor, homeless and housed, we help destroy the theoretical basis for allowing homelessness and social disparity to continue. May they not take as long to die out as slavery did.

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 5

The Biology of Homelessness

BY DENNY HARRIS Adjunct Professor Belmont University glenden5129@comcast.net

Homelessness in Nashville, America, and the World is a chronic problem that has actually been with humanity since the dawn of time. In fact, until recently, all humans lived in a homeless state. For over 100,000 years all humans lived nomadically as hunter gathers in small tribal units.

When we lived in a chronic state of homelessness, we shared the same health and biological profiles. The average life span was between 25 and 35 years, depending upon the era.

We suffered from chronic diseases, such as tuberculosis, malnutrition, and infectious diseases, and parasitic infestations, such as tapeworms and liver flukes that compounded chronic

health problems.

Homelessness is still a global problem. According to a 2002 United Nations report, more that 500 million people worldwide were homeless or residing in low quality housing and unsanitary conditions - conditions that, according to the World Health Organization, shorten life spans by 25 percent.

“Homelessness inevitably causes serious health problems. Illnesses that are closely associated with poverty - tuberculosis, AIDS, malnutrition, severe dental problems - devastate the homeless population. Health problems that exist quietly at other income levels - alcoholism, mental illnesses, diabetes, hypertension, and physical disabilities - are prominent on the streets. Human beings without shelter fall prey to parasites, frostbite,

infections and violence”.

- National Health Care for the Homeless Council These health conditions and others are a result of the chronic stress, fatigue, poor nutrition and lack of security that homeless people experience each and every day. Some studies compare the experience of homelessness on the body’s immune system with the effects of stress caused by bullying. Basically living in a chronic state of fear.

Stress caused by chronic fear or lack of security results in these symptoms (and more): main symptoms - stress, anxiety, sleeplessness, fatigue (including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), trauma physical symptoms - reduced immunity to infection leading to frequent

axe to grind, what is important is that the homeless deserve good, nutritious, wholesome and safe food.

While street feedings are popular among the homeless, the potential for problems can be significant.

However, these problems would be easily preventable with a brief training. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), over 250 The Christmas’s not only recognize this, they food borne diseases have been discovered and worked to ensure it occurs by following the some of them have the potential to actually MPH regulations. They understand the need for cause death, especially in an individual with less food safety and handling guidelines and seek to than perfect health. comply with the required rules designed to proThe CDC states that the most commonly tect the public from improperly cooked or han- occurring food diseases include Campylobacter, dled foods. Kent and Candy Christmas stand as which is found in poultry and is the “most comshining examples of compassionate, caring citi- monly identified bacterial cause of diarrheal illzens who work to assist the homeless in the best ness in the world;” way possible under the circumstances.

Salmonella, which causes salmonellosis and inThe problem however, is that not everyone cludes fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps; who serves food to the homeless follows the and. E. coli O157:H7: a bacteria found in cattle same rules. (red meat) that causes “often a severe and bloody While the vast majority of the people who diarrhea and set up streetpainful abside food dominal services for “If you want to help the homeless by serv- cramps, withthe homeless ing food to them, please avoid potential out much are ethical, and, in a troubles for everyone and get a permit.” fever” sanitary and small number conscienof cases, more tious about severe symptoms. the food they serve, occasionally bad food makes Finally, Calcivirus is an extremely common its way onto the street, just like it does in restau- cause of foodborne illness, although it is rarely rants. diagnosed. It causes acute gastrointestinal illPlenty of horror stories have circulated ness, usually with more vomiting than diarrhea. through the homeless rumor-mill about receiv- All of these illnesses could wreak havoc in the ing food at charitable events that was either sub- homeless community and all are preventable standard or spoiled. One tale has been told for simply by ensuring that the food given to the years here in Nashville about a man who re- homeless has been properly prepared and ceived a hamburger at a food giveaway that had served. maggots inside the meat. Even if this tale is the Along with the risk from diseased food, work of a wild imagination or someone with an events that provide meals for the homeless may

Homeless People Deserve concerns over safety Safe Food, Too affect everyone

BY STEVE SAMRA Formerly Homeless Writer contributorsteve@comcast.net Over the past sixteen months at least six different “street feedings” for the homeless have been stopped or canceled in Nashville, as well as a number of sack lunch giveaways. That’s too bad, considering that by getting a permit and using a little foresight in deciding where to set up the food service, those feedings could probably resume with little difficulty.

One of the best-known food services, the Tuesday evening dinner under the Jefferson Street Bridge, was closed temporarily by Metro Public Health (MPH) in September. This combination food service and gospel event has been occurring at that location four years and has become vitally important for many homeless citizens.

The service was quickly restored after the event’s organizers, Kent and Candy Christmas, obtained the required foodservice permits.

Mrs. Christmas stated on her organization’s website that MPH was responding to a “concerned citizen’s” complaint about the event.

When asked about the incident, Jerry Rowland, Metro Health Dept. Director of Food Inspection told Nashville’s WKRN news, “Our job in this county is to make sure food consumed is safe.

That’s what we want."

That is what the homeless want as well.

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 6

colds, coughs, flu, glandular fever, etc (especially on days off, e.g. weekends and holidays), aches & pains (with no clear cause - this lack of attributability suggests stress as the cause sometimes diagnosed as fibromyalgia), back pain, chest pains and angina, high blood pressure, headaches and migraines, sweating, palpitations, trembling, hormonal problems (disturbed menstrual cycle, dysmenorrhoea, loss of libido, impotence), physical numbness (especially in toes, fingers, and lips), emotional numbness (including anhedonia, an inability to feel joy and love, irritable bowel syndrome or IBS, paruresis (shy bladder syndrome), thyroid problems, petit mal seizures, skin irritations and skin disorders (e.g. athlete's foot, eczema, psoriasis, shingles, internal and external ulcers, urinary), loss of appetite (although a few people react by overeating), ex-

cessive or abnormal thirst, waking up more tired than when you went to bed, etc psychological symptoms - panic attacks, reactive depression (which some people describe as Adjustment Disorder with depressed mood), thoughts of suicide, stress breakdown (this is a psychiatric injury, not a mental illness), forgetfulness, impoverished or intermittently functioning memory, poor concentration, flashbacks and replays, excessive guilt, disbelief and confusion and bewilderment ("why me?"), an unusual degree of fear, sense of isolation, insecurity, desperation,

Continued on Page 14

come with other risks.

Service providers who set up on sidewalks or street curbs can increase the risk of a patron being struck by a vehicle. Street feedings may be attended by intoxicated or otherwise altered individuals that may not be completely aware of their surroundings while waiting for service. Alleviating the potential for this is relatively easy simply by proper site selection.

Non-Homeless citizens near the site of some feedings can become intimidated with large numbers of homeless gathering for food.

There is a perception among many, real or imagined, that the element of danger increases when surrounded by “the homeless.” These community members often contact local authorities to “do something” and local police and/or health department employees are duty-bound to investigate, regardless of their personal opinion on the matter.

This can bring unwanted attention to the group and the food server, and occasionally end with arrests or citations as well. The problem can worsen if someone in the group engages in aggressive panhandling or shouting. Residents and business owners often complain that the remnants of the food service end up as litter, while leftover scraps can attract undesirable rodents and insects, all of which tend to anger those who must live and conduct business in the area long after the foodservice has ended.

MPH offers a brief class on food safety and handling and a short application that then allows an individual to serve food cooked and/or prepared in an offsite kitchen to those in the public. Rules do become more stringent when food needs to be cooked at the site of the feeding, but this is because the risk of contamination is substantially increased when food is being prepared “onsite.”

Continued on Page 13

“Housing” Continued from Page 5 In 2005, the Mayor’s Homelessness Commission called for the creation of 1800 housing units in 10 years at the cost of $40,000.000. This is 10% of the $400,000,000 preliminary figures for a new convention center. After two years, we are at least 200 units behind schedule. These are being created only because there is such a great need and high priority—not because it is an issue of justice. If creating those units were a matter of justice, guaranteed by law, and we were behind schedule— we would be in court.

What the Commission needs is a massive educational campaign to educate the public about the need for housing as a fundamental right, because public policy follows public education. Such education should have the scope and breadth of the Titans’ NFL Yes Campaign. Remember? It seemed that every school, civic club, congregation, billboard, media ad, talk show, and retail store was invested in creating the public policy. Likewise, 1800 units will never be accomplished without a similar buy-in from all our citizens.

Convincing our citizens that housing is a human right would strengthen our city’s commitment to eliminate homelessness. Otherwise, our city will continue to provide the homeless with overnight shelters or leave them to fend for themselves on the streets—and wring our hands over why we cannot find the will to end such subhuman conditions.

Food Not Bombs’ Sunday 2pm meal at War Memorial Plaza.

A variety of vegetarian food is served. Photos by Tasha French

“Food Not Bombs” Continued from Page 1 Ms. Barnett explained, “There will be a Free School (Free S’-cool), featuring classes in the Latin Languages Spanish and Portuguese, GED prep courses, and juggling (about twenty kids attended a recent class). There will also be a bicycle collective in which riders will be taught to repair their own bikes. We also have a supply of spare parts. There will also be spaces for artists and performance space for musicians to use.

Different groups will have the opportunity to buy shares for using the house for whatever purpose they desire.”

Laura continued, “The Firebrand website will soon be upgraded with info and pictures covering the restoration of our new house. At another Firebrand location, there is a library, including zines and radical literature, indie comics, stories and poetry.”

Also, a representative from Summer Town will be coming soon to train homeowners to make their houses energy efficient. Firebrand plans to have solar panels installed in their new house. Obviously, Food Not Bombs now has food for the mind and soul as well as the body. Firebrands/ Food Not Bombs is seeking contributions.

Anyone interested, please go to their website: www.thefirebrand.org.

What's Cooking?

How did you go from cooking in restaurants to feeding people under a bridge?

Spotlight On: Chef Nick

I walked away from professional cooking. I'd had enough. My mother's an ordained minister, an evangelist. She travels all over America and the world.

I grew up in a very Christian home. I was raised Catholic but had the main stream Christian through my mother. I Just really wasn't in to the whole Godrelationship thing. Both my grandparents fell ill. I was kind of their primary caregiver. Fed them. Took care of their needs. Grocery shopped. Started to Question, "Why would God do this to me?" And it was kind of absurd because I had no relationship with God. Why am I asking God something and I'm not giving him my attention?

BY MARK LEMLEY writemarklemley@gmail.com

to see it before you go home. Good self pat-on-the-back there.

Nick F. Varallo, III--aka Chef Nick- is the founder of Music City Meals.

Chef Nick cooks and serves complimentary meals for Nashville's homeless citizens from his mobile kitchen every Sunday. We spoke to Chef Nick after his 4:00 meal under the Jefferson Street Bridge.

How many people did you feed today?

How did you start cooking?

My family has the oldest restaurant in Nashville (Varallo's which has been serving food since 1907.) and I've always been real good with my hands.

It was a good fit for me. I've always been one of those people who just wanted to see something finished before the day was done. Architecture and medicine and all that wasn't for me.

Cooking, you bake a cake and you get

Today, with the Titans game we probably did 45 plates. Last week we probably did 130. the most I've ever served here at the Jefferson Street Bridge was 200. That was right before the heat came. Then everybody disappeared with the heat. Starting probably around Christmas we'll start hitting 200 again.

I'd love to do it every day.

How many come to your other Sunday meal?

We probably do about 75 or 80.

Everybody gets to eat twice so whatever you see we fed them twice. I try to give them a meat, two vegetables and a desert.

So I started to read a book called "The Purpose Driven Life" And my life changed. They had called me because my grandmother had gotten sick in the night and I went up there in the morning and I saw my grandmother and I said "this is too much for me and my family, Lord, Please take my grandma home". 12 hours later she died. So at

Chef nick under the Jefferson Street Bridge where he serves on Sundays.

Photos by Tasha French that point I couldn't deny that God was in existence.

I prayed and prayed and two days later he came to me and said "Nick, You're a good cook. Go feed my children." He didn't call me a chef. I've got all the credentials to be a chef, but he said "cook". So that' what I've been doing I've been cooking for the homeless and I love it. I've never been hap-

pier in my life.

How did you get to know Candy Christmas (Who has another feeding and outreach ministry in Nashville)?

When I first started to do Music City Meals we were a sack lunch drive and I approached Candy.

Continued on Page 11

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 7

POETRY: LEE STRINGER AUTHOR’S NOTE: These are all people I recall from my days on the streets of New York city, who--shortly after “Quality of life” became a political catchword there--disappeared from sight.

it had been decided piece by piece in whatever nonsmoking filled rooms that for the sake of our city the gray, terminal man whose spine has him bent nearly chin to knee who haunts grand central day after day lugging bags of dead newspapers to and fro would have to go and that woman there with the elephantine legs all wrapped in gauze and reeking of pus who rebukes the skyscraper people at the top of her lungs for having all wronged her so

Ecce Populus by: Lindsey Glenn Tasha French

Lee Stringer lived on the streets of New York from the early eighties until the mid—nineties. He is a former editor and columnist of Street News. He is the author of “Grand Central Winter” and “Sleepaway School”. His essays and articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including The Nation, The New York Times, and Newsday. He lives in Mamaroneck, New York.

the artist without gallery walls to show who eat up the sidewalks of so and noho the hungry faces pressed against the windows on restaurant row the hooked hookers out to score a few bucks for their wake-up blow the mole people living underground where none of us go the winos still toasting a past that was never really so welfare moms left in the lurch when they started to show squeegee guys who after they wipe shove a palm at your nose old folks dying slowly in the windows of doomed sros street peddlers selling their hot swag priced ready to go

that fat old jane doe--she’d have to go and that frazzled haired ragged voiced rotted teeth blond who clings to her bottle and her big black man and laughs out too loud like the scream of a crow both him and her would have too go the looney tunes now risen from their psyche-ward beds to wander through midtown, never taking their meds they startle the people so spook all the tourists who spend at the shows the dumpster divers all tarry with syrup and black with grime digging for nickels a can at a time

it had been decided by all the right people, from all the right places each of some substance and all in the know that for the sake of this city the sick the lost. the lonely, the luckless, the mad, the bewildered, the hopeless the weary, the trapped, the dependent, the penniless, the abandoned, the weak, the dying, the unloved. these and many more yet to come would just have to go

He drifts moth-like toward the light beneath the overpass, hovering, undone, with no shoe strings to hold him together.

His shirt shouts, “God bless the USA,” but not the poor.

They gather gradually; countless faces, forgotten names; like a rich mosaic of broken pottery.

While cranes bestride the skyline like Colossus, the multitudes collect in arcane embankments.

Behold: These are the dusty ones, swept under the rug; limping, drifting, roaming; unseen.

by: Thomas Sweet

Steve Samra

Homeless Writer thecontributorstaff@gmail.com

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 8

She limps in broken shoes with heels of blue worn, bruised, and lonesome.

Pristine lights of luxury cast glowing glares upon her hair.

No one looks at her twice, save in disgust.

She is unwanted, unknown, and she knows it.

A couple roams: ragamuffin lovers, human hand in human hand, bearing plastic red roses that enlighten the night sky with power from a pair of batteries.

These roses, like love, can be sold on the streets.

Touched

Not only can you hear her, You can see her and feel her too.

You can also touch her, And she also touches you.

A woman is more than a great love.

glennlr@lipscomb.edu

Paul Fahle

GET MOVING, PICASSO!

BY TOM WILLS WillyWonkaIs@gmail.com I first noticed Paul Fahle sometime around 1995 at Bongo Java on Belmont Blvd., playing chess, finishing off other people’s abandoned coffees, and occasionally producing a drawing of Jesus to sell. He was skinny, hunched over, unkempt. He wore a ragged goatee, and had curled fingers that must have been broken numerous times. He was probably in his early 50s but looked to be in his late 70s.

As an artist myself, I took note of his crude, yet fresh renderings of Jesus on napkins, art paper, copy paper, and whatever else he could find. I assumed he was homeless and it seemed obvious that he suffered from mental illness. The management of Bongo Java would eventually throw him out, but he seemed part of the scene there.

And he would have been an asset to the flavor of the coffee house if he hadn’t smelled like a well used, and abandoned, urinal. I discovered later this was a medical condition of his.

Around this time, I had set up an art studio in the Downtown Presbyterian Church, where I also did volunteer work with the homeless.

Cleaning out an abandoned room, I ran across a cardboard box of 500 or so paintings and drawings of Jesus’ face, and an occasional Mary. Unmistakably, these were Paul Fahle’s. They were not just paintings of Jesus; they were self-portraits. The works varied from note pad paper to full art paper sketchbooks, some double sided, some torn, and some on sketchbook covers. These were explosive images in watercolors, heavy acrylic and oil, crayon and ink.

His Jesus wore a goatee similar to his own. His Jesus usually wore a cross earring, and one eye was always less distinct than the other.

Later, I noticed Fahle downtown and reunited him with his works. He was overjoyed to say the least.

He would take 10 to 20 works with him to sell on the streets. Eventually I introduced him to Anne Brown, owner of the Art’s Company gallery, which is down the street from the church.

Eventually, I learned some of Fahle’s background. The paintings I found in the church were from his days being institutionalized for para-

BY RAY PONCE DE LEON Homeless Writer thecontributorstaff@gmail.com The cry used to be, “Roll Over Beethoven!” but these days it might be more appropriate to shout, “Get Moving,” Picasso!” Urban Housing Solutions, (UHS) the non-profit organization that has helped thousands of homeless, impoverished and handicapped people find decent, affordable housing since 1991, is sponsoring an art competition open to high school and college students. The original work of art UHS’s jury selects as Best in Show will win a $500 gift certificate to a local art store. There will also be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in three categories: photography, 3D and 2-D paintings and drawings.

For more information, download contest information and entry forms at www.urbanhousingsolutions.org. The deadline for submissions is 5 PM November 27.

Anyone desiring to donate prizes or silent auction items, as well as further information, call Georgia @ (615) 726-2696, ext. 125 or 129. Submitted art will be auctioned December 4 to raise money for UHS resident programs.

noid schizophrenia. The previous pastor of The Downtown Presbyterian Church, Pat McGeachy, had visited him there, bringing him cigarettes and art supplies. Years later, McGeachy recalled that he had shown Paul’s paintings to a sculptor friend who exclaimed, “This isn’t art, it’s therapy!”

Anne Brown, considered Fahle “a Van Gogh on the streets of Nashville” and described his work as, “striking and bold, informed with some knowledge of modern art that he remembered somewhere in himself.”

P a u l was Catholic and I believe he went to mass daily.

But, his Jesus/self portraits were no product of a Jesus complex.

His faith and his art allowed him to identify with a suffering Jesus on a certain level. He felt called to be a priest or monk, and often talked of leaving town for Gethsemane, the Trappist monastery in Kentucky. But he had tried before, and had been rejected. The monks would accept him for a few days before putting him back on a bus to Nashville. Around 2001 he left Nashville for Boston seeking another monastery to accept him. The last I

heard, a man in Boston had called The Downtown Presbyterian Church, asking if we had any background on Paul, as he was trying to help him.

In April of 2007 The Downtown Presbyterian Church presented all of the unsold works of Paul Fahle in an art show. It consisted of 250 images of Jesus and one of Mary. Attempts to find Paul were unsuccessful.

There was one comment about him we could find on the Internet. In a transcript of a remembrance page for Vince Mathews, a songwriter who had cuts with Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, among others, Don Boner wrote “From time to time Paul Fahle would stay with them, which really shows the generosity of both Vince and Melva” (Vince’s wife).

Echoing this sentiment, Pat McGeachy recalled a conversation with Father Charles Strobel, director of the Campus for Human Development. McGeachy described his own inner conflict with having to deal with Paul’s mental illness and temperament. Strobel replied, “Well, it sounds like you are just going to have to love him.” Thankfully McGeachy did, and we have 500+ achingly beautiful renderings of Jesus and a few Mary’s in the world to remind us of Paul.

Reference: www.dl-sites.com/vince.htm Johnny Cash - Pencil Art by Jonathan Field

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 9

Library Park Changes for Everyone

BY STEVE SAMRA Formerly Homeless Writer contributorsteve@comcast.net Until September of this year here in Nashville, the little park across the street from the downtown library was the place to go for the homeless. Just about everyone who was anyone in the homeless community made a pass through the park on a regular basis. After all, it was a place where one could catch up on the news and rumors about the city’s next move to “hassle” the homeless, find a friend, share some info with like-minded folk on important go-

ings-ons in the homeless world, and maybe even buy some weed or find a drinking buddy, too.

Of course, this didn’t sit very well with the local residents and business community who, by the way, have been increasing in numbers, strength and political power since around the turn of this century. Interestingly, it wasn’t sitting too well with many of the local homeless who frequented the park, either. Tom Sweet is a homeless man and frequent visitor to the park who often engages in shouting matches with those who leave their empty liquor bottles and trash around the park.

Dewayne “Bones” Bone spent his days on the benches in the park and often bemoaned the fact that aggressive panhandlers and obnoxiously drunk mouthwash drinkers were ruining it for the “rest of us.”

To be sure, the presence of the homeless congregating, partying, bathing, sleeping and occasionally using the bushes as toilets in and around the park often stopped local residents and tourists from enjoying the fountain and the cool shade offered by about the only greenery in the downtown area. There were some who “braved the gauntlet” of homeless folks sitting in long lines on The Old Library Park

Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras Jeff Henderson

BY MARK LEMLEY writemarklemley@gmail.com If you've ever wondered whether it's still possible for a person to rise above his circumstances, check out Jeff Henderson's "Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras". In his inspiring memoir, Henderson tells how his brief success as a crack dealer led him to a decade in prison. But through his hardship Henderson discovered his true ambition and gained the skills to bring that ambition to life.

In the story's opening act, Henderson tells of his rapid rise to a fragile success. As a boy, he has a knack for advancement but his environment only seems to give him opportunities to advance as a criminal. A self-proclaimed hustler, he moves from stealing bikes for joyrides to stealing cars for parts. But things really start progressing for Jeff when he comes in on the groundfloor of the crack explosion of the mid-80s. The cash pours in and Henderson's life becomes a stream of fast cars, beautiful women and extravagant trips to Las Vegas.

All of this comes crashing down when Henderson is arrested, tried and sent to prison. Henderson's prison experiences make up the book's most interesting chapters. He describes incarcerated life in vivid detail, writing in a comfortable street vernacular that easily draws the reader further into his daily routine. Henderson takes kitchen duty and soon discovers a passion for cooking. His fond remembrances of prison kitchens casually bring up questions most people would never think to ask. (Question: How do prison guards trust an incarcerated felon with a knives sharp enough to butcher a side of beef? Answer: Lock him in a cage with the meat, pass the knives through a locking window and don't let him out until he gives them all back.) Henderson is always ambitious, but it is in these prison kitchens that his ambitions gain a focus. He pours all of his efforts into

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 10

In Transition: The New Park in Progress

learning everything he can about cooking so that he can one day be a successful chef.

The final third of the book tells how Henderson made the difficult journey from ex-con to the renowned head chef of The Bellagio in Las Vegas. His outlook on the ups and downs of his life experiences is unrelentingly positive. Throughout his story he presents himself as a quick learner and presents each drug-bust, prison fight or failed job interview is a purely educational experience. He sees each apparent failure as a step toward his eventual success. "Cooked" is a story of redemption but it is, for the most part, unapologetic. It's a memoir that doesn't look back, always pressing forward toward the goal.

It's not a wonder that Henderson has been asked to tell his story on Oprah or that the movie rights to "Cooked" have already been purchased by Will Smith.

His story is quintessentially American. It's never too late to start over and never too late to become the person you want to be.

the concrete flower bed liners, but in the minds of a great many of the folks who weren’t homeless downtown, you simply didn’t enter the park out of fear of the potential – real or imagined – for dangerous interaction with “those homeless people.”

So a plan was hatched by city officials to make the park more userfriendly. $22,400 was set aside for a renovation that began in early September. As the renovation got underway, rumors were rampant about what might become of the park and suggestions ranging from a parking lot to a movie theater were bandied about by the rumormongers. As The Contributor nears its run date however, it is clear that the park will indeed remain a park and should be reopened and hopefully thriving with an eclectic collection of visitors and merchants by the time you read this.

We’re very glad to see the park return. We are also hoping that this

time the park unites the community rather than divides it. We believe that with a wise, multi-use setup, everyone will enjoy the benefits of the park while also dispelling some of the more notorious myths that abound about the character of many of “those homeless people.”

The establishment of a 12member board to address use issues is a welcome addition to the park’s planning. We feel confident that there is enough diversity on that board to ensure that all voices are heard and no one voice will take control.

After all, it is a public park and it belongs to the public.

All of the public.

Solution of the day: Socks News

BY BEN GRIFFITH bgriffithoasiscenter.org@oasiscenter.org As an outreach worker, I really want to provide people with access to things they need. The debate about giving money to the homeless will rage on and on. In my case I'm not allowed to give money as part of my job so I don't have to worry about that one. I would like to note that upon finding out I don't have money with me it is quite often that a homeless person will offer me money. Generosity is never in short supply.

Non-homeless people I associate with have a lot of advice for homeless people. It ranges from the uninspired "why don't you get a job" to honest questions "why is it so hard to get a job?" and "what can people do to help?".

My solution for the day: Socks!

Most homeless people rely on their feet to get where they are going. This means an often overlooked item, socks, becomes a vitally important one.

Access to laundry facilities is limited. Without fresh, clean, socks, boot rot sets in. When your feet give out, you're going...nowhere.

This means you can't get a job, or if you had one you can't get there. After walking for a few hours I'm ready for new socks, a few days in the same pair of socks and I would be under serious stress. The importance of dry, comfortable feet becomes obvious, very quickly, when they are not dry or comfortable.

The importance of socks settled in hard the other day when I pulled out a bag full of socks and

they disappeared under a sea of hands and "thankyous" outside a church downtown. I don't get scared often or easily, but I was a little afraid I was going to get torn apart in the process. The experience did solidify what I was already learning. Socks are vitally important to the homeless.

A few friends passing by Nashville on a train taught me this important lesson: Traveling kids prefer black socks. The dirt doesn't show up as easily.

That was my new lesson for that day.

Maybe this one can be yours: Want to help a homeless person get a leg up? Plunk down a few bucks for some socks to donate. You'll make new friends, and that is a good deal.

“Remembering Harmon” Continued from Page 5

“Chef Nick” Continued from Page 7 Some people on the street had told me what she was doing. I knew in my heart that I wanted to do something similar to what she was doing, just didn't know what. I approached her and watched her and prayed about it and prayed about it and kept the sack lunch drive and last year somebody blessed me with the mobile kitchen to use my true talent for fine food and talking God with people and it's come together great.

And you were able to help her when she was no longer aloud to serve food last summer?

I developed a friendship with Candy and was able to step in and help her in a time of crisis. All things come together for the good that love the Lord!

Photo by Mary Duncan Morris

Are you still doing that every week?

go anywhere in the world and cook. And we'll use the food to feed the homeless on a more daily basis. Teach them entry-level cooking. Cause there's a lot of money out there. Like I said, you can go anywhere and cook.

It's going to be an on and off thing. She has some organizations that have signed up to come help her cook who have the facilities to do it in. When she doesn't then I'll be there to help her out.

What do you see as the best hope for homeless people in Nashville?

In general? Forgiveness and prayer. If they can learn to forgive and they can learn to pray, God will take it to a new level with them.

Visit my web site Q: Do you have any favorite recipes?

That's where at musiccitymeals.com.

I've been A: Beer cheese soup is the most famous We accept clothes, doblessed. I've and most popular one: nations, anything. Pray. had to forgive Write a letter to somepeople and Just milk and flower and butter and beer one in prison that we allow people and cheese and you just know. Whatever your to forgive me cook it till it tastes great. heart tells you to do. and have relationship.

They cook it on the streets just like that!

What's your hope for That's what this ministry? this has been. I give them my phone number. I let them call me whenEventually I believe that the Lord is going to pro- ever they want whether it's silly or serious. and it's about vide us a facility that I'm going to be able to do outreach relationship, something I didn't have. There's no other in. Let them in, take a shower get their GED. Little bit of way for me to say it than that. I try to encourage them education, help with IDs we do that now. And then and say "Talk to God when you're walking from A to B. teach them how to cook. Let them come in and teach Talk to him. You'll be surprised, he'll answer" So I think them a skill. Because everybody needs a cook. You can forgiveness and prayer. The rest is God's time.

What could people do to help with Music City Meals?

Even thinking about Harmon can get me to thinking that these connections, making and receiving them and talking about them, is the only life worth living. Jurgen Moltmann speaks of them this way: "What was impossible before will then become possible.

Energies will awaken which before were constricted. A future will be opened which was hitherto closed and inaccessible. Over against the reality of the visible world awaken the possibilities of change for that world, and its transformation into the kingdom of God." Harmon was all about this sort of thing. He held everything up to a kind of redemptive (and redeeming) skepticism, and his seeming irreverence was, paradoxically, a deeper valuing of the human (all humans), a deeper sense of the tragic, than I’ve received from almost anyone I’ve ever known.

He was even skeptical of his own sense of reverence (lest it mistake itself for practice). In light of what he knew about what Jesus had to say, he wouldn’t credit much. It all remained tentative. It made him a lot of fun to talk to.

Or, for some people feeling less comfortable in the corridors of power as they listened to him, it made Harmon a serious pain in the neck.

Harmon believed that the life to which Jesus calls people is a life to be lived before death, a life and love lived on earth as it is in heaven. And the life of invigorating awareness to what’s happening nearby with the people we aren’t usually inclined to talk to, the life that was his example, is one we do well to recollect, remember, and emulate. Recalling Harmon, we might begin to believe that the locality we’re in is more full of redemptive possibility than we have yet imagined.

Briefs

BY GREG OLKHOVSKY (Street Vibes, USA)

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia to close parks overnight Officials in Philadelphia are feeling the pressure from Downtown interest groups to get homeless people out of the parks at night. A recent survey found 621 people sleeping the streets in Philadelphia, a number that has almost tripled in the last three years. Lawyers are looking at whether an existing camping law could be enforced in these public areas. Advocates argue there is no place for homeless individuals to go, citing last winter that shelters operated at 115% of their capacity. A representative from project HOME points out, “If we can afford to house all of this art on the parkway, we can afford to house all these people.” (AP, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/28)

Maine: Cheaper to house the homeless A Maine State Housing Authority study found that overall costs to house the homeless are significantly cheaper. Supportive housing programs provide their clients with the opportunity to become successful and independent citizens which typically results in fewer public costs.

Savings are also found in reduced need for emergency services, police intervention, and incarceration. The study also shows that tenants who are housed experience a 60 percent decrease in ambulance transports, 52 percent fewer emergency room visits, and 68 percent fewer police contacts. The accumulated reduced percentages significantly illustrate the cost savings that supportive housing programs offer.

Continued on Page 16

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 11

Power Project to Host Annual Memorial

Too Hard Living

BY MARK LEMLEY writemarklemley@gmail.com

BY WILL CONNELLY thecontributorstaff@gmail.com

On December 15th, 2007 The Nashville Homeless Power Project (NHPP) will organize Nashville's 17th Annual Homeless Memorial. This year's memorial will be held at 8:30 am at Riverfront Park. The event will include breakfast as well as a time to reflect and remember those who lost their lives while living on the streets of Nashville.

Each year the memorial draws a diverse group of people affected by the deaths of Nashville's homeless citizens.

"We gather our brothers and sisters and remember those that we have lost. We invite members from the metro council, the police, and the homeless advocacy community and we ask that all join together and make known the lives that mattered to us." stated a representative for The Homeless Power Project in a press release.

The Power Project says that there were over 50 documented deaths in Nashville's homeless community this year. "Every year we lose our friends, our family members to illness, violence on the streets, and to hate crimes by those who consider us less than human."

This is The Nashville Homeless Power Project's 6th year to host the memorial.

“It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die, Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky.

It's been a long, a long time coming, But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will.” (Sam Cooke)

Unnamed headstone near Bordeaux cemetery Photo by Will Connelly

“You are not dying on the streets, Jim.” I surprised myself when I said it. As an outreach worker, I have been trained to “under-promise and over-deliver” when serving individuals experiencing homelessness. The idea is that you don’t want to promise permanent housing or seamless medical care when you can only guarantee emergency shelter or emergency room care. Not delivering on your promises results in a loss of trust in any community.

Jim really needed to hear that though.

He knew things were dire, that if he stayed on the streets much longer, he would succumb to the elements, to the hepatitis C and alcoholism that wage war on his liver, to his other physical and mental distress.

But, he needed to know that someone cared, was thinking about him, and listening.

After our conversation, Jim was determined to get housing. He got the necessary documents together – a valid state ID, a certified copy of his birth certificate, Social Security card – and submitted housing applications at various places. He qualified for subsidized housing, but so have hundreds of others, and Jim is waiting with them on a massive wait list while trying to keep his hope alive.

About a week or so ago, Jim’s hope waned. He is now in a state psychiatric hospital because he told a police officer that he wanted to jump in the street during rush hour or end the pain with his friend’s pistol. Some may say that Jim was just threatening to end his life to get a roof over his head, and they may be right. But, I don’t blame Jim. If I were on the streets, I would definitely be intoxicated and maybe suicidal. That’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s the truth.

I have witnessed so much suffering and death on the streets in

my short tenure as a homeless service provider. If I found myself homeless now, I would luckily have many friends who are now my clients and I would know more about how to survive out there.

But, man, I would be afraid. I wouldn’t be afraid of other homeless people. Most of the folks I meet out there are full of compassion and humor.

I would be afraid because being homeless is traumatic. It is war on the mind, body, and spirit.

Comparing being homeless to “war” isn’t overly dramatic, and the leading researcher on war, trauma, and mental illness agrees with me.

When Dr. Koshes was in medical school at the Uniformed Services University, he successfully argued that he should be able to complete a course elective at a homeless shelter because being homeless was “the closest approximation to combat conditions in peacetime.”

About six months after I started providing street outreach to the homeless, I was walking down an alley north of Broadway and saw a homeless man huddled on a stoop. There was something about his posture that was awkward, and when I approached him and saw his face, it was obvious that life had left him. I called the cops and they searched for identification in his pockets but found none. I imagine that this fellow is buried in the indigent cemetery out at Bordeaux next to the city’s wastewater treatment plant and mulch facilities.

I go to this cemetery once or twice per year. It’s actually a nice place. There are headstones that actually have names on them and a nice monument that reads: “Rest with us at this stone, where poverty and suffering are not now known.”

Almost every time I visit, I discover a headstone with a name of a homeless person who had “disappeared.” Before I see a name I recognize, I can imagine that maybe so-and-so took the Greyhound to another city (also known as “Greyhound therapy”) or got housing and that’s why I haven’t seen him or her in a while. But, sadly, sometimes the headstones tell me where these folks have gone, and I cry a bit knowing that we as a community can do better.

“You are not dying on the streets, Jim”

“Dalai Lama” Continued from Page 4

Congratulations & Best Wishes

Many of the members affirmed that seeing the Dalai Lama was a lifechanging experience.

“I would have never thought in a million years – with the situation I got myself into with being homeless – that I would have an audience with the Dalai Lama – not when I was in intake, not when I had to do urine testing – never!” laughed Helen Hamilton, a member of the meditation group.

Sitting in the Bethany Day Center after hearing the speech, residents mulled over the Dalai Lama’s words and the rare experience of seeing him up close. Many were inspired by his speech and appreciative that the Dalai Lama spoke to them as an equal and did not “dumb down” his words for the residents.

“Some of us have been in a fog for so long. We get discouraged in our own lives,” said night shelter resident Gayle Steward. “I’m so tired of hearing of alcoholism and drugs and talking about it, talking about getting high or whatever. I want to hear about harmony. It is so beautiful to have someone walk in and exude peace.”

Room In The Inn begins November 1.

Matt Johnson also contributed to this report.

We welcome all who wish to participate, as guests and volunteers

The 150+ Congregations of Room In The Inn’s

Campus for Human Development

Reprinted from Street Sense © Street News Service: www.street-papers.org

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 12

www.chd-nashville.org.

Seen on the Street:

Street Interview: Tony Sans Houses: What’s your biggest regret?

Dee Snyder with Contributor Mary Duncan Morris

tating where the service will take place.

Some locations also have addiIf an individual or group decides tional restrictions and it is the reto serve food to the homeless, select- sponsibility of the individual serving ing an appropriate area will help to the food to ensure that they are avoid potential troubles with city en- within the law while protecting the forcement officials. Sites with avail- rights and privacy of the homeless in able trash receptacles, areas to sit the process. By obtaining the neceswhile eating and enough room to sary permit, the food-server diffuses gather without impeding sidewalks, and eliminates problems before they ever get alleys and streets should “To obtain an application for started.

Pe rbe utilized the permit, contact Metro mits are whenever posPublic Health at readily availsible to avoid attracting un- (615) 340-5620 and ask Steve able by fax or mail, innecessary atto send you one.“ expensive or tention. free and Patrons of these meals deserve the same treatment and service any ridiculously easy to obtain. If you one of us would receive if we were to want to help the homeless by serving attend a public event where food was food to them, please avoid potential served. The generosity and efforts of troubles for everyone and get a percharitable foodservices are greatly mit. The homeless deserve that appreciated. Yet, setup location, food much.

To obtain an application for the and site preparation, identity protection and safety for the homeless permit, contact Metro Public Health should be of paramount concern to at (615) 340-5620 and ask Steve to those who decide to serve a meal. send you one.

After all, the food-server will be dic-

“Safe Food” Continued from Page 6

Tony: You know, my marriage not working out. I was married to a really good woman. I mean, she was different.

She came from a much different background than what I'm used to and what I’m used to in most other people.

It’s like....you know, I regret that a lot.

I f***ed that all up. You know?

Which, I was determined never to get married and then it was like as soon as I did, I was like, oh my God, what have I done?

I’m not the kind of person . . . I don’t want to burden anyone else. I mean, I always thought that I would live with myself until it became unbearable and then I would just f***in’ off myself because, it's like...these people talk about free will. It’s like the first thing that comes to my mind is, two things: You mean like, free will like "you’re gonna turn right up here because you gotta turn f***in’ right, because I mean, the way you’re f***in’ going is on the right and so you can’t turn left?" Like that kind of free will?

Or are you talking about the free will where it’s like "we are all curious mixes of chemicals" and like, "I just can’t stop cuttin’ myself". Like that kind of free will? Cause, I mean, that would be free will, too, if you can’t stop doing something. Or maybe it’s not free will.

But then I was thinking, you know, like Camus, he wrote the myth of Sisyphus, and that was the big deal.

It was like, well, life grinds and it grinds exceedingly fine and, you know, Sisyphus pushing that f***in’ rock up the hill and, I guess he did it because he wanted to do it, even though he was like you know, why didn’t he ever stop to think, "Why the f**k am I pushing this rock?" or, I mean, could he stop pushing it? Who knows?

But, you know, the whole idea of, like, offin’ yourself. That was like a total option to Camus, you know?

And what I always thought, It was like, I always thought, all these old f***ers that are in these institutions, man, it was like, if they would have known that this is how it was gonna end for them, they would have done something that would not have put them here. At least I believe they would have. I mean, sheesh, like I wouldn’t? You still have some control over your life when you’re taking it.

And like, that’s the day that you go out and rob that bank, you know? Do something, because you know that at the end of the day you’re killing yourself anyway.

That’s what I always imagined. I

Photo by Tasha French would live with myself until it became unbearable, because I had known from adolescence that one day life was probably gonna be unbearable. Because, you know, I was watching all these relatives on my mother’s side, including my mother just going completely f***in’ nuts, and I was like, that is not a cool way to go. That’s what I had always imagined. Of course, I didn’t think it would be like 35 or 36 or 37. I was thinking like, when I dared to eat a peach, you know? There was no way I was walkin’ along f***in’ beaches with my trousers rolled. You know, like that s**t was over and I had my chance and it’s not gonna happen.

It’s too unbearable, and . . . where is the footman? Like I am handing him my coat, I am checkin’ out. You know?

When I don’t have enough hair to comb anymore, you know?

Life’s unbearable. Never was that good. I made the best of it. Could have done better. I am not gonna be that old guy, and you know, gettin’ turned for bed sores. I didn’t want it to be me. Wasn’t gonna have kids.

Was definitely gonna become estranged as quickly as I possibly could.

You know, it was like the unexamined life's not worth living and, you know, making myself estranged made myself closer to examining my own life. You know, by bein' alone. You know, like sorta breaking that Maslow triangle, you know, that hierarchy of needs. It was like to say, you know, like I am a true f***in’ reductionist and I can do without . . . mmm . . . two of these things. And I can still make it at least for a little while. But I think I thought too much about it. And didn’t think enough. I didn’t think it would come so quick. And I wanted to do more.

So...

What was the question?

-Interview by Will Connelly & Tasha French. Audio and photos available at www.sanshouses.com.

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 13

RAY PONCE DE LEON

The Self-Deprecator Habitat for Humane-ity SATIRE BY RAY PONCE DE LEON Homeless Writer thecontributorstaff@gmail.com The Bush administration, in rebuttal of accusations that they’ve done little to address the affordable housing issue, have proposed what they feel will have a Jimmy Carteresque impact on eradicating homelessness. Taking Habitat for Humanity a step further, Bush & Co offer Habitat for Humane-ity (affectionately nicknamed “Room in the Pound.”)

The plan entails putting up homeless individuals in Humane Society cages and offering them up for adoption as pets. Here are excerpts from the accompanying pamphlet explaining why the homeless would make good pets.

1. They’ve already had their shots (of tequila, Jack Daniels, etc.)

2. Like cute dogs, they sit up and beg 3. They can do tricks, like… a. Roll over (and over, and over…) b. Can play dead (a couple bottles of mouthwash, and presto!) c. Can do their business on the carpet, in the closet, etc. d. They shed on the sofa (their yellowed long-johns, their beer- stained toboggans, etc.)

“Biology” Continued from Page 6 behavioral symptoms - tearfulness, irritability, angry outbursts, obsessiveness, hyper vigilance (feels like but is not paranoia), hypersensitivity (almost every remark or action is perceived as critical even when it is not), sullenness (a sign the inner psyche has been damaged), mood swings, withdrawal, indecision, loss of humor,

e. Can fetch even better than dogs can (i.e. a can of beer from the fridge—although it might be half-empty by the time you get it) 4. Like dogs they hate to take baths.

(When you drag them by the leash to the tub don’t turn your back or they might drink the flea dip.)

5. At pet shows, they can make you the proud owner of a blue ribbon (which, of course, they’d steal from the real winner!)

6. Like pets they’d mark their territory (leave pawn tickets where once stood the items they hocked) 7. The homeless would make economical pets. Instead of buying the expensive Home Depot model, they’d be quite content in a cardboard box doghouse. Also, they’d eat out of your garbage cans, thus eliminating your monthly trash pick-up bill.

In accordance with this program, Congress would consider changing the national anthem to “I Want to Check You for Ticks.” Pamphlet distribution would be concentrated in the Brentwood, Franklin, Green Hills and Belle Meade sectors.

You can help wipe out homelessness by voting “Yes” on this proposition “Arf! Arf!”

hyperawareness (acute awareness of time, seasons, distance traveled), excessive biting, teeth grinding, picking, scratching or tics, increased reliance on drugs (tannin, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, sleeping tablets, tranquillizers, antidepressants, other substances), comfort spending (and consequent financial problems), phobias (especially agoraphobia), etc effects on personality - shattered self-confidence and self-esteem,

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 14

low self-image, loss of self-worth and self-love.

Add to this the poor nutrition choices available to the homeless, the lack of sleep that people get in homeless shelters and on the street (less that 4 hours per night of deep sleep) and you compound the problem.

“Jerry West” Continued from Page 2

Tom: Did you ever play sports?

I didn’t care about myself, but I cared about football. And I always made sure I had enough money to get a paper on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I would read it the whole day. And the Sports Page, I could read it for six or seven hours, the same article two or three times a day. Because, I just loved football, even though I was homeless.

Jerry: Oh yeah, I played juniorpro (football). My sister got a picture when I was in uniform when I was thirteen or fourteen. I played baseball. I used to pitch for East Park. But, not going to high school and drinking kind of took me out of playing sports for the high school level.

Tom: How does being addicted to football affect the rest of the year, when football is not in season?

Tom: What impact do you think your becoming a sports columnist will have on other homeless individuals?

Jerry: It’s not like bragging or Jerry: Well, I already know the showing off. It’s to show that if God medical term: depression. It’s terri- can save me, He can save anybody. ble. I’m sad for two or three weeks. Because I’ve been there: in abanIt’s bad. After the Superbowl, and doned cars, at The Mission, at the service center. A lot of these people the college re m e m b e r bowl games, “People told me, ‘One day you me when I it’s miserwas on able. I know will have to explain to God, drugs.

I that the guys that you picked football over know where need six or God.’ And I say, ‘Well, I’ll t h e y ’ v e s e v e n I months off, have to explain it to Him.’“ been. hope (they) but with can know how much money they make, they shouldn’t get but thirty days off. that, “Jerry, he used to drink and They’re making millions of dollars drug with us, now he’s writing a sports column.” to entertain people.

I’m just going to do it from my Tom: Could you write about heart. I really don’t have a lot of an other sports, so you could work education, but I can read and write. on some of that football with- Doing the little stuff, it helps me, and it might help somebody else. I drawal? volunteer at the door (at the DownJerry: It‘ll give me something to town Presbyterian Church’s lunch). do, keep me still talking about It’s not like I’m building a rocket sports. Football, that’s my passion, going to the moon. I open the door (but) I like all sports. So I think I for people. It’s so simple. I don’t will be able to talk about them. But even have to count. I’ve got a clicker I think I will be really good talking that counts people for me. But it about football. People will under- does me good giving something stand. It will be a little less exciting back and letting people know that if talking about the other sports, but I He can save Jerry, He can save me. will try my best. And they’ll say, “With the football season off, (he had) pretty good articles. But he was really good and ought to get a job at The Tennessean when college and pro-football is on.”

Thoughts on the Street

factories exempt! If you're caught smoking inside a building your 1st fine is $50.00, 2nd is $100.00. That doesn't take into account all the other little gratuities to go with it. Such as the citation, the "record," criminalization, time lost etc. etc. The homeless will feel the brunt of this more severely, unnecessarily.

BY SCOTT CAMPBELL Homeless Writer thecontributorstaff@gmail.com

Anyway. If I thought the fines would be used to defend our freedoms I might not feel as I do. Who Knows? Public Housing? And demands for the privilege to have a home and keep it? Ya gotta have that 1st.

Sometimes, I don't understand.

All of a sudden it seems to me this great concern.

If I were an officer, fireman, ambulance driver, or trucker, would there be the same concerns and doubts?

Almost. To the point of what? I can't fathom.

If I were in jail, they say, at least I'd be warm and have a place to eat. They would know where I am.

They rarely mention their concern for my safety or freedom or basic rights. Who are "they?"

Feeling like a band that's can't associate with anyone but the bus, stage and hotel.

Hey! Did you hear about the newest? Vehicles &

New Hampshire's motto: " Live Free or Die" . I also believe that that's not as easy as "Keep It Simple Stupid."

I do not believe housing is merely a privilege as some would like to convince us. I believe it is a God given, and American, right. I believe it {as far as I've heard, been taught, and led to believe} is a basic right that is championed in even the poorest countries, even in Iraq, etc, where the beggars call out, "Alms for the love of Allah".

The right to petition, the right of expression. that right under our glorious Constitution, was paid for with American blood, guts, spirit and sacrifice, and being compromised, and sacrificed by our representatives.

Our representatives, ambassadors, politicians, are simultaneously trying to propagate and guarantee this right to other countries as a humanitarian philosophy, while ignoring, or changing, that right here. What is happening on your end on the right to ask?

By Blueenigma & Ms. B Sagittarius (23 November22 December) Don’t waste pennies making flat metal disks on railroad tracks. This a season of frugality for Sags. Remember, a penny saved is a penny earned, and adventures on the rails should take you places. Staying optimistic as well as thrifty can take you far.

Capricorn (23 December19 January) Your usual caution and suspicion could cause you to miss exciting opportunities this season. Your reserved nature could present itself as procrastination. If you have lofty goals, sometimes it’s good to step out of your comfort zone.

Aquarius (20 January-19 February) ‘Tis the season for giving and Aquarians have a knack for giving in unconventional ways. Whether by doing unusual favors for a friend or volunteering for a big project, this season you may fid that helping others really is helping yourself find fulfillment.

Gemini (22 May-22 June) If you’ve had a problem plaguing you for some time, this winter may be the time to find that answer. Focusing on solutions rather than those you feel have slighted you may be the key to coming to conclusions more quickly.

Cancer (23 June-23 July) Stop worrying so much! Your pessimism can slow you down. Instead, reach out like the nuturing person you can be and find like-minded individuals. This is a season of thanks and caring, and what better way to celebrate that than through community?

Leo (24 July-23 August) Your take charge attitude often puts you in a position of leadership. While you generally feel most comfortable there, sometimes relinquishing control is the best course of action. Remember, lions are noble and generous creatures and assisting others can fill you with as much pride as taking over can.

Virgo (24 August-23 September)

RESTORES HOPE PROVIDES OPPORTUNITIES PROMOTES RECOVERY Did you know that Park Centerʼs Homeless Outreach Program has one of the highest success rates for obtaining SSI/SSDI benefits in the US? Out of 69 individuals who applied for SSI/SSDI last year, 67 were approved within 58 days! Thatʼs a 97% success rate!!!

In addition to the Homeless Outreach Program, Park Center also offers the following services for individuals diagnosed with mental illness include: • Psycho-Social Rehabilitation Program • Transitional Youth Services • Clinical Services including Case Management • Housing Program • Transitional Youth For information on this program or other Park Center services, please contact Will Connelly at 887-8470.

Pisces (20 February-20 March) The holidays are the perfect chance to show off your creative side. Coming up with imaginative gifts is something you have a knack for. And seeing someone’s face light up when you’ve given them something you’ve created can make everything brighter for you.

The holidays are a time of togetherness. But all that togetherness in close quarters may have you concerned about sharing as many germs as good tidings. Just remember, worrying weakens the immune system. Keeping mentally strong can keep you physically strong, too.

Aries (21 March-20 April)

Libra (24 September-23 October)

Aries are born leaders. Combined with your passion, you can really make a difference this season. Be cooperative, but don’t compromise your standards. Your assertiveness is an asset.

Let your fiery nature ignite inspiration in others.

This season you may find yourself involved in some interesting conversations. Keeping an open-mind can help you wrap up decisions that you may have been putting off. Don’t rationalize the way you feel about things, just go with your gut.

Taurus (21 April-21 May)

Scorpio (24 October-22 November)

Your devoted nature makes this a good time to give up those bad habits.

Use your stubbornness in your favor instead of letting it work against you.

Temptation may be stronger this season, but your resourcefulness and cautious personality are on your side. You can resist!

Sometimes it can be hard for you to open yourself up to others. But opening up this season could lead to new allies to help you achieve goals you may set for yourself in the new year.

The Contributor • December 2007 • Page 15

“Briefs” Continued from Page 11 The Maine State Housing Authority director Dale McCormick says, "Whether you are looking at it from a moral, social, or cost viewpoint, providing permanent supportive housing to people who are homeless is a winning strategy.” (Glenn Adams, AP, 10/3)

Washington DC: House passes Trust Fund Bill The National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, October 10th. The Act would provide funding for the development of affordable housing, which is fantastic news for low income individuals. Over the next 10 years, the plan is to develop 1.5 million units of housing.

An estimated $1 billion per year of funding would come from the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and from receipts for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) programs. Extra funding will also be needed.

Sheila Crowley, the president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition shares, “This is a great moment for the millions of American families and elderly or disabled people whose well-being are compromised every day because they cannot afford even modest safe and healthy homes."

(Alliance Online News, 10/16)

Florida: Advocate found not guilty for feeding homeless Eric Montanez, the first person charged with violating a city ban on mass feedings of the homeless was found not guilty despite video and police testimony suggesting otherwise.

Police say that they will continue to enforce Orlando’s ordinance.

Montanez has vowed to continue feeding the homeless. This time Montanez will abide by the boundaries within the ordinance. Montanez plans to accomplish this through collaborating with different groups and feed the homeless at the same time. The key to this is that each group will feed a small number of homeless individuals at a time. The ordinance says that a charity cannot feed more than 25 homeless people at a time.

“This is not about me. This is not about an iconic figure. This is about hunger and the homeless. The people are hungry. That's the honest-to-God truth” said Montanez. He told reporters that he does not regret his actions.

If Montanez were to be found guilty, he could have faced a $500 fine and up to 60 days in prison. (Local6, 10/9)

Tennessee: Men sentenced in drowning of homeless woman In August 2006, two men threw Tara Cole into the Cumberland River while she was sleeping. Cole was sleeping on a dock in downtown Nashville while the attack occurred. Timothy Webber of Lebanon and Josh Dotts of Lafayette pleaded guilty on Monday.

Webber will be sentenced to 17 years in prison as he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Dotts pleaded guilty to facilitation of second-degree murder and was sent to prison for eight years.

Investigators say that the men

were drunk at the time of the attack and traveled to Nashville with the intent of harassing the homeless. Cole’s death influenced city outrage. A documentary film on Cole’s death was released in Nashville this month. (AP, Wave3, 10/22)

Texas: Church opens parking lot for homeless to sleep First Presbyterian Church in Dallas recently opened its parking lot to as many as 150 homeless individuals to spend the night where they will be protected by a security guard patrolling the

premise. The church has provided two portable toilets for their guests.

Police in this city are known for their intolerance of the homeless.

Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, has labeled Dallas among the "meanest" cities in the country for its approach to homelessness. Stoops raves, “I think it's great they hired a security guard to keep order. Most churches close their doors at night and flee to the suburbs. They should be applauded.”

Senior Pastor, Rev. Joe Clifford, said that he has no problem with the police, just policies that criminalize homelessness. Furthermore Clifford

offers that, "The problem is with our approach to the homeless. We continue to approach the homeless issue as a criminal issue. While there are criminal elements within the homeless population, it is a social problem and requires a societal response."

The church’s hospitality is a temporary solution. A $23.8 million homeless shelter is due to open in April. The shelter will operate 24 hours and will provide beds, restrooms, showers, job training and mental health treatment for the homeless. (AP, NBC5DFW, 10/12) © Street News Service: www.street-papers.org

WHERE TO FIND HELP IN NASHVILLE