Voices From The Street

Disclaimer to my last post: Nativity House has people getting banned daily.  In fact, it's more of a rarity for the day to end without someone being banned for a period of time than to actually ban a person.  Those particular guests were just more creative then the rest.  Usually guests will get banned for exchanging money, drugs, etc. rather than using cupcakes as weapons....lame.

Nativity House used to put out a street newspaper called Street Pulse as well as an anthology of the works of various guests.  The newspaper/anthology had articles, poetry, stories, and a bunch of other things.  We are trying to get the paper started again, so if that happens I'll keep you updated.  On the other hand, I managed to find anthology copies from 2003-2005 that I think would be neat to share.  They will be put in future posts as well  Here are a couple:

And This is the Face of Need: Garnell Davis 

The shrunken frame and glassy gaze

of the woman sitting in the doorway, 

mumbling jumbled syllables

to no one in particular.  

The young man who ambles through

the streets, both day and night

in tattered clothing, begging

for change that we all know

will be used for other purposes.  

OR

The small baby that constantly 

cries out, seeming to be always in 

need of comfort and reassurance 

that love is near.

This is the face of need. 

Like the twelve year old girl who 

in 90 degree heat wears long

clothing, concealing her whole body, 

always avoiding direct eye contact

ad allowing no one to break 

her physical or mental barriers.

These images are constant memories 

of the faces of once happy and thriving creations, 

now diminished to mere shadows

passing through life, not living, 

only barely existing. 

And this is the face of need. 

And the mother who spends

her last twenty dollars to buy

a birthday gift for her child.

With a bright-eyed smile she hugs

her mom and pulls her present closer.

As a tear trickles down her mother's cheek, 

she snuggles the child warmly in the 

3rd-hand sleeping bag and kisses

her to sleep under the bridge.

And this, too, is the face of need. 

The honesty in this one makes me want to laugh out loud at the absurdity as well as be heartbroken at what is actually being said.  Primarily, it's heartbreak because I see this all too often.  All I can say is "Really?"  See for yourself...

Why I Love Dope: Anonymous

I love crack more than anything because of the rush it gives me every month.  When I my check from ProPay, I head straight to the Dope man.  He gets all my money.  Yeah, he or she tells me I am their best customer.  They say if I bring in another customer they will give me extra crack.  I love crack so much.  I will rent a room for a day or two until the money is gone.  Then I go from Nativity House to Tacoma Rescue Mission for the next 27 days begging for cigarettes and a warm place to stay.  This is the life that I live because crack is more important in my life.  I will do anything to get it.  I will kill if I have to, sell my body if I'm a woman or gay man.  Stealing from my family is no big deal.  What my children think means nothing to me, my mother, sisters, the people in church.

To end on a happy note...

This is me (obviously) taken about a week ago at Point Defiance park in Tacoma.  I am holding a 8-9 foot sprig of kelp (seaweed) that washed on the shore.  It was slippery and sturdy so of course I decided to play jump rope!  This is pre-jump.  Enjoy.

Brandishing A Cupcake

Sunday and Monday were two of the most interesting days that I have had at Nativity House thus far.  

Sunday:  To begin, we usually operate with a staff of 9-11 people during our long day shifts.  However, for the majority of the day there were 5 of us, that doesn't sound terrible, but the ratio between guest and staff was about 22:1.  That has the potential to create quite a few issues.  

The day started off semi-normally, but began to take a weird turn when the ambulance and fire trucks showed up around 10:30am.  This is a fairly normal thing as well.  However, the lady we were dealing with was not.  We called the ambulance because Diana slumped over in the Smoke Room and started seizing.  She was unresponsive, but eventually came to and was able to talk to the paramedics.  She told everyone that she had MS and what she was experiencing were muscle spasms brought on by stress.  These spasms (according to her) were usually treated by alcohol and marijuana....no lie.  Diana claimed this is what her "doctor" told her.  Anyways, the paramedics took her to the hospital and things returned to Nativity House normal.  The End...for about 4 hours.

About 2 hours after Diana was taken away, she came back.  She said she was released from the hospital and everything was fine.  Things were fine until she started having her spasms again.  She was slumped over a table completely immobile, so the ambulance and firefighters arrived once again.  Yet again, Diana claimed that she was completely fine and this was normal.  Really?  However, the paramedics (being the intelligent men that they are) had to disagree.  So, Diana once again rode off in her boxy yellow chariot.  Thankfully, at that point, I left work.  

Monday:  Short-staffed again.  Megeen (one of the Jesuit volunteers) and I decided that we were going to take a crack at making lunch for all the guests.  Side note...my hands still smell like the onions that I spent slicing and dicing yesterday.  It refuses to leave.  Anyways, things were going great until we were just about to clean up after the meal was served.  This fellow came up and asked for a plate, no big deal. However, I didn't know that he was banned from Nativity House for 30 days and now he was sitting on a bench eating.  Cutty (our security guy) went over and the guy got irate and threatened Cutty.  He later tried to shove a cupcake in Cutty's face.  We won't be seeing him for at least a year and the police have a report against him.  

To make matters worse, his friend (we call him Skippy) decided that he needed to follow suit.  He started arguing with the staff about some kind of phone charger and going through his not-present "girlfriend's" stuff before brandishing a fork and shoving it in our director's face.  Not smart.  The police now have his information and he is unwelcome until next year as well.  

The day was topped off by some unfortunate information that I will not realistically get a non-LVC retreat vacation until at least February, so our boss, Dominique decided enough was enough.  "I'm taking ya'll out for a drink" was what she decided.  We went to a micro-brewery in Tacoma and laughed for about 3 hours.  I sipped my iced-tea (no alcohol for me...don't worry Mom) and laughed the hardest I have in a long time after a very long and weird work week.  

All I can say now is thank the Lord for the weekend....which happens to be Tuesday and Wednesday for me.

Chao.

The Chair Next to the Stairs

I have to tell you about one of my favorite guests at Nativity House.  His name is unimportant (for confidentiality reasons) but I will call him JG.   JG is a schizophrenic man that looks like a cross between John Lennon and the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland...no lie. He has shoulder-length hair and one of the biggest mustaches I've ever seen.  He hails from Little Rock, Arkansas and has a great memory if you tell him about yourself.  He is quite concerned about his appearance because he is constantly brushing his hair and mustache with his hands.  He's also got 2 big buck front teeth that gives him one of the best smiles ever.  And his plastic purple sunglasses are the icing on the cake.  He is one of the guests that makes me happy everyday. However, he's really weary of new staff and takes a long time to warm up to people.  So, it's constant work to gain his trust.

Let me give you a little synopsis of JG's days at Nativity.  He has to come in exactly at opening time and sits in the same spot everyday.  He always wears either brown or navy pants pulled up really high with a belt and a navy shirt.  JG is very particular about people in his immediate surroundings and how close they are to him and his "spot."  It's pretty funny to watch him though because he usually has a book open on his lap like he is pretending to read, but really he's watching the guests and staff.

If someone moves into JG's personal bubble he gets really angry and starts chattering to himself.  I should also probably mention that he is constantly talking to himself.  The talking/chattering is dependent on his mood.  When he's happy, then he's smiling and laughing as he talks, but when he's mad...watch out.  He will get really agitated and slam down his chair/whatever else.  The best visual example I can think of is when a squirrel gets angry and starts barking/chattering...that's kind of what it's like with JG (sound and all).

Why am I going into this description?  Because, this past week I made some breakthroughs with him.  Like I said, it takes a while for him to warm up to people, so any baby step counts.  These things happened in a period of three days, one occurrence for each.  It started with a smile when I walked past him, then it turned into a wave when I was on the 2nd floor, and finally a "Hi Rachel."  Those tiny instances were some of the highest points of my week.    

A Day In The Life

I have been asked countless questions regarding my placement or job, so let me give you a brief synopsis of what I encounter on a daily basis.

Nativity House is primarily a place for homeless people in the community to hang out.  About 95% of the NH population are men, so that always makes things fun and interesting.  The guys have warmed up to me really well due to my "aggressive" personality.  Aggressive is the word our boss Dominique used to describe me, but in a way that means engaging and willing to throw myself into any conversation.  Let me tell you, being shy or feeling awkward about joining a table of strangers has no place at Nativity House.  I literally talk to people all day long and I love it.  

Cribbage, chess, or card games in general are other daily staples at Nativity House. Me being the competitive spirit that I am, quickly established myself as a card player.  My first day I beat 2 of the top cribbage players in the place.  I also beat another top player (and trash talker) on my 3rd day which has gained me a pretty good reputation.  All the cribbage playing guys agree that they thought that I was going to be an easy target and someone that they could beat easily, but they were sadly mistaken.  When they complain that they thought I was a rookie, my response is always "What can I say, my daddy raised me right."

Finally, let me tell you about the types of folks that are regulars around the shelter.  Drug addicts, Schizophrenics, people that are chronically homeless, alcoholics, transitional homeless, mental illnesses, and everything in between are my new community.  I'll be honest, some can be a little intimidating or strange at times, but at the end of the day, they are just people.  I think a lot of people forget that the homeless population are just like everyone else, but they made some different choices or had other circumstantial situations than I did.  However, it's fun and certainly a new kind of reality to be hanging out with them everyday.  

Mike (my housemate who also works at Nativity House) likes to joke and call me the "Queen of the Homeless" because of my newfound popularity.  I usually laugh then punch him when he starts making up lyrics to the corresponding song that he wrote for my title.  I will say though, it's hard to go anywhere in Tacoma without seeing at least one of the Nativity House "guests" at some point along the journey.  In some weird way it gives me a sense of security to see a familiar face and know that even though my new friends aren't exactly "normal," I can quickly find them anywhere at any time of day.

Alright, I'm now going to go and make good use of the soapbox that I have been standing on for this post.  Adios!