2 10 18 https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/fdafad13d654995db5d8042f1b70ccdd.pdf 493998e99b07fe1b59e0875daf7bcc91 PDF Text Text Sexy, Yummy, Veggie P. 8 Art to Save Our Souls P. 3 Will it Be Moved? P. 11 STREETVIBES $1 July 15 - August 2, 2009 • Advocating Justice, Building Community • Issue 157 A Streetcar Named ‘Democracy’ NAACP wants voters to decide By Paul KoPP Contributing Writer The Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP wants citizens to decide on a proposed streetcar plan approved by city council. The plan calls for the construc­ tion of a 3.9-mile long street­ car line around downtown and parts of Over-the-Rhine, with a connector leading to uptown neighborhoods at the top of the hill. The city hopes the streetcars will create new jobs, business and economic growth. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo­ ple (NAACP) wants voters to decide. The NAACP has circu­ lated petitions for an amend­ ment to the city charter that would require a referendum Streetcars of varying designs and styles are seen in many large American cities. to determine whether a major transportation project, such as In addition to the $200 million cost to build the tions to make sure voters get to decide. streetcars, should be approved. The NAACP says it “All we are demanding is a vote,” says Christo­ streetcar system, operating costs will cause a furhas already submitted sufficient signatures to put the pher Smitherman, president of the NAACP. “They ther $60 million dollar issue on the ballot but is continuing to circulate peti­ seem to fear people voting on this issue.“ imbalance, Smitherman See Streetcar, p. 4 Making More Than Pizza Q&A with the head of Venice on Vine By angela Pancella Contributing Writer Rina Saperstein is executive director of Power Inspires Prog­ ress, which operates Venice on Vine, a restaurant and employ­ ment-education program at 1301 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine. What is Venice on Vine? The restaurant's purpose it to sell good food and be a com­ fortable place to visit. We're about more than just pizza. Be­ cause we're an employment education program, we are helping our employees gain a work history and job skills so they can get out and get a better job. What are the requirements to work here? One of our eligibility criteria is that our employees have to be from inner-city Cincinnati. Right now we have people from places like Avondale, Price Hill, Camp Washington. A fair num­ ber come from Over-the-Rhine. A fair number are from tempo­ rary homeless shelters and transitional housing. Other criteria: You must be over 18, you must want to work, you must want to make chang­ es. We're not a part-time or See Pizza, p. 7 Venice on Vine teaches local residents more than just preparing delicious pizza. Photo by Andrew Anderson. �2 The Vibe By The Numbers 6 the day in July when a radio commentator talked about ordinariness as a virtue (see page 5). 7-14 the ages for kids to learn meditation at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery (see page 14). $200 the cost, in millions, of the proposed streetcar system (see page 1). 72 the number of hours the Navy put a sailor in the desert to prepare him for torture (see page 5). 4 the number of American Indians portrayed on a T-shirt protesting European colonization (see page 3). 3.9 the number of miles covered by a proposed streetcar system for the city of Cincinnati (see page 1). StreetSense STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 By Kayla ThornTon Contributing Writer Fun with Sexually Transmitted Diseases Infertility, brain damage, heart disease, birth defects, cancer and death are among the benefits promoted by CityBeat’s new twist on alternative journalism. “Dear Maija,” a column by Maija Zummo, CityBeat’s listing editor, serves up a twenty-something version of advice that is irre­ sponsible at best and, at worst, down right creepy. Her July 1 column isn’t only offensive; it’s dangerous. “I have herpes and I hate it,” Rock and a Burny Place writes. “I’m very good looking, and men always hit on me, but I feel as though I shouldn’t go home with them because they might get her­ pes from me and then get pissed about it. I’ve thought about trying to get someone to emotionally rely on me enough that I could tell him the truth and then take those drugs they advertise on TV and just try not to give him herpes, but what if I get sick of his neediness?” Zummo responds, “Don’t take yourself so seriously. Some people (you, condom companies, etc.) act like STDs aren’t a joke, but the truth is they are — all of them except AIDS, which isn’t funny. Another joke is that most guys in Cincinnati already have herpes. I’d say that one out of four guys you meet at a bar, especially a bar downtown, will have herpes. So you have a one in four chance of sleeping with someone who’s already infected, which cancels itself out. You and this new herpes-riddled suitor could even laugh about each other’s outbreaks and playfully make fun of each other’s genital sores. (I told you STDs were funny!)” the street on which Mark Shears often sells Streetvibes (see page 6). 20 the number of dollars that keep addicts from getting help (see page 10). 47 the percent of employees being laid off by Hamilton County of Jobs and Family Services (see page 12). Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Yeah, funny. Fun with Fake Pills Editor Gregory Flannery The “one in four” chance of hooking up with a herpes-infected man apparently is a guess, something not checked with the health department, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) or any other medical professional. Art Director Lynne Ausman Here’s another little ditty from the CDC that Zummo didn’t bother with: “Young people (ages 15 to 24) have fives times the reported chlamydia rate of the general population.” That demo­ graphic is a big part of CityBeat’s readership – people who need sound advice on safe sex. In­ stead, this is what they get. Zummo goes so far as to recommend a specific prescription drug for treatment. “ … if you aren’t a gambling sort of woman, I’d suggest either a) getting a Valtrex prescrip­ tion or b) stealing an orange pill bottle and writing ‘Valtrex’ on it,” she writes. “Then the next time you’re at a bar trying to lure some muscled hottie in light-colored jeans back to your place, just ‘accidentally’ drop the Valtrex bottle out of your purse. Eventually you’re going to find a guy who looks at the bottle and makes the following positive conclusions about you: 1) you’re easy, 2) you have herpes and 3) you care about managing your outbreaks, which he’ll see as both responsible and attractive. So my advice is … get a Valtrex prescription and start going to downtown bars.” But she doesn’t stop there. Fun with Date Rape 12th Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by people who are or once were homeless, in exchange for a $1 donation, Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. “Even if you don’t find the right guy with herpes, there’s still a 50 percent chance you’ll get roofied. Either way you’ll get laid.” For the uninformed, a “roofie” is a slang term used to describe a powerful sedative that’s slipped into a person’s drink – usually a woman’s – in order to knock her unconscious in order to rape her. Also referred to as a “date-rape drug,” some are GHB, Rohypnol and Ketamine. Could all of this be dismissed as an attempt at satire? The column isn’t so labeled. A staff writer (without a medical degree) offers medical advice, suggests date rape as a “positive” way to get laid and encourages theft in response to a question about spreading herpes to unsuspecting men. Isn’t that funny? The CDC has brought about the decline of many STDs though education and awareness. It combats the uninformed and dangerous misinformation spread by sixth-grade kids and now, sadly, a newspaper, CityBeat. Instead of helping to end a health epidemic, the paper gives instruc­ tions on how to keep it going. If the forum were a publication with a reputation for authentic satire, such as The Onion, this could be dismissed. But in a newspaper trading on its reputations for award-winning journalism (as CityBeat Co-publisher John Fox did in the same edition in which this column appeared), this kind of writing crosses so many journalistic and ethical lines it’s unconscionable. StreetSense is an occasional column written under pseudonyms to prevent the authors from losing their jobs. Contributing Writers Lew Moores, Margo Pierce, Paul Kopp, Jeremy Flannery, Michael Henson, David Heitfield, Alecia Lott, Larry Gross, Stephanie Dunlap, Suhith Wickrema, Georgine Getty, Angela Pancella, Jaisha Garnett Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Paul Kopp, Aimie Willhoite, Lynne Ausman Proofreader Jennifer Blalock The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati through coordination of services, public education, grassroots advocacy and Streetvibes. We are members of: �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Art Review Art for the Mind and Spirit 3 An exhibition for the socially conscious and unafraid By Margo Pierce Contributing Writer A Buddhist monk, an un­ description of Janie, Jackie employed writer and a doc­ and Jody, my body stiffens: It’s evocative, laden with meaning that the artist brings in addition tor walk into an art exhibit, “My recent art has been an to that of the viewer. Awareness and thoughtfulness are as much on and what follows is as sur­ exploration of the mentally display as swaths of paint and clay sculptures. real as that unusual mix of ill or brain-diseased self as people. One reason might it relates to how we as inbe that this isn’t a madedividuals see our identities for-TV-movie art show with wine and cheese and people dressed in diamonds and how society as a whole views us.” and Dolce & Gabbana. This exhibit, at the Art Academy of Cincinnati in Over­ Is art supposed to consider those unpleasant and uncomfortable things that we The-Rhine, is described as “a community art show and event of sociopolitical don’t discuss over dinner when the entire family has gathered and young ears are expressions for peace and justice.” SOS (Save Our Souls) Art has images of present? Why not? Who said it has to just be about flowers and pretty landscapes controversial comedian George Carlin hanging with collages supporting gay that make us feel happy or connect us to pleasant experiences from our past? marriage and a drawing of former Vice President Dick Cheney going off a cliff These pieces make me think, challenge my preconceived notions, inspire re­ in a wheelchair. actions I couldn’t anticipate. This art gets to me. The first piece in the exhibit, Waiting for the Wolf, is a life-size statue of a The use of words stands out to me, the writer. As a woman, it was also an­ young girl wearing a red velvet cape. Nothing unusual about that, until you get noying. Man, mankind and humanity – nowhere did I see womankind. At the closer and see the child is covered in pieces of egg shell. Her body is a collage of top of Who Are the Founding Fathers by Tom Phelps is a picture of four Native broken fragile white bits with only the eyes of a retail store mannequin intact. American men in full feather and animal-skin regalia positioned in front of the The artist, Kymber Henson, four dead U.S. presidents on focuses her work on the fragil­ Mount Rushmore. The center ity of childhood and the hor­ of the piece is a T-shirt with rors many children witness, a row of American Indians according to Saad Ghosn, the on horseback done up in war doctor and artist who orga­ paint and full “riot” gear of nizes SOS Art every year. The bows, arrows, guns and other exquisite detail of those tiny weaponry. “Fighting terrorism pieces so carefully placed is since 1492,” the T-shirt says. remarkable, even beautiful, No indication is given that, until my mind registers the prior to the arrival of Europe­ ironic symbolism, the shatter­ ans, women served as the head ing implications of innocence of most American Indian tribes lost in the red cape of Little or that white men refused to Red Riding Hood. acknowledge their positions Henson offers a chilling of power and respect. description of Waiting for the Words are as powerful as Wolf. images, so when Ghosn says “My piece relates to the “patriarchy” when describ­ vulnerability of childhood, ing one of the nine panels of whether it's a child who suf­ his woodcut I react internally. fers from incest and feels help­ A circumcised penis poking less or any child at the mercy down out of the sky dropping of human traffickers or serial globs of semen onto a land­ pedophiles," Henson says. scape of people below isn’t ‘The Observer’ by Saad Ghosen. Photo Saad Ghosn. Sexual assault, physical something I would have cho­ violence, malnutrition, aban­ sen to illustrate the missing donment, under-funded public schools, waking up sick in the middle of the night feminine. My mind rebels at the male focus on the missing feminine. As I stand alone, juvenile detention, addiction and a host of other terrors flood my mind, on his right and the monk on his left, he explains that a portion of The Observer until it’s too upsetting to look at that piece of art that probably took hundreds of illustrates his frustration with the negative impact male domination has had on hours to create. A voyeur, I want to look. An advocate, I have to tear my eyes our culture. It was another piece I didn’t feel comfortable discussing with a away because there’s nothing I can do about all of that standing in an exhibit. monk. But is that true? Walking the classroom galleries, my head already swimming with thoughts That is the power of SOS Art. It’s evocative, laden with meaning that the art­ and reactions, I take in the pictures: One is “two victims of war,” depicting the ist brings in addition to that of the viewer. Awareness and thoughtfulness are as killer and the killed and the obituary pages of the New York Times post 9-11-01 much on display as swaths of paint and clay sculptures. – many faces smiling, some not. What does the monk think of this first piece after hearing about the varied The walls are covered in controversy, suffering, anger, hope (more Obama ways in which adults tell him they suffered as children? I wonder but I don’t images than I was prepared to count), fear, passion. I felt surrounded by the ask. Besides, he’s already moved on past the next several pieces and is asking most important issues of our time, uncensored. Ghosn is right: The art school is Ghosn about a picture. the perfect place for this exhibit because he isn’t forced to choose which images The lobby gallery is the first of three – the other two are upstairs – and I’m must be left out because of being politically incorrect or offensive – the stan­ torn between intrigue and anxiety. If this is just the beginning, what’s to come? dards are content and quality. As a feeling of being overwhelmed starts to grow, I hear my name called. Af­ ‘Art gets to me’ ter looking at Peace Men, a sculpture by Gloria McConnaghy – a happy Buddha in the center – we move down the hall to look out the window at the end. An “I want to go to the place where I am nothing and everything.” This statement artist several stories below is painting a mural on a brick wall. The painting is of by India Ayre is part of a painting called Present Moment by Lisa Vaughn. people painting: a pretty picture in the real world devoid of controversy. Wandering empty classrooms with art on the walls – some nubbly with paint and compositions made of three-dimensional objects – I keep my hands in my For a better world pockets, restraining my fingers from touching. The casual setting makes me want to believe it’s OK to feel those pieces, unlike a museum with guards and SOS Art isn’t just an opportunity for like-minded people to gather, bemoan squawking radios. I’m not visually impaired, a reasonable excuse for wanting the current cultural climate and go home feeling depressed and disempowered to touch in order to experience. But not being able to touch makes me feel I’m by the impossibility of significant change. A schedule of events that engages missing something. people in conversation and inspires action is part of the two-week exhibition. Then I see a series of three paintbrushes caked with white paint, each con­ “Movement Inquiry Workshop,” directed by Ethan Philbrick – performer, mu­ tained in a box, like a shallow diorama, hung in a trilogy. I can’t touch those even sician, dancer, filmmaker and educator – is an “interactive performance focus­ if I were allowed, but I can still feel their stiffness. As I read artist Kurt Storch’s ing on themes of social justice, accountability, See Art, p. 9 �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Community News 4 No License to A Streetcar Named ‘Democracy’ Look Real-estate agent peeked, but was it a crime? By gregory Flannery editor Climbing a ladder to look into a vacant house is trespassing even if there is no sign saying, “Keep Out,” and even if the person taking a peek is a real-estate agent, according to a July 2 ruling by the Ohio First District Court of Appeals. In a scathing dissent, Appeals Judge Mark Painter said the conviction was silly. “Evidently being short on criminals, we are now reduced to convicting realtors for looking at foreclosed houses,” he wrote. Acting as his own attorney, Michael Janson appealed his con­ viction in Hamilton County Municipal Court. When a neighbor saw Janson climbing into a vacant house, he called the sheriff’s office. Janson stayed until the deputy ar­ rived and admitted he’d looked inside, saying his mother was interested in bidding on the property. The deputy arrested him. “As a realtor who specialized in foreclosures, Janson could have arranged a legitimate viewing of the property without the necessity of climbing up a ladder and look­ In addition, the ing in a window without any kind of authoneighbor who called rization,” the appeals the cops on Janson court ruled. had mown the vacant Ohio law doesn’t re­ property’s lawn. Why quire signs forbidding wasn’t he prosecuted people from entering for trespassing? other people’s property without permission, - Judge Mark Painter the ruling found. In his dissent, Paint­ er sneered at the convic­ tion, straining to find any sign of criminal conduct. “The defaulting owners had vamoosed,” he wrote. “Who knows if it were even possible to get permission to look at the house? So he stopped there and peeked in the window (accord­ ing to his testimony), using a ladder that was leaning against the house. For this he was arrested, taken to the hoosegow, pre­ sumably in irons, and made to post bail. He was then made a convicted criminal. Janson was no burglar. When the neighbor called the law, he waited for the officer to arrive. Where was the crime?” If anything, Janson did the owners of the property a favor, Painter argued. “It would be more reasonable to assume that the owners of the house, having defaulted on the mortgage, would have been more than amenable to a realtor checking the house out with a view to bidding on it — the higher the bid, the less the default­ ing owners owe,” Painter wrote. In addition, the neighbor who called the cops on Janson had mown the vacant property’s lawn. Why, Painter asked, wasn’t he prosecuted for trespassing? Although trespassing is one of the least serious criminal con­ victions in Ohio law, the way this case was handled brings to mind great injustices in classical literature, according to Paint­ er. “Someone should have had the common sense to dismiss this case before it came to trial,” he wrote. “Failing that, the trial judge should have thrown it out. Failing that, this court should do the right thing. But all failed. And a 52-year-old lawabiding citizen is dragged through the court system and made a convict. Michael Janson must feel like Jean Valjean — except that Valjean actually committed a crime. Janson is not guilty of a crime. His misfortune is that he lives in a county where he would be convicted anyway.” (continued from page 1) says. The NAACP believes that, even if the city receives federal funding, taxes surely will be increased, he says. “Once they interject our money, it’s something differ­ ent. (City council) forgets the money they are talking about isn’t theirs,” Smitherman says. “If there is one thing I understand, its money. I’m a stockbroker.” Construction costs for the project total $128 million, ac­ cording to Meg Olberding, a spokeswoman for city man­ ager. Money for construction Seventh and Walnut in downtown Cincinnati could one day be will come from capital fund­ a streetcar stop. Photo by Paul Kopp. ing, which can only be used for long-term projects, she the route, the streetcar sys­ devleopment of the streetcar, says. Taxes won’t increase, tem will help close the budget they will be responsible for but instead the city will pay deficit. It is the city’s general its upkeep, which Monzel for the project using revenue fund that has a deficit – but the says the city estimates will from various sources, one be­ city never planned on using cost roughly $3 million a year. ing the sale of Blue Ash Air­ that money for the streetcars, “They are hoping to get half of port. The city also expects to she says. Their hope is that that in fares, but what if they receive funding from the fed­ the streetcar will replenish the don’t get half of that in fares?” fund. Monzel says. “Their business eral govern­ plan is a little weak. One of “It’s been ment. The city says proven in two my big fears is we are going “The city taxes won’t different stud­ to be on the hook to maintain has found ies that street­ this thing.” increase, but $61 million cars bring Monzel says city officials dollars,” Ol­ instead the city don’t almost 3-to-1 realize the strength of berding says. will pay for the grassroots opposition to the return on an “We need $57 project using investment,” streetcars. million more, revenue from “There are people out there Olberding and that is various sources, says. who are saying, ‘This is a proj­ what we are ect that is going to impact one Chris Mon­ one being the presenting to zel, a Repub­ neighborhood and there are the federal sale of Blue Ash lican, is the 50 other neighborhoods out government.” Airport. only member here that need funding, that Smither­ of city coun­ need economic development man, a city cil to oppose projects but they don’t need a councilmember from 2003­ the plan. He says he supports streetcar,” he says. 2005, says the city budget is Mayor Mark Mallory and already looking at a $20 mil­ the NAACP’s proposed char­ lion deficit for 2009 and $40 ter amendment because he city council members in sup­ million for next year. He also believes that voters should port of the streetcars didn’t says he warned his colleagues decide on any project of such respond to e-mail and phone at City Hall of the under-fund­ a large magnitude. He also messages seeking comment. ing of the city’s retirement believes the streetcar system Some council aides directed will require new taxes. He questions to the city manager fund, but they didn’t listen. “Will city council, the compares the issue to the sales and Cincinnatians for Prog­ mayor, the manager – all of tax for the Reds and Bengals ress, a pro-street car lobby, them – continue to ignore this stadiums, which voters ap­ neither of which responded. Councilman Chris Bortz – financial crisis in July 2009 proved. “For such a massive project, who, Smitherman says – owns by pushing the building of a $200 million streetcar that we something bigger than Paul property along the proposed cannot afford to operate?” he Brown Stadium, it just makes streetcar route, was one of sense to have a vote,” Monzel those who couldn’t be reached. says. In addition to more taxes, says. “(City council members) Tracy Schwetschenau, Bortz’s Smitherman speculates that supported the vote on the sta­ chief of staff, says he doesn’t the city will layoff 600 work­ dium sales tax, but now when have a Blackberry to access ers, which is about 10 percent it comes to this, you say ‘No, his city e-mail, but she’d give no, no, we don’t want to put him the interview request if he of its staff. visited his office at City Hall. Olberding acknowledges that on the ballot.’ ” He also believes the opera­ With council out of session the city’s budget problems but says that, by spurring eco­ tional costs for the streetcar this month, things are pretty nomic growth through new will be a potential problem. slow there, and they are happy businesses and housing along Though the city does plan to about that, Schwetschenau receive capital funding for the says. Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Issues None Dare Call Him Lawrence 5 Larry Gross and the art of the ordinary By gregory Flannery editor A commentator on National Public Radio on July 6 la­ mented “the elevation of ordi­ nariness to a virtue.” He was referring to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin but made me think of Larry Gross and his new book, Living Out Loud. Gross doesn’t commit the vice of elevating ordinariness but he does celebrate it – when he isn’t busy shaking his fist at it or trying to improve it. Full disclosure: I wrote the introduction to the book, and some of the essays mention me. See? Ordinariness. What’s extraordinary about Gross’s work is his deter­ mination to extract meaning from the chaos around him. Bus rides become occasions for moral intimacy, outrage or wonder. Bars, preferably What’s extraordinary about Gross’s work is his determination to extract meaning from the chaos around him. Bus rides become occasions for moral intimacy, outrage or wonder. Bars are where his muses hold forth. Far from trying to pretty up the grit that makes up the characters’ innards and their environs alike, Gross studies them as a naturalist would, cataloging the latest act of discourtesy or gentleness that he runs across. filled with smoke, are where his muses hold forth. Far from trying to pretty up the grit that makes up the characters’ innards and their environs alike, Gross studies them as a naturalist would, cataloging the latest act of discourtesy or gentleness that he runs across. “I have a willingness to talk to anybody, and I think that opens you up to encounters you wouldn’t have otherwise,” he says. “I also think by mak­ ing eye contact – which a lot of people in this town won’t do – you’re letting yourself in for it a little bit.” The dig at “this town” is intentional. Most of Gross’s essays first appeared in CityBeat, where he has also pub- See Larry, p. 13 Larry Gross, author of ‘Living Out Loud.’ Photo by Andrew Anderson. Heroism and White Guilt Shower lessons and other kinds of torture By DaviD heiTFielD Contributing Writer his age and weight (rocks in his pocket) to enlist in WWII, was a prisoner of war. “Nothin' Whenever I'm out drinking to talk about,” he said, and we with Republicans, the script never talked of it again. I have usually calls for an interven- his Purple Heart. He never tion – not about my drinking, really talked about the times of course, but he was shot, about my evil either: “Just There was a hot political views doin' a job.” box, there was – that ends in The marwaterboarding, a predictable keting tool of there was lots stalemate, fol“Support Our of slamming lowed by someTroops” exists people against one offering me as a politically walls. a hearty handcorrect piousshake and a ness to hide drunkenly sinthe ugly side of cere “Thank you for serving conservative White Guilt. So, our country.” I'm here to help. It makes me throw up a Thirty years ago I vollittle in my mouth. And that's unteered for the Navy and not necessarily the drinking, worked as a Korean linguist either: I get the same gassy for four years. While America feeling when I see a soccer was a different place then – mom driving like hell while my high school had a smoktalking on her cell phone, her ing lounge for students – and barely-controlled SUV sport- the service was peacetime, ing a “Support Our Troops” maybe I can give you a few bumper sticker and a ribbon. things to think about so that Or over the recent Fourth of the next time you feel the need July weekend, which televi- to shake a vet's hand to thank sion has now turned into a him for his service, you'll first “Support Our Troops” holiday. wonder just where that hand So now we support our troops has been. on Veterans Day and of course Memorial Day and of course Cut vertically the Fourth. On Thanksgiving, we are thankful for our troops. I was enticed into the miliAt Christmas, we remember tary by an attractive woman those stationed overseas for I met at a party who was attheir sacrifices. tending the Naval PostgraduI was 30 when I found out ate School in Monterey, Camy late father, who lied about lif. She told me Monterey was about the most beautiful spot on earth, and there was a language school there, and I should look into it. After my recruiter sold me on the idea that joining the military and wearing the Navy cracker jacks uniform would result in “getting more pussy than you can shake your dick at,” my choice was between delivering pizza to Miami Univer­ sity coeds who, at their most generous, would piss on my townie face, or I could go into the world and procreate. I was put on a train to Chicago for boot camp at Great Lakes. One area of boot camp that they don't tell in movies is the emphasis on personal hygiene, because they assume many of the recruits have been too busy being heroes to learn how to clean themselves: how to brush your teeth; how to shave (always use cold water after the shave to close your pores); how and when to shower (use Zest soap so there is no residue to clean up before an inspection), stuff like that. Company 079 was soon marked as a company that would not go through formal graduation ceremonies, so we became something of a company of rejects. Our laundry officer, from the Bronx, was expert at procuring drugs (blotter acid was popular in the day) and other contraband. I remember one night I was on duty when a kid slit his wrists. As medics were carrying him out on a stretcher, his drill instructor was screaming about how he had failed him, that if he wanted to be successful in this life he had to learn to do things right, and the next time he took a razor to his wrists he should cut vertically, down the arm. Boot camp was where I, and many others, heroically took up smoking. Smokers got frequent breaks called “smoke and Cokes,” when you could buy a soda and smoke a couple of butts. A few weeks into boot camp almost all of us were smokers. After boot camp came lan­ guage school at the Presidio of Monterey, which overlooks the Monterey Bay Peninsula. It was not only just as beauti­ ful as I'd been told, but it was California in 1979, before AIDS and even before herpes was a big concern. One friend of mine, an Air Force linguist named Pam, had a list of her sexual partners and had hoped to make 100 before she even thought of getting married. I don't know if she ever made it, because she flunked out. A friend I'd made in boot camp, who held a master's degree in something, told me during the flight to San Francisco that he was gay. He taught me about fine dining, quite the experi- See Heroism, P. 6 �Issues 6 Heroism and White Guilt STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 (continued from page 5) ence for a kid for whom “eating out” was a hamburger at the Red Barn; and also introduced me to San Francisco, which included things like “fisting” bars and other avenues for anonymous gay sex. He flunked out, too. For me, it was mostly a year of partying. Beer was cheap, and so was the sex, being pre-AIDS California. We had strippers on base once a month, and they soon added male strippers as well, with the idea that the females would get drunk and worked up and want to screw and it was good for morale all around. I made many friends. One guy, who also flunked out, introduced me to his “oneone-one” theory, which meant going down to Carmel beach, under I believe the ninth and 10th fairways at Pebble Beach Golf Club, and drink one beer, smoke one joint and eat one Quaalude and then enjoy the day. My closest friends were other people from the Midwest, as we could discuss our heroism, but there was quite the assortment of characters, including the high-school dropout with a 170 IQ, or the guy who specialized in cultivating legal ways of getting high. Silly torture Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape was a program started by the Air Force at the end of the Korean War. All we knew going in was that it involved getting tortured for a couple of days. This program was for people who might be in danger of getting captured by the enemy and is generally reserved for air crew and Navy SEALs. I was originally scheduled to fly when I got to Korea, so this is why I was sent there. I'd love to tell my personal story about surviving SERE school, but I don't have one to tell. I failed the swimming test before deployment. I honestly don't remember if it was intentional on my part or not; I do recall I wasn't crazy about the idea of getting tortured, although I'm also not a very good swimmer. Still, failing the swim test set me up for several months at Coronado, where I had nothing to do but call in at 8:30 a.m. to check in, then spend the rest of the day at the beach being a hero, while they changed my billet from a flier to a land-based analyst, which takes an inexplicably long time to do in the military. While I hung out in beautiful San Diego, I also got to meet a good number of people going into and coming out of SERE training. The gist of what I heard was this: First, there was a period of sleep deprivation and starvation, about 72 hours in the desert. After you were exhausted and weak came the capture and 24 or so hours in the POW camp. The rules were skin could not be broken and no blood drawn, but anything else was fair game. The “guards” wore vague Eastern Bloc uniforms and spoke in an exaggerated Slavic accent. There was a hot box, there was waterboarding, there was lots of slamming people against walls. Just when you thought it was all about to end, one of the guards gathered ev­ eryone in formation, brought out a Bible, told their captors in the fake Slavic accent that there was no God, no hope, only the all-knowing Commu­ nist Party to answer to, with various people telling me that the Bible was either spat upon or pages were ripped out, I guess depending on the mood. At this point, a number of otherwise strong young men would just break down and start crying, and then the cav­ alry charge would blare out, the captives would be “saved” and the ordeal ended. The most memorable story came from a guy I'd befriended about a week before he participated in SERE. He was a very pragmatic guy, a little older than most of us, and he saw this all as a silly game for some sadistic military play. During his POW session, he explained to his captors that he was sick of the silly games and he would tell them whatever they wanted to know, because he was tired and hungry and this was all kinda stupid. At that point, the Slavic accents were dropped by the guards. “We're not gonna torture you if you don't want to take part in that,” he was told, “but let me tell you what a sorry American you are.” There, after days of weaken­ ing from the lack of sleep and food, they told him stories of heroic POWs of the past, and what they had to endure, and they did so selflessly. Whatever it was, it worked. He came back a totally changed man, having been shamed into a gung-ho soldier from that point on. He described his own past personality as “cowardly” and vowed never to allow that to happen again. I don't know about the effec­ tiveness of torture for eliciting information from enemies, but it seems to be very effective in inducing conformist ideology on our own people. This is the first of a series. The Hustle Man Selling wares, time and ‘Streetvibes’ By JereMy Flannery Contributing Writer When living on the streets, you try to survive with the means at your disposal. Mark Anthony Shears sells his time and acquisitions. “People call me ‘the Hustle Man,’” he says, “because I wash people’s car windows, detail cars, and if anyone gives me clothes or other things for the FreeStore, I try to sell what I can first to get by.” Streetvibes is another item Shears sells to earn a living. He would like to attempt writ­ ing for the newspaper some­ day, he says. “I read the paper first so I know how to sell it better, to get to know the city better and know the conditions of the poor and homeless,” he says. Shears has been homeless on and off for eight years, he says. He started selling Streetvibes in December 2008. He uses a gentle yet fearless ap­ proach when selling the paper. He shakes hands with a pastor and two people in the middle of a conversation on 12th Street and shouts to a man be­ fore he escapes in his car. He sells a few copies to people standing on the sidewalks of Main Street and greets oth­ ers. He sells a copy to a man in a coffee shop and to some­ one working at Art Beyond Boundaries. He pitches sales in other stores along Main Street, but gets no bites. “I know a lot of people down here and they say, ‘That Mark Anthony is a good guy’ because I wash people’s car windows, and if people get their cars busted into, I try to find out who did it for them,” Shears says. “Some people will offer me some money but let me keep the issues so I can sell them to someone else.” Shears is a U.S. Army vet­ eran who served with an army task force in Honduras in 1988, he says. He has never received benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, he says. He studied photography at Central Texas College and earned a massage therapy license in Killeen, Texas, he says. His fall into homelessness began in New Jersey, he says. “I was living in New Jersey and was contracted to work for People Express Airlines, and I had a one-night stand and got a woman pregnant,” Shears says. He then moved to Cincin­ nati, where he was robbed of $500 meant to pay for child Mark “Hustleman” Shears is a ‘Streetvibes’ vendor and Army veteran. Photo by Andrew Anderson. support, he says. He served six months for non-payment of child support and has faced homelessness on and off ever since, he says. �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Q&A Making More Than Pizza 7 (continued from page 1) Venice on Vine is open Monday-Friday 10:30am - 8pm for Carry Out or to Eat In Need to grab ‘n go? Order ahead by calling (513) 221-7020. second job, we're a place you Another part of daily activi- kids?’ you have to say, ‘No, I come because you want to ties: After you've worked here have to go to work.’ If the paget in the workforce full-time six to nine months, we expect role officer wants to meet with e v e n t u a l l y. you during You do have work hours, We want people to have some successes to be physiyou have to they can talk about when they leave here. cally capable say, ‘Can we of doing the make it a dif­ - Rina Saperstein job of a resferent time?’ taurant, too. ” Your emThat means lifting 25 pounds, you to be active in job hunt- ployer's expectation is that working in hot and cold en- ing, to go to job fairs, take part you will prioritize work over vironments … and you have in mock interviews. We're one all, but everybody else exto be willing to do every job place where we don't mind if pects you to prioritize them. in the restaurant. You have to you look for a job while you're Learning how to survive in a make pizza, clean the bath- on the job! work environment is learning rooms, be on the cash register. What are some of the barri- to juggle that sense of prioriYou also have to participate ers your employees have faced ties. I say, “You don't have to in your educational develop- in looking for work? love your job, but you have to ment. All of our employees Many of the people here act like it.” work with tutors and all in have had issues of addiction We want people to have different ways. One person and are in recovery. Many some successes they can talk might be working on computer people – not all – have been about when they leave here. skills, another person might be incarcerated. For some, that's We don't want people to have studying for her GED, another minor. For others, it can be a to tell potential employers, might be saying, "How am I major barrier to employment. “Well, I had a job for a month going to start my small busi- Several people can no longer and then I left that, and then I ness?" Another person may be work in health care, for exam- went to another job and then I learning to read. In whatever ple, because of a conviction, left that one too.” The people form it takes, educational de- and so they are completely who work here can say, “I'm velopment is a requirement of changing the field in which working right now, and last the job; it's not an option. they'll work. Other people week, this happened on the You also have to show up here never grew up in an envi- job and this is how I solved for work every day; we're ronment where work was val- it.” We want people to have pretty strict about that. ued and so they never learned accomplishments and then What are the work days the skills necessary. Think to be able to talk about them like? back. How did you get your with pride. There's a big barPeople work 20 hours a first summer job? Usually rier, though, and that is there week – a four-hour shift five it's from someone you know. are very few entry-level jobs days a week, so there's plenty There can be a big barrier if in the inner city. People have of time to do whatever else people don't have connections transportation issues when you need to do in your life. to the work force. ... Even if there are jobs out in the subEvery person has an assign- the skills required in the job urbs on schedules that don't ment, which rotates every do not require a high school work with the bus lines. three weeks. If you're starting education, the employer will Also, we're creating classes new in that job, you shadow still say you need to have a of people who are unemploysomeone else. After you've high school education. able, especially considering done it for a while, somebody A lot of people lack knowl- the number of people with a then shadows you. You're re- edge of employers' expecta- conviction record. That's a se­ sponsible for your tasks. You tions. I tell people starting rious policy issue. I'd say local learn by direct supervision, here, “Be aware that when your employers have to step up. If shadowing and teaching. sister says, ‘Can I drop off the you walk into a place and you Venice on Vine is located at the corner of Vine and 13th streets in Over-the-Rhine. Rina Saperstein, executive director of Power Inspires Progress. Photos by Andrew Anderson. see a help wanted sign, say, “I know a program that could provide you with employees that have proven they have a work ethic. They can take control in a tough environment.” That would be my plea. You have to find your own value in work because it's not going to come externally; it's not always going to be bread and roses. I've seen a lot of people have a sense of pride and accomplishment. It's a really big deal when they hit their one-month or threemonth anniversary. They understand the value of that. What has surprised you at Venice on Vine? I'm surprised by how many people here are victims of violence and how that shapes their lives. I just think about the level of grief they must carry. Someone may have a son who's paralyzed, or her children's father was murdered, or his grandchild was shot. It's constant. It's like, “How can I expect people to come to work and concentrate on the pizza?” Every time you see a report of a shooting in the paper, somebody here knows them or it's somebody's family member. It's so easy to draw the lines between “us” and “them,” to think, “We're the law-abiding, good people.” But all those people are somebody's nephew, somebody's son, or somebody's gonna end up here later when they figure out they don't want to be part of that world anymore. We have people who do a wonderful job. It's not easy when 14 people walk in wanting to eat within 15 minutes. And there's constant turnover here; everybody's always training, nobody's ever fully trained. (Our employees) show up for work every day for very little pay. That's incredible dedication. I have really enjoyed getting to know a lot of the people here. We do form a community. I'm happy when people have moved on and are doing well and that does happen. What are your goals for Venice on Vine and Power Inspires Progress? I want people to come here (because) they want a good slice of pizza. It helps if they are a little tolerant, if they know we're not fast food. But we still have to put out the food. We can't run the program unless we can satisfy the customers. We make half of our money from sales. That was a really important goal, and I'm really proud we did. Our donations are huge to us and our big fundraiser in September is a quarter of our budget. (At nonprofits) we're always telling people, "You've got to work for your money, you can't de­ pend on handouts," and so we do the same. But we can't sur­ vive on just what we can earn. (Our employees) are still go­ ing to need food stamps, and we're in the same boat as the people here. It used to be the trend in non-profits to talk about selfsufficiency, but the reality is interdependency - it's resourcefulness. �8 Recipe STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Sexy, Yummy, Veggie Your tour guide into the steamy side of vegetarian cuisine Lazy Vegetable Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce For the dipping sauce: ½ cup natural peanut butter (chunky or smooth) 1 tbsp minced garlic ¼ cup tamari or soy sauce ¼ cup water (more if needed) 1 tbsp rice vinegar 1 tsp Asian chili paste 1 tsp sugar 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves by AleCiA A. lott Contributing Writer The fact that I’m a vegan doesn’t mean I love salads. In fact, I have to force myself to eat them just like everyone else. At many casual restaurants, they’re simply a glorified steak or chicken sandwich sans bread. Once all the ani­ mal flesh and secretions are omitted, all I am often left with is wilted lettuce and maybe a few pale, measly wedges of tomato and scraps of carrot. Olive oil and vinegar – yawn – might be the only dairy-free dressing option. How depress­ ing. When I make salads at home, I enjoy them because I can throw in my favorite stuff: beans, bell peppers, artichoke hearts, nuts, dried fruit, olives. That said, salads are labor-in­ tensive and dull, with all the prep work, the green leafy healthfulness. Many of my favorite foods – French fries, sushi, chips ’n’ guacamole, samosas – have many fun things in common that salads lack: They are finger foods that don’t require utensils. (I use chop- 1. In a small bowl or food processor, combine everything except the cilantro until well blended. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add more water if sauce is too thick. 2. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Stir in the cilantro just before serving. This sauce will keep for up to 5 days. Photo by Andrew Anderson. sticks to eat sushi because they’re fun, but sushi is traditionally a finger food.) There is a dipping sauce involved, which makes everything in life better. With the exception of the fries, they are a touch exotic, whereas big ol’ leafy salads are a very American thing. Today’s recipe, colorful Vietnamese-style spring rolls, combines the nutritious, crunchy virtuosity of a salad with the dip ’n’ dunk, otherworldly appeal of my favorite fare. The ingredients and measurements are simply a guide- ! ? t a h W y a line. You can fill them with whatever you like; and if you are lazy like me, you can just use pre-sliced veggies. The toughest part is dealing with the spring roll wrappers, which are made of delicate rice paper and can be found in the Asian section of most supermarkets. You might have to practice a few times but soon you’ll be a pro. If you don’t want to make the dipping sauce, just buy the yummy Thai Kitchen Peanut Satay Sauce, as I do. I told you I’m lazy! For the spring rolls: 8 spring roll wrappers 1 cup shredded red cabbage ¾ cup shredded carrots 1 cup broccoli slaw 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips ½ cup fresh bean sprouts ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro 1. Dip a wrapper in a shallow bowl of warm water to soften. Carefully place it on a clean towel briefly to blot, then place it on a cutting board or flat work surface. 2. Place a small amount of each ingredient on the bottom third of the wrapper (the edge closest to you). Pull the bottom edge over the filling and tightly fold in the sides. Dab the top edge with water and tightly roll up. (You can cut the roll in half if you wish, but that will make it messier to eat.) 3. Place the roll seam-side down on a serving platter. Re­ peat with remaining wrappers and filling ingredients. 4. Serve with small bowls of dipping sauce. Berta’s Art Corner S When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. – Dom Helder Camara ________ Become a fan of Streetvibes on Facebook! “Vertical Wrap” Government Square, Downtown Cincinnati �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Art Review Art for the Mind and Spirit 9 (continued from page 3) and social responsibility.” Sally Lawson-Bailey leads chanting and meditation. “Immigrants and Immigrant Right Issues: a Local Perspective” is a panel dis­ cussion facilitated by Dan La Botz, historian, followed by a potluck meal, mu­ sic and the documentary film, The Cats of Mirikitani, “an intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing power of community and art.” Live music and poetry readings are interspersed throughout the schedule, with poets scheduled to read the night we visit. They are all published in For A Better World: Poems and Drawings on Peace and Justice by Greater Cincinnati Artists. After the visual stimulation it’s hard to just listen. My eyes wander over tattoos, clothing, hair and looking for what people do while they listen. One woman knits. Unable to follow the words I hear with my eyes open, I follow along with the poems in the book Ghosn autographed before handing it to me. “I want to see the tables turned, George Bush stopped at the border Incoming, stripped of his cowboy boots and jeans, His counterfeit dignity….. Five hundred detentions per day, in this land where we are free to ignore the truth, the home of the brave and patriotic bumper sticker. (excerpted from Mohammed’s Return by Karen Arnett) My fingers flip pages, not as satisfied as they would be trailing over bumpy paint, but content to wander. The black/white/gray drawings paired with each group of poems feel stark. But maybe that’s the point. So many fight to protect their right To gluttony, ease, ignorance and spite The right to be crude The right to eat any food They desire. It sits and expires While others subsist on handouts And sound-outs, and closeouts “Get your nose out”s and “Mind your business”s Are fired like arrows at those who care Enough to say, “Wait, stop there ‘Waiting for the Wolf’ by Kymber Henson. Photo by Bill Howes. And just think.” (excerpted from Lines by Celeste Brott) This is the monk’s favorite so far, the poet’s thoughts clearly communicated on paper and in voice. The bios of all contributors reveal contributors from ages 9 to 85. At the be­ ginning of the reading, the moderator thanks Ghosn for giving local poets an opportunity to publish and be heard each year. Not one to read poetry, I’m not aware of the lack of a market or audience, but given how infrequently poetry gets the spotlight and the low value place on cultural pursuits, it makes sense. I’m glad to be present, to witness the creativity. Poet (and Streetvibes columnist) Michael Henson takes the stage and de­ mands attention with a seemingly spontaneous presentation of an engaging piece. He doesn’t sound rehearsed or hesitant – he’s excited and pulling us along with a happy and energetic cadence. What follows is A Poem for Esme and the reason for the gathering is driven home with somber silence between spoken lines. Two women close to me cry and hold hands – friends of the fam­ ily of Esme Kenny? Peace and justice are complicated concepts to understand but their lack seems obvious as the death of a young girl. Inspiring action to address the lack is important and essential. ‘Present Moment’ by Lisa Vaughn. Photo by Saad Ghosn. Throwing around words Only shows we’re lazy Letter will fall on deaf ears And empty heads. If words could change the world, Mouths would be gods And language would be magic. But we’re thrown words around Long enough. The world doesn’t need more words, The world needs action. And we need the world. – All Talk by Christopher Patterson SOS Art was May 29–June 7 at the Art Academy of Cincinnati in Over-the-Rhine. Smaller exhibitions will run throughout the year at various locations. To receive updates about where and when these shows will take place, e-mail Saad Ghosn at ghosns@ucmail.uc.edu �Column 10 For Want of Three Items Why not just help any addict who asks for it? Twenty dollars. A photo ID. A piece of mail with your name and address on it. These three items are what you will need if you want to go into detox at a center I won’t name because good people work there trying to do their best with the circumstances they are given. If you lack any one of them, you will be turned away. If your photo ID is not from the state of Ohio, you will be turned away. And the piece of mail needs to be a bill or some other of­ ficial piece of mail – not just a letter from your aunt – or you’ll be turned away. A homeless certificate, completed by one of the en­ tities legally authorized to issue a homeless certificate, will stand in for the ID and the piece of mail. But not the $20. When I took My Friend (I won’t name him either) over to the detox center, he had none of them. I thought everything had been set up with emergency-room social services. We had a 9 o’clock appointment and I picked him up at the hospital in plenty of time. But when we got there, the receptionist asked, first thing, “Do you have a photo ID, $20 and a piece of mail?” I had the $20. I was ready for that. My Friend got out his photo ID, but it was a Kentucky ID, so it didn’t count. “I don’t live there no more,” he told her, but it didn’t matter. So did he have a piece of mail? It took a moment for My Friend to register the question. He looked befuddled (he was, after all, befuddled). He searched through his wallet and came up with nothing. “Do you remember I told you, ‘Bring a photo ID, $20 and a piece of mail’? ” My Friend did not. He had been drunk or on Valium for the past 48 hours, so he was lucky to remember anything at all. So there we were. It had taken hours of work by a num- 20 minutes. Twenty minutes was too long to wait. My Friend was sent away. He got in later that day. They released him three days later and he went right back to the bottle. I don’t know if they offered him a treatment referral and he refused or if there were no post-detox treatment available. ***** Twenty dollars. A photo ID. A piece of mail with your name and address on it. Try to remember, if you ever end up homeless and addicted, to hold onto these three items. When you’re beat down and crazy and addled and you don’t by MiChAel henson know whether to live or die, but you’re willing to ber of people to get My Friend give it just one more shot, just to this point, but we were be sure you can prove who stumped for lack of an ID and you are. a piece of mail. It would be a shame to We tried to explain that ever treat the wrong person. My Friend was homeless. So It would be a shame to de­ where was his homeless cer- tox someone under false pre­ tificate? tences. It would be a shame to Time was running out here. save the wrong life. My Friend was about to lose ***** his spot to the next person on the list. We figured out that My Friend had a homeless certifiWhy is addiction differ­ cate on file and that we could ent from any other disease? get someone to fax it over in When My Friend fell down ammered H STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. and broke his arm a few days later and it got infected, he showed up at the emergency room door, broke as ever, with the same Kentucky ID and no mail in hand. No one at the ER bothered about his out-of-state ID or his lack of mail or $20. They treated him. And I know it wasn’t cheap. It involved at least three days in a hospital bed and plenty of antibiotics and a whole team of doctors and nurses. What we say is that addic­ tion is a disease like other dis­ eases. What we do is to treat it like a moral failing. Why do we set up barriers to treat­ ment? Why do we set up stan­ dards for the addict we do not have in place for anyone else? ***** What if it were simple? What if you could just show up, shaking, miserable, bowels trembling, vitals spiking, hope nearly gone, numb in mind, barely able to think, much less think straight, without ID or mail or barely a dollar to your name (that you can’t prove is yours)? What if you walk up to a facility where they said to you, “We don’t care who you are or where you come from. We can see you’re sick and we’re happy to help.” But they don’t. Maybe they say that to cli­ ents with hefty wallets and good insurance, the people who still get mail from Netflix or the phone company, who have their $20 handy. But they don’t say that to the people I take to detox, who tend to have a lot of burnt bridges but not a lot of money or official mail. But let’s imagine they could welcome anyone who showed up. Would that be a bad thing? What if we had the funding to cover beds for every addict who shows up in need? And what if we would follow up detox with treatment at what­ ever level is appropriate? And what if there were supportive case-management services available to help the addicts get their IDs and addresses together? Would there be a downside? If there is, I don’t see it. But why do I even ask? Is there a single governmental entity at the federal, state, county or local level ready to put the money behind a real effort to prevent, intervene or treat chemical dependency or provide support for the strug­ gling addict? We can have an extended debate on whether to buy an­ other boat for the Hamilton County Coast Guard. But we don’t talk at all about how to rescue My Friend. Health Food in Times of Peril A celebration of books and characters By Jaisha J. garneTT Contributing Writer The potato peel pie sadly only exists in the pages of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows but it's probable that the ingredients would have been something like this: 2 pounds of potatoes 2 cups raw, grated potato peelings 1 cup of water 4 medium sized beets, strained and chopped The main ingredients of an epistolary novel set in 1946 that celebrates the power of books to inspire and strengthen readers in times of darkness are equally simple: 1 island under German occupation 1 roasted pig 7 founding dinner guests An armful of books Infinite letters of correspondence 1 amiable protagonist named Juliet Ashton Juliet Ashton is a young writer, a lover of all things literary, in her early thirties. As the novel opens, she is on tour promoting her book, Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War, a collection of newspaper columns published in the newspaper the Spectator during World War II. Though the book is a success, Juliet admits to her editor that she is disgruntled at the thought of having to write another book as Izzy Bickerstaff – she doesn't want to be seen as a "light-hearted journalist anymore." Still discontent with her career, short on ideas and dispirited by the deprivation left behind by the war, she receives inspiration from a letter by a stranger on the British island of Guernsey. Dawsey Adams is inquiring about the other works of Charles Lamb, briefly speaking of living on Guernsey during the German occupation and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Juliet's curiosity is inevitable, and so a correspondence with Dawsey begins: "Why did a roast pig dinner have to be kept a secret? How could a pig cause you to begin a literary society? What is a potato peel pie – and why is it included in your society's name?" Here's how the literary society came to be: A pig kept in secret from the German soldiers spurs a spontaneous dinner party. The guests lose track of time and find themselves sneaking back to their homes one hour past curfew. Unfortunately, the German patrol officers are alerted and begin questioning the guests. Under the pressure of the moment, Elizabeth McKenna confesses that the group had just been at a meeting of the Guernsey Lit- erary Society and that the dis­ cussion of Elizabeth and Her German Garden had been so absorbing that everyone lost track of time. What started as a lie to save themselves grew into a strong society of friends united by their love for reading. Readers learn that the society is still quite active, meeting every fortnight, and the quirky potato peel pie is still served, though the Germans have since left their island. Such an extraordinary tale couldn't help but spark Juliet's frequent communication with the rest of the Guernsey resi­ dents. Long-distance friendships begin to form and soon Juliet decides to visit the is­ land. But the visit turns into an extended stay, and research for an article in the Times spans into something greater when Juliet decides that her next book will be based on the residents of Guernsey and their life during the German occupation. Over 20 different voices are portrayed in this novel, yet it never feels disjointed. Each letter is another piece of the story. It takes a while, however, to get used to the ever changing point of views, matching the characters with their back-stories. The novel stands as an en­ tire story and does not feel fragmented. The overarch­ ing love for all things liter­ ary and the darker undertone of war connect to bring a story that speaks of life and strength. The story possesses ounces of English character, and both sweet and sour love stories wind quietly beneath the heavier story lines, con­ juring up scenarios that could fit flawlessly into the pages of any Jane Austen novel. Lighthearted without being cliché, humorous, warm and poignant to its very core, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society charms with every page. �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Editorial 11 The Drop is Dead, Long Live the Drop Lies, damned lies and TV news By georgine geTTy Contributing Writer was. I hear it from homeless people and social service pro­ viders. I hear it from people who love the Drop Inn Cen­ ter and people who hate it. I heard it from my hairdresser, my massage therapist, the lady bagging my groceries and the baristas at any coffee shop in town. My general rule is to wait sent to the Homeless Coali­ tion listserv, Clifford stated: “Please be aware that this “The Drop Inn Center is story is not accurate. We have closing,” it’s said with certain­ received no communications ty, urgency – the kind of voice from anyone at City Hall re­ garding forced relocation or that someone uses to tell you a celebrity is dead. threatening our funding. In “Oh yeah?” I say. Inside, I fact, we have been actively involved in a city-initiated roll my eyes. “Absolutely.” process called “Homeless to Homes,” which They’ve heard is attempting to it The new School for Creative and provide holistic, from: Performing Arts (SCPA) knew exactly collaborative so­ A. So and so who their neighbor was when they took lutions for home­ who works at less individuals the Drop Inn on their beautiful new building and the in Cincinnati. Center school has made no statements about The process was B. A blog concerns with the Drop Inn Center. initiated by Rox­ C. A politi­ anne Qualls, and cian the initial report D. A local celebrity at a cocktail party. until I hear it three times from was approved by City Coun­ And the punch line? people I trust and then call Pat cil.” And yet, there that story “There’s no way that they Clifford, executive director of are going to let the Drop the Drop Inn Center, and ask sits in cyberspace. When you Inn Center stay next to that him if it’s true this time. He google the Drop Inn Center, school.” always patiently explains that after its home page, WLWT’s Set aside the fact that the it is not, unraveling where the article is the first to pop up. new School for Creative and rumor might have started. He’s Not a retraction to the article. Performing Arts (SCPA) been hearing from me more Not a mea culpa. The article. knew exactly who their neigh­ and more frequently over the Maybe WLWT could no bor was when they took on past few years. their beautiful new building But this last time, I didn’t and that the school has made even wait three times. no statements about concerns “The Drop Inn Center is with the Drop Inn Center. Set closing.” aside the fact that SCPA stu­ “Oh yeah?” I said. dents volunteer regularly at “Yeah. I saw it on the news, the Drop Inn Center – not just on the feed at the bottom. It next door, but actually in the said the city bought them a building. Set aside the fact new location and will hold that the Drop Inn Center lived their money until they move.” next door to Washington Park Good golly, “they” have re­ Elementary School for around ally stepped up their game. 30 years with no problem. Set On June 24, WLWT (Chan­ aside the fact that people ex­ nel 5) reported, “The city's periencing homelessness are largest homeless shelter not drooling pedophiles wait­ could lose its funding unless ing for the opportunity to prey it moves.” The on-line report upon school children. that followed its run on tele­ Set that all aside. vision states that the Drop Inn Who are “they?” And how Center is located across the did “they” come to have street from SCPA and that city enough power to take out an officials are buying them a autonomous, fiscally responsi­ new building due to concerns ble non-profit agency? I hope about the students. The Drop Inn Center doesn’t want to “they” never come after me. “You know. Developers.” move, the article concludes, Oh, I know developers. but the city will cut its fund­ I’ve been hearing about the ing if it doesn’t. Drop Inn Center’s imminent A call to Pat Clifford. He demise since before I even had no idea where the story knew what a Drop Inn Center came from. In a later email Are you interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist or photographer? If so, contact Greg Flannery 513.421.7803 x 12 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com The Drop Inn Center is at the corner of 12th and Elm streets. Photo courtesy of Drop Inn Center. longer resist the appeal of the rumor. Maybe they had reached a critical mass of hearing it so many times from so many people that they just couldn’t help themselves. But there’s an old saying that goes, “What you don't see with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth.” That’s the kind of thing you usually say to your kid. It’s not the kind of thing you should have to say to a major local news source. Each night the Drop Inn Center opens its doors to around 250 people who are having the worst night of their life. They take those folks and move them from hopelessness, addiction and despair and into housing, employment and hope. Don’t they have enough to worry about without having to make a formal statement every day assuring us all that they are still alive? �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Issues 12 Social Workers, Liberate Thyselves The cost of political apathy By suhiTh WicKreMa Contributing Writer Yet when the Hamilton County Department of Jobs and Family Services – the department that issue food stamps, provide day care vouchers, protects abused Imagine what a Cincinnati City Council meet­ and neglected children, protects elderly people, en­ ing would like if city council were in the process of forces child-support orders, provide cash assistance laying off 47 percent of the police department. The to the very poor, helps people to join the workforce council chambers would be packed to capacity with – is about to lose 47 percent of its employees, there is only a murmur of protest. uniformed officers, their family Why is that? members, neighborhood vigilante Those of us who work at the De­ groups and ordinary citizens. Funding is partment of Jobs and Family Servic­ Imagine what the school board always about es see ourselves as social workers, meeting would look like if Cincin­ political power nati Public Schools were in the pro­ advocates for the poor and injured and influence. We cess of laying off 47 percent of its and as a part of the helping profes­ social workers employees. The school board meet­ sion. On a daily basis, we motivate seem reluctant ing would be packed with teachers, our customers and other profession­ their spouses, students, parents and als to do tasks that they might not to develop this ordinary citizens. political power and want to do. We facilitate meetings Do you remember the Hamil­ with people who might have oppos­ influence. ton County Commission meetings ing viewpoints to a given problem when the commissioners propose and develop a consensus solution. to reduce the sheriff department’s Given these skills, one would budget? The hearing room was filled with sheriff’s think we would be able launch a successful cam­ deputies, their spouses, their kids, their parents and paign against these decimating cuts. However, we community members. have been unable or unwilling to organize and pres­ Do you remember what the city budget hearings sure the politicians to stop the hemorrhaging at our looked like two years ago, when council members work place. People in the helping profession seem proposed to close down a number of city health cen­ inherently incapable of organizing into a political ters? The hearing rooms were full of health depart­ force. ment employees, health care advocates, consumers, Funding is always about political power and influ­ and ordinary citizens, all waving socks: “SOC – Save ence. We social workers seem reluctant to develop this political power and influence. This malady per­ Our Clinics.” The clinics were not closed. When the city manager suggested selling the Cin­ meates the entire human service/social work profes­ cinnati Water Works, threatening the quality of our sion. The reluctance of social workers and helping water and union jobs, workers, union leaders, civil professionals to demand a valued place in this soci­ rights organizations, consumer advocates and or­ ety has baffled me. dinary citizens initiated a petition drive to stop the Over the years I have come up with many differ­ sale. ent explanations for why members of the helping Across 1. Singers 4. Public affairs channel 7. Majestic 10. In a menacing manner 11. Ethnic defense body 12. Conforms to 16. Article 17. Duplicate 20. Take flight 21. Annulus 22. Bring ashore 23. Snakelike fish 24. Not so much 27. Passed with flying colors 29. Gibbet 30. Confederate general 32. Show failing mental faculties 33. Fencing position 35. Obnoxious 36. Former South American civilization 37. Foul 38. Support for injury Down 2. Persia 3. Turn 4. Star sign Crossword profession are unwilling or unable to organize and demand respect. Explanation one: Women dominate the helping profession. Misogyny still prevails in our culture. The de-valuing of a profession dominated by women is just a reflection of this misogynistic culture. I do not find this theory convincing. Women domi­ nate the teaching and the nursing professions. Teach­ ers’ unions have become a force to reckon with. The power of the California Nurses Association has be­ come legendary. Teachers and nurses have gained by this organized action – the median income of a teacher with over 20 years experience is $58,000. The median income of a registered nurse with over 20 years experience is $63,000. The median in­ come of a social worker with 20 years experience is $41,000. So, the misogyny of our culture does not appear to be a determining factor in the economic subjugation of the helping profession. Explanation two: Social workers are overworked and underpaid, thus not having any surplus time or energy to organize. This is circular reasoning. If so­ cial workers were well organized, they would not be underpaid and overworked, but we cannot organize because we are overworked and underpaid. At one time, teachers and nurses were also over­ worked and underpaid. Somehow, members of these two professions found time to organize into strong unions, giving them political power and influence. This translated into better pay. Explanation three: The tolerance of low wages by social workers has been explained by saying that so­ cial workers see their work as a “calling,” thus will­ ing to work for low wages. A recent Government Accountability Office report estimated that the turn­ over rate among child-welfare workers is between 30 and 40 percent. It See Social Workers, p. 13 Sudoku Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 through 9. 5. Inadvertent mistake 6. Not supple 8. Expression of agreement 9. False 13. Worse 14. Flirt 15. Detect 17. Stride 18. I will comply 19. Small picture in a larger one 24. Lieutenant Colonel (2,3) 25. Tastelessly showy 26. Blackballs 28. Submit 31. Go out 33. Fraud 34. Enclosure The fundamental goal of a Sudoku puzzle is to use the provided numbers, or givens, to discover which numbers logically fill in the empty squares. The only rule of Sudoku is that each of the nine rows, each of the nine columns, and each of the nine 3x3 subsections must contain all of the numbers from one to nine, and each number consequently can occur in each row, column and subsection only once. Solutions on Page 15 �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Community News 13 Social Workers, Liberate Thyselves (continued from page 12) is hard to believe that this many people would leave their “call­ ing” on a regular basis. I do not find any of the above arguments convincing. I am not sure if there is a simple answer to explain the apathy of social workers. However, I would like to offer the following reasons as significant contributing factors. Factor one: We social workers have started to emulate some of the characteristics of the people we serve – blaming At one time, others and social conditions without taking responsibil­ teachers and ity for one’s situation are a nurses were common characteristic of the also overworked troubled people social workand underpaid. ers encounter. In social work Somehow, jargon this is known as the members of these “victim stance.” We social workers blame two professions the county commissioners, found time to the legislature, the governor, organize into the union and the society for strong unions, not valuing social work and giving them social workers. We blame ev­ eryone else for our condition, political power without doing anything to cor­ and influence. rect it – the “victim stance.” This translated Factor two: We, social into better pay. workers have become victims of our own rhetoric: "You cannot change others or the world, you can only change yourself." This is a mantra said by many social workers to their clients. It is this kind of selfcentered, individualistic thinking that has made us sit at our desks and passively watch while our co-workers’ livelihood is stripped away from them. Social workers function as agents of social control to main­ tain the status quo. We use concepts such as “victim stance” and “you can only change yourself” to keep the poor in check when the poor question social inequality. We, appear to have internal­ ized these concepts of oppression. If you are interested in organizing social workers, counselors and human-services workers into a political force, contact Suhith Wickrema at 513-281-4441 or Suhith@iac.net. Cincinnati’s City Hall. Every other year when City Council decides on the bi-annual budget, health clinics, city pools and human-services funding are the first to be cut out to balance the budget. None Dare Call Him Lawrence lished cover stories and news stories – work he takes seriously. But no one, including Gross himself, takes seriously his blogs, whose content over the years has sometimes been pornographic, often absurd and usu­ ally grumpy. Fellow bloggers and letters to CityBeat have chided him for being too critical of Cincinnati. His grievances includes the failure rate of downtown restaurants, unfriendly strangers, bedbugs, newspa­ per racks left to deteriorate after a paper has gone out of business, holiday signs left up too long, di­ rectional signs pointing to a skywalk that no longer exists and the predominance of iceberg lettuce in salads at so many meals. The complaints are his favorite response from readers, Gross says. “I love getting hate mail,” he says. “I don’t know what that says about me but I love to ruffle feath­ ers.” It says a lot about him, in fact. Gross doesn’t spare his own privacy – or, for that matter, other people’s – in his essays. He doesn’t hesitate to risk alienat­ ing girlfriends or being banned from bars because of what he writes. “People say, ‘You write so personally. You write about your brother, you write about break-ups.’ I fig­ (continued from page 5) ure either a person is going to like me for that or not like me for that,” he says. “At least they’re going to know me.” Asked if he views writing as therapy, Gross ob­ serves that many successful writers have drunk heavily and suffered depression. “I think writers are a little nuts,” he says. “I think it makes them more creative.” Does that include the person interviewing him? “Yes.” Gross left a long career as an accountant to take up writing full-time. Writing was always what he wanted to do, but family members discouraged the risk, he says. “I’ve been talked out of it all my life. Finally I get to do what I want to do,” he says. “I want to die slumped over my writing desk. For me, that would be the perfect way to go.” Gross is finishing a novel and wants to write a col­ lection of short fiction after that. The great bulk of the essays in Living Out Loud are true accounts of people he has seen, he says. “You just can’t make this stuff up,” he says. “This is stuff that just happened.” The prostitute at the Laundromat. The amateur preachers on the bus. “People have told me that weird people are at­ tracted to me,” Gross says. “I’m always attracted to people who are a little off-center.” His stories are often like that. “The Birthday Gift” is about a man who leaves his 16-year-old son at home with friends to do what they want. He won’t watch and he won’t interfere. The father goes to a bar and takes up with a woman he thought he’d ear­ lier had an affair with. Asked to criticize his own work, Gross says, “I think I’m kind of the Jack Webb of writing – a little too clipped at times, not descriptive enough. Sometimes I think it’s just the facts. I sort of rush it. There’s not a lot of extra. It’s just to the point.” Like his upbringing: a farm boy in East Enterprise, Ind. Like his name: He’s no Lawrence. “You can look at my driver’s license,” he says. “It’s Larry. That’s what’s on my birth certificate.” Ordinariness might not qualify as a virtue. But it can hold fascinating stories. Living Out Loud is available at amazon.com and can be ordered at any bookstore. �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Vendor Voice 14 Time By MacK l. russell sr. streetvibes vendor The essence of time is so mysterious. The wonders, the experience, and it’s endless. Is time truly appreciated or is time depressed? Is time the beginning or the end? Do we humans understand time or is time a thing man counts upon a clock? Does time begin when one is born or when one dies? After all, who deter­ mines the mystics of it all? At times, time will keep you impatient, wondering from hour to hour. Then there are times when time comes roaring at you like a cheetah en route to clutch its prey. No one knows exactly what to do with time. In times of misfortune, time never seems to be right. But in times of good fortune, time is always right on time. We humans curse time, and we also give times its praises because we know not what time truly is. Whether we know it or not, time is truly a god because in time there is the beginning and the end. Like when one is born, we rejoice upon their arrival, and when one lies on that dreaded state of death, we have sorrow, for that person’s clock loses its tick, and that is something no battery can reset. What is time? Not even a prisoner knows, Although one may experience a lot or a lapse in time. Time waits for no one. We go through life never expecting time of our own end but some of us expect one day in time it will surely come. And know that brings about thought and questions. But who am I or you to question time, and what difference will it make? Time, mine, yours or the world’s, it matters not, Because time is not to be claimed. One must use the time given on this earth as best as one can, and when the end comes, accept thy fate for what is known in and of this world we leave behind, time and all. Be All You Can Be: A Peaceful Planet Person By BerTa laMBerT streetvibes vendor The army recruits for death and mayhem. It hides its interest in sloganeering. Appeals are made to youth’s desire for self-improvement. Wouldn’t it be grand to be all you can be? Years before this slogan is broadcast, folk artist Mary Ann Lederer paints a picture. It is hung in Mac McCrackin’s Presbyterian church in the West End. Ba­ sic elements are head portraits of three or four or so and a super-imposed phrase, “Be a Peaceful Planet person.” Not incidentally, Gordon Maham is fond of responding to inquiries from guards, police and military folk alike: ‘I represent the peaceful planet people.” In good time the author, I, Berta Lambert, suggest a combination of the slogan and phrase: “Be all that you can be. Be a peaceful planet person.” A banner has been made for me and my allies, but bumper stickers and buttons and such are yet to appear. Cleo’s Joke Corner Why did the army draft all the babies? Because they wanted to build up their infantry. What’s Happenin’ July/August Events Benefits: IHN Golf Outing. Flagg Springs Golf Course. $75 for individual, $300 for team of four. Benefits Interfaith Hospitality Network. July 24. 9:30am. Contact Betsy Wones to play, 4711100. Jazz in July ‘09. The Phoenix. $25. Benefits CILO. July 24. 5:30-8:30pm. RSVP: 513-241-2600. 20th Annual Bocce Tournament. Sharon Woods Fern Hollow. Bring desert to share. Benefits Our Daily Bread. July 26. 11am5pm. Northside Community Yard Sale. Benefits Churches Active In Northside. August 8. 9am-2pm. http://northside.net/sale for more info. Activities: JUST Community Youth Leadership Institute. July 19 - 25. Visit http://bridgescincinnati.org/programs/iyli.html. $50 (includes lodging, meals, transportation and t-shirt). Compassionate Communication of Greater Cincinnati. Integrating Nonviolent Communication into Every Day Life. July 17 at 9am or July 18 at5pm. at New Thought Unity Center. 513-300-6832 or susan@stiglercreative.com. Kids’ Meditation/Yoga Camp. July 18, 2-5pm. Ages 7-14. Gaden Khachoe-Shing Monastery (3046 Pavlova Drive, Colerain Twp.) Register at gsl@ganden.org or 513-385-7116. Parents welcome. Health Care Reform Informational Forum. August 3, 7pm, First Unitarian Church in Avondale, Hosted by Women’s City Club. US Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Cincinnati) will speak. �STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 Resources 15 Need Help or Want to Help? Our Daily Bread Shelter: Women and Children 621-6364 Health 535-2719 591-2246 Center for Respite Care 1730 Race Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Central Access Point Cincinnati Union Bethel 381-SAFE 768-6907 St. Francis Soup Kitchen Churches Active in Northside 557-2873 FreeStore/FoodBank 681-2365 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 762-5660 St. Vincent de Paul 4230 Hamilton Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45223 300 Lytle Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Bethany House 3600 Erie Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45227 6037 Cary Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45224 Salvation Army 562-8841 1125 Bank Street, Cinti, Ohio 45214 131 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter Crossroad Health Center 241-1064 112 E. Liberty Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 1841 Fairmount Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45214 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 872-9259 City Gospel Mission 241-5525 1419 Elm Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Justice Watch 241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 Treatment: Men Mt. Airy Shelter 661-4620 784-1853 721-0643 921-1613 682 Hawthorne Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45205 961-2256 Treatment: Women First Step Home 961-4080 961-4663 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 2728 Glendora Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45209 Caracole (HIV/AIDS) 761-1480 Treatment: Both 721-0643 AA Hotline CCAT 471-1100 221-3350 Joseph House (Veterans) 1821 Summit Road, Cinti, Ohio 45237 Drop Inn Center 217 W. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Interfaith Hospitality Network Lighthouse Youth Center (Youth) Housing: CMHA Excel Development OTR Community Housing 351-0422 381-6672 721-4580 632-7149 381-1171 241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board Recovery Health Access Center Sober Living Talbert House 946-4888 281-7422 681-0324 641-4300 Advocacy 114 W. 14th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Tender Mercies 721-8666 27 W. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Tom Geiger House Dana Transitional Bridge Services Volunteers of America 961-4555 751-0643 381-1954 Food/Clothing Lord’s Pantry OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry Catholic Social Action Community Action Agency Contact Center 421-3131 569-1840 381-4242 1227 Vine Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Franciscan JPIC Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 721-4700 421-7803 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 621-5300 961-1983 OTR: 1620 Vine Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert, Cinti, Ohio 45206 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45202 558-8888 981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County PATH Outreach 458-6670 977-4489 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. Legal Aid Society Ohio Justice & Policy Center Faces Without Places Stop AIDS Other Resources Center Independent Living Options Emmanuel Community Center Peaslee Neighborhood Center Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart Goodwill industries Healing Connections Mary Magdalen House People Working Cooperatively The Caring Place United Way Women Helping Women 241-2600 241-2563 621-5514 381-0111 771-4800 751-0600 721-4811 351-7921 631-1114 211 977-5541 Hamilton/Middletown 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. Cinti, Ohio 45214 1522 Republic Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 3330 Jefferson, Cinti, Ohio 45220 357-4602 352-2902 352-6363 1800 Logan St. Cinti, Ohio 45202 Shelter: Both Anthony House (Youth) Health Resource Center Homeless Mobile Health Van McMicken Dental Clinic 2121 Vine Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 DIC Live In Program Prospect House Starting Over 1437 Walnut Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 381-2247 5 E. Liberty St. Cinti, Ohio 45202 Mental Health Access Point Mercy Franciscan at St. John Shelter: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House 621-1868 3550 Washington Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45229 579-8547 241-9400 421-1108 363-3300 421-2437 St. Raephaels Salvation Army Serenity House Day Center Open Door Pantry 863-3184 863-1445 422-8555 868-3276 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY Women’s Crisis Center VA Domiciliary VA Homeless 859-491-8303 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 859-491-3335 859-559-5011 859-572-6226 If you like what you read, but don’t live in the Cincinnati area, you can subscribe to Streetvibes. Call us at 513-421-7803 x 12 to learn more about subscribing to Streetvibes. Puzzle Solutions �16 Double Take STREETVIBES July 15 - August 2, 2009 “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” - John Lennon Photos by Aimie Willhoite. Streetvibes staff spent the Fourth of July at the Northside Parade and Festival. Top Left: Josh Spring, executive director selling papers. Bottom Left: Greg Flannery, edi­ tor, talking about Streetvibes. Top Right: Jeni Jenkins, education coor­ dinator sprays colored hairspay for the kids. Bottom Right: Justin Jeffre stopped by the Streetvibes booth to buy a paper and get a free temporary tattoo from Lynne Ausman, administrative coordi­ nator. The residents of Fay Apartments in East West­ wood demanded that their voices be heard. City council listened to various points of view and ultimately voted 6 to 3 to give developers a loan to renovate the com­ plex and ultimately save the homes of 700 fami­ lies. Council members in favor of renovation were Roxanne Qualls, Greg Harris, David Crow­ ley, Laketa Cole, Leslie Ghiz, and Cecil Thomas. Those against were Chris Monzel, Jeff Berding, and Chris Bortz. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2009 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource July 15–August 2, 2009 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: A Streetcar named ‘Democracy’ Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Art for the Mind and Spirit Pg 4: No License to Look Pg 5: None Dare Call Him Lawrence Heroism and White Guilt Pg 6: Heroism and White Guilt Continued Pg 7: Making More than Pizza Pg 8: Sexy, Yummy, Veggie Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Pg 10: For Want of Three Items Pg 11: The Drop is Dead, Long Live the Drop Pg 12: Social Workers, Liberate Thyselves Pg 13: Social Workers, Liberate Thyselves Continued Pg 14: Time Pg 15: Resource Guide Pg 16: Double Take Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 15–August 2, 2009 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Lynne Ausman Lew Moores, Margo Pierce Paul Kopp Jeremy Flannery Michael Henson David Heitfield Alecia Lott Larry Gross Stephanie Dunlap Suhith Wickrema Georgine Getty Angela Pancella Jaisha Garnett Andrew Anderson Paul Kopp Aimie Willhoite Jennifer Blalock Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Aimie Willhoite Alecia Lott Andrew Anderson Angela Pancella Arts & Poetry David Heitfield Democracy Drop Inn Center Georgine Getty Gregory Flannery Health Food Jaisha Garnett Jennifer Blalock Jeremy Flannery Larry Gross Lew Moores Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Michael Henson NAACP Paul Kopp Social Workers Stephanie Dunlap Streetcar Suhith Wickrema Venice on Vine https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/bdbe82d2f9079243eee59c401fa9302b.pdf cc7a9c5f9695fadf564c8e72fd4774f7 PDF Text Text Vendor P. 9 Profile Post Prison Blues P. 9 Parks are for Loitering P. 5 STREETVIBES $1 July 1-14 2009 • Advocating Justice, Building Community • Issue 156 All Right to Be Different Recovery Center empowers clients recovering from mental illness By Larry Gross Contributing Writer Linda Zachary comes from a family of 11 children. She’s the mother of three grown children and a grandmother of five. She lives in East Walnut Hills and was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was 19 years old. “I didn’t realize I had a problem,” she says. “I re­ member, when I was little, my mother thought I was talking to myself, but I was hearing voices. I thought the voices were OK. “I did not accept (the di­ agnosis) at first. I’ve been in and out of hospitals while try­ ing to get my degree, having those highs and lows. I didn’t accept my illness until I was in my 40s.” She’s an artist with many of her paintings hanging on the walls at the Recovery Center in Mount Auburn. She started out as a client but now is on staff. “I help out when needed in every sense of the word,” Zachary says. “I teach classes, fix coffee, sweep floors, an­ swer phones – a little bit of everything.” Zachary is open about her illness, especially with her family. “The more I learn about my illness, the more I let them know, because my illness runs in our family,” she says. “My father was schizophrenic, I had a brother who was schizo­ phrenic and I have a nephew who’s schizophrenic. In the black community, you didn’t talk about it. You were just See Different, p. 4 Artwork by clients of the Recovery Center in Mount Auburn adorn the walls. Some of the artwork is for sale. Photo by Andrew Anderson. Human Priorities Ballot initiative would let voters decide By GreGory FLannery editor Should city government support human services – for example, housing assistance for homeless families and treatment for people who have drinking problems? Voters could soon get the chance to decide if the city of Cincinnati should spend 1.5 percent of its general fund on human services. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is working on a charter amendment that would make the funding mandatory. The minimal spending was the city’s policy for more than 20 years. Former Mayor Char­ lie Luken, a Democrat, tried to kill the funding in his pro­ posed 2005-06 budget. That man has helped talking about the need to re­ effort failed but city council draft the language of the char­ store this funding,” Spring has slashed the help it gives ter amendment and plan a peti­ says. “For too long we have human services ever since. been hearing “For sev­ promises of eral years r e s t o r a t i o n . “For too long we have been talking about now, the city Now, especially government the need to restore this funding. For too with the cur­ has not been long we have been hearing promises of rent economic living up to restoration. Now it is the time to act.” problems, it is the prom­ the time to act. Josh Spring ise of 1.5 Soon we will percent,” be launching a says Josh tion drive to let voters decide, campaign to collect enough Spring, executive director of Spring says. signatures to legally force the the Homeless Coalition. “In­ The charter amendment city government to hold a vote. stead between 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent of the general fund won’t be on the November This vote will give the people has been going to these much ballot. Organizers are con­ the opportunity to decide.” The city isn’t saving money needed services. With the sidering a special election in­ most recent budget, this was stead. 2009 is an election year by cutting the funding; it’s approximately $2.6 million for city council, and placing losing money, Spring says. dollars instead of about $3.79 the charter amendment on The spending cuts keep the the same ballot would turn city from leveraging its small million dollars.” Because the city’s charter human-services funding into a investment – 1.5 percent – is its constitution, an amend­ partisan issue – the very situ­ into larger support from other ment would force council to ation it’s supposed to change, sources. Spring says. “These dollars serve as fund the programs. City council keeps cutting matching dollars; they mul­ The Homeless Coalition the funding; a charter amend­ tiply themselves in the form has been working closely on the proposal with Christopher ment is the best way to sup­ of opening opportunities for Smitherman, president of the port human services, he says. larger monetary grants,” he “For too long we have been says. Cincinnati NAACP. Smither­ �2 The Vibe By The Numbers 70 the length, in minutes, of Where Drunk Men Go. (See page 10.) 100 the approximate number of corporate volunteers who “invaded” Washington Park. (See page 5.) 40 the percent of blood-flow increase that lavender causes a man’s “junk.” (See page 8.) 111-22 the number of the law called the “Protecting Ten­ ants at Foreclosure Act.” (See page 14.) 10,000 the cost, in dollars, of a painting for sale at the Recovery Center. (See page 1.) 60 the cost, in dollars, of a speaker from the “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau. (See page 3.) 1977 the year Hudson Brothers Cleaners opened. (See page 12.) 500 the number of daily meals served by Our Daily Bread. (See page 13.) 15 the number of students who didn’t graduate at a high school on Rosebud Sioux Reservation in 2008. (See page 6.) 9 the amount, in dollars, an ex-con has to live on for a week. (See page 9.) Streetwise By GreGory FLannery Justice is a Cheap Sandwich A man uses illegal drugs, gets caught and pays the penalty. He spends the next 13 years living drug-free, stays out of trouble, finds work and becomes a stellar employee. When he applies for a job with the city of Cincinnati, he is one of only 15 out of 68 applicants to pass the civil service exam. Sounds like a good job candidate, right? Wrong. Gene Mays found out that 13 years of sobriety, honest living and hard work count for nothing in the city’s eyes. The civil service commission ruled that a felony conviction bars anyone, no matter how qualified, from working for the city. After losing a lawsuit, Mays took his case before the Ohio First District Court of Appeals, which last month ruled 2-to-1 against him. Appeals Judge Mark Painter, who issued the dissenting opinion, blasted the majority’s decision as “baloney.” Citing the civil service commission’s failure to exercise discretion – which, Painter said, is required by law – he took issue with a magistrate’s finding that the commission has “the absolute right” to bar former felons. That interpretation is absolutely wrong, ac­ cording to Painter. “Commissions do not have rights; people do,” he wrote. The appeals court should have overturned the civil service commission’s ruling be­ cause it was arbitrary and unreasonable, Painter’s opinion said. “When people do turn their life around, we should applaud and help them help them­ selves – not ban them from employment by imposing arbitrary rules,” he wrote. That kind of clarity is why we’re going to miss Painter when he moves to a job at a new United Nations appeals court in September. Some of His Best Friends Are Cavemen Clarity, however, isn’t the word to describe a June 10 column in CityBeat by Joe Wes­ sels. To borrow a phrase from Painter’s ruling, the column’s observations about homeless people are “eyewash.” Wessels opens by saying he’s never been homeless but allows that he could be in serious financial trouble if he misses a paycheck. “Giving up sometimes seems like a great idea,” he writes. “Or getting a simpler job. Or no job and no responsibilities. You know, being homeless.” A blithe, un-thoughtful reverie about poverty can be forgiven. But Wessels doesn’t stop there. He trots out the old canard about homelessness being a freely chosen “lifestyle.” “I don’t like finding excuses for these folks,” Wessels writes. “I’m not into feeling sorry. Living in Over-the-Rhine, I’ve had enough conversations with the ‘chronically homeless’ to know that it’s more acute than chronic. Many like living the way they do.” Many? The column cites no numbers, of course. Wessels’s argument is nothing more than the oft-used excuse given to justify ignorant remarks about racial minorities, ho­ mosexuals and other oppressed groups: “Why, some of my best friends are black/gay/ homeless.” Consider the way Wessels describes one of his sources: “Tom Banks, an Over-theRhine character, made a point to me recently.” Could any characterization be more dis­ missive, more disrespectful? Mr. Banks is “a character,” a bit player in the colorful street theater that Wessels sees when he looks at poverty. Wessels speaks truly when he says he isn’t “into feeling sorry” for homeless people. Last year he used his column to criticize churches for engaging in the untidy practice of giving food to poor people in Washington Park. He’s entitled to his opinion, of course, uninformed though it might be. But he is not entitled to use his tenuous affiliation with Streetvibes to give himself a veneer of exper­ tise. His June 10 column takes note of the fact that Wessels is a member of the Streetvibes advisory board. I’d like to point out that the advisory board hasn’t met in more than a year. I’d also like to point that Wessels is no longer on the advisory board. I wish I could say he was dumped for his neanderthal opinions about homelessness, but the advisory board was dissolved before the column was published. Those Darned Naysayers Mayor Mark Mallory’s rhetoric about the Streetcar That Will Save Cincinnati is no better. Cincinnatians for Progress is a lobby formed to oppose a ballot issue that would – gasp – give voters a chance to vote on the proposed streetcars. Letting voters decide the issue is “dangerous,” according to a June 10 press release announcing a rally for the group. Mallory, who chairs Cincinnatians for Progress, couldn’t come up with anything better than the lame assertion that some people just want to hold Cincinnati back. “Once again, however, the naysayers in our community want to put a stop to that progress and leave our city in the past,” Mallory said. That’s why they oppose the streetcar plan: They hate progress. They probably hate Cincinnati itself. Thanks for clearing it up. STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by people who are or once were homeless, in exchange for a $1 donation, Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Art Director Lynne Ausman Contributing Writers Lew Moores, Margo Pierce, Paul Kopp, Paul Miller, Jeremy Flannery, Michael Henson, Lynne Ausman, Dave Heitfield, Alecia Lott, Larry Gross, Murray Bodo, Stephanie Dunlap, Lea Ottenheimer Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Paul Kopp, Aimie Willhoite, Lynne Ausman, Lea Ottenheimerm, Mikki Schaffner Proofreader Jennifer Blalock The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati through coordination of services, public education, grassroots advocacy and Streetvibes. We are members of: �STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Community News Eight Minutes with a 3 Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in the Queen City. “Eight Minutes” is an opportunity to learn who those people are and what motivates them to be a positive influence. ‘Rebel With A Cause’ She’s bent on making a positive impact By MarGo Pierce Contributing Writer This rebel doesn’t have a clear vision for the work she’ll do over the next 15 years, but she knows what she wants to do right now – end homeless­ ness as we know it. And she’s doing it one pound of coffee at a time. Lynne Ausman is admin­ istrative coordinator at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) – the woman with her hand on the purse strings – and that means her immediate thoughts fall to the people in the lobby less than 20 feet from her desk. “I wish we’d have enough coffee, creamer, sugar and lemonade and cups anyone wanted so we wouldn’t run out,” she says. “It’s not a huge expense but unfortunately it’s a small expense and the small ones are the first ones to go. It’s the one we put off when we have bigger expenses like keeping the lights on and keeping the doors opened, the A/C or heat on.” Ausman didn’t start out with homelessness as a target for her advocacy; all she knew was she wanted to pursue a career in the field of human rights. A corporate job that in­ volved cube-dwelling sound­ ed like torture. Inspired by a college professor who “who survived the Rwandan geno­ cide … by swimming across the lake out of Rwanda into the Congo,” she moved back to her hometown of Cincinna­ ti, making a two-year commit­ ment to AmeriCorps*VISTA working for GCCH. “I got into how homeless people cycle through the jus­ tice system and what it does to them on the outside,” she says. “I found that homeless people go through this cycle. They hit the street, they may stay two or three nights in a homeless shelter here and there, but then they’re in jail. Then jail spits them out eight hours later, 10 days later, whenever, back on the street into that exact same situation that put them there in the first place. “They go back to their thing and they end up in jail again. layout. I do as much as I can to keep me con­ nected to the mission.” That means speak­ ing engagements, “ad­ vocacy events” and generally educating people about the prob­ lems faced by people without a permanent address. “We reach between 2,500 and 3,000 com­ munity members a year with our speaking en­ gagements,” Ausman says. “Our targeted populations are high schools and colleges. The reasons for the education programs are two-fold. There’s a lack of knowledge about homelessness, so if we can teach people about homelessness and we can turn someone from the apathy that they feel about homeless­ ness into empathy, then we’ve done something good. “We know that hate crimes committed against homeless peo­ ple are typically com­ Lynne Ausman, administrative coordinator at the Greater Cincinnati mitted by high school Coalition for the Homeless. Photo by Andrew Anderson. boys or people under the age of 25, typically It’s a constant cycle, and I keep her from the reason for men. We specifically target found that it was costing tak- what she does – ending home­ our education programs to ing taxpayers in jail costs – I lessness. didn’t figure in court costs, at“There (are) two things people in those age groups so torney fees, public defenders non-profits have to focus on,” that we can create empathy in them so that they don’t come down town and beat up people If we had proper social safety nets, or commit hate crimes.” they wouldn’t be staying on the There’s a fee for having a speaker from GCCH speaker’s streets and they wouldn’t be using bureau, but the $60 provides a shelters (and) taxpayers wouldn’t be meager stipend for non-staff paying thousands of dollars a year for speakers and might cover the them to sit in jail. This is a community cost of mileage if the price of problem and it needs community gas stays below $4 a gallon. Hardly a revenue generator, solutions.” - Lynne Ausman much as Ausman would like it to be, speakers are integral to - $43,000 a person per year. she says. “You have to focus building awareness. “One of our speakers grew That’s a real disservice. We’re on your mission and you also spending all this money put­ have to focus on how you’re up in a blue-collar home. He ting people in jail, basically going to get the money, the had both his parents. His mom giving three hots and a cot but resources to achieve that mis­ was a substitute teacher, his nothing to help them to get out sion. And sometimes there’s a dad worked for the post of­ fice – a stable home,” Aus­ of where they are, if they want disconnect. to get out of where they are.” “We’re small enough that man says. “He had a college Since 2006 Ausman has that’s just not possible. I have degree and he was homeless. evolved into a multi-tasking to help in other areas. So one When we take him to speak, staffer who refuses to allow way I keep connected is work­ he always strikes a chord, es­ the practical aspects of her job ing with Streetvibes, doing the pecially with college students. They think, ‘This magic piece of paper’s going to keep me safe and secure the rest of my life.’ When he says, ‘I have a college degree just like you will,’ people are (shocked.)” More comfortable talking about the issues surrounding homelessness, Ausman says what most non-profit staffers say – “The job’s not about me or about the people who work here – it’s about the people we serve.” “Homelessness isn’t a prob­ lem of an individual; it’s not a micro-level problem,” she says. “It’s not that one per­ son’s problem. Maybe some decisions that (a) person made led to their homelessness, but if we had proper social safety nets, they wouldn’t be stay­ ing on the streets and they wouldn’t be using shelters (and) taxpayers wouldn’t be paying thousands of dollars a year for them to sit in jail. This is a community problem and it needs community solu­ tions.” Whether she’s writing a grant or brainstorming ideas for expanding Streetvibes sub­ scriptions, Ausman is a wom­ an bucking the stereotype of her generation. “I found a home here. That’s kind of ironic because this is the Homeless Coalition, but I found a population that I enjoy working with,” Ausman says. “I’d never worked with homelessness; I’d never been exposed to it prior to working here. I found something I can build a passion for. “I think it’s possible to end homelessness today. It’s crazy for adult men and adult wom­ en, but especially for a child who had no way of stopping it or contributing to it. Families are the fastest growing seg­ ment of the homeless popula­ tion, and I think that’s deplor­ able.” If you want to help make Lynne’s job a little easier, drop her a note and ask her where to send a check or drop off a box of coffee cups, a few pounds of coffee, paper towels or a few containers of lemon­ ade. Call 513-421-7803, ext. 11 or write lynneausman@ cincihomeless.org. �4 STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Community News All Right to Be Different (Continued from page 1) shunned. You were special. “When growing up, I remember my father coming home from the hospital and remember him losing a lot of weight and taking a lot of medicine. The things my mother would say to a house full of kids, you know: ‘Your father is sick. Be quiet.’ There were teenagers in the house. How do you tell teenagers to be quiet?” “I remember that table full of medicine. Nobody would say anything about it. My mother would say, ‘He’s just sick – leave him alone.’ ” Today Zachary believes there are fewer stigmas associated with mental ill­ ness. She’s happy with her life. “I’ve got the support I need – from my family and from the Recovery Center,” she says. “It’s very peaceful at the Recovery Center. It’s like home. You don’t have to put on airs. There’s peace.” Accepted behavior The Recovery Center is a consumer-driven agency funded by the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board and the Health Foundation Linda Zachary was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was 19. of Greater Cincinnati. It offers peer support, self-help, education and commu­ Photos by Andrew Anderson. nity involvement activities for those recovering from mental illness. At the entry way is a garden with a wide variety of summer flowers, low bushes and plenty of mulch. A homemade sign says, “Please do not sit on the CRI, helping the mentally ill. “I just really liked what they were doing,” Pedoto says, “giving back to indi­ flower garden!” viduals who were suffering from mental illness.” People who arrive before 11:30 a.m. get a free lunch. On this particular He started volunteering at CRI, teaching computer classes. This resulted in Wednesday, the menu is hot dogs and chips. Looking ahead to Friday, the fare is a full-time job. He then returned to college and studied a little better, a taco salad. psychology so his training would better fit the field. Drawings and paintings by some of the clients Sixteen years later, he hasn’t looked back. He enjoys “We serve 30 to 40 clients adorn the hallways at the Recovery Center. Most of empowering those recovering from mental illness and is a day and have over 300 the art is quite good and can be purchased at reason­ proud of the Recovery Center. members that come through able prices – but not the paintings done by Liz. For “We serve 30 to 40 clients a day and have over 300 our door. The goal is to help Tool Box Needed, she’s asking $15,000. Her Cup members that come through our door,” Pedoto says. “The those members go back to of Purple is priced at $10,000. One guesses she‘s goal is to help those members go back to work, school, work, school, maybe become joking. maybe become a volunteer in the community or enhance a volunteer in the community The hallways at the Recovery Center are abuzz their personal growth.” or enhance their personal with students going to and from classes. The ages “The idea of the Recovery Center is that we’ll be a growth.” of the students vary, some in their 20s, some much stepping stone to something else out there in the com­ -Chris Pedoto older. With students recovering from different kinds munity, so what I tell folks is when they come in here, the of mental illness, their behavior varies. goal is to actually get rid of ya – and I don’t mean that Most students seem “normal” – communicating in a bad way. It just means I want them to be successful out there in the com­ with each other and discussing their classes. Other students don’t make eye con­ munity.” tact or converse in any way. A few walk through the halls with their heads down. Part of preparing clients for that success is a variety of classes, including Some have a tendency to talk to themselves. support groups for people suffering from mental illness such as bipolar disorder At the Recovery Center, it’s all accepted behavior. It’s all right to be weird. or schizophrenia. The center also offers classes in physical wellness, computer A younger woman is talking on the phone in the lobby. Her behavior seems fine but suddenly an outburst of animal noises comes from her mouth. This oc­ training, self esteem, weight management, creative writing and job readiness and preparation for the GED test. All classes are free of charge. curs more than a few times. “We try to listen to our members and take feedback from them,” Pedoto says. Program Manager Chris Pedoto approaches the client, who apologizes for the “They help us determine what kind of classes we’re going to put together. We outbursts. Pedoto isn’t critical of her behavior. In a warm, friendly voice, he sug­ gests she move away from the lobby so as not to make guests coming through want to know what’s going to help them to be successful in their recovery.” the front door uncomfortable. He sets the client at ease. ‘Demon possessed’ ‘Get rid of ya’ Pedoto has been with the agency since it opened in 2006. Married since 1995, he has four young children and lives in Mason. He doesn’t mind the long com­ mute. “I enjoy my work,” he says. “I look forward to coming in everyday.” After finishing college with a degree in marketing, he worked one year in business. Several of his friends were working for a local health agency called Chris Pedoto is program manager at the Recovery Center. David Kreate, a peer recovery specialist at the Recovery Center, teaches classes, runs support groups, interacts with the clients and prepares lunch on Wednesdays and Fridays. Like Linda Zachary, he has schizophrenia, diagnosed in 1981when he was 18 year old. “One thing that I believe in that a lot of people disagree with is the idea of forced medication at times,” Kreate says. “I’ve had it forced on me and looking back, I’m glad they did, because I would never have progressed as far as I have without it.” Despite the need for medication, Kreate has quit taking it several times. Ev­ ery time he stopped, he ended up in the hospital. “I was kind of thickheaded,” he says. “It took me awhile to realize that doesn’t work.” There are several reasons that some mentally ill people stop taking their med­ icines, according to Kreate. “There are the side effects – making you really tired or making you gain weight,” he says. “I also think it’s a matter of pride. We want to be able to handle our problems on our own without a pill, without a crutch.” Kreate lives with his wife in Coryville. They have two cats named Larry and Moe and a stuffed cat named Curly. He’s aware of the stigma surrounding mental illness. “I think it’s a lack of understanding first and foremost,” he says. “There are people who think you’re demon-possessed if you hear voices. You know, get into the 21st century here. “There are also people who think if you just get out of bed and get a job, you would be alright. We just need to try harder or we’re just lazy or that a per­ son likes collecting disability and not having a job. That’s not the truth. People who think that See Different, p. 5 �STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Community News 5 We’re Supposed to Loiter in the Park Cleaning is nice, but respect is better By Lynne ausMan Staff Writer May 29 was a big day in Over-the-Rhine. Well, that’s what I have been told. That was the day of the Mayor’s Corporate Challenge, when hundreds of corporate executives and staff descended on Over-the-Rhine with grandiose ideas that they would clean up and clear out all that is bad and leave a trail of magic fairy dust in their path to keep things clean and tidy until next year when they do it all again. Because I knew that this event was occurring and that the kick-off was in Washington Park, I decided to take a detour on my normal route to my office and drive by the park. I expected to see cars lining the street and hundreds of groggy-eyed corporate staffers wearing the same T-shirts expressing how great they are because they took a few hours out of their day to clean-up Over-the-Rhine on one spring morning a year. I’m not knocking volunteer work. I volunteer, I love to volunteer and I appreciate all that volunteers do, whether they volunteer once a year or once a week: It’s all still good. What I am knocking, however, is that instead of hundreds of volunteers ready to do their too many people, too many part and clean up, I saw barely police. I spoke with some guys a hundred. From a distance hanging out on the steps of I could pick out a few of the Memorial Hall; they said that groups – the orange shirts, the there was definitely a sense white shirts and the blue shirts that they weren’t welcome. – all with their individual “I don’t know what they are corporate going to clean logos and up,” said one. Why do people have “They have slogans. T h a t such a problem with people come morning in and clean people loitering there were up the trash in in parks? Last I m o r e the park every checked, parks are people morning and FOR loitering. in the they just put park than in some new normal – landscaping. the 100 or so volunteers – but The park is already clean.” I also noticed something was I am so tired of people who amiss. It took me a minute say they care about Overor two, but I finally realized the-Rhine and want it to be what felt different about the a “successful” community park. Usually on a cool spring swooping into the community morning, the park is full of without a care in the world people in the gazebo and about the people who already sitting along the outer walls of live, work and play in Overthe park. That morning there the-Rhine. I think Over-thewere none. Rhine is already a successful Instead of people enjoying community – last I checked the park, there were police Over-the-Rhine residents were officers everywhere I looked mostly families with children – some on horseback, some on – despite the fact that there are foot, some in cars with lights no elementary schools in Overflickering, some on Segways, the-Rhine. Thankfully, the some on bikes. old Rothenberg Elementary I spoke with one man who School is scheduled to be was sitting quietly on a bench renovated and re-opened. in the park. He said that no When I walk down the street one told them to leave, but in some other neighborhoods, most moved along anyway – I might as well be invisible. All Right to Be Different (Continued from page 4) should be given an extended people it serves, but to society vacation and stay home and do in general.” nothing – then they’ll figure out it’s not so ‘Guardian angels’ great.” Kreate Empowerment is a sees a day In the main wonderful thing. coming when hallway at mental ill­ the Recov­ ness will car­ ery Center ry less stigma. is a drawing on a plain white “Cancer used to have a sheet of paper. It looks like it’s stigma attached to it, but not drawn in pencil. The drawing, so much anymore,” he says. simple but elegant, shows a “I think there’s a day com­ guardian angel in the clouds. ing when it will be accepted Melissa Sheridan drew it. to have a mental illness and She lives with her husband you’re not thought of so dif­ and three cats in Northside. ferently than anybody else.” She suffers from major de­ Kreate’s favorite part of his pression, post-traumatic stress job is interacting with other disorder and anxiety. Sheri­ people who have mental ill­ dan’s been a client at the Re­ ness. He thinks the work he covery Center for a little over does at the Recovery Center is a year. important. “I believe in guardian an­ “A good mental health sys­ gels that surround us and pro­ tem is the foundation of a sol­ tects us,” she says. “In con­ id, stable society,” he says. “I sidering that, with my mental feel that mental health servic­ health diagnosis, I also had es are vital – not just for the a physical diagnosis where I almost died. I leaned on my spirituality more so than ever, and it gave me hope to think there were angels protecting me.” Sheridan’s physical prob­ lems started after a plane flight in 2004. “I was diagnosed with chronic vertigo, which is inner-ear dizziness,” she says. “I started getting migraines and dizziness and was afraid to eat, because I was afraid I would get a migraine and was afraid I would vomit, so I de­ veloped anorexia N.O.S. (not otherwise specified) due to another physical illness (ver­ tigo). I was at the point when I came to the Recovery Center. I only weighted 62 pounds. I almost died.” With the help of the Recov­ ery Center and a dietitian, her weight is now up to 95 pounds and she’s no longer diagnosed with anorexia. She tries to eat healthfully, saying “no thank you” to the hot dogs and Mounted officers patrol Washington Park while corporate volunteers gathered for the “Mayor’s Corporate Challenge.” Photo by Lynne Ausman. In Over-the-Rhine I walk down the street and people I have never met say “hello” or “good morning,” not because I look especially friendly, but because I am another person walking down the same street. I always return their kindness with “hello” or “have a good day.” When people from outside Over-the-Rhine want to do good, they immediately go to Over-the-Rhine and look for trash to clean up or community gardens to weed – or homeless people to shoo away or affordable housing to tear down in favor of expensive condos or shelters to suffocate until they have no choice but to move. I get that the event is the “corporate” challenge, but why isn’t it the “community” challenge? Why aren’t the social services in Over-theRhine invited to participate? Why aren’t their clients? Most important, why aren’t the people who live in Overthe-Rhine and use the park invited to help? Which gets me to another issue – why do people have such a problem with people loitering in parks? Last I checked, parks are FOR loitering. As the kick-off ended and the crowd of 100 volunteers begins to disperse and go off to their work sites for the day, the park regulars began to return. The Recovery Center is located at 2340 Auburn Ave. For more information, visit www.recoverycenterhc.org or call 513-241-1411. chips for lunch. Sheridan goes to the Recov­ ery Center three or four days a week – not only to attend classes but also to teach. She is known at the center as the “computer whiz” and teaches computer courses. “I hope to one day work for the Recovery Center,” she says. The Recovery Center is a safe place for people recov­ ering from mental illness. There’s no judgmental behav­ ior in sight, but there are a lot of hugs. Linda Zachary is the master at this. She appreciates everybody at the center and isn’t afraid to show it. Everybody seems to love Chris Pedoto. The worst thing about his job is “a lot of things coming at me at one time,” he says. “There are a lot of re­ sponsibilities.” Even so he always seems to have a smile on his face. Some of the clients exhibit unusual behavior, such as the man who has become known as “the complimenter.” He’s a pleasant person who always has nice things to say about your hair, your shirt, your jacket – whatever. He’s al­ ways looking for “thank you,” which he follows up immedi­ ately with “you’re welcome.” If that’s weird, what ex­ actly is normal? Maybe David Kreate puts it best. “I sometimes take pride when someone calls me ‘weird,’ ” he says. One behavior that doesn’t seem to occur at the Recovery Center is sadness. In general, everybody’s too busy help­ ing others or improving their lives. You get a sense that the employees and clients are a family, a family pull­ ing together, encouraging and cheering each other on. Empowerment is a wonder­ ful thing. �6 National News Poetry Corner Sunday with Julian By Murray Bodo, oFM She consoles me as I meditate before Mass – Julian of Norwich, that is, who says, “We are clothed, wrapped in the goodness of God.” And she consoles me after Mass, when I drive home to the friary and pass two prostitutes who are sitting on folding chairs next to the curb helping each other with make-up. And that evening, too, when I go to Frisch’s for a Big Boy and fries and a boy’s talking to his girl friend in the booth next to mine – talking and talking – and his girl friend’s eyes say she just wants to hold him and quiet him – and he keeps talking and her eyes keep trying to say, Let’s leave. And when I leave, he’s still talking, ”You know what I’m saying?” and she’s still trying to subtly persuade him they should leave and then I’m walking behind a middle-aged man, a son helping his older mother to the car and ahead an older man’s walking with his pregnant teenage wife and she’s smiling as he talks and eats an ice cream cone and I think, the Mass still isn’t over. And as I get into the car, Julian’s in my thoughts again and I say to myself, They’re all clothed in the goodness of God – and I’m about to drive away when a prostitute, tattooed abundantly, comes to my open window and asks, “Do you have a lighter I could buy from you?” and I say, “No, but I can give you some matches” and she says, “I don’t do matches,” and I’m wondering is there a code here I’m not aware of? and she says, “Hey, you’re the guy who didn’t give me a ride earlier, aren’t you? and of course I was and didn’t, fearing what it might look like, forgetting Julian, and she says, “I said to myself, Okay, I like the jerk anyway,” and walks away. And then I drive away and it’s twilight and I’m left with memories of this day and I think, clothed or naked, we are wrapped around in the goodness of God and yes, the Mass begins when it ends, and when I get home, I pick up Julian and she says, “Mother Jesus leads us into his blessed breast through his open side, and there gives us a glimpse of the Godhead and heavenly joy…” Talk about being wrapped in God’s goodness! The Mass begins. Excerpted from Wounded Angels, copyright 2009, Blissfool Books. STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Homeless in High School On and off the reservation, kids are struggling 1 By Lea ottenheiMer Contributing Writer Four years ago I was a dis­ illusioned graduate student at the University of Vermont about to receive a master’s degree in English literature, a degree becoming more and more useless as humani­ ties departments in the na­ tion’s universities continue to shrink. Philosophy and social science programs don’t bring in nearly as much money as engineering or pharmacology; therefore the humanities are Homeless students often cannot finish high school. Photo by Lea Ottenheimer. obviously a worthless study. I ended up joining Teach for that affected me the most dur- sistant principal, Mr. Roberts, America, a division of Ame­ ing my two years teaching split her $100 bail with me ricorps, basically because I high school on Rosebud. and I went down to get her. couldn’t think of anything else Mr. Roberts, who was not a I wanted to do. Homeless students Native American, had begun From August 2006 through the year as the PE teacher but June 2008 I taught 11th and One of my many students, was finally recruited as assis­ 12th grade Katie Black tant principal after we were English at St. Bear, often without one for six months. I had a lot of Francis Indian had nowhere Our original assistant princi­ faith in this School on the to sleep or pal, a member of the Rosebud young woman’s Rosebud Sioux eat, let alone tribe, left two months into the intelligence and Reservation a place to do school year after a falling out spirit. I couldn’t in South Da­ homework. As with the superintendent — a watch her miss kota. Rosebud with many of real cowboy of a man from her chance is just east of her classmates, Nebraska, complete with all when she was Pine Ridge Katie’s mother the conservative values and so close. I went Reservation, was an alco­ prejudices of the last genera­ through her where Dances holic and her tion. Yes, a superintendent of grades with With Wolves father wasn’t an Indian school who really our assistant was filmed. in the picture. didn’t like Indians. How cli­ principal and The film typi­ Her older sis­ ché. knew that, if she fies the ro­ ter developed a When I got to the jail, I passed all her mantic idea meth habit and didn’t bail Katie out right finals, which she mainstream took off to Cal­ away. Instead, I asked to see seemed capable America holds ifornia while her in the visitor area and I of doing, she about Native Katie bounced sounded her out. I wanted to would graduate. Americans: between the know whether she really want­ they were a couches of dif­ ed to graduate, whether she noble people ferent relatives had any dreams or aspirations, conquered by us and now re­ and friends, many of whom whether she would be willing membered fondly, yet with a were also alcoholics. At the to buckle down and not go out small sense of guilt, as a sad end of her senior year, Katie with her friends or drink until but rich part of our cultural ended up in jail two weeks be­ she had reached her goal. She history. fore graduation for an unpaid promised me that she was se­ I emphasize the word “his­ under-age drinking ticket. Be­ rious about graduating, and I tory” because the fact that cause she had no money and bailed her out. these tribes survived and none of her relatives or friends It wasn’t until we got into continue to live in the most was willing or able to bail my old beat up Honda and I oppressive, deplorable condi­ her out, she would have had asked where I was taking her tions receives little attention to stay in jail for at least five that I found out she really in the mainstream media. We days. This would cause her to wasn’t living anywhere. For think it’s enough to pay them miss her final exams at school the past couple weeks she had tribute with Hollywood epics and keep her from graduating. been staying at her friend’s and by naming sports teams It would be the second year apartment in what we in the after them. The reality of the she failed to graduate high city would call the “projects.” modern life of many Native school and, like many of the Katie’s friend, who had never American communities is other young people on her graduated, had a 1 ½-year-old very different from our ro­ reservation, she most likely son and lived off government mantic fiction. While Native would have given up and not aid, much of the money going Americans have experienced gone back to try a third time. to alcohol, drugs and ciga­ their own unique form of dis­ I had a lot of faith in this rettes. When I pointedly asked enfranchisement, many of the young woman’s intelligence her about it, she admitted that problems I observed on the and spirit. I couldn’t watch it was not a living environ­ reservation were similar to her miss her chance when she ment that allowed her to get those of all poverty-stricken was so close. I went through any schoolwork done, and it areas I’ve seen in America, her grades with our assistant was easy for her to miss the both rural and urban, includ­ principal and knew that, if she bus to school, her only means ing substance abuse and passed all her finals, which of transportation, because homelessness. It was adoles­ she seemed capable of doing, cent homelessness, however, she would graduate. The as­ See High School, p. 7 �STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 National News Power to the Cardholder 7 ‘Credit Card Bill of Rights’ provides overdue protection for consumers By ariana shahandeh Contributing Writer tic. First, there are new limits on penalties and interest-rate During his visit to a high hikes. In addition to requiring school in New Mexico in a 45-day notice to consumers May, President Obama heard before increasing their intermultiple complaints about est rates, the Credit Card Acharsh and countability, unfair fees ResponsiThe Credit Card and penalties bility and Accountability, charged by Disclosure Responsibility credit-card Act of 2009 and Disclosure companies. will prohibit In response, companies Act of 2009 will he said, prohibit companies from retro“Those days from retroactively actively raisare over.” ing rates on raising rates on Obama existing balexisting balances. was referances. ring to a bill Under the signed into new law, law May 22 that makes exten- consumers will be allowed to sive reforms to the process of set their own credit limits – getting and maintaining plas- subject to approval – and will be protected from unlimited fees for violating them. When the law goes into effect Feb. 22, 2010, it will require that credit card statements be mailed 21 days before payments are due. And while many credit-card payments are now allocated by lenders toward low-interest balances first, next year payments above the minimum must be distributed evenly between balances or used to pay off those with higher interest rates first. One of the biggest restrictions extend beyond the credit card companies and will hit young consumers as well; the bill will prevent people younger than age 21 from being issued credit cards without co-signers who show proof of Homeless in High School Buffalo on the Sioux reservation in South Dakota. Photo by Lea Ottenheimer. there was no alarm clock to make sure she woke up in time. Without much hesitation, or forethought, I offered to house her and take her to school every day until graduation, on condition that she didn’t go out with her friends or drink. She readily agreed. She desperately wanted that feeling of accomplishment that comes when you finally achieve a goal that you have been working toward. Katie graduated high school in June of 2007. All it took was a safe place to sleep, quiet space and the resources to complete her schoolwork. She planned to follow a career in nursing and remain on the reservation working at the hospital there. Katie is just one example of many other students at St. Francis Indian School whom I saw struggling with homelessness. The resources for social services on the reservation are even more limited than in the cities. I was lucky to have been in a position to give Katie a hand up at just the right time, but there were others whom I wasn’t able to help. There were others who continued to struggle to stay awake in class because they had to sleep on their uncle’s couch with people drinking and carrying on around them the night before, others who had been kicked out or forced to run away from their houses and had to find a barn or an abandoned trailer home to sleep in until they could find somewhere else to crash for a while. Unfortunately, our school did not have any dorms for those students who needed a safe place to sleep. The county school over in the next town had dorms but they were overcrowded and had a waiting list. As there weren’t enough resources available, the homeless students continued to struggle in school, often succumbing to the substance abuse all around them. I’m no expert on the matter but from what I observed, the despair that pervades the reservation from generations of forced poverty and oppression expresses itself most prevalently in substance abuse. Yet this type of despair is not only to be found on the reservations. Anywhere that people struggle against seemingly insurmountable odds, one will find that type of despair. Alcohol and drugs make you feel better for the moment; the high helps you forget about your problems for a while. Eventually your use starts creating more problems in your life so you use more to try and feel better; and before you know it, you’re caught in a self-defeating cycle. The crime of being poor At the beginning of this cycle, in my opinion, lies the despair that poverty brings. American ideology screams at us that true happiness is measured in material possessions and social status; and those who have the least are to be viewed as objects of disgust, ridicule and condescending pity. One of the greatest of all the mythological American icons is that of the “self-made man,” the person who drags herself out of poverty into a position of wealth and power. But how many young people never find a hand up? There were 15 other students in Katie’s class that year who didn’t the ability to pay on their be- clandestine amendment allows half. Critics say this will make loaded firearms to be carried it harder for students to be- through wildlife refuges and come cardnational holders and parks. Taken in its entirety, that the foThe bill the bill’s language cus should might not means some people have been quite revunder age 21 may not olutionize on debt education. the credit be allowed to carry a Alternative indus­ credit card, but they suggestions try but it may carry loaded included shows a guns in national mandatory growing parks. personal attitude in finance favor of courses in consumer college. protection by Congress. Along Taken in its entirety, the with the Lilly Ledbetter Act bill’s language means some passed earlier this year, requir­ people under age 21 may not ing equal rights for women, be allowed to carry a credit we’ve seen a congressional card, but they may carry load- effort to protect, rather than ed guns in national parks. A restrict. (continued from page 6) make it to graduation. Some 20 percent of the population people tell me I should feel could be considered middle good that I was able to help class. Those were, of course, one make the fami­ it. I say, lies that American ideology is one out had the screams at us that of 15 anymost sotrue happiness is thing to cial and measured in material feel good political possessions and about? power in social status; and In this the com­ those who have country’s munities the least are to be current as well, viewed as objects of finanyet many disgust, ridicule and cial criof the chilcondescending pity. sis, many dren of people the poorer have lost families and continue to lose their jobs, were allowed to fall through homes are being foreclosed the cracks and forced to fend and the despair that accompa- for themselves. It seems that nies these losses will take a toll poverty is a crime in itself in on those families. How many America and it is the children people have already turned to who are being punished for substance abuse? And how the “sins” of their parents. many adolescents will end up We are turning out a grow­ without a safe place to sleep? ing number of uneducated and Perhaps I am mistaken, disenfranchised adolescents but I’ve always thought that every year. It makes me wonthe United States of America der what kind of society we’ll was supposedly a govern- be left with after a hundred ment formed around the ideal years or so. of providing opportunities to My experience on the resthe formerly disenfranchised: ervation was a depressing public schooling, public li- one, not just because I bore braries, the right to vote and witness to the continuing ophold office and the right to pression of Native Americans, effect political change when but because I also saw familgovernment policies become iar tragedies. We are spend­ outdated or just don’t work. ing trillions of dollars muckThe reality of the situation, ing around in other countries however, both in the cities and while the disenfranchised on the reservations, is that the children in this country are size of your wallet determines left to fend for themselves. If how many and what types of possible, I believe I’m even opportunities are made avail- more disillusioned now than I able to you and your children. was four years ago. God bless Not every family on the reser- America. vation was dirt poor. At least �8 STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Recipe Sexy, Yummy, Veggie Your tour guide into the steamy side of vegetarian cuisine Lavender Lemonade 5 cups cold water 1 ½ cups sugar ¼ cup fresh lavender leaves or 1 tbsp dried lavender flowers 2 ¼ cups lemon juice or 10-14 freshly squeezed lemons, depending on the size 1 lime Fresh lavender flower stems for garnish (optional) By aLecia a. Lott Contributing Writer Cold, refreshing, sweet-tart lemonade is the answer to the Cincinnati’s hellishly humid Julys and Augusts. Lemonade is summer. Lemonade is sun­ shine. Lemonade is…an aph­ rodisiac? Well, no. But add lavender and you’re a step in the right direction. A decadently aromatic herb, lavender is a popular aromatherapy ingredient, and its essence is used in all sorts of household products from soaps to eye masks to toilet cleaner. But people from as far back as ancient Rome have suspected this purple flower’s addictive scent might have more — ahem — fun ef­ fects than just soothing aching backs or curing insomnia. Photo by Andrew Anderson. There’s now scientific data to back up these beliefs. Recent studies by the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago suggest that the scent of lavender (combined with the aroma of pumpkin pie of all things!) can increase blood flow to a man’s, uh, junk by 40 percent. You can’t argue with science. After a sumptuous meal, smooth jazz (or country, hiphop or punk, whatever does it for you) and a frosty glass of lavender lemonade on a steamy summer evening, sexy activities may soon follow. Don’t forget to share a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert! 1. In a medium saucepan, combine 2 ½ cups of the water, 1 cup sugar and the lavender; bring to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. 2. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes; remove from heat, cover and let cool. The longer you let the lavender infuse into the water, the stronger the flavor will be. When the syrupy mixture is cool, strain it into a large pitcher. 3. Add the syrup to the remaining 2 ½ cups cold water and lemon juice, stirring well. Add a couple squeezes of lime juice, to your taste. 4. Add ice cubes just before serving. Pour into chilled glasses and garnish with fresh lavender stems if you have them. Try adding vodka and/or basil or mint next time. Vendors’ Artwork Artwork by Anthony Williams Berta’s Art Corner “Fountain Framed in Neon” Downtown, Cincinnati, Ohio ! ? t a h W y a S _____________________ “Until they become conscious, they will never rebel; and until after they they have rebelled, they cannot become conscious.” - George Orwell, 1984 �STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Vendor Profile Disability, Theft, Loneliness and Death 9 No easy street for a ‘Streetvibes’ vendor By JereMy FLannery Contributing Writer Advancement of Science for four years, he says. He was employed as a soundman for Life on the streets of Cin- various bands, including Billy cinnati has been traumatic for Squier, and as a part time meStreetvibes vendor Kenneth chanic. Stonitsch. Since being evict“You’re looking at no ed from his house in 2007 he dummy,” Stonitsch says. “I has slept in stairwells, under also worked for the Minute bridges, in parks, in camps Men Temporary Agency for along the Ohio River and in 15 years. Some of those jobs abandoned buildings. were a nightmare, but I was He refuses willing to do to sleep at them as long the Drop Inn “Sometimes you as I was capaCenter after get so miserable, ble. Plus, I was having his a mechanic on but you can’t possessions the side, but I feel sorry for stolen there on lost it because yourself. I got three separate my back is so to continue to occasions, he bad I couldn’t says. He says do it anymore. survive. You has seen four If I could get can’t give up.” dead bodies of back into it, - Kenneth fellow homeI’d try, I really Stonitsch less people would. But it since becomtakes money, ing homeless. and I’m not He was almost added to that making any.” tally through a shotgun, but Stonitsch suffers a cascade the assailant accidentally shot of medical problems and has his own arm off, he says. undergone five surgeries since “I was living in a house with 2007, he says. His spine col21 acres of land,” Stonitsch lapsed in 2005 from epidural says. “But I was evicted in lipomatosis, he has rheuma2007 and the house was torn toid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, is down. Before it was torn deaf in his left ear and suffers down, someone went in there from a loss of equilibrium, he and stole all of my things – says. His swollen ankles promy speakers, sound equip- truding from the tongues of ment, my tools and my high his shoes, shout the need for school diploma was stolen crutches. But showing signs there, too.” of weakness can be dangerous Stonitsch graduated from on the streets, he says. the United Electronics School “You can’t use crutches of Technology in Cuyahoga out there – they’ll beat you Falls, Ohio, in 1975 and still to death,” Stonitsch says. “If carries proof of it. He was they see you are handicapped, a registered member of the they’ll beat you. There’s nothAmerican Association for the ing worse than being trapped Kenneth Stonitsch, a ‘Streetvibes’ vendor, has experienced many difficulties since becoming homeless. Photo by Andrew Anderson. in a disabled body and an able mind – because you’re aware.” Stonitsch has been denied Social Security disability ben­ efits three times, most recently on June 14. “I’m committed this year to find a job that lets me sit down,” he says. “They say there are 14,000 jobs out there that I can do. Just give me one of them.” Stonitsch has lost three “sit-down” jobs because each employer considered him a health risk for the company’s insurance, he says. Now he sells Streetvibes around Findley Market to earn an income. “Cleo Wombles (another vendor) hooked me up in De­ cember of 2007,” Stonitsch says. “I work seven days a week if I can, if I don’t run out of copies. I sell to people in their cars because pedestrians just walk right past me. Sales have been bad and I think it’s because of the failing econo­ my. I sold only six copies all day yesterday. But they roll up in $50,000 cars and they say they don’t have money? Some people say, ‘I’ll get you next time,’ and some of them do. Some people offer me money, but they don’t even take a copy of Streetvibes. I guess they’re just not interested in reading.” Stonitsch is the adopted son of a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, he says. His father died in 1994, he says. His wife died the same year of brain tumors. His mother sends him money, but she is a 14-hour bus ride away from Cincinnati and Stonitsch cannot physically withstand the trip, he says. “I’m at the end of my road, but somehow I keep going,” he says. “It’s a lonely-ass life, being homeless. I cry a lot. I have an idea why this is hap­ pening to me – because I’m disabled. Standing out there selling those papers, it hurts me. It ain’t funny. Sometimes you get so miserable, but you can’t feel sorry for yourself. I got to continue to survive. You can’t give up.” Post Prison Blues For ex-cons, the price of redemption is out of reach By PauL KoPP Contributing Writer In most people’s view, in­ carceration is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. Yet it seems that for those who are released after serving their term, the prob­ lems are just beginning. Just as all felons have unique per­ sonalities and their crimes greatly vary, time in prison can significantly differ from person to person. The postlockup experiences, however, are strangely similar. When someone with a fel­ ony record leaves prison, he is at a severe disadvantage. Not only does he have trouble readjusting to mainstream so­ ciety, but he’s also unable to find work and has to cope with the shock of having been in­ carcerated. Though they come from dif­ ferent backgrounds, it seems virtually all former prison­ ers end up in the same place: struggling to make ends meet and shunned by the public that was supposed to forgive them after they served their sentences. Although released from prison, in a sense felons are serving life terms. Following are accounts of the different paths that led three people to prison and the one road they are all on now. ‘Give me a chance’ “We have $9 to live on this whole week. I have to laugh or I’ll cry. I can cry real easy since I’ve been in prison, and a man shouldn’t cry,” Tony Griffin says with a bitter smile. Like most people with a fel­ ony conviction, Griffin, 49, is finding it hard to get a decent job. His soft intonation when he talks about his life makes obvious the desperation he feels. He is desperate for re­ demption, for another chance that society won’t give him. “I will be 50 years old in a few months, and I can’t get a job,” he says. “I’m only mak- Tony Griffin was convicted of non-payment of child support and spent 18 months in prison. Photo by Paul Kopp. See Prison, p. 11 �10 Theater Review STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 If I Was A Drunkard, Tell You What I’d Do Men sing of drink and God By stePhanie dunLaP Contributing Writer “The problem is … sober lives long but poorly/wears ties/buys insurance/gets ev­ erywhere it plans to.” It’s a measured life, in jux­ taposition to the drunk who “walks on a new planet under a new set of rules.” That planet’s allure is illu­ sory, and the new set of rules doesn’t hold as Hague’s drunk spirals down, clutching at car­ pet shag on the way. If the gods gave us drink to secure their places in heaven, at least they gave us poetry and music to lift the rest of us closer. Poet Richard Hague and poet-musician Michael Hen­ son collaborated to present Where Drunk Men Go, a 70-minute show that played ‘Upside-down for five performances at the craziness’ Coffee Emporium as part of the 7th annual Cincinnati Drinking is no shortcut from Fringe Festival in late May troubles to the divine. “The and early June. only way out is through,” be­ The show was billed as “a comes the theme of the latter poem with music.” Given the part of Hague’s piece. “The transcendence of Henson’s Michael Henson (left) and Richard Hague perform “Where Drunk Men Go.” problem is we’ve got to go musicianship, it could equally Photo by Mikki Schaffner. there.” There’s no going back, have been tagged “music with and “what’s spent is spent.” a poem.” Just when Hague brings the drunk to the gates of hell, those doors open to a Make no mistake: Hague’s long, ambitious poem is very good. There is a fa­ surprising grace as warm light floods the sparse stage. miliar wildness that suffuses his writing, whether it speaks of ecstasy or agony “And in some upside-down craziness, we are all forgiven,” Hague says. or just plain … numbness. Early on he delivers the line, “Beer on an empty Henson breaks into the first major-key, upbeat song of the show (All My stomach … love is possible.” Who at some level doesn’t recognize the yearning Love, All My Kisses) while Hague shadow-dances with glee. toward all-encompassing love, the divine, the maiden/mother/ The entire reading is thick with richly imagined images, crone, the father/son/Holy Ghost? but the show would have had even more impact if Hague Who doesn’t recognize the holy shit what did I do, the dear The show calls out to had memorized his poem, or at least chunks of it. Though his God what have I become? those gods again and recitation was mostly fluid, a few times he lost his place on “No monk more lonely than the lonely drunk,” Hague again. An audience the page and broke the spell. says. member starts Most of Henson’s contributions were musical interludes, However, Hague’s poem can also alienate those who aren’t the performance though sometimes he added quick percussive slaps on his men, drunks or Appalachian. The show would perhaps have by reading aloud guitar to emphasize a line. He was a steady, humble foil to been more appropriately titled Where Drunk Appalachian epigraphs reprinted Hague’s ebb-and-flow energy as poet-performer. Henson’s Men Go. in the program. eyes followed Hague throughout the show, and his face kept Hague speaks of men “not wanting to foul our wives and some knowing look. mothers with all that’s wrong in the world inside us.” Though Henson’s knowing probably came from the same insight one lover drove herself mad drinking Mad Dog wine, most of he brings to his regular column in Streetvibes, “Hammered: Essays on Pov­ the poem’s female characters stand concerned on the side, asking, “’Oh Jesus, erty and Addiction.” Henson is also a chemical dependency counselor at Talbert what did you do to yourself?’’ and “Dear God, where did you go?” The raucous women populating the poem’s dive bars – women named Maureen, Reba, Jenny, House and the Drop Inn Center. Hague is an award-winning figure on the local and national poetry scene who Susan, Carol, Joy – are clearly of a certain demographic. The poem’s men appeal hails from the steel mills and rail yards of Steubenville. In addition to his poetry, to the goddess and find hagmother, but it is harder for a woman to find herself he teaches at Purcell Marian High School. in this piece. The show was ably directed by John Ray, whose simple presentation trusts the The specificity of Hague’s poem is probably necessary, because going this power of this “poem with music” to carry the show. The stage held just a stool deep in 70 minutes means piercing narrowly – but the tunes Henson chose for Henson and stands for his two guitars. broaden the production’s appeal. Though the traditional gospel and bluegrass In one of the most memorable lines of the evening, Hague says, “Life drags us standards are distinctly earthy, and though the twang in Henson’s voice rings of along like someone hit by a car and not killed. We’re all along for the ride, drunk Appalachia, his pure, lonesome keen is nothing short of otherworldly. or sober, wrecked or whole.” Hague’s poem traces an exhaustive map of man’s drunkenness along richly ‘Spiritus contra spiritum’ vivid scenery. Henson’s vehicle takes us to the gods in the carpool lane. The drunken descent that Hague describes from every angle starts with noble intentions. The drinker doesn’t aspire to be a drunk but to reach for something that, like love, still seems possible at first: “reading real books … drinking smart and talking to good guys.” But at some point the drunk runs across what the poem calls the five rules of the universe. Two of those are “Oh shit, never again,” and “I do it for the gods in me.” The show calls out to those gods again and again. An audience member starts the performance by reading aloud epigraphs reprinted in the program. One is Ralph Waldo Emerson’s, “A man is a god in ruins.” A Biblical epigraph is from Matthew 11:19: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they said ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax col­ lectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.” However, gods and men were drinking and trading places long before Christ. “After all it was the gods who gave us drink…(to) make their places more secure,” Hague says. Resisting alcohol by invoking the spiritual is a newer twist. In 1961, psychotherapist Carl Jung replied to a letter from Bill Wilson, found­ er of Alcoholics Anonymous. “You see, ‘alcohol’ in Latin is ‘spiritus’ and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison,” Jung said. “The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum” – invoking God to stave off alcohol. Hague’s poem also addresses a sobriety particular to the one-time drunk. Interested in volunteering with Streetvibes? Contact Greg Flannery at 513-421-7803 x 12 or by e-mail at streetvibes2@ yahoo.com �STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Local News 11 Post Prison Blues (continued from page 9) ing $8 an hour, and in this economy that won’t even fill the gas tank up in your vehi­ cle.” In 2004 Griffin was con­ victed of non-payment of child support and spent 18 months in Lancaster and London Cor­ rectional Institutions. He still seems to have a positive outlook, though it doesn’t come easy for him and his longtime girlfriend, Becky. He constantly worries about providing for her and says he won’t eat unless she has. Since his release in 2005, he has been unable to find work anywhere except at a car wash. Before and briefly af­ ter he served his sentence he worked as a limousine driver but was laid off due to the economy. A 40-hour week at the car wash brings in a pay­ check of $90, but he’s often sent home early due to rain or few customers. Griffin pays $663 a month in child support, $300 for rent, $100 for two cell phones and whatever else he can on food and gas for his Chevy Blazer. Unable to pay for groceries, he went to apply for food stamps but was told he makes too much money. If he gets a job interview, it goes well until they broach the topic of his record. “I say, ‘Give me a chance.’ They just look at me and say, ‘Sorry, you’ve got a felony.’ After that, the interview is pretty much over,” Griffin says. ‘Stuff I’ve seen’ Billy Williams, 29, origi­ nally from Santa Monica, Calif., was convicted of ag­ gravated robbery in Ohio. He spent most of his 5-year sen­ tence at Lebanon Correctional Institution. “I look at prison as a place where it opened my eyes on life,” he says. His tone is striking at times. He is very open to sharing his stories and thoughts about his experience. Williams says prison was only about surviv­ al, and the mentality he devel­ oped while incarcerated still affects him emotionally and psychologically, “The stuff that I’ve seen, the things that I’ve been through, I take out on my wife, and she doesn’t deserve it,” he says. He talks passionately about the prison system. He says the inmates run the prisons, and the guards and administrators act only as “babysitters.” “It’s either going to make you or break you,” Williams says. “The only thing you can do is keep a clear head and stay focused. If you don’t do that, your first slip-up could be the last time on this earth.” Williams has had difficulty finding work. On the jobs he found, he has experienced discrimination because of his record. While he was working at a Marathon gas station, his manager accused him of steal­ ing a case of soda. The charge was absurd not only because he didn’t do it but because he is also a diabetic, Williams says. “They use my record against me. But if I drink a case of 24oz. Pepsis, I’ll be dead,” he says. Williams keeps looking for work but doesn’t have a job. With government aid, he’s studying business manage­ ment at Southwestern College downtown, hoping to one day own a restaurant. Subhead: ‘Ears on the out­ side’ Tauras Harrison, 30, was convicted of aggravated rob­ bery. He was part of a group of teenagers who committed a series of burglaries. Though he was a minor, he was convicted as an adult. Because someone who was with him had a gun Harrison faced more serious charges. “They said (the burglaries) were planned, which was a Billy Williams was convited of aggravated robbery and spent five years in prison. Photo by Paul Kopp. lie,” he says. He got into a lot of trouble in prison, once trying to es­ cape. Harrison spent most of his eight-year sentence at Chillicothe Correctional In­ stitution. There, because the prison has a medium security level, the environment was less violent, he says. He doesn’t believe he suf­ fered psychologically from his experience. “It wasn’t a horror story,” Harrison says. “The way I did my time, I didn’t really get into the whole prison thing. My ears were still on the out­ side.” While inside, he learned how to better control the an­ ger issues that might have led to his criminal activity, Harri­ son says. He was released in 2004. “For the first month I really didn’t leave my mama’s front yard,” he says. Though he has filled out applications everywhere he can, he has only been able to find work through temporary- Tauras Harrison was convicted of aggravated robbery as a minor but was tried as an adult. He spent eight years in adult prison. Photo by Paul Kopp. employment services. He re­ cently became a father. With no money to buy milk for his child, Harrison says society isn’t giving him legal alterna­ tives. With the help of govern­ ment aid and loans, Harrison is attending Southwestern College, with plans to own an own automotive repair shop or become a certified mechanic. He acknowledges the mis­ takes he made and has clearly made an attempt to understand why he made them. “I could have taken other outlets, but I wasn’t think­ ing about it, or I didn’t know about them at the time,” he says. “I automatically started thinking, ‘I know I can do this to come up with some money.’ There’s a lot of people that are in prison because of that (type of thinking),” he says. �STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Guest Column 12 Missing Hudson Brothers Cleaners A neighborhood business that was like an extended family By Murray Bodo, oFM Contributing Writer ers Cleaners, located on Elm Street between Green and Elder, was where stories were It’s Saturday morning on told, hearts were comforted, Pleasant Street, where I’ve loneliness assuaged and those lived for 30 years. I’m sitting who needed to get in from the at a table in Findlay Market cold or heat were welcomed. missing And now Hudson it is gone When there were Brothers like so Cleaners, m a n y neighborhood disputes, which for business­ the three women would 47 years es in the band with us to ensure was the inner city, the rights of the poor in “meeting though the neighborhood. Their place” it’s been of our replaced last big neighborhood neigh­ by Onyx outreach was to make borhood. Te r m i t e the cleaners the Rich and and Pest headquarters for the p o o r , Control, Obama for President inner­ run by Campaign. city and Cooksuburb, ie’s son, all ethnic Leonard backgrounds and religions, Phipps III. straight and gay would take When Curlen, Dorothy and their cleaning or just drop in their two daughters first came to greet and listen to Dorothy from the original cleaners on Hudson, who passed in 2002, Baymiller in the West End, and her two daughters, Duane run by Curlen and his brother and Dorothy, affectionately Charles, there were stores, known as “Cookie.” Curlen now largely abandoned, on Hudson, who founded the both sides of Elm Street cleaners on Elm Street, died in from Green to Elder. There 1977, two years before I came was Lathrop’s Drugstore, to the inner city. the Ibold Cigar store, Shiff’s Like my dad’s New Mexico Shoe Store, a furniture store, a Sporting Goods Store when bakery, a sausage market and I was a boy, Hudson Broth- a store that sold china. Find- lay Market had stalls on both sides of Elder Street between Elm and Vine streets. It was a neighborhood, and the cleaners soon became an integral part of it. From the time I arrived in 1979, I always looked forward to dropping in to see Doro­ thy and her two daughters. I thought of them as the neigh­ borhood newspaper. They seemed to know everything that was going on and acted as a kind of rear guard for our friary that abuts the back door of their building. When none of us friars were at home, the mailman knew to leave pack­ ages with them. When there were neighborhood disputes, the three women would band with us to ensure the rights of the poor in the neighbor­ hood. Their last big neighbor­ hood outreach was to make the cleaners the headquarters for the Obama for President Campaign. There was a steady stream of police and firefighters bringing their uniforms for the cleaning discount estab­ lished by Curlen Hudson, who also gave discounts to meter persons, Greyhound Bus driv­ ers, the Bengals and some of the Reds, like Lee Mays, who frequented the cleaners regu­ larly. And when there was un­ Crossword claimed cleaning, the cleaners donated the clothes to neigh­ borhood churches and welfare agencies. Duane and Cookie are particularly proud of this service to the poor, especially those who needed clothes to wear to job interviews. “We miss you, too,” they said recently, “all of you who were our family – because this was a family and we al­ ways treated our clients like family.” I can vouch for that. I miss Hudson Brothers Cleaners and their whole extended family, people who came from all over the city and suburbs and from Kentucky, as well. And from the looks of disbe­ lief on the faces of those who saw the “Closed” sign for the first time, their “family” misses the owners and workers at the cleaners, too. As one disconcerted woman said recently, “What am I going to do now?” Street Singer Next to Hudson Brothers Cleaners Not wanting to beg for money, he asked how he could earn blessing – meaning the blessing of money. He insisted and asked to sing a favorite hymn. Full throated he began, “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, behold…” and all those walking by looked on as if we were happily mad. He took the money, all the while quoting accurately the Word of God who provides for those who ask for blessing and sing His praise. “They get,” he said, “fried chicken, and if they’re lucky, some clean clothes, too.” – Murray Bodo, OFM Sudoku Across 7. Enormous amount 9. Island off the SE coast of China 12. Truant 13. S American country 14. Conceited (4-9) 15. Sick 16. Norwegian coins 17. Alerted 18. Glass ornament 20. Moist with dew 22. Aspirant (5-2) 25. Female name 27. Burdensome charge 28. List of drugs 30. Evils 31. Laurel wreath 32. Approve officially for travel 33. Excess Down 1. NE Massachusetts city 2. A person’s nature Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 through 9. 3. Foes 4. Backless seat 5. Move stealthily 6. Made 8. Sureties 10. Normal depreciation (4,3,4) 11. Kernels 12. Continent 19. Person who performs unaccompanied 20. Garden plant with showy colored flowers 21. Capital of Poland 23. One removing water from a boat 24. Test 25. Black marketeer (Brit) 26. Parlor game 29. Silica gemstone The fundamental goal of a Sudoku puzzle is to use the provided numbers, or givens, to discover which numbers logically fill in the empty squares. The only rule of Sudoku is that each of the nine rows, each of the nine columns, and each of the nine 3x3 subsections must contain all of the numbers from one to nine, and each number consequently can occur in each row, column and subsection only once. Solutions on Page 15 �STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Community News 13 Perspiration and Prayer Christian teens help overhaul Our Daily Bread By PauL MiLLer Contributing Writer their own community. It gives them a broader perspective.” Know Sweat is a program One week every summer, of Christ In Youth centered Our Daily Bread, a food and in Joplin, Mo. Its mission is hospitality ministry on Race to provide community service opportuni­ Street in Over-theties for high “It’s a good way school stu­ Rhine, goes on for the kids to dents. “shut down” learn to take “Cincinna­ to clean, paint the focus off of ti is a desig­ and do main­ nated city for tenance. It’s them and focus No Sweat” a big job that on service for Hayes said. takes lots others.” - Matt “It is a small of helping Hayes way for the hands. How kids to say do they get it ‘thank you’ done? Know for the good work others are Sweat! A group of 20 high school doing in the community.” Two hundred fifty teens students and four adult spon­ sors from a Christian youth from 15 various youth min­ organization, Know Sweat istries around the country traveled from New Carlisle, worked in multiple locations Ohio to Cincinnati the week in the city during the week. of June 15. They cleaned light Cincinnati Christian Universi­ fixtures, painted walls and ty in Western Hills, hosted the doors, waxed floors and per­ students. The kids slept at the formed a variety of other tasks school, ate morning and evening meals and prayed there. at Our Daily Bread. . “It’s a good way for the kids Once the Know Sweat stuto learn to take the focus off dents arrived at Our Daily of them and focus on service Bread in the morning to start for others,” said Matt Hayes, work, there was plenty of youth pastor and group leader. sweat. Along with Our Daily “Volunteer work acts as a cat­ Bread staff, the kids worked alyst when the kids get back to hard to finish an enormous Students from Know Sweat, a Christian youth organization in New Carlisle, Ohio. Photo courtesy of Our Daily Bread. job. “It was good for the kids to walk through the neighbor­ hood,” Hayes said. “The kids appreciate what is done here. They are blessed by being here.” At 10:30 a.m. every morning, work paused for a few minutes as the group gathered for devotional prayer, led by one of the students. For lunch, the group was treated to tradi­ tional Cincinnati fare donated by Skyline Chili and Gold Star Chili. By week’s end, the make­ over was complete and Our Daily Bread was ready to wel­ come back its guests. When asked what these 20 high school students will take away most from their experience, Hayes said, “It doesn’t matter where you are from, we are all equal in God’s eyes.” Our Daily Bread, 1730 Race St. in Over-the-Rhine, is a food and hospitality ministry serving more than 500 midday meals every weekday. To volunteer or make donations, call Joan or Kathy at 513-621-6364. Editorial ‘Streetvibes’ - The Activist Newspaper Advocating justice, building community By GreGory FLannery editor Our vendors – people who are or once were homeless – stand on street corners every This is the last monthly edi- day, in all kinds of weather, oftion of Streetvibes that you fering Streetvibes in exchange will ever read. That’s because, for donations of $1 or more. starting with this edition, Our writers and photograStreetvibes is publishing twice phers contribute their work a month. New editions will without expecting compensaappear on the first tion. In fact, I am and 15th days of the only person each month. paid to write for Streetvibes Newspapers the paper. aims to be across the UnitThe Greater Cincinnati’s ed States and in Cincinnati Coaliactivist Greater Cincinnati tion for the Homenewspaper. are in decline. The less, which pubCincinnati Post lishes Streetvibes, has gone out of has committed its business. The Cincinnati En- limited financial resources to quirer has laid off staff. City- double our publication schedBeat, once Cincinnati’s lead- ule. ing alternative newspaper, has The individuals and orgalaid off staff, cut pages and nizations that fund the Homebacked away from its once less Coalition have continued aggressive editorial focus on to support its work of advosocial and political issues. cating on behalf of homeless Yet Streetvibes is growing. people. Our success is the result of Our readers have bought many people’s efforts. more papers, with the result that we have sold all available copies four times in the past year, in spite of the fact that we have significantly increased our press run. When I became editor of Streetvibes in March 2008, we were selling about 2,700 copies per month. Now we typically sell 5,000 to 6,000 copies per month. Our sales and feedback from readers seem to indicate that Streetvibes is offering what readers want in a newspaper – solid reporting, engaging photography, excellent writing and, most important, a sense of purpose. In May Streetvibes received an award from the International Network of Street Papers for a story about the exploitation of Latino workers in Greater Cincinnati. The article was the work of a community of people committed to working for justice. The workers had the courage to speak out. Activists helped the workers to organize, document their mal- treatment and bring it to the attention of the news media. Writer Margo Pierce interviewed some of the workers. Andrew Anderson captured their images. Andy Freeze, then education coordinator for the Homeless Coalition, designed the story’s layout. Georgine Getty, then executive director of the Homeless Coalition, stood strong when lawyers tried to stop us from running the story. Our vendors got the story into the hands of readers. Perhaps you’ve noticed the new tag line under our masthead on page 1: “Streetvibes – Advocating Justice, Building Community.” That statement applies to the story that won the award, and it summarizes our editorial policy. Streetvibes exists in order to advocate for justice and build community. That’s important work – and it is, I believe, the very reason newspapers exist. At its root, journalism is a form of public ser­ vice, a form of civic activism. Some newspapers have forgotten that. Driven by the desire for ever increasing profits, they have abandoned their mission, pandering to what they believe popular tastes require: a focus on entertainment, less investigative reporting, shorter stories that promote sentimental good feelings while ignoring the historic role of the free press as guardian of the people’s liberty. Streetvibes aims to be Cincinnati’s activist newspaper. Your opinion of what we’re doing is important to us. Let us know what you think and what you’d like us to do in the future. Advocating for justice, building community: This is the essence of a good newspa­ per, and it’s what Streetvibes aims to do twice a month. �National News 14 New Law Protects Tenants STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Foreclosure no longer means instant eviction By Lynne ausMan Staff Writer ensuring compliance. The law was effective as of May 20. It is the responsibility of Imagine living in an apart­ tenants, landlords, public ment for the past 12-months. housing authorities, courts, You pay your rent in full lawyers and community and on time each month. activists to understand It is the responsibility of While it’s hard to make the new law and to ensure the payments and pay tenants, landlords, public that the rights of renters the rest of your bills and are protected. housing authorities, buy necessities (electric, Prior to this act, when courts, lawyers and gas, water, phone, food, a landlord was foreclosed community activists school supplies, cloth­ on, the tenants were im­ to understand the new mediately evicted, with ing, etc.) the rent is the few if any options to save first thing you pay each law and to ensure that month. Your two children the rights of renters are their homes. Because the tenant was not being are in elementary school protected. evicted in the traditional and have good grades; sense, landlords were not they like their school and required to give any no­ their teachers. Today starts like any other apartment. You have no one to tice. In many occasions, rent­ day; you get your children off turn to for help; there are no ers were paying their rent on to school and head to work. laws to protect you or to save time each month. The Protecting Tenants at When you get home that eve­ your home. Finding a new ning, you find your landlord apartment proves to be diffi­ Foreclosure Act provides a at your door telling you that cult. You were barely making small safety net for renters he has just been foreclosed your rent, and now you have who find their landlords in on – and you have to leave. to come up with a security de­ foreclosure. At minimum, it provides renters with a 90-day You have less than 24 hours posit and rent at a new place. to vacate the property or your All of this changed May 20 notice before being evicted as belongings will be put on the with the Protecting Tenants a result of foreclosure. Many curb for trash pickup. at Foreclosure Act of 2009, tenants with a lease will be What do you do? How do which was passed as Title VII able to stay in their homes you find a new place to live of Public Law 111-22. The until the end of the lease. Ten­ and move in less than 24 provisions are “self-execut­ ants living in Section 8 hous­ hours? Where do you go for ing”; no federal agency (such ing are also protected. Any help? What recourse do you as HUD) is responsible for new owner of a foreclosed have? Until recently, the an­ swer was to take what you can and hope a family mem­ ber or a friend will take you in until you can find another home that is currently housing a Section 8 tenant must accept the lease and housing-assis­ tance payment contract. If the new property owner intends to live in the home as a primary residence, Section 8 tenants and renters with leases can be evicted; however, they must be given a 90-day notice. The law expires in 2012. Bottom line is that low-in­ come renters are often trying to make it month by month. Their apartment is what keeps them off the streets and out of shelters. When their landlord is in foreclosure, the tenants are not made aware of the situa­ tion until it is too late and they are forced to move. Where do these families go? Why didn’t the landlord pay the mortgage with the rent they are collect­ ing? The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act is a baby step in the right direction to ensur­ ing that renters are not forced into homelessness due to their landlord’s inability to pay the mortgage. It’s not foolproof and there are likely to be more renters who are evicted with­ out notice. Because the act is self-executing, demanding compliance will be difficult until the word gets out about the act and its provisions. Few news outlets have run the sto­ ry. What’s Happenin’ July/August Events Music: Acoustic Lunch Series. Piatt Park. 11:45am-1:45pm. Tuesdays through the summer. Art: Reigning Cats and Dogs: Paintings by Martha Newfield. YWCA Women’s Art Gallery. Through August 4th. Exhibits: Balloon Glow. Coney Island. July 3rd. 5-10pm. Bittersweet: The History of Sugar in North America. Findlay Market. Through July 5. 381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott. National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Through July 11. Benefits: IHN Golf Outing. Flagg Springs Golf Course. $75 for individual, $300 for team of four. Benefits Interfaith Hospitality Network. July 24. 9:30am. Contact Betsy Wones to play, 4711100. Jazz in July ‘09. The Phoenix. $25. Benefits CILO. July 24. 5:30-8:30pm. RSVP: 513-241-2600. 20th Annual Bocce Tournament. Sharon Woods Fern Hollow. Bring desert to share. Benefits Our Daily Bread. July 26. 11am5pm. Tractor Jam 2009. Gorman Heritage Farm (10052 Reading in Evendale). $10. Benefits Gorman Heritage Farm. August 1. 2-9:30pm. Know of an event or want your event posted? E-mail streetvibeslayout@gmail.com with event, date, time, and location. �STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 Resources 15 Need Help or Want to Help? Our Daily Bread Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point Cincinnati Union Bethel 300 Lytle Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Bethany House 1841 Fairmount Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45214 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 6037 Cary Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45224 Salvation Army 131 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 1730 Race Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Mt. Airy Shelter FreeStore/FoodBank 681-2365 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 762-5660 St. Vincent de Paul 872-9259 4230 Hamilton Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45223 112 E. Liberty Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 3600 Erie Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45227 1125 Bank Street, Cinti, Ohio 45214 241-5525 2121 Vine Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 DIC Live In Program Prospect House 682 Hawthorne Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45205 Starting Over 661-4620 First Step Home 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS) 761-1480 Treatment: Both Drop Inn Center 721-0643 AA Hotline CCAT 217 W. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Interfaith Hospitality Network Lighthouse Youth Center (Youth) 3330 Jefferson, Cinti, Ohio 45220 471-1100 221-3350 Housing: CMHA Excel Development OTR Community Housing 114 W. 14th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Tender Mercies 27 W. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Tom Geiger House Dana Transitional Bridge Services Volunteers of America 721-4580 632-7149 381-1171 721-8666 961-4555 751-0643 381-1954 Lord’s Pantry OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. Cinti, Ohio 45214 621-5300 961-1983 OTR: 1620 Vine Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert, Cinti, Ohio 45206 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. Legal Aid Society Ohio Justice & Policy Center Faces Without Places Stop AIDS 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45202 721-0643 921-1613 Other Resources 961-2256 961-4663 351-0422 381-6672 Advocacy 1227 Vine Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Health Resource Center Homeless Mobile Health Van McMicken Dental Clinic 784-1853 946-4888 281-7422 681-0324 641-4300 Franciscan JPIC Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 5 E. Liberty St. Cinti, Ohio 45202 1800 Logan St. Cinti, Ohio 45202 Hamilton County ADAS Board Recovery Health Access Center Sober Living Talbert House Catholic Social Action Community Action Agency Contact Center Crossroad Health Center NAMI of Hamilton County PATH Outreach 241-2965 1522 Republic Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 3550 Washington Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45229 Mental Health Access Point Mercy Franciscan at St. John Joseph House (Veterans) 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Food/Clothing 562-8841 Treatment: Women Anthony House (Youth) 1821 Summit Road, Cinti, Ohio 45237 241-1064 Treatment: Men Shelter: Both 2728 Glendora Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45209 Center for Respite Care 557-2873 Justice Watch 241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 1437 Walnut Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 535-2719 591-2246 St. Francis Soup Kitchen Churches Active in Northside Charlie’s 3/4 House 1419 Elm Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Health 381-SAFE 768-6907 Shelter: Men City Gospel Mission 621-6364 421-3131 569-1840 381-4242 721-4700 421-7803 579-8547 241-9400 421-1108 363-3300 421-2437 St. Raephaels Salvation Army Serenity House Day Center Open Door Pantry 381-2247 357-4602 352-2902 352-6363 558-8888 981-5800 458-6670 977-4489 Center Independent Living Options Emmanuel Community Center Peaslee Neighborhood Center Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart Goodwill industries Healing Connections Mary Magdalen House People Working Cooperatively The Caring Place United Way Women Helping Women Hamilton/Middletown 621-1868 241-2600 241-2563 621-5514 381-0111 771-4800 751-0600 721-4811 351-7921 631-1114 211 977-5541 863-3184 863-1445 422-8555 868-3276 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY Women’s Crisis Center VA Domiciliary VA Homeless 859-491-8303 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 859-491-3335 859-559-5011 859-572-6226 If you like what you read, but don’t live in the Cincinnati area, you can subscribe to Streetvibes. Call us at 513-421-7803 x 12 to learn more about subscribing to Streetvibes. Puzzle Solutions �16 Double Take STREETVIBES July 1 - 14, 2009 “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” - John Lennon June 10: Cincinnatians for Progress held “Keep Cincinnati Moving Forward” to oppose what it called a “dangerous” proposal to let voters decide on streetcars. Entertainment was provided by Jake Speed and the Freddies. Photos by Andrew Anderson. June 19-21: RiverSpan Sculputure Exhibition and Sale. Clockwise from top left, Bourbon Street by Mark Hopkins, Embrace by Sydney Reichman, Acrobats by Justin Poole. Photos by Andrew Anderson. June 27: Tensions ran high at a Fountain Square rally to support a democratic vote in Iran. Photos by Aimie Willhoite. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2009 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource July 1-14, 2009 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: All Right to Be Different Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes with a ‘Rebel with a Cause’ Pg 4: All Right to Be Different Continued Pg 5: We’re Supposed to Loiter in the Park Pg 6: Homeless in High School Pg 7: Power to the Cardholder Homeless in High School Pg 8: Sex, Yummy, Veggie Pg 9: Disability, Theft, Loneliness and Death Pg 10: If I Was A Drunkard, Tell You What I’d Do Pg 11: Post Prison Blues Pg 12: Missing Hudson Brothers Cleaners Pg 13: Perspiration and Prayer Pg 14: New Law Protects Tenants Pg 15: Resource Guide Pg 16: Double take Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 1-14, 2009 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Lynne Ausman Lew Moores Margo Pierce Paul Kopp Paul Miller Jeremy Flannery Michael Henson Dave Heitfield Alecia Lott Larry Gross Murray Bodo Stephanie Dunlap Lea Ottenheimer Andrew Anderson Paul Kopp Aimie Willhoite Lea Ottenheimerm Mikki Schaffner Jennifer Blalock Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Activist Aimie Willhoite Alecia Lott Andrew Anderson Christians Dave Heitfield disability education Gregory Flannery High School Hudson Brothers Cleaners Jennifer Blalock Jeremy Flannery Larry Gross Law Lea Ottenheimer Lea Ottenheimerm Lew Moores Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Michael Henson Mikki Schaffner Murray Bodo Park Paul Kopp Paul Miller Prison Recovery Center Stephanie Dunlap Streetvibes Teens tenants Voters https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/5ab538bd0c41c621c6c5f99f74fcb333.pdf e996bd17c9d825dbfb33e2bb0f6e0bdd PDF Text Text Garry Quits Page 14 Become a fan of Streetvibes on Facebook! The Street Speaks Page 7 STREETVIBES $1 J u n e 2 0 0 9 • I s s u e 1 5 5 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e ‘Streetvibes’ Wins International Award Journalism prize for report on exploited workers By Lew Moores Contributing Writer He spent several months working on the story, interviewing workers who had come here from Puerto Rico on the promise of a better life – lured here by a Northern Kentucky temporary-employment agency – only to find themselves trapped in a life of hellish proportions. The piece appeared here in Streetvibes a year ago, on June 1, 2008, and ran more than 4,200 words. It begins: Your boss stops by unex­ pectedly, sees a mess in your apartment and punishes you by deducting $50 from your next paycheck. Fortunately, he didn’t see the beer cans in your trash – or your boyfriend hiding in the closet; either of those could have gotten you fired. The effort has paid off, bringing not just attention to an issue of alleged human trafficking here in the Tri-state, but also international acclaim and a huge boost to the feisty and aggressive brand of journalism being practiced these days by Streetvibes. Streetvibes is an alternative newspaper dedicated to reporting on social issues and published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH). Gregory Flannery, Streetvibes editor who wrote the piece, “We Are Their Slaves,” received an award for Best Feature Story from the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) at a ceremony May 14 in Bergen, Norway. INSP is a network that promotes and supports more than 100 street-paper projects in 40 countries. Flannery and Streetvibes were among a group of finalists for the features award that included street papers – dedicated to the issue of homelessness – from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Seattle, Wash. See Award, p. 5 Streetvibes editor Gregory Flannery, left, and award winners at the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) Convention. Photo courtesy of INSP. Same Struggle, Different Strategy Coalition for the Homeless passes first quarter-century By GreGory FLannery editor next year – indications are it will be worse – there’s plenty of time to celebrate later. Yet Nothing about the Greater advocates find their work at Cincinnati Coalition for the an intriguing nexus: While the Homeless numbers The Obama is fancy, as of homeadministration has Georgine less people Getty, formight conalready increased mer exfunding for low-income tinue to rise ecutive housing and programs to in the short d i r e c t o r, term, advoprevent homelessness. likes to cates point to new observe. That is as it should be, and it’s federal funding as a sign that also why the coalition’s 25th significant improvements are anniversary passed last month underway. The Obama adminwithout any fanfare. istration has already increased People who work for the funding for low-income houscoalition and its member ing and programs to prevent agencies are too busy trying homelessness. to help homeless people. “It’s almost as if we’re on The same thing is happen- the edge of something,” says ing at Bethany House Servic- Josh Spring, executive direces, where Sister Mary Stan- tor of GCCH. ton, executive director, says that agency won’t even try to ‘We will be heard’ celebrate its 25th anniversary, which also occurs this year. Getting to this point has “We’ll celebrate it in 2010, been an often raucous process, though,” she says. with Buddy Gray, co-foundWith little doubt that home- er of the coalition, leading lessness will still be an issue marches on City Hall in the early 1980s, sometimes occupying vacant buildings in Over-the-Rhine. If Gray was the nascent movement’s rhetorical muscle, the Rev. Maurice McCrackin – waging dignified, fiercely non-violent sit-ins well into his 80s – was its moral compass. Gray is gone now, assassinated by a mentally ill man in the very Drop Inn Center that Gray had founded. McCrackin is gone, too, passing away after more than 60 years of activism in the causes of peace, ending poverty and abolishing prisons. Buddy Gray, co-founder of the Greater Significant anni- Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. versaries are useful in assessing the past and the future. Many of the See Coalition, p. 4 leaders of the Homeless Coalition in decades past are still �2 The Vibe By The Numbers 13,164 the amount of votes Brian Garry received in the 2007 city council election (See page 14.) 75 the number of the Interstate expressway whose construction devastated the West End (See page 10.) 40 the number of countries in which the International Network of Street papers is active (See page 7.) 83 the cost, in kroners, of a shot of whiskey in Bergen, Norway (See page 9.) 1300 the year some parts of Bilbao, Spain, were built (See page 11.) 46 the number of men living at the City Gospel Mission (See page 15.) 14,000 the monthly circulation figure for Virkelig, a Norwegian street paper (See page 7.) 712 the room number for “that crazy guy from the Netherlands” (See page 9.) 15 the number of men at Joseph House who volunteer at Our Daily Bread every month (See page 13.) 8 the amount of water, in ounces, used to make funnel cake (See page 8.) Streetwise By GreGory FLannery ‘CityBeat’ is in Trouble The decline of the newspaper industry nationwide is disconcerting, but the decline of CityBeat, once an ardent local practitioner of alternative journalism, is painful to watch. In years past the paper won a national investigative award for a story that helped win the commutation of Jerome Campbell’s death sentence from former Ohio Gov. Robert Taft III. CityBeat won the same award the following year for an investigation later cited by a federal judge in settlement negotiations over a lawsuit stemming from the strangulation of an unarmed man who died in Cincinnati Police custody. Now the paper seems to have discontinued cover stories and is cutting its news content even further. In a May 20 memo to his staff, CityBeat Editor John Fox announced that he is laying off staff writer Margo Pierce, who is a 2009 Peter Jennings Fellow. He’s also laying off the paper’s receptionist. But there’s more. “We’re switching to the 44” tab size with the issue of June 17 (from the current 48” size), resulting in weekly print savings,” the memo says. “We’re reducing editorial content by at least four pages each week, resulting in weekly print savings.” Among the cuts is Fox’s weekly editorial, another sign of CityBeat’s trajectory in recent years, backing away from important social and political issues in order to concentrate on art and entertainment. The sad irony is that many former readers now unfavorably compare CityBeat to CinWeekly, the all-fun, all-the-time weekly published by the Cincinnati Enquirer. Over the years CityBeat has been generous toward Streetvibes. But it’s hard not to recall what Fox told The City Newspaper in Rochester, N.Y., just after CinWeekly was launched in 2003: “No opinion columns at all. This, in my mind, means they don’t want to alienate anyone, at least at this early stage. They don’t want to give anyone a reason not to read them, but at the same time the lack of personality offers little incentive to read them.” The same words now largely apply to CityBeat. Fox hints that CityBeat’s print edition itself could be in jeopardy. He’s given up trying to make money on it. “We’re in the process of reorganizing resources and staff to focus on growth and profit in three key areas while trying to structure the weekly paper as a break-even business,” Fox writes. “If the weekly paper grows, it’s a bonus. If weekly paper revenues continue to erode, we continue to shift resources and staff to the growth areas.” The growth areas, or so Fox hopes, will be special sections/custom publications, the Worldwide Web and events. Like many newspapers, CityBeat has been trying for years to make money on its Web page. Nearly all have failed. We can only deduce from the latest staff cuts and the decision to shrink the paper even further that CityBeat hasn’t succeeded either. But ‘Streetvibes’ is Thriving There is this good news, however: Having left CityBeat, Margo Pierce plans to continue her unflinching examination of social justice. She’ll keep writing her “Eight Minutes” column for Streetvibes. There is also this good news: Streetvibes again sold its entire print run in May. That’s two months in a row, and four times in 2008-09. Next month we’ll double our publication schedule. Instead of publishing only on the first day of the month, watch for new editions on the first and 15th of each month. So is Ron English So many local politicians seem to have decided the best thing to do with homeless people is to push them out – even the once unassailable City Councilman David Crowley now wants homelessness eliminated as a priority in the city’s human- services funding – that it’s refreshing when one takes time to honor the achievements of people who rise above homelessness. Ron English, Streetvibes vendor, is such a one. With lots of help from the kinds of agencies city council wants to limit, English now has stable housing. He recently gave Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune one of his self-portraits. Portune sent a letter thanking English. “The art conveyed a message of hope and purpose to all on our campaign and me in performing my official duties as a Hamilton County commissioner,” the letter says. “We are all God’s children, with a purpose in life. You have served as an inspiration to many people by overcoming great challenges, yet always maintaining a spirit of youthful optimism and hope.” STREETVIBES June 2009 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Art Director Lynne Ausman Contributing Writers Lew Moores, Margo Pierce, Paul Kopp, Paul Miller, George Herrell, Jeremy Flannery, Steven Lansky, Michael Henson, Dave Heitfield, Alecia Lott Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Paul Kopp, Aimie Willhoite, Olga Collier, Angela Pancella, Mary Alice Flannery Proofreader Jennifer Blalock Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are members of: �STREETVIBES June 2009 Community News Eight Minutes 3 Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in the Queen City. “Eight Minutes” is an opportunity to learn who those people are and what motivates them to be a positive influence. with a ‘Mind Kitchen’ Buddhist monastery serves up health food for the mind By MarGo Pierce Contributing Writer Money is a national obsession on a good day, but we’ve seen it reach an extraordinary level as unemployment rises along with the price of just about everything. Applications for government assistance are also on the rise along with the number of people seeking assistance from local and naJamyang Lama. Photos by Margo Pierce. tional charities. In the midst of the worry and upset, it’s easy to develop a singular fixation displays only a small sign currence. Each part in your on individual hanging on car, the gasoline and oil that and family “Buddhist teachings a chain-link make it function, the planning survival. fence to alert and construction of roads and encourage people In Cincinvisitors to its bridges, the manufacture of to be more caring nati, a Tipresence. Led traffic lights, the maintenance betan Bud- and understanding. by two monks, of streetlights, emergency asdhist monk It is important to the monastery sistance that’s available for a is working to understand the offers a vari- car crash and everything else help people interconnectedness ety of classes, it takes to make a trip to the keep sight of or teachings, grocery store adds up to more between human the broader for students people than it’s possible to beings and the context of who are new count. And this doesn’t even the world in environment we live to study, those take into account the people which they in. Imagine living in who have been it took to make the clothes on live. a world without any p r a c t i c i n g your back or all of the prod“ S o m e Buddhism for ucts and services you used behuman beings at groups open years and ev- fore getting behind the wheel. all.” a community eryone in beIt is the effort of others that - Jamyang Lama soup kitchen tween. makes driving a car possible. to feed people This quiet, If all of those people who who are hungry. That is very unassuming mind-kitchen did that work over dozens of good,” says Jamyang Lama of serves up thoughtful fare that years chose not to share their Gaden Samdrup Ling Monas- sounds familiar to anyone expertise and work, then drivtery (GSL). “We have a com- who has explored almost any ing your car would not be posmunity mind-kitchen that will faith tradition or considered sible. And that giving is an satisfy many mind-hungry the value of life. important point, according to people. As a member of our “Buddhist teachings en- Jamyang. community, we provide mind courage people to be more “Generosity is a very imporfood. The same way we need caring and understanding,” tant practice in Buddhism,” he food for our stomach, we Jamyang says. “It is important says. “The generosity I’m talkneed food for our mind. Bud- to understand the intercon- ing about is a true generosity. dhist philosophy and Buddhist nectedness between human It is giving without strings atteaching offers the mind food. beings and the environment tached or any hope of a return. “The most important thing we live in. Imagine living in a We must have wisdom when is the mind. The mind is the world without any human be- practicing generosity. We must basis for whatever we experi- ings at all. From a young age – differentiate between what we ence. Happiness (and) suffer- when you were born, growing need to be able to work hard ing are emotions of the mind. up and until the moment you to help others, because withBuddhist philosophy offers a are driving your car today – out the resources we need for way to be wiser, more com- you rely on the hard work of a ourselves, we won’t have the passionate, a better human countless number of people to conditions necessary to do our being, a better citizen of our make all of this possible.” work.” country.” That interdependence beTo illustrate this last point Unobtrusively and unex- comes clear just considering Jamyang tells a traditional pectedly located in Colerain everyone it takes to make Tibetan story about a poor Township, GSL Monastery driving a car an everyday oc- family. The entire family was “A most important teaching in Buddhism is to look beyond the characteristics of people – the color of skin or … religious affiliation – to truly understand basic human nature,” Jamyang says. “Fundamentally we are the same. We all wish for happiness and none of us wants any suffering.” To end suffering and experience happiness each person must work to create the conditions in her life to make those outcomes possible. Following the law of karma – or cause and effect – it’s essential to do the work necessary to receive the benefit. If flowers make you happy (effect), you must do the work of planting flower seeds, watering those seeds and caring for the plants (cause). starving, and one day a generTo enjoy flowers, you must ous person gave the family a plant flower seeds, not grass loaf of bread. seeds. While “Fundamentally this seems obA decision had we are the same. vious, it unto be made about what to We all wish for derscores the do with the happiness and none logic behind bread; if evof us wants any the reason for eryone had a GSL’s mindsuffering.” small piece, it kitchen and - Jamyang Lama the importance wouldn’t satisfy their hunger of the food it or give them serves, including generosity. enough strength to benefit “In Buddhism, we believe from that bread. So the father the outcome of generosity is decided to eat the entire loaf prosperity,” Jamyang Lama so that he would have enough says. “When you give somestrength to go out and do work thing to someone else, you that would make it possible create karma to experience for him to provide food for the prosperity.” entire family. For a schedule of programs The story also highlights and other information, call the interdependent nature of 513-385-7116 or visit www. all beings, using one family as dgtlmonastery.org. a metaphor for the family of all beings in this world. Jamyang Lama teaches a class at GSL. Photo by Margo Pierce. �4 Community News STREETVIBES June 2009 Same Struggle, Different Strategy (Continued from page 1) Rev. Maurice McCrackin with peaceful protesters in the background. Photo by Jimmy Heath. five years later, and we’re all doing the same thing.” But Stanton is quick to point out her own overstatement. services funding. The face of homelessness has “We met with the city counchanged, and so have the ways cil members so they know that homew h e r e less people w e ’ r e receive help. coming Diversificafrom and tion of serwe know vices and w h e r e collaboration they’re among agencoming cies within f r o m , ” the coaliStanton tion mean says. “That h o m e l ess dialogue is men, homesomething less women important and children, to celehomeless adbrate. Do I dicts, mentalalways feel ly ill homeit turns out less people, the way I homeless wanted it military vetto? No. But A sign in the coalition offices is a statement to visitors and a erans, homeI feel they reminder to veteran advocates that the coalition is not about less people are listenneed who ing. Our waiting for change. Photo by Lynne Ausman. medical care experience and homewith the city is that we have Though just 24 years old – communicated well.” a year younger than the coali- less people who need food are It is telling that, according tion he heads – Spring readily far more likely to receive the to both Stanton and Spring, cites the history of the local City Councilman Christopher movement and the national Bortz asked if the Homeless phenomenon that spawned it. Coalition will use “Buddy “In that era, the issue of Gray’s guerilla tactics” if it homelessness was more male doesn’t get what it wants. and addicted,” he says. “Then Stanton quotes Spring’s re- in the 1980s, with the reign of sponse: “We will be heard.” Reagan, current-day home- Bonnie Neumeier (left) has been a community activist and advocate since the 1970s. Photo by Jimmy Heath. active in the cause, including Stanton, Steve Gibbs, Bonnie Neumeier, Pat Clifford, Donald Whitehead, Jimmy Heath, Katie Heinz, Mary Burke, Sister Mary Grafe, Andy Hutzel, Tom Dutton, Dave Logan, Bob Moore, Beverly Merrill and others. “There is a significant amount of people who stuck around,” Spring says. “Their passion is very clear but it is also an indication that they have hope that homelessness will go away and is solvable.” Many of the staff of the coalition and its member agencies are younger, of course. But much more has changed as well – for example, the fact that more than 40 agencies now make up the coalition, the fact that the agencies have paid staff and the fact that the work is largely done by licensed social workers and administrators rather than by skilled protest organizers. “There’s a professionalism among the members of the coalition,” Stanton says. “These are master’s level social workers and people with years and years of experience. It’s not that we are mad at city council and will sing, ‘We Shall Overcome.’ Those days are in the past. “We’re not going away. We won’t just take whatever you give us. But we aren’t marching in front of City Hall anymore. We’re inside talking.” Spring and directors of various social-service agencies met individually with members of Cincinnati City Council earlier this year. The meetings came in the midst of contentious arguments about zoning proposals to restrict social-service agencies, leading to a lawsuit against the city by the Homeless Coalition and other groups; proposed cuts in city funding for social services; and now a proposal to eliminate homelessness as a priority in the city’s social- and so we change strategies. Throughout that era, the late ’70s to the mid-’90s, the strategies changed, too.” Even while trying to establish quiet dialogue with city officials, Spring has shown several times that he can muster a crowd on short notice, if needed. On a recent Monday he learned that a council committee would hold a hearing on a major change in funding the next day. With less than 24 hours to organize some kind of presence, he sent e-mails and worked the phone. “A hundred and 20 people showed up on Tuesday, and that was very encouraging,” he says. ‘Never did we dream’ Spring is an interesting amalgam of the fiery origins of the coalition’s origins and the professional management of its latter days. “In a time when there weren’t shelters, before the Drop Inn Center existed and before we had a lot of the agencies we do, it was more about going forth and occupying a building,” he says. “It was easier for a broader group of people to see that those things needed to be done. “We should never compromise what we believe, but not everything stays the same, lessness was created. It went from 500,000 homeless under Reagan to 3 million under Bush senior. The last time we had seen homelessness like that was the Great Depression, and it was for a limited amount of time.” Stanton both revels in the fact that the coalition is larger and stronger than ever and rues the fact that it’s necessary work. “I don’t think any one of us ever dreamt that we would ever have this integrated and sophisticated level of services,” she says. “But never did we dream that, in 2009, people who owned homes would be ending up in shelters. Twenty- particular assistance they need than they were 25 years ago. “What we have done is possible because we have built a strong coalition in the city,” Stanton says. “Clearly we are the best area coalition of agencies in the city. We always sought cooperation and collaboration.” Looking ahead, Spring sees more work but also greater promise. “Families and youth are the fastest growing population of homeless,” he says. “That will be on the rise. Homeless in general will be on the rise. At least 3.5 million people a year experience homelessness in this country. That’s a vast number. But the Housing First model is gaining momentum. This is something we should have had 25 years ago. It’s encouraging that we’re now seeing more funding to reduce homelessness. “For future generations, at some point in the near future, ‘homelessness’ should no longer be in the vocabulary. It should be only in the history books.” Buddy Gray (left) and former executive director Donald Whitehead (right) protesting against former City Councilman Arn Bortz, uncle of current Councilman Chris Bortz. Photo by Jimmy Heath. �STREETVIBES June 2009 Community News ‘Streetvibes’ Wins International Award 5 (continued from page 1) tion of journalism as competitive sport, so I’ve never put The piece chronicles the much stock in awards.” But, circumstances of Puerto Ri- he added, “this one has meant can workers encouraged to so much to our little paper…In come to the Tri-state by a tem- this case the coalition thought porary-employment agency, it would be useful to particiAble/Diverse Personnel Co., pate. If we were to get some on the promise of a better sort of acknowledgment, it life, and where some ended might be good for the develup working at a local meat- opment of the paper.” Besides, the mainstream packing plant, Cincinnati Processing, which processes pork media, especially print meproducts for Kroger and where dia, Flannery believes, have they complained of unsanitary in some cases abandoned their working conditions and sexual watchdog responsibilities, the harassment and brought their one thing that most distinconcerns to the United Food guishes American media from media in any and Com“This award from other counmercial INSP underscores the try. Workers importance the print “NewsUnion. are “ T h i s media has in protecting papers isn’t a the rights of individuals i n c r e a s i n g backing s w e a t - and holding accountable ly away from shop in those who would exploit longer pieca Third them. Streetvibes will es, investigaWorld tive pieces,” continue to ask the country; it’s a job difficult questions and says Flannery, who has Gregory Flannery, Streetvibes editor, accepting the Best Feature Story Award from the in suburchallenge authority been Street- International Network of Street Papers (INSP). Photo courtesy of INSP. ban Cin- because everyone, vibes editor cinnati,” especially the most the past 15 is enterprise reporting and go- lease that, while the FBI does stands the temporary-employFlannery vulnerable in our months and ing into the kind of detail you not acknowledge any ongoing ment agency is no longer in wrote last June of society, need a reliable was news ed- don’t see on, say, broadcast investigations, “Streetvibes business. But he also said one itor of the alt- journalism. It’s more authori- has learned that allegations of the workers recruited by the the terms voice.” weekly City­ tative reporting than you get of human trafficking against company has spoken with the of em- - Gregory Flannery, Beat for eight on blogs or internet news ser- Diverse are being investigat- FBI on two occasions about ployment Streetvibes editor. years. “They vices. So what I hope is that ed. Additionally, the United the allegations of trafficking. at Able/ “The FBI, of course, never are dumbing the award means is that Street- Food and Commercial WorkDiverse. down, if you vibes is doing what newspa- ers union has been invited to comments,” Flannery says. He wrote about the overparticipate in discussions with “This award from INSP uncrowded apartments workers will. I think what we’re see- pers do well.” Cincinnati Processing to im- derscores the importance the are steered to live in and the ing in some newspapers that ‘Difficult questions’ prove working conditions at print media has in protecting exorbitant rent they pay to the are succeeding is that they’re the plant.” the rights of individuals and sticking to what newspapers personnel company for the Flannery said he underholding accountable those GCCH said in its press reprivilege; excessive charges have always done well – that who would exploit them. for transportation to places Streetvibes will continue to of employment, sometimes ask the difficult questions and within just a mile of their challenge authority because home; fines and deductions everyone, especially the most from paychecks for not cleanvulnerable in our society, need ing apartments and even fines a reliable voice.” for missing work above and Streetvibes has been in exisbeyond forfeiting that day’s tence for 14 years, and GCCH pay. is celebrating its 25th anniver“Our effort to make Streetsary this year. The newspaper vibes an authoritative source is distributed by vendors, offor information and agencies ten homeless, who buy the parelevant to the plight of indiper for a quarter from GCCH viduals experiencing homeand then sell it on the street lessness is paying off, and for a buck. The newspaper’s this award from INSP demoncirculation has increased to strates this,” says Josh Spring, 6,000, and it plans to publish GCCH executive director, in a bi-weekly beginning July 1. press release announcing the In addition to the features international award. category, INSP also gave Flannery said that, when awards in categories such as he cut his teeth in journalism Best Interview, Cover, Phoback in the 1980s, his editor, tograph, Design and Essay. Dennis Nichols of the Mount Award for Best Feature Story presented by the International Network of Street Papers. Winners included newspapers Washington Press, a weekly Photo by Mary Alice Flannery. from the United Kingdom, in suburban Cincinnati, had Brazil, Canada, the Philip“taught me to sneer at the nopines, Zambia and Germany. Don’t dumb down Want more Streetvibes? Check out the StreetvibeS blog streetvibes.wordpress.com �Book Review 6 Death, Race and Place The use of capital punishment is all over the map in Ohio Woman's Fight to Restore Justice to All.) Entertaining executions Instead, Welsh-Huggins tells stories, such as the public hanging in Columbus in 1844 that begins his book. From statehood in 1803 until 1885, By Dave HeitFieLD when the legislature moved Contributing Writer executions to the state penitentiary, at least 84 men and Between 1981 and 2002, 43 one woman were put to death percent of all capital indict- by individual counties in ments in Hamilton County re- Ohio – including at least 15 in sulted in death sentences, the Hamilton County. The method highest in the state. In Cuyaho- was usually hanging, the site ga County, 8 percent of those was often near the scene of so indicted the crime, ended up on While television legal and often death row; thousands of melodramas have and in Frankprobably soured most people would lin County, 5 of the country on plea attend. The percent. 1844 event bargains, the fact is was a double Same state, same law, that 90 percent of all hanging, and same stan- criminal charges are despite frigid dards. resolved with a plea; early Feb“While ruary temthe courts system these three peratures, would probably counties and crowds startcollapse if it worked ed gathering their big cities,” Andrew any other way. days ahead Welsh-Hugof time. gins writes About a quarter of the specin the introduction to his fine tators were women, many new book, “have their differ- people were drinking on the ences, and while their murder day of the hanging and at least rates are not identical, there is one spectator was trampled to no evidence that the number of death by a horse. death sentences bore any relaHe tells the story of the 1837 tionship to the actual number hanging of John Washburn in of homicides committed in a Cincinnati, attended by thougiven year.” sands. Walsh was apparently Columbus Associated Press something of a character, reporter Welsh-Huggins has with doctors doing a post-exwritten something remarkable ecution examination finding in No Winners Here Tonight. a watch Washburn had stolen Not only has he meticulously from a priest who came to pieced together the first com- pray for him earlier in the day. prehensive history of the death 1867 saw the hanging of three penalty in Ohio – significant people, including a 15-yearbecause Ohio has been one of old boy, who said from the the most ardent executioners gallows, “If there was a crowd in the nation's history – but he of boys here, I might tell them has done so avoiding the ver- how to behave.” bose academia or the moralisWith the exception of 1963tic crusade that encrusts most 99, Ohio has executed people texts on the death penalty, or throughout its history, and anything to do with our penal even some before statehood. system. (In contrast, feel free Welsh-Huggins mentions a to judge this book by its cover, 1792 triple hanging in what released about the same time was then Fort Hamilton after but with a marketing cam- they were convicted by courtpaign that Ohio University martial of desertion. Press lacks: Dreams from the “Fort life was arduous, and Monster Factory: A Tale of desertions were common,” Prison, Redemption and One 1128 Walnut St Pizza by the Slice Tues and Thurs Buffet($7.00)-11AM-2PM Wed-Thur-Fri-Sat 9PM-3AM Welsh-Huggins writes – a view at least some Hamiltonians would still share today. The third chapter centers around Wilford Lee Berry Jr., the “volunteer” who did not want to appeal his conviction and who became the first person executed in Ohio in 36 years. The chapter encapsulates so much that is at stake in death penalty cases – he spares no details in telling either the gruesome murder, nor the horrible life of Berry – and the title of the book comes from a quote from then-Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery after Berry's execution. Almost half the men on death row are black, as are about half the prison inmates – which is about four times greater than the black proportion of the population. It's clear that race matters. WelshHuggins points out that it is much more difficult to determine exactly how race matters. In his own study of people indicted for capital crimes in Ohio from 1981-2002, he found that if the victims were white, a killer was about twice as likely to go to death row. He found that when the victim was white, 17.9 percent of offenders were sentenced to death, whereas STREETVIBES June 2009 So it is not surprising that Welsh-Huggins found that during 1981-2002 in Ohio, just over half of capital indictments ended with a plea bargain. Looking at the percentage of people receiving the death penalty at the start of this review, the disparity can be accounted for to some degree by the use of the plea bargain to resolve cases: Cuyahoga and Franklin counties led the way with 56 and 55 percent indictments ending with a plea, respectively. Hamilton County, by contrast, has the lowest capital indictment rate of Ohio's major metro areas, but also the most people on death row – 20 percent of death row inmates in Ohio in 2007 were from Hamilton County. Deters is quoted saying, “It's a very frustrating situation when down here we take that whole area of law so seriously and apparently there's others in this state who are pretty cavalier about it.” As these numbers suggest, geography also has something 8.5 percent received that sen- to do with capital cases, and tence when the victims were Welsh-Huggins contrasts Butblack. Perhaps more interest- ler County – which is overing, when both the offender whelmingly Republican and and the victims were white, supported George Bush in the 18.3 percent of the offenders 2000 and 2004 elections – and were sentenced to death; when Montgomery County, which voted for the offender Hamilton County has Al Gore and victims the lowest capital and John were black, 8.4 percent indictment rate of Ohio’s K e r r y . were sent to major metro areas, but E v e n death row. also the most people on t h o u g h MontgomCiting a death row – 20 percent ery County study by David Baldus, of death row inmates in has about there is dis- Ohio in 2007 were from 2 0 0 , 0 0 0 more peoHamilton County. turbing eviple than dence that Butler, prosecutors during the same 1981-2002 simply seem more willing to add aggravating circumstanc- period, Butler County filed es to trigger the death penalty 32 death penalty indictments, compared to 18 in Montgomwhen the victim is white. ery County, and each county sentenced seven people to Pleading to live death. Butler Country ProseIn the chapter on plea bar- cutor Robin Piper is quoted in gaining capital cases, Welsh- the book as saying he sees no Huggins begins with a quo- inequality in that: “I just think tation from Hamilton County it has to do with a difference Prosecutor Joe Deters: “It's al- in geography.” There's much more in No most the lazy way to do this.” Winners Here Tonight, and While television legal melothere are no easy anwhile dramas have probably soured most of the country on plea swers to our criminal justice bargains, the fact is that 90 system in general and capital percent of all criminal charges offenses in particular, Welshare resolved with a plea; the Huggins does us a wonderful courts system would probably service by presenting such a collapse if it worked any other rewarding read with immediate and local implications. way. Are you interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist or photographer? If so, contact Greg Flannery at 513.421.7803 x 12 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com �STREETVIBES June 2009 International News 7 The Street Speaks Convention shares idea, calls street papers to work harder By GreGory FLannery editor “Vendors do not exist for the benefit of street papers. Street papers exist for the benefit of Bergen, Norway – People vendors. … Our work is alwho work for street newspa- ways about power and powpers would benefit from sur- erlessness, about helping and gery on their heads, according refusing to help. … Don’t let to A. John Bird, the irresistible anyone ever put you off a projforce behind ect that you the growth “The person in need believe will of the me- alleviate soalways comes first. dium across cial injusVendors do not exist the globe. tice.” Bird is- for the benefit of street sued a call papers. Street papers The big to arms at exist for the benefit of issue the 14th anvendors. … Our work nual conferThe INSP ence of the is always about power conference and powerlessness, InternationMay 12al Network 17 drew 95 about helping and of Street Padelegates refusing to help. … pers (INSP). Don’t let anyone ever from street “If I could papers in 29 put you off a project start over, I countries. that you believe would make Workshops all of you will alleviate social focused on kneel on the injustice.” - Hildegard practical isfloor and I sues such as Denninger of BISS. would cut fundraising, a piece of editorial deyour faces,” he said. “I would velopment and fostering ventake the blood and smear on dors as advocates. the top of your heads, ‘I will Many street papers in Eudo whatever it fucking takes rope are glossy magazines, to bring an end to homeless- sometimes at least partially ness.’ ’ funded by the government; The founder of The Big Is- and many seem to sell better sue, a Scottish street paper, than their counterparts in the Bird reminded editors, writers United States. Trond Schjefand managers of street papers stad, editor of Virkelig, the of their mission. northernmost street paper in “There is nothing nicer, the world, sells 14,000 copies nothing more encouraging and a month in a Norwegian city nothing more important than of 65,000. By contrast, Streettalking to people who work vibes has recently sold 6,000 to get out of the dungeon, copies a month in Cincinnati, the Bastille, that is homeless- part of a metro area of about ness,” he said. 1.5 million. Bird and Hildegard DenThe street papers of the ninger of BISS, a German world vary by design and constreet paper, received special tent but share a fundamental INSP awards for their con- characteristic: people who are tributions to the street-paper homeless or otherwise destimovement. Like Bird, Den- tute sell them. ninger harked back to first Journalists love to argue, principles. and so the INSP general “The person in need al- meeting featured a spirited ways comes first,” she said. exchange over what would Papers from all over the world attended the INSP Convention. Photo courtesy of INSP. A. John Bird, founder of The Big Issue in Scotland. Photo courtesy of INSP. seem to be an utterly dry topic, a charter amendment to allow proxy voting at future conferences. Serge Lareault of L'Itinéraire in Montreal, framed the issue in terms of democratic process. “Since the beginning of the INSP, it has been ‘one paper, one vote,’ ’ he said. “But many of them have been too poor to attend.” Lareault’s observation was true in the case of Streetvibes. The paper was able to send a representative only as a result of the generosity of the INSP, the North American Street Newspaper Association, the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, Hamilton County Appeals Judge Mark Painter and contributing writers Larry Gross and Margo Pierce. The debate about proxy voting ranged into proposals for voting in absentia and via e-mail, both of which were defeated. The argument again was about egalitarianism. “Not everyone has access to a computer,” Lareault said. Between sessions, delegates compared procedures for managing vendors. Ilse Weiss of Strassenkreuzer in Germany, said her paper requires vendors to prove their income and to speak at least basic German. Gerda Kolb of Augustin in Vienna said her paper takes a hands-off approach to vendors’ compliance with laws about reporting their earnings. “We don’t write anything down,” she said. ‘We have no rules about who can sell the paper.” Many delegates enthused about Barack Obama’s election as president of the United States. A woman from Germany said her 13-year-old son’s soccer team named themselves the Obamas. Kayoko Yakuma of The Big Is- sue Japan said her monthly paper put Obama’s photo on the front cover. “We sold out in two weeks,” she said. Tina Juul Rasmussen of Hus Forbi in Copenhagen marveled at former president George W. Bush’s claim that God directed his military policy. “If the prime minister of Denmark said he was being directed by God, he would be out of office the next day,” Rasmussen said. ‘Active in democracy’ The conference opened with a reception at Haakon House, a 13th-century fortress on Bergen’s North Sea coast. Deputy Mayor Trude Drevland welcomed delegates by highlighting the importance of street papers. “We politicians must find a way to help the poor,” she said. “Street papers stand up for justice.” Thomas Anthun Nielsen, editor of Megafon, the street paper in Bergen, said the city government has been a strong supporter of the paper. He expressed surprise at Cincinnati City Council’s effort to restrict emergency shelter and social services for homeless people. The reception included a drum and dance performance by street kids from Sao Paolo, Brazil, rescued by the Children at Risk Foundation. Are Hjelle entered treatment for heroin addiction after beginning work as a vendor for Megafon. “When I sold Megafon, I had a unique experience: People talked to me,” he said. “This magazine is very good. It helps people. It really does. Keep on doing what you’re doing. The most important thing is for the people out there to know someone believes in them.” Megafon, like several other street papers, is affiliated with programs to help homeless people find jobs, overcome addiction and secure stable housing. Other papers are much smaller operations. Bill Shaw works at The Jeepney Maga­ zine in the Philippines. “I’m executive director,” he said. “That means I get to edit the paper, and I deliver it also.” During a discussion of child labor, Shaw talked about Filipino children forced to dive into sewage pits to open clogged drains. He also talked about stories that his paper doesn’t pursue because of potentially violent repercussions. Another editor said he is working in Namibia because of the press crackdown in his native Zimbabwe under dictator Robert Mugabe. Those kinds of risks are fortunately uncommon for papers in Europe and the United States, where the movement is growing. “More people are exploring the possibility of starting street newspapers across the United States,” said Joanne Zuhl, a member of the board of the North American Street Newspaper Association. Matt Shaw attended the INSP conference in order to prepare for the launch of a street paper in Charlotte, N.C. Shea Davis represented Street Speech, a street paper founded last year in Columbus. Days after the conference ended, word came that a street paper is being organized in Toledo, Ohio. Bird, the UK editor, called street papers ‘the dumbest form of social intervention ever invented.” But 18 years after founding The Big Issue, he acknowledged the value of what he’d begun, citing the notion that first inspired him. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could find a way to get homeless people active in democracy?” he said. �8 STREETVIBES June 2009 Local News Sexy, Yummy, Veggie Your tour guide into the steamy side of vegetarian cuisine 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour 2 tbsp. sugar 1 tsp. baking soda ¾ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. salt 1 cup water Canola oil, enough to cover the bottom of a skillet ¼ inch By aLecia a. Lott Contributing Writer As a food writer, summer is difficult for me because there are so many colorful fruits and vegetables available that are ripe and bursting with flavor and sunshine that you really don’t need a recipe to put yourself right smack in food heaven. Sun-ripened tomatoes plucked from someone’s garden. Watermelon that drips down your chin. Corn on the cob slathered with lime juice, olive oil and salt… these are the things that I wait for all year. There’s a certain summer food, however, that isn’t found in nature but is just as Funnel Cakes Toppings: Powdered sugar, pie filling, cinnamon Photo by Andrew Anderson. important to one’s survival and well-being as the season’s abundant produce. I’m talking funnel cake, people. Ahh, the sizzling-hot, powdered-sugar sensual experience that is funnel cake. Pull it apart with your fingers, shove a big fluffy hunk of it in your mouth, and sigh with pleasure as the rest of the world disappears. Why is this food that everyone loves only available a few months out of the year and only at carnivals and Front Page fairs? Not anymore! It’s very easy to make funnel cake yourself. Never again will you have to wait in long lines behind couples making out or people with humongous stuffed purple teddy bears. Never again will you get sick from a funnel cake that was preceded by a corn dog, a Slushie and a spin on the Tilt-a-Whirl. OK, maybe you will, but you don’t have to anymore. I love summer! 1. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add water. Beat mixture until smooth. 2. Fill a skillet ¼ inch high with canola oil, and heat to 375°F. 3. Cover bottom opening of a funnel with your finger. (If you don’t have a funnel, try pouring the batter from a measuring cup with a spout.) 4. Pour ¼ cup batter into funnel. Hold the funnel over the center of the skillet. 5. Remove finger from funnel end to release the batter into the hot oil. Move funnel in a slow, circular motion to make a freeform design. 6. Fry two minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels. 7. Serve hot with your favorite toppings. Front pages from the past 12 years of ‘Streetvibes’ 1 February 1997 (first issue) July 2001 April 2005 August 2006 November 1999 August 2003 April 2008 January 2009 ! ? t a h W y a S _____________________ “The work must be political. It must have that as its thrust. That’s a pejorative term in critical circles now: If a work of art has any political influence in it, somehow it’s tainted. My feeling is just the opposite: If it has none it is tainted. ... The best art is political and you ought to be able to make it unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time” – Toni Morrison, “Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation,” in Black Women Writers (1950-1980): A Critical Evaluation �STREETVIBES June 2009 International News 9 Half-Moon over Norway Notes from an infrequent traveler By GreGory FLannery editor giraffe meat. He hoped to sample whale before returning home. The rainiest city in Europe High-school seniors in bagis Bergen, Norway, according gy red pants were in the throes to guidebooks I of a 30-day party, apparread before visA Ukrainian iting. Some esently with the delegate said timates were for expectation that that his city rain 350 days a they spend the government, year – virtually month drinking every day. I saw like Cincinnati’s, beer and having is hostile to no rain in Berfun, collecting decals for their gen. homeless After only two pants at the bars people and the hours I learned they visit. The organizations that red pants mark how to turn on help them. the lights in the teenagers my hotel room. as newly legal This required beer drinkers, inserting the room’s key card and people generally tolerinto a special slot on the wall. ate their exuberance. After 30 Then the lights came on with a days of carousing, the students snap! crackle! pop! take their final exams. Nearly all the Europeans I Bergen’s public squares are The midnight sky in Bergen, Norway. Photos by Gregory Flannery. met spoke English, including busy day and night, sometimes delegate from Germany said, A Ukrainian delegate said with a Canadian writer had a a man who advised me on traf- with music playing, frequently “You must visit me in Stutt- that his city government, bathroom so large that, as he fic safety after I came close to with broad expanses of flow- gart. The beers are so cheap! like Cincinnati’s, is hostile to put it, “You could fit a whole being run over. ers and almost always with We can get 24 for nothing.” homeless people and the orga- family in there.” This poor “If you’re not careful,” he people relaxing. The city stays A Norwegian editor said his nizations that help them. decent man arrived in Bergen said, “you’ll put an ugly dent active long into the wee hours, friend went up north. He asked A German freelance writer unaware that he’d be sharing in that man’s car, and he’ll be with pedestrians strolling and a boy where he could find li- said he’d heard of Cincin- a room with someone who very angry at you.” showing no sign that doing so quor in the village. The boy nati because of its Oktoberfest snores like an angry drunken When I arrived in Norway, is in any way dancelebration. Hav- bear. I’d always imagined CaBergen’s public squares are busy ing thrice visited the nadians to be a hearty lot; but no one asked for my pass- gerous. An editor port or identification. I simply told me the whole day and night, sometimes with United States, he after the first night, it was clear walked out of the airport. Re- country is abuzz music playing, frequently with disagrees with what that our co-habitation wasn’t turning to the United States, about a homicide, he said is a common going to work. He’d never get broad expanses of flowers and I had to show my passport the first this year in almost always with people relaxing. perception among any sleep. twice, fill out paperwork from Norway. Europeans. That is why, for most of the Department of Fatherland At 1 a.m. one “Europeans, espe- the conference, I slept on the Security, take off my shoes night a flock of pointed to a church. “That,” cially in the north, tend to talk bathroom floor with the door and belt, empty my pockets seagulls flew just overhead, he said, “is the only place you to one another only if there closed. I considered it a kind and pass through a metal de- scattered by the sound of a NOT can find liquor.” is a purpose,” he said. “They of participatory journalism, a tector. red van with the sign “Boobs” The best after-party was in think Americans are superfi- small taste of the discomfort Reindeer steaks were the roaring past, techno-pop and Room 712, headquarters of the cial, but it’s not true from my that homeless people endure main course at an elegant strobe flights blaring within. I man people at the conference experience. Americans are every night. It wasn’t so bad. awards banquet for the Inter- enjoyed the seagulls but really called “that crazy guy from so friendly. They are perfect I just had to lie still until the national Network of Street wanted to be in that van. the Netherlands.” Standing on hosts. They take you to parties sun came up, or risk falling Papers (see stories on pages Beer and liquor prices are the balcony of his room, I was and introduce you to every- into the toilet. The slot for the 1 and X). A delegate from very high in Norway. A slim struck by the half moon hov- one.” key card to turn on the lights Namibia contrasted the taste shot of whiskey cost 83 kro- ering over the mountains. The hotel room I shared was in the other room. of reindeer with elephant and ners, or about $12 U.S. A There are many street performers in Europe. A view of Lake Nordaas from Edvard Grieg’s House. Become a fan of Streetvibes on Facebook! �Column 10 Still Struggling Over-the-Rhine is as strong as its people I wrote this history of Over- cil, the Peaslee Center, the Although one can see comthe-Rhine in the early 1980s. Contact Center, the Over-the- fortable homes on 14th and Bonnie Neumeier recently Rhine Community Housing Broadway and other pockets resurrected it for her work Network, Streetvibes, and oth- of former wealth, the vast with Miami University stu- ers mean that the neighbor- majority of these houses were dents. How much has changed hood still has a voice, even if built to box poor people into in 25 years? the politicians and developers as little space as possible. The For one thing, the neighbor- try to kill it off. point was to minimize space hood is no longer a base for and maximize rents. Over-theAppalachian residents. Most Over-the-Rhine history Rhine workers had to endure of those folks are scattered what other urban working around Cincinnati, a great Over-the-Rhine is an inner class people had to endure in many in Price Hill and envi- city neighborhood immedi- the 19th century. The generarons. ately north of the downtown tions of poor, working-class They have been replaced business district, one square people who have followed to in part by the new cadres of today have expeurban pioneers, particularly rienced a similar along Main Street and Vine history: overStreet. The neighborhood is crowding, exploiby MiChael henson tation, cramped becoming where you go to find the arts and, with the Cinlives. cinnati Art Academy and the The German innew School for the Creative mile in size with 12,000 low- fluence in the neighborhood and Performing Arts, will income black and Appalachian peaked in the early part of the continue to be. residents. There are two main 19th century. Beginning in the The neighborhood has been threads to Over-the-Rhine his- 1930s, peaking in the 1950s impacted by murders. Many tory. First, the neighborhood and continuing today, the people thought the murder has been a port of entry for neighborhood began to receive of musician Michael Bany succeeding waves of migrants, new residents who migrated would slow the first from Eu- from the economically detransformation The vast majority rope, then more pressed regions of Appalachia of Main Street. of these houses recently from and the Deep South. In the first It did for sever- were built to box Appalachia and stage of this migration, white al years. Many poor people into the Deep South. Appalachians became the people thought Each of these major group in the neighboras little space (and some as possible. The groups has left hood. Over-the-Rhine became hoped) the murits mark on the a center for Bluegrass and point was to der of Buddy minimize space neighborhood country music. Later, as major and on the city sections of the West End were Gray would and maximize mean that the itself. destroyed for urban renewal rents. Drop Inn CenSecond, the programs, which included the ter and the housing move- neighborhood has functioned building of Interstate 75 and ment would dry up and blow as one of the concentrations new business development, away. (They never missed a of the poor. It has been where large numbers of displaced beat.) The murder of Timothy employers have looked for blacks moved into the neighThomas (yes, I said murder) cheap labor. It has been where borhood. Black residents now led to the riots of 2001. the poor have looked for cheap constitute a majority in OverBut the dismal fact is that housing. And because resi- the-Rhine, although there rethere have been many more dents feel the neighborhood main large numbers of white murders, mostly of people has been one of the centers for Appalachians. Both groups who made the news only for exploitation, Over-the-Rhine have historically been at the a moment, and most of them has a history of resistance and bottom of the city’s economic traceable in one way or anoth- struggle that continues today. and social ladder. er to the impact on the neighThe neighborhood takes its Throughout the 1960s, borhood of crack cocaine. name from the canal, which in 1970s and the 1980s, the This is the most heartbreak- the nineteenth century formed neighborhood residents have ing change in the years since its southern boundary. People fought to change this pattern who moved north from the of poverty and I wrote this piece. Of course, there has contin- city’s center were said to have discrimination. ued to be the slow murder of gone “Over the Rhine.” The The neighborpoverty, disease, and addic- Germans, who moved to the hood was one city in great numbers after of the local tion. Homelessness has persisted 1894, were for many years the battlefields in in the neighborhood, but so dominant group in the commu- the war on povPoverty has the work of homeless ad- nity. They formed a number of erty. vocates, including the Greater churches, cultural and athletic won that war, Cincinnati Coalition for the clubs, and until World War I, of course, but Homeless and that damn Drop classes were taught in German a black-white Inn Center that refuses to go for a part of each day in the coalition was away, in spite of every effort public schools. Germans were formed which by city council and developers not the only immigrants, how- remains intact ever. There were many Ital- today in spite to plan it out of existence. The neighborhood is home ians, Greeks and Spanish as of fifteen years to a growing community of well as native-born Americans of stress and struggle. Some recovering men and women, living in the neighborhood. Contrary to a popular myth, of the areas of in part because of the work of Over-the-Rhine was not built struggle are: the Drop Inn Center. Institutions like the Over- for a comfortable middle class • E d u c a t i o n : Residents of the-Rhine Community Coun- community of the late 1880s. ammered H STREETVIBES June 2009 Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. Over-the-Rhine have fought housing stock through specto gain recognition for black ulation and abandonment. and ApThe commuThey have been palachian nity has fought culture, im- replaced in part by to bring new provements the new cadres of housing into the urban pioneers, in the eduneighborhood to particularly along gain quality recational Main Street and programs habilitation for Vine Street. The in the comlow-income peoneighborhood is ple. Demolition munity and becoming where to prevent control and antiyou go to find the closing displacement of neigh- the arts and, with ordinances have the Cincinnati Art borhood been of some Academy and the help. Several schools (six new School for have closed low-income selfthe Creative and in the past help co-ops are Performing Arts, actively rehab10 years). In 1982, will continue to be. bing units. But the neighdisplacement is borhood worked together still a major threat. There to keep one neighborhood has been a recent trend of school, Peaslee Elementary, “gentrification” in which open. A number of parents, upper-income speculators both black and Appalachian, are buying up properties, tried unsuccessfully to sue renovating them and rentthe Board of Education to ing them out at much higher prevent closing. rates. This is part of a na• The Drop Inn Center: Alcotional trend in which private holism and drug abuse redevelopers, in an attempt to main major problems in the attract young professionals, neighborhood. One response displace low-income famihas been the Drop Inn Cenlies and the elderly. ter shelterhouse which • Historic Designation: In houses and feeds 125 to 150 concert with the city, a street alcoholics nightly. It is group of preservationists, unique as a treatment center gentrifiers and real estate in that over half of the staff speculators are attempting are recovering alcoholics to have the entire Over-thewho have come through the Rhine community designatcenter’s program. However, ed a historic district. Overthe center has remained unthe-Rhine and its member der fire from the city’s busigroups oppose the designate ness elite because of its loas it is presently proposed cation near Music Hall and because of their belief that has had to face a number of it will only fuel the current attacks from city bureaucraspeculation occurring in the cies. Unions, churches, proneighborhood. fessionals and concerned With articles and media neighbors continue to rally coverage such as an October to work for the center. Last 1981 60 Minutes segment and year, after a major fundrais- a New York Times article, May ing drive, the center was 1983, Over-the-Rhine gains able to buy its building. even national attention and • Housing: Over-the-Rhine recognition in its struggles. has lost a great part of its We live and grow. Interested in volunteering with Streetvibes? Contact Greg Flannery at 513-421-7803 x 12 or by e-mail at streetvibes2@ yahoo.com �STREETVIBES June 2009 International News Lessons in Spain 11 Savoring the differences that matter By PauL KoPP Contributing Writer Time I did not have any idea what Walking around Bilbao at I would encounter on my visit any point in the day, one can to Spain. The trip had been feel a vibrant human energy. finalized very quickly; and Lunchtime starts about 2 p.m. about a week after the arrange- and lasts several hours, with ments had been made, we most stores closing for the duwere on our way. I found that ration. Only the small bars that knowing very little about the line the streets are open, and place I was going only added most people stop in on their to the excitement and sense of lunch break. These bars serve wonder brought by immersion tiny appetizer-sized sandwichin a foreign culture. es known as “pintxos,” the Bilbao is not exactly a hot- Basque equivalent of Spanish bed of tourism, which, from tapas. my perspective, worked to the Usually topped with Iberian city’s advantage. Situated in cured ham or any number of Basque counlocal meat, The Spanish try in the north fish and cheese have the sense combinations, of Spain, capito separate tal of the provthere seemed ince of Biscay, to be an endthemselves from Bilbao has a less variety the world of population of of pintxos at commerce long a little more a fairly cheap than 350,000. enough to relax and price. Light eat lunch. Surrounded by but filling, this low lying, fortype of meal est covered mountains, a walk made me think about my avin any direction leads to beau- erage lunch break at home: altiful views. ways rushed, and usually only A rather industrious city, spending about 20 minutes at Bilbao’s image was com- home or a restaurant eating pletely different until about food that makes me immedi20 years ago, according to a ately want to take a nap upon gentleman in a café. It is/was returning to work. The Spana factory town with a strong ish have the sense to separate history of class struggle. themselves from the world of The simple act of leaving commerce long enough to retown is refreshing. The expe- lax and eat lunch. riences of my trip made comWitnessing a siesta, I started ing home feel like I was, in to understand the implications some way, being cheated. New of these differences and to see questions and thoughts came some evidence that, when it to me during my time away, comes to some things, particuand even more have surfaced larly how we treat ourselves, since my return. I began to we got it wrong. think very intently about the From what I heard from many differences between the other Spaniards, the people quality of life in the United of Bilbao are known for their States and in Spain. strong work ethic, seemingly An American in Bilbao, Spain. Photo by Olga Collier. working all the time. Yet they didn’t seem especially stressed like most hard workers I know. The difference might be in what is called the “mañana attitude,” holding that there will always be more time to finish work, so why rush and get worked up about it? I met a couple from Madrid, graduate students in their mid-twenties. Both were soft spoken, and it was easy to talk about issues that can make conversations awkward: religion, politics, money. They were concerned to learn how many hours a week the average American works (twice as many as they do), let alone the vacation and sick time we receive. The Spanish generally have one to two months of paid vacation each year. For a few days I stayed at the flat of a group of Basque students in a neighborhood they jokingly deemed “the Bronx of Bilbao.” “You’re my boy, Paul,” he said. So began a spirited night drinking this licorice-like Welcome elixir. I spent a lot of time walking With its own complex lan- through the narrow cobbleguage and deep-rooted tradi- stone streets of Casco Viejo, tions, the Basque presence in “old town” in Spanish. The orBilbao struck me as mysteri- igins of the city date to 1300. ous. The Basques I met spoke Though the buildings are very of immense pride in their old, they are filled with conculture and heritage. Unfor- temporary stores, restaurants, tunately cafés and Though the buildings it seems bars. The are very old, they are m o s t younger A m e r i - filled with contemporary g e n e r a cans know stores, restaurants, cafés tion’s culonly of the ture was and bars. The younger Basque able to generation’s culture separatexist right was able to exist right ist group, next to the next to the traditional E T A , traditional w h i c h environenvironment in perfect throughment in balance, as if it had out the last perfect always been there. half cenbalance, as tury has if it had alwaged a guerilla campaign to ways been there. gain autonomy from Spain. In Stepping into one of the fact, other Spaniards warned bars for a quick coffee is quite me of the potential hostility I a treat. The Spaniards make might experience. their coffee by grinding cofBut the Basques I stayed fee beans and putting them with were some of the nicest, through an espresso machine, most welcoming people I have making it less bitter. The servever met. They were fascinat- ing size, like all the beverages ed by American pop culture. I was served there, were sigThe flat-mates were fluent in nificantly smaller than in the Basque and Spanish, as well United States. as English, to varying levels. Witnessing these differencOne night a flat-mate named es has allowed me to see some Garxot proudly announced he of the abnormalities of Amerwanted me to try patxaran, a ica’s culture of excess. We try Basque liquor made from ber- to do everything on a grand ries particular to this region. scale. From the 20-ounce After each of us had finished Cokes, the cars we drive and our first sampling, the bottle the big screen TVs to the mansat untouched for a few min- sions that Americans dream utes. We each had been eyeing of, we are so wired on conthe bottle during this time, po- sumerism that we can’t slow litely gauging each other’s re- down. action. As I reached in to pour We can learn something myself another, Garxot’s face from other cultures. flashed a sly smile �Guest Column 12 With Craving and Mortal Fear STREETVIBES June 2009 What Do Schizophrenics Seek? By steven LansKy Contributing Writer muskiness you don’t want to get close to. It’s rough to take him into a restaurant or a car. Well, that’s a trick question. He’s with you, so he won’t get The noun form is deceptive. asked to leave. I don’t like it. People with Years ago I drove 3,500 schizophrenia seek commu- miles in three weeks when nity. We seek connection. We I was on a medicine hiatus. crave contact and live in mor- There’s no good way to say tal fear of it. I sicken to my this. I was stopped twice at stomach when I think of how night for driving without my cowardly I am lights on. Both when it comes Now, doubting the times I talked to sharing my very premise that I my way out truest desires. tickets. belong in this box, of My psychiaThe second trist knows this cube, this magic time the men this. She un- domed flying carpet searched me derstands. with wheels below and my car. I was drivand a wheel to grip There is sense ing in the that the drive in fleshy fingers, snow tonight was a necesclean fingernails, and saw Eddy sary journey, droopy mustache (his real first thousands of over them. name)walking miles through against traffic snow and ice, in the fourto be kicked lane street. He walked with a out of a nightclub on Beale hitch in his step. Sometimes Street in Memphis, and later he has a cane. In the dark, it to be asked to leave a bed & was difficult to tell. He limps breakfast in Cambridge, Mass. along, a small bag clutched in I tried to contact a psychiatrist one hand. Often between fall but I couldn’t connect. There and winter I see him at the bus was this Harvard doctor. Fear stop. It’s too cold to live out- caused me to hide, walk, run side. He smells bad – urine, and seek. Desire. Stretched. feces, and the sharp pungent Me. To. My. Limit. alcohol tilt. He’s in a state of Staring through the night, feeling the car behind creep Go to the clinic, find a psy- noia. No, don’t start reading closer, pulling at me with chologist, use tests, measure body language. Lost baggage. some essential Christian grav- the way with statistics. Speak- Luggage left by the roadside. ity, smellLuggage ing benzene with a They want to get closer, to learn about it, and knowhitch in but they’re afraid. They might catch the ing that the his step. “laziness.” The “sensitivity.” Never mind all the He smells ice falling misunderstanding about paranoia. bad, only from the sky was somesome spirit energy, and yet the ing the language might include times. reason for the pulsing craving understanding the dose. Take His house is cluttered. A desire was never clear. the dose. Take it and stick to university professor who lives Running away. Running it. alone. A lot of books. A lot of towards. Circling like some Why am I angry to be artwork. Many friends have nomadic migrating goose, dosed? Dosing doesn’t con- artwork up. Many artists are honking and looking for oth- nect me. Neither does work- friends. Schizophrenia is art ers on the highway to form ing on my own stuff while on friendly. “Right, Poet?” some streamlined pattern on the dole. That’s what they call Just want out. Want to be the wing. disability. They don’t think a man in a dark room with a Breaking ice off of a run- I’m a freeloader, but boy are woman. One at a time. Make ning car. Bitchy vibrat- they scared of what I’ve got. babies. Want to perpetuate the ing steel, humming pistons, They’re sure I’m a freeloader, species. Not just anyone. Her. coughing exhaust, trusting I could be pushing a broom, I desire her. I want to be with that some reason fuels this making sandwiches, washing her. I love her. I think about machine. Now, doubting the dishes, keeping count, selling her. No, I don’t obsess. I like very premise that I belong in tickets, washing cars, deliv- her voice. The way she dancthis box, this cube, this mag- ering pizza, driving over the es. Her eyes. I love her eyes. ic domed flying carpet with road, but I have a professional Big brown eyes. Warm as wawheels below and a wheel to job. University professor. ter from a spring. The way her grip in fleshy fingers, clean Teacher. Intellectual. That’s body moves. I’m afraid to say fingernails, droopy mustache respected. But the disability it. She walks like a waterfowl. over them. goes with that. They want to She flies like a goose. She is Do poets belong in cars at get closer, to learn about it, goose. all? but they’re afraid. They might Old sage, tell me, does Is schizophrenia so separate catch the “laziness.” The “sen- goose fly overhead? from poets that there is only a sitivity.” Never mind all the correlation once a semester? misunderstanding about para- Call 513-421-7803 x11 to learn about Streetvibes subscriptions Crossword Sudoku Across 1. Pitted 4. Pertaining to a sponge 8. Specialist in mathematics 13. Match 14. In the greatest degree 15. Find the answer 16. Virginia cape 18. Places a ball 19. Oceanic abyss 21. Bell-shaped flower 23. Semitic person 27. Without selfcontrol 31. With a quick succession of beats (3-1-3) 33. Nursemaid 34. Long, cylindrical piece of wood 35. Vehicle 36. Not fully conscious (4-9) 37. Potent 38. Intolerance of another race Down 2. Drink container Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 through 9. 3. Highest mountain 5. Leading 6. Beard 7. Shrewd 9. Narrative 10. Bee dwelling 11. Cable 12. Small island 17. Agent 20. Hole 22. Cure-all 24. Most mature 25. Tiny piece 26. Striking volcanic island 28. Hawaiian island 29. Aware of 30. Whips with lashes of leather thongs 32. Hickory-nut The fundamental goal of a Sudoku puzzle is to use the provided numbers, or givens, to discover which numbers logically fill in the empty squares. The only rule of Sudoku is that each of the nine rows, each of the nine columns, and each of the nine 3x3 subsections must contain all of the numbers from one to nine, and each number consequently can occur in each row, column and subsection only once. Solutions on Page 15 �STREETVIBES June 2009 Community News Giving Back with Deep Voices 13 Joseph House residents serve Our Daily Bread By PauL MiLLer Contributing Writer “The guys clean, serve, do whatever needs to be done,” says Calvin Wooten, associate Started by a member of the director and treatment coordiSisters of Charity and a retired nator at Joseph House. businessman, When Jo“While they Joseph House seph House give back to the is a residential was unable to community, (our serve lunch in treatment cenits own kitchter for homeguys) get to look less veterans en, it partnered at themselves by suffering from seeing people who with Our Daialcohol depenly Bread for (are) living what dency or drug meals. they were living. addiction. Be“I talked ginning with with Kathy We’re teaching Our one building some basic living (Ray, containing Daily Bread’s skills, teaching eight beds, kitchen manthem to get out Joseph House ager) about of the mentality now operates sending 20-30 of drug users.” multiple buildguys over for ings with 100 lunch,” WooCalvin Wooten beds. ten says. “I On the secsaid, ‘How can ond Tuesday of the month, we help?’ ’Cause we wanted residents from Joseph House to give back. So she said, volunteer at Our Daily Bread. ‘How about volunteering one day a month?’ ” The partnership continues today. Once a month 15 or more men walk from Joseph House on Republic Street to Our Daily Bread at Race and Elder streets, doing any chores that need to be done. “We’ve got a wealth of talent here,” Wooten says. “I learned from the beginning that these are some awesome guys. We’ll get trucks unloaded, we’ll send over cooks. We try to instill in these guys a sense of responsibility to the community.” A volunteer at Our Daily Bread, who has also volunteered at Joseph House, agrees: “It’s their way of giving back. They come down to eat. It teaches them to be humble. You gotta be humble to be a volunteer.” Besides volunteering, Joseph House residents experience other benefits at Our Calvin Wooten, associate director and treatment coordinator at Joseph House. Photo by Angela Pancella. Daily Bread. “While they give back to the community, (our guys) get to look at themselves by seeing people who (are) living what they were living,” Wooten says. “We’re teaching some basic living skills, teaching them to get out of the mentality of drug users.” Ray appreciates the attitude the men bring to the job. “They look out for each other,” she says. “If one of them is slipping up, the others will call him on it.” That’s part of the message, according to Wooten. “We tell our guys, ‘These are your brothers. Take care of one another,’ ” he says. When weather prevents other volunteers from traveling to Our Daily Bread, Joseph House residents are always available for the call. “On snow days they always send someone,” Ray says. “When they come, there’s so many of them. When we are praying the ‘Our Father,’ we have all these deep male voices. It’s great to hear.” The men of Joseph House say the Serenity Prayer helps them focus on their path to recovery: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” Sometimes, Ray says, one or two Joseph House volunteers end the “Our Father” with the tagline they use with the Serenity Prayer: “It works if you work it.” Our Daily Bread, a food and hospitality ministry at 1730 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, offers a mid-day meal, serving more than 500 meals every weekday. To volunteer or donate food, call Joan or Kathy at 513-621-6364. Letter to the Editor To the editor: I wanted to say I enjoyed your article in Streetvibes this month “Retreat to Silence,” June 1 edition). If it is any indication of good subject matter and writing, I’ve never been to Gethsemani, nor am I particularly religious, yet your description of the place was really fascinating. One of the things I most enjoy about this part of the country are places that speak to something universal but couldn’t be from anywhere but here. Nice work. Rob Wall Ohio Justice & Policy Center 215 E. 9th St. Suite 601 Cincinnati, OH 45202 �Local News 14 Garry Quits Council Race STREETVIBES June 2009 Will focus on green efforts and 2011 race says. Buildings in Cincinnati could become green by improving their insulation and windows to efficiently maintain interior temperatures, Garry says. Hamilton County By JereMy FLannery also needs to improve drainContributing Writer age systems to more efficiently filter sewage, he says. The Losing a campaign endorseU.S. Environmental Protecment from his own political tion Agency has sued Hamparty could make a candidate ilton County and the city of feel green. That’s the reaCincinnati for water-pollution son Brian Garry has dropped violations. out of the race for Cincinnati Buildings in Cincinnati City Council as a candidate in could reduce carbon gases 2009. while creating a habitat for The Democratic Party enbirds by planting vegetation dorsed Garry in the 2007 on building tops, according to council race. He placed 18th in Garry. Chicago, San Francisco the election, receiving 13,164 and other cities have already votes. The top nine finishers implemented vegetation into won seats on council. But this building plans. year the Cincinnati DemoGreen initiatives should cratic Committee decided not Brian Garry. Photo courtesy of One Cincinnati Campaign. involve profitable work for to endorse him, despite a letter of support for Garry from ment through business, volun- you enter with this sense of ide- Low-income earners could business owners and workers Vice Mayor David Crowley. teer projects and advocacy, he als,” Garry says. “But the sci- develop new skills and find to improve the environment, Garry says he was one vote says. Garry’s platform focuses entific methods of change are higher paying jobs through Garry says. A sustainable living wage and affordable housshy of being endorsed. on creating sustainable green not as idealistic. It’s more like such initiatives. ing are essential parts of being “I’m disappointed with jobs, technology, transporta- moving the football down the Garry also wants to see new green, he says. their decision, tion and space. field by inches – “When people but I’m choosing Garry’s platform One way to small increments “When people talk about it, sipping talk about it, sipnot to run as an work toward of compromises focuses on some green tea and saying, ‘We’re ping some green tea independent canthose goals to achieve those creating going green,’ but then choose to and saying, ‘We’re didate, to not run even without idealistic goals.” bulldoze the poor people out and going green,’ but against the party,” sustainable green being elected Garry would then choose to jobs, technology, rebuild, that’s not equitable. It is not he says. “There to office is like to work are a lot of comGarry’s mem- with the Cincin- being green when people cannot find bulldoze the poor transportation munity leaders bership on nati Chamber of affordable places to live.” - Brian Garry people out and reand space. build, that’s not and my supportthe Hamilton Commerce to equitable,” Garry ers pursuing me to County Re- provide sustainrun this year, and I am not.” gional Planning Commission’s able living for low-income manufacturing jobs created says. “It is not being green Instead, Garry says he’ll Green Building Committee, earners through the Mayor’s for the production of genera- when people cannot find afcontinue the community ac- the Cincinnati Human Ser- Green City Initiative, he says. tors and equipment for envi- fordable places to live.” Garry and his brother have tivism he’s been involved in vices Advisory Commission, The growing demand for en- ronmentally friendly energy throughout his adult life, and the Mayor’s Green Cincinnati vironmental initiatives is an sources such as wind turbines operated the Green City Ecohe’ll prepare for the 2011 race. Initiative and the Commu- opportunity to increase and and solar panels. Workers Struction Co. for 24 years. The His campaign team, the “Gar- nity Development Advisory improve the work force – an could also find construction company is a member of the ry Green Team,” will work to Board. opportunity Cincinnati can- employment in initiatives to U.S. Green Building Council improve the city’s environ“When you get into politics, not afford to pass up, he says. improve the quality and cost- and uses building materials efficiency of buildings in Cin- certified by the Forest Stewardship Council to offer more cinnati, he says. “(Buildings) need to be sustainable building practices made energy efficient for the for the environment and consake of the homeowners, ten- sumers. Garry says he plans to open ants and the environment, and a store, the Green Depot, that’s especially meaningful to at 1235 Vine St. Over-thelow-income people when they have to pay $2,000 per year Rhine. to heat their homes,” Garry Cleo’s Joke Corner A bee was flying through the air with his legs crossed. I asked where he was going. He said, “I’m going to the BP station.” �STREETVIBES June 2009 Vendor Voice 15 We Are Here Homeless people gather downtown because they must 1 By GeorGe HerreL streetvibes vendor It’s 5:30 a.m. Sunday. Most people are still snug in their beds fast asleep. Yet at Nast Trinity Church on Race Street across from Washington Park, a dozen or more volunteers have been awake for hours and are now gathered in the church’s dining room. Hands linked, heads bowed, they say a prayer over the food they’ve been preparing and begin to assemble plates to serve to the more than 100 people who will show up today. It’s not necessarily a holiday or any special occasion. These people repeat this same routine faithfully every Sunday morning and evening. The people they’re serving aren’t visitors from out of town. As a matter of fact, many of them spent the preceding night sleeping in doorways or on park benches. Others found refuge in one of the emergency shelters. Yet this is an open-invitation meal. All are welcome; homeless is not a prerequisite. A few blocks away, the City Gospel Mission on Elm Street serves two meals a day, seven days a week. Food for the soul is offered just as frequently by way of morning and evening worship services before each meal. Forty-six men live at the shelter and participate in men’s self-help programs. In addition, the City Gospel Mission serves 100 meals daily. The Drop Inn Center serves three meals a day seven days a week. These organizations have one other thing in common. They depend upon donations to replenish their food stocks, and at times those donations are meager. At those times, organizations such as Food not Bombs and St. John’s Social Services provide less formal “sidewalk” meals. There was a time not long ago when other organizations would gather at Washington Park and set up grills and tables or pull their pickup trucks and vans right into the park and serve bowls of steaming soups or stews to the hungry, often offering prayer as well. But the city of Cincinnati began prohibiting such free meals in the park, citing everything from health code violations to excess litter as reasons. Now, as the new School for the Creative and Performing Arts approaches completion on 12th Street, concerns are being raised about the safety of the students and the effect that the blight of homeless people milling around will have on their impressionable psyches. But if you really want to change the future, what better teacher could there possibly be than “reality’? Homelessness is a problem in Cincinnati, a problem that needs to be dealt with and not hidden in the shadows. Allow me to give you some facts and figures: • 1,300 people experience homelessness each night in Cincinnati. • Twenty-five percent of Cincinnati’s homeless are children. • Twenty-five percent of Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper. Puzzle Solutions homeless people are veterans. • The majority of the organizations in Cincinnati that provide services to homeless people are located downtown. Therefore, the homeless population in downtown is greater than in most any other area in the city. “We are here.” We cannot simply be swept under a rug and be expected to go away. We don’t want to be out here, but many of us have issues that we need help with. Let’s get together and figure out solutions to those problems, because only by dealing with them can they be solved. George Herrell is a Streetvibes vendor. �16 STREETVIBES June 2009 Double Take “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” - John Lennon Rally to legalize marijuana on April 20, 2009. Homeless Standdown, a resource fair for individuals experiencing homelessness, on May 6, 2009. National Day of Prayer on May 7, 2009. Photos by Andrew Anderson. Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Talbert House...684-7965 Resources Treatment: Women First Step Home ...961-4663 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...641-4300 Shelter: Both Advocacy Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Shelter: Men Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Starting Over...961-2256 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Oral Health Council...621-0248 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2009 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource June 2009 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: ‘Streetvibes’ Wins International Award Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes with a ‘Mind Kitchen’ Pg 4: Same Struggle, Different Strategy Continued Pg 5: ‘Streetvibes’ Wins International Award Continued Pg 6: Death, Race and Place Pg 7: The Street Speaks Pg 8: Sexy, Yummy, Veggie Pg 9: Half-Moon Over Norway Pg 10: Still Struggling Pg 11: Lessons in Spain Pg 12: With Craving and Mortal Fear Pg 13: Giving Back with Deep Voices Pg 14: Garry Quits Council Race Pg 15: We Are Here Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 2009 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Lynne Ausman Lew Moores Margo Pierce Paul Kopp Paul Miller George Herrell Jeremy Flannery Steven Lansky Michael Henson Dave Heitfield Alecia Lott Andrew Anderson Paul Kopp Aimie Willhoite Olga Collier Angela Pancella Mary Alice Flannery Jennifer Blalock Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Andrew Freeze Georgine Getty Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Aimie Willhoite Alecia Lott Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Buddhist Monastery city council Dave Heitfield George Herrell Georgine Getty Gregory Flannery International Award Jennifer Blalock Jeremy Flannery Joe Wessels Joseph House Journalism Lew Moores Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Mary Alice Flannery Michael Henson Norway Ohio Olga Collier Over-the-Rhine Paul Kopp Paul Miller Spain Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Steven Lansky street papers Streetvibes Traveling Vegetarian https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/883de0194c0e0ac5497bffce7438e3dc.pdf 4810616c0e0fa8e2bb2605f356c55db1 PDF Text Text Yes UCAN Page 7 ‘The Soloist’ Page 7 STREETVIBES $1 M a y 2 0 0 9 • I s s u e 1 5 4 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e Legal Backfire Making sex offenders homeless 1 doesn’t protect anyone 1 By GreGory Flannery Editor A Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputy stands guard outside the Pogue Rehabilition Center along with a VOA administrator while a protest occurs on the street. Meanwhile, inside the Pogue Center, staff (pictured in the doorway) and clients enjoy a pizza party and movie night. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. Earl Smith reports to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office every day to provide his address, which is really no address. He’s one of about 50 homeless sex offenders living downtown. Earl Smith isn’t his real name; he doesn’t want publicity. His photo is already on the sex offenders’ list on the sheriff’s web site, and that’s a problem for him. He can’t get a job, and that’s a problem for everyone else. “I have two options,” he says. “I can either kill myself or I can commit another crime so I can get locked up. At least I’d have meals and some shelter. This winter was so bad I seriously thought about it.” Smith doesn’t want pity. Most people wouldn’t give pity if they heard his story. What he wants and isn’t able to find the Drop Inn Center banned is a way to earn a living and Smith; it’s too close to the a place to live. Even the place new School for the Creative of last resort for homeless and Performing Arts. people, the Residency “I can either kill Drop Inn restrictions and myself or I can Center, public registries won’t let aim to protect commit another him in. children from crime so I can get “I can’t locked up. At least being sexually go in there abused. But a I’d have meals and growing body and get some shelter. This a meal,” of research indicates that Smith says. winter was so bad “I can’t get the laws don’t I seriously thought medical. I about it.” - Earl Smith achieve their can’t use goals and are the bathpotentially makroom. I’m not allowed in the ing the public less safe. building.” The reason isn’t hard to understand: Desperate people do ‘Gone too far’ desperate things. Smith was locked up on Former sex offenders aren’t a registration violation last allowed to live wherever they fall. His truck and camper want. Homes near schools, were impounded. The judge day care centers, public pools dismissed the charge he was and parks are off limits under arrested on. But he’d been state and city laws. That’s why The X Mayors to the Rescue See Backfire, p. 5 Battling the forces of reaction to save Cincinnati’s image By DaviD HeitFielD Contributing WritEr First came the X-Men, a Stan Lee Marvel comic in which Professor Xavier gave mutants super powers to prove that they can be heroes, too. Then came Robert Smigel's X Presidents, a Saturday Night Live cartoon about former presidents turned super crime fighters, with such classic one-liners as “I have lusted in my heart – to kick your ass!” (Jimmy Carter) and “Just say 'No' – to pissing me off!” (Ronald Reagan). So on Tax Day, through some miracle of metaphysical irony, Xavier University – presumably no relation to Professor Xavier, but one can never be sure – brought together the X Mayors, eight former mayors of Cincinnati, including Jerry Springer, who has dedicated his life to prov- ing that mutants can be heroes, too. Despite the local media's usual half-assed attempts to create audiencearousing controversy – the Enquirer covered the event as essentially a fight between Springer and Roxanne Qualls over the “image” of Cincinnati, while Channel 5 began several post-commercial segments Jerry Springer weighs in on Cincinnati’s image. with pre-taped Photo courtesy of Xavier University. horseshit from the don't know who to hold acracially androgyWhose side are you on? countable.” He also said in a nous Ken Blackwell, includlater segment, which seemed ing a dire warning that acceptDwight Tillery set the stage, directed intentionally at the ing federal stimulus money as it were, by first throwing largely older, white audience could turn us all into drug addicts – the X Mayors had a out the D-word – diversity in attendance, that African few interesting things to say – while alluding to a certain Americans are afraid to come sense of powerlessness among downtown. about the region’s issues. denizens, because “people Qualls summed it up nice- ly: “Diversity is a defining element of being a 21st-century city,” insisting that it was a choice Cincinnati would have to make between staying a 19th-century city or attracting youth and jobs. Springer added that the mixed message didn't work. We can't say, “Come to Ohio, come to the region, come to Cincinnati” one day, and the next day add, “ but not if you're gay.” Showing off her political skills, Qualls was emphatic that such messages came from those folks who are “forces of reaction” and not conservatism. She was probably thinking about a sign on Fountain Square earlier in the day that defined a “liberal” as “a person so open-minded their (sic) brain fell out,” which was right next to “Impeach Obama See Mayors, p. 5 �2 News Briefs Don’t Be a Pig: Resist Swine Flu Cincinnati – Please wash your hands early and often. It’s a simple but important way to avoid catching and spreading swine flu, as well as other contagious illnesses, according to Cincinnati Health Commissioner Dr. Noble Maseru. The symptoms of swine flu are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting. In the past, severe illness and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection. If you experience symptoms, see your physician and limit contact with others. Other suggestions from the Health Department include avoiing touching your eyes, nose or mouth; germs spread that way. Call the Health Department hotline at 513-357-7499 or visit www.cincinnati-oh.gov for more information. Lawsuit Over ‘Homeless Dumping’ Settled Los Angeles – College Hospitals will give more than $1 million to organizations that help homeless people to settle a lawsuit alleging the hospital firm dumped mentally ill homeless patients on Skid Row. The city sued after investigating claims by workers at rescue mission, who said a hospital van dropped off a mentally ill patient at its doorstep last year. The city’s investigation allegedly turned up 150 similar cases of dumping by two hospitals in Orange County. The settlement doesn’t include any admission of wrongdoing by College Hospitals. The Vibe Streetwise By GreGory Flannery Selling Out – in the Best Possible Way Streetvibes vendors did it again, and so did our readers. All 6,000 copies of the April edition are gone, completely sold out. This came after vendors sold 4,000 copies of the March edition. This kind of support from readers is why the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless plans to start publishing Streetvibes twice a month beginning July 1. Plans call for new editions to be released on the first and 15th days of each month. With newspapers across the country going out of business, laying off employees and cutting their print runs, the success of Streetvibes can only be attributed to two things – the hard work of our vendors, who earn 75 cents for each copy they sell; and the generous support of our readers. Minimum Wage Won’t Pay the Rent The heads of many homeless families have jobs, belying one of the persistent myths about homelessness in the United States. But simply having a job isn’t always enough to pay for housing. The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLICH) has released its annual report, “Out of Reach,” documenting the growing disparity between minimum-wage jobs and the actual cost of housing. The organization uses the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30 percent of income for housing to determine a metropolitan area’s fair-market rent. In the metro area from Cincinnati to Middletown, NLICH found the current fair-market rent to be $733 for a two-bedroom apartment. In order to pay that amount of rent and utilities, a worker must earn $2,443 monthly or $29,320 annually – or $14.10 per hour, 40 hours a week, 52 week a year. That is almost double the $7.30 minimum hourly wage in Ohio. Sure, it can theoretically be done. “In order to afford the (fair market rent) for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 77 hours per week, 52 weeks per year,” the report says. “Or a household must include 1.9 minimum wage earners working 40 hours per week year-round.” For families headed by single parents, unemployed people or people who can only get parttime jobs, the possibilities are very bleak. Police Show They Care – About Each Other We now know with some degree of certainty what it takes for a command officer with a history of discourtesy to the public to be disciplined by Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher Jr. What it takes is for the officer to be discourteous to other command officers. Consider the disturbing career of Assistant Police Richard Janke. In 2004 the police department was under a federal court order to change its policies and procedures, especially with regard to use of force. The court order was part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit over racial profiling by the police and public outrage that led to the 2001 uprising in Over-the-Rhine (called a “race riot” by many white people). An independent monitoring team assigned to report on the police department’s compliance went to police headquarters for a scheduled visit. They ran into Janke’s obstreperous attitude. The monitors asked about the implementation of community problem-oriented policing. “Janke responded that the question was so general he could not even respond," the monitors’ report said. “He also stated that the question was the stupidest question he had ever heard." Janke then declared that the monitors knew nothing about police work and said the meetings were a waste of time, according to the report. That incident, which ticked off the judge, came three years after Janke warned a Streetvibes writer that police would “whack” protesters in Mount Adams. An account published in CityBeat quoted Janke telling David Mitchell of Streetvibes, "We're just here to ensure that all you lawabiding citizens don't do anything illegal, because if you were to do something illegal, then we just want to be clear that we are prepared to whack you and take you out if necessary." Police arrested nine protesters, and a jury cleared all of them. Which brings us to the incident that seems finally to have gotten Janke in trouble with his boss. Earlier this month Streicher told Janke that he was facing charges of insubordination for being disrespectful to other assistant chiefs. Now we know what matters to Streicher: not how the public is treated by cops, but how cops treat each other. Work to End Homelessness Street Paper Survives Chicago – When Streetwise, a street paper sold by homeless people, seemed about to go out of business, donations kept it alive. The paper appealed for $75,000 dollars to stay in business; a total of $190,000 came in. Individual donations ranged from $3 to $35,000. More than 200 vendors sell Streetwise. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is accepting applications for a full-time community education assistant. The position, available through the AmeriCorps VISTA program, includes a bi-weekly stipend, health coverage and money for education at the completion of service. Responsibilities include scheduling and coordinating speaking engagements for the coalition’s Voice of the Homeless Speakers Bureau; building community relationships with private and public schools, religious youth groups, etc.; distributing promotional materials about the speakers bureau in order to build community support; giving educational presentations to area schools and organizations; and other rewarding tasks in service of a good cause. Qualifications include knowledge of homelessness, an associate degree or higher and public speaking abilities. VISTA rules require applicants to be U.S. citizens free of felony convictions. A full description of the position is available at https://sites.google.com/site/homelesscoalitionvista/. To apply, send a cover letter and resume to Jeni Jenkins, education coordinator, at jenijenkins@cincihomeless. org, by fax to 513-421-7813 or by U.S. Mail to 117 E. 12th Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. But don’t dawdle. The deadline for applications is May 8. STREETVIBES May 2009 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Art Director Lynne Ausman Contributing Writers Stephanie Dunlap, Margo Pierce, Lew Moores, Paul Kopp, Alecia Lott, David Heitfield, Dave Scharfenberger, Angela Pancella, Mike Henson, Andrew Anderson, Ariana Shahandeh, Jeremy Flannery, Maika Arnold Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Paul Kopp, Anthony Williams, Aimie Willhoite, Stephanie Dunlap, Berta Lambert Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are members of: �STREETVIBES May 2009 Community News Eight Minutes ‘Standing Up Again’ 3 Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in the Queen City. “Eight Minutes” is an opportunity to learn who those people are and what motivates them to be a positive influence. By MarGo Pierce Contributing WritEr Prostitution is desperation. Prostitution is survival. Prostitution isn’t a lifestyle choice or a question of morality. That’s why women who have been in Carol Thornton’s shoes will talk to her before they’ll talk to a preacher, social worker or a woman just in from the suburbs who wants to help and then go back home. “What I think is unique and special about Off the Streets … is the peer facilitators,” Thornton says. “The value of having someone who has walked a mile in your shoes, especially a mile in what is Carol Thornton talks with a client. Photos by Aimie Willhoite. usually considered shameful and you might think there’s and prostitution are all tied end up using the commodity something morally wrong up together. That’s why Cin- that you have, the thing you with you … (is) you see that cinnati Union Bethel (ci- carry with you all the time, things can change.” nunionbethel.org) partnered and that’s your body. So once Off the Streets helps womwith more than 20 agencies in you use and your self-esteem en get out of 2004 to de- is gone anyway, prostitution the sex trade, “I had been a survivor velop a com- or selling your body is just anget healthy of domestic violence. p r e h e n s i v e other step of the degradation and become intervention that you already feel you’re in a positive I had been through a to address from the drug use. part of their whole lot of things in the issues of “For me and for all these community. my life that lowered prostitution. ladies, especially those at the Thornton, an my opinion of myself. As Thornton end of the road, it’s survival. outreach and The addiction came walks the There were a lot of times I intake coorstreets now, prostituted just so that I could dinator for from that, just trying she does so get me something to eat. A lot to be accepted in the program, to let ladies of times I prostituted just to uses her 13 something, not really know that survive.” years on the understanding how an option is Life on the streets usually streets of traumatic it was going a v a i l a b l e . means homelessness. Cincinnati to But leaving “Every time I speak to a to end up being.” help others the life isn’t lady, she’s not asking anything Carol Thornton change their easy. until she’s comfortable with lives. “ W e ’ v e me,” Thornton says. “All she “This is something that I had some ladies come who wants to know is, ‘Will I have was meant to do because I love weren’t specifically ready to a place to stay? Will I be safe it,” she says. “I love dealing stop using the drugs, so that there?’ When I was out there with the ladies. I will tell them plays a big part,” she says. “If on the streets, the one thing anything they want to know she’s not ready to stop using I wanted more than anything about my life if it will make the drugs, then we can’t deal was to just have some place to them feel comfortable enough with the prostitution part. We stay.” to get their life back together. have had ladies say, ‘To hell Trying to find some kind If she’s never been clean bewith this. I’m outta here.’ But of security and a human confore, I become the reference it was mainly because she was nection leaves many women point. I keep a little bit of that fighting her addiction.” vulnerable to exploitation by rugged side to me so I stay apOutsiders judging prosti- pimps. proachable so they don’t think tutes from an uninformed per“When it starts off, you’re a I’m just too high up for them spective dismiss and degrade woman out there on the streets to tell me anything. these women’s life experienc- by yourself and you hook up “I had been a survivor of es. Most people don’t know with this guy who you think domestic violence. I had been how a hooker’s life begins, is going to protect you and through a whole lot of things but Thornton does. maybe look out for you, and in my life that lowered my “What happens is you start they end up standing around opinion of myself. The addicusing; and before you know it, watching you sell your body,” tion came from that, just trying you’ve lost your family, lost Thornton says. “If you know to be accepted in something, your home, lost your kids, lost anything about domestic vionot really understanding how all your foundation, and you lence, 30 to 40 percent of the traumatic it was going to end end up on the street, home- time they’re making you feel up being.” less,” she says. “So you have all right. The other 60 to 70 Addiction, mental health to do what you have to do. You percent of the time they’re abusing you or making you feel bad – but you bond with this person. “It’s hard to walk away from them because of the intimidation; and they have become, sometimes, your defender. Especially if they think they’re gonna lose their crack or whatever, if something happens to you, they become your defender and that’s all you want is somebody to defend you.” Off the street “14 years in November,” Thornton wants people to understand that pros- titution isn’t about morality. The program offers women who have nothing emergency needs, trauma recovery, health care, education, family services and a host of other services free of charge. While there’s no time limit for women to access and utilize services, many stay for about a year. And the success rate proves the program works. Within 60 days of getting into the program, 86 percent received substance abuse services, 60 percent were connected to mental health services, 86 percent reported no involvement in prostitution and 82 percent didn’t have a new conviction for prostitution. “We have so many intelligent, artistic women,” Thornton says. “What happens is … something is going on in their lives that have made them feel like they’re not worth anything. What we do at Off the Streets is we help give you that feeling back – that you are worth something. You’re worth all the dreams you had before this came about. And it’s a very good thing to have someplace like this so the ladies can learn how to stand back up again.” If you know someone who needs help, call 513-3782534. Thornton has been off the streets for 14 years. �Community News 4 Retreat to Silence STREETVIBES May 2009 God’s humor, monks’ wisdom and a sweet magic By StePHanie DunlaP Contributing WritEr mani engenders, and reentry can be brutal. That’s why I didn’t write this story earlier. Brother Rene raised his cane Maybe some things, lost, seem and waggled it at my head. better unremembered. “What would Jesus say if I I also didn’t want Gethsehit you with this?" he asked. mani to be just another series The old monk didn't remem- of interviews, observations ber me from and explanatwo years ago. tions. But I Being here feels I remembered couldn’t quite like living in him, though, put words to true community, and I rememwhat it meant bered his rid- without the illusion to me. of intimacy that dle. This is the closest I know “ ‘Ouch,'" information can I said. "Jesus bring. We may meet how to come. would say, The passages eyes, smile and nod, in italics are 'Ouch.' " but that is all we "I must have from my 2007 know of each other. journals. asked you before!" Rene said. "And I still believe it.” ‘Open-air insane asylum’ Otherworldly Rene could deal in such certainties, but Gethsemani is a place for Benedictine monks of the those who live in questions. Trappist order traveled from Even Jesus questioned God’s France and settled outside plan in the biblical retreat to Bardstown, Ky., in 1848. Gethsemani, from which the They’ve been praying the abbey draws its name. Psalms together seven times “I am deeply grieved, even a day ever since, though their to death,” Jesus said at Geth- ranks have dwindled from semani, according to the Gos- hundreds to 60-some. pel of Matthew. When they’re not in chapel The Abbey of Gethsemani, singing, starting with Vigils a three-hour drive from Cin- at 3:15 a.m. and ending with cinnati, is a place to question Compline at 7:30 p.m., the and then to stay silent, waiting monks move through their for answers in the in-between. days silently. In the stillness grows an "Silence is spoken here," idea that the in-between might urge signs in the dining room, be the answer. in the elevator, in the library. “God Alone” is etched into Retreatants may speak in desthe stone above the gated en- ignated areas; monks may trance to the monk's gardens. speak to the abbot. How do you write about a The garrulous Brother Rasilent retreat at a silent mon- phael, the monk designated to astery? work with media, explained I first came to Gethsemani all this to me two years ago. two years ago on assignment I figured Raphael must have as a reporter and stayed five saved up all his unspoken days in the retreat house. I ex- words, because he had plenty perienced the place much as a of them for me. reporter would, ferreting the “I’m sure there’s people story. Two years later I came who drive by here and say, back for myself. ‘That’s the local open-air inBoth times I arrived deplet- sane asylum,” Raphael told ed and left rested and raw. The me. “We’re just a bunch of world is not fashioned for the ex-Marines and guys who are kind of openness that Gethse- looking for God.” He explained that the monks aren’t sequestered in here to pray for us heathens outside the monastery walls, who muck up their Godly world. “The monk knows that he is in need of salvation and redemption,” Raphael said. “We’re not praying for sinners. A monk is on their level, maybe sometimes a little lower.” Hospitality is among of the rules St. Benedict drew for monasteries, and one wing of the abbey accommodates retreats 50 weeks of the year. Monday through Friday reservations are easier to get; Friday through Monday retreats must be booked further in advance. Being here feels like living in true community, without the illusion of intimacy that information can bring. We may meet eyes, smile and nod, but that is all we know of each Brother Rene of Abbey of Gethsemani. other. All we need to know, Photo by Stephanie Dunlap. except that we’re here, so we up the pace a bit. Peace and can draw from that whatever being there says enough. The abbey's most famous prayers.” assumptions or commonalimonk, the late Thomas MerWhen they’re not singing, ties we like, if we need to ton, or Father Louis, struggled monks are to maintain siA simple room with a desk, with God. His eloquent conlence at meals; silence worksingle bed and private bathroom with shower, three un- templations and his early life ing side-by-side making their remarkable meals a day with as a reprobate make his writ- mail-order cheese, bourbon fruitcake and bourbon fudge; fruit and coffee or tea for the ings enduringly appealing. “My Lord silence in all those in-between taking in beGod, I have times that most other humans “My Lord God, I tween – all no idea where fill with conversation. have no idea where for the price I am going. I It’s impossible, and not of whatever I am going. I do not do not see the really the point, to entirely donation you see the road ahead road ahead of quash the impulse to speak. I care to slip of me…I will trust me…I will noted how the urge to relate through the slot on the you always though I trust you al- kept bubbling up. People can’t help but talk. I night guest- may seem to be lost ways though on a silent retreat and I I may seem come and in the shadow master ’s to be lost and can’t get people to stop talking door. of death,” Father in the shadow to me. Every time Thomas Merton of death,” Sometimes recorded mesI settle into in Thoughts on Merton wrote sages are piped in at mealmy room in Thoughts times. Retreatants usually get Solitude. I think, ‘I on Solitude, spiritual talks but the monks should turn reprinted on hear all kinds; when I vison some music – oh, wait.’ Retreatants do nothing in a card available at the retreat ited, Brother Raphael said the monks were working through particular. They may roam the house’s reception desk. audio biography of AbraMerton drew connections an grounds, visit the statues in the woods, peruse the library, con- between contemplative Ca- ham Lincoln. He said a monk sult with a chaplain, smoke on tholicism and Eastern reli- may consult another monk the screened-in porch (it’s still gions. He was a prolific writer on some area of expertise. If Kentucky, after all) until his sudden death in 1968; a monk really needs to talk, or just sleep. I spent his writings weigh down near- there’s the abbot. When Raphael arrived here the first day of both ly an entire bookcase in the retreat house library. as a postulant in 1954, comvisits sleeping. I asked Raphael if he was munication was much more “Sometimes peoput out by Merton’s high pro- restricted, so the monks deple come here to do file. veloped a sign language. In that, sleep,” Rene “It doesn’t bother me at more recent years the silence said. all,” he said. “We just see him seemed to have relaxed, he Guests may atas Father Louis. I just kind of said. tend services and “We try to keep it down Mass, but they don’t figure it was his way of doing his thing.” but every now and then conhave to. Luckily, versations begin,” he said. they don't screen reMonks dot org “I think it’s good. It tends to treatants for Catholknit the whole thing as a comicism or faith of any A sign in the elevator says, munity, communication does. kind. We're to stay “Retreatants, when singing Before, monks were individsilent, so what we’d profess is moot. Our along with the monks, a bit Gravesite of Father Thomas Merton. Photo by Stephanie Dunlap. See Silence, p. 6 lower on the volume, and pick �STREETVIBES May 2009 Community News Legal Backfire 5 (continued from page 1) 1 locked up so long that he ter told Smith he had to leave; couldn’t afford the impound- he’d been accepted by mising and towing fees. take. “They messed up, and I Smith’s parole officer once lost everything,” Smith says. enlisted Smith’s help, he says, “I have no truck, no camper, looking for leads on housing no anything.’ I’ve tried to get for other former sex offenda job. I’ve tried to put every- ers. thing on the table. I was hon“He told me, ‘If you find est and laid everything out. It anything, let me know.’ He’s didn’t work. Now I manipu- asking me for help,” Smith late the system. I don’t break says. any laws but if I can bend the rules, I do, because I have to More than postcards eat. It’s ugly. They’ve gone too far with this.” Legally classified a sex ofProfessor Jill Levenson of fender, Smith wasn’t convictLynn University in Florida ed of having sex with anyone. agrees. In an affidavit in a He was prosecuted for allowlawsuit over sex-offender ing his girlfriend to have sex laws, she testified that re- with his 16-year-old son. Consearch shows the laws can be victed in Butler County on a counterproductive. charge of aiding and abetting “Ironically, social stability sexual battery, he received a and support increase the likeli- year in prison. hood of suc“He was “Ironically, social cessful re16, she integration was 35,” stability and support for criminal increase the likelihood he says. “I offenders, didn’t care, of successful and pubhonestly. It reintegration for lic policies was no big criminal offenders, that create deal. That obstacles to was my and public policies community that create obstacles opinion.” re-entry may It beto community re-entry compromise came a big public safe- may compromise public deal when ty,” she said. safety.” - Jill Levenson his girlSmith has friend cut a tried to find support, but it’s deal. She ended up convicted proven as elusive as housing of a misdemeanor count of and employment. Homeless child endangering, while he since Jan. 26, he says he was got the felony rap. accepted at the City Gospel Smith isn’t coy about his Mission two months later. past. “I was quite shocked,” he “I wasn’t an innocent persays. “I tried that in 2003 or son,” he says. “I was in the 2004 and I wasn’t allowed.” dope game. My attitude was, But the break was short- ‘I don’t give a fuck.’ I used to lived. After 10 days, the shel- skate through the system.” During a protest at the VOA’s Pogue Rehabilitation Center, a Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputy and a VOA administrator ask protesters to remain across the street. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. Now, he says, the system is making it impossible for him to live lawfully. “I’ve never molested a kid in my life,” he says. Even so, he is legally classified a sex offender, restricted from housing, unwanted by employers, even banned by charities. What motivation is there to obey the law? “I need a biscuit,” he says. “If you want me to jump through the hoops, there has to be a biscuit in the end.” Policy makers are beginning to see his point. Last year the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission issued a special report on the status of former sex offenders. The report called for a comprehensive approach to provide better services as a way to improve public safety. “Housing options are very limited for sex offenders, and their choices are usually lowincome areas that already have high crime rates. Housing providers and law enforce- ment should work together to explore options to keep the community safe and the offender in a stable residence. … It is important to recognize that a stable environment is a critical element in the vast majority of cases to prevent re-offending.” The report’s 15 recommendations include a better kind of community notification. Instead of simply sending postcards saying a sex offender has moved into the neighborhood, the report points to a program in Seattle. In that city, 90-minute public meetings with police officers, victims’ advocates and others prepare neighbors. The X Mayors to the Rescue Now!” Forces of reaction, just because we tend to be too darn nice and maybe, but pretty polite and say I'm “Diversity is a sure they defining element of “please” too always vote being a 21st-century much around a straight here – libercity” - councilwoman als and proRepublican and former mayor ticket. gressives Roxanne Qualls So if the don't speak up problem is enough. While it is an lack of diversity and you can't blame interesting proposition – conthe conservatives, and while servatives around here are asthe “forces of reaction” prob- sholes (or, ahem, “forces of reably don't help the city's im- action”) and the progressives age, blaming them is sorta are too nice to deal with them like blaming the football team – the theory discounts what for the academic deficiencies pretty much everyone with a of University of Cincinnati, college education around here whom, as Tillery asked, do knows: This is a one-party reyou hold accountable? gion, and if you want to play Liberals and progressives, ball, you know which side you of course. No, Bill Cun- need to be on. ningham didn't interrupt the During law school, I spent a forum. That was Qualls sug- few days at one of the largest gesting that – and maybe it's law firms in Cincinnati, just to get a feel for life in a law firm. At a lunch with three attorneys, they told me a big secret after swearing me to silence (I was going back to school the next day, so not much fear of tattling): They were Democrats! They thought they were the only three out of 150 lawyers; and they were certain that if anyone found out, they'd lose their jobs. It was like they were part of a secret underground movement. That was more than 15 years ago, but I don't think things have changed all that much. I recently told a lawyer friend about an invitation I'd received to attend a liberal PAC meeting. “If you want to work around here,” he sincerely told me, “you'd better stay away from that.” “These 90-minute meetings provide the opportunity to educate the community about sex offenders, to separate myth from fact, to emphasize how the community has a vested interest in the offender doing well,” the county’s report says. More than 1,600 former sex offenders live in the county. We know that because of increased awareness about sexual abuse and the harm that it does. But the push to do something about it appears to have led to poor policy decisions, the planning commission reports. “The rush to pass residency restrictions and community notification for all sex offenders is fueled by a general public that is operating on fear rather than fact,” the report says. (continued from page 1) 1 ‘Tone that down’ And that perception also conforms to the most interesting comments from the X Mayors, which happened to come from Tom Brush. Early in the program, he bashed The Banks, saying he just didn't care about the issue, because one way of dealing with social problems around here was by diverting attention away from people and to buildings. You know, like not talking about the homeless, but about the buildings that house them. “It's a hell of a lot easier dealing with buildings than dealing with social problems” Brush said. Later, in subtle honesty, Brush answered Tillery's question about the powerlessness many people feel around here. Brush cited “tremendous pres- sure from the business community and other leaders” to not discuss the “problems” of the area, to “tone that down” and “don't talk that way” when addressing any issues of substance in the region. And you have no choice but to listen to them, he explained, because when you need money to fund a project, where do you turn? Certainly not to Over-the-Rhine. So there you have it: the Greater Cincinnati region is not just a conservative region; it's a conservative region that consists of the “forces of reaction” on one side and those conservatives who channel Ward Cleaver on the other, among whom “Don't ask, don't tell” is considered a mature philosophy of living. �Local News 6 Retreat to Silence (continued from page 4) 1 uals in relation to God.” Monks don’t leave the abbey, but they’re not hermits. Raphael said that most monks slip away about once a day to check e-mail. It’s better than phone messages, he said. the outside world. In 2007 Rene led me to his basement rosary library. The rosary made of buckeyes strung together was my favorite. Books on the rosary, books on novenas, books on Mary. A tray of post-it notes from retreatants who came before me. Two years later I made my way back to that basement room alone as though I were retracing a dream. I’d put it so far out of my head; it seemed so far from reality. I saw the tray and recognized the handwriting on one of the notes. “Brother Rene, thank you always for teaching me the rosary,” it said. Signed, “Stephanie.” I didn’t remember writing the note, or the person who wrote it. Meeting the shadow Raphael, who in his former life was a Navy pilot, came to Gethsemani as part of a wave of men in search of meaning after World War II. The war had Brother Raphael from the Abbey of Gethsemani. ended while he was waiting to Photo by Stephanie Dunlap. ship out to the Western Pacifbe a great help with that.” Brother Rene exudes joyful ic. Soon after that, he visited As earthy and erudite as impishness that could verge on a brother in Florida to explore Raphael was, Brother Rene a touch of insane unreality. He connections for some busiseemed to me sweetly magi- says there are statues that cry ness venture. A walk down a cal. I met Rene, the night the oil of Mary’s tears. He unlurid Miami Beach boulevard guestmaster, screwed a little cylinder. There shook what in the retreat was a fluff of gauze inside. He Raphael, who in his meaning that house library. dipped in his index finger. The former life was a was left from He was zeal- tip looked wet when he pulled Navy pilot, came to contempoous about it out. Gethsemani as part rary life for ‘Nothing is pleasing’ Mary and the “I’d like you to do the same of a wave of men in Raphael. rosary. He be- and make the sign of the cross search of meaning “ T h e The stillness could be brutal stowed upon on your forehead,” he said. I after World War II. very ground in ways I only realized when I me “Mary’s did. under me was relieved of it. special blessBoth times Rene met me shook,” he said. “That would Every time I have a coning” from Medjugorje and - for his first time, both times have been a terrible life. I saw versation I am drawn out of urged me to pass it on. During he asked that (revelation) as a kind of myself. I forget my last visit he predicted that what Jesus He said that at first grace.” my head and the Jesus will come back later this would say if he the life of prayer obsessions in it. Raphael, whose birth name year. smacked me. I wrestled was Paul Prendergast, spoke is disheartening. “I think Jesus is coming “When I more of Carl Jung and O. through restlessHe said there back through other people,” first came here Henry than of St. Augustine. ness and boreare many times he said. “He doesn’t have the abbot told He said entering the monastic dom. Raphael to come back in a body like me there are when “nothing is life was a crash course in psycalled these yours or mine.” only two peo- pleasing, nothing times “aridity.” chology. I struggled to wrench my ple here, me solves me, nothing He said that “People are taught to take mind open to the possibil- and Jesus. I’ve at first the life good care of their ego in socifeels good.” ity. What if? Everyone holds been lookety,” Raphael said. “When we of prayer is dispieces of the truth, even when ing for other see in another what we don’t heartening. He said there are the pieces are splinters. people, but I haven’t found like in ourselves, we don’t many times when “nothing is “I’ve been here 58 years,” them,” Rene said. like that person. So you have pleasing, nothing solves me, Rene said. “And I’m very He said he’d have become to withdraw those projections. nothing makes me feel good. happy.” an alcoholic if he’d stayed in I found Jungian psychology to You think, ‘Is anybody really STREETVIBES May 2009 hearing this? Does any of this have meaning anymore?’” At those times, Raphael said, the monk turns to God. “Why would God have aridity in the plan?” he said. “Because we are looking for the giver, not the gift. These are all God’s gifts – God wants you to seek the giver, and the gifts will take care of themselves.” Just when I’m wandering through the Stations of he Cross in the garden and getting blurry-eyed and fed up with all of it (why is it so frickin’ cold in April? We’ve got the March wind out there, Brother Raphael said earlier) I get to the last pillar, the resurrection, and a bird has shit on Jesus’ divine arm. Does God have a sense of humor? We do, so God must. When I returned to Gethsemani this March, I was afraid to ask about Raphael and Rene, desperately wanting some things to remain constant. God, I don’t want to fully embrace you because I am still young. The hurt of being separated from you sometime in my life is worse than never knowing you. I don’t know if I can survive more loss. Always waiting til the right time – I found Rene in the library where he again offered to whack me in the head with his cane, and I prayed the rosary with him that night before 7:30 Compline, but I saw nothing of Raphael. Later I learned that he’d died in the in-between. Working Person’s College Southwestern helps students who want jobs, not academics By Paul KoPP Contributing WritEr A hectic energy can be felt in the halls of the downtown campus of Southwestern College. Teachers and students move about in close quarters, each office shared by at least two staffers, with students and passersby popping in to ask questions or chat about the day’s events. The office of Robert Schmalz, the school’s education director, is no exception. Staff members intermittently file in to check their mail, send faxes and look up students’ telephone numbers. The noise of passing students becomes part of the music of the place, but it is also as an indication of its approach to higher education. The close quarters create an environment to develop real relationships, helping students more easily connect or re-connect with the idea of education with more purpose. Sitting behind his desk, Schmalz seems unaffected by the noise and flow of voices and people streaming about. Working in education for the better part of two decades, he was principal of Jacobs High School for four years. He has been at Southwestern for a year. “It is a downtown hidden treasure,” Schmalz says. “I sort of stumbled into it.” Schmalz says he often wondered what happened to students whom the public schools lost along the way. He was pleased to find that Southwestern offers programs for them, many of whom felt disenfranchised by education in the past, he says. Explain- ing the difference between students at Southwestern and those at more traditional colleges, he likes the example given by a faculty member who also teaches at Miami University. “He tells me (Southwest students) seem more concerned (about their lives),” Schmalz says. “(The school) has its own beauty in that respect, because many of our students would be among the unemployable if they didn’t come here.” Southwestern College, at the corner of Seventh and Vine streets, has been in Cincinnati for 45 years. The school started with five campuses throughout the city owned by Gary Wright, who sold them to Lincoln Educational Services five years ago, according to Kathreen Buckner, the lead medical instructor at the Southwestern College students are focused on long-term careers. Photo by Paul Kopp. school. Buckner has taught at Southwestern College for 17 years. The school is proprietary, a for-profit institution, but the staff seems driven by something more than money. “The difference between here and other schools is the teachers, before they even begin to work here, know it will involve going above and beyond to be able to connect with students and be able to meet the needs of the students,” Schmalz says. “The students come from See Working, p. 11 �STREETVIBES May 2009 Book/Movie Review 7 Exceptional and Homeless ‘The Soloist’ explores homelessness, mental illness and friendship By lew MooreS Contributing WritEr In a brief scene in The Soloist, the TV news is on. The year is 2005. The screen shows black faces, residents about to be made homeless by Hurricane Katrina. Nothing further is noted; perhaps Katrina merely sets the year. But it does more. As it played out over the days back in 2005, Katrina reminded the nation that not everyone had it well in America, that not everyone could escape natural disaster in their cars, that some were trapped by poverty. We had forgotten in 2005 – given not only the relative prosperity of that time, but also due to the fact that many newspapers medication and psychiatric had largely abandoned reporthelp. But he’d had enough of ing on the poor and inner-city that while in his 20s (he was in issues – that there was still an his mid-50s in 2005), so he’s under-class in America. They chosen a life on the streets of hadn’t disappeared. Los Angeles, playing classical You get that same feeling music on a violin and later a watching The Soloist, with its cello in a park with a statue of Dickensian scenes of poverty, Beethoven, homelessthen in a In the case of ness, despair, Los Angeself-abuse Nathaniel Anthony les highway and hope- Ayers, the promising tunnel. His lessness. Julliard School nights were Based on spent sleepa book by student who dropped ing on Skid out of school in the Steve Lopez, Row in Los a colum- early ‘70s, diagnosed Angeles nist for the with paranoid among other Los Angeles schizophrenia, he has broken and Times who lost souls. spent more not so much chosen a He has in than a year life of homelessness tow – more chronicling as been a victim of his evident in the life of a illness. the book than homeless but the film – a talented classhopping cart with all his possical musician whose glory sessions, the detritus of other years were in his youth, the peoples’ lives. Palm fronds, book and the film percolate on broken clock, sleeping bag, several different levels. buckets, boots, hubcap, clothWhile the film is ultimately ing, a tarp. He fends off sewabout the redemptive value of er rats by tapping sticks on friendship and music, it is also the pavement near where he about the complicated world sleeps. Ayers wants nothing of poverty and homelessness to do with medical and social and how to address it. help; musical instruments and In the case of Nathaniel sheet music will do. His cart is Anthony Ayers, the promishis crutch, as Lopez explains ing Julliard School student in the book. who dropped out of school in “The cart really is about the early ‘70s, diagnosed with security, and letting go of it paranoid schizophrenia, he has would be like letting go of the not so much chosen a life of side of the pool for the first homelessness as been a victim time,” Lopez writes. of his illness. Ayers “chooses” As long as Ayers has his only because he has options – cart, Lopez writes, he could an apartment awaits, as does never visit a doctor’s office: want the apartment, doesn’t fers a heartfelt assessment. want psychiatric help. “I think that everybody So where does that leave who is homeless has someothers whose paths came from thing extraordinary in them,” different directions, those who he says. “They’re continuhave no champion in a news- ing to live and go forth in a paper columnist? Lopez poses system that says they’re not the question and suggests the important enough to have a answers are enormous, having home. There’s something exto do with affordable housing, traordinary that keeps pushing eliminatthem along.” The numing povWhile the film is ulerty and so bers of hometimately about the on. Where less in the redemptive value of to even new report friendship and music, it due out will start? In Cin- is also about the com- undoubtedly cinnati, plicated world of pov- show an inabout 31 erty and homelessness crease from percent of and how to address it. 2000, Spring the homesays. less popu“We are lation suffer from chronic pretty sure that since 2000, mental illness, according to and with the economic crisis, a 2000 study by the Greater the numbers are higher,” he Cincinnati Coalition for the says. Homeless. Lopez appeared April 26 While a new study of home- on CNN’s Reliable Sources. lessness is due soon, the coali- He told host Howard Kurtz, tion estimates that altogether Washington Post media critic, about 25,000 people experi- that it had taken five or six visence homelessness in Cincin- its with Ayers before he finalnati (90,000 in LA) during the ly wrote a word about him in course of any given year. At 2005. For the past three years any one time, depending on Ayers has lived in an aparttime of year, a few hundred ment run by an L.A. group that may actually live on the streets offers housing to the homeless – in encampments, abandoned mentally ill. buildings, cars. Another few Lopez told Kurtz that he hundred live in shelters, and urged Soloist director Joe most might find themselves Wright to hue “true to the esdoubled-up with friends and sence of this friendship.” That relatives. is there in the film. Those who choose to live as The film, of necessity, comAyers did do so for a number presses. The book and film of reasons, according to Josh have no grand ending. AySpring, executive director of ers does not end up playing the coalition. They prefer their for the L.A. Philharmonic or independence on the streets at Carnegie Hall. Instead, he – “Having your own spot,” ends up in an apartment, off he says – or they despair of the streets, and continues to the hopelessness they might play his instruments. That’s find in shelters, where they all. see that so many others share At the outset, Ayers is simtheir homelessness. Other ad- ply a story to Lopez, a good vocates have said some do story, his next column. It not like the rules of shelters, moves beyond that. Other prefer to come and go as they columns follow, then a book. wish, or are substance abusers During the course of it, Lopez who can’t take their alcohol tries to become Ayers’s de facand drug habits inside shel- to social worker. He schemes ters. Others just don’t trust on how to get Ayers into an shelters. apartment, into treatment. While the classically trained But finally, when all is said and talented musician Ayers is and done, he becomes simply the exception, are there people his friend. In the end, that’s all like Ayers among the home- that counts. less in Cincinnati? Spring of- He couldn’t fit it through the doors. Ayers is rarely without his cart. To take a room would involve the hassle of moving it in and outside the room each time he left. He illogically maintains that he couldn’t just leave his cart unattended in an apartment. That would be to invite thievery. “Every criminal in Los Angeles will be coming through that door right there and they will steal everything I’ve got,” Ayers says in Lopez’s book. Ayers hears voices he has since he was a student. He doesn’t so much carry on conversations as deliver riffs on whatever pops into his head. When he is invited to a rehearsal concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he balks. “I am not going,” he tells Lopez in the book. “I don’t care. I don’t need to go to Walt Disney Hall, Fantasia, Donald Duck, Beethoven. … Does a cockroach talk to a greyhound?” The book and film are about homelessness aggravated by mental illness, so it is even more vexing, a double quandary. Solutions to Ayers’s homelessness, at least, are there – medical solutions are available, and an apartment offered largely as the result of Lopez’s columns. But Ayers has to be a willing partici- Tues and Thurs Buffet($7.00)-11AM-2PM Wed-Thur-Fri-Sat 9PM-3AM pant. He doesn’t 1128 Walnut St Pizza by the Slice �8 Sexy, Yummy, Veggie Your tour guide into the steamy side of vegetarian cuisine By alecia a. lott Contributing WritEr When is the last time you called your mother? If she’s anything like my Ma (and if you’re anything like me), she’s probably wondering why you don’t call or visit her more often. Oh, the guilt… Mother’s Day, which is May 10, can be your ticket to getting on Mom’s good side once again — if you play your cards right. Try this classy idea: Serve Mom a savory, down-home brunch that honors not STREETVIBES May 2009 Local News Photo by Alecia A. Lott. only her, but also non-human mothers — cows, chickens, sows — by not using their flesh, eggs or milk. Give her a little speech about the power of the maternal spirit in nature. Tell her what qualities from the animal kingdom — the renowned fervor of a lioness when protecting her cubs, for example — you see in her and how lucky you are that she’s always been there for you. But don’t make her cry: Her food will get cold. Though inspired by the scrumptious hash browns at Tucker’s Restaurant in Overthe-Rhine, my version is more of a guideline than a recipe. Feel free to throw in your (or your mom’s) favorite veggies. This tastes best when made in a cast-iron skillet. Don’t ask me why. Vegetable Hash-Mash 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 large yellow onion, diced 2 large russet potatoes, peeled (if you wish) and chopped 2-3 leaves of kale, tough stems removed, chopped 1 small bell pepper (any color), seeded and diced ½ cup fresh mushrooms, sliced (I recommend thick slices of Portobello.) 1 large fresh tomato, diced 1 tablespoon chopped basil leaves Salt and freshly ground black pepper Red pepper flakes (optional) 1. Boil the potatoes in a large pot for about 20 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat and drain. 2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, cover and cook until softened, about five minutes. 3. Add the bell pepper and mushrooms, cover and cook until softened, another five minutes. 4. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring frequently until lightly browned, yet another five minutes or so. Lightly mash the potatoes a bit with a fork or potato masher. 5. Add the kale, basil and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook until the kale is wilted, about two to three minutes. 6. Add the tomato and cook until heated through, two to three minutes. 7. Serve hot, garnished with basil. I like it with ketchup. But then I like everything with ketchup. 8. Serve with veggie sausage patties, toast with jam and juice or coffee. And give your mom a great big hug. Funny Man, Serious Sales ‘Streetvibes’ vendor uses humor to peddle the paper By MarK Payne Contributing WritEr I have to do keep going forward.” He used to sleep on a bench, Cleo Wombles is at the sometimes in the snow, across corner of Fifth and Walnut the street from where he now streets selling Streetvibes, an sells papers. alternative newspaper pubWombles, 52, says his outlished monthly by the Greater look has made a difference. Cincinnati Coalition for the “I just try to have a positive Homeless outlook on life,” he says, “I “Why did the skeleton like to make people laugh.” go into the Making closet?” he Wombles has came people smile a long way from asks a passis what breaks erby. “’Cause sleeping on a bench “the burden of he didn't have downtown and has a person beany-body.” ing homeless,” no plans to return according to A woman smiles and con- to the life he had. Wombles, who tinues walking. was born and “It’s jokes like this that I raised in Cincinnati. He wears come up with that I share with an assortment of novelty items people,” Wombles says. to amuse potential customers: Vendors sell the paper for a red clown nose, a clown hat a dollar, earning 75 cents per or a hamburger hat. He mimes. copy. But his funniest accessory is Wombles usually sells at his array of jokes. the same corner from 8 a.m.-2 A man walks by. p.m. Monday through Friday. “How do basketball players He then goes to University keep cool during the game?” Heights to sell the paper in Wombles asks. front of Chipotle restaurant. “How?” the man asks. Wombles says selling “They stand by the fans.” Streetvibes helped turn his life Humor is Wombles’ bigaround. gest sales tool, and it works, “I was homeless for seven judging by the volume of his years,” he says. “I was an al- sales, consistently the highest coholic and drug addict. Wine, among Streetvibes vendors. wine, wine – that was my in- “Sometimes 1,300 papers a fluence.” month,” he says. Wombles also makes use of He says he used to blow his money on drinking, drugs or his time on the street by dogambling. ing small deeds for people. “I would blow my money, Chipotle stands adjacent to a but I don't do that anymore,” parking lot that is notorious Wombles says. “I make every for towing cars, because the dollar count. I'll do whatever tow-truck drivers that frequent the area get paid on commission. When Wombles sees a car about to get towed, he runs into the restaurant and yells, “Hey, guys, the towtruck driver is here. Make sure you got enough money on the correct meter, or (spot) 10 is getting towed.” The owner of the car still might have to pay $50, but it saves her from having to go to an impound lot and paying twice that amount. Once, Wombles says, he caught two men trying to steal purses in the ‘Streetvibes’ vendor Cleo Wombles. Photo by Andrew Anderson. restaurant. happened to Wombles while “The only time I will beg is His goal is long-term relaselling Streetvibes involved a if I lost my wallet and I need tionships with customers. family relationship, he says. to get home,” he says. “When I “If I keep my good repu“My daughter was missing begged, I was conning, ’cause tation for these people, they for two years – bipolar,” he I was an addict, and addicts come and buy,” he says. “I've says. “I thought she was dead. con.” had bankers, judges, lawyers, Here is Fifth and Walnut on Wombles says he has spiripolicemen. That didn't use May 3. She is coming across tual support. to happen. I use to run from the street right here.” “Some people in AA (Alcothese people.” He points towards the cross- holics Anonymous) say they Wombles says he must bewalk. find a higher power,” he says. lieve in “positive mental atti“And now she is back home. “I found mine. Evil happens tude.” Even if he is having a Now, that is a good thing.” all around you, man. There is bad day, he won't let it show. Wombles has came a long always a negative thing. We He believes that, if he makes way from sleeping on a bench do need for people to see a people smile, they will come downtown and has no plans positive influence.” back and buy copies of the pato return to the life he had. Wombles has a saying to per. He says he still isn't where he describe his progress: “From But sales aren’t the only wants to be, but not even close the gutter to the udder, and I benefit. Perhaps the most to where he use to be. He still didn't stutter.” meaningful thing that has struggles, but won't beg. �STREETVIBES May 2009 Music 9 Creative Control Musicians independently expand vision before signing with labels By ariana SHaHanDeH Contributing WritEr lease of his first album, Awake, in 2005. At one point Vesely was earning up to $20,000 a From the insomnia-inspired month on merchandise and laptop music making stage to music sales on his own. building a music myspace to Support and recognition for finally signing with a label, Secondhand Serenade’s honest these days bands lyrics and pasare developing sionate delivery The band’s their music long eventually led before deliver- electronica style labels to seek and thoughtful ing it. a partnership. songwriting Secondhand But Vesely was Serenade and more focused on pierced the Paper Route are hearts of college the integrity of two examples of the music than campuses bands that have on getting a connationwide. found success tract; if he were with a label only going to sign after years of a with a label, it sovereign pursuit for musical was going to be on his terms. growth. “I just took it one step at a John Vesely, the core mem- time, tried to make decisions ber of Secondhand Serenade, that would affect what I was which originated in Menlo doing in a positive way,” he Park, Calif., started out mak- says. “You have to be smart ing music from his own home. and not jump on the first deal This led to the independent re- that comes to you.” Vesely eventually ran into Daniel Glass, an industry legend and founder of Glassnote Records, at a showcase in New York City. By 2007 Secondhand Serenade re-released Awake through Glassnote. Later the album, A Twist in My Story, would be born of the new partnership. To Vesely, the deal was worth the wait. “We work really well together,” he says. “(Glass) gives me the space to do what I want and gives me a lot of resources, so it’s perfect.” That creative space between producer and artist seems to be the most appreciated element of the relationship. JT Daly of Paper Route, whose home base is Nashville, signed with Universal Records. “It was more about finding someone that’s running parallel next to us, sharing the same vision at the same time and re- alizing that this could be a great team, rather than looking for someone to save us,” he says. “(It wasn’t) like, “Man do we have to get a record deal or we’re dead.” P a p e r Route’s musical soul was inspired by an iBook, inexpensive equipment and sleepless nights. The band’s electronica style and thought- Paper Route ful songwriting pierced See Control, p. 13 Vendors’ Artwork Artwork by Anthony Williams Berta’s Art Corner “In the shadow of solar cell technology” Michigan Say What?! _____________________ “In the long run, the oppressor is also a victim. In the short run (and so far, human history has consisted only of short runs), the victims, themselves desperate and tainted with the culture that oppresses them, turn on other victims.” - Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States �Column 10 The Shadow of Poverty Stories my father never told me STREETVIBES May 2009 Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. I knew very little about poverty, so that I got to know and her four children look like at it. He should have been a ***** poverty growing up. I learned the people in the little trailer Okies in a Dorothea Lange hero to the family. But nearly a lot about it – that of others park in the shadow of the Big My parents both knew pov- photo. Indeed, they were Ok- everyone just shook his or her and that of my own – later Four Bridge and the pretty erty as children. My mother ies of a sort. My grandparents head. Nearly everyone who on. But my w o m a n was the only child of a widow were rural southerners who knew him would tell you he “If you’ve really been parents saw with two in a small mill town in Mas- never seemed to settle any could have made something to it that my poor, you remain poor (or was sachusetts. She was lifted out one place and even home- of his life, but he drank it all at heart all your life.” sister and I it three? of poverty by the election of steaded Oklahoma for a time away. But not my father. Dad was saw as little – Somerset Maugham or four?) Franklin Roosevelt, which until they moved north with of poverty as screaming led to her mother becoming the whole Henson clan on the one who had to drag him possible in one small town. children who stayed drunk the postmistress of the town, word that there was work out of the bars. Dad was the They were hard working and never paid me; and the old with a stable income and a in the foundries in Sidney. one who had to leave college and thrifty. They both had widow at the end of my route chance to go to a teachers col- In another photograph, my to come home and help care government jobs. We owned who complained about my lege. She taught in one-room grandfather in his suit and my for his younger brothers and our own house, and we ate lollygagging with them girls schoolhouses in the moun- grandmother in what looks sister. He probably did a lot regularly. We went on vacatains of Vermont to be her finest dress stand more I will never know about. tions. We owned our own auand married my in front of a clapboard house But he never talked about it. tomobile and, after my mother It seemed he wanted to father when . . . with a wooden sidewalk. The went back to teaching school, . Well, that’s too rickety surroundings stand in leave as much of that life as by MiChaEl hEnson we had two – a nice one for long a story for stark contrast to their attempt far behind him as he could. her to drive to school and a He worked hard, avoided alwhat we’re doing to look their best. What the photo does not cohol, married well and was beater for my father to take here. She emerged downtown to the post office. at the start of it. I did some se- from poverty with opinions, show is how my grandfather, generally happy with the life Poverty was something rious lollygagging with them but few scars. by his drinking, sabotaged he made. other people went through. In girls every day so she did have I don’t think my father is My father had a different every chance at gentility, evSidney, Ohio, where I grew up, a right to complain, but that is story, one he would never tell. ery hope for stability, every much different from others it was something endured by another story. I only learned about it from the thought of a steady climb who grew up in poverty that the Black people across town I read about poverty, of stories of my aunts and uncles up the wobbly ladder of the was further undermined by in Buckeye Terrace, a collec- course. I was a teenager when and from alcohol. I don’t What the photo does not show is how my tion of crumbling, slate-sided Kennedy was elected. My par- little hints think my father project houses. Or, closer to ents were liberal Democrats. my father grandfather, by his drinking, sabotaged ev- is much differhome, you might see it at the My mother, an Irish Catho- w o u l d ery chance at gentility, every hope for stabil- ent from chilend of Shie Avenue in the little lic from Massachusetts, even let fall. I ity, every thought of a steady climb up the dren raised in the shacks near the dump where talked like the Kennedys, and still don’t double affliction wobbly ladder of the American Dream. the migrants from Kentucky she encouraged me to read know it all, of poverty and settled. It was something you books like The Other America and I doubt addiction today. might see out in the country by Michael Harrington and I ever will. American Dream. I know he There are a lot of people who where old men lived in little Night Comes to the Cumberwas a union leader because want to leave it behind. But I My father looked away evscrappy trailers or in a string land by Harry Caudill. ery time I asked him about his I’ve heard the story of how think the shadow of poverty is of little fishing cottages along But still poverty was some- childhood. Grandma had to use the rent long and touches many peothe banks of the Great Miami. thing that happened to other money to cover for him when ple. If we had poor relations, people. It had nothing to do he drank up the union dues. I know the shadow of child***** they were no one I knew. with us. He was a man with a third- hood poverty never left my faWhen I turned 12 or 13, I did not realize then, as I I have some family pho- grade education who could ther. If you asked him about it, my father expected me to go do now, that the shadow of tographs that tell part of the play five musical instruments he would tell you, “I don’t reto work, so I got a paper route poverty is always there. story. In one, my grandmother and could make a cast of an member.” And he would look that took me face to face with object by just taking a look away. ammered H ! ! ! Action Alert ! ! ! Cut Out and Sign This Letter and Return to the Ohio Justice and Policy Center 1 City Council City of Cincinnati 801 Plum Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 Return to: Dear City Council: David A. Singleton Ohio Justice & Policy Center 215 East 9th Street, Suite 601 Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 513-421-1108 (phone) 513-562-3200 (fax) I join with the Ohio Justice & Policy Center and other civic leaders who are asking the City of Cincinnati to end its blanket policy of denying employment to otherwise qualified applicants with felony convictions. It is very important, from a community safety standpoint, that we do all we can to ensure that former offenders, who have been rehabilitated and are otherwise qualified for employment, be given a chance to work and become productive, law-abiding citizens. I encourage the City to adopt guidelines to help determine whether an otherwise qualified applicant with a felony record should be hired. Among the facts and circumstances the City should consider in making the employment decision are: (1) the nature and gravity of the offense(s); (2) the time elapsed since the conviction(s); (3) the age of the applicant at the time of the offense(s); (4) the number of convictions; (5) any evidence of rehabilitation or mitigation presented by the applicant; and (6) the degree to which the conviction(s) relate(s) to the duties of the job for which the applicant has applied. These guidelines are important in making sure that only those former offenders who present minimal risk receive City employment. The City of Cincinnati should join the growing number of cities that are opening employment opportunities to people with felony records. It is important for the City to show leadership on this issue to encourage more private sector employers to hire former offenders. Sincerely, Name: Address: Date: �STREETVIBES May 2009 Local News A Little Snip Goes a Long Way 11 UCAN provides low-cost veterinary care By JereMy Flannery Contributing WritEr Dogs and cats boast a more productive sex life than humans. Female dogs and cats can produce up to 18 to 20 puppies or kittens per year, according to the United Coalition for Animals (UCAN), a non-profit veterinary clinic in Lower Price Hill. There is almost no limit to the number of females that can be impregnated, unless either or both are fixed. UCAN is literally cutting those numbers down through its pet spaying and neutering service. The clinic’s mission is to eventually eliminate the number of homeless dogs and cats euthanized in Cincinnati. Dogs and cats might not volunteer for the surgery, but it certainly beats the alternative. More than 33,000 dogs and cats are euthanized each year in Cincinnati, costing taxpayers about $1.2 million annually, according to UCAN. UCAN opened in 2007 to provide low-cost spay and neuter services to low-income pet owners and animal shelters operating on small budgets. The fees for each surgery (dog spay $75, neuter $65, puppies $60, cat spay or neuter $35) go directly toward animal services. The clinic loses about $10-20 per surgery, according to clinic manager Sonja Felix. But low cost doesn’t mean low quality of care. “Some people have expressed concern about, you know, are there trained vets there? Do you use anesthesia?” she says. “As you can see, it’s not a chop shop. There are windows to see into the surgery room and everyone here has a tremendous love for pets.” The clinic’s staff includes four veterinarians, one fulltime and three part-time, who perform surgeries for an estimated 10-15 dogs and 40-50 cats daily, Felix says. Twelve volunteers assist the clinic’s 15 employees. Many of the staff and volunteers have been animal rescuers and/or house rescued animals, Felix says. Volunteers assist with care for the animals between their surgeries and with the maintenance of the clinic. Barb Young started regularly volunteering at the clinic in December 2008. “I want people to know they have ways to care for their animals because over time A cat being prepped for surgery at UCAN. we lose our resources, getting older, and animals shouldn’t have to suffer for that,” Young says. Nor should financially burdened pet owners, Felix says. A Streetvibes survey of private veterinarian services shows dog spays cost $100 to $274, and dog neutering costs $78 to $150. Cat spaying costs $100 to $274, and cat neutering costs $59 to $150. “If people can’t afford the price, can’t afford to take care of their pets, then there wouldn’t be competition for them (in private veterinary practices),” Young says. “Some people that can’t afford to buy their pets food end up feeding – have to sacrifice their own food to feed them.” Pet food is not payable by food stamps in Ohio. Thanks to grants and donations, UCAN is able to offer vouchers and discounts for its services on a financial-need basis to those who cannot afford the listed prices. UCAN wants to make sure pets aren’t neglected because of their owners’ financial problems, Felix says. In addition to spaying and neutering, UCAN also provides medical services such as vaccinations and de-worming. The clinic recently added basic veterinarian care during weekday afternoons and Saturdays. For those who need it, UCAN provides transportation to the clinic. UCAN operates mostly through donations, Felix says. Its towels, the washers and dryers that run perpetually, the surgical equipment and the pet food have been donated by individuals, hospitals and companies. UCAN needs volunteers with a variety of skills: office management, cleaning, animal care such as feeding the animals and cleaning their cages and community outreach to inform the public about the organization’s mission. Volunteers could help by handling laundry for an hour, an option that might appeal to students seeking to fulfill communityservice requirements. “You don’t see it now, but there is usually a large pile of towels in the laundry room,” Young says. “These washing machines almost never stop running when we’re here.” UCAN hosts its first annual yard sale June 27, including games, food and face-paint for children. UCAN has performed more than 15,000 surgeries, Felix says. Those 15,000 surgeries prevented potentially 270,000 fewer homeless dogs and cats in Cincinnati. UCAN is at 1230 W. Eighth St., Lower Price Hill. To find out if you’re eligible for discounted services at UCAN, call 513-721- 7387. To volunteer, call Jeannine Dalluge at 513-504-4413. For more information, visit ucancincinnati.org. Working Person’s College various backgrounds but the at the end of their programs, majority are from urban areas, the school’s career office placand a lot of them (are) young es them in externships. single mothers,” Brian Hooten, If a student Buckner says. Southwestern’s “You have young misses a class, career services the staff calls people wanting to director, says change their lives he critiques stuto make sure but really don’t dents’ resumes, everything is know how, so helps them preOK. they go through pare for interthe education sysviews, shows tem and get focused on what it them how to network with difis they really want to do.” ferent employers and organizThe field with the largest es job fairs so they can get an enrollment at Southwestern idea of what employers want. College is medical assisting. “I also mentor, counsel and The school also has a growing uplift some of these individubusiness management pro- als because, due to the econogram, as well as one in crimi- my, you also have to tell them nal justice. When students are that there is hope out there,” Dr. Denise Bevins performs surgery on an animal. Photos by Andrew Anderson. Hooten says. Some of the students must complete a GED program within the first three quarters of their enrollment. “I sometimes say it’s culture shock for me to come teach here,” says Charles Baker, the school’s GED director. “I try and keep it light, use a lot of humor and knock myself down because there is this image of being a white male teaching here, that I may be inaccessible so I try and make myself the clown. I try and dispel the fear and anxiety, and there’s so much of that here.” The school’s work involves more than academics. “We do a lot of counsel- (continued from page 6) 1 ing, diverting them to people or places that can assist them with issues that come up in their daily lives,” Buckner says. The way the staff treats students is part of what attracted Antony Jemison, a first-year business-management student. “The instructors here seem like they want you to finish,” he says. “They want to help you vs. bigger schools where they don’t have relationships with their students. You can’t come to them with your problems. Here it’s like family.” For example, if a student misses a class, the staff calls to make sure everything is OK. Lois Robb, a student in the medical-assistance program, says teachers make her feel that they care. Earlier this year Robb lost her 3-yearold son’s father. She says her teachers were very supportive. She returned to school after the funeral. “They appreciated the fact that I was determined to still come and get my education despite my barriers,” Robb says. Buckner sees the school as a stepping-stone for anyone who wants to further her education or her career. “You start out with a foundation, and then you build on that,” she says. �12 STREETVIBES May 2009 Poetry We Need Some Things Redone So We Can Get a Lot Done I want to save Rothenberg. How in the world could you leave it like that? Here at Vine tiles on the floor are missing, doors are broke, the heat doesn’t always work. The bathrooms are dirty, nasty, and it stinks. There are holes in two of my classroom’s ceiling, and when it rains water falls through. That distracts me from my learning. We should not have to worry about our safety every time we come to school. We are very low on supplies. Will you please help us? The electrical problems are destroying our learning time. This school at Vine is a complete wreck! We found a dead rat in the closet. We don’t want to be scared of bugs that are around the building. We just want to be able to concentrate on our schoolwork and our teacher. I don’t think that we deserve to be one of the few schools without a renovated school. The school is not a good look for the students and staff. When people come here, they might think that this is a bad school because it looks Cincinnati School Board has agreed to revnovate Rothenberg crazy. Elementry. Photo by Lynne Ausman. I think that they need to do as they said and I feel like it’s not fair that almost every school has fix up Rothenberg. been renovated and ours has not! Even though it’s over 100 years old it’s okay. My mother used to go to this school when she was The board has been talking about renovating for at least five years. a kid. Students need bigger classrooms because it helps Students downtown need a nice, clean school. them to be more organized. We need some things redone so we can get a lot done And not worry about the wrong things. Rothenberg deserves to be renovated because it’s been sitting there rotting to the point where it might end up falling. Old Rothenberg is very big. There will be more students going there. It won’t feel overcrowded. People who live up on the street can just walk to school. Parents won’t have to worry about having to find transportation. I think it’s better to have a nice looking school for my little sister to go to. It will be a better learning environment. It’s a great place to have recess and is safe for children to not run in the street. We work hard for our education. You should not knock down old Rothenberg. If you knock down the old Rothenberg, it would be hard to find the company to help knock it down since they are firing people off their job. Where will the kids all go who live in this area? If you really care, you will find it deep down in your hearts to make a change. Everyone in the community will really appreciate what you have done. I hope I just persuaded you to renovate the Old Rothenberg. Even though I won’t be here anymore, it is important to still have a better school. When I get older, I would want my kids to go to a good school. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read my letter. From letters written to CPS School Board by seventh- and eighth-grade students at Rothenberg on Vine. Lines compiled and arranged by Bonnie Neumeier from OTREPS, April 13, 2009. Crossword Sudoku Down Across 3. Support bar 8. Ballpoint 10. Have an obligation 11. Reactor (6,4) 12. Barrel 13. Draw air audibly up the nose 14. Bequest 20. Hiss 23. Ornamentation 26. Motor transport 27. Written expression of affection (4,6) 28. Ladies 29. Temperature 30. Unpleasant 1. French volume 2. Punctuation mark 4. At most 5. Debris 6. Tangelo 7. Act of stealing 8. In an inadequate manner 9. Coarse 15. Elastic wood 16. Road 17. Abrupt 18. Gourd fruit 19. Displaces 21. Expletives 22. Water vapor 24. Deep unconsciousness 25. Tear Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 through 9. The fundamental goal of a Sudoku puzzle is to use the provided numbers, or givens, to discover which numbers logically fill in the empty squares. The only rule of Sudoku is that each of the nine rows, each of the nine columns, and each of the nine 3x3 subsections must contain all of the numbers from one to nine, and each number consequently can occur in each row, column and subsection only once. Answers on Page 15 �STREETVIBES May 2009 Community News Our Daily Jazz Student orchestra livens up hospitality ministry 13 Our Daily Bread, a food and hospitality ministry at 1730 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, offers a mid-day meal, serving more than 500 meals every weekday. To volunteer or donate food, call Joan or Kathy at 513-621-6364. By anGela Pancella Contributing WritEr casserole, cole slaw, tossed salad and desert. Some of our guests in the lower dining area “I wanna hear this music!” were playing cards or chess. one of our guests called as the Others, like the gentleman band set up. shouting All around the dining W e ’ d encouragement blocked off a area heads started section of Our bobbing, and soon the to the Daily Bread’s s t u d e n ts, more outgoing of our lower dinleaned guests got up to dance on ing area with the to “Knock on Wood” church pews, half-walls and “Blue Skies.” and now Cinand just cinnati Hills watched. Christian Academy (CHCA)’s We’ve been blessed with Electric Jazz Orchestra came some great musical perforto take their places. One of our mances at Our Daily Bread — wooden tables got drafted as a the combo Jus2, for instance, keyboard stand. Trombones has played a couple of times. and trumpets and saxophones (Musicians reading this who were unpacked and a drum kit might feel inspired to play at set up. our food and hospitality can It was 10:30 on a Friday call 513-621-6364). morning, so lunch was still This was the Electric Jazz being served — leftovers from Orchestra’s second visit; the the week, a ham and cheese first was in March 2007. Both Guests play chess while the Electric Jazz Orchestra plays in the background. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. Students from the Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy Electric Jazz Orchestra entertain guests at Our Daily Bread. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. visits coincided with the CHCA’s Serve-A-Thon, a day when all the students at the school’s four campuses set out to do service projects in small groups. Some students were cleaning up parks, doing landscape work at hospitals or nursing homes. The Electric Jazz Orchestra, about 20 high school students strong, was one of the larger groups. They were performing several concerts around Cincinnati as part of the Serve-A-Thon. The students set up all their instruments, music stands, amps and speakers in a matter of minutes, and then the jazz kicked in. All around the dining area heads started bobbing, and soon the more outgoing of our guests got up to dance to “Knock on Wood” and “Blue Creative Control the hearts of college campus“It helped define our vision es nationwide, and eventually more,” Daly says. “We retheir music reached out to an ally knew who we were by the even broader audience: any- time we got the record deal. one bored with mainstream. I don’t want people to think That individualistic image, we’ve changed at all. This is however, is exactly what is at what we set out to do from the stake now that start - to make Many of our a label is ina creative pop volved. musical authorities albums.” “This has And they can are beginning raised the bar, back it up. Even to come from because when after signing, an independent we were just both bands have background, and an indie band maintained the a new niche of doing whatevcontrol over er we wanted, entrepreneurship is their art: Paper we had the inRoute still enbeing created. die scene paygineers its own ing attention to songs and does us, looking in our direction,” its own visual art, and SecDaly says. “And now that ondhand Serenade’s music we’re signed, we have to win has only changed by becomthat all back again to prove ing more accessible. that we haven’t changed our Essentially, the labels’ roles vision.” are in fact “running parallel” Despite the mixed feelings to the artists, rather than overabout the effect record labels lapping. What’s interesting is have on an artist’s music, Pa- the fact that neither band exper Route’s self-supporting pected it to go this far. experience helped solidify the “I didn’t go into it thinking band’s intent. I needed to get signed,” Ve- Skies.” One man gave a grin at a particularly sweet keyboard riff; some folks used cell phones to snap pictures. The first set of older songs ended with John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom.” Then came a couple of contemporary worship numbers in horn-heavy arrangements — “Lord, You Are Good” and “Friend of God” — and more shouts of encouragement. This from a soloist: “Come on, horns, gimme something!” “That’s old school,” one of our guests commented as the brass section began a stately rendition of “Amazing Grace,” which then slid into a smooth jazz arrangement punctuated by cymbals. Hits by Stevie Wonder (“I Wish”) and Tom Jones fol- lowed — even Mary Beth Peters, our executive director, was seen breaking out the Carlton to “It’s Not Unusual.” The finale was Charles Mingus’ “Better Get Hit In Yo’ Soul.” “Put some sauce on it!” one of our guests insisted to the drummer as he soloed. And then the Electric Jazz Orchestra headed out to its next gig. The sheer number of positive comments throughout was overwhelming. It seemed everyone gave their vote of approval with “I enjoyed it,” “That was good,” “I liked that” or some variation. One woman even commented afterward, “If — and that’s a big word, ‘if’—if I ever get married, I want them to play at my wedding.” (continued from page 9) 1 sely says. “I didn’t go into it thinking I needed to even be very successful. I just wanted to make an album, and I just wanted to get it out to people as best I could.” D a l y agrees. It wasn’t until the band’s drummer, Gavin Mc- Secondhand Serenade Donald, joined the developed, followed by hard group that Paper Route started work. But not until a foundato get serious. tion was built, a vision defined, “Before that it was all more did it rise to the next level. of just a recording project,” Many of our musical auDaly says. “We sort of felt we thorities are beginning to were finished with music in a come from an independent lot of ways.” background, and a new niche Somehow the casual affec- of entrepreneurship is being tion these musicians had for created – finances, copyrights, music turned into a hobby, work ethic, risks, originalthen a project. Soon a passion ity and timing, all things in- volved in starting a band from the ground up. With this new trend, the age of being developed has replaced the age of being discovered. Hopefully, the industry will continue to encourage this sense of individuality. If we’re really lucky, it might even deliver artists that inspire us to buy CDs again. �14 Starting Life and Starting Over How I learned about family and faith 1 boy had a beautiful mother. They were going about their business, and then I had the accident. They loved me back to the point where I was all caught up. To me, that is and was amazing. Now, as I said, my mother began to go to church, and me and my brothers and sisters went also. My father at that time did not. So I was in church at a young age. M and Born in Cincinnati, the old- my brothers and sisters had to est of four, I began a happy go. It seemed like it was all life as a child. My father was the time. there, and my mother was also When Christmas came, we there. ate good, and I had to wear a I was told by my grand- three-piece suit. At that time mother on my mother’s side of my life the seed was being that I was spoiled the first few planted about God and his creyears of my life. That’s be- ation. I thank my mother for cause I was the having a heart oldest grandI was only 5 years to desire more child on my from life. Beold, and I had to mother’s side cause of her, wear a patch over me and my of the family. Then there one of my eyes for a family began very long time. was an accito learn, and dent. And I was church then hurt in a bad way. I was hurt became a part of my life. so bad that I had to be flown Once I stopped playing to the hospital in a helicopter. in church and started learnI was fed through my nose, ing, even before I learned the and my family was worried books of the Bible, I learned about my life. Things were so this: 1. Hear the word. 2. Read bad that I had to learn how to the Word. 3. Study the Word. do everything all over again. I 4. Memorize the Word. 5. had to learn how to walk. Meditate on the Word. Once I learned everything For any of this to be a blessthat I had already been taught ing in your life, you must up to that point, my family have faith. Faith helps you get said I began my recovery and started. Faith helps you along I recovered in a big way. I was the way. Faith in Jesus grows told I learned how to walk you. again and I learned how to If you’re reading this story do everything else. I was told and have questions, have an I was even better than before odd job you need someone to the accident. do or need encouragement, I was only 5 years old, and I you can contact me at 513had to wear a patch over one of 823-6030. my eyes for a very long time. Now you know just a little Then I began school. School about me. If you want me was wonderful because it was to speak to a group or your always something to do and I church, you can call me. You liked that. A short time after can also call Jeni Jenkins, that, my mother began to at- education coordinator for the tend church. greater Cincinnati Coalition So I was this young boy for the Homeless, at 513-421with a cool father. This young 7803, ext. 14. By toMMy tHoMPSon strEEtvibEs vEndor Are you interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist or photographer? If so, contact Greg Flannery at 513.421.7803 x 12 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com STREETVIBES May 2009 Vendor Writings Homeless Sam His attitude makes him wealthy 1 ing the day so he could have a By Dan Hoeweler roof over his head at night. He Contributing WritEr desires nothing but his freedom and love for life. He gets Sleeping outside under a exactly what he wants, and bridge was an old man named nothing more. Sam. He reeked of sweat and During the day he sits at dirt and hadn't shaved nor busy crosswalks in downtown trimmed for months. When Cincinnati carrying a cardhe smiled, a yellow sulfuric board sign asking for change. gleam apBusinessmen peared across dressed in Sam always has his face, t h r e e p i e c e a big smile on his showing his suits walk face, knowing full yellow teeth by, somethat he hasn't well he is one of the times willing brushed in richest people in all to help with nearly a year. a little bit of of Cincinnati. Next to him spare change. was a six-pack They feel sorof cheap beer he purchased at ry for him, not having the nice the store from the change he’d car, the trophy wife and the acquired while begging on the big house they’re so proud of. streets. His possessions are Others simply walk by in disfew, as he needs to carry all of gust, wishing he would simply them. This bridge has been the disappear. old man’s home for the last Sam always has a big smile year. The cops kicked him out on his face, knowing full well of all his other homes. Around he is one of the richest people him was a heap of garbage in all of Cincinnati. He feels that included hamburger and sorry for these businessmen candy wrappers, empty beer wanting to control people all cans and dirty old clothes that the time and always trying to had been worn out over the seem important. He knows years. that, despite all their possesEveryone feels sorry for sions, few appreciate life as Sam, yet Sam never feels much as he does. He lives in sorry for himself. Unlike most bliss. of the homeless, he chose this Everywhere he goes, he sees lifestyle. He tired of the rat wonder and joy, as if wearing race, the struggle to see who is a special set of glasses worth the alpha male in the pack. He a million dollars. Love surtired of the constant struggle rounds him like an aura of joy for possessions and pieces of no rich man could ever buy. green paper everyone seemed People feel sorry for him, yet so crazy about. He decided he wonders why. Why should early on in his life that the you feel sorry for one of the most important commodity for richest men in Cincinnati? him is freedom – the freedom Sometimes he’ll find a nice to wake up whenever he wants beat-up old suit at the Salvaand not be pushed around and tion Army and prance around threatened by someone dur- the streets of downtown Cin- cinnati, feeling richer than almost anyone there. He stares at the tall buildings, feeling as if he owns them all. Sam is indeed rich, yet everywhere he goes, people felt sorry or disgusted by him. It doesn’t bother him one bit. Sam lives in a world of his own, a world much greater than that of most people. He loves his life and freedom so much that he couldn't imagine selling one hour of his time to a factory or company. Every now and then he’ll sit down, grabbing a quick bite to eat, and start crying out of happiness and joy about how wonderful his life is. He feels compassion for those beneath him, the people slaving away hour after hour, collecting green pieces of paper he knew little about. He wonders every now and then if somehow he could help these lost souls he sees everyday walking through the city, in a rush over creating some object or thing that is worth green paper. If only he could teach them how beautiful life is if you just stand back and watch it. Convinced few of them would listen, he decided instead to have the glory and beauty of life all to himself. Sam loves his freedom more than anything on this planet. Freedom was more important to him than money, power and fame. He is living the American dream that most Americans can't even dream of, the dream of endless freedom – freedom so great that no number can take away or convince him otherwise. Sam is one of the wealthiest men in Cincinnati. �STREETVIBES May 2009 Local News 15 Peaslee Power Neighborhood center celebrates 25 years of empowering Over-the-Rhine 1 By MaiKa arnolD Contributing WritEr Imagine Over-the-Rhine with a beautiful garden for children to learn and play in, a steel drum band, photography workshops, African drumming, poetry readings and art classes. These are a reality at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center on East Fourteenth Street. The Peaslee Center grew out of a grassroots movement by a group of concerned women who wanted Over-the-Rhine to have an asset that belonged to the community. Opened in 1984, will celebrate its 25th anniversary Dec. 14. Members of the community helped raise about $290,000 to purchase Peaslee Elementary School from Cincinnati Public Schools after it closed in 1984, according to Bonnie Neumeier, the director and one of the founders of the center. The center’s goal has been to Peaslee Neighborhood Center empower the people of Overthe-Rhine, offering residents a chance to express themselves through art classes. Residents created a series of mosaics now housed at Peaslee, the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and other locations, such as Love Dove at 12th and Vine streets. The center sponsors a steel drum band and offers music classes, including piano and violin lessons; poetry readings; and sign language lessons. Peaslee’s Childcare Center, which serves children 6 weeks to 12 years old, uses hands-on learning to help develop their minds. Children learn math by learning how to play African drums studying and the beats. They learn how to read by telling stories with the teachers. They learn about vegetables in the Edible Garden. The garden, a new addition to the center, helps children learn where food comes from and helps them appreciate the earth. This hands-on approach gives them a better understanding of ecology and the satisfaction of growing their own plants and vegetables. The Peaslee Center enables residents to hold meetings and social gatherings. It also provides space for seven nonprofit advocacy groups: the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, A Small Group, Equal Justice, Ohioans to Stop Executions, Christians for Peace in El Salvador, the Center for Community Change and the Intercommunity Workers’ Justice Committee. Peaslee now faces an uncertain future. Because of the recession, the center hasn’t received some of the grants it had hoped for. The center lost the Homeless Child Care grant from the Salvation Army, worth $50,000, for this year, along with a few other grants and funding, Neumeier says. Peaslee needs about $85,000 by the end of the year to keep some of its programs from being diminished or eliminated, she says. “We seriously could use $100,000,” Neumeier says. “Our budget each year is about $450,000 to $5000,000 for the license for child care and everything else. So I’m hoping the word can get out between the broad community again to keep everything here running.” Neumeier says she believes Kim Burgas, Bonnie Neumeier, Annabelle Johnson and Michael Jackson on the steps of Peaslee Neighborhood Center. Photos by Lynne Ausman. the community will help as it has in the past. One of the reasons the center has survived for 25 years is because of public support, she says. “We’ve had a lot of joy and bumps over the last 25 years, but it’s been worth it,” Neumeier says. “We don’t have a lot of community assets in the neighborhood that belong to the people. We’ve got to keep Peaslee as a pillar of strength.” (Jeremy Flannery contributed to this story.) To help the Peaslee Center, contact Bonnie Neumeier at 513-6215514, ext. 20, or bonsunflower@gmail.com. Donations of basic supplies for the Childcare Center are especially welcome. For more information on the Peaslee Center, visit peasleecenter.org. Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes Puzzle Solutions �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES May 2009 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion Terry Ranson Anthony Williams Nell Williams Grady Cook Cleo Wombles James Davis Jon Darby Dede Stoops Julie Walker Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson Riccardo Taylor Alfred Woolfolk Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Terrence Williams Raynard Jones Richard Tyree Karen Collett Charles Cole Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Talbert House...684-7965 Treatment: Women First Step Home ...961-4663 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...641-4300 Shelter: Both Advocacy Shelter: Men Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Starting Over...961-2256 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Oral Health Council...621-0248 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Resources Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2009 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource May 2009 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Legal Backfire The X Mayors to the Rescue Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes ‘Standing Up Again’ Pg 4: Retreat to Silence Pg 5: Legal Backfire Continued The X Mayors to the Rescue Pg 6: Retreat to Silence Pg 7: Exceptional and Homeless Pg 8: Sexy, Yummy, Veggie Funny Man, Serious Sales Pg 9: Creative Control Pg 10: The Shadow of Poverty Pg 11: A Little Snip Goes a Long Way Pg 12: We Need Some Things redone So We Can Get A Lot Done Pg 13: Our Daily Jazz Pg 14: Starting Life and Starting Over Homeless Sam Pg 15: Peaslee Power Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 2009 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Lynne Ausman Stephanie Dunlap Margo Pierce Lew Moores Paul Kopp Alecia Lott David Heitfield Dave Scharfenberger Angela Pancella Mike Henson Andrew Anderson Ariana Shahandeh Jeremy Flannery Maika Arnold Andrew Anderson Paul Kopp Anthony Williams Aimie Willhoite Stephanie Dunlap Berta Lambert Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Andrew Freeze Georgine Getty Michael Henson Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Aimie Willhoite Alecia Lott Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Ariana Shahandeh Berta Lambert Cincinnati College Dave Scharfenberger David Heitfield education Georgine Getty Gregory Flannery Jeremy Flannery Joe Wessels Lew Moores Lynne Ausman Maika Arnold Margo Pierce Mayors mental illness Michael Henson Mike Henson Musicians Orchestra Over-the-Rhine Paul Kopp poverty Sex Offenders Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Students UCAN https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/1a17aad2f1bfbb1e6eb1e623ad228f10.pdf e1738a7bf5d4518b68bb8dfc003bb81e PDF Text Text Master Luthier in OTR Page 11 Gap Year Page 8 STREETVIBES $1 A p r i l 2 0 0 9 • I s s u e 1 5 3 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e Healer and Brother Marianist doctor’s specialty is caring for homeless people By Paul KoPP Contributing Writer is located in an old mansion on Washington Avenue in Avondale, once owned by “some Brother Bob Donovan, kind of steel tycoon,” as DonM.D., has been giving medi- ovan puts it. Walking up the cal care to the homeless com- grand staircase, one can almunity in Cincinnati for 16 most imagine what the interior years. He was “instrumental of the house must have looked in starting like. the healthThe cen“A lot of times you know care syster sees exactly what the person tem for the about 130 needs but it’s just so patients homeless hard to get them in.” in Cincinyearly, the nati,” ac- - Br. Bob Donovan, M.D. majority of cording to whom are treated by Mary Beth Meyer, executive director of Donovan unless he is out of the Respite Center in Avon- town. The illnesses he treats dale. most often at the center in“He is such a gentle person, volve recovery from surgery, so humble that you wouldn’t broken bones and cellulitis, a necessarily ever get any of skin infection that usually octhat information from him,” curs in the legs, he says. Meyer says. “You really kind The second floor is where of learn about him from other Donovan sees patients, in a small wing directly off people.” The Respite Care Center, a the staircase. The halls are 24-hour medical and nursing cramped, and the air feels facility for homeless people, slightly oppressive, in stark contrast to his demeanor. Raised in Cincinnati, Donovan attended St. Xavier High School, received his undergraduate degree at the University of Cincinnati, then studied at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, returning home to start a private practice in the suburbs, which he held for four and a half years. “I loved my practice but I felt like I wanted to do something different, to help people with less access to health care,” he says. At the same time Donovan was beginning to explore the matter of his own spirituality. Though not quite sure what he was looking for, he began to learn about the Marianist community through a recommendation from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He says the Marianist mentality clicked with him largely due to its “prayer life“- a group prayer twice a day. “It’s a time for us to come together and in a sense remind ourselves that God is a part of all of our day,” Donovan says. See Healer, P. 4 Brother Bob Donovan, M.D. dedicates his life to caring for homeless people without insurance. Photo by Andrew Anderson. Treatment Center Under Attack In the face of tragedy, city council lashes out By GreGory Flannery editor Do you want to live near sex offenders? Too late. You already do. What do you want to do about it? Hamilton County is home to about 1,500 people who have been convicted of sex offenses. There is only one residential treatment center for sex offenders in the county, and Cincinnati City Council wants the state to “shut it down,” as its letter to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland put it. Last month a former resident of the Pogue Rehabilita- tion Center, where sex offenders and other former prisoners receive treatment, allegedly killed a 13-year-old girl. In response, six of council’s nine members demanded the facility be closed. Raw emotion seldom makes for sound public policy, and no one made the point better than the victim’s father, who in the midst of his grief said that city council is wrong, and the Pogue Center should remain open. ‘Vote pandering’ The Pogue Center in Overthe-Rhine houses 90 to 100 former offenders, about half of whom have been convicted of various crimes classified as sex offenses, according to Chris Lohrman, president of the local chapter of the VOA, the non-profit agency that operates the facility. On March 7 Anthony Kirk- the Cincinnati community,” land allegedly strangled Esme the letter to Strickland says. Kenney. The Pogue Center “Please shut it down.” had evicted This is, him eight as MarRaw emotion seldom days earlier gie Slagle makes for sound for strikpoints out, public policy, and no ing another an election one made the point resident. year for The center better than the victim’s city councalled the father, who in the midst cil. An atCincinnati torney with of his grief said that Police about the Ohio city council is wrong, Justice and the incident and the Pogue Center Policy Cenbut Kirkshould remain open. land wasn’t ter, she says charged. c o u n c i l ’s The center notified Kirkland’s position ignores facts about parole officer the next business sex offenses and the most efday, as state rules required. fective response to them. But as public outrage over “The politicians really love the girl’s death mounted, city to blow it out of proportion,” council responded by blaming she says. “It’s vote pandering, the facility that had tried to and they rely on the fact that treat Kirkland. their constituents don’t know “VOAhas, at the least, failed what’s going on.” miserably in their mission and Research in the past 10 destroyed all public trust with years shows that, contrary to public perceptions, most persons convicted of sex offenses don’t repeat the crime, according to Slagle. Repeat offenses decline significantly when offenders receive the kind of treatment offered by the Pogue Center, she says. “What we should learn from this is there aren’t enough programs like this in the state,” Slagle says. “If the VOA is closed, most of those folks are going to become homeless.” Which is, of course, the state Kirkland was in the night he allegedly committed murder. If the city wants to protect public safety, closing the Pogue Center is the wrong step, according to Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. VOA is a member of the coalition. See VOA, P. 6 �2 News Briefs Name it What it Is The upscale shopping and residential district planned for nearly a decade along the Ohio Riverfront in Cincinnati hasn’t had much construction activity but at least it had an apt name for a long time: The Banks. That’s fitting for the nearly $1 billion project. But it seems banks are none too popular these days, and so the Atlanta-based developers overseeing the 18-acre site asked for public input on a new name. The deadline has passed, but the survey was pretty limited anyway, with participants asked to pick between Riverfront District, Park District and Parkside or keeping the original name. Apparently no serious consideration was given to Rich People’s Enclave, Wealthy Village or We Got Ours Town. Cincinnati Judge Gets U.N. Post Hamilton County Appeals Judge Mark Painter has been named to the new United Nations Appellate Tribunal. A longtime supporter of Streetvibes, Painter has been on the local appeals court for 14 years. He has acquired an international reputation for teaching lawyers how to write in ways that lay people can understand. But more important, Painter has distinguished himself as a judge who requires respect for the rights of defendants and insists on prosecutors playing by the rules – qualities not often in evidence among his fellow Republicans, who have long dominated the local judiciary (see “Eight Minutes with an Honorable, Jan. 1 edition). Next issue: When Painter leaves for the United Nations, will Hamilton County finally break its longstanding racial barrier? We’ve never had an African-American appeals judge. Correction An article in the March 1 edition (“Fire Damages Grace Place”) incorrectly stated that Grace Place Catholic Worker House charges rent for guests who are able to pay. The house charges no rent but helps residents to save their wages for future housing needs. The article also incorrectly stated how long Grace Place has been open. Joyce Asfour and Sandy McCoy co-founded the facility 10 years ago. The Vibe Streetwise By GreGory Flannery So You Want to Help the Homeless, Do You? The closing of the Vernon Manor Hotel is going to pose hardships for homeless people. It’s not that they’ve found a place to stay there, but rather two agencies that provide essential services will lose their offices when the hotel goes out of business. The overall U.S. economic downturn is pushing the Vernon Manor to close. That means the Cincinnati Health Network and the Greater Cincinnati AIDS Consortium will now be homeless, like many of the people they serve. If your church or organization is interested in helping these non-profit agencies find quarters to continue their work, please call Charles Wallner of the AIDS Consortium at 513-910-5985 or Kate Bennett of the Health Network at 513-961-0600. If you’d like to help an organization that helps homeless people but don’t have office space to share, the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is in constant need of basic household supplies such as paper towels and toilet paper. The coalition serves coffee to homeless guests, so it also needs coffee, sugar and creamer. If you are able to provide office supplies such as copier paper, Lynne Ausman, administrative coordinator for the Homeless Coalition can tell you what kind is needed. To donate supplies, call 513-421-7803, ext. 11. Why, Some of Their Best Friends Are Poor People We mustn’t assume that everyone wants to help homeless people or addicted people or hungry people, their protests to the contrary notwithstanding. The Over-the-Rhine Foundation trumpets its goodwill on a section of its Web page titled, “Improved Social Services”: “The OTR Foundation is not opposed to helping people, feeding the hungry or giving shelter to the homeless. In fact, we want to encourage improvements in social service delivery to assure that these goals are more effectively reached and that increasing numbers of people can find substantive life change.” But the foundation’s real goal is limiting the number of agencies in the neighborhood that help poor people. Michael Morgan, executive director of the foundation, supports Cincinnati City Council’s efforts to use zoning regulations to restrict the places that human-services agencies can locate and to “de-concentrate” the number of agencies in Over-the-Rhine. Unfortunately, some of his arguments are as uninformed as city council’s proposals. “These agencies often function with no intra-organization collaboration,” the foundation’s Web site says. But, in fact, the Homeless Coalition, for example, is a collaboration of dozens of agencies. The foundation says, “The result is massive replication of services.” But, in fact, various emergency shelters specialize in the needs of different individuals; some house homeless men, some house homeless women, some house homeless families. The foundation’s most curious assertion is this one: “Most of these facilities are run by people from outside the neighborhood.” But, in fact, both the past and present executive directors of the Homeless Coalition, to pick just two people, have lived in Over-the-Rhine. More to the point, even if the “outsiders” assertion were true, what’s the point? Unhappy Anniversary to You The anti-war movement isn’t what it used to be. As Lew Moores pointed out in the February edition (“What’s Next for the Resistance?”), a number of factors, including the election of an anti-war president and the focus on the massive U.S. economic crisis, seem to have taken some of the vigor out of the peace movement. A couple dozen local activists gathered March 19 at a corner in University Heights to mark the sixth anniversary of the U.S. war on Iraq. One year earlier, hundreds lined Clifton Avenue on the fifth anniversary of the war. Of course, that was an election year, and the economy hadn’t yet bottomed out. The important point isn’t that the numbers of protesters are down but rather that the war continues and therefore the peace struggle must go on, as attested by the stalwart activists who turned out March 19. STREETVIBES April 2009 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Contributing Writers Stephanie Dunlap, Margo Pierce, Lew Moores, Paul Kopp, Alecia Lott, David Heitfield, Dave Scharfenberger, Angela Pancella, Mike Henson, Larry Gross, Lynne Ausman, Andrew Anderson, Ariana Shahandeh Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Lynne Ausman, Paul Kopp, Anthony Williams, Aimie Willhoite Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are members of: �STREETVIBES April 2009 Community News Eight Minutes 3 with two ‘Outlaws’ Risking their lives for journalism By MarGo Pierce Contributing Writer I was with three other guys. There was a third person inbetween who actually set us Lack of profits – not death up – I didn’t know the person threats or government raids who was printing the editions. – close down newspapers in It was very purposeful. the United States, but that “We were not supposed to kind of problem is only wish- meet because it was dangerful thinking for Nasim Fekrat ous for us to say we know and Gibbs Dube. These jour- each other. And if one of us is nalists regularly receive death arrested, then it’s easy for us threats, have to say, ‘It’s been beaten published Threats of jail and up when by (somedeath were regular they gave a one else.)’ occurrences. But government ” that didn’t stop them When the or an official unfavorable newsletter from publishing The was just an press and Whirlwind. keep a runidea, Dube ning total of was talkthe number of their peers who ing about it and an American are jailed or killed each year. overheard the conversation. Fekrat, a freelance jour“She said, ‘I’ll find you a nalist from Afghanistan, and person, but you’re not going Dube, a journalist from Zim- to know the person.’ So then babwe, are both in the United she found that person,” Dube States on fellowships to learn says. “After doing the editomore about their craft and the rial, we just give her the maresources available to help terial and she will take the them when they return home. materials. Then later we’d see For Fekrat, that means going the publication on the street. back to wearing a disguise It was really permeating the when walking the streets of urban areas. Unfortunately, it Kabul to avoid arrest. Dube wasn’t getting into the rural might not be allowed back areas.” into his home country. The The men writing the editorigovernment banned his last al copy communicated via enpublic newspaper, The Weekly crypted messages to each othTimes, and his effort to keep er to meet at a specific place to his secret connection to a fol- write their copy and then not low-up publication – equally meet again until it was time to unpopular with the officials prepare the next edition during of the Media and Information the four-year run of the paper. Commission – has probably In between, their personal ofbeen revealed. fices were raided many times “What I did was to form a – they didn’t have an address four-page newsletter, which or phone number for the pubwas underground,” Dube says. lication – and threats of jail “It was called The Whirlwind. and death were regular occur- rences. But that didn’t stop them from publishing The Whirlwind. “At the end of the day it was effective in terms of people reading it and people talking about it,” Dube says. “You hear people talking about it a lot and we’d say, ‘Fine, we are doing a good job.’ It was very popular. “The day we stopped was when I was coming to the (United States.) Those other guys said, ‘Stay safe.’ One of them had to leave the country … because somebody, I suspect, leaked the information to the state security agents. He fled and went to Botswana. The other left and went to South Africa.” Dube told me about his experiences when we were on break between sessions at the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution Conference in Philadelphia in February. His smiles and passion for journalism were as intense as his concern for his family. During the year of his Hubert Humphrey Fellowship at the University of Maryland, Dube’s wife and children had to move in with his brother for a while because she feared for their safety during the police raids on their house. He said the risk is “absolutely” worth it. He believes there is no freedom without a free, independent press. Fekrat, who lives 4,380 miles away in the middle of a war zone, believes the same thing. “I’m writing to inform people,” he says. “If I’m on line I can (bring a b o u t ) change if I am changing the motivation of a person. I’m doing a kind of education, informing people, which is the base of change.” When he Gibbs Dube, left, and Namal Perera. Photo courtesy of the Peter Jennings Project for Journalist and the Constitution. Gibbs Dube. Photo courtesy of the Peter Jennings Project for Journalist and the Constitution. isn’t doing translation work to earn rent money or moving apartments every few weeks to avoid being caught, Fekrat is reporting for the BBC Persian, Radio Free Europe and publications run by NATO and the United Nations. But his true passion is teaching “citizen journalists” how to access digital media (http:// afghanpress.org/) so they can tell about day-to-day move beyond the war. At one session he had 35 people sharing 10 computers. “The mission of launching workshops in different parts of Afghanistan, for me, it was important to bring Afghans to the digital world,” he says. “Why? Afghanistan is now defined as a war country in Western media. But what we’re going to do is we’re going to change this. We have very, very weak media – print and electronic – 95 percent is private. Using new tools – digital photography, Web – informing our society and making a window open to the world and telling from Afghanistan what is going on. “Present Afghanistan through the digital world (with) a different face, not war. We have lots of underground cities discovered. We have Buddhas discovered last year – 17 meters (tall). We’re going to give a real picture of our history, connect people, maybe some people like students will (create) a connection with Afghan people, to know more about the country.” Self-taught in everything digital, Fekrat also taught himself to speak and read English and is now in the midst of a one-year media fellowship at Duke University. Also a Jennings Fellow, Fekrat talked about why he’s risking his life for journalism. “You can’t be silent. You have to write something,” he says. “There’s a lot of domestic violence against women. That’s your mom. Your sister is living this – you feel responsible to tell something to society. “I was also writing about discrimination, which is very sensitive in Afghanistan. Today it’s growing. Now what we’re going to do, we want to bring more Afghan people to the digital world to talk about their own society, their reality about what’s going on, about war, love, hate, music, culture – everything.” So what do two journalists from foreign countries have to do with making Cincinnati a better place? Both men were surprised and pleased to learn that a non-profit organization helping homeless people could and would publish a newspaper. Unpaid journalists offering their time and work to support such as cause, they say, is just like what they do. The comparison feels overly generous when the only threat I’ve ever gotten is a potential lawsuit from a developer (which never happened) and the worst thing the cops do to me is ignore my messages to call back. But the underlying point isn’t lost: A newspaper can serve as the voice for people who don’t usually get to speak or are ignored when they try to express themselves. While the life-and-death struggle for providing that printed voice isn’t as obvious here in the states, Fekrat articulates the importance of doing that work of communication, regardless of where journalists live. “If I have today, I have today and I’m going to spend today for today, not tomorrow because I don’t know that I’m alive tomorrow.” Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them. �4 STREETVIBES April 2009 Community News Juvenile Justice Reform Underway Ending excessive force and extended sentences By lew Moores Contributing Writer Court for the Southern District of Ohio in 2008 found DYS facilities around the state The juvenile corrections “overcrowded, understaffed system in Ohio was broken and underserved.” It posited: and now it’s in the process of “Excessive force and the exbeing fixed. cessive use of isolation, some of it extraorA lawsuit “What we’ve created dinarily profiled in 2004 challenged now is a system that is longed, is the way the centered on the youth endemic to Ohio Dethe ODYS and the hope we all partment of system.” have for rehabilitation.” The reYouth SerAl Gerhadstein vices (DYS) port also adtreated judressed how veniles in custody and how DYS employees were treated, it determined the way they’d saying juvenile correctional be released. A settlement was officers complained about reached a year ago. Last month “excessive use of mandated DYS announced a new pro- overtime” driven by undercess for releasing juveniles. staffing. Instead of holding youthful The report went further: offenders beyond their release “The needless and excesdates because of deficiencies sive use of force is engrained in the system itself – such as within ODYS. … We consislack of medical care, lack of tently found flawed training, a mental health system, inade- deficient oversight, seriously quate education opportunities, inadequate reporting and subpoorly trained staff and “arbi- sequent review of ‘incidents.’ trary and excessive discipline” Our findings support the con– DYS will release them on clusion that ODYS youth, time once their minimum sen- with varying degrees of intensity depending on the facility, tences are completed. “Once a youth completes are not provided with the contheir minimum sentence, they stitutional minima relating to will not be continued except a safe environment.” in cases where they are con“What prompted this is that sidered a risk to public safety, it’s part of an overall reorgathere is time added for serious nization of the entire juvenile misconduct while in custody, corrections system,” says Al additional treatment is nec- Gerhardstein, a lead attorney essary or when other special for the plaintiffs. “We have circumstances are determined started from the front door and by the full Release Authority worked our way to the back Board,” according to a state- door. This is the back door.” Gerhardstein says youthment by DYS. A fact-finding report sub- ful offenders are sentenced to mitted to the U.S. District six months but kept beyond that depending on arbitrary factors, which especially included factors such as “institutional deficiencies” – “Oh, you need anger management, which we haven’t had enough staff to give,’ so we’ll flop you for another six months,’” he says. “That was just incredibly counter-productive for the health of the youths and safety of the public. That just creates bitterness.” DYS Director Tom Stickrath said this in a press release from late February: “I want to make sure we are making sound, informed decisions about release that are consistent with public safety. The complexity of the previous system seemed to lead to uncertainty for the youth and their families as to how and when the youth would be released. Under the revised process, there will be increased consistency in the decisionmaking process because the parameters for a youth’s release, or continuance, are clearly defined.” In a stipulation from early last month, the state and plaintiffs agreed that DYS will provide young people entrusted to its care with a “safe and humane environment” and that it will provide treatment in the “least restrictive setting” that is consistent with youths’ transgressions and “generally accepted professional standards of care.” “What we’ve created now is a system that is centered on the youth and the hope we all have for rehabilitation,” Gerhardstein says. “It’s not just a “For me, it’s a way of putting that as an integral part of my day because without that it’s easy to get lost and frustrated over all this stuff that I know could be better.” Donovan lives in a shared apartment building in Overthe-Rhine with several Marianist brothers. Brother Mike Murphy, a housemate of Donovan’s and the manager of the Canticle Café, says the brothers have developed a strong support system. “We both have very active types of work dealing with the homeless,” he says. “There is a lot of personal sharing that is going on. We have a very good relationship. When he’s stressed out, I help him; and when I’m stressed out, he helps with me.” Murphy says Donovan is quiet and introverted, with a tremendous loyalty to his profession and to working with “You have to go through financial systems first; and when you get that done, then you can make the referral, and then it takes anywhere between six weeks or threefour months before the person can get in,” he says. “A lot of times you know exactly what the person needs but it’s just so hard to get them in.” In Kentucky, the situation is much worse due to lack of funding, Donovan says. “It is almost impossible to get a referral over there,” he says. There is a marked frustration in his voice when he talks about the health-care system. Others, however, point to what he’s done to help. Harry Walter Duncan Jr., a patient, recalls first meeting Donovan six years ago. “It was kind of intriguing because he actually cared about the people he was helping,” Duncan says. Al Gerhadstein, attorney for the plaintiffs. speculative hope. It’s a realistic hope based on evidence. We know from an extensive amount of research that, if you use the right type of programming, you will be able to make a positive difference in the youth’s life and into their success for re-entry so long as you don’t lock them up too long. “There are a large number of youth called ‘moderate risk’ in the system, and the research shows that, if you institutionalize them excessively, they will get worse as offenders. Their re-offending rate will go up. So you need to do a good dosage right away and get them out of there. This isn’t something like Scared Straight. This is not built on fear. It’s just built on appropriate programming.” Healer and Brother (continued from page 1) homeless people. On meeting Donovan, one wouldn’t guess that he is a Marianist brother, Meyer says. His faith is more of an internal mechanism, Meyer says. “I think, to him, his faith is what drives his behavior,” she says. “His compassion and his spirituality -- I think that is his motivation for everything that he does.” After resigning from his private practice, Donovan began to fully dedicate himself to serving the medical needs of homeless people. In addition to his work at the Respite Center, he also works a weekly shift at the Pike Street Clinic in Covington, Ky., and sees patients on a medical van. Providing medical care for homeless people, even after they’ve been treated in hospital emergency rooms, is full of obstacles, according to Donovan. Even arranging appointments is difficult. Each youth in DYS gets a unified case plan geared to what’s appropriate to him or her. About 1,400 youths are currently committed to DYS. “If you release (juveniles) who’ve got a chip on their shoulders, who haven’t learned how to behave, you’re going to have more trouble,” Gerhardstein says. “You’re just going to make things worse. So that’s what we’re dedicated to changing. I think this is an excellent plan for getting that off on the right foot. “These reforms will reduce future criminal activities because we are tailoring the treatment to the real needs of each youth. When they reemerge back into society, they will have better skills and better motivation to stay out of trouble.” In the med van, Duncan learned that, in addition to high blood pressure, he was also suffering from diabe- Harry Duncan is one of many patients served tes. Duncan by Dr. Donovan. Photo by Andrew Anderson. was able to that, I had just gotten off to counteract both conditions of drugs; and you know you with Donovan’s help, but still go to ask someone for some has become partially blind due money, and you know the first to not taking his medication. thing they are thinking.” He calmly broaches the topic This isn’t the first time of his vision loss, not blaming Duncan has lost his vision, he anyone else. says. In 2004, after he had a “Every time I would go off stroke, Donovan helped him lagging on what (Donovan) to see and even drive again. said, I had to suffer the re“I’ve got nothing but the utsults,” he says. most respect for him -- and it’s Duncan says the problem not just about me; it’s about was paying for the medicaeveryone,” Duncan says. “Evtion. eryone I see, I tell ’em, ‘Get “You get tired of asking on that dang medical van.’ ” for (money),” he says. “Prior �STREETVIBES April 2009 Community News 5 Slaves Look Like Us Human trafficking is a local and global issue en, would be domestic slaves in the homes of the masters,” he said. “Sometimes these slave workers would tell the If you imagine that slavery masters, ‘I have a child. Would is a crime of the past or is lim- you like the child to stay with ited to foreign countries, con- you?’ sider this: Since the founding “After independence the of the End Slavery Cincinnati term ‘stay-with’remained. The Rescue and Restore Coalition Africans, the former slaves, in September 2007, the group they would go into the rural has received 16 referrals. areas and ask the poor famiSix of those cases are under lies, a family with too many investigation by law enforce- mouths to feed … where there ment, according to Jessica was no school in the area, and Donohue-Dioh, a coordinator they would offer this family, of the group. Half the victims ‘If you let your child to stay involved in the local cases are with me, your child will go school U.S. citito zens and The worst part is that I will take half are care of your the child is not allowed child.’ And foreign nato speak until spoken the family tionals, she to. The child cannot be would say, says. Aw a r e ‘Sure.’ A seen by anybody but ness of the child has to remain ‘stay with’ contempowithin the sound of the defined the rary slavery child.” person’s voice. is growing C a d e t ’s thanks to ordeal beevents such gan when he as a March 5 conference at was handed over by his family Isaac M. Wise Temple. More as a “stay with” at age 4. than 200 people heard the ac“That child really has no counts of two former slaves: value so the child usually Jean Robert Cadet, a native sleeps under the kitchen table Haitian who is executive di- on the floor or on the back rector of the Restavec Foun- porch,” he says. “The child dation, and Theresa Flores, a is the first one to get up in the social worker who grew up morning and the last one to go in the Midwest. While their to bed. The first thing in the enslavement occurred worlds morning, around 4:30-5, the apart, their stories echoed the child fetched the water. Often same sense of fear, degrada- it’s a girl. She goes out and tion, hopelessness and tri- sweeps the yard. She washes umph. the car, she cooks, she empSlavery legally ended in ties the chamber pots. Even Haiti when it gained indepen- though the house may have dence. But the change in law indoor plumbing, the people didn’t eliminate the reality, would have a chamber pot Cadet says. because they’re too lazy to go “During slavery, when the to the bathroom because they slaves would be out in the have a child to do it. fields working, their children “But the worst part is not or other people, usually wom- the chores … it’s not the fact By MarGo Pierce Contributing Writer Jean Robert Cadet, a former slave in Haiti. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. that the child is the last one to go to bed at night … it’s not the fact that the child is beaten. The worst part is that the child is not allowed to speak until spoken to. The child cannot be seen by anybody but the child has to remain within the sound of the person’s voice. When the person says, ‘Bobby,’ the child has to magically appear. So the child usually stays around the house, behind the door or in the corner of the kitchen. They do not talk to the child. If the family goes out at night or spends the day or the weekend (away), they lock the door and the child is in the yard. If it’s raining, too bad. This is the type of slavery that I experienced as a child in Haiti.” The family that Cadet ‘stayed with’ smuggled him into the United States when he was a teenager. When the family learned about mandatory school attendance in the United States, they told Cadet The audience at the Issac M. Wise Temple conference on human trafficking. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. to leave their home. As terrible as it sounds, it was good that Cadet was kicked out in this country, where he was able to get help. High school turned out to be Cadet’s ticket to freedom, but that is where a two-year hell began for Flores. “I lost my voice when I was 15 years old,” she said. “My silence was mandatory and others profited off my silence.” A new student at a high school in the affluent Detroit suburb of Birmingham, Mich., Flores met one of the “others” in school. He went her church so she disregarded warnings from her new friends to stay away from him. The youth drugged her, raped her and then said she had to “earn back” sexually explicit pictures of her. “They threatened to show the pictures to my father,” Flores said. “They threatened to show them to my father’s boss at work. They threatened to post them around school. And they threatened to show them to the priest of the church I attended. This is a typical way that men ensnare girls into human trafficking rings, to this day. They watched my every move – they knew where I was at all times – they were in class with me, even in the same church. They would come by my work and stand in the door. They would find out where I was babysitting and call the house. Cars would follow me home from school.” She would get calls telling here when to meet a car that would take her away to serve as a sex slave for one or dozens of men at a time. “We as Americans often envision trafficking as Indian boys making soccer balls or carpets, girls in Thailand or Cambodia for sex for sale for tourists or African slaves, not prostitutes, not in America – the land of the free – and not with kids living in $300,000 homes in the suburbs,” Flores said. “No one wanted to hear that trafficking looks like me, too. So I remained silent.” Her father’s job transfer to another state along the east coast allowed Flores to escape her captors. For those who think it doesn’t happen in Ohio, Flores had a sobering message. “The FBI has identified Toledo, Ohio, as the numberone recruiting hub for teenage prostitution, which is human trafficking,” she said. “If we … know for a fact it’s in Toledo, we are foolish to believe that it’s not happening in Columbus, Cleveland or Cincinnati.” More people live in slavery today than at any other time in history, according to Julie Arostegui, a coordinator of the End Slavery Cincinnati Rescue and Restore Coalition. “Today there are between 12 and 27 million people enslaved worldwide,” she, said. “It is estimated that 200,000 more are enslaved every year; of that amount, between 14,500 and 17,500 are trafficked into the United States annually. Add to this the 100,000 to 300,000 American youth who are at high risk of being trafficked for forced sexual exploitation – prostitution and pornography. This is a major human rights issue.” To learn more about human trafficking visit the Department of Health and Human Services web site at www.acf. hhs.gov/trafficking/. �6 STREETVIBES April 2009 Book Review Alone Again, Naturally Sheeple Who Need Sheeple Are the Luckiest Sheeple of All By DaviD HeitFielD Contributing Writer When my neighbor Terry Reed asked me if I'd like to read a copy of his latest book, he warned me: “It might piss you off.” It didn't, because I, too, am one of those “lone wolves” who sees more value in writing book reviews for a no-budget newspaper sold by homeless people than engaging in the cliquish banter of what passes for social intercourse. Of Herds and Hermits: America’s Lone Wolves and Submissive Sheep serves up an ironic aspect of our national self-image: While we like to think of ourselves as a culture that values the individual, this is just mass delusion, a mythology employed to hide the banality of our evolving social constructs. We are a nation that worships the team player, the sheep who join fraternal organizations, the company man. We’re LinkedIn and Facebooked. We reward the followers and fear the independent thinkers. Our anti- intellectualism has transmuted that “loners” are maladjusted from a defiant transcendental- and die much earlier than the ist and Romantic tradition rest of the herd. Being alone is found in Thoreau or Emerson implied to be damaging in evto a culture that abhors, rejects ery way, not just to society but and stigmato the individual. Still, it is amazing tizes any“That, of one with course, is egreto think that in a brain. gious stupidity,” this 24-hour news Wa l d e n Reed snorts, apworld, where every provingly quotP o n d story is reported, has been ing Montaigne, blogged, youtubed dammed “The greatby Joe the est thing in the and twittered, I P l u m b e r, don't recall seeing world is to know you betcha. how to be selfone thing blaming After sufficient.” groupthink for our laying the To be fair, one current economic literary could find a lot to mess. foundation quibble about in for the exalthe book. It's not particularly well tation of individualism over collectivism edited. Some rather obscure in the first chapter, Reed starts sources (and sometimes inexmaking his case that despite plicably anonymous sources) our American literary heroes often seem strung together of the 18th and 19th centuries, for no particular reason. One a “loner” is a pejorative term could easily deconstruct the in almost every other context, narrative as a requiem for the be it from literal dictionary loss of the male hierarchy – or, definitions to sensational news perhaps more accurately, as a stories about murderous “lon- lament for the feminization of ers” to modern sociological American culture. and medical studies indicating But that's also what makes much of this fun to read. This isn't so much a dogmatic polemic as it is a heart-felt, impassioned defense of people who just want to be left alone, who just can't see what the big whoop is about joining groups and making new social contacts. Don't look down on people who lack your need for approval from others. And if you think most social constructs are stupid, just go your own way and don't look back. Reed rails against “the sixhour dinner death march,” suggesting that one way out is to argue some wildly unpopular idea at the party, so you may then leave early: “One of the rewards of ostracism is to devote what would have been dinner party time to some far higher purpose, such as contemplating a ceiling.” You probably have to be a hermit to appreciate that line. Even worse than a dinner or party invitation, though, is the dreaded wedding invitation: “Weddings are a dilemma for the lone wolf, because he can find no cause to celebrate what appears to him as a perfectly dismal idea”; and un- See Herds, P. 10 Treatment Center Under Attack (continued from page 1) Chris Monzel “It is far more dangerous for all involved, including our city and region as a whole, to have people who are sex-offenders living on the street. … Without the Pogue Center, the level of possibility for crimes to be committed against others in our area would simply increase exponentially,” Spring said in a statement issued after council’s letter. The city’s response ignores a salient fact: People who commit sex offenses are eventually released from prison. Are the rest of us safer if they receive treatment, including help finding jobs, as the Pogue Center offers? “People who go through appropriate treatment programs re-offend at a much lower rate than people who are imprisoned and never treated,” Lohrman says. State law and a city ordinance restrict former sex offenders from living near cinnati like the Pogue Center, schools, day-care centers and which has been operating for I other places where children don’t know how many years.” congregate. Their job prosThe answer is VOA has pects are dismal. operated a halfway house for “We kick them out of their former offenders in Cincinnati homes, for 50 years, The city’s response away from Lohrman ignores a salient fact: their famisays. lies,” Sla- People who commit sex That’s not gle says. offenses are eventually all that Mon“We won’t released from prison. zel doesn’t give them know about jobs. And the center. then we expect them not to He says he’s never visited it, commit more offenses.” although he allows, ‘I’ve drivAt present, an estimated 40 en by it many times.” He says to 60 homeless former sex of- he’s never read the inspecfenders live downtown, Slagle tions by the Ohio Department says. of Rehabilitation and Correc“If city council insists on tions or the Ohio Department closing the VOA, those home- of Alcohol and Drug Addicless sex offenders are going tion, both of which license the to be right there in downtown Pogue Center. Monzel didn’t Cincinnati,” she says. say whether he knows the facility is accredited by the Monzel doesn’t know American Correctional Association. But it is. The back-pedaling is alMonzel says the Pogue ready under way. Councilman Center – one of only three Chris Monzel, one of VOA’s residential treatment facilities most vigorous critics, now for former sex offenders in says closing the Pogue Center the state – belongs out where isn’t really the point – never there are cows and cornfields mind the letter he signed call- and such. ing for the governor to “shut “This location should be in it down.” a more rural area,” he says. “The correct word is “We’ve done our fair share.” Meanwhile, having exten‘moved,’ ” Monzel says. “We do not want a center in Cin- sively studied public policy on sex offenses, Slagle hopes the public will remember: • Eighty to 90 percent of sex offenses involve someone known by the victim – family members, neighbors, teachers, coaches, priests – not strangers lurking in the shrubbery. “We’re looking at the bushes and not next door,” she says. • Children in the United States are seldom abducted and killed by strangers, as Esme Kenney was. In 2005 that happened to 100 children, compared to 500 killed by drunk drivers and 1,100 killed by parents or other caregivers. “It’s not stranger danger,” Slagle says. “Thank God people like Kirkland are very rare.” • Sex offenders are not all alike. The recent arrest of teenagers in Greater Cincinnati schools for “sexting” – sending allegedly obscene photographs of nude minors to one another via cell phone – constitutes a sex crime under Ohio law. “The first thing the public doesn’t quite understand is that, when you use the term ‘sex offender,’it’s such a broad range of crimes that you can’t make generalities,” Slagle says. “The ‘sexting’ trend is a sex offense, and it’s actually a more serious offense than the one Mr. Kirkland was charged with.” Kirkland was at the Pogue Center for a conviction for importuning – that is, trying to lure a child into sexual activity. That’s a crime, of course, but it’s not the same as physically abusing a child, and it’s a reminder that the matter of sexual offenses is complex and doesn’t lend itself to easy solutions, such as shutting down a center that has successfully treated many former offenders – the ones who haven’t been in the news. “The VOA provides a very, very valuable service to all of us in the community,” Slagle says. “They’re treating sex offenders before they come back into our community. They help them have jobs and save money. The question we should be asking as a community is, ‘Do we want these folks to succeed? Of course we do. We should be creating an environment that guarantees their success.” �STREETVIBES April 2009 Book Review 7 First You Have to Have Your Own Bootstraps Year of experimental poverty doesn’t yield much insight By lynne ausMan Staff Writer Scratch Beginnings is a memoir of one man’s journey into and out of homelessness. This story is nothing like the stories I hear every day at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Adam Shepard, the author, did not grow up in poverty, he did not experience violence at home or in the street, he did not suffer any type of drug or alcohol addiction, he did not have a mental illness – or any signs of one. He did not have to worry about money, he had a roof over his head and a college degree, he was the stereotypical college kid. When Shepard graduated from college he felt “disillusioned by the apathy he saw around him and incensed after reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s famous works Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch – books that gave him the feeling of hopelessness over the state of the working class in America.” This feeling sparked an idea and a journey, an idea to refute Ehrenreich’s theory that people who start at the bottom tend to stay at the bottom and a journey of self-discovery. Shepard set out to achieve the “American Dream.” He placed his past, including his contacts, his pricey college education, his bank account and even to some extent his family, on a shelf for later use. In addition to wiping his past away (for the year), he vowed not to panhandle, only use services available to everyone and not break the law, aside from illegally sleeping in a park or under a bridge. These parameters are the first clue that this is a book took pity on him and got him in. He was surprised when no one was interested in hearing his fabricated story of how he arrived at the shelter. The police officer gave him four “[My story] is the story of rags-to-fancier rags. My goal is to better my lot and to provide a stepping-stone over the next 365 days for everything else I want to accomplish in my life. I aim to find out if the American Dream is still alive, or if it has, in fact, been drowned out by the greed of the upper class coupled with the apathy of the lower class.” – Adam Shepard about the realities of homeless- pieces of advice: 1. Don’t take ness and poverty influenced blankets from the floor; you’ll by a middle-class background. get scabies. 2. Keep your beShepard took $25, the clothes longings with you or they will on his back and a sleeping bag, disappear. 3. Ignore guys who boarded a train to Charleston, bother you; walk away. 4. Do S.C., to find his way with noth- not work day labor; go to the ing and to make something. employment office and get a At the end of his journey, he real job. hoped to Shepard He blames poverty on measure didn’t listen laziness; he blames his sucto the police poverty on being cess by a o ff i c e r ’s few posadvice and unmotivated to better sessions one’s situation. He has no p r o m p t l y -- an opempathy for such people. went to the erable day-labor automohall for a bile, a furnished apartment job. He caught on quickly to and $2,500 in cash -- and a what day labor is: indentured foundation on which he could servitude. He writes about the exploitation, the bad wages, continue to improve his life. Taking a train from his the rude employees, the extra hometown to Charleston, fees. He eventually found a S.C., Shepard arrived at a job at a moving company. The homeless shelter well past job that allowed him to find curfew, but a police officer an apartment. He furnished it with items that clients no longer wanted. He bought a truck and saved money. He met his goal. The moving company taught also Shepard about low-wage workers. He met Derrick, the extremely hard working mover saving every penny to buy a house. There was BG, who was also a mover and became Shepard’s roommate. BG preferred to skip through life coasting off little work and the generosity of friends. Along with his reflections on his year of “rags-to-fancier rags,” Shepard makes recommendations to help those who are experiencing homelessness and poverty. First, he says, life can be a bitch. Second, there are happy people and unhappy people. The happy people are not necessarily the richest, but they are the ones who are going somewhere. They have a plan, they have a dream, they have a purpose and they are happy with it like that. Third, we need more clean, safe, affordable housing and training in parenting, financial literacy, housing maintenance and other life skills. Oddly, he doesn’t mention better jobs or more jobs. Shepard’s main conclusion, however, is that “moving up” is reserved for the few who are willing to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. But what if they don’t have bootstraps to begin with? What do you pull up from? He calls this the “It ain’t my fault” society. He blames poverty on laziness; he blames poverty on being unmotivated to better one’s situation. He has no empathy for such people. His final plea is to upper-middle class America to donate money, to volunteer, to mentor, to be “neighborhood heroes.” In the end, Shepard’s memoir isn’t really about being able to achieve the American dream when you start at the bottom. It’s just a middleclass perspective on poverty. He says he spent the year not relying on his past success, his college degree, his family or anyone he knows; but in reality, it’s impossible to separate these. He still had his middleclass values, his middle-class pride and his middle-class knowledge. In the first chapter, he was irritated that he’d been asked for money so many times and assumed that the next person to talk to him would ask for money; it almost resulted in a fight. Shepard’s middle-class values told him that he needed to find a job quickly, not rely on others and work his way up. He had bootstraps: the knowledge and values he was taught growing up. There will always be people who defy the odds, like Chris Gardner in Pursuit of Happyness or Jeanette Walls, who wrote The Glass Castle; but the reality is that a vast majority of those who start at the bottom stay at the bottom. It’s a complex issue and there is not a fix-all Band-Aid that we can apply to make everyone middle-class. Creating more affordable housing and intervening when families are at-risk goes a long way to helping end homelessness, but they are not the total solution. We need good jobs with good pay and benefits; we need to help people get bootstraps. Are you interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist or photographer? If so, contact Greg Flannery at 513.421.7803 x 12 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com �8 Sexy, Yummy, Veggie Which of the following is true? A) Vegetarians are generally healthier than meat-eaters. B) Vegetarians are generally thinner than meat-eaters. C) Vegetarians spend less on groceries than meat-eaters. Trick question! If said vegetarians avoid processed foods and eat a balanced diet, all three answers are true. Let’s talk about groceries, baby. In addition to being better for our health and waist- Mushroom Curry with Brown Rice Serves four moderately hungry people or two very hungry people Your tour guide into the steamy side of vegetarian cuisine By alecia a. lott Contributing Writer STREETVIBES April 2009 Local News 1 lb. button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded 2 tsp. ground coriander 1 medium onion 2 garlic cloves 1 tsp. ground cumin ½ tsp. chili powder 2/3 cup coconut milk (use light coconut milk to save a few calories) 3 tbsp. canola oil (or other neutrally flavored oil) Salt to taste 2 cups brown rice Photo by Andrew Anderson. lines (among other things) than a meat-based diet, a plant-based diet is also good for our wallets. Let’s face it, meat is expensive. You can pinch those pennies until they scream if you strut your grocery cart away from the deli and dairy sections and toward the produce section of the supermarket. Keep your pantry stocked with inexpensive staple foods and a few basic spices, and you can feast like a king or queen without spending like one. “I can eat veggies when I’m by myself,” you say. “But I have a hot date coming over and I need to make something, well, special.” Not to worry! My mildly spicy, filling mushroom curry looks fancier than it is, and that‘s the beauty of it. Enjoy it whether you’re solo or ready to wow your paramour (or your family), and adjust the spices to your taste. If you hate chopping mushrooms (I do), you can buy them presliced but it will cost more. Brown rice is healthy, but any rice will do. Are you ready? Optional toppings, not pictured: Paprika Chopped fresh parsley Coarsely chopped cashews Cook rice according to package instructions. • Put jalapenos, coriander, cumin, chili powder, garlic, onion and coconut milk in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. • Pour canola oil into a saucepan, add mushrooms and cook over medium heat until the mushrooms are soft, about five minutes. • Add coconut milk mixture, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, another five minutes. • Serve the aromatic mushroom mixture over a bed of hot rice. If you’re feeling especially showy, top with a sprinkle of paprika, parsley and/or cashews. Take a Break Some find ‘gap year’ after high school most educational 1 By ariana sHaHanDeH Contributing Writer a few minutes of listening can be to people who don't get out much,” she says. With growing pressure to Although her gap year attend college immediately was so productive, Pratt-Harafter high school, many kids rington’s decision was first are guided toward a path more met with hesitation and low suited to society than the in- energy. dividual. But more and more “Most of the pressure to students are opting to more not take a year off actually broadly explore came from their academic teachers,” “I would say that possibilities by she says, taking time off taking a gap “They were year before definitely helped me happy that I mature and make college. was taking Abbey Prattbetter decisions in the opportuHarrington, a nity, but you the future.” sophomore at could tell - Matt Southworth Wi l m i n g t o n they didn’t College, spent think it was a year before the best opseeking her degree volunteer- tion.” The gap year encounters ing, traveling and participating in humanitarian work. apprehension for many others “I spent three months trav- as well. eling around the British Isles,” “My friends thought it was she says. “I took a few tours, a bad idea,” says Seth Huff, a did sightseeing and got to- recent graduate of Lakota East tally lost on a few occasions. High School. “My brother, my When I got back, I did a little sister thought it was a stupid volunteer service at a local art idea.” gallery and then got a summer Since graduation, Huff has job with Meals on Wheels.” passionately pursued a career Upon her return home, in music, drawing a growing Pratt-Harrington continued to support base for his band, Armake a difference in others’ cher’s Paradox, despite othlives. ers’ original doubts. He started “A lot of my time was spent with a humble myspace page with older people, and that (www.myspace.com/archerwas a learning experience sparadoxmusic). Now he will just to realize how important be featured on episodes of the Seth Huff of bands Archer’s Paradox and Mia and the Retros is featured in MTV’s Taking the Stage. new MTV reality series, Taking the Stage, as part of the band Mia and the Retros. A 2002 high school graduate, Matt Southworth, used time off to enlist in the U.S. Army for two years. He held two part-time jobs after his tour ended, gaining life and work experience before enrolling at Wilmington in 2005. He saw the time off as a useful learning advantage. “I would say that taking time off definitely helped me mature and make better decisions in the future,” Southworth says. The opportunity wasn’t lost on Pratt-Harrington either. “If I hadn't taken a year off, my first year (at college) would not have been much fun,” she says. “I think I would have hated some of my less interesting classes, felt helpless sometimes when facing things in the system I wasn't familiar with and I probably would have been a lot more stressed just trying to deal with all the changes.” Unexpected changes aren’t exclusively a part of college life. Even when plans are made, time away from home and straying from the direct route to college can still inspire a plan to turn another direction. Asked which decision he was most grateful he made in his time off, Southworth says, “I am probably most grateful that I did not reenlist in the Army. I was going to re-enlist in Iraq, giving me a $10,000 tax free signing bonus. But some things hap- pened that made me change my mind. As a result, I ended up in Ohio and so many doors were opened for me.” Sometimes the most rewarding aspect of a gap year can be the surprises a dorm room might not otherwise inspire. That was certainly the case with Southworth. “You can make plans, but life never goes as one would expect it to, so roll with it,” he says. “Go with the flow. You will always end up where you are supposed to be, no matter which road you take.” Time off after high school can be a rewarding adventure when executed with passion and intent. Ultimately, there is a difference between a plan and an endeavor. A plan is a structured account for a goal — ideas and timelines that ideally lead to a specific achievement. An endeavor is an earnest and industrious perseverance to materialize a dream. For some, the gap year isn’t the best direction to take if there isn’t something very specific an individual seeks to attain outside the academic arena. But for others, a rich future is most adequately attained through a seasoned past. And time off after graduation can provide that for those most suited for it. �STREETVIBES April 2009 Poetry/Artwork 9 First Lady By JaMar MalcolM KinG Dear God, please send me a “first lady.” The ones I care about be treating me shady. I need someone to help with all my task. I crave love and understanding. Is that too much too ask? Artwork by Anthony Williams Malcolm had Betty, Martin had Coretta. These strong women made them better. In all the struggle and the pain, These men had love as their gain. Barack has his Michelle. Will I find mine? Only time will tell. Maybe one day I, too, will be a president. I need a lady on my side to represent. Berta’s Art Corner Cleo’s Joke Corner Flamingo, (1974), Alexander Calder, Federal Center Plaza, Chicago, Illinois What did the digital watch say to the grandfather clock? “Look, grandpa, no hands!” 1128 Walnut St Pizza by the Slice Tues and Thurs Buffet($7.00)-11AM-2PM Wed-Thur-Fri-Sat 9PM-3AM �Column 10 Eating While You Can Poverty and the culture of immediacy “It’s the first of the month. You can’t fill ‘em up.” That was Jeanetta, waitress at Tucker’s on 13th Street, surveying the whole families in the back booths. For many years, she served me breakfast at the counter -- eggs, fried potatoes, toast and very strong coffee in white china cups of a sort you don’t see anymore. Jeanetta leaned against the cash register and shook her head, She evidently did not approve of how these people ate so much at the first of the month. They should have been working, for one thing. For another, they should have been planning out how to spend their money. Making it stretch. Budgeting. Prioritizing. Planning. Instead, they were eating. They were eating more than they were likely to eat the rest of the month. They were eating more than it made sense to eat, given how little they had to make it through the month. By the end of the month, they would be coming around to churches to beg a bag of food to carry them through the last week of the month. They would be working under the table and hoping no one called in on them. They would be buying groceries on credit at the stores that would allow for that. They would be hungry. And it happened every month, so you would think they would know. You would think they would do what the social workers told them. You would think they would plan. I think some of them did. I think some of them planned a planned it well, and you made the food stamps stretch across a whole month, that meant you were bound to be a little hungry for the full 30 days. But if your planning were a little bit off, if someone got arrested, or your car got towed out of a 4-to-6 p.m. zone or if you got robbed, your budget would fall apart. Any little bump in the road could derail all your planning. That last week of the month –- or more — might mean real hunger. Any way you planned it, you were bound to be hungry. by MiChael henSon So here you are, with money in your pocket once-per-month feast into their and the chance to be full, rebudgets. But I think, for most, ally full, no stinting, no filling the hunger they had felt in the yourself with beans or macalast week led to the gorging of roni just to keep from starvthe first week. ing, It’s guaranteed, at least And why not? For, no mat- this once, you will be full, satter how well you planned, no isfied, sated. matter how carefully you proWhat do you do? jected, that check would not ***** stretch to the end of the month. No matter how you juggled it, that check would not cover all Payday loans. Instant tax your needs. Something was returns. Scratch-offs. Rent-tobound to be missing. If you own. These are just a few of ammered H Herds: Alone Again, Naturally less the wolf hates the groom, a wedding is “a painful thing to witness.” He includes much colorful language detailing “this insidiously feminine carnival.” Attending religious services is for sheep, naturally, and universities no longer (if they ever did) allow the freedom of thought and speech that the lone wolf requires: “The muddleheaded bureaucrats who mismanage our overpriced universities tacitly endorse thought control.” Reed reminds us that all learning is ultimately a solitary experience, and he traces the roots of political correctness to America's long history of anti-intellectualism. He advocates for a broad, liberal education – obsession with vocational training is just another result of our anti-intellectual culture. He really, really hates television and shopping malls. He later explains (unsurprisingly) that “politics is dirty” and has no place for a lone wolf. Corporations are collectivist, too, and so Reed hates them just as eloquently as he hates all other collectivist atrocities and vents against them in a most endearing fashion in the third chapter. Anyone who has ever worked for a corporation can surely appreciate this assessment: “(Joiners) exact satisfaction in the knowledge that they're a small (if all but Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. the ways that the poor reach fication will eventually come. what would normally be out But what if nothing in your of their reach. In a society like experience has ever taught ours, the poor see what every- you anything like that? What one else sees on television and if the lessons of your experilearn to want what everyone ence have taught you that, if you don’t else wants. As Rich and poor watch Michael Harget it now, rington said in the same TV ads; rich y o u ’ l l his book, The and poor children learn never get New Amerito become consumers it? Becan Poverty, cause that before they learn to the rich and is precisebecome producers the poor “have ly what or earners. What you the same sopoverty cialization teaches, consume becomes a of desire.” especialpart of who you are. Rich and poor ly when watch the poverty is same TV ads; rich and poor linked to addiction. There are children learn to become con- just too many ways things can sumers before they learn to go wrong. become producers or earners. There are many people who What you consume becomes a buck that trend. Most people part of who you are. work their way out of poverty precisely by doing the right thing. They go to school; they ***** work. It’s a long haul, and ofThe ability to delay gratifi- ten they slide back, but they cation is supposed to be a key keep trying. to achievement, progress, adSo maybe once a month or vancement, success, that house so, they’ll go to a place like in the suburbs with two cars Tucker’s on 13th and enjoy in the driveway. But it helps what’s there. Maybe once to have evidence that, if you a month, it’s nice not to feel delay gratification, then grati- hungry. (continued from page 6) ture on the former site of the World Trade Center. Chapter Four is outing everything fraternal, from the We are a nation that worships the team player, the sheep who join fraternal organizations, the company man. We reward the followers and fear the independent thinkers. useless) part of a big, not especially dynamic, faceless team mismanaged by moronic bureaucrats whose objective is to control whomever and whatever is controllable.” Team players are praised in all forms of our culture – he repeats the “there is no 'I' in 'team'” mantra a few times in the book, as if he still can't get over how banal it is – but Reed reminds us what actually makes up a team in a bureaucratic setting: “A room full of lumbering lard-asses who will require 24 to 36 hours to destroy an excellent idea, far better left in the hand of one individual.” He then almost whimsically reels off recent failures of “teams” who could not save themselves from selfdestruction: the auto companies, Enron, FEMA and that wonderful committee of folks who built that beautiful struc- STREETVIBES April 2009 Greek groups at universities to fraternal organizations outside universities to sports teams to the military to shopping on Black Friday. One imagines the Grinch looking disapprovingly on Whoville, complaining of all the “noise, noise, noise.” The concluding chapter deals with the intellectual loner finding a triumphant place in society. Reed tries to engage some sort of misanthropic optimism, but it is hard for me to read it without thinking of Stanley Fish and his interpretive communities, wherein meaning is found not by the individual, but by the community in which he places himself. “The individual is king,” Reed opines, and thus the soul who chooses to reject the masses and go it alone gains self-knowledge and self-reliance, and hence has fulfilled his duty to life itself. Devote yourself to music and exercise and knowledge, a sort of Platonian self-help assessment. It's a conclusion the hermit would find satisfying … but, methinks, only the hermit. If one of the mindless herd reads the last chapter, he would be overwhelmed with evidence that such a life appears to be quite pointless. The intellectual loner has no place to go except the university, but he hates the university, which has its own corporate structure and is filled with students proud of their anti-intellectual passions, whom the intellectual doesn't want to waste his time teaching. The intellectual could write books, but then he goes on for pages about the number of great alcoholic writers from the loner world. Without stating so, his prose evidences a tautological fact: If you're a hermit, there's no acceptable place for you in society, really. “They like more than anything to discourage, undermine, derail and detract.” Reed is speaking of the herd mentality here, taking one last shot at its utter uselessness. But he just spent an entire book discouraging, undermining, derailing and detracting, and he seemed to enjoy it. The intellectual won't see the irony as a problem at all and in fact would delight in it. But for the herd, it's just further proof that, if he is to find any real meaning in life, it's gonna be through other people. Still, it is amazing to think that in this 24-hour news world, where every story is reported, blogged, youtubed and twittered, I don't recall seeing one thing blaming groupthink for our current economic mess. Credit default swaps, giving worthless assets AAA ratings, convincing everyone that 401Ks are the best way to a comfortable retirement (not to mention the war in Iraq) … It's delusional bureaucratic incompetence at its best and it was conducted by some of the best minds in the country, all of whom were forced to think as a team. It's because of our anesthetized reaction to a clear failure of groupthink that this book serves to remind us that maybe we've overvalued our commitment to committees, our cultural acceptance that two heads are better than one. It makes me mad enough to want to get drunk, sleep with some disgruntled housewife, and howl at the moon. �STREETVIBES April 2009 Column 11 An Artist Among Us Master luthier lives and works in Over-the-Rhine ment in the Mideast, as a child. By anDrew anDerson He quickly found his way to the violin and fell in love. He Contributing Writer made his first violin at 16, and Most people would be then made six more, winning shocked to know that a master a scholarship to study his craft luthier not only lives in Over- in France. the-Rhine Azzi reA shop you would only ceived his but has run expect to find in the a successful, diploma cultural enclaves of world-class from the famed Miviolin shop old European cities for the past recourt or possibly New York seven years. violin-makthrives right here. A shop you ing school would only in eastern expect to find in the cultural France. While there he worked enclaves of old European on instruments for top violin cities or possibly New York soloists including Vladimir thrives right here. Spivakof and Yury Bashmet. A silent buzzer has alerted He traveled to Paris and studthe shopkeeper, Jules Azzi, ied with master luthier Roger that he has a guest. Upon en- Lanne and developed a spetry it takes a moment for your cial talent for copying rare eyes to adjust to the subdued Italian violins. From there he light. You immediately know traveled to New York to refine things are different. The cha- his technique with Jacques otic, noisy, urban landscape Francais for a couple years, of Over-the-Rhine contrasts then opened his own shop in sharply with the silent, still, Brooklyn. In 1996 he won slightly austere elegance of the silver medal at the Violin the shop’s interior. Competition of America for Azzi stands before you his viola, as well as a certifidressed smartly but understat- cate of merit for a violin. ed; his calm and steady voice Andy Wolf, a former bassist welcomes you in an accent who played and toured with you can’t quite place. You the Cincinnati Symphony Orhave entered his violin shop at chestra (CSO) for 39 years, 14th and Elm streets. introduced Azzi to Cincinnati. Azzi is a world-class lu- Their shared passion for viothier, someone who makes or lins and other bowed, stringed repairs stringed instruments. instruments and their friendOriginally from the Lebanese ship resulted in Wolf’s urging Republic, he started playing Azzi to move to Cincinnati. the lute, a traditional instruAzzi saw Cincinnati as a city with a rich musical heritage, a strong orchestra in the CSO, half a dozen other orchestras within a short distance from the city, and no one around with his level of artistry and craftsmanship. He moved to Cincinnati seven years ago and has since started a family here. While the local market is what attracted Azzi to Cincinnati, the unbridled growth of the Internet has changed marketing for almost everyone, including Azzi. He now sells his services to a global market and reaches a geographically wider audience than he did when he had his shop in Brooklyn. Azzi’s main focus now is collecting and selling old and rare Italian instruments and French bows, because those items are the most valued and desired by fine musicians across the world. While these are the facts of Azzi’s story, they only hint at the enthusiasm and genuine warmth that he exudes. He is one of those rare people who has found his passion in life and lives it. “It doesn’t matter what troubles are happening in the world or my personal life,” he says. “When I walk into my workshop, I am happy.” Azzi spent over an hour demonstrating how he lovingly and meticulously crafts his instruments. He showed in detail how he cuts and as- Jules Azzi, master luthier in Over-the-Rhine. Photo by Andrew Anderson. sembles selected pieces of wood that are up to 300 years old and creates masterpieces. He detailed the huge significance of the proper varnish on an instrument and how it can either make or break the quality of sound produced. Azzi is not only an artisan but also a scientist. Azzi is also an example for all of us: When you do what you love, work becomes play, and the days become brighter. Azzi’s shop of violins, violas, cellos, bass and bows is open by appointment. Call 513 665-9663 or visit www. azzi-violins.com. down on my luck these days,” Mr. Westcott replied. “When you’re down, you’ve got to pull yourself back up. You know that, Robert. You’re a banker.” “Yes, sir,” Robert said. “It’s been a rough road for us lately.” “That bailout money – how much did you get?” “Oh, four or five billion.” “I won’t be needing that much,” Mr. Westcott said. “What happened?” “Lost a bunch of money in the stock market, made some bad investments,” Mr. Westcott replied. “You might say everything kind of snowballed.” “Well, let me turn on my computer here and get your current account information,” Robert said. As Robert turned on his computer, he noticed that his old business associate’s hands were shaking. Mr. Westcott noticed him noticing. “I guess it’s a little early for a drink,” he said, “but Handouts and Bailouts A banker’s story At 11:20, Sally buzzed Robert on his office phone and told him Mr. Westcott was waiting in the conference By larry Gross room. That was just like him, Contributing Writer Robert thought to himself. Mr. Robert normally didn’t Westcott was always punctual meet with customers who if not a bit early. Before heading toward the were inquiring about consumconference er loans. He room, Robstopped doing - “Where are you ert grabbed those 15 years currently living?” his laptop and three - “Garfield Park, just in case promotions Westago – but he Bench #6, Cincinnati, Mr. Ohio, 45202.” cott needed remembered to look over Mr. Westcott. some loan It had been a number of years since he’d rates his bank was offering. When he reached the conferseen him. Maybe it was curience room, the door was open. osity that made him agree to He saw a man sitting in one of the 11:30 a.m. meeting. He told his assistant Sally the chairs to the left, next to he would meet with Mr. West- the conference table. Beside cott in the conference room on him on the floor was a beat-up the second floor. This would suitcase. The man’s back was give them a comfortable place to him. Robert wasn’t sure if it to meet and maybe catch up was Mr. Westcott. “Mr. Westcott?” Robert on old times. said, noticing the dirty smell in the room. The gentlemen stood up and turned around. His hair was white and over his collar. He hadn’t shaved in days. He was wearing a tan suit that was wrinkled and dirty. So were his white shirt and tie. Robert sniffed. The dirty smell was coming from Mr. Westcott. “How you been, Robert?” Mr. Westcott said, extending his hand. “It’s been a while.” Robert shook his hand. “Good to see you, sir,” he said stammering a bit. “Please have a seat.” Robert walked to the right of the conference table, taking a seat opposite Mr. Westcott. He looked at his old customer’s puffy face and sad brown eyes. Robert wondered what he was letting himself in for. “What can I do for you?” Robert said, trying to force a smile. “Well, Robert, as you can probably tell, I’m a bit �12 STREETVIBES April 2009 Short Story Handouts and Bailouts (Continued from page 12) maybe after we get this business transaction completed, if you’re interested.” “I’m sorry,” Robert said interrupting, “I have a luncheon appointment.” “Yeah, I used to have those,” Mr. Westcott replied. “Now, are you still at your old address?” Robert said, looking at his laptop. “Oh, hell no.” “Where are you currently living?” “Garfield Park, Bench #6, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45202.” “What?” “You might say I’m currently homeless,” Mr. Westcott said. “That’s why I need the loan, to get started again.” Robert looked at the information on the laptop. Mr. Westcott no longer had any money in the bank except for a checking account with a balance of $4.10. “There’s no way you could personally guarantee that a loan would be repaid,” Robert said. Mr. Westcott laughed. “I guess I could guarantee you my suitcase and the clothes on my back,” he said, “but that’s not what you’re looking for is it?” “Well, no, we need --” “This is what I need,” Mr. Westcott said, leaning forward and putting his shaking hands on the conference room table. “I need a favor. You and I did business for a lot of years. I helped make this bank money. I can do it again if I can just get a little help to get started.” “But you have no capital,” Robert said. “We have nothing we can work with here.” “I’m looking for a loan based on past history,” Mr. Westcott said. “What you’re looking for,” Robert replied, starting to feel annoyed, “is a handout.” Mr. Westcott smiled, leaning closer to Robert. “When you’re forced to wear dirty clothes, forced to try and get yourself cleaned up at the public library and forced to sleep on a park bench, I can see how a banker would think I’m looking for a handout,” he said. “Of course, if you’re one of those bankers wearing a Brook Brothers suit and get down on your luck, you can go to the government and get yourself a bailout. Where am I supposed to go?” Robert stared at Mr. Westcott, not knowing what to say. “Don’t be one of those bankers. Help me, Robert,” Mr. Westcott said. “We’ve known each other for years. You know I’m a man of my word.” Robert continued to stare at Mr. Westcott. He remembered the old days, when he was a proud businessman who always had good ideas as to how to make money. He felt sad for his old business associate. “How much money are you looking for?” Robert finally said, reaching into his suit pocket and pulling out his checkbook. “I’m thinking a couple thousand will get me going.” Mr. Westcott replied. “I’ll write you a check for four thousand,” Robert said. “Give me a couple hours to transfer some money out of one of my savings accounts and put it in my checking.” “Robert, I’m not looking for a personal loan from you.” “It’s the only way I can do it, sir,” Robert said. “You don’t have enough assets to cover a bank loan.” “Robert --” “I know you’re good for it,” Robert said, writing the check. “As you said, I should base this on past history. I trust you.” As he ripped the check from the checkbook and handed it over, he noticed tears in Mr. Westcott’s eyes. “I – I don’t know what to say,” Mr. Westcott said. “Just say you’ll pay it back to me when you can,” Robert replied. “That’s all I ask.” “Well, I most certainly will. You have my word on that. Thank you so --” “Mr. Westcott, I have to go,” Robert said. “Remember; give me a couple hours to get funds into that account.” “Not a problem,” Mr. Westcott replied. “I’ll wait until much later today.” “I’m sorry to rush off, but I’m going to be late for my lunch appointment,” Robert said. “Do you know the way out?” Mr. Westcott said yes. Robert smiled, shook his old business associate’s hand, grabbed his laptop and hurried back to his office. When he reached his office, he called the maintenance department and instructed them to have a cleaning person go to the conference room and spray flowery sprays that would make the room smell better. As he gathered papers he needed for his luncheon appointment, he thought of Mr. Westcott and his bad luck. He wished he could do something meaningful to help him. He also hoped Mr. Westcott’s dirty smell hadn’t rubbed off on his Brook Brothers suit. Before leaving his office, Robert called his assistant Sally, gave her the number of the check he’d given Mr. Westcott and instructed her to stop payment on it immedi- Crossword ately. He also told Sally to call security and have them review the film from the cameras and to write down a description of Mr. Westcott. Robert didn’t want him allowed in the bank again. As Robert left the bank and rushed down the sidewalk, he felt proud. He’d avoided a nasty scene of having to call security to have Mr. Westcott escorted out of the bank; he’d saved an old customer that embarrassment. He’d handled the situation well. Nearing the restaurant, looking at his watch, he thought again of Mr. Westcott and how he was now beyond help. He couldn’t possibly get involved with an old customer’s bad situation, couldn’t open the door to him wanting even more money in the future. It could also lead to others down on their luck knocking on his door for a handout. It was better to stop it now. When he opened the door to the restaurant for his luncheon appointment, he also reminded himself not to get involved with consumer loans ever again. Robert stopped doing those 15 years and three promotions ago. Sudoku 8 Down Across 1. Workers 5. Misty 9. Dope (Southern) 10. Furry 11. Living spaces 13. Go up 15. Most tidy 15. Remove illegally 21. Highland 24. Faint 26. Rustic 28. Dog 29. Bore 30. Henry and Jane ----, thespians 31. Bulks large 1.Bush 2. As well 3. Solitary 4. Renown 5.An act avoiding a loss of dignity (4,5) 6. Slippery liquids 7. Breakfast dish 8. Exercise establishment 12. Mexican general (5,4) 14. Obtain by paying 17. School transport 18. Smooch 19. Oddity 20. Functions 22. Flashy 23. Car 25. World Health Organization 27. Provide with weapons 3 5 8 7 4 6 6 9 8 1 7 8 4 6 1 9 5 3 1 2 4 8 5 Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 through 9. The fundamental goal of a Sudoku puzzle is to use the provided numbers, or givens, to discover which numbers logically fill in the empty squares. The only rule of Sudoku is that each of the nine rows, each of the nine columns, and each of the nine 3x3 subsections must contain all of the numbers from one to nine, and each number consequently can occur in each row, column, and subsection only once. Answers on Page 15 �STREETVIBES April 2009 Short Story 13 Paddy A pound for a pint denied, a proper kiss bestowed 1 By anGela Pancella Contributing Writer at him. "Sex," he replied. The doors of the club would His matter-ofopen at 8; it was now 6. She fact manner caught had gotten to the London sub- her off-guard. She urb of Harlesden purposefully managed to say, early with the intent of getting "Sorry, not interacquainted with the area: the ested," and walk bus line, the route to the club. away without beShe was a very long way from ing accosted furhome and not all that close to ther. But now she where she was staying, either, was leery of findand didn't want to get lost in ing another bench such alien territory. and attempting again to read But she had two hours to kill her Roald Dahl book. before the concert. She walked In the end, her aching feet in and out of the only interest- made the decision for her. She ing shop -- a record store with sat where benches circled the prominent displays of Menu- Harlesden Jubilee Clock, this do albums -- five times. Now suburb's idea of a town square. it was closing, as everything An old wino sat on the bench else was. opposite. She did The old wino had been "Old winos have a book are better joined by a young than young with her, one, a sturdy fellow though. The winos" had with short-cropped trick was been her hair trying to beg finding an reasonmoney for a pint from ing when inconspicuher in a brogue so ous place to choosing read it. thick she could barely this locaReading tion. Maybe understand him. this book with him had gotten sitting there, her in trouble earlier in the no one else would bother her. day in Hyde Park. She'd been She flipped open the book. Its sitting in a garden area by a cover was black, with a large trellis covered in roses when eyeball painted in psychedelic she noticed a man with white colors. and red sneakers passing by "Excuse me, sweetheart," and grinning. He passed by said a voice a short time later. and grinned several times. She Lo and behold, the old left the park; he followed her wino had been joined by a out. young one, a sturdy fellow "Excuse me?" he called. with short-cropped hair trying She turned and glared, more to beg money for a pint from annoyed than frightened. her in a brogue so thick she "What? What do you could barely understand him. want?" She turned him down several "I want to ask you some- times -- he was quite persisthing." tent as well as incomprehen"About what?" she barked sible -- and tried to get back to her book. "Are ye lost?" "No, I'm seeing a show at the Mean Fiddler." "That's just up the road! Can ye get me in, too, love?" "No." "C'mere," he said, patting the bench beside him. The old wino was still at the other end, looking zoned; she wondered if he'd heard any of this exchange or would come to her aid in a time of trouble. She balked about moving for a long time, then finally thought, oh, whatever. As she sat, he leaned in. "In exchange for getting me in to the Mean Fiddler, I'll give you an ipener." "Sorry?" "Look." He pointed to the cover of the Roald Dahl book. "There's an eye, right? I'll give you an eye op'ner." She got it. He grinned. What's the deal with this city, she wondered. "Sorry, not interested." She went to sit on her bench again. He let her sit in peace a few minutes. "What's yer given name, sweetheart?" She told him. "My name's Paddy." She had to laugh. "Could've guessed that." He laughed, too. "It's me red face that does it, isn't it? Look, today's me birthday, so how 'bout a pound to buy me a drink for it?" "You win points for trying, Paddy, you really do, but I'm a mean, nasty person, and the answer's no." A few more minutes passed in silence while she tried picking up the thread of the short story again -- something about a woman and a husband and an elevator. "Know what you remind me of?" Paddy said suddenly. "A turneyose." "A what?" "Ever been in a rose garden? A turney rose." "Oh! Thorny! I get it." Successful conversation was beginning to seem like victory. "I take that as a compliment." "I meant it as one." An old lady came and hailed Paddy. He left for a while as she introduced herself -- her name was Mary, and she had the filthiest mouth imaginable for a grandmotherly type. Paddy came back with two beers -- one for himself, one for Mary -- and a cigarette that he tried to give the old woman. "Stick it up yer hole," she grumbled. "I would, but it's lit. I'm not as kinky as you, Mary." Paddy was somehow less threatening with someone else there. The girl put down Roald Dahl and engaged him in conversation. "I've been divorced, separated from my children, I lost my job, my dog got run over," he told her. As random pedestrians passed, he called out to them. "Sugar Ray Leonard!" he yelled as a skinny black man passed. "I'm beginning to understand your strategy," she remarked. He winked and grinned. A blonde lady walked by next; he yelled, "Michelle Pfeiffer!" She turned with a laugh but kept on. "If they laugh, you've won half the battle," he said seriously, like sharing a trade secret. So the evening passed in a mix of deep but incomprehensible monologues from Mary, who gripped the girl's shoulder like she was her long-lost granddaughter, and dark jokes from Paddy. "See that over there?" He pointed to the Harlesden Jubilee Clock; at its base was a little sign, "DO NOT FEED THE PIGEONS." "Back when I had a job I added a sign o'me own: DO NOT FEED THE TOSSERS. Drunks, y'know. Now look where I am!" He laughed. He had a great laugh, she thought. He used it often. "Things always come back to you, don't they?" "That's the truth, sweetheart. That's the very truth." Concert time. She got a kiss from Mary in farewell. Paddy wanted to walk her to the club. "Stay!" she ordered. "Mary?" The old lady grabbed his arm, and the girl left. But Paddy followed. "Just let me walk you over. Let me walk down the street with a pretty girl. You're wily as a fox, you know? I think you're a few roads ahead of me, and that's saying somethin'. Didn't we have a good time? Don't I get a birthday kiss? Here we are at the Mean Fiddler." He turned his head away like a protest. "If I get a kiss, you better give it to me now." She took his hand and kissed it. They walked to the very door of the club. "Don't I get a proper kiss? How can I go without a proper kiss?" She let him kiss her cheek; she kissed his scruffy cheek in return. "Now go away, Paddy," she said with a stern laugh and a push. He took her hand with a warm smile, almost wistful "God bless. Listen..." His eyes were unsure now, an unusual expression for such a seemingly practiced con artist. "I'm a bum and a tosser, but I'm pretty all right anyway, right?" She shook his hand, holding the fingers tight and holding his gaze. "That's right. God bless, Paddy." He walked off and she never saw him again. �14 STREETVIBES April 2009 Local News Explosive Idea: Food, Not Bombs Volunteers save food from going to waste, serve it free By alecia a. lott Contributing Writer It had never occurred to me that Cincinnati would have its own chapter of Food Not Bombs, the international grassroots movement that works to call attention to poverty and homelessness by distributing free vegetarian food made mostly from ingredients that would have otherwise gone to waste. Formed in Cambridge, Mass., in 1980 by anti-nuclear activists, in books and online, the simple philosophy of Food Not Bombs made me long to join: “Food is a right, not a privilege, and if governments spent more money on feeding their citizens than they do on wars, no one would go hungry.” I thought such a group would only exist in cities notorious for their huge homeless populations, such Los Angeles or New York, until I walked past a flyer on a telephone pole. When I contacted the Cincinnati chapter, which has been meeting on-and-off since 2001, the members invited me to help them cook for their next gathering. The group would be serving food at its usual location, Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine. Eager to assist, I asked what I should bring. “Just bring something you inside had been found in a think would be good in a garbage bin behind a gour- stew,” one of the members, met grocer in Kenwood. Anna Dave, told w a l k e d me. Once the serving area in with a “ S t e w, flower in was set up on a bike huh,” I her hair and trailer draped with a thought, two colorc o n j u r i n g Food Not Bombs sign, ful, though visions of a a hungry crowd quickly s o m e w h a t grey, Dick- grew. About 50 people wilted, bouensian gruel quets, reof various ages and sloshed into trieved from races lined up to be fed. bowls by a florist’s the ladleful. discards. I arrived March 21 at the Charlie played his mandogroup’s cooking location, lin. Shane and Nina quartered which turned out to be a spa- apples and smothered them cious loft where a few of the with sunflower-seed butter, members live. When I walked something I’d never tried but in with my bag full of canned quickly became addicted to. beans and corn, I noticed an Braxton began frying crispy, abundance of fresh vegetables golden-brown potato panand fruit on the kitchen coun- cakes, only a small quantity ter. Dave and another mem- of which actually made it to ber, Chris, proudly told me Washington Park because the food was donated by an everyone wanted to, ahem, eccentric local farmer. inspect them. All the while, Soon, the the stew kept growing until it cooking and reached the top of the pot. socializing The vegetables weren’t began. A large perfect; some of the tomatoes soup pot was were mushy and therefore placed on the difficult to slice. The celery stove, and we was yellow. The eggplant was began chop- overripe, with tough skin and ping carrots, well-developed seeds. But tomatoes, cel- from such humble beginnings ery, eggplant — food that would have othand potatoes; erwise ended up in a landfill opening cans — came a colorful, hearty, of beans and tasty (or so I’m told) meal for crumbling tofu. All were sim- many people. So much for my mered into stew. visions of Oliver Twist. More members showed At 3:30 p.m. we arrived up, greeting everyone with in Washington Park via foot, hugs and stories about what bicycle and, in my case, a trithey brought. Ryan and Mike cycle, ready to share the food. plopped a large cardboard box It was sunny and warm, and on the kitchen island, noting many people were already sitthat the fruit and vegetables ting on the wall surrounding Two women protesting the Iraq War and promoting the Food Not Bombs movement. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. the park. We stationed ourselves on the sidewalk at 12th and Elm streets. Ryan later said Food Not Bombs has been approached by police officers — he used a less polite name for them — because a permit is required to serve food in parks. Once the serving area was set up on a bike trailer draped with a Food Not Bombs sign, a hungry crowd quickly grew. About 50 people of various ages and races lined up to be fed. Some were homeless, some were not. All were welcomed with a smile, possibly a hug and conversation and a plate of food. Members quickly took on various duties, serving, washing plates and silverware, entertaining children with their music. Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper. Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes I blinked and the stew, along with the rest of the food, was gone, and our little gathering was over as quickly as it began. As the other members packed up to leave and the crowd dispersed, I stared down into the empty pot and was at first disappointed that I didn’t get to taste any of its contents. But then I looked up and saw people who were likely much hungrier than I was, initially approaching but quickly turning on their heels with a frown once they realized there was no more food. Frustrated, I knew I’d be back the following Saturday to help again. If you would like to join or donate food to Food Not Bombs, write to cincinnati_ fnb@yahoo.com or visit www. myspace.com/cincinnati_fnb. �STREETVIBES April 2009 Local News 15 The Crisis Next Door Foreclosure is no longer a hidden problem By Mary MetzMeier Dave scHarFenBerG Contributing WriterS There were 6,673 new foreclosure filings in Hamilton County last year — an increase of 6.3 percent over 2007 filings Marilyn Evans, president and double the statewide avof the South Cumminsville erage increase of 3.1 percent. Community Council, knows In addition, there were 5,382 firsthand the impact that fore- Hamilton County homes listclosures can have on a com- ed in the first week’s Sheriff munity. Listing. This In the county, “South Cumnumber indiminsville is a the communities cates how many proud commu- hardest hit were homeowners are nity,” she says. facing severe fiCleves at 3.84 “Many of our percent and Golf nancial difficulresidents have ties with their Manor at 3.65 lived their whole mortgage loans. percent. lives in the While the neighborhood. area’s larger For some, they neighborhoods are the third or fourth gen- continue to experience the eration in this community. We most foreclosures, smaller have women who are in their neighborhoods are losing 90s and still working. We large numbers of homeowners have a homeownership rate of to foreclosure. For example, in 58 percent. Now that is threat- Cincinnati, the neighborhoods ened by foreclosures.” of Lower Price Hill, South Foreclosures in Hamilton Fairmount and Mt. Auburn County are rising and are par- lost over 5 percent of their ticularly impacting smaller homeowners to foreclosure communities, according to last year. In the county, the a new report by Working In communities hardest hit were Neighborhoods (WIN). Seven Cleves at 3.84 percent and years ago WIN issued a re- Golf Manor at 3.65 percent. port on foreclosures called, Busch tied another con“The Silent Crisis.” That title cern with foreclosures to the wouldn’t work today. gloomy economy. “We’ve move to a very “One of the saddest things loud crisis,” says Sister Bar- about this report is that only bara Busch, WIN’s executive 3.1 percent of the homes were director. “In 2009 there is no sold to anyone but the lender,” neighborhood left that is not she says. “In most cases, the affected by this foreclosure lender retained ownership of crisis. … We have lost almost the property after the sher4.3 percent of all Hamilton iff’s sale. This is the first time County’s housing stock to we’ve seen this trend, and it’s foreclosure — that’s huge.” because the market is bad.” WIN’s new study, “The WIN’s report shows that the Crisis Next Door,” shows that top six lenders with the highHamilton County experienced est number of foreclosures 3,081 foreclosures in 2008. have remained the same since anD 2002. The lenders generating the most foreclosures in Hamilton County for 2008 were US Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Bank of America, JP Morgan and Chase Bank. Busch called for business and government to take action in order to retain home ownership in Hamilton County. “Much to my despair, we only see mandatory loan modifications,” she says. “Lenders are fearful that they will be sued by the investors if they modify loans. I think the government needs to protect the lenders from this threat.” The foreclosure crisis shouldn’t come as a surprise, according to Roger Davis, president of Communities United For Action and cochair of Citizens Against Loan Sharks. “When we started organizing around foreclosures and predatory lending eight years Marilyn Evans says it’s time for a moratorium on foreclosures. ago, nobody else wanted to Photo courtesy of Working in Neighbhorhoods. admit the problem existed,” he says. “Now everyone is af- moratorium. We have testified eowners to get loan modificafected, whether it affects you in favor of this bill and encour- tions and avoid foreclosure,” age others to do the same.” Busch says. “The support or someone else you know.” In spite of all the bad news, from the city of Cincinnati and Davis endorses a proposed Busch sees Hamilton County has helped moratoriof us reach more families.” um on fore- “We started organizing signs hope. She Working In Neighborclosures. around foreclosures points out hoods, a Cincinnati-based “ W e and predatory lending that the pro- non-profit organization that need a moreight years ago. portion of strives to stabilize neighboratorium on homes sold hoods and families through Nobody else wanted forecloat sheriff’s home ownership, last year, ofsures now,” to admit the problem sales com- fered foreclosure counseling he says. existed.” pared to to 225 families and saved 135 “We are - Roger Davis those listed homes from foreclosure. WIN excited that has steadily also teaches families how to state repredeclined. purchase their first home and sentatives “Certainly, we know that educates neighborhood leadDenise Driehaus and Michael our housing counselors have ers to improve their commuFoley have introduced legislamade a difference for hom- nities. tion to establish a six-month Puzzle Solutions 8 2 1 7 4 6 9 5 3 5 9 6 8 1 3 7 2 4 7 4 3 2 5 9 8 6 1 4 6 5 9 8 7 1 3 2 9 1 7 3 2 5 4 8 6 2 3 8 4 6 1 5 9 7 6 5 4 1 3 8 2 7 9 3 7 1 8 2 9 5 6 9 7 4 2 6 3 1 4 8 5 �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES April 2009 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion Terry Ranson Anthony Williams Nell Williams Grady Cook Cleo Wombles James Davis Jon Darby Dede Stoops Julie Walker Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson Riccardo Taylor Alfred Woolfolk Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Terrence Williams Raynard Jones Richard Tyree Karen Collett Charles Cole Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Talbert House...684-7965 Resources Treatment: Women First Step Home ...961-4663 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...641-4300 Shelter: Both Advocacy Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Shelter: Men Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Starting Over...961-2256 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Oral Health Council...621-0248 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2009 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource April 2009 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Healer and Brother Treatment Center Under Attack Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minute with Two ‘Outlaws’ Pg 4: Juvenile Justice Reform Underway Pg 5: Slaves Look Like Us Pg 6: Alone Again, Naturally Pg 7: First You have to Have Your Own Bootstraps Pg 8: Sexy, Yummy, Veggie Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Pg 10: Eating While You Can Pg 11: An Artist Among Us Handouts and Bailouts Pg 12: Handouts and Bailouts Continued Pg 13: Paddy Pg 14: Explosive Idea: Food, Not Bombs Pg 15: The Crisis Next Door Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 2009 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Stephanie Dunlap Margo Pierce Lew Moores, Paul Kopp Alecia Lott David Heitfield Dave Scharfenberger Angela Pancella Mike Henson Larry Gross Lynne Ausman Andrew Anderson Ariana Shahandeh Andrew Anderson Paul Kopp Anthony Williams Aimie Willhoite Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Andrew Freeze Georgine Getty Michael Henson Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Aimie Willhoite Alecia Lott Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Ariana Shahandeh Arts & Poetry Dave Scharfenberger David Heitfield education Georgine Getty Gregory Flannery Hate Crimes Human Trafficking Joe Wessels Journalism Juvenile Justice Reform Larry Gross Lew Moores Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Michael Henson Mike Henson Over-the-Rhine Paul Kopp poverty reform Slavery Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Students Treatment Center Volunteers https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/d4e08eda730df2ea901b546ef432ef8c.pdf 8076d5b699db15a0df224017b5665b1f PDF Text Text 36 C R O S S W O R S U 37 D O K U D P A G 38 A N E 12 D Locations, Page 10 STREETVIBES $1 M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • I s s u e 1 5 2 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e Keeping Babies Alive The secret is helping the mothers succeed By Stephanie Dunlap Contributing Writer A nita Brentley had been waiting for the 16-year-old emancipated youth to arrive. “Is this your first? How far along are you?” she asks the young woman, “Neshia.” Yes, it’s her first, and Neshia doesn’t know how long she’s been pregnant. “Have you had prenatal care?” Brentley asks softly. “Have you been to the doctor?” No to both. Brentley guides Neshia through enrollment into the Every Child Succeeds program: “When we say ‘mother,’ we’re talking about you, because you’re going to be a mother now,” she says gently. There is no judgment in Brentley’s voice or bearing. Later she will tell me that Neshia has developmental problems. Maybe it’s that kind of complete acceptance that’s made ‘Ms. Anita’ beloved as a team leader for the Avondale/Every Child Succeeds Partnership program. Or something about the way she’s relentlessly cheerful or how she freely gives out her cell phone number so young mothers can text her. Or maybe the way she’ll call them first. What happens next is that an Every Child Succeeds (ECS) home visitor will start calling on Neshia once a week or every couple weeks to walk her through every step of pre- Mothers and children at Every Child Succeeds are defing the odds and beating the high infant mortality rate among African-American children in Cincinnati. Photo by Andrew Anderson. natal care, child development and parenting until her child is 3 years old. ‘No long-handled spoon’ The thrust of the 10-yearold program is reducing Cincinnati’s high rate of infant mortality rate by focusing on at-risk, first-time mothers. In 2001 the national infant mortality rate was 6.8 deaths by age 1 per 1,000 live births; in Cincinnati, the rate was nearly twice as high from 19992004, with 13.1 deaths per thousand, according to ECS. The agency says the primary causes of infant mortality are birth defects, low birth weight and premature birth, smoking, SIDS, accidental injury and abuse and neglect. Through home visits and a meticulously plotted, measured and analyzed curriculum See Babies, p. 5 Spring Time at the Homeless Coalition New director takes the lead By GreGory Flannery editor rugged individualism and focusing on the fact that we all need each other.” Ending homelessness reSpring succeeds Georgine quires changes in policy but Getty, executive director of also in the American ethos it- the Homeless Coalition for self, according to Josh Spring, the past six years. Getty is new executive director of the now executive director of Greater Cinthe Interfaith cinnati CoHospitality “Having a home alition for the should be viewed as Network. Homeless. For the a right – food, water, “I think past two h o m e l e s s - shelter and clothing. years Spring, On a moral level, I ness is somea Xavier Unithing that’s think this is a right.” versity graducompletely ate and li~ Josh Spring solvable and censed social it doesn’t worker, has have to exist,” he says. “We been resident services coordineed more affordable housing nator at Over-the-Rhine Comand a living wage. These are munity Housing. the two immediate symptoms. “I’m interested in the issue I think, in terms of a broad an- of homelessness because it’s a swer, it’s giving up the idea of vast symptom of other broken systems we have in America,” he says. “Having a home should be viewed as a right – food, water, shelter and clothing. On a moral level, I think this is a right. Legally, everybody should have housing. All entities, private and public, should be trying to make that work. I would say that it should legally be the case that a person has what he or she needs to get by in life.” The personnel change at the Homeless Coalition doesn’t portend a change in its opposition to the city of Cincinnati’s efforts to restrict new lowincome housing and socialservice agencies. Nor does Spring believe the election of President Barack Obama and a Democratic Congress will necessarily end homelessness. “I would like to hope it Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. See Spring, p. 5 �2 The Vibe News Briefs Chris Bortz Should Try This CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Unlike Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Bortz and other Cincinnati officials who seem to want to move homeless people out of view downtown, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin wants to draw attention to the plight of people who have no stable housing. Last month Manchin proclaimed Homeless Awareness Day. He signed the proclamation in the state capitol in a ceremony attended by advocates for homeless people. Cincinnati City Council is taking the opposite tack, trying to restrict the location of social-service agencies that help homeless people. New Idea: Don’t Take People’s Stuff COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Springs City Council is considering a proposal that that could make it easier for homeless people to keep possessions such as prescription drugs during police sweeps of homeless camps. The plan follows an outcry by advocates for homeless people who accused Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful of confiscating or trashing people’s property during sweeps of campsites, accompanied by city police officers. The complaints led to a temporary moratorium on the sweeps. The proposal would also require mental-health outreach workers to accompany cleanup crews. Homeless people reported that, among the items taken from them, were clothing, a tent and family photos. Not Exactly a Workhouse BOSTON — The Commonwealth of Massachusetts wants homeless families to have to work and save money in order to stay in shelters. The new rules — scheduled to take effect, it’s worth noting, on April Fools Day — requires homeless adults to work a minimum of 30 hours per week and save 30 percent of their earnings. Advocates for homeless people want the state to drop the rules, arguing that the recession, growing unemployment rate and foreclosure crisis indicate this is a bad time to make it harder for homeless people to get shelter. Streetwise By GreGory Flannery The Things Mallory Didn’t Say Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory delivered his annual State of the City address Feb. 25. The speech included more than 4,000 words. These are some words that didn’t get used: “poverty,” “poor,” “homeless,” “Drop Inn Center,” “hunger,” “food,” “FreeStore,” “addict,” “recover,” “literacy,” “mental health,” “health care,” “human services.” Mallory thanked and praised 15 private companies — PNC Bank, US Bank, Duke Energy, Prestige Audio Visual, Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Cintas, HDR, Ameresco, TranSystems, dunhumbyUSA, Humana Insurance Company, Medpace, NuTone and Goodwin-Williams Benefits Consulting. The word “volunteers” got a single mention, although that was partly a nod to US Bank. The word “non-profit” likewise appears once, in connection with Mallory’s push for a streetcar system, which he argues will spur economic development, with help from “non-profit service providers and lending professionals to educate citizens in entrepreneurship.” Mallory said nothing about agencies that provide food, housing, clothing, medical care and counseling to the needy, nor about organizations that work to protect civil rights. Mallory saluted progress in reform of the police department, noted city initiatives to protect the environment and promised to work to reduce predatory lending. “In fact, almost 42,000 citizens of the greater Cincinnati region do not have adequate access to traditional banking,” Mallory said. That is almost like taking note of poverty in Cincinnati, because the usual reason for lack of access to “traditional banking” is a state known by banks as “being broke.” In closing, Mallory didn’t urge people to help at soup kitchens or volunteer at a shelter for homeless people but he did suggest using mass transit, recycling and being active in community councils. “And,” Mallory said, “brag about the greatness of Cincinnati everywhere you go.” The Republican Money Trail Let’s review. When the Republicans controlled Washington, they launched a war in Iraq that has cost $1.2 trillion without apparently actually defeating an enemy that wasn’t even armed in the first place. Last year the Republican president agreed to spend $750 billion to bail out Wall Street banks without actually improving the economy. But this year, when the new Democratic president wanted to spend $787 billion to repair American infrastructure, create jobs and help the people suffering unemployment and the loss of their homes as a result of eight years of Republican economics, the now-minority party in the U.S. House decided the country can’t afford to spend so much money. Not one Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives voted for President Obama’s economic-stimulus package. Not one. Doesn’t it say in the Bible or somewhere, “By their appropriations you will know them”? The stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, includes nearly $1.6 billion in assistance for homeless people. More than 6,000 programs throughout the United States will benefit. Grants announced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) include &1.68 million for Cincinnati and Hamilton County. The local funding is part of $24 million to create new pilot programs in 23 communities to rapidly re-house homeless families with children. The additional funding provided in the recovery plan is a dramatic increase in funding to support local programs to keep persons and families from becoming homeless, including the large number of low-income renters who are at high-risk of becoming homeless because their landlords' properties are foreclosed upon. This funding will have an immediate impact by offering these families short-term rental assistance, housing relocation, or security and utility deposits. ‘Streetvibes’ Writer Makes Good Streetvibes contributing writer Margo Pierce has been named a 2009 Peter Jennings Fellow. The Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution is an annual event hosted by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, with support from the Annenberg Foundation. Its mission is to help professional journalists understand constitutional issues more deeply. Pierce, a staff writer for CityBeat, is among the award-winning professional journalists who contribute their work to Streetvibes, published by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Her weekly column, “Eight Minutes,” focuses on people and organizations who "work hard to make a difference for the less privileged (see page 3.). The Jennings Fellowship is the latest journalism award Pierce has received for her work. In addition to honors by the Cincinnati Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, she was a finalist for the 2008 Margolis award. STREETVIBES March 2009 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Contributing Writers Stephanie Dunlap, Margo Pierce, Lew Moores, Paul Kopp, Alecia Lott, Adam Clark, David Heitfield, Jeremy Flannery, Jeni Jenkins, Dave Scharfenberger, Angela Pancella, Alexis Gordon, Mike Henson, Dede Stoops, Matt Holcomb Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Lynne Ausman, Paul Kopp, Anthony Williams, Aimie Willhoite, Dave Scharfengerger, Slyvia Pisczor Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are members of: �STREETVIBES March 2009 Community News Eight Minutes with an ‘Abolitionist’ Working hard to end modern slavery industry or part of an industry that is poorly regulated or has little over-sight, you’re going to have human trafficking.” The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed slavery in 1865 with two simBy MarGo pierce ple sentences: “Neither slavery Columnist nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime ost people think slavwhereof the party shall have ery is a thing of the been duly convicted, shall expast, but Jessica Donohue-Dioh knows better. She’s an abo- ist within the United States litionist who wants to see slav- or any place subject to their ery end in the United States jurisdiction. Congress shall and around the world. More have the power to enforce this people are enslaved today than article by appropriate legislation.” at any other The 14th time in histo- Anywhere there’s an Amendment ry – approxiindustry or part of required mately 27 an industry that is states to promillion adults poorly regulated or tect the rights and children of all citihas little over-sight, worldwide. “ H u m a n you’re going to have zens with an equally simtrafficking a human trafficking. ple directive: form of mod“No state ern day slavery,” says Donohue-Dioh, a shall make or enforce any law coordinator for End Slavery which shall abridge the priviCincinnati. “People – adults, leges or immunities of citizens children, males, females, citi- of the United States; nor shall zens, foreign nationals – who any state deprive any person are put in places of work … of life, liberty or property, and through force, fraud or without due process of law; coercion, are being held there nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal proagainst their will. “We’ve actually had a tection of the laws.” The problem is that that handful of cases (in CincinnaCongress didn’t pass any laws ti) that are being looked at by defining slavery and punishlaw enforcement mostly in lament for the crime until 2000, bor trafficking, involving both foreign nationals and U.S. with the Victims of Traffickcitizens. Anywhere there’s an ing and Violence Protection Act. The act was renewed and M revised in 2004 and 2008. The most recent update includes specific language regarding U.S. citizens who are forced into slavery here or abroad. “With a U.S. citizen, you might end up with someone who has a debt to pay off or finding themselves on hard times and maybe a little bit desperate for work, really looking for any opportunity that’s coming along,” Donohue-Dioh says. “A trafficker finds them, befriends them and preys upon that desperation, preys upon vulnerability. They need the work, they need the income.” She compares a trafficker’s actions to what happens in domestic violence. A sense of trust is established, and then the victim is made to believe that the situation she is in is her own fault. Disbelief is the most common reaction Donohue-Dioh says she gets when she makes a presentation about human trafficking, so she uses practical examples. “The folks after Katrina -they have no home, they have no job, they have no place to go. They’re desperate,” she says. “They’re looking for any opportunity, and a trafficker’s going to prey on that. They’re going to give them an opportunity they think they want, and then the circumstances will change. “It could be the folks after Enron. They lost their jobs, 3 Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them. What is Human Trafficking? After drug dealing, trafficking of humans is tied with arms dealing as the second largest criminal industry in the world, and is the fastest growing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Understanding the definition of human trafficking is essential to identifying potential victims: Human trafficking is the transportation, harboring, selling or employment of a person through the means of force, fraud or coercion for the purposes of forced servitude. Transportation: A person doesn’t have to be moved across state lines for human trafficking to take place. A child can be enslaved in her hometown just a few neighborhoods away from her home. Force: Restraint can happen in a number of ways: if a person is unable to leave because he is tied down or locked in a room, violence is used when he attempts to leave or he is kept in a place where he cannot leave. Confiscating a person’s ID, money, social security card and any other personal items can make it impossible for her to get away. Fraud: When a person is promised one thing when making a choice but the commitment isn’t kept and she is told she must do something else, fraud is being used. One example would be when a woman is offered a job as a hostess at a restaurant and agrees to go with a trafficker but upon arrival is told she’ll be a prostitute. Coercion: This includes threats of violence against family members, threats of shaming the victim, forced isolation or lying about potential consequences for leaving, for example saying a prostitute will face arrest and jail time or cops won’t believe she was forced. their life savings, they’re going to be losing their homes if they can’t make ends meet -- anybody who is in desperate need of one thing or another. With some of the minors involved in commercial sex, we see (the children) looking for non-materialistic stuff – a relationship, a father figure, a mother figure, someone to take protect them, membership in a group.” Being aware is essential because almost one-third of all victims who are rescued result from tips offered by “good Samaritans,” according to Donohue-Dioh. “Whenever people talk to someone who is needing help, who is vulnerable, be aware enough to think, ‘Is this person being exploited? Is someone taking advantage of their circumstances and their vulnerabilities?’ If they are, make a call and err on the side of caution. It doesn’t hurt to make the call, even if you’re not sure,” she says. “If everyone in this community is just aware enough to take it one step further and ask some more questions, we’ll have that many more people being rescued and have the opportunity to rehabilitate from this crime.” To report someone you believe might be the victim of trafficking, call the Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force Complaint Line at 1-888-428-7581 or call the local YWCA hotline at 513-872-9259. �STREETVIBES March 2009 Community News 4 Booming Market: Women’s Bodies New drama highlights horrors of sex trafficking tion is 14, according to the By Jeni JenkinS Coalition Against Trafficking staff Writer Women. This reading, directed by award-winning filmmaker An eclectic cast of women and novelist E.E. Charltonperformed a staged reading Trujillo, was a fervent reply to of The Global Lovers Feb. 17 those statistics. at the Aronoff Center for the Pettit began the project as Arts. The subject of the new a manuscript of poems about poetic drama, a fictional sex by University of slave in reacIt is estimated Cincinnati Engtion to editorithat between lish Professor als about young 17,000 and Rhonda Pettit, is women forced 50,000 women sex trafficking into brothels. and children are As Pettit's pasFor thousands of years women sion about the trafficked each and children have subject intensiyear into the fallen victim to fied, the poems United States. sex trafficking. progressed into Worldwide Although many a one-act draestimates range laws were enma. The readacted in the past between 700,000 ing was the first century, efforts and 1.75 million a phase of a femito decrease the nist project that year. numbers have is evolving into failed. Millions a full-length are kidnapped, while others play. Pettit submitted the piece are sold by their families and as part of the Cincinnati Playstill others are lured into traf- wrights Initiative’s New Voice ficking out of economic ne- Series through the Cincinnati cessity. While the numbers of Arts Association. human bodies trafficked vary Throughout the drama, a depending on how “sex traf- Kentucky woman, played by ficking” is defined, it is esti- Bett Kooris, sits reading a mated that between 17,000 newspaper. She is inundated and 50,000 women and chil- with advertisements as she dren are trafficked each year contemplates purchasing variinto the United States. World- ous commodities. Elsewhere, wide estimates range between in a distant place, a young 700,000 and 1.75 million a girl (Erin Howett) is sold by year. her parents into a brothel. The Variant though they might audience became spectators to be, the numbers are shock- a physical and psychological ing. Just as shocking, across journey that converts her nathe world, the average age of iveté into the accepting “girl” girls' entrance into prostitu- (Colette Thomas), whereby Photo by Aimie Willhoite. ‘The Global Lovers’ at the Aronoff. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. she undergoes various phases of “initiations” presented as a series of climatic episodes, brought on by ghosts of other trafficked women. Tension rises as the Kentucky woman turns page after page, gradually becoming conscious of the reality of both brothels and of the girl herself. The paper serves as a catalyst as reality penetrates until she is transformed, and the distance that separates their two worlds dissolves. “The language and imagery of the advertisements that keep the newspaper (or any media source) viable so that it may report on such horrors is also the language and imagery that distracts and placates us, and that commodifies through artificial sexualization of the female body,” Pettit says. Charlton-Trujillo says. “It was The cast included 10-year- a very real thing for me even old Natalia Sezer, a student at before that. I remember stories Summit Country Day School, growing up near the border as well as 15-year-old Howett, in South Texas about women a freshman who would “It was a very go missing. at Ursuline real thing for me A c a d e m y. After readTheir ages reing Rhonda's even before that. I poetic drama, flect the realremember stories ity that womthere was no growing up near en of all ages doubt I wantthe border in South are bought ed to be part and sold into Texas about women of the staged who would go reading. The the global sex market. Tolanguage was missing.” gether with ~ E.E. Charlton-Trujillo dynamic, the seven other stories vivid." cast members, Pettit's these women were empow- piece is a part of an extenered to bring the horrors of sive discourse on the comsex trafficking to light. The modification of bodies across piece is an exploration of “our the globe. In the past two deculture’s use of language as it cades, numerous scholars and regards the female body and activists have been working sexuality,” Pettit says. around the globe. End SlavThe reading elicited varied ery Cincinnati exists to apply responses from the audience federal anti-trafficking laws of 150. at the city level. Nationally, “The mythological and groups like the National Humodern double entendre re- man Trafficking Resource verberated the message of in- Center and the Human Rights nocence and loss to a young Watch Campaign work to help girl living in another world as protect and serve victims as compared to a modern Ken- well as enact legislation to tucky woman not seeing her,” combat trafficking. Organizasays Julia Sezer, Natalia’s tions around the world include mother. “The powerful mes- the Coalition Against Trafficksage this piece brings left the ing in Women, which works to audience empowered to ques- eliminate all forms of sexual tion this reality." exploitation; the International The meaning behind the Justice Mission, an agency piece ignited passion for those that rescues victims of sexual involved. exploitation; and Shared Hope “I had seen a powerful film International, which rehabilititled Trade that dealt with tates victims of trafficking. the human trafficking issue,” If you like what you read, but don’t live in the Cincinnati area, you can subscribe to Streetvibes. Call us at 513-421-7803 x 12 to learn more about subscribing to Streetvibes. �STREETVIBES March 2009 Community News Keeing Babies Alive based on a Procter & Gamble Carmel Presbyterian Church, model, ECS has effected a pre- which houses the Avondale/ cipitous drop in infant mortal- ECS Partnership. “The famiity rates: between 1999 and lies understand the importance ECS of this.” 2004, In 2001 the national participants Of Brentley, experienced infant mortality rate he says, “You was 6.8 deaths by can mix all an infant mortality rate that age 1 per 1,000 live kinds of conwas just 2.8 births; in Cincinnati, coctions, but deaths per the rate was nearly if you don’t 1,000 births. have anyone twice as high from to stir it … I These results 1999-2004, with and the dozens think she has a sense of carof agencies 13.1 deaths per involved won thousand, according ing and nurEvery Child turing that is to Every Child Succeeds the without peer.” Succeeds. 2008 AmeriAs Walcan Hospital lace’s grandAssociation Nova Award for mother used to say, Brentley community health collabora- doesn’t use “no long-handled tives. spoon,” he says. From its home at Children’s “It’s not easy to come and Hospital, ECS works through- ask people for things,” Brentout the Greater Cincinnati ley says. “It’s important to me area, but in Avondale the pro- that we smile for individuals gram has taken a more inten- and greet them with warmth sive approach thanks to addi- and compassion.” tional “place matters” funding Brentley also started Avonfrom United Way. dale Moms on a Mission Brentley saw that the young (AMOM), a monthly support mothers in Avondale couldn’t group for the caretakers of begin to focus on their own young children. What began or their babies’ health while with five women has grown as they struggled through crisis large as 60. A new men’s group after crisis, so she set up the already has four fathers. Avondale Caring Network Once police brought in a Pantry for any family with a grandmother whose daughter child age 3 or younger. Once had left her newborn on the a month these families can go floor and run off. to the pantry to load up for “We loaded her up with free on such essentials as dia- all kinds of things,” Brentley pers, wipes and new clothes says. for growing children. When there’s a need for big-ticket ‘Hold her hand’ items — say, a training toilet — Brentley puts the word out Efforts such as the pantry, to her extensive network. which is fueled largely by do“What’s really unique is nated items and bake sales, families that came here, they and the support groups have are bringing things back,” says brought 60 first-time moththe Rev. Clarence Wallace, for ers into the Avondale Every the past 30 years pastor of Child Succeeds program since 5 (continued from page 1) Stuffed animals available to the children of mothers working with Every Child Succeeds. Photo by Andrew Anderson. 2006. But the goal is 100, so Brentley found a way to hire ECS graduates as community liaisons. The luxury of bringing your child to work is one of the perks of working with Every Child Succeeds. It’s 19-yearold Leah Scott’s second day on the job, and she’s brought 3-month-old Kalliah. Lafawnda Sanderson, 35, has brought her 15-month-old son Trayvon. He’s busy answering a toy cell phone. Volunteer and ECS graduate Jenica Dowell, 30, says she learned about ECS from a brochure at the hospital where she gave birth to Ximen, now 4. “ECS literally became my family,” she says. “I decided I should hook myself up if I’m gonna raise this kid.” Ask these graduates about Brentley and she flees the room while they talk over each other. “She cares,” Dowell says. “Not only does she say it, but her actions show it. She never complains.” “She always shows a smile,” Scott says. “She wants to be here. For the mothers.” “If we don’t have it, she’ll take your phone number and call you when we get it,” Dowell says. Sanderson says her first contact with Brentley came in a phone call early one morning as she lay in bed, exhausted from staying up all night with her son. Brentley wanted to know what Sanderson needed from the pantry. “She rattled off like over 100 items on the phone,” Sanderson says. “I’m like, ‘Yes, no, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.’ We walked out of here with four bags full of items.” Later Brentley called Sanderson again, this time to offer her the job as community liaison just as Sanderson’s hours at work were being cut. “Ms. Anita’s a true bless- ing,” Sanderson says. “A godsend.” Brentley doesn’t much want to talk about herself. She has a husband and two sons, spent 10 years as a first-grade teacher in Cincinnati Public Schools and then another 10 years as injury-prevention coordinator at Children’s Hospital before starting at ECS in 2005. When she’s not in Avondale, Brentley’s in charge of ensuring all children in ECS are getting immunized and have a medical home. “I’m humbled,” Brentley says of the attention. “It’s not about me. I told the young ladies that, it’s not about us. It’s about the families.” And about the children. I remember how Brentley called after Neshia’s friend, a young mother departing with her 3-year-old daughter trailing behind. “You want to hold her hand because she walking with you, OK?” Brentley said. Spring Time at the Homeless Coalition (continued from page 1) helps,” he says. “Actually, I That includes an ongoing don’t put much stock in any lawsuit by the Homeless Copolitician. A lot of it comes alition against the city for usdown to ing the zonwhat we do ing code to “We represent locally. The limit socialthousands of people new presiservice agenwho are homeless dent and cies in Overand who possess Congress the-Rhine. undeniable strength, can say a “The zonand that should not be lot if things ing issues but really are a definioverlooked.” it comes tive attack on ~ Josh Spring down to people who what we do are poor and here. I don’t specifically think it’s time to put a lot of people who are homeless,” stock in what’s going on in the Spring says. “Zoning in this capital. We have to hold them case is an attempt by people accountable and hold our- in this city and by business selves accountable for what’s to zone where people can and going on in Cincinnati.” can’t receive services, really to separate people from getting what they need. “Much of what we’ve done in this country for a long time is to push people away: ‘Maybe if we don’t see it, it’s not there.’ ” Spring intends to make sure homeless people are seen. “We don’t need to be on the defensive,” he says. “We don’t need to prove to city council or anybody that it’s OK for us to exist. We need to move forward and do what we’re going to do. It is important that, when these issues come up, we present a united front and let council, the planning commission and whoever know that we’re not OK with this.” That was the case Feb. 10 when more than 200 people showed up for a hearing by the planning commission on the proposed restrictions on churches and social-services agencies. Sixty people spoke, only 11 of them in favor of the proposal, Spring says. “It was a real show of strength,” he says. Homeless people have a personal strength and a sense of community – borne of the need to survive without stable housing or food – that not only bode well for the Homeless Coalition’s work, but also illustrate the possibility for a larger social change, according to Spring. “We represent thousands of people who are homeless and who possess undeniable strength, and that should not be overlooked. We come to the table with a lot of hands and hearts. There is no doubt that people who are homeless turn off rugged individualism. For people who experience homelessness, it is a necessity to work together. There’s a strong sense of community.” At age 24, Spring is already experienced in the local struggle and says he’s ready to continue advocating for housing for everyone. “I am ‘young,’ ” he says. “I have been given the opportunity over the past few years to join in as well as take from the strength of those involved in the movement. I am ready to go.” �STREETVIBES March 2009 Local News 6 What’s Next for the Resistance? The anti-war movement after Obama’s election By lew MooreS Contributing Writer his month marks the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq. What might the reaction be in terms of antiwar protests? What will the election of an antiwar candidate in November during the course of an unpopular war — something that didn’t occur in 1968 and 1972, during the height of the Vietnam War — mean to a U.S. troop presence in both Iraq and Afghanistan? While the antiwar movement has perhaps become less strident since the election of President Barak Obama, it is still alive and well, according to Sister Alice Gerdeman, coordinator of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center. Agroup still conducts a vigil on the traffic island near Central Parkway and Vine Street downtown on some days. T Others stage peaceful protests once a month at various locations, including Newport near the Peace Bell, the Cincinnati neighborhood of Northside and the city of Mount Healthy. A rally is planned in New York in a couple of months. “There certainly still is an antiwar movement,” Gerdeman says. “We still have people who once a month stand out in various areas. That’s down somewhat, but it’s still there. Other ones pop up in different areas. We are working on the sixth anniversary now. While things have calmed down some, there is not peace there yet.” A rally is planned for 4 to 6 p.m. March 19, at Calhoun Street and Clifton Avenue in Clifton Heights, near the University of Cincinnati. On March 14 a teach-in on the Iraq war is planned on the campus of Xavier University. The numbers at past ob- servances have been impressive, Gerdeman says. During the fifth anniversary last year, hundreds showed up at Calhoun and Clifton, stretching north on Clifton to Ludlow Avenue – in a pouring rain, she points out – and hundreds showed up as well on Fountain Square. What numbers might appear this month at protests, with a new administration, is up in the air. Bumped by recession The differences between this war and the Vietnam War are stark; militarily, of course, but more to the point, in terms of antiwar dynamics. Not only was Vietnam a war that involved much larger troop commitments – and casualties – it also touched the American public much more intimately. There was a draft, which exposed those young men with- out college and other defer“You can talk about this in ments, to conscription. two ways. There are the hardBut it’s not just the differ- core folks for whom this is the ence between issue. And that those two number probNow we have an wars and the antiwar movement ably hasn’t changed election of a that is very well much. And professedly organized but antiwar canit’s not just unwilling to fight. didate that this war. might tend to There was acsubdue this tivism around antiwar movement, says Gene the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Beaupre. It is also what has as well. There are people for become another overarching whom I think it is an ideologiissue – the economy. cal imperative. There are oth“It occurred to me that even ers who care about the issue, before the election, the issue but have other concerns in of the war, even among young their lives. people, had taken a spot be“Except for a headline, the hind the economic issues,” war is reduced to a news disays Beaupre, director of gov- gest. GM (General Motors) ernment relations at Xavier closing plants — that’s the University and a professor headline that scares people.” there. “Among young people, Dan La Botz, a Cincinnatiit was behind the economic is- based teacher, activist and sues, but not maybe as distant writer (he’s a contributing from first place as with the writer to Streetvibes), is somegeneral population. See Resistance, p. 8 The Truth About Military Enlistment Center wants students to know what they’re buying By paul kopp Contributing Writer he life of an enlisted soldier in the U.S. military once seemed fairly simple: Go to boot camp, maybe go to war, come home, go to school or raise a family with monetary assistance and acknowledgment from the government for a job well done. Unfortunately things are getting more complicated for today’s enlistee. Because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military needs more young men and women. The economic crisis means young people might be more interested in joining. Recruiters are able to find them in high schools, where promises of money for college and job security sound very good to students who are low on opportunities. The Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center (IJPC) believes the military isn’t standing behind those promises and in some cases has been lying to students. IJPC held a training session Feb. 14 for volunteers in a project to counter military influence in Cincinnati schools. This is the second session the group has held since October. Participants visit school guidance counselors, provide information and check back periodically to gauge whether the approach is influencing student decisions or recruiting T efforts. can Friends Service CommitThe project is modeled af- tee believes recruiters should ter a successful effort by Co- give. One question is whether lumbus peace churches to the military can make somegive information to guidance one stay longer than what his counselors about non-military contract stipulates. The anoptions after high school. swer on the card is yes. “We're really concerned Though it might seem that with the presence of military some of these materials could recruiters in the schools at this be biased against the military, time, and we’re recognizing the IJPC says that’s not the that there is a lot of pressure case. being put on young people,” “The important thing is says Kristen Barker, a staff the information provided is member at IJPC. “Also there not opinion-based,” says Ned are things not being described Hamson, an IJPC staffer. “It's (by recruiters), like the full taken out of the Defense Depicture of what the military is all about isn't being shared very frequently.” The packet distributed by IJPC includes information about options for job training and funding for college that don’t involve the military, as well as help in understanding the terms of enlistment. The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization active in the national counter-recruitment movement, created some of the materials. A laminated card lists 17 questions for military recruiters on one side and, on the Kristen Barker of IJPC. other side, provides Photo by Aimie Willhoite. answers the Ameri- partment’s own ranks.” Barker says the project isn’t anti-military, but simply an effort to help students know all their options. “Lots of people get into the military because they feel like they don't have another way to pay for an education or they can't think of other job opportunities available to them," she says. Volunteers originally tried going to schools to pass out fliers but felt they weren’t making an impact because they had no relationships with the students, Barker says. Getting the information into the hands of guidance counselors, whom students know and trust, is the project’s new strategy. IJPC wants schools to be aware of the deceptive means that military recruiters can employ to get students to sign up. “There's pressure for (recruiters) to do whatever they have to do to make their quotas,” Hamson says. “They aren't inherently evil people, but when you have quotas to meet, that's how you keep your job.” Like other sales people, recruiters try to advertise their product in the best way possible, even if that means lying or giving a student a false impression. “We heard one story where a student was told that because of his entrance exam scores, he would receive a position as a courtroom sketch artist,” barker says. “That position doesn't even exist in the Marine Corps." Stephanie Gentile, a guidance counselor at Clark Montessori School, is worried about the way she sees army recruiters view the students. “I feel very protective of these kids,” she says. “I'm looking at them as people who have possibilities and who can contribute to society in some way, and they are looking at them as a number." IJPC says its campaign is similar to consumer protection, making sure a customer knows all the facts before buying. One example is its breakdown of the college benefits that the army promises new recruits. With the G.I. Bill being cut more and more each year and the qualifications to receive money for education getting increasingly difficult to meet, the army's promise of paying for college doesn't seem to be all that truthful to IJPC. “You only get $9,000 a year, and there are many ways in which you can be disqualified from receiving that money,” Barker says. �STREETVIBES March 2009 Reviews 7 The Dance of the Losers ‘Homeland Security USA’: Entertainment in brownface By DaviD heitFielD Contributing Writer man in Cincinnati named either Jim Duff or Jim Crow. The song became so popular ost people know of that it engendered minstrel the Jim Crow laws, shows as a popular entertainthe “separate but equal” leg- ment option later in the cenislation that codified segrega- tury. tion in education, voting, eatWe (at least, publicly) now ing, sleeping and other little admit that making fun of people based nuisances “The First on color (and up until the gender, alCivil Rights Amendment is though we Act and Votno longer about ing Act of still have a a marketplace of 1964-65. But ways to go ideas, the vigorous there, witdid you know debate of which the origins of nessing the makes a democracy “Jim Crow” last election) were in pop stronger, but about is bad. But we culture, with Ann Coulter calling miss the white a local bent? elephant in people names like A white the room: At an immature and comedian, its heart, this unimaginative.” issue isn’t just Thomas Dartabout race (or mouth “Dad~ Holden Caulfield dy” Rice, did gender); it’s a song and heartlessly dance number in 1828 called, making fun of people who “Jump Jim Crow,” allegedly have nothing. based on a song and dance he I confess I was even taken saw by a handicapped black in on viewing episodes of M ABC’s new series, Homeland Security USA (8 p.m. Tuesdays). I’d read mostly scathing reviews, charging the series with jingoism, xenophobia and overt propaganda. I thought the criticism overwrought: After all, many, if not most, of the “good guys,” the officers and agents working for the Department of Homeland Security, were of Hispanic origin. How can one charge that the series is engendering fear against a particular ethnicity while it also Red Skelton as a hobo. shows that ethnicity who possessed a quiet dignity protecting the borders? And then I remembered Clar- – say, Charlie Chaplin’s Little ence Thomas and thought ... Tramp character, Red Skelton’s hobo, or Carol Burnett’s oh, yeah, right. One of the most disconcert- bag lady – into objects of deriing developments in pop cul- sion and scorn. I grew up when country ture in my lifetime has been the transformation of poor bumpkins ruled the airwaves: people from objects of humor The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, The Andy Griffith Show, Petticoat Junction, Gomer Pyle and Hee Haw, to name a few. Money didn’t change Jed Clampett a whit, because he possessed a strength of character that money couldn’t buy. I had a hard time recently understanding people being surprised that Wall Street investment bankers would act in greedy, selfish and unscrupulous ways: Hadn’t these people ever met Milburn Drysdale? These shows resonated with my upbringing, which from the maternal side was deeply influenced by Appalachian culture, areas of Kentucky such as London, Corbin and Hazard – a very strong sense See Dance, p. 11 Life is a Battlefield ‘Wounded Warrors’ captures the effects of everday combat clusively about the individual and collective struggles of war veterans. The book is a collection of Sager’s magazine articles examining all kinds of types of “warfare.” He writes about HiQ intellectuals battling the mundane, celebrities and activists working to overcome negative media coverage, children seeking By JereMy Flannery entertainment on the streets Contributing Writer of Philadelphia and families fighting for the safety of Some wounded Iraq War neighborhoods where police veterans hope to return to officers dare not tread. Iraq, to their brothers in arms, In their plots and characdespite the traumatic brain in- ter development, the articles juries they suffered from im- have some of the qualities of provised explosive devices. fiction. This is journalism that At least these wounded pulls you into a spot next to Marines now have a barracks the subjects. to overcome their physical Corp. Jeff Leeman is one wounds and their mental an- of the wounded Marines in guish together, according to Camp Lejeune hoping to reWounded Warriors by Mike turn to Iraq. Sager describes Sager. The the concern Sager reminds us to Wo u n d e d that LeeW a r r i o r look beyond superficial man’s wife Barracks at has about characteristics Camp Lejeher husthat dictate our une, N.C., band being classifications of provides wounded people. a facilagain, while ity for the they both wounded Devil Dogs of the grip the notion of the job seMarine Corps to remain ac- curity that comes with militive, instead of recovering at tary service. a Veterans Affairs hospital “ ‘And besides,” Leeman until being discharged from continues, “going back over military service. Their orders there a second time – it’s are to support each other and gotta be different. It’s like dorecover together. ing anything the second time. Wounded Warriors isn’t ex- I’ve already been hurt. I know what to do. I know the drill. I know what the processes are now, so it won’t be as bad if I’m hurt again.’ “He looks at her. She looks at him. Neither seems convinced.” Sager spent a few days with the Rev. Al Sharpton in New York City. Sharpton and a group of volunteers joined a construction workers’ protest, demanding more opportunities for homeless people as well. “A few minutes ago, Sharpton penetrated borough limits in a white Pontiac Grand Am,” Sager writes. “He hoisted himself out of the passenger seat, trundled across three lanes of traffic and entered the park, where he was swallowed in a chanting, teeming mass, 12 busloads of followers, gathered as planned under the camouflage of the protest permit issued to the construction workers. “Now they head south, Sharpton and 600 marchers, led by a phalanx of police attended by a gaggle of press.” Sager describes the New Alliance Party’s assembly as it plans to occupy Liberty Island. Afterward, Sharpton and 13 volunteers held hands and awaited arrest for refusing to disperse, while chanting “No Sandwiches, No Peace.” Even what seems ridiculous has a deeper story, and Sager aims to tell it. Each article provides a portrait of warriors wounded in different kinds of combat, ranging from the mocking laughter directed at a 650-pound man in a California parking lot to people ducking for cover from bullets fired from a rival gang. Sager’s most daring report came after becoming part of a street gang for two weeks. He describes how impoverished gang members live and why they’re involved in such dangerous, sometimes criminal activity. Readers can almost see, hear and taste what Sager experienced, even though most won’t be smoking crack at the time, as Sager did with the V-13s before the Culver City gang ambushed them. “The rounds sizzled the air above our heads,” he writes. “Small bullets can do a lot of damage; they get inside your body and ping around, tearing up organs. Yogi rolled on top of Linda. Margarita rolled on top of Lil’ Sleeper. Everyone else hit the dirt.” Sager reminds us to look beyond superficial characteristics that dictate our classifications of people. Their homeland might not be suitable after the war for every veteran, as “Thailand’s Home for Wayward Vets” explains. The nightclub bouncer might be a genius, like Christopher Langan in “The Smartest Man in America.” “He is certainly the smartest nightclub bouncer in America, endowed with an IQ that has been measured at 195, a score that puts him on par with the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Rene Descartes, three of the brightest minds in human history,” Sager writes. “Chris is six feet tall and weighs 275 pounds, a great Minotaur of a man with a basso profundo voice. A former cowboy, construction worker, and Park Service firefighter, he has a 52-inch chest, 22-inch biceps, a cranial circumference of 25 and a half inches – a colossal head, more than three standard deviations above the norm. Known in his younger days to play a mean lead guitar, he has light blue eyes, a dry-look Elvis pompadour, and a large chip on his shoulder, something you come to understand once you hear his story.” Who wouldn’t want to? �Local News 8 Enfleshing the Dream STREETVIBES March 2009 Making King’s ‘beloved community’ a reality By alecia a. lott Contributing Writer On Nov. 3, 1979, a caravan of Ku Klux Klan members and Nazis attacked a small group In his books and speeches, of activists, led by Rev. Johnthe Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. son, gathered in a low-income popularized the term “beloved neighborhood in Greensboro. community,” a global vision in The group was marching for which all people share in the racial and economic justice. wealth of the earth. In King’s Although police had full prior Beloved Community, pover- knowledge of the march, they ty, hunger and homelessness “went to lunch,” as Johnson would not be tolerated be- puts it, and withheld proteccause international standards tion. The racist attackers killed of human decency would not allow it; racism and all forms five demonstrators and woundof discrimination would be re- ed 10 others in what became placed by an known as the all-inclusive Greensboro The group was spirit of broth- marching for racial M a s s a c r e . erhood. Johnson was and economic The Rev. stabbed durjustice. Although ing the melee, Nelson and police had full Joyce Johnwitnessed by his wife. Two son, founders prior knowledge of the Beloved of the march, they criminal cases Community “went to lunch,” as failed to conCenter (BCC) vict the attackJohnson puts it, and in Greensboro, ers — despite N.C., spoke withheld protection. the fact that Feb. 19 at the much of the National Underground Rail- event was videotaped v but a road Freedom Center. Married federal civil suit found Klan nearly 40 years, the Johnsons members, Nazis and Greenshave spent decades working to boro police liable for one bring about significant social death. change in the South as well as “What happens to a commutoward healing their commu- nity when you no longer benity, ripped apart by a tragic lieve what you see?” Johnson event 30 years ago. asked at the Freedom Center. Students speak with Rev. Nelson Johnson about King’s ‘beloved community’. Photo by Andrew Anderson. “What do you do when the instruments of justice fail you?” In the years that followed the incident, Greensboro’s low-income African-American communities struggled against discrimination, inadequate housing and police misconduct. Many Greensboro residents preferred not to discuss the killings, leaving their legacies unacknowledged. Although survivors continued to fight for justice, they found that the memory of that day in 1979 was rapidly fading, becoming just another part of Greensboro’s tumultuous history. Inspired by King’s teachings, the Johnsons wanted to ensure that something positive came from the tragedy. In 1991 they helped establish the Beloved Community Center. Not only does the BCC in Greensboro work to inspire dialogue about the killings, promote healing and keep the victims’ memories alive, but it also also fights for the wellbeing of the entire community, regardless of race, economic status or age. Joyce Johnson spoke with pride about the center, where she is director of its administrative support and fundraising entity and her husband is executive director. For their “homeless neighbors,” the See dream, p. 11 What’s Next for the Resistance? (continued from page 6) what skeptical of what effect supposedly rescuing is not a the month-long Obama presi- nation at all but rather a deepdency will have on achieving ly divided, semi-failed state peace and ending war in Iraq with an incompetent, corrupt and, especially, Afghanistan. government held to be ille“The first big problem is gitimate by a large portion of the antiwar movement declin- its population…Meanwhile, ing to take on Obama,” La neighboring countries may Botz says. “There is a creep- see a chance to bog America ing gentleness in the antiwar down in a costly war. Last, movement, which is unfortu- there is no easy way out.” nate.” He cites a disturbing story Co-opted by Obama? in the Feb. 9 issue of Newsweek about the war in AfghanThe problem with this “anistan. The story, by John Barry tiwar” president, as La Botz and Evan Thomas, wonders sees it, is that his adminiswhether Afghanistan, where tration blunts, dilutes, even Obama co-opts wants to “While many of the things the movecommit ment’s enthat President Obama thousands said during the campaign ergy and m o r e singlegave us some hope, we troops, will minded b e c o m e also know you have to be focus. La constantly vigilant with Botz finds “Obama’s Vietnam.” alarmpolitical systems.” To d a y ’s ing that ~ Sister Alice Gerdeman “surge” is Obama the dirty continues word “escalation” of four de- to surround himself, in his view, with hawks, such as Decades ago. “Vietnam analogies can be fense Secretary Robert Gates, tiresome,” Newsweek says. continued from Bush admin“…The nation that we are istration; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who voted for the Iraq war; and retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones, Obama national security adviser. “He’s chosen a group of people who are hawks on the war,” La Botz says. “He’s chosen to expand the war in Afghanistan. U.S. foreign policy hasn’t funda- Protesting the invasion of Gaza in February on Fountain Square. mentally changed. Photo by Andrew Anderson. The United States tics of the Democratic Party says. “But I’m not aware of an hasn’t given up one iota of its and to Obama. So now we Obama exit strategy.” desire to occupy and control have an antiwar movement Gerdeman, too, is cautious, the countries in the Middle that is very well organized but even after the election. East and Central Asia.” unwilling to fight. And I think “We’re constantly vigilant,” He calls the further troop that severely weakens us. We she says. “While many of the commitment to Afghanistan a need to have people who say things that President Obama “slippery slope of escalation.” we’re fighting against war and said during the campaign gave He was, in short, not encourmilitarism no matter who is us some hope, we also know aged by Obama’s election. president. That might take a you have to be constantly vig“I never was encouraged,” shake-up in the leadership of ilant with political systems. La Botz says. “From a civil the antiwar movement.” We give a little bit of leeway rights point of view, the elecXU’s Beaupre also won- and understand that things tion of Obama was a remarkders, especially about Iraq. take time. So we’re hopeful able change in American poli“You know, the criticism but vigilant.” tics. But that’s it. of Bush was he didn’t have “The antiwar movement an exit strategy,” Beaupre subordinated itself to the poli- �STREETVIBES March 2009 Poetry/Artwork 9 The Lump? By holly parker As I sat there and listened I tried to figure it out A lump they said it was Had crept into her breast First off what is a breast? I don't understand That's my aunt they have in there She don't have breast She's my aunt A lump? I get one caught in my throat every time I remember Cancer, I don't understand They say she did nothing wrong So why did this have to happen to her It got bigger and bigger they say Till one then both her breast they had to take By Anthony Williams Berta’s Art Corner I still don't understand everyone is all upset I am crying too Because today we laid my aunt to rest As a child I remember her sweet voice Calling me in for a snack She was all flat up top Not like most women Cancer did it they said Why did it have to take my aunt It's a thief they say She didn't have the money Or insurance back then She worked hard every day Taking care of my cousin Till Breast Cancer took her slowly away I remember her smile, her strength Never give up she said God has it all in control He knows someone one day Will find strength because of me And you know she was right Because today I write this poem In my aunts honor And all that have won the fight Or in the fight Against Breast Cancer That slips in they call it The lump......... “Mural in Snow,” Jackson Street, Over-the-Rhine My Friend By DeDe StoopS I have found a friend, who is pure and true. He loves me always, as a friend should do. He’s by me always, day and night. All men are equals in his sight. His smile is in a child’s face; it’s captured in a warm embrace. His gentleness is in a golden flower; his strength is a mountain’s towers. His love is like an endless sea. He loves all men, whatever creed. His sorrows are the withered sod, my friend. You see, His name is God! God used them to teach us Get tested Take care of yourself Don't suffer alone 1128 Walnut St Pizza by the Slice She said it wasn't a thief It was a test She won For now with our father she is home....... Tues and Thurs Buffet($7.00)-11AM-2PM Wed-Thur-Fri-Sat 9PM-3AM �Column 10 Power and Powerlessness STREETVIBES March 2009 We don’t have to do to others as others have done to us At the bottom of Vine Street hill in Cincinnati is the five-point corner where Vine, McMicken and Findlay streets come together. On the various corners are a fire station, a carry-out, an apartment building, an empty wedge-shaped two-story that has been shut up for as long as I can remember and an abandoned storefront church painted over with a mural in which the hand of the Lord reaches down with what appears to be a string of sausages for the hungry. There is to be a lot of hunger at this crossing. ***** As often as not, at least one prostitute trolls up and down McMicken. So even on this bright, bitter-cold day, as I wait out the red light on Vine, I am not surprised to see a young woman stalking up the street toward the corner. This one is small and slender, with blonde hair that falls to her shoulders. From the angle from which I see her, the hair hides her face. She wears a black leather coat and has a purse slung from her shoulder and she walks slowly with her hands in the pockets of her coat. Two black men accost her at the corner. They know her, it seems. They smile, and their arms are open. They are tall, athletic-looking men and the taller of the two raises his arms to embrace her. She does not want his embrace and she tries to walk past him. So he bear-hugs her from behind. She tries to keep going, and she does. She drags him to the corner and turns the corner, even though he hangs on her erlessness. But to my mind, Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with there are two sorts of power- Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This lessness. column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. One is the sort of powerlessness involved in the First is under the power of others. Step of Alcoholics Anony- At the moment I saw her, she ***** mous and is part of the com- was under the power of those mon language of recovery, in men. Her addiction — if she The Brazilian educator which the addict or alcoholic is an addict — might have Paolo Freire calls this “the recognizes he or she is only opened the door for whoever horizontal violence of the ophuman and surrenders to a has her under his thumb, and pressed.” Power in society is Higher Power capable of re- she might bear responsibility exercised along a vertical line directing his or her life. for putting herself there. But in which those with the greatThis is the real powerless- what she faces on this street est power direct this force ness, hard-wired is more than what the middle- downward toward those less into our human- class addict faces. She is un- empowered. At progressively ity. It is part of our der the thumb of others as a lower levels, the tendency is birthright and our nail is under a hammer. She is to direct this pressure further condition in the not only powerless; she is dis- downward until it gets to the by miChael henson world. The notion empowered. bottom levels of society where that we are powerWe could also say the same there is nowhere else to take less over people, of the men who are likely to it. So the people at the bottom The men laugh. places and things is a tough be impoverished and unem- direct it toward each other. The light changes and I sell, but once we accept it, the ployed and are black men in a Humiliated, they humiliate have to move on. concept becomes great gift, racist society. They might not those around them. Victims, a core requirement for liv- be so directly under the thumb they victimize each other. ing comfortably in the world. of others as the prostitute. The ***** Or, as addicts will often do, Though practiced differently hammer that beats them down they direct it toward themWhat just happened? in each might not be selves. Where else can this I can only guess. I don’t group, the But it seems to me that so heavy for woman on the street take this know these people and I don’t notion is now as the rage that is killing her? these men, at least know their story and had all of c o m m o n hammer over for that moment, felt 30 seconds to watch the whole to nearly this woman. ***** scene unfold in front of me. all reli- they had the power or But they are the right to taunt and under it noneAnd it may just be that some- gious and This might be heresy, but I one was having a bad day. But s p i r i t u a l humiliate that woman theless. Their believe the person in recovery it seems to me that these men, traditions. and that the woman, for turn for rage is empowered. Remember that at least for that moment, felt It is an inat least that moment, and shame in the 11th Step, the addict or they had the power or the right escapable might come alcoholic prays for “knowlwas powerless to do to taunt and humiliate that part of husoon. edge of His will for us and anything but curse. woman and that the woman, man culSo they the power to carry that out. for at least that moment, was ture. do what dis- “By accepting powerlessness powerless to do anything but But the empowered people often do. in one realm, he or she comes curse. other sort of powerlessness is They take it out on someone in touch with a power greater Which brings me to a a condition imposed by one even more vulnerable. Denied than themselves. The recoverthought about power and pow- human or set of humans on real power, they look for the ing person drops the illusion erlessness. another human or set of hu- illusion of power that comes, of power in order to become mans. The prostitute at the at this moment, in their abil- empowered. ***** five-point corner is power- ity to raise that rush of rage No more victims; no more less as a human being — all and shame on the face of that victimizing. Humbled, the We say that an essential for humans are. But she is also woman. addict/alcoholic casts off hurecovery is to accept pow- powerless in the sense that she No one wins in this game. miliation. and begins to pump his hips at her in imitation of doggystyle sex. She struggles and flings off his arms. He laughs and lets her go. He puts an arm across her shoulders, as if to say, No harm intended. She flings that away as well. She turns and walks the other way. And now I can see her face. Her brow is stormy; she spits curses; her face is red with rage and shame. ammered H Cover the Uninsured Week 2009 March 21, 2009 Corryville 1 West Corry St Cincinnati OH 45219 Hartwell 8241 Vine St Cincinnati OH 45216 Norwood 4500 Montgomery Rd. Norwood, OH 45212 Queen City Center 4777 Kennard Ave. Cincinnati OH 45232 Westwood 2435 Harrison Ave. Cincinnati OH 45211 In partnership with other local organizations, The Legal Aid Society will be helping individuals and families sign up for Medicade insurance and other forms of health care coverage and medical assistance programs at a number of different Kroger locations. From 9am to 12pm at the Kroger’s listed below, any family may sign up for health care coverage as well as receive a FREE Kroger gift card, while supplies last. Please bring the following documents if possible: • • • • • Proof of income (last three months paystubs) Proof of pregnancy (if relevant) Proof of other insurance (if any) Outstanding medical bills Proof of Citizenship (passport or birth certificate and state issued ID) For a full listing of participating Kroger’s please go to www.covercincy.org or call 211. March 29, 2009 Ferguson 2310 Ferguson Rd. Cincinnati OH 45238 North College Hill 7132 Hamilton Avenue Cincinnati, oh 45231 Norwood 4500 Montgomery Rd. Norwood, OH 45212 Queen City 4777 Kennard Ave. Cincinnati OH 45232 Whitewater 4001 S.R. 128 Cleves OH 45002 �STREETVIBES March 2009 Column The Dance of the Losers (continued from page 7) of clan, a sense that God put replaced by hatred of liberals, where a lot of people get inyou in your place because of who are the guardians of the sulted and look stupid and His reason that you don’t need shiftless and lazy. Jim Crow cry; and The Biggest Loser (an to understand. There is noth- laws are replaced by pleas of American original!), where a ing worse than unchecked am- “states’ rights” and “original lot of people get insulted and bition; it is not just an insult intent” in interpreting laws. look fat and cry. The message to the family, it is an insult The First Amendment is no seems to be “Even losers can to God. To think you could longer about a marketplace become winners,” ignoring change your lot in life might of ideas, the vigorous debate the obvious implication that in be part of Americana lore, but of which makes a democ- order to create a winner, you it is an affront to those who racy stronger, but about Ann need to create many, many feel you should be grateful for Coulter calling people names more losers. what you have. Life itself is a like an immature and unimag* * * blessing. Don’t covet. inative Holden Caulfield – in Today, of course, the most other words, free speech is not ubiquitous insult you can call about encouraging debate, but Originally titled Border Pasomeone is a “loser” – not stifling it. Just read comments trol USA, Homeland Security enough stuff, not the right to the Enquirer on the inner- USA begins with a title screen job, not the best-looking or webs, the technology that is of an aerial shot of a coastline richest spouse. Hell, even the supposed to democratize our with dark storm clouds obChristians today often preach debate even further; it’s not scuring the horizon. There’s a message of abundance, from a debate, it’s just really angry an appropriately menacing, Joel Osteen to Rick Warren to people telling everyone with minimalist score to make you P.D. Jakes – be feel some homea good Chrisless shark might It seems safe to say that in this age of tian, and God post-ironic-postmodernism, it’s perfectly be coming out will make you, of the water to OK for all of us to ridicule and be if not rich, at eat your leg. least very ma- entertained by those who have nothing, as Several stories terially com- long as we don’t qualify it by race, creed, are intertwined fortable. It’s in each episode gender or national origin. like a bizzaro to ensure a miniCalvinism: If cliffhanger for you ain’t wealthy, obviously a differing viewpoint to shut each commercial break. God hasn’t chosen you, so up. There are bad guys, of what the hell do expect us to Maury, Springer, Cops and course, but the most disturbdo about it? We’ll say a prayer scores of shows like them are ing parts are when the series and take away your right to all about amusing ourselves at tries to actually show some abortion so you don’t make what others lack: education, compassion: A boatload of any more bad decisions. money, opportunity, common refugees caught by the Coast Methinks hatred and preju- sense. Shows in the same time Guard (they end up detaindice itself is not so much ex- slot as Homeland Security USA ing 10 of the 93 migrants as tinguished as it is displaced. include American Idol (based bad guys), is listing in rough Hatred of people of color is on the British show Pop Idol), seas. The show explains that Enfleshing the Dream center provides a place where they can be seen as part of the community. Almost daily 150-200 homeless people eat breakfast in the center‘s Homeless Hospitality House. Showers, a mail delivery address and a telephone for those seeking work are also provided. Periodically, gath- Joyce Johnson, co-founder of the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro, N.C. Photo by Andrew Anderson. 11 the boat people were at first upset that they were spotted, but then they were grateful to be rescued because they feared for their lives, even though it meant they would go back to the life they were willing to risk their lives to leave in the first place. Is it propaganda? Of course it is, but Jed Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies what isn’t? We us, because they don’t have it. crossed that border back when the Voice Why save New Orleans when of America changed its pro- you’re just saving people who gramming from an objective have nothing? They’re losers. international news source, not People in prison are losers. unlike what you can hear at People without health insurnight on WVXU through the ance are losers. The homeless BBC World Service, to jingo- are losers. If you don’t see istic feel-good stories about your recent layoff as an “opAmericans all living the high portunity for growth,” you’re just a loser. life. It seems safe to say that in At its root, the state-apthis age of post-ironic-postproved message is the same: modernism, it’s perfectly OK Fear people who have nothing. It amuses me in a sick for all of us to ridicule and way that a culture that prides be entertained by those who itself on a “free market” sends have nothing, as long as we people to jail for driving with- don’t qualify it by race, creed, out purchasing car insurance gender or national origin. I – it’s the fear of people with think it’s fair to ask, in today’s nothing, codified. The terror- snarky rhetoric: How’s that ists are jealous of what we working out for us? have, our last president told (continued from page 8) erings are hosted to discuss social issues. The Johnsons believe social change is often sparked by young people; the center invites Greensboro youth who are dedicated to social change to gather and discuss current and past events. “Young people don’t see themselves in history books — or if they do, the view is distorted,” Rev. Johnson says. The Beloved Community Center works with local schools to transform the education system into one that is accountable to the community and encourages parental involvement and works with gangs to encourage their members to sign a pact for peace. The center is also involved in a workers’ center that provides information on labor laws and helps people find employment and a clergy network that has been a key part of several campaigns for worker justice in North Carolina. “Economic justice is the path to peace,” and is a value that is crucial to a beloved community, according to “You will always be a crippled community, whether you like it or not … as long as you refuse to face up to your past.” ~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa Joyce. Johnson says. The organization has won numerous awards and national recognition for its efforts to ensure policy changes that improve the lives of minorities and low-income people. The healing that began in Greensboro because of the Beloved Community Center gave the Johnsons the motivation and strength to face the city’s devastating past on a deeper level. In 2004 they helped form the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (GTRC), the first commission of its kind in the country. Devoted to, as Rev. Johnson says, “unearthing the falsehoods of our yesterdays so our yesterdays won’t be our tomorrows,” the group’s mission was facilitating truth, understanding and healing in their community. Using similar commissions in South Africa and many Latin American countries as a guideline, the commission researched statements given to them about the Greensboro Massacre as well as court documents and produced a report of its findings in 2006. The report included recommendations for the Greensboro community for how to make strides toward healing, reconciliation and justice. The findings have been published online to inspire other communities, and the Johnsons are involved in starting truth commissions for other cities in the South. In a speech to the GTRC, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said, “You will always be a crippled community, whether you like it or not … as long as you refuse to face up to your past.” For more information, visit belovedcommunitycenter.org and greensborotrc.org. �Local News 12 A Call To Care for Our People STREETVIBES March 2009 A progressive campaign for community values By Dave ScharFenBerGer Contributing Writer A local coalition of community, labor and church organizations recently decided to take the initiative to present their own agenda to Congress and the Obama administration. The group met Jan. 22 at the Contact Center in Overthe-Rhine with Brooke Hill, director of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s regional office. “We know that President Obama and Congress supported a bailout for Wall Street,” said Lynn Williams, spokeswoman for the Contact Center. “We need help for ordinary people.” The campaign, “Call to Care for Our People,” is about “corporal works of mercy,” according to Stephanie Beck Borden, a member of Catholic Alliance for the Common Good. The Contact Center brought the coalition of groups together to discuss issues they want addressed by Congress during the first 100 days of the new administration. They presented their agenda for economic recovery to Hill, who promised to deliver it to Brown. Organizations represented at the meeting included Communities United for Action, the Interfaith Worker Justice Center, Local 9 of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Cincinnati ACORN. “As Congress considers an economic-stimulus package, we must ensure that the needs of communities and ordinary people are included,” Williams said. “We are hopeful for change but we can’t afford to wait to see what they will do.” Health care was one of the issues that evoked the strongest support. Several participants shared personal experience about difficulty in getting health coverage, especially if they had a pre-existing condition. Mary Causey, with Mature Services, said her health insurance ran out when she lost her job. “Because I had cancer previously, I couldn’t find another health-insurance policy,” she said. Cassandra Barham was diagnosed with breast cancer. “I was fortunate that my cancer was treatable,” she said. “The problem that I ran into happened when I had to find other health insurance. I could not find another company to cover me.” Other issues presented to Senator Brown’s staff in- Matt Ryan, Mary Causey, and Lynn Williams present their concerns at the coalition. Photo by Dave Scharfenberger. cluded Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), stopping foreclosures, vacant and blighted properties, funding for the Home Energy Assistance Program and weatherization, the Employee Free Choice Act and humane immigration reform. The main theme of the meeting was values and where ordinary people fit with the federal agenda. “You need you to do more than help the banks,” said Marilyn Evans, executive di- Crossword rector of Communities United For Action. “We need a moratorium on foreclosures so we can stop people from losing their homes. This foreclosure crisis is affecting everyone. Families are losing their homes. Our communities are suffering because of all the vacant buildings.” Matt Ryan of SEIU called for Congress and the administration to “rebuild our economy where everyone is built up.” Dave McDonald talked about his experience of being threatened with losing his job because he joined the union. He said Congress should pass the Employee Free Choice Act to protect workers. The Cincinnati coalition is part of a nationwide effort of community organizations in 38 states working to push the “people’s agenda.” They requested a meeting with Brown and plan to contact other representatives as well. “We really need to get our representatives to listen,” Williams said. Sudoku 35. Collective security organization 36. Authoritative statement 37. Help 38. Fake Down Across 1. Recreational vehicle 4. Silly 8. Tonsillitis bacterium 13. Own 14. Ring 15. Wild card 16. Dagger-like weapon 18. Divorce center 19. Look closely 21. Look closely 23. Smooth-tongued 27. Official symbols of a family 31. Advantage 33. Extinction 34. Far away 2. Winter 3. Ruler of an empire 5. Unskilled laborer 6. Man’s wig 7. Paying stone 9. Womanizer 10. Smooth 11. Poultry house 12. Top of a volcano 17. Strive 20. Russian security organization 22. Sorrow 24. Finds out 25. Dope 26. Legume 28. 500 sheets 29. Consort 30. Intoxicated 32. Amphibians Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 through 9. The fundamental goal of a Sudoku puzzle is to use the provided numbers, or givens, to discover which numbers logically fill in the empty squares. The only rule of Sudoku is that each of the nine rows, each of the nine columns, and each of the nine 3x3 subsections must contain all of the numbers from one to nine, and each number consequently can occur in each row, column, and subsection only once. Answers on Page 15 �STREETVIBES March 2009 For Women Only A chance to talk in the yellow room By anGela pancella Contributing Writer A bout one-third of the guests who come to Our Daily Bread are women. Last year Our Daily Bread started a women’s group as a way to connect with these guests who are facing unique challenges. Monday mornings at 10 am, staff member Lucinda Foster checks in the dining area to see which women might like to join that day’s gathering. The women then meet in the “yellow room,” a conference room in the administrative office area. It’s a smaller room—the ideal size for sharing conversations about whatever the women have on their minds that day. And they can eat their lunch as they talk, away from the bustle of the main dining area. Everything said in the group meetings is kept confidential; as in Las Vegas, whatever happens in the yellow room stays in the yellow room. Judy Frankel, who retired nine years ago as a psychology teacher, is the group’s facilitator. “The first thing I did was find these women are utterly marvelous,” she says. “They are so spiritual. They’ve given me support in times of difficulty. They are the strongest women I know. Life has dealt them all a hand that’s overwhelming; they’re pushed down with it but they keep on going. They are so good to each other when they can be. I just am amazed by their strength.” Sometimes the women who participate vent their frustrations in the group in less than pleasant ways, but Frankel says she understands. “Their own pain is overwhelming them,” she says. “It’s not really personal. “And they know so much. They help each other. (They know when) to talk or not talk, to support each other or just be there.” Women who are interested in the women’s group are invited to check in with Lucinda at Our Daily Bread on Monday mornings before 10 am. Community News 13 Fire Damages Grace Place Rebuilding effort needs volunteers and donations possibly a wiring problem. Only the room where the fire originated had severe fire damage, but several A fire Jan. 18 caused seriother rooms had water damous damage at Grace Place age and other damage from Catholic Worker House in the fire-suppression effort. College Hill. The time since the fire The fire, which started in has been spent talking to a crawl space on the third the insurance company, refloor, caused about $30,000 ceiving bids for repair work in damage. A smoke alarm to be done, sending clothing woke residents of the house and furniture to be cleaned and they safely exited beand finding places for the fore firefighters arrived. residents to stay. Immedi“They got here very fast” ately following the fire, the says Joyce Asfour, who has Red Cross placed four of been in charge of the home the five guests at a motel on ever since she purchased it Grace Place prior to the recent fire. Photo courtesy of Grace Place Colerain Avenue, and the as a modest farm house four Catholic Worker House. fifth went to stay at a neighyears ago. “The fire truck bor’s house. room and board only for those In addition to providing from the station around the Four of the residents have who can afford it. The facility housing, Grace Place works corner was there in minutes — since moved on as some of houses single women as well to increase awareness of the although it seemed like a long them were as women with children who causes of time. The women themselves scheduled “The fire truck from have been to an emergency poverty and were very calm.” to, but many the station around shelter and are working to try homelessness Firefighters later took each needs remain. the corner was and get secure stable housing. in the hope of the residents back in one Because the If a guest has income, she is that it will there in minutes — fire displaced at a time to retrieve what they asked to make a rent payment, incite action. although it seemed a lot of the could. which is held and then re- The program like a long time.” Grace Place, part of the residents at turned to her when she leaves is moving toCatholic Worker movement, once, it pro~ Joyce Asfour the home, for use as a kind ward a more is a multi-faceted transitional vides an opof emergency fund or down v o l u n t a r y, home that allows guests to stay portunity to payment for her next place of simple and for up to one year, charging work on the house. residence. organic lifestyle more in tune Grace Place needs volunwith the earth. teers who are willing to scrape The staff prays daily and paint walls. The house also to provide an environneeds donations of food of ment of spiritual growth. any kind but preferably packGrace Place draws on aged and canned. The fire also Catholic values and increased the house’s utility kindness; none of the bill because of heat escaping resident staff receive pay, through the roof and increased and some give their own electricity use during repairs. money to the betterment Those costs aren’t covered by of the house. insurance, and Grace Place The cause of the fire is accepts no receive governbelieved to be linked to a ment funding. furnace on the third floor, By aDaM clark staff Writer A bedroom at Grace Place after it was damaged in the fire. Photo courtesy of Grace Place Catholic Worker House. To donate or to volunteer, call Grace Place at 513-681-2365. Aiken Students Celebrate Giving Annual gift program for needy kids is in 12th year By alexiS GorDon Contributing Writer he Aiken High School staff and leadership team shared because they cared this past holiday season. Students and staff were asked to buy gifts listed on the “giftgiving” tree at the school. The gifts were to be wrapped and donated to the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless for distribution to needy children this Christmas. The school collected more than 175 presents. This was the 12th year that Aiken has T donated gifts. Every year someone new to the school comes to the giftwrapping party and is amazed at how seriously the participants treat it. One student continually reminded students and teachers to bring in the gifts. When we do things like this, we do it out of kindness. We do it because we know that every child deserves to have a gift under the tree on Christmas morning. On Dec. 18 we finished wrapping the gifts and helped load them into the car. After taking plenty of pictures, we went around and discussed how we felt, why we donate every year and what doing so nut Hills and also to kids at means to us. With every per- the Bethany House. To put son we asked, we pretty much one smile on a child’s face is heard the same response: “We the greatest, most perfect gift do it because we care.” Some one can receive. students have said they would want someone to buy nice gifts for them if they were in the same situation. The gifts went to children staying at First Step Students load gifts to be delivered. Home in Wal- Photo courtesy of Aiken high School. �14 Local News STREETVIBES March 2009 The Ghetto Isn’t What You Thought It Was And other lessons for people who haven’t been there By GreGory Flannery editor Unexpected lessons present themselves when relatively affluent college students spend four months living and working in Over-the-Rhine. The sound of gunfire in the night is always informative, but participants in Miami University Over-the-Rhine Residency Program uniformly come away almost awed at deeper realities they observe. A compilation of student evaluations shows the intensity of the experience. “This experience has altered my life. I can’t leave here knowing what I’ve learned and not give something back. … I feel empowered after this semester. … I’ve vacationed in Europe, studied in Africa but can honestly say I was not affected the way I have been here.” Several students contrast their expectations of life in Over-the-Rhine — violent crime and degraded living conditions — with the sense of cohesive community they encountered once they were there. “Coming from a predominantly upper-middle class household, I previously dismissed people as drug dealers, homeless guys and drunks without fully comprehending how they came to live in their situation,” writes student Amanda Stacy. “There has been a complete transformation in my thought processes concerning inner cities and Over-the-Rhine in particular.” Twelve students, with majors ranging from architecture to international studies, participated in the program in the fall 2008 semester. Weekly communal meals, journal writing and meetings with community organizers joined the more conventional academic work of reading and writing papers. But the core of the semester is the work the students do in the neighborhood. Some designed a new second-story, steel balcony for an apartment owned by Overthe-Rhine Community Housing. Others worked at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center, the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, the Workers Center and Rothenberg Preparatory Academy. Ben Romero (L) and Doug Morgan (R) reflecting at the Miami University Center for Community The program is not about the Engagement. Photo by Sylvia Pisczor. fortunate helping the wretched, according to Tom Dutton, The first is student frustration representations that previous- affordable housing, services director of the Miami Univer- at learning how slowly social ly served their middle-class for the homeless, the growth sity Center for Civic Engage- change actually occurs. The biases.” in the size of police forces and ment in Over-the-Rhine. second is the development of That lesson can work both the number of prisons, segre“The residency program empathy as students develop ways, according to student gation and economic trends. constitutes a particular model relationships with people in Alex Libengood. The students Dutton has been active for community engagement the neighborhood. apparently aren’t the only in community organizing in that distinguishes itself from “These re- people learning from the cul- Over-the-Rhine for several programs based l a t i o n s h i p s tural exchange. decades. The residency proon charity, “These relationships t y p i c a l l y “Coming into this semester, gram aims to change student v a n g u a r d i s m typically disarm the disarm the I think everyone had general- perceptions about individuand noblesse students and help students and izations,” he writes. “People als but also to make them see oblige,” he them take steps to help them criticized these white, rich larger connections and to act. says in a report take steps to Miami students coming into “The richness of this kind deconstruct their on the semesdeconstruct the neighborhood for an ‘exof experience, moving from ter. “Students privilege, precisely their privi- cursion,’ while many of us stu- critique to action, is all the in the program because they come lege, precise- dents, including myself, really more amplified when students work collab- to see their privilege ly because didn’t know how to approach and faculty come to see the oratively with as a kind of learning they come to or even what to think about the issues in Over-the-Rhine as neighborhood see their priv- homeless, the addicted and the something more than being disability.” organizations ilege as a kind traffickers. But as soon as the problems of the community,” ~ Tom Dutton and residents of learning street interactions moved to a Dutton says. “Over-the-Rhine — through d i s a b i l i t y, ” personal level, the stereotypes is a global phenomenon.” courses, reDutton says. “It may sound plastered on our foreheads beTo the degree that student search, and active service — naively simplistic but the stu- came irrelevant. … When it evaluations can gauge the in order to assist that which is dents are shocked to find that came down to it, everyone, in- long-term effect of a single already in movement, oriented the homeless on the streets, cluding us, had a story to tell, semester, Katie Shipman’s asto developing the community the children in the classroom, and experience to share and a sessment is one of the most without displacement.” promising, certainly among the day workers waiting in heartfelt bond to forge.” Dutton says he’s noted pat- line, and the neighbors next The educational goal goes the most eloquent. Summarizterns in the three years the pro- door are full, sentient beings beyond tender feelings, of ing her experience in Overgram has been in operation. far removed from the stereo- course. The curriculum in- the-Rhine, she writes, “I want types and media cludes study of gentrification, to live differently.” Sylvia Pisczor, Beth Calvelage and Ben Romero (left to right) discuss the balcony project with structural engineer Daniel Clark. Photo courtesy of Miami University. �STREETVIBES March 2009 Vendor Writings 15 I Don’t Forget Moving out of the depths one day at a time By Matt holcoMB streetvibes vendor W hen God woke me up today and I got out of bed, got on my hands and knees to pray, first of all I thanked him and then asked him to help me and guide me throughout the day and to help me do his will and not mine and to help me to show me how I can better my fellow man or woman in any way that I can and to help me be a better person than I was yesterday and in the past. I am glad today that I have asked him to come into my life to help, to guide me and help direct me in everything I do today, because now I have no reason to ever tell him to go away. He walks beside me and helps to show me how to be a better man than I used to be. He woke me up and showed me that I am really not a bad person. I just made a lot of bad mistakes that I choose not to make anymore. Now I know what my job is: to reach out and help the ones that want help and pray for the ones that are not ready to get help and especially the ones that don’t know how to reach out and ask for help, just like I used to be. I remember being out there, sleeping outside, not knowing which way to go or even have a clue, always trying to find a way to make a dollar or two, waking up every day, whole body shaking, going into tremors, walking around with piss and crap all over myself, having the same clothes on for two or three weeks, not caring if I lived or died. I ran around doing almost anything just to get a drink and a drug so I could get high, not even knowing what the outcome of the situation was going to be, like hanging out there on the corner, holding a cup and flying a sign and having and watching the people walk by, not knowing or caring about what the people would think or say, because back then I didn’t care about anything or anybody. I was just concerned about a drink, because that is all I cared about. It got so bad where I had to have it to stay alive. That is all I cared about. It had become me and took over my life. Today it is different: one day at a time. I am a proud member of Alcoholics Anonymous and I have God in my life and I have a sponsor and a grand sponsor. That has helped me save my life. I am using these people and suggestions and until I hear a lie, I am going to be doing what I am supposed to do and not what I want to do. One day at a time, because every day I was running the show by myself, I always found a way to screw things up. I don’t forget where I come from; I just don’t want to go back. I am now moving forward, as long as I do it one day at a time. God and these people are always going to be on my side. I don’t forget those days when all I wanted to do was drink and get high until I died. Now God and these people are showing me one day at a time how to survive and stay alive. Homeless People Look Like You’d Expect Sharing shelter with business people By DeDe StoopS streetvibes vendor H omeless people are people from all walks of life; they work in every type of job. A homeless person can be a college professor, a business president or a street kid like I was. Most people don’t choose to be homeless, but life throws them a curve that lands them in shelters or on the streets or even sleeping in cars. I became homeless several times in my life. There were times I chose to live on the streets rather then live with my parents so I could get away from my abusive home. The first time I became homeless was when I was 5, then again at 10 years old. This happened three times, for a total time of four years, as a teen and five times as an adult. It was a lot harder to bounce back when I was an adult. I saw all kinds of homeless people living with me in shelters or abandoned buildings. Some were young mothers. Others were addicts, senior citizens and young families. I was surprised when I was a child that I saw business people in the shelters. Now nothing surprises me when it comes to who can end up homeless. There are many reasons that people become homeless. Some are teenagers kicked out by their parents or running away from a violent situ- ation. Others are adults who loose their jobs and homes. There are even times when a working person gets nailed by unexpected bills and ends up homeless. This happens more when the economy is bad, but also as a result of war and natural disasters. Some who live in poverty lose affordable housing to big business greed or government cuts in services. There has been a big decline in public services so those who depended on them to keep from becoming homeless end up there any way. I believe everyone has some fault in the local homeless problem, from the government’s wasteful spending to big business buying up all the affordable land that could be used to make much needed housing. I even put some blame on my shoulder because I complain but do little to help, even though I, too, was homeless. Yet I try to tell people where there is help and what services are available. If we as a society work together and show compassion and love, then we can first reduce homelessness and eventually end this problem in the entire world. We could start by taking one day a month to help at shelters, feed the homeless, raise money for programs for the homeless, demand that government and big business help making affordable housing. We can help by voting for programs that will support and assist the homeless get on their feet. Government they can make available more housing certificates, build affordable housing in better neighborhoods and create more programs Puzzle Solutions to get people back to work. Government can also make programs for the mentally disabled easier to use. Plus we need to make better and safer programs for teen runaways that will not force teens to go back to abusive homes. There are few programs to work with theses kids due to ignorance and prejudice, thinking they are gang members or addicts; those attitudes force teen to make those choices. This I know from my experiences. So next time you see a homeless person, try to help her out, even if it can only be a prayer. Hold your judgment because you never know if it could be you in that place someday. Homeless people usually don’t want a handout, just a hand up -- and definitely not you’re pity. �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES March 2009 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion Terry Ranson Anthony Williams Nell Williams Grady Cook Cleo Wombles James Davis Jon Darby Dede Stoops Julie Walker Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson Riccardo Taylor Alfred Woolfolk Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Terrence Williams Raynard Jones Richard Tyree Karen Collett Charles Cole Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Talbert House...684-7965 Resources Treatment: Women First Step Home ...961-4663 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...641-4300 Shelter: Both Advocacy Shelter: Men Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Starting Over...961-2256 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Oral Health Council...621-0248 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2009 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource March 2009 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Keeping Babies Alive Springtime at the Homeless Coalition Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes with an ‘Abolitionist’ Pg 4: Booming Market: Women’s Bodies Pg 5: Keeping Babies Alive Pg 6: What’s Next for the Resistance? The Truth About Military Enlistment Pg 7: The Dance of the Losers Life is a Battlefield Pg 8: Enfleshing the Dream Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Pg 10: Power and Powerlessness Pg 11: The Dance of the Losers Continued Pg 12: A Call to Care for Our People Pg 13: Fire Damages Grace Place Aiken Students Celebrate Giving Pg 14: The Ghetto Isn’t What You Though It Was Pg 15: I Don’t Forget Homeless People Look Like You’d Expect Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 2009 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Stephanie Dunlap Margo Pierce Lew Moores, Paul Kopp Alecia Lott Adam Clark David Heitfield Jeremy Flannery Jeni Jenkins Dave Scharfenberger Angela Pancella Alexis Gordon Mike Henson Dede Stoops Matt Holcomb Andrew Anderson Lynne Ausman Paul Kopp Anthony Williams Aimie Willhoite Dave Scharfengerger Slyvia Pisczor Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Andrew Freeze Georgine Getty Michael Henson Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Abolitionist Adam Clark Aimie Willhoite Alecia Lott Alexis Gordon Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Anti-War Arts & Poetry Barack Obama Dave Scharfenberger Dave Scharfengerger David Heitfield Dede Stoops Enlistment GCCH Georgine Getty Gift Program Grace Place Gregory Flannery Homeland Security Jeni Jenkins Jeremy Flannery Joe Wessels Lew Moores Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Martin Luther King Jr. Matt Holcomb Michael Henson Mike Henson Military Mothers Paul Kopp Resistance Sex Trafficking Slavery Slyvia Pisczor Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Students Women https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/268fcd7c51091f59c9dc272c5a49de67.pdf 3a9abddbd59edda011d2c10b44205efd PDF Text Text Cincinnati Light Rail Page 12 The Audacity of Focus Page 11 STREETVIBES $1 F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9 • I s s u e 1 5 1 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e This Thing Called ‘Race’ Exhibit shows how much, and how little, there is to it By lew moores Contributing Writer We’re not all that different. Are we? Walk through the new RACE: Are We So Different? exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center and you get a feel for the enormity of what they’re trying to do – a challenge to, as organizers of the exhibit hope, the way we talk, think and learn about race. Organized and developed by the American Anthropological Association and Science Museum of Minnesota, the exhibit opened at the Museum Center Jan. 17, just three days before the inauguration of President Barack Obama, and will run through April 26. What becomes apparent with a visit to the exhibit, or with a visit to its Web site construct ( w w w. u n based on derstandinoutward grace.org), is appearthat it’s not ances, just a blackusually white issue. skin color. The exhibit, The theme says Tonya is about Matthews, balancing the center’s the scivice presience, the dent of muh i s t o r y, seums, does the everya good job day expeof pointing rience. that out, and “ Yo u in pointing can pull out is that out all of race is more the DNA cultural and charts geographical you want, and hardly and that is based on not going genetics or to help biology. We you come are all homo to grips sapiens, with, say, sharing a Photo courtesy of American Anthropological Association and the civil common an- Science Museum of Minnesota. rights cestor. go through the exhibit, the less movement. Genetically speakSo what is race? you’ll be able to answer that ing, it’s virtually impossible to question, which is possibly a tell one person from another. ‘Defining whiteness’ good thing,” Matthew says. “I You would not be able to take think at the end of the day, I out particular genes that are “You know, the more you am going with race is a social particularly associated with what we define as a race. So there’s no scientific construct. “That’s a little weird for people because clearly I can use my eyes and differentiate people of different races.” There is no directional guide to the exhibit, located in about 5,000 square feet of space in the center’s History Museum. Visitors can start wherever their eye leads them once they enter, explains Chad Mertz, the center’s director of public relations. Exhibit interpreters, such as Emily Culver of the museum staff, are there to help and to orient school groups coming through. The exhibit is filled with interactive displays, video kiosks, informational graphics; it is designed with no age in mind. “It’s completely open to what type of people we’re trying to reach, from a younger audience, where you want to keep their attention, to older audiences,” Mertz says. Although attendance numbers aren’t yet available for the first two weeks the exhibit has been See Race, P. 8 Cold Comfort Agencies, donors work together to open emergency cold shelter By AdAm ClArk Staff Writer December 25, 2008, was anything but a white Christmas. On the one day many people wish it would snow, it didn’t. It was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit most of the day, and the sun shown brightly, giving the illusion of even warmer weather. Then came January 13th. As Christmas thoughts had faded and the event on everyone’s mind was the inauguration of the 44th president, Barack Obama, it got cold. It got very cold. Homeless individuals did whatever they could to keep warm, as they often do throughout the hard winter months. In response to the extreme temperatures, the mayor’s office, Cincinnati Health Department, Cincin- ation Center, 1715 Republic nati Recreation Commission, St., offered a place for people Cincinnati Police and the to get out of the severe cold Greater Cincinnati Red Cross and gave them pillows and collaborated to open the city’s blankets. The facility was open Cold Shelter. January 13-20. The shelter The organizations have opens when the temperature collaborated for outside gets be“Ten (degrees) low 10 degrees, over 10 years to is still cold, 20 fill the gap bewith the wind tween the numchill taken into is cold, but we ber of shelter aren’t really set account. In years beds available up for that,” Heyl past, it opened in the Cincinnati only when the says. “It can be t e m p e r a t u r e area and the total pretty stressful dropped to zero number of homeon our staff.” less individuals degrees; but the in need of emercity revised the gency shelter policy last year. on extremely cold nights. An “This year the team felt that estimated 1,300 people are the old standard, zero degrees, homeless each night in Cin- was worth reviewing,” says cinnati. Rocky Merz, spokesman for The Cold Shelter, housed the health department. “After at the Over-the-Rhine Recre- a review of our factors and some comparison to other cities, the decision was made to change the standard to 10 degrees.” Timothy Heyl of the recreation commission acknowledges that even the new policy doesn’t prevent homeless people from suffering. “Ten (degrees) is still cold, 20 is cold, but we aren’t really set up for that,” he says. “It can be pretty stressful on our staff.” The recreation center shouldered a lot of the burden, as its staff worked on the Cold Shelter while still keeping all of their programs and normal responsibilities in place. Heyl described the environment during the week as “stressful,” saying the new policy prompted the Cold Shelter to be open for the longest dura- tion in quite some time. Two staff members from the recreation center and a police officer stay on duty during the 10 p.m.–8 a.m. hours that the Cold Shelter is open. About 100 people a night packed into a cramped space about the size a skating rink during the week that it was open. “I haven’t seen any children stay the night in here, just men and women mostly,” Heyl says. “We got a lot of media attention, and because of it we received an outpouring of donations of pillows and blankets.” Many people also donated food and snacks. The collaboration proved successful, as the Cold Shelter was able to accommodate everyone who showed up. �2 News Briefs Homeless Ministry Tends to Their Feet Atlanta – The Rev. Bob Book and his wife, Holly, have established a spa for homeless people once a week, scrubbing their feet in imitation of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. The service helps prevent foot infections, which many homeless people suffer from. Each Monday about three dozen homeless men and women get a soak, pumice, nail trim, massage and a pair of socks. Book tells people with serious foot problems to return a volunteer doctor is available. Homeless Agency Dumps First lady Chicago – The Chicago Christian Industrial League has fired Patti Blagojevich, first lady of Illinois, according to the Chicago Tribune. Blagojevich was the organization’s chief fundraiser. Her husband, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is facing federal corruption charges, having allegedly tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by President Barack Obama. Patti Blagojevich isn’t accused of wrongdoing. Condos could shelter homeless people Amherst, Mass. – Three condominiums could become housing for homeless people if town officials use a $450,000 from a federal grant to buy them. The money comes from the Community Development Block Grant program. Under the proposal, the town would contract with an agency to operate the housing. Recession Could Increase Homelessness Washington, D.C. – Growing unemployment could cause an additional 1.5 million people to become homeless in the next two years in the United States, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Advocates for homeless people have sought funding for 200,000 new vouchers for Section 8 subsidized housing, but the economic-stimulus bill pending in the U.S. House of Representatives so far doesn’t include the funds. The Vibe Streetwise By GreGory FlAnnery Keep Obama Honest So Barack Obama is president. Are these amazing times or what? Some of his cabinet choices are disconcerting, keeping the same defense secretary who served the Bush regime, making Hillary Clinton secretary of state in spite of her support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But the first two weeks of the new administration have been a joyous rush of promises kept: ordering the closing of the torture chamber at Guantanamo Bay, ordering the military to begin planning withdrawal from Iraq, reversing the Bush regime’s blockage of California’s clean-air standards, restoring a commitment to the spirit of the federal Freedom of Information Act, ending the global gag order on funding for foreign contraceptive services that respect a woman’s right to choose. These are heady times for people who want their government to further the causes of peace, justice and liberty. It is therefore all the more important that we maintain the momentum that put Obama in the White House. This is best done by carefully scrutinizing his every move, demanding that he keep faith with the promise of progress that he dared us to believe is possible. Auspicious New Year: Cranley Quits John Cranley has left the building. There is a sort of symmetry at play here. Appointed to Cincinnati City Council to fill a vacancy, he has left before his term ended. That is a good thing in and of itself, but all the more so because his successor is Greg Harris, a Democrat worthy of the name. Cranley is a complex political figure. He was an instrumental part of city council’s ongoing war against housing for poor people, sponsoring the spurious “impaction ordinance” that restricts the construction of new subsidized housing. In the wake of the uprising against police violence in Over-the-Rhine in 2001, he successfully proposed hiring more cops, before serious reforms of the police department had been undertaken – and that only with the force of a federal court order. In late 2002, when Bush was gearing up for the invasion of Iraq, Cranley attended a prowar rally on Fountain Square. (It is telling that he quibbles with that characterization, saying the rally was intended to “support the troops,” not to support the war. The distinction is absurd per se, but more to the point, what did Cranley ever do to support the anti-war effort?) Yet he helped found the Cincinnati chapter of the Innocence Project, which works to win the release of people wrongfully jailed for crimes they didn’t commit. He also sponsored the legislation that created Cincy Care, an innovative, though limited, initiative to help small employers provide minimal health care for workers. Cranley never succeeded in his bid for a seat in Congress, which left conservative neanderthal Steve Chabot in office; but that was, in the end, a good thing for all involved. The last thing Congress needed while Bush was in power was another Democrat willing to roll over as he extended American imperial ambitions, trampled on the human-rights protections afforded by the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions and whittled away at funding for programs to serve the poor. Cranley surely would have rolled over, along with Hillary Clinton and all the other Democrats who shamelessly cowered after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But Cranley’s defeats in the congressional elections were ultimately to his own long-term best interest, too: His unexpected rise to political office fueled an impressively swift and dishearteningly thorough arrogance, unseemly in a person of any age, but especially one so young. It can only be hoped that losing to Chabot tempered Cranley’s character, whatever it is. For now he has removed himself to private life, where it is to be hoped that he prospers and remains for a very long time. Wanted: A Progressive Mayor This is the year Cincinnati elects a new mayor – or keeps Mark Mallory in office for a second term. Assuming Mallory doesn’t get a job in the Obama administration, we know who the Democratic candidate will be. Chabot might run for the Republicans. Roxanne Qualls could be the Charter Committee’s nominee. But who will run as the advocate for poor people, working people, environmental justice, public transportation and adequate funding for human services? If the three mainstream parties split the vote, can the Green Party play a significant role this year? Working for Peace in the Middle East Hundreds of people turned out for a rally last month on Fountain Square, opposing opposition to the Israeli invasion of Gaza. This is, of course, encouraging; war everywhere and always ought be opposed. That conclusion is simple, but the underlying conflict itself is far more complex. To provide a deeper understanding, the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center will present another in its series known as “Day of Dialogue.” The program Feb. 22 is “A Palestinian, An Israeli and the Heart of the Middle East” The agenda includes an opening presentation, small-group discussions and refreshments from 1:30-5 p.m. Feb. 22 at First Unitarian Church, 536 Linton Ave., Avondale. STREETVIBES February 2009 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Contributing Writers Lew Moores, Adam Clark, Margo Pierce, Stephanie Dunlap, Georgine Getty, David Heitfield, Andrew Anderson, Paul Kopp, Mike Henson, Steve Sunderland, Dan La Botz Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Andrew Freeze, Angela Pancella, Lynne Ausman, Paul Kopp, Anthony Williams Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are members of: �STREETVIBES February 2009 Community News Eight Minutes with an ‘Unconventional Hausfrau’ Serving up toothpaste, underwar, dignity and hope By mArGo PierCe ColumniSt Mary Magdalene House isn’t a house but it offers some of the comforts of home – a shower, laundry service and use of a restroom that doesn’t boast a “patrons only” sign. Those without a roof over their heads are welcome -as are those who have a roof but little else -- to stop in and pick up a care package, just like mom used to make, with soap, shampoo, lotion, toothpaste and other toiletries. The head of this unconventional house isn’t the German housewife who might have lived in Over- the-Rhine in days gone day. Here Brother Giancarlo Bonutti keeps the peace. Referred to by all as “Brother Gian” (pronounced “John”), Bonutti sits behind a reception desk calling the names of those waiting for their cost-free shower. He offers powder, a razor and other personal care items along with a towel and was cloth. All the while people come and go from the reception area in order to use the phone – also free of charge – pick up mail and get a splash of cologne or a shot of Fabreeze to freshen up a heavy winter coat. What the people standing in the reception area don’t see are the shelves around the corner from Brother Gian’s perch; they’re jam-packed with shirts, pants, belts, socks, underwear, long johns and other clothing items. Piled in front of that, in milk crates and other bins, are shampoo, cold tablets, lotion and many other personal care needs. “We believe that dignity is the beginning of hope,” Bonutti says. That dignity isn’t restricted to the homeless or poor; anyone can walk through the door with any need and the staff and volunteers will do everything they can to help. All it takes is signing in with Bonutti so he can put your information into the computer; it’s how staff and volunteer know items are given out. “We keep track of everything we give people,” Bonutti says. “We only have enough long underwear that we can only help people with one pair for the winter, and it’s up to you to figure out when you can get them washed.” Mary Magdalene House can toss them in with one of the 20–25 loads of wash they do every day, also free of charge. “Most people who shower here will also leave a set of clothes to be washed after they shower,” Bonutti says. Volunteers at Mary Magdalene House sort clothing. 3 Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them. Brother Giancarlo Bonutti at Mary Magdalene House. Photos by Andrew Anderson. “When people are finished with their shower, they bring their towel and washcloth up front. We ask people to please separate out their clothes -- if they have two t-shirts, to not leave one inside the other. If they leave things like that we say, ‘I’m sorry, your mother’s not here to pull them apart for you. You have to remember to do that for us if you want your clothes washed.’ ” Every effort is made to make sure everybody gets back her own clothes. An ingenuous system for keeping track of what belongs to whom has developed over the 20 years that Mary Magdalene House has been in operation. Dirty clothes go into a bag with the guest’s name on it. A list is made of the contents of each load. Colored diaper pins identify duplicate items. The system makes it possible for clothes to be washed, dried, folded and returned to the correct bag for pickup the next day. Clothes are ready within 24 hours. Three washers and four dryers are more than a typical house would have, but then a typical house doesn’t have up to 100 people popping in everyday to use one of seven showers, either. “About every six weeks to eight weeks we’ll take the day and close up,” Bonutti says. “We go through the computer, find out who’s been here for a shower in the past two weeks. If their name is not on that list and their bag is on the shelf, we pull their bag off the shelf, take what we can reuse and put back in our stock. Things like toothbrushes and razors we pitch. If there’s something like ID, we’ll hold onto for a few months. People know we can’t keep their things here indefinitely.” One of the few things that can suspend a guest’s privileges at the house has to do with laundry. “They leave things in their pocket – they can leave anything from Kleenex to keys to ID card, tobacco, sometimes drug paraphernalia,” Bonutti says. “Sometimes … a few will have these glass crack pipes in their pockets; and when that comes out of the laundry, it’s really dangerous for the volunteers, and staff cut their hands. So if we find out who it is, they’re suspended for services for a period of time until they get some help or until we figure they’re going to be a little more respon- sible.” The front desk has a list of rehab, mental health and other services, so a guest isn’t left to figure out how to deal with an issue alone. The system for receiving, sorting and distributing donated clothing is equally systematic; volunteers sort clothes into neat piles based on clothing types and size. Sometimes buying trips are necessary to make sure there are enough socks and underwear, including bras of all sizes, because people typically don’t donate those items. At a time when social service organizations, including churches, demand “personal responsibility” according to their arbitrary standards, Mary Magdalene House stands out as a nonjudgmental example of what it means to help people in need. Nobody is considered “unworthy” of assistance, and the only expectation is that the guests treat each other and the 25 volunteers and six staff members with the same level of respect they give. “If a person’s coming here, they get everything they need,” says Brother Gian, the most compassionate, fair-minded and generous “hausfrau” in Over-The-Rhine. Mary Magdalene House, 1221 Main St., is open from 8 a.m.–4 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays. To offer clothing, time or cash, call 513-721-4811. �Community News 4 Georgine Getty Moves On STREETVIBES February 2009 Advocate, archer, agnostic to continue fighting homelessness 1 By stePhAnie dunlAP Contributing Writer lenge, honestly, has been the in-fighting. It’s hard enough when a politician or someone It’s five degrees Fahrenheit, outside the system doesn’t not counting wind chill, when get it. We have such a strong Georgine Getty sits down to history of not being like that peppermint tea and a sandwich (arguing among agencies) in at Coffee Cincinnati, so when it Emporium. “Let’s end does happen We meant homelessness, and to meet elseit’s really then I will go neuter where but heartbreakcats or something.” this morning. ing her car SV: What - Georgine Getty wouldn’t was your start. biggest sin“Dead, dead, dead,” she gle crisis while at GCCH? says with a wry smile. GG: “It’s constantly coming Getty somehow remains in waves, ’cause crises come unusually good-natured for on so many different levels.” someone in the human serGetty says there’s the kind vices field, particularly some- of crisis that comes when the one who’s spent the past seven downtown outreach worker years working with the chron- calls and says he can’t find ically homeless: arguably the shelter for a woman with most desperate and marginal- a 6-month-old baby and a ized human population. 3-year-old child, as happened At the end of the month three days ago. Then there’s she’ll step down as executive the kind of crisis when fordirector of the Greater Cincin- mer Cincinnati Mayor Charnati Coalition for the Home- lie Luken decided Streetvibes less (GCCH), which publishes was “public enemy number Streetvibes. Getty leaves to one.” become executive director of “And there was the time we the Interfaith Hospitality Net- had to use insurance money to meet payroll. Luckily we got work. While she’s still a captive robbed so the insurance monsubject, Streetvibes wanted to ey came the same day.” sit Getty down to ask her some Getty smiles again: “The nosy exit questions. constant ongoing struggles of SV: What does Cincinnati running a small non-profit.” do right by way of homeless SV: So why are you leavservices? ing? GG: “The bottom line is GG: “I’m excited to work that very, very few homeless with homeless families again. people die from exposure to Mostly the folks I meet are the elements (in Cincinnati), homeless single individuand not a lot of cities can say als who have been homeless that.” for a long time. I love those SV: What’s the biggest on- guys, and I’m always going going challenge for GCCH? to have a place in my heart GG: “The biggest chal- for those guys. The focus of Georgine Getty and Mark ‘Hustleman’ Shears at the Streetvibes Vendor Holiday Party 2008. Photo by Andy Freeze. the coalition serving chronically homeless individuals is making sure they’re heard and their rights are protected. And the focus of where I’m going to right now is moving people and families out of homelessness, and I’m looking forward to seeing that firsthand.” SV: Do you have a golden parachute? GG: “I’m stealing my favorite pen.” SV: Why do you hate Cincinnati Councilman Chris Bortz? GG: “I don’t hate Chris Bortz. I’m sure he has many fine qualities.” Getty tries to remember how their ongoing feud began. She can’t pin it. “Chris Bortz just got it in his head that I’m someone I’m not and I was doing something I wasn’t. It’s really funny how some council members pass anti-homeless legislation but they hate it when you say they’re anti-homeless. It’s like public perception is more important than doing the right thing.” SV: How do you deal with all the public attacks? GG: “If I’m getting attacked by the right person, I take it as a sign that I’m doing my job, so that doesn’t bother me. If I get attacked by a homeless person or if I’ve hurt a homeless person’s feelings or if I get a call from an executive director (of a partner agency) and I’ve done something careless, then I feel really bad and I try to make amends. If I got along with council 100 percent of the time, the board should have fired me a long time ago.” SV: Who is the rudest elected official? GG: “I have been personally called on my cell phone and cussed out by four – five!” She stops to count them and, giving up, waves them away. “That’s the thing, they (elected officials) do things that disappoint me all the time. That’s the arrogance, the thing, they think they can call me and yell at me.” SV: Who is the kindest elected official, even when your views don’t align? GG: “(Hamilton County Commissioner) Todd Portune. He always seems legitimately happy to see you. Every time he has an encounter with a Streetvibes vendor he drops us a note.” She adds city councilmen David Crowley and Cecil Thomas and NAACP President Christopher Smitherman to that list. Georgine Getty, 2002 staff picture. Photo by Jimmy Heath. SV: How did you get to be ‘I’m going to be homeless when I grow up.’ They don’t executive director, anyway? see the systems that are workGG: “Dumb luck.” Getty says she called to ing against people. They see apply for an administrative laziness. “Homeless people are coordinator position and the person on the phone encour- not lazy. Staying warm, getaged her to apply for execu- ting food -- they’re the most persistent people I know. tive director. “I thought they were loud They’ve just been let down by and dirty and rowdy and systems. “Peothought, ple also I can do “We’re giving the dirtiest don’t that.” chair in the office to see the S V : interview candidates; and (homeDo you we know if they balk at it, l e s s ) still think t h e y ’ r e they’re not right for the job.” b a b i e s . T h e y loud and - Georgine Getty just asdirty and s u m e rowdy? GG: “Uh-huh. Not as loud they’re all adult men.” SV: What would have to as we should be. And by happen for homelessness to ‘dirty.’ I mean gritty.” Though there is an element end? GG: “Housing and jobs. of the elements. “We’re giving the dirtiest Clean, safe, accessible houschair in the office to interview ing they can afford and jobs candidates; and we know if that have health benefits and they balk at it, they’re not pay a living wage. Once you got that taken care of, there’d right for the job. “But rowdy, no – we’re be a very small percentage of more organized than we people who were still homeseem. We’re accountable to less and just a few tweakings our member agencies, to our with the mental health system, board and to homeless people. and you’d have it.” Or she can think of a secOnce we get consensus from all those people, it’s an or- ond way: “Give me $1 billion. I’ll end it tomorrow.” chestrated rowdiness.” SV: Has the panhandlerSV: What don’t people understand about the homeless? registration law, to which you GG: “So many things. They were opposed, turned out the don’t see themselves in home- way you’d expected? GG: “It was one of the few lessness. They see a complete and total Other. And nobody t i m e s See Getty, p. 5 who’s homeless ever said, w h e n �STREETVIBES February 2009 Community News 5 For as Long as It Takes Neither trench foot nor politicans will stop us By GeorGine Getty Staff Writer I’ve done that I’m proud of at the Coalition is rooted in this voice and guided by people When I was interviewing experiencing homelessness. for the job of executive direc- Everything I’m not so proud tor of the Greater Cincinnati of strayed from this voice and Coalition for the Homeless in happened when I just knew 2002, one person asked how that I knew best. I was going to end homelessAs I look back on my career ness. with the Homeless Coalition, I had no idea. I’m flooded with memories So I answered that I would – some good, some I wish I start with people experiencing could block out – but almost homelessness to find out what all of them make me smile, they wanted to do and then en- one way or the other. gage them in every step of the That’s one thing I love struggle. about the Homeless CoaliI didn’t know it at the time, tion. It’s one of the most sebut I had stumbled across the rious places you can work, most important thing that the but it always keeps a sense of Homeless Coalition does: humor about itself. In this job it gives a voice to homeless I’ve been colder than I’ve ever people. Well, no, it doesn’t. been (January street counts It just amplifies the voice that and December Homeless Mealready exists. Everything morial Days) and hotter than I’ve ever been (bridge sweeps in July 2003). I’ve been angrier than I thought possible, and humbled to the point of humiliation. I’ve been braver than I knew I could be, and sneakier than I should be. I’ve lain down and I’ve cried and sworn off the whole thing as a fool’s errand. But more than anything, I’ve laughed. I’ve laughed with my friends, my community. I’ve laughed at absurGeorgine Getty at Annual Dinner 2008. dity, at politicians, Photo by Andrew Anderson. at shared jokes. I’ve laughed The number one question I’m asked is: Should I give at myself. I’ve laughed at the to a panhandler? Here is the definitive answer to that world. That belly laugh lives complicated moral dilemma, once and for all: It’s up to at the Homeless Coalition, you. Panhandling, once stripped of all the legal ramiand it keeps us all sane. fications, the power imbalance, the systemic poverty, I was also blessed, from the political and economic consequences is just this: start to finish, with incredible one person interacting with another person. How you co-workers. They often don’t choose the terms of that interaction is between you and stay long, but each leaves his the panhandler. If you feel like giving, and you can, give. or her footprint on the coaliIf you want to give, but you fear that the panhandler will tion. And when they leave, use the money for drugs or alcohol and that bothers you, don’t give, but send your support to a treatment they go on to do great things, center. If you don’t like panhandling, don’t give. But taking with them a piece of never forget that any threat to a panhandler’s freedom the coalition. of speech of is a threat to the freedom of speech of nonBut the Homeless Coalition panhandlers, too. - Georgine Getty is much bigger than the staff or people experiencing homeofficers, gadflies and every- ment. It means when it gets lessness. There are also the one else who has ever given a cold outside, really cold, I cry members, the people in the damn about homeless people. myself to sleep for fears of real trenches every day doing the Advocates, each in our own people with real names. But I work that restores lives. And way. This is where we gather. can also help give these folks the directors of the agencies, This is our home. a voice so that next year, next who fight as if they are fighting What has it meant for me month, next week, they go to for their own children when to be a homeless advocate? It bed warm and safe. It means I their clients are threatened. means that am never satisfied, never done, There are I know always at meetings, usually a “As I look back on the clergy what trench meal behind and running on and the lay my career with the foot smells pure adrenaline and caffeine. people who Homeless Coalition, I’m like. But But it also means my back is jump in to flooded with memories – I’ve also straight, my head is high and volunteer, listened to I can look anyone square in pray and some good, some I wish I could block out – but b e a u t i f u l the eye knowing that I am an write letharmonica agent for change. ters. There almost all of them make music in a You too, my brothers and are the cus- me smile, one way or the h o m e l e s s sisters, my fellow advocates. todians of other.” - Georgine Getty camp at We are all the Homeless our history s u n d o w n . Coalition, and no job shift can who keep It means change that. As long as there us on the right moral path that assorted politicians hate are people who care about and, when things get hard, me. But I’ve also watched homeless people, people who soothe by saying “You think friends transition out of addic- point out naked emperors, this is bad? I remember when tion and into sobriety. It means people who simultaneously …” There are the volunteers that I have held a 4-month-old laugh at the American dream who put together Standdown, baby in my arms who was and cling to its promise, there Streetvibes, the annual dinner, fourth-generation homeless. will be the Homeless Coalishantytowns and everything But I also helped put a poli- tion. For as long as it takes. else. There are donors, stuAnd I am so grateful to be cy in place that moved his dents, reporters, Streetvibes grandmother out from under a a part of it. And it will always readers, politicians, police bridge and into her own apart- be a part of me. Getty Moving to Interfaith Hospitality Network (continued from page 4) we actually won. I feel it was a great victory for homeless people. They passed the registration to try to stop people from panhandling. We were able to work with the police and the city and downtown businesses to put that outreach worker in place while getting rid of punitive registration. People from other cities call us to see how we did it.” SV: Aren’t you (as GCCH) benefiting from the homeless, and wouldn’t it threaten GCCH’s existence if homelessness were to disappear? GG: “We’re all working to put ourselves out of work, and I ain’t getting that much money anyway. Did I mention my car died today and I have no idea how I’m going to replace it? “That perception is definite- ly out there. I don’t know how to counteract that argument except that you don’t do this work for the money. I do get mad when I see executive directors making huge amounts of money. “Let’s end homelessness, and then I will go neuter cats or something. I’d love to leave this field.” Getty takes aim Getty, 34, is married to a man she met in high school in Iowa. Her undergraduate degree was in philosophy and religion, and she and her husband moved to Cincinnati so she could pursue her master’s degree in women’s studies at the University of Cincinnati. They have three cats, a guinea pig and a rescued rat named Barnabus. Another curious thing no one in her right mind would guess: Getty is an archer. This Christmas she got a recurve bow. “Because I already had a compound bow but I wanted to get back to the basics,” she says. “I haven’t shot it since the day after Christmas. I haven’t had time to get back out to the taxidermy shop in Amelia.” She’s also part of a writing group, does Aikido, just started Tai-Chi and recently gave her sister a homemade quilt. Just mention your hobby and Getty’s ears perk. “I’m a total hobby vampire,” she says. “I’m good at nothing. I just like, you know, hanging out.” SV: What is the role of faith in your life and work? GG: “I’m an agnostic. And the way I put it is that I believe all faiths are getting at some truth, and I believe that quest for truth is worthy in and of itself. I appreciate them searching, and I find beauty in each of the denominations. I guess I’m too lazy to pick one. “I really find the Bible to be inspiration for this kind of work, because every major faith system directs people toward this kind of work. Me, as an advocate? It’s about redirecting them (the faithful) to getting back to the roots of their faith. It’s not about building a new church annex; it’s about making sure your neighbors have food.” SV: What are your last words? GG: “My big message that I’ve realized because I’ve been reflecting: The places where I felt the coalition did its best work was when it was connected to homeless people -- the homeless leadership. When we go wrong is when we think we know what’s best without talking to homeless people. That’s when we start to lose our souls a little bit. That’s what’s so cool about the coalition, is it’s so connected. It has to stay like that. Otherwise it can’t be the moral consciousness of the homeless community. That’s what has to be preserved. It’s just got such a cool history, and I’m glad I got to be the custodian of it for a little bit.” �6 Community News The Heart of Over-the-Rhine St. Francis Seraph Ministries is landmark with a mission By PAul koPP Contributing Writer for the Franciscans in Cincinnati. Friedman is a longtime Over-the-Rhine resident. St. Francis Seraph church “I find it a really neat place is positioned facing south on to live,” he says. “I think that the corner of Vine and Liberty the people who live here are streets in Over-the-Rhine. The great -- the neighbors, the landmark building has firmly street folks. It’s a wonderful stood in its location for the human mix.” past 150 years, from its beginThe church programs are ning as a small parish of Aus- wide-reaching and multi-laytrian friars to its present work ered to suit the needs of this as St. Francis Seraph Minis- community mix. Friedman tries, a multi-faceted commu- says that once the 1960s hit nity staple. and the neighborhood started A sign outside the building changing and becoming more calls it the heart of Over-the- poverty-stricken, the friars Rhine, and in many ways the were called to find new ways analogy seems fitting. The to serve. Branching out and services the church provides hitting the streets over the pumps life years, the and love into “The neighborhood church started a soup kitchthe commustarted changing nity. en in 1980, The Rev. and becoming more followed in Greg Fried- poverty-stricken; the 1995 by an man is sitting outreach profriars were called at a round tato find new ways to gram called ble in a small the Sarah serve.” room located Center, in just off the which women entranceway of the friary. The are taught jewelry making and room is dark, with morning basic business skills. light trickling in through the There is also the elementary school, which has been with windows. “We like to try and create a the church since its beginpresence not only within the nings, acting as a foundation walls of the church but outside for the parish. the church as well,” Friedman “The school is one of the says. best things we do,” Friedman The church’s pastor for the says. “We try and let them (the past three years, he splits his students) know how special time between his responsibili- they are.” ties there with a career in comA relatively new piece of munications at St. Anthony the St. Francis community is Messenger Press and acting the Canticle Café, across Vine as director of communications Street from the church. It’s been open three years now and serves coffee, donuts and bag lunches from 1-4 p.m. on select days of the week. At the café, large double doors lend themselves to the kind of entrance where you will no doubt be greeted by a sea of faces glancing up from their activities. Some look ahead, focusing on their meals, and others sit withdrawn in thought. The room is crowded on this strangely warm day in January. It’s on the smaller side, and every table is packed as volunteers dole out refreshments to a steady line. In the corner sits Brother Michael Murphy. The café is Brother Mike Murphy at St. Francis Seraph Ministries. Photo by his responsibility. He’s talking Paul Kopp. to a young man whose facial expression is deeply carved, coming through the house, and when I present my case, it marked by confusion and and I got caught up in some usually goes very well.” stress. He looks concerned but stuff. I came to see Brother Mary is a case in point, deisn’t talking, intently listening Mike because I knew he was scribing her first attorney’s atto Murphy and occasionally someone I could talk to. He titude. nodding his head and smiling went to court with me.” “He didn’t want him (Murafter the brother pats him on Murphy knows the judi- phy) with me,” she says. “I the shoulder. cial system and the ways that felt like (the attorney) wanted Murphy has been at the café judges and public defenders to humiliate me.” for two years, coming to Cin- can mistreat the homeless “The judge was gonna put cinnati after 15 years of ser- and African -Americans who her in jail for three years, in vice to street children in India. come through its doors, some- addition to a big fine and court A Marianist brother, he chose times on bogus charges. costs,” Murphy says. to come to Over-the-Rhine “The assumption is they’re Luckily, Mary missed her and St. Francis upon his return guilty, and generally the attor- original court date and was asto the country. neys want to get it over with,” signed a new public defender, “Brother Mike -- he’s a nice he says. “It’s almost like they who listened to Murphy tell person,” says Mary, a café pa- say, ‘We’ll offer you a deal,’ Mary’s story. Mary received tron. “I call him my guardian and the deal is just horrible -- just six months’ probation. angel. I had been running on especially if they’re not guilty Murphy says the people of habeas for five years on one or shouldn’t be getting what this neighborhood are his good charge and two years on an- they are gonna get. Ninety friends, and he gives them evother. I had been staying with percent of the time when I go, erything without hesitation. a man who had drug people the judge will listen to me, The Findlay Neighborhood Center is open 4-7 p.m. Tuesdays. To volunteer, call 513-265-0620. In the middle of this warm and her husband owned a farm 30 percent. But there is more to the cenriot of color and texture sit in Clermont County at which the women at the table. Gloria they taught and demonstrated ter than sewing. A long room has completed a fabric doll, organic and self-sustaining decorated in murals of lively hand-sewn with machine-like farming methods. colors, created by neighbors, symmetry, and is working on When her husband became is being fashioned into a chilthe doll’s dress, a pink ging- terminally ill, it was necessary dren’s playroom where kids ham pinafore, complete with a to sell the farm. Crane knew can gather while their caregivheaddress to match. Arianne is she’d need to fill the void left ers or parents work on crafts. crocheting, and Tootie has just by her husband’s death and Beyond the playroom is decorated the center’s win- the loss of the farm. Parkside Stage -- the newest dows with large, red hearts. She began looking at real es- addition to the center. To the While the women discuss tate near Findlay Market. The left is a large stage, still decotheir projects and neighbor- property she was first shown rated for recent Christmas achood events, two women, did nothing to inspire her. But tivities. Opposite the stage is both new to the center, drop the property next door gave a wall-sized garage door that, in to ask about its hours. Their her a sudden and clear idea. when opened, overlooks Findinterest is apparent in their Findlay Neighborhood lay Park. Opening the door questions and in the excite- Center, 1830 Race St., formed makes the room into a sort of ment that lights up their eyes. as a non-profit corporation in open-air amphitheatre. Asked about her vision for 2003, is most known for its Crane’s intent is that the Findlay Neighborhood Cen- sewing center. This is a place neighborhood turn its own ter, Lynda Crane, the founder, where anyone can come and ideas into skits, musical revues gives a response that is simple make whatever they wish – and anything else that captures and to the point: “Whatever for themselves, their family their interest. Two guests exthey wish it to be.” and friends, or to sell. plain that one upcoming event Crane is no newcomer to For work that is sold, 70 in the planning is a commuoutreach programs. In the late percent of the profits go to the nity Easter Parade. 1990s to the early 2000s, she creator, and the center receives The Fabric of a Neighborhood Findlay Center knits a sense of community By mArilyn k. sChirmer Contributing Writer On a very cold January day, a circle of women seated around a large table in the Findlay Neighborhood Cen- Photo by Andrew Anderson. ter are talking and diligently working on various needlework projects. Emanating the welcoming aroma of fresh-brewed coffee, the front rooms, used as a sewing center, are cheerily laden with colorful bolts of fabrics on shelves, with baskets of threads and lace and sewing machines stationed throughout. A large area for cutting patterns is in a back corner. STREETVIBES February 2009 �STREETVIBES February 2009 Movie Review No Business Like Shoah Business 7 ‘Defiance’ says more about male mythos than about mass murder 1 By dAvid heitField Contributing Writer have guns for all of the men.” ly, it’s a two-and-a-half-hour “How can a woman protect “true story” about homeless herself?” “The women have people living in the woods. She lusted after her lovers, the men to protect them.” Yes, there are Nazis, and it whose genitals were like those Intellectuals are as useless never, ever grows tiresome to of donkeys and as the physically see Nazis killed, be it in movwhose semen It’s a two-and- crippled, priests ies or video games. Much of was like that of deal with fairy the visceral pleasure in watcha-half-hour horses. (Ezekiel tales, and the life ing the movie comes courtesy “true story” 23:20) of the mind is a of dead Nazis. And in case you Woe the Al- about homeless waste of time, are too young to appreciate pha Male. In a people living in preventing ac- just how evil the Nazis were, culture in which tion when action there is a classic 21st century the woods. Cadillacs are unis needed. When tell: Those swastika-laden abashedly sold prompted to dis- bastards are all smoking cigato females as a sexual object, cuss the ideas of Descartes, rettes at the beginning of the everyone is a hero and the Zus responds, “You annoy movie! And laughing as they economy is more important me, therefore I am.” rape the atmosphere with their to people than fear of liberals, And so the story unfolds: carbon dioxide and secondit’s fitting that our version of A community grows in the hand smoke. Just heartless. Batman is depressed, just as woods with the infirm, womIt’s an interesting conceit: Fight Club predicted was in- en and children, intellectuals Use the Holocaust as a back evitable. and other forms of useless life story to celebrate the necesDirector Edward Zwick that do something other than sity of the Alpha Male. Does it answers in Defiance with a hunt and gather and kill. As work? Sorta. Much is cheesy, rousing tale of Jewish Alpha Tuvia grows more sensitive but much was cheesy about Males fleeing and fighting Na- to protecting the needful, Zus other Swick attempts to recast zis in Belorussia in 1941. The becomes more obsessed with the Alpha Male, such as in The director has said the movie revenge, L a s t should be viewed as a cor- and there S amuPeople could listen to the rective to the misconception is an inrai or synthetic stylings and that all Jews were passive and evitable overwrought orchestrations G l o r y , meek during the Holocaust. s p l i t , and yet of the Reagan era, while Apparently - and of this I was so Zus t h e y contemplating why we not aware - some people look can go w e r e at Israel and see a nation of kill stuff enjoyhave a highway named pussies. while able to after the president who Enter the Bielski broth- T u v i a practically invented modern watch. ers, the two eldest played by tries to Movhomelessness. Daniel Craig (Tuvia) and Liev deal with ies are Schreiber (Zus). Tuvia is the m a n a g our best more complex brother, more ing a community (until it is teachers of cultural and moral of the 21st century Alpha – his time to go kill stuff). Thus, relativism. For instance, any instincts are clouded in ways you have the 20th century movie made in the 1980s is he cannot fully understand. Alpha and the 21st century unwatchable today because it Zus, on the other hand, is a Alpha splitting apart and, of will contain music that makes morally clear Alpha, and as course, coming together at the one feel ashamed to be part such he seems anachronistic end, although you can guess of the species that created it. in a movie released in 2009: which Alpha saves the other If Six Sigma were applied to “Why don’t the women have one’s ass in the end. music, you’d get the 1980s. guns?” “Because we do not And that’s about it. Broad(In these tough economic times, the county should pipe in ‘80s movie soundtracks all along the Ronald Reagan Highway and charge a toll to travel on it. People could listen to the synthetic stylings and overwrought orchestrations of the Reagan era, while contemplating why we have a highway named after the president who practically invented modern homelessness. Because, in reality, Alpha Males are not out to save the homeless. You don’t need Dick Cheney to shoot you in the face while hunting for caged birds to understand that.) It will be interesting to watch Defiance in 25 years and see what it has to teach us about 2009. Methinks it will say little about the Holocaust – there have been so many movies with a Holocaust theme lately that some are calling for a moratorium on what the bloggers call “shoah business.” Where it will speak is to the place for the Alpha Male in society. And it will say that in 2009, we knew that something important was slipping away – sorta like the automobile industry – but we weren’t sure what we should do about it. Boy Soldier, Wise Man Ishmael Beah’s journey from horror to helping others “The sun showed flashes of the tips of guns and bullets traveling toward us. Bodies had begun to pile on top of each other near a short palm tree, where fronds dripped blood. I searched for Josiah. An RPG had tossed his tiny body off the ground and he had landed on a tree stump. He wiggled his legs as his cry gradually came to an end. There was blood everywhere. It seemed as if bullets were falling into the forest from all angles. I crawled to Josiah and looked into his eyes. There were tears in them and his lips were shaking, but he could not speak. As I watched him, the water in his eyes was replaced with blood that quickly turned his brown eyes into red. He reached for my shoulder as if he wanted to hold it and pull himself up. But midway, he stopped moving. The gunshots faded in my head, and it was as if my heart had stopped and the whole world had come to a standstill. I covered his eyes with my fingers and pulled him from the tree stump. His backbone had been shattered. I placed him flat on the ground and picked up my gun.” Excerpt from A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah By Andrew Anderson Contributing Writer It would be impossible for most of us to think of taking children, giving them cocaine or heroin and an AK-47 machine gun and forcing them to kill men, women and other children in a war that had no purpose, where violence was a self-perpetuating way of life. Yet, in the more than 50 conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated there are some 300,000 child soldiers fighting, killing and dying. Children are the soldiers of choice; readily available, easily recruited, expendable. Ishmael Beah was one such child. A Long Way Gone is his personal account of living through such a hell. Beah was a typical child in Sierra Leone. He went to school, loved listening to American hip-hop, had a loving family, enjoyed swimming and did all the simple things in life a child does. At age 12 he left home with a friend and his older brother to participate in a talent show in a neighboring town. He was never to see his home, his mother or his father again. Rebels attacked and created a landscape of death and chaos. Beah fled from the attack and wandered the countryside. At age 13 he was picked up by See Soldier, Page 8 �Local News 8 Race (continued from Page 1) open, Mertz estimates several to the rest of the world to the hundred. One of the problems politics of race today. In this with keeping count is that an country, from the American admission to the History Mu- Revolution and slavery to reseum includes admission to sisting slavery; from the Civil this exhibit. War and Reconstruction to the There is a display on sports control of Native Americans; team mascots and videos of from European immigration Native Americans, among and “defining whiteness” to others, who explain who they the post-World War II boom are, ending with, “And I’m and racial discrimination in not a mascot.” There is a me- housing; from the anti-immidia kiosk where visitors can gration movement and racial do a video recording of a few profiling in the last two deminutes explaining what race cades to NAFTA and the new means to them. There are areas immigration backlash. where visitors can fill out note cards on race, drop them in a ‘Sheer fascination’ box and have them displayed One of the interactive disin a loose-leaf binder. Writes an apparently young Matthew plays invites visitors to vote – judging by his penmanship on how the U.S. Census should be conducted. Should – “I am human. One love.” There are historic artifacts: race be included among the questions? a pair of slave H o w A lot of folks are s h a c k - interested in the topic, but many speles from they aren’t always willing cific races? VisiSouth Carto have a conversation. olina, dattors can ing back vote on to the 1830s-1840s. There is whether to keep it as it is, sima display where you can place plify the categories to having your hand under a camera and no questions at all about race. compare your skin color with While it is tempting to vote various swatches of hand skin no question at all – that race color displayed on the board. shouldn’t matter – there is a In both the exhibit and reason for such questions. on its Web site, while not in “The census is one of the depth, the entire history of hu- only ways we have of seeing mankind is explored, from mi- where people live and how gration patterns from Africa people live,” Matthews says. “So if you are still looking at neighborhoods that are still segregated or have differences in socio-economic status, if you don’t have a way of recording that information, you can’t track it, can’t look it up. My background is to ask, ‘What are the numbers?’ ” M a t t h e w s Family Participation: Photo courtesy of American Anthropological Associasaid she spent tion and Science Museum of Minnesota. time at the ex“People of all different right time.” hibit’s opening backgrounds gathered here for What does the Museum Jan. 17. Reactions? “One was sheer fascina- an historic celebration at an Center hope visitors take from tion,” Matthew says. “It’s historic special place in Cin- this exhibit? “We hope people take away (race) something we talk cinnati,” he says. “So we feel about all the time. There’s a so lucky to have this exhibit. a fact or two, gain something lot of things people can put But we also feel a responsibil- you didn’t know,” she says. their hands on. Cool things ity to take advantage of the “A second thing is a higher like being able to vote (as on national interest to get a local comfort level at having the discussion. A lot of folks are census questions). You have conversation going.” Matthews also hopes the ex- interested in the topic, but they the ability to record your own story at a video kiosk inside hibit will further the dialogue, aren’t always willing to have a the exhibit. Read other peo- even beyond the question of conversation. I think what the whether Obama’s election election of Barack Obama has ples’ stories.” The Museum Center’s staff means an era of post-racial done is give this country permission to have this conversais taken with the fortuitous- politics. “To have it here at this time, tion in a very open and very ness of the Obama election and the opening. Mertz says we couldn’t have anticipated public way. I hope this exhibit more than 2,000 came to the that,” Matthews says. “I think is the next step in helping that center January 20 to watch the it’s our reward for stepping conversation.” up to do the right thing at the inauguration. Soldier, continued from page 7 the government army. An innocent child, he was given drugs and a machine gun and taught to kill. At age 16 he was removed from the fighting by UNICEF and sent to a rehabilitation center where he started the long process of regaining his humanity. This book should be read. Though his story might seem impossible to fully imagine, there is much we can learn from him: Disaster can strike any of us. It does not matter if you live a good life, if you come from a good family, if you live in a good neighborhood, if you have a good job. Disaster takes on many forms and hits you when you least expect it. Forces we cannot control will change our life. Maybe someone close to us will die in an accident, maybe our jobs will end and we will not be able to find another, maybe we will have health problems and incur huge medical bills, maybe these will all happen at once and we will find ourselves homeless. We can all become monsters. Whether we are physically forced by others or by circumstance, we are all capable of doing unthinkable things. We STREETVIBES February 2009 learn to will kill, steal or do anything else necessary to survive. If walk on our own again. The you find that hard to believe, good news is that, with time you should reflect again upon and love, we can recover. Significant emotional the fact that 300,000 children are soldiers in our world. Do- events change us. How they ing the unthinkable in order to change us is up to us. Disaster will change you. You can get survive is not a rare event. We need help to get back up. past the disaster and be forevOnce we have been knocked er weakened, or you can take down by disaster and fallen the lessons learned to become into the pits of despair, we stronger and better. The huusually need help to get back man spirit is capable of recovup. We lose our way. We not ering from anything if given only lack the strength to func- enough love and support. B e a h tion normally, we was one also forget what The human spirit of the normal looks like. is capable of lucky few Recovery is a recovering from who were long process repulled anything if given quiring caring, from the dedicated people. enough love and chaos by Recovering from support. caring and disaster is neither loving simple nor quick. We have to feel secure and people who were dedicated learn to trust again, to forgive and selfless and who gave him ourselves and to love our- love. Beah felt guilt for what selves. Money and a change of he had done. He felt guilt for clothes will not solve the prob- having lived when so many lem. We need the love and sup- died. He decided that the only port of good and caring people way he really could justify who will pick us up, dust us having survived is if he took off and hold our hand until we advantage of the opportunity Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes to try and end the use of children as soldiers. He went on to graduate from Oberlin College here in Ohio, to write his memoir in hopes of telling the world the horrors of the situation and to work with politicians and organizations to bring an end to the use of child soldiers. Today Beah is only 26 years old. He has been through more than most of us ever will. I also suspect he will do more than most of us to make this world better. A few days ago I met Beah and marveled at his maturity, his joy of life and his dedication to ending this most insidious form of child abuse. I realized how small and petty my grievances with life were. If he could survive what he did and still smile, surely I could deal with my issues. I encourage you to read this book. I think Carolyn See of The Washington Post said it best, “Everyone in the world should read this book. … We should read it to learn about the world and about what it means to be human.” �STREETVIBES February 2009 Poetry/Artwork Violence 9 Happy Valentine’s Day By Anthony Williams By JAmAr mAlColm kinG There is so much violence in our city streets The police act like their afraid to walk their beats. People get killed every single day. Its seems like all humans have lost their way. I wish they would stop making guns. I’m fed up with every dude saying he’s a thug. What he needs to do is sit and read book And get something on his mind instead of being a crook. Human life is so precious. It is worth more than a Lexus. To take a human life is very wrong. So why brag about murder in a song? Then The Storm Hit By holly PArker As it picked me up Slammed me back down breaking my ribs I cried Struggling to regain my feet For there sat my son crying and watching I gathered my wits while there was quiet Soothed my little one in my arms Letting him know I was ok Innocence Lost By heAther hArley Thinking now days had went past All was well Ribs sore but I had my life and my sons Today is not my day to shine, for it can’t be, I’m only 9, Then the storm hit Today is not my day to hate for it can’t be, I’m only 8. Crashing in the front door Grabbing my neck Not know what was in store As against the wall he slammed me Time after time Ripping my clothes off To take what was his he said While my daughters slept there He loved me he said Just had a bad day It won’t happen again Please he begged don’t go away Then the storm hit My daughter’s leg he grabbed To get to me Table over turned on the neighbors baby Just to prove who was the boss Neighbors turned deaf ears Friends didn’t want to know Church said your job is to love him I wore the burned face Scars on my legs Scars in my mind Scars in my heart Now Scars on the ground where a mound is his grave Then the storm hit Today is not may to die and go to heaven, for it can’t be, I’m only 7. Today is not by day to turn tricks, for it can’t be, I’m only 6. Today is not my day to thrive, for it can’t be, I’m only 5. Today is not my day to score, for it can’t be, I’m only 4. Today is not your day, 3, 2 and 1, for your life has only just begun. Today by the way is my day to shine, because finally we’re all just fine, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. No thanks to our parents. They couldn’t tell because a long time ago we told them all to go to hell. �Column 10 In Memoriam: Leroy Birch Sponsored recovering addicts, mentored their helpers Among the speakers at the funeral of Leroy Birch on Jan. 22 was Dennis C, a chemicaldependency counselor and a recovering member of Narcotics Anonymous. Midway through his speech, he asked that everyone who had been sponsored by Leroy to please stand up. At least 20 men stood. Then he asked that all the people sponsored by someone Leroy sponsored to please stand. Dozens more stood. Then he asked for all the people present who were sponsored by those people to stand. There must have been 100 people standing. Among the others in St. Mark’s Church in Evanston that Thursday morning were friends, co-workers, family. St. Mark’s is a fairly large church, and it was packed. You were lucky if you got a bulletin; they ran out early. There were tears, there was grief. But this was also a celebration of the impact of a dedicated man. ***** Leroy Birch was just 60 when he died after a long battle with cancer. He was one of those in the chemical-dependency field who came up the old way. First, recovery, then entry-level job, then the education and the credential. (This, by the way, has been the path for many low-income and minority professionals in the chemical-dependency field and it is a path that is closing, to the detriment of the profession and ultimately to the addict in need of help.) ***** Leroy Birch had a drive and an energy that I admired; it stayed with him to the end. He also had a wicked sense of humor and a crooked smile to go with it. He had a hard head and a compassionate heart. He was a builder and a dreamer and he was part of the movement that built a strong Narcotics Anonymous network in Cincinnati. He also established the Young Fathers Pro- recovery process and being a productive member of society.” McQueen is today a case manager with Talbert House, working in a halfway house for men recently released from prison. “I will remember Leroy as a mentor and a teacher and a person who overcame his obstacles and taught other people like myself how to overcome obstacles,” McQueen says. Birch knew the obstacles were real. He had lived by miChael henSon them and overcome them. And he knew that the gram out of Saint John’s Social path to continuing progress Services. He served for many was to help others overcome years as the after-care spe- theirs. cialist for the Hillcrest TrainBirch was particularly deding School. In addition to the icated to the addict brought people he sponsored, there are down to poverty. And if the any number of working chem- columns I write for this paper ical-dependency professionals have any single inspiration, it -- particularly recovering, Af- is Leroy Birch. If these essays rican-American professionals have any weight in the world, -- whom he mentored. it will be because of my friend, Ira McQueen is one. Mc- Leroy Birch. Queen told me, “When I got ***** out of prison, I had some goals. I had just started school. He was a professional, but he had I first met Birch when we a past. I didn’t think I could were both new in recovery. ammered H Birch knew the obstacles were real. He had lived them and overcome them. And he knew that the path to continuing progress was to help others overcome theirs. do what I dreamed of because of my past. And he told me I could do it. I just had to put some other stuff in between me and my past. He gave me the blueprint. He was a guide. I could call him and talk to him about different phases of the process, along with the Eventually, we found ourselves working together at Talbert House. And somewhere in that time, we conceived the notion of doing trainings on poverty and chemical dependency. We were frustrated by training and supervision that taught us everything about alcoholism and STREETVIBES February 2009 Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. addiction except what made me sitting at a table in the this condition so difficult for kitchen of Alcoholics Anonythe poor. We rejected the idea mous co-founder Dr. Bob that the Smith in l o w - We rejected the idea that the A k r o n , income low-income addict was like Ohio. addict W e everybody else, because w a s had been we knew better. We knew l i k e invited that any addict or alcoholic everyto carry faces challenges, but that the workbody the addict or alcoholic in shop to else, b e - poverty faces difficulties and a treatc a u s e obstacles that the better-off m e n t w e center on do not have. knew the south b e t side of ter. We knew that any addict the city. When it was over, we or alcoholic faces challenges, asked if someone could direct but that the addict or alcoholic us to Dr. Bob’s house. It was in poverty faces difficulties after hours, but we figured we and obstacles that the better- could at least drive by it. As it off do not have. We also knew turned out, one of the trainees that the addict or alcoholic was a trustee of the site and in poverty faces more severe had the key. So we got our own consequences than those who private tour. He had a thick are better off. We knew that Scots brogue, so we could the addict or alcoholic in pov- understand only about half erty faces a more complicated of what he said, but he took recovery than those who are us around the city to all the better off. key sites in the AA founding And we knew that, for pro- story. Then he took us to Dr. fessionals to successfully ad- Bob’s house, set us up at that dress the needs of the addict table, pulled out the Polaroid or alcoholic in poverty, they and took our picture. Then he need special tools. said what is said to each perSo we set out to help pro- son who comes through those vide those tools through a se- doors, “Welcome home.” ries of trainings. Talbert House Leroy Birch left his active gave us the go-ahead, and we addiction behind long ago. designed a two-day workshop But he did not leave behind that was grueling for the train- the addict. He was a dedicated ees and trainers both. (We professional and a dedicated were committed to putting the member of the recovering work in workshop.) But we community, a trusted servant felt satisfied that, at the end to the cause of the seemingly of each, we had opened some hopeless addict and alcoholic. minds and offered some anEach time we performed swers. our training, Leroy asked for a moment of silence in order to ***** call up the spirits of our ancestors to support the work about Somewhere, stored among to be done. He has now joined other papers and photos I have his ancestors. collected over the years, I have I would like to think he has a Polaroid of Leroy Birch and been welcomed home. Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper. �STREETVIBES February 2009 Column 11 The Audacity of Focus Obama continues the journey from Selma Barack Hussein Obama’s not let the success of this moinauguration as president is ment “distract” us from the a breathtaking event. We are tremendous cost it has taken only 145 years since Lincoln to reach this point or the imsigned the Emancipation Proc- portant work that remains in lamation. We are only 55 years since the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided on integrated schools as the law of the land. We are only 45 years since Presi- front of us. Indeed, both King dent Lyndon Johnson signed and Obama refused to be “disthe Voting Rights Act. How tracted” by either the violence wondrous are these dates in of actions or angry words our American history of free- from the major task of builddom. But we cannot let these ing a beloved community of achievements distract us. unity. Next to these dates must be Let’s turn to the seeds of the day when Rosa Parks re- Obama’s victory in actions fused to rise from her seat on a that happened in 1964 in a bus in Montgomery, Alabama; little town in Alabama. We the date when Rev. Martin might not have known about Luther King Jr. agreed to lead Selma were it not for the three the first nonviolent bus boy- marches that happened there to cott; the dates protest the kill“Selma became a ing of a young when King organized the testing ground for black man, Jimthe Civil Rights mie Lee Jackmarches in Selma, Alason, who sought Movement and bama, gave for the organizing to register Alahis speeches bamians to vote; philosophy of and wrote his or the killing of [Martin Luther letters and a young white King Jr.]” books; and minister, Rev. the dates of James Reeb, the murders who came to of King, Kennedy and Mal- protest that murder and intimcolm X. And we cannot let idation. And we, as citizens these groundbreaking experi- who were not residents, would ences distract us either. not know Selma were it not the We come to Jan. 20 with place that tens of thousands of a joyous and a heavy heart. people from every corner of We celebrate that so much the nation, who answered the has been accomplished by the call to march with King in the work of so many young and largest nonviolent march for old people, disabled and able voter rights in American hispeople, middle class, rich and tory. Without the success of poor, many college students, the Selma marches, we would and people from every creed, have not changed the voting color and region. We must process and laws for black and poor people in this country, and it’s doubtful that Obama would have been nominated --let alone elected. Selma stood as a symbol of hatred of black people as citizens of America. The message of the 1960s was simple and foreboding: “Black people should not dream about voting, holding office or getting justice from the courts. Black people who don’t go along will be lynched or murdered.” It was that blunt. We cannot imagine now the feelings that civil rights workers, black Southern citizens and white people of good conscience felt at that time. We were trapped in a system in which hatred was expected on the part of whites toward blacks and/or anyone who wanted to change the system. Few of us had any organizing experience that told us how to change hatred. We knew that we could not turn to violence because we were outnumbered by the police, and we were unpersuaded that violence would win the fundamental change we desired. And we knew that individuals in Southern communities were risking a lot by joining in protests. Selma became a testing ground for the Civil Rights Movement and for the organizing philosophy of King, who used the insights of Gandhi, a nonviolent revolutionary from India, to shape his thinking and actions. What happened at Selma that we should know about and how does it connect with Obama? One of the Selma or- Michelle and Barack Obama. Photo courtesy of barackobama.com. Barack Obama. Photo courtesy of barackobama.com. ganizers, Rev. James Bevel of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference remembers: “When Jimmy Lee Jackson from Marlon, Alabama, was killed, I believe that really prompted the march. We realized that the killing would go on, based on people just demonstrating for their right to vote. Somehow we had to make the price of human life go up. People were being shot and killed, and the killers were getting off pretty cheap. We felt we had to create what we call ‘mass dislocation.’ That’s a nonviolent technique where you make it uncomfortable for people by expressing your grievances in a nonviolent fashion.” Henry Hampton continues the story: “They came marching across, black and four abreast like pilgrims to a shrine. ... It was here just past the bridge that they were stopped. ... The rasp/of a police command -- ‘Troopers, advance!’ -- rang out ... and they knew at the first dull thud upon the skull of John Lewis. The women fell first ... And with the thud of billy clubs, they fell, legs askew, black thighs and legs shining in the sweat of tears. They lay upon the hot pavement and awaited the jolts from 14 ounces of oak.” (From G. and C. Carawan, Sing for freedom: The story of the Civil Rights Movement through its songs.) But the march was to continue, with between 40,000 and 50,000 people gathered in Selma to express their indignation at the murders and injustice. The fundamental connection between the election of Obama and the march in Selma can be found in the words “non-violent revolution.” Obama takes office after a campaign of promoting change through legal means, voting and the organization of millions of people to combine in a campaign of hope. Obama’s victory is the next and not the final step. The shadow of Selma teaches us that the key lessons of nonviolent change have not been victorious. Obama enters the presidency at the head of a government that uses the most extreme violence to make its voice heard. Throughout the world, the hopes raised by Selma, by King, by Malcolm X and by Tutu and Mandela for a “beloved” world are ignored. On the same historic day that Obama was elected, several states voted to discriminate against people based on sexual orientation. The hatred of so many continues, sometimes without a voice of recognition and compassion. Who speaks for the slaves of today, both in and outside our country? Who speaks for our broken adoption system? Who speaks for the children of Darfur? Who speaks for the hungry, homeless and disabled? We cannot have a world of peace unless they, too, are brought inside the circle of love. Steve Sunderland is a professor of peace and educational studies at the University of Cincinnati and director of Peace Village. �Local News 12 Let’s Build Our Light Rail System STREETVIBES February 2009 A new public transportation system could help create a new Cincinnati By dAn lA Botz Contributing Writer Since Cincinnati City Council passed a proposal to build a streetcar line from Over-the-Rhine to the University of Cincinnati and the hospital complex there has been a great deal of controversy. The local NAACP chapter is circulating a petition saying that any plan to develop public transportation must win public approval in a referendum. The Cincinnati Beacon has raised the alternative of a grease-powered, rubberwheeled trolley system. Most recently there has been talk of getting the new Barack Obama administration to provide federal money to support a streetcar system. All those concerned about the issue of public transportation — city council, the Sierra Club, the NAACP, the Labor A light rail car in Chicago. Council and, for that matter, all the rest of us — should rail system connects with the stop and rethink the issues. local bus lines to provide puWe need to avoid another bic transportation to hundreds deadlock that paralyzes public of thousands — and that in a transportation, neighborhood state famous for its worship of development and social jus- the automobile and the freetice. What we really need is a way. The construction of the San Diego system was part light rail line of a revitalthat forms “A light rail system ization prothe backlinked to a system gram — not bone of a of buses using clean without its new public fuels would begin to p r o b l e m s transportaimprove Cincinnati’s and abustion system. notoriously poor air es—of the Where I quality.” downtown grew up in area of the the San Dicity. Could we do something ego area of southern California, what began in 1980 as a like that here? downtown boutique light rail Municipal ownership system has since developed into a four-line, 51-mile, 53The federal government’s stop system that runs south current commitments to build to the U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure, improve the and northeast to the far-flung suburb of Santee, serving environment and provide jobs 118,000 daily users. The light during the recession provide Cincinnati City Council with the opportunity to present the public a plan for a light rail system that could revitalize the city as the center of regional development. Cincinnati should seek funds from the federal government with contributions from the city, Hamilton County and the surrounding counties, to build a light rail system as the center of an improved public transportation system throughout our region. First — and this is the most important point — federal money and regional money raised by taxing business should be used to build a municipally owned transportation system. Municipal ownership means the light railway, streetcars, bus lines and other additions to the system (vans to serve the handicapped and the elderly, for example) Interested in volunteering with Streetvibes? Contact Greg Flannery at 513-421-7803 x 12 or by e-mail at streetvibes2@ yahoo.com would be owned and run by the city, not by any private corporation. Eliminating the profit motive means that the city transportation system would serve the citizens, not stockholders. This could be an important step in reversing the trend toward privatization and taking this city back from the privately owned corporate consortiums that now run it. Public management Municipal ownership, however, is not enough. We need to make this a municipally owned but genuinely publicly run transportations system — that is, a system run by a public board made up of consumers, representing those who use public transportation; of labor unions, representing those who work on public transportation; and citizens, representing those who, through their local governments, bought and own the system. We would want to see an advisory panel of environmental experts so that this system would not only be clean, but would also be an environmentally just system operating with an eye to the public welfare. The rider-worker-citizen board would, of course, hire those with the administrative and financial expertise to carry out their directives, but it would be owned and run by us, the people. The idea of consumers, workers and citizens, with the assistance of environmental organizations, owning and managing a public corporation at the heart of the city would not only be a model of democracy, it would also be an important, though still relatively small, counterweight to the power of the banks and corporations that have run this city in their own interest. Union representation and living wages With the election of Barack Obama, we may be entering an era of less hostility and possibly more tolerance and support for labor unions. Obama’s labor-union backers are calling for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make it easier for workers to join labor unions. We would want to see our new light rail system and its workers — drivers, maintenance workers, cleaners — represented by unions. Union workers receive higher wages and better benefits than other workers, and they have mechanisms that protect their See Rail, Page 15 Cleo’s Joke Corner There was a guy in the army doing basic training. The sergeant said to him that he had 1,200 pounds of small rocks and that he wanted him to pick them up one at a time and move them into another spot. The private kept picking up every rock and looked underneath each one. He kept saying, “That’s not it. That’s not it. That’s not it.” He did this for every rock. A psychiatrist looked out at him and told him to come into the office. On top of the psychiatrist’s desk was a fivepound rock. He picked up the rock, looked underneath it and said, “That’s still not it.” So the psychiatrist wrote him an honorable discharge. The private said, in a loud voice, “That’s it! That’s it! That’s it!” �STREETVIBES February 2009 Interview 13 Take a Cue from Joyce Social worker helps homeless people identify themselves By AnGelA PAnCellA Contributing Writer Joyce Cue, the social worker at Our Daily Bread, offers assistance in a variety of areas for our guests. Guests often ask her to help them get a copy of their birth certificates — a necessary step, in Ohio, for getting the proof of identity necessary when applying for assistance of any sort. “You’re lucky, you’re blessed, if you’re born in the city,” she says. “So you can just walk across the street and pick up your birth certificate at Elm Street Clinic — on Elm close to Liberty.” It’s trickier for those born out of state. “Most agencies now are saying they will not send for birth certificates from out of state,” Cue says. “So that makes it very difficult, because in order to get an ID, you must have your birth certificate.” The guests who need an ID might have had theirs stolen if they’ve been living on the streets carrying all of their possessions in a bag. In addition, Cue says, “Many of our folks come out of jail. They go in with an ID but when they come out, they give them the prisoner’s ID. But of course that’s not accepted anywhere. It makes it difficult for them — they can’t get housing, they can’t get food stamps, they can’t apply for anything.” So why are agencies reluctant to help find out-of-state birth certificates? “My understanding is that, since 9-11, for security reasons, some states say, ‘We’re a closed state, we can’t send it,’ Cue says.”I call and say, ‘Now, look. Here (in Ohio) we cannot get an ID without a birth certificate.’ “(They’ll answer,) ‘Ma’am, I’m sorry. We can’t send you a birth certificate without an updated ID.’ “ Often the realities of life in poverty add their own frustrations to the hunt for official information. Cue tells the story of a young man who recently came to her for help tracking down his birth certificate. “He came in and said, ‘Miss Joyce, I don’t know what to do.’ His mother died in childbirth,” Cue says. “He said he was kind of passed around to different people. He knows that he was born in Tennessee, but he does not know what county, what hospital.” She called the records office in Tennessee, only to be told, “No, ma’am, we have to know what county he was born in.” “But he can’t remember it,” Cue says. “He doesn’t know. He was born in Tennessee, and then he went to Cleveland, and he and his sisters have lost contact with each other. He had one brother that he knew that just recently passed.” There was no one left to help. A possible solution has occurred to Cue. “I was looking over some papers and said, ‘Wait a minute. You get food stamps?’ He said yes. I said, ‘That might be a place to start, because you have to prove identity to get assistance from (Job and Family Services.)’ “ If the young man used his birth certificate to get food stamps, Cue might be able to track down enough information to obtain a new copy of the birth certificate herself. “That’s what’s in process right now,” she says. “Somebody — social security or someone — one of those agencies had to have established identity.” Cue shakes her head in disbelief when she recounts stories like this. “That’s the type of maze that these folks have to go through, and without any money, without housing, without a place where they can find any comfort where they can clear their mind and think,” she says. When she tries to imagine herself in their shoes, Joyce Cue, social worker at Our Daily wondering how Bread. Photo courtesy of Our Daily Bread. her clients deal Our Daily Bread is a food with all of these and hospitality ministry at frustrations, she says, “I just 1730 Race St., Over-thego back to (saying), ‘They’re Rhine, that offers a mid-day stronger than I am.’ Can you imagine what you or I would meal, serving more than 500 be doing? We’re not made of meals every weekday. To volunteer or contribute, call Joan that material.” or Kathy at 513-621-6364. A Letter to Andrea Religious feelings and ignoring the homeless tie for her son. I guess since I’m a guy, I’m supposed to know a good-looking tie when I see one. It was a rather warm December afternoon and I was standing outside Macy’s waiting for Andrea. I was smoking a cigarette. A homeless man, By lArry Gross holding a small cardboard Contributing Writer sign requesting money, was also standing there. Andrea isn’t her real name I reached into my back but she’s a real person. I’ve pocket, pulled out my wallet written about her before in and gave the man a buck. He CityBeat. Now Streetvibes is wanted to know if I had an exgonna get a taste of her. tra cigarette. I did. Why we’re friends I don’t W e r e a l l y stood “As I looked to my right, know. It there I could see Andrea might have something approaching. She slowed for a while to do with down her pace when she – talkthe fact saw me talking to the ing and that we homeless person.” smokworked ing. We together at talked about the weather, our a machine-tool company here horrible professional football in town over 20 years ago. We have nothing in common. team and the “commercial” holiday season. Maybe opposites attract. As I looked to my right, I She wanted to meet me could see Andrea approachdowntown last month at Macy’s. Andrea was doing some ing. She slowed down her Christmas shopping and want- pace when she saw me talking ed me to help pick out a neck- to the homeless person. When she finally reached “You shouldn’t be giving me, I said hello, put out my your money away,” she said. cigarette and said goodbye to “Let him get a job like the rest the gentleman with the card- of us have to.” board sign. Andrea was staring With that said, I shut up. We at me the whole time almost went to the men’s department b u g at Ma“I reached into my back eyed. cy’s, pocket, pulled out my wallet Enfound t e r i n g and gave the man a buck. He the ties M a a n d wanted to know if I had an cy’s, it Andrea extra cigarette. I did.” didn’t picked t a k e out a her long to get started. silk red one. She didn’t need “Who was that?” Andrea my help at all. wanted to know. Now Andrea will never “Don’t know,” I replied. spend a buck to pick up a “Didn’t think to ask him his copy of Streetvibes, but mayname.” be someone can give her one. “You give him money?” I’ve composed a letter to her. “A buck,” I replied. Dear Andrea, Andrea shook her head. It was a pleasure going “You’re funny,” she said. shopping with you. I hope you “He’s probably not even had a wonderful Christmas, homeless, probably a con art- celebrating the birth of Jesus ist.” Christ. I know how religious “You don’t know that, An- you are. drea,” I said. I know you’re religious be“Oh I know plenty,” she cause in the past you’ve stated said, “know that with that you’re concerned for my soul. money you gave him, he’s A few times you have even probably on his way to a bar asked me if I’ve accepted Jeright now.” sus Christ as my savior. Each “Whatever, Andrea.” time I have dodged the ques- tion. Let me try and set the record straight here. If treating other people the way I want to be treated gets me somewhere – namely heaven – great. If it doesn’t, then at least people might remember me as a nice, caring person. Being caring, in part, means caring for those less fortunate, and that includes homeless people. I talk to them, and they talk back. They’re human beings down on their luck. Your Jesus talked to the poor – how come you don’t? I oftentimes give them money and/or cigarettes. I try to help them. Your Jesus helped the poor – why don’t you? Throughout my entire life I’ve heard religious people say, “There but for the grace of God go I”. How come I’ve never heard you say it? Sorry for being direct, Andrea, but you know how I am. I hope your son enjoyed his tie. Your Friend, Larry God bless Andrea. It felt good writing her this letter. Hell, I didn’t even have to go buy a stamp. Read the Streetvibes blog for stories between issues at streetvibes.wordpress.com �14 STREETVIBES February 2009 Short Story Hidden Homeless of the Ivory Tower Higher education and lowered expectations (Continued from January 2009) By siBonGile sithe Contributing Writer They say New York is the city that never sleeps, but it turns out Chicago is an insomniac, too. For Marks, at least, that turned out to be a godsend. Both Kansas Fried Chicken and Carlo’s Pizza were 24hour restaurants that doubled as Marks’ — and many others’ — sleeping quarters. There, he finished the homework he didn’t get done at school and got paid back in pizza slices for making deliveries. “I missed my grandmother’s cooking first off,” he says. He looks down at the table. “I just missed a sense of security, where you don’t have to worry what you have to do to make it to the next day,” Marks says. dorm room are a couple nov- els and quite a few textbooks, with the volumes totaling somewhere in the twenties. It’s his entire collection. Almost everything he owns is in this room. Yet as he looks around, he says, “Everything here is replaceable.” There are no art pieces he can’t recreate, and nothing he can’t buy again — even items of sentimental value. “I could walk out of here right now and not look back,” he says. “I can always take another picture of my brother.” Yale Visitor’s Center. Students and fans do not always realize that some of their classmates are homeless. *** “As far as brushing my teeth, sometimes I didn’t. I chewed a lot of gum, Tic Tacs, stuff you can get from your friends,” Marks laughs. “I’m lucky I still have my teeth.” Marks says keeping up appearances *** “Marks was also a varsity was particularly athlete, so he took his Some problemshowers at school. He of Ye’s atic at his had three dress shirts, exclufriends find his sive prep two pairs of slacks school. gift-giving and one tie to get him p e c u l i a r. Like Luthrough the week, and He gave cas, Marks then washed them on away shirts was also the weekends at a local and pens, a varsity l a u n d r y laundromat. Marks didn’t athlete, so detergent he took his go to many dances or and photo- other school events that s h o w e r s graphs. at school. required cash.” It’s more He had practical three dress than anything, he says. For shirts, two pairs of slacks and Ye, moving is difficult: first one tie to get him through the because he doesn’t drive and week, and then washed them relies on others to help him on the weekends at a local get his stuff around; and sec- laundromat. Marks didn’t go ond, because there’s no single to many dances or other school place to put it all. events that required cash. Giving things away is a “Twenty dollars is a lot of means of ensuring preserva- money,” he says. tion of Ye’s possessions, espeMarks now recognizes he cially his art pieces. His recip- probably should have exients serve as micro museums plained his situation to his for his work: “They can take parents. care of things in a way that I “But I was 15 going on 16,” can’t,” he says. he says. “I was like, ‘I can do On the bookshelf in his this, I can do this.’ ” Marks told no one about his situation, except his two best friends and his headmaster. “I’ll always love Dr. Rutherford,” he says. “When I explained to him my situation, he was like, you know, ‘Don’t worry about (the tuition. Everything’s taken care of.’ ” When asked if his headmaster had an obligation to report him to the authorities, Marks looks as though he’d never considered the possibility. “I don’t know,” he says. “I think he knew that I’d be in a worse situation if he took his legal obligation seriously”. *** Lucas didn’t like to be idle; he says it left him too much time to think about his situation. And when he lists his extracurricular activities, it’s hard to imagine how he’d have time to schedule a spare minute. To pay for food, bills and his car, Lucas held down three jobs. He refereed basketball, worked construction, washed dishes and did all varieties of odd jobs. He never stopped doing community service, either. He coached youth sports teams, organized Special Olympics events, tutored and mentored younger students and volunteered at a local soup kitchen. 1128 Walnut St Pizza by the Slice Tues and Thurs Buffet($7.00)-11AM-2PM Wed-Thur-Fri-Sat 9PM-3AM “Those were the kind of things that kept me sane,” he says. “When you’re homeless, you’re losing your fucking mind.” *** come me without question, I know it’s difficult for them to have me there. Sometimes there’s tension, like when I eat all of their white fish salad,” which he did over this past break. But, he says, “The selfawareness of the strain you put on others is a part of growing up.” Ye had a string of jobs when he was in high school. He worked for a title insurance company, interned for an Internet company and even tried *** his hand at selling airplane hangars — a “total fiasco,” he Lucas was surprised how says. many people offered him supAfter he moved out of his port. father’s apartment, Ye went “There weren’t many to live with his Andrew from people who didn’t open up the Big Brothers, Big Sisters their doors (or pocketbooks) program. Andrew and his wife to me,” he says, citing highboth work from home and school alumni, old middlehave four children, so when school teachers and casual he’s there, Ye does his best friends. He says several famito help out around the house. lies treated him like one of He sweeps algae scum off the their own children. pool floor, helps Andrew with “I was like, ‘Damn! Like his projects and for real?’ I’d watches the kids They try to make been skeptical of on occasion. me feel like I’m a rich people my But Ye acfamily member, whole life, but a knowledges that lot of rich people but it’s very clear were really, reallife is not perfect. Like Lucas, to me that I’m not ly good to me.” he finds breaks a family member. But, like Ye, from Yale stressLucas was aware ful: “There’s of the burden never a guarantee that I’m go- he laid on the families, so he ing to have someplace to go.” never stayed in any one place Even Ye’s mother recogniz- for longer than three or four es the situation is not ideal. weeks. “I know he would like to When Lucas, a recruited have a place to call home, and athlete, came to Yale, he we cannot provide that for brought a lot of his insecurities him,” she says. “It is clearly with him: “When somebody a loss. He experiences it a looked at me a certain way or loss, and therefore I do too.” disrespected me and I would But, she says, “This cannot be say, ‘Is this because you don’t helped right now.” think I’m good enough? Like, And so Ye is incredibly ap- I’m not supposed to be here? preciative of Andrew and his You don’t do that to people where I’m from. Now let me family. “They try to make me feel show you what that means.’ ” like I’m a family member, but He says getting over his it’s very clear to me that I’m preconceived stereotypes has not a family member,” he says. “Even though they’re sweet See Yale, p. 15 and wonderful and would wel- �STREETVIBES February 2009 Short Story 15 Yale, continued from page 14 been a large part of his maturation and is still an issue for him, but he attributes a lot of his growth to the presence of cultural groups on campus. Today, he says, his fighting is reduced to instances of personal attacks. “I can’t be that way,” says as he shakes his head. “The one thing different about here is I’ve got a lot more to lose.” *** It takes nine e-mails, 11 text messages and over a week to get Ye, Lucas and Marks in the same room at the same time. The three get on the subject of service, to which all are deeply committed. “It really makes sense to us,” says Ye, who does longdistance mentoring and is working at a camp for at-risk teens this summer. Lucas, who, oddly enough, was looking into that same organization, also mentors and has long-term plans for teaching, enrolling in law school and going back to Detroit to a home to go back to” — or start his own non-profit agen- the Lucas who struggles to cy. balance life as a full-time stu“Nobody’s getting out,” he dent and athlete while worksays of his neighborhood — ing 25 hours a week to help and he’s ready to change that. pay his brother’s tuition. “If I’m not helping anybody “I have (him) as an inspirathrough my tion,” Mi“There’s never struggles chael says. a guarantee that then I’m just Right I’m going to have being selfnow Marks is focused ish.” someplace to go.” Michael, on getting one of Luhimself into cas’ closest friends on campus law school and economically and the only one who knows settled so he can offer more of about his past, says Lucas is the internship and funding opnothing short of driven. portunities to underprivileged “He definitely deals with youth, for which he himself adversity by trying to make has been incredibly grateful. things better for other people And for the time being, Luin his situation,” Michael cas, Marks and Ye all seem to says. be in good places. But Michael sees that the past is still salient for Lucas: *** It’s “a past that he’s not moving on from because it’s still During his junior year of happening.” But, Michael high school, Marks’ parents says, you won’t see it change bought a house and brought Lucas’ outward demeanor. him and his sister back to live “(Most people) don’t see the with them. The transition was Lucas that goes home,” Mi- rough, he says. chael says, “and doesn’t have “I stayed out a lot, because I had gotten used to a lot of independence,” he says. He remained angry with them for sending him away when, in his eyes, they could still take care of him. He later learned that his mother had suffered a nervous breakdown and that his parents needed time to sort things out. Marks has been back with his nuclear family for three years now. “They’re great. I love them. They love me,” he laughs, “I hope.” Lucas’ family is back together and his parents are doing well, but he’s not ready to forgive them just yet. “Until I can get over all of this myself,” he says, “I don’t owe them anything.” Despite the challenges, Ye says his nomadic life style “doesn’t suck. It’s actually, like, really nice.” He enjoys the freedom of traveling and says his decision not to live with his parents has more to do with personal preferences than anything else. Ye’s father has personal preferences. too, but, he says, “I don’t love him any less. I’d be the first to protect (him) in any way I could.” And although his father now welcomes Ye into his home, Ye says his father’s actions are “too little, too late, and I am not having it.” The situation with his mother “has evolved from a probably-shouldn’t-becauseit’s-risky to an absolutelycannot.” “He does (his] best,” Ye’s mother says.” He keeps himself surrounded by dear people. The alternative is not so bad. He has responded pretty well.” Ye has been lucky. “There hasn’t been a time in my life where I haven’t had a place that’s comfortable and safe to go,” he says. “I’ve just had to do a little bit of shuffling around to find (it).” As far as comfortable living goes, Yale is treating all of us pretty nicely. Lucas looks up at the ceiling. “I mean,” he says, “there’s a fucking chandelier here.” Rail, continued from page 12 rights on the job. Well-paid jobs mean citizens have the wherewithal to support their families — and that income circulates through local businesses. We have a living-wage ordinance in Cincinnati, but city council has failed to enforce it and to extend it. We should use the building of a light rail and extended transportation system to reinforce living-wage legislation, insisting that the publicly run system will deal with no suppliers or contractors who do not pay a living wage to all of their employees. A modern light rail car in Houston. A strong public transportation system, eventually providing access to all neighborhoods in the city, accompanied by jobs that pay well, would be a strong inducement to our former residents to return to the city. Transportation and development We could use our publicly owned transportation system not only to strengthen the downtown area, but more important to revitalize our neighborhoods. The light rail train would strengthen every neighborhood that it passed through; every place there was a stop, and every place that the system connected with the bus lines. If you go to Boston, Chicago or New York, you find at many of the L-train or subway stops a newsstand, a thriving local diner or a neighborhood shopping district. Workers earning union wages would mean more money in our neighborhoods spent in those shopping centers. Too often in the past, devel- begin to improve Cincinnati’s opment has taken place in the notoriously poor air quality. At neighboring counties while the the same time, as the system city has languished, leaving expands, we would be careful inner-city residents without to avoid the abuses of the past, jobs and the ways opportuniin which “Eliminating the profit ties. A light industry motive means that the rail system city transportation system so often could help would serve the citizens, polluted to reverse worknot stockholders.” this situi n g ation. We class and could use the light rail system poor peoples’ neighborhoods. to make Cincinnati the hub of Organizations such as the regional development. Even- faith-based Amos Coalition, tually the light rail system the Blue-Green Alliance of would connect the city to the the Sierra Club and the United airport in Kentucky and to the Steel Workers of America, the industrial areas of Florence NAACP and the Labor Counand in Butler County. Such a cil could overcome their difsystem would also bring out- ferences by joining together to lying neighborhoods and sub- fight for a system that would urbanites back into the center serve the interests of all. Not of the city, now a city filled the streetcar that’s been talked with vibrant neighborhoods. about for downtown, but rather a light rail system that not Environmental only provides transportation commitments and improves the environment but is also the first step in turnWe can also use the light rail ing Cincinnati into a different system to improve our envi- sort of town, one where the ronment and to make amends public owns and manages and for the environmental injus- benefits from the use of taxtices of the past. We should tie payer money. the building of the light railway to the passage of the environmental justice resolution Dan La Botz (DanLaBotz. held up in council. A light rail wikidot.com) is a Cincinnatisystem linked to a system of based teacher, writer and acbuses using clean fuels would tivist. �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES February 2009 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion Terry Ranson Anthony Williams Nell Williams Grady Cook Cleo Wombles James Davis Jon Darby Dede Stoops Julie Walker Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson Riccardo Taylor Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Charles Cole Alfred Woolfolk Terrence Williams Raynard Jones Richard Tyree Michael Holley Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Talbert House...684-7965 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Treatment: Women Resources First Step Home ...961-4663 Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...641-4300 Shelter: Both Advocacy Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Appalachian Identity Center ...621-5991 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Shelter: Men Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Starting Over...961-2256 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Oral Health Council...621-0248 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2009 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource February 2009 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: This Thing Called ‘Race’ Cold Comfort Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes with an ‘Unconventional Hausfrau’ Pg 4: Georgine Getty Moves On Pg 5: For as Long as it Takes Pg 6: The Heart of Over-the-Rhine Pg 7: No Business Like Shoah Business Pg 8: Race Continued Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Pg 10: In Memoriam: Leroy Birch Pg 11: Peace Village Pg 12: Let’s Build Our Light Rail system Pg 13: Take A Cue from Joyce Pg 14: Hidden Homeless of the Ivory Tower Pg 15: Yale Continued Rail Continued Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource February 2009 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Contributor Gregory Flannery Lew Moores Adam Clark Margo Pierce Stephanie Dunlap Georgine Getty David Heitfield Andrew Anderson Paul Kopp Mike Henson Steve Sunderland Dan La Botz Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Lynne Ausman Anthony Williams Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Georgine Getty Michael Henson Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Adam Clark addiction Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Arts & Poetry Barack Obama Cincinnati Dan La Botz David Heitfield Defiance education Findlay Center Georgine Getty Gregory Flannery Joe Wessels Joyce Cue Leroy Birch Lew Moores Light Rail System Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Michael Henson Mike Henson Over-the-Rhine Paul Kopp Peace Village Public Transportation Race Social Workers St. Francis Seraph Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Steve Sunderland Yale https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/e31de602086dd4a0b74d14b12efb6b66.pdf d1b4d86fda43a9ebbf44f113632382fa PDF Text Text Stickin it Wit the Most High ~ Page 11 Eight Minutes with a ‘Street Walker’ ~ page 3 STREETVIBES $1 J a n u a r y 2 0 0 9 • I s s u e 1 5 0 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e We Will, We Will Not Be Zoned Dinner is equal parts celebration, call to resist By GreGory Flannery Editor Clark Montessori Steel Drum Band entertains the guests at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless’ Annual Dinner and Silent Auction. Photo by Andrew Anderson. The Year’s Longest Night Remembering those who are at home at last By GreGory Flannery Editor This is for those who died alone. This is for those who died unwanted. This is for those who died unknown. This is for those who died on the street, in an alley, on a bench. This is for those who died in hospital or hospice or a relative’s bed after having lived on the street. This is for those who died poor and homeless in 2008. It is bitterly cold Dec. 21, as it should be. A Channel 9 newsreader says the temperature is 14 degrees Fahrenheit, “which is ironic, because it’s the first day of winter.” She misunderstands the meaning of the word “ironic.” Friends and advocates gather for Homeless Memorial Day. Photo by Andrew Anderson. The wind cuts through overcoats, scarves, hats – for those lucky enough to have them. The wind cuts down the tiny flames that are supposed to make this a candlelight vigil. The air is so cold that feet ache from standing on cement. So cold that that the ink in a reporter’s pen freezes and will not write. So cold that no mayor, no city council member, no state legislator, no judge attends. Surely the cruel night chill explains their absence. Or is it a coldness of some other kind? This is Washington Park, where the homeless often gather. This is Washington Park, across 12th Street from the Drop Inn Center, a place of refuge for them that gots nuthin. This is Washington Park, where official visions of a more upscale green space for a more upscale constituency leave no room for those who have nowhere else to go. This is Washington Park, See Night, p. 5 A little wry humor can help any good cause, especially one that’s under assault. Thus the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless called its 2008 annual dinner “In the Zone” – a pointed reference to this season’s strategy in city council’s long war on homeless people. “We chose ‘In the Zone’ as our theme this year because zoning has been such a battle,” said Georgine Getty, executive director of the Homeless Coalition. “My theory is that people don’t talk about zoning unless they’re up to no good.” Among other initiatives that alarmed churches and charities in 2008, city council passed a resolution calling for limits on the number of human-services agencies in Over-the-Rhine. The issue is now the subject of a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court. The annual dinner, held Dec. 4 at Xavier University, featured the music of the Clark Montessori Steel Band, awards for homeless people and those who serve them and a stirring call to continue the struggle. Getty enumerated some of the lies that have gained currency in discussions about poverty. “Poor people are ruining our neighborhood. Social services are bad for development. Section 8 is to blame. Get a job. … This is the wrong story, and I’m tired of it,” she said. “There are only two choices when you’re tired. You can go to See Dinner, p. 5 �2 The Vibe Streetwise News Briefs Homeless Shelter Closing SEATTLE -- The city’s oldest homeless mission is closing as winter sets in, falling victim to economic difficulties. CityTeam Ministries houses 55 men, 15 of whom are recovering from drug addiction. Based in California, CityTeam Ministries owes more than $250,000at a time of decreasing donations. ACLU Fights Harassment LAGUNA BEACH, CALIF. – Civil rights attorneys filed a lawsuit last month in federal court accusing this coastal town and of engaging in a campaign of harassment against disabled homeless people. The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleges that a city ban on sleeping on the street is unconstitutional. Laguna Beach has no year-round city-sponsored shelters. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of mentally and physically disabled homeless people. The town of about 25,000 is famous for art galleries, festivals, upscale boutiques and luxury hilltop homes overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The median home price is $1.3 million. The city provides $15,000 a year to a 41-bed cold weather shelter run by local churches. Record Number of Homeless Families NEW YORK – In the past year shelters in New York have seen a 40 percent jump in the number of homeless families with children seeking emergency housing, according to the Department of Homeless Services. Nearly 10,000 homeless families were in municipal shelters in December, the highest number in the 25 years that the city has collected the data. The number of homeless people in the city’s shelters has continued to climb during Mayor Bloomberg’s five-year plan to cut homelessness by twothirds, launched in 2004, “The recession in New York is unfortunately just beginning, but already we have surpassed the alltime record high of family homelessness in New York City,” Mary Brosnahan, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless. By GreGory Flannery Shoe City Council What You Think Just when you thought contemporary journalism had given up the ghost and reporters had lost their sense of civic duty, along comes Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at president Bush, uttering the best sentence written to date about the U.S. War on Iraq: “This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog!” The Artful Dodger in Chief ducked both the leather missiles and the message, declaring afterward that he didn’t know what the man’s “beef” was. Let us learn from this. Times are too hard for most of us to afford the luxury of throwing our shoes at Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Bortz or other deserving politicians. But we can join the spirit of Muntadar al-Zaidi even on a shoestring budget. Let’s all mail a pair of shoestrings to Bortz, with a note saying, “Stop attacking poor people!” That way he’ll know what our beef is. The address is Chris Bortz, Cincinnati City Hall, 800 Plum St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. Subhead The generous people of Adath Israel threw something else last month: a holiday party for Streetvibes vendors. Members of the synagogue bought gifts for the vendors, who had been invited to ask for what they’d like. Some of the vendors asked for gifts for their children or grandchildren – being able to give presents at Christmas is one of the many pleasures usually out of reach for homeless people. Not content to have presented beautifully wrapped gifts, Adath Israel also served up a feast for the vendors: chili and cornbread and sacks of oranges and a vegetable tray and cookies and pastries. Oh, Yes, We Did Those clear-headed people who staff the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center remind us that, though a long struggle is ahead, 2008 ended with important victories in the movement to secure peace and justice for all people. The center’s newsletter lists many examples of progress, including: Veteran Cold War warriors Sam Nunn, William Perry, Henry Kissinger and George Schultz all have called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. …Veterans groups, churches and peace organizations have collaborated in opposing U.S. military action against Iran. …Norway, Iceland, New Zealand, and Costa Rica signed on to the UN Environmental Program’s Carbon Neutrality network. … The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge their detention in federal courts. … As part of the 2008 Farm Bill, Congress significantly increased funding for federal food assistance programs -- approximately $10.3 billion over 10 years. Nearly 20,000 Safeway and Giant workers in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore won raises, affordable healthcare and pension security. In Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee, 9,000 Kroger employees won similar gains. … Pennsylvania became the first state joining the State and Local Sweatfree Consortium with a resolution that prohibits purchasing from sweatshops and promotes vendors and factories that meet standards for labor and human rights. … The Sierra Club effectively shut down 30 proposed coal-fired power plants by winning a victory before the EPA Environmental Appeals Board that would require all coal-fired power plants to use best available control technology for carbon dioxide. … Congress passed the Second Chance Act in March, which provides $362 million for programs of education and job training for prisoners and their families and offers alternatives to prison for parents convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. Workers at the Cincinnati Rumpke Plant won significant concessions regarding fees and safety conditions. … Ohio voters approved a new payday lending law that cuts the annual percentage rate that lenders can charge to 28 percent. … Over the Rhine Community Housing has received a grant of $987,743 from the Federal Home Loan Bank to transform five buildings on Odeon Street into housing for the chronically homeless. Oh, yeah, and we the people elected a president committed to ending the war in Iraq and building an economy that prospers all Americans. Quite a year, all in all. candlelight vigil and the reading of the names of the deceased, a simple but civilized act. Moving on AND Continuing the Struggle The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, which publishes Streetvibes, is undergoing major staffing changes. Georgine Getty, executive director for the past six years, leaves March 1 to become executive director of the Interfaith Hospitality Network. She’ll succeed Bob Moore, who is retiring. Andy Freeze, who has served as the Homeless Coalition’s education coordinator for the past two years, has moved to Washington, D.C., to become executive director of the North American Street Newspapers Association. The changes on the staff, however, don’t mean the individuals involved are ending their work on behalf of homeless people. In her new position, Getty will work to help families in Greater Cincinnati to secure housing. Freeze, who coordinated the Streetvibes vendor program, will be expanding his portfolio, assisting street newspapers throughout the continent (see his farewell column on page 4). Moore, though beginning retirement, is still on the board of the Homeless Coalition. Getty, whom we’ll pressure for a farewell column for next month’s edition, has been a tireless and articulate voice on behalf of homeless people, championing their cause through years of struggle against mean-spirited legislation by city council, including such infamous lowlights as the sweep of homeless camps, an ordinance requiring panhandlers to have licenses, cuts in human-services spending and efforts to use zoning to force human-services agencies out of Overthe-Rhine. Her work in advocacy will be greatly missed -- especially, we’re sure, by City Councilman Chris Bortz. STREETVIBES January 2009 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Contributing Writers Margo Pierce, Angela Pancella, Michael Henson, Larry Gross, Alyssa Konermann, Lew Moores, Dede Stoops, Alan Attwood, Brittany Middlebrooks, Terrence Williams, Bill Joiner Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Andrew Freeze, Angela Pancella, Richard Blumberg, DeJong family, Alan Attwood, Berta Lambert, Lynne Ausman, Laura Damasceno Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are members of: �STREETVIBES January 2009 Community News 3 Eight Minutes with a ‘Street Walker’ His services are of the social variety and strictly for the homeless By MarGo Pierce Contributing WritEr W hen Chico walks the streets, he’s looking to connect with the people rarely sought out by others -those who sleep in doorways, root through trash cans and push carts full of stuff. Chico Lockhart goes looking for people who live under bridges and shoot up in alleyways because he wants to help them. As the outreach specialist for Downtown Cincinnati Inc., Lockhart’s office is the streets; and his hours, when there isn’t a special event in the evening, are from 10 a.m.6:30 p.m. weekdays. He’ll work later on event nights so he doesn’t miss the opportunity to meet and get to know people who might need and want assistance. “I walk around the downtown city district and engage individuals that are homeless and panhandling in the street and try to find out what their issues are in order to get them engaged with social services and getting them connected to get into housing,” he says. “It takes persistence. A lot of the people on the streets know who I am now, and they refer friends to me once I help them, so we’ve had plenty of successes.” A homeless couple who couldn’t find a shelter willing to take them in together is now in temporary housing, and one of them is about to begin a new job. That’s success story number one. Then there’s “Alex.” “He’d been homeless for about 23 years because he was a (former) sex offender,” Lockhart says. “He was illiterate and he didn’t know which direction to go. I was able to get him connected to an agency by the name of CILO, which helped him with getting into an apartment. They were paying his rent for three months. He’s been in there for four or five months, so he’s doing well.” CILO, the Center for In- get help from social service agencies, they have to get a homeless certification,” Lockhart explains. “It’s a document certifying that this person is actually homeless. Most individuals have to go over to the Drop Inn Center or some kind of shelter and stay there for numerous days in order to get the homeless certification. But as an outreach worker, I’m actually able to certify people by myself, so a lot of individuals come to me first to get certified. “Say, for instance, someone doesn’t have any medical care or dental care – it’s a way to access those services. They can go to McMicken Dental Clinic and say they have a homeless certification, which is all computerized, and McMicken Dental can pull up their certification and serve them.” What could be perceived “We’re trying to focus on helping individuals as opposed to just locking them up. I have no problems with the police, and we’ve been collaborating on trying to help individuals.” - Chico Lockhart dependent Living Options, is one of the many agencies providing services to Lockhart’s street people. Goodwill Industries, the Salvation Army and the McMicken Dental Clinic are a few of the others. Before the agencies can assist a homeless person, she must be certified. “Any individual that’s looking to get off the streets and as yet another attempt by the business community to get rid of the unsightly homeless population milling around the business district is actually a carefully thought out and well constructed program. Lockhart says people who are worried about someone loitering or being overly aggressive when panhandling will call him before they call Chico Lockhart, the outreach specialist for Downtown Cincinnati Inc.. Photos by Andrew Anderson the police. “We’re trying to focus on helping individuals as opposed to just locking them up,” he says. “I have no problems with the police, and we’ve been collaborating on trying to help individuals. On several occasions police officers have called me as opposed to just taking them to jail to see if we can get them the social services they need.” The process of getting those services begins with identifying individual needs and offering options. “I have to decide what issues they have – substance abuse or mental health,” Lockhart says. “I make sure that I get them connected to the right agency before we place them in housing. That way they have ongoing support. I don’t make the decisions for the individuals. What I like to do is give them options, let them decide which route they want to go, and then that way we can go from there.” While getting to know the individuals who are sometimes lumped into the homogenous grouping of “homeless,” Lockhart has earned their respect. Friends refer friends because he has helped without judging. He’s not on a mission to save their souls; he just wants to help. That honest approach offers a bit of protection in what could be potentially dangerous situations. “When you’re going and engaging people under a bridge or you have a large crowd of homeless individu- als … you’re going to know one of them,” Lockhart says. “A lot of people understand what I do down here, that I’ve helped a lot of their friends, so I really don’t have that problem with feeling fearful. “But you do have to keep your guard up when you go into an alley or engaging people under the influence – whatever the case may be.” Even though he usually walks the streets downtown, Lockhart isn’t going to turn down a request for help. He occasionally gets calls from people in other communities, and during large events he’ll meet up with homeless people visiting from Kentucky. He’ll do what he can. That’s why he shares his phone number with anyone who wants it. “If you encounter people who are homeless or in need of some services … give me a call and I can see how I can point them in the right direction to get them the services they need, as opposed to just calling the police and get them locked up,” he says. “These individuals are going through some issues, and they need someone who is going to engage with them and try to help them in any way they need assistance.” That number? 513-2667135. Use it. Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them. �4 Community News Hitting the Streets Moving on with the street-paper movement of each paper are the connection between all of the papers across North America. As I leave Streetvibes, I am confident that the staff will continue to produce a quality newspaper with articles and stories that no one else is covering. Our vendors will be the consistent factor, working tirelessly to earn their living. They will be standing on street corners and intersections with a smile, looking to provide you with the latest news. I have had a wonderful opportunity the last two years to work with a very Andy Freeze (Right), executive director of the North American Street Newspaper talented group of Association, with Raynard Jones (Left), Streetvibes vendor. Photo by Georgine Getty. people and am excited about the By andy Freeze jobs while work to provide pers were started each year. future of StreetContributing WritEr quality publications on home- While many of these papers vibes. It will continue to grow less and other social-justice is- never really took off, some of and will continue to get betI want to take this oppor- sues. The papers ranged from the largest street papers today ter. tunity to thank the Greater weekly publications to four started during the mid-1990s, Thank you to the readers Cincinnati Coalition for the times a year. including L’Itineraire in Mon- for your support, your words Homeless, the staff, StreetThe roots of street newspa- treal and Real Change in Se- of encouragement, your letvibes vendors pers go back attle. ters of disagreement, your Thank you to the and many The position I am taking compliments and most of all to the 19th readers for your supporters century, when is the executive director of your support of our wonderful that I have support, your words the Salvation the North American Street vendors. I look forward to my met along the cre- Newspapers Association. So new job but will always have of encouragement, Army way the past ated the War in some way I will continue to a special place in my heart for your letters of two years. Cry, a weekly work with Streetvibes and the Streetvibes and the Greater It was two disagreement, your p u b l i c a t i o n staff at the Greater Cincinnati Cincinnati Coalition for the compliments and years ago that in Cleveland. Coalition for the Homeless. Homeless. most of all your I started as a M y From 1872 to volunteer and the 1920s the n e w support of our soon there- wonderful vendors. Christian-in- j o b after became fluenced paper w i l l the education was sold on w o r k coordinator for the Homeless street corners to help explain to help Coalition. In that position I to the public how they could papers worked closely with more help the needy. Several other across than 40 Streetvibes vendors papers followed the War Cry, N o r t h each month. I worked with but most of them were pub- Amerthe late Jimmy Heath on put- lished by religious organiza- i c a ting together Streetvibes each tions, and few used homeless g r o w month. vendors to sell the papers. a n d Jimmy taught me everyThe first secular street news- p r o thing from working with the papers did not appear until the d u c e vendors to writing stories to 1970s. Portland, Ore., claims b e t t e r taking photographs to lay- to have had the first modern p r o d ing out the paper. My interest street newspaper, the now de- ucts, as peaked, and I wanted to learn funct Homeless Times, which well as as much as possible. was founded in 1972. The old- to start In the spring of 2007 I est existing street paper today s t r e e t signed up to attend the North is Street Sheet in San Fran- n e w s American Street Newspapers cisco, which came out with its papers Association conference in first issue in December 1989. in othPortland, Ore. The conference The modern street newspa- er parts summer provided a wonderful per movement really took off of the opportunity to network and in the 1990s as public policy c o n t i meet people from across North towards the poor changed and nent. America who were provid- as desktop publishing became T h e Andy Freeze gives a presentation to high school ing homeless and low-income readily available. In the mid- v e n - students about homelessness. Photo courtesy of people with entrepreneurial 1990s, an average of five pa- d o r s GCCH. STREETVIBES January 2009 Poetry The Lump? By Holly Parker As I sat there and listened I tried to figure it out A lump they said it was Had crept into her breast First off what is a breast? I don’t understand That’s my aunt they have in there She don’t have breast She’s my aunt A lump? I get one caught in my throat every time I remember Cancer, I don’t understand They say she did nothing wrong So why did this have to happen to her It got bigger and bigger they say Till one then both her breast they had to take I still don’t understand everyone is all upset I am crying too Because today we laid my aunt to rest As a child I remember her sweet voice Calling me in for a snack She was all flat up top Not like most women Cancer did it they said Why did it have to take my aunt It’s a thief they say She didn’t have the money Or insurance back then She worked hard every day Taking care of my cousin Till Breast Cancer took her slowly away I remember her smile, her strength Never give up she said God has it all in control He knows someone one day Will find strength because of me And you know she was right Because today I write this poem In my aunts honor And all that have won the fight Or in the fight Against Breast Cancer That slips in they call it The lump......... God used them to teach us Get tested Take care of yourself Don’t suffer alone She said it wasn’t a thief It was a test She won For now with our father she is home....... �STREETVIBES January 2009 Community News Annual Dinner, continued from page 1 sleep or you can wake up.” Keynote speaker Peter Block mocked city council for arguing there are too many social-services agencies in Over-the-Rhine. “They say we have too many social-service agencies in Over-the-Rhine,” Block said. “Someone counted 113. I say, ‘Good.’ Every small social-service agency is a center of democracy.” Why, he asked, hasn’t the city regulated the number of shoe stores at shopping malls? “I think we should get together with city council and decide how many Indian restaurants in Clifton is the right amount,” he said. Saluting the agencies that work to help homeless people, Block said the city should encourage, not restrict them. “Everybody that’s vulnerable in this society is my sister or my brother or my parents,” he said. Block, a best-selling author on management, talked about his sister, who has been homeless. He described his wish to help her, to “fix her,” he said. Treatment and medication once stabilized her mental illness, but then she chose to go back to the life she preferred, the one that seemed to need fixing. “She said, ‘I know I’m better. I know I’m healthier, but I’m not myself,’ ” Block said. The lesson, he said, is that people are to be accepted, not engineered into a form that makes others comfortable. “The idea that we can fix people, to me, is part of the problem,” Block said. Even while offering services, society must accentuate individuals’ talents and gifts, rather than their apparent deficiencies, he said. “There’s no evidence that the aggregation of people by their deficiencies does anybody any good,” Block said. “I want to have the conversation of compassion, the conversation of gratitude. I want to start a conversation about people’s gifts and strengths.” To that end, the Homeless Coalition honored the people who are already holding that conversation: * Brandon Nelson, Streetvibes Vendor of the Year; * Mike Rogers, recipient of the Jimmy Render Award; * Individual Service Provider of the Year: Vivian Goodwin, operations coordinator at the YWCA Homeless Women’s Shelter; * Agency Service Provider of Georgine Getty, executive director of the Year: Over-the- the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Rhine Community Homeless. Photo by Andrew Anderson. Housing, whose Store FoodBank, Tom Geiger executive director, Mary Burke, quipped, “Now House, Tender Mercies and that the city knows we’re a other agencies. “I just did a lot of little service provider, we’ll be things,” Karl said. zoned out”; That’s cause for celebra* Buddy Gray Lifetime tion. Achievement Award: Sally Karl, who has spent 20 Photos from the Annual years working at the FreeDinner on page 8. The Longest Night, continued from page 1 Photo by Andrew Anderson. where the city has banned the those who died of exposure. distribution of food to hungry This is for those who died of people. malnutrition and diabetes and This is the shortest day of other chronic untreated illthe year. This is Homeless nesses. This is for those who Memorial Day. were beaten to death or set This is for aflame because This is the Zachary Hubtheir poverty shortest day of bard. This is evoked hatred for Albert Sumand brutality in the year. This merlin. This others. This is is Homeless is for Burnett for those who Memorial Day. North. This is killed themfor Doug Meyselves. This is ers. This is for for those who Don Henry. This is for Al- drank themselves to death. fanso Huff. This is for Earlene This is for those who drugged Moreland. This is for Jesse themselves to eternal rest. Whigham. This is for DemAn advocate for the homeetrius Wood. This is for James less speaks quietly: “This is Broomfield. This is for Ricky the longest night of the year. Malone. This is for George That’s why it’s Homeless MeHawkins. This is for Doug morial Day. Every year we Meyer. This is for Bob Sayed. hope it will be the last one.” This is for Candace Mason. A young woman leads a This is for Floyd. This is for song: “Come and go with me Hammond. This is for Carl to that land, come and go with Vickroy. This is for William. me to that land, come and go This is for Vernon. This is for with me to that land where Barry. I’m bound.” This is for the homeless No one is homeless in the who died unnoticed. This is for grave, where we’re bound. Cleo’s Joke Corner What is Santa Claus’ favorite sandwich? It is peanut butter and jolly. What kind of dog has a lot of ticks but is a good dog? A watchdog. 5 News Briefs Hunger on the Rise The FreeStore FoodBank saw a 20 percent increase in the number of people in Greater Cincinnati seeking emergency food assistance during the 2008 holiday season. During the three days prior to Thanksgiving and Christmas, the FreeStore provided food for 18,363 households, serving 49,614 people. The agency distributed 629,752 pounds of food. Census Bureau is Hiring The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking to fill 1,000 new jobs to conduct the 2010 Census in Greater Cincinnati. The Census is hiring both office staff and field staff. The office positions include office clerk, recruiting assistant, administrative assistant and office operations supervisor. The field positions include enumerator, crew leader, crew leader assistant and field operations supervisor. The pay range for available positions is between $12 and $19 per hour. The local office of the Census Bureau is currently performing placement testing for new positions at the Census office at 801 Linn St. in the West End. To schedule a testing appointment, call 1-866-861-2010 or 513-766-3040. The test takes about 30 minutes. Resisting Capital Punishment One day of requests by the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center in Over-the-Rhine led to 770 cards to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, asking him to stop the execution of Brett Hartmann. The state is scheduled to forcibly poison Hartmann on April 7. The number of death sentences and executions across the United States dropped in 2008, according to CNN. Last year Americans killed 37 prisoners, the lowest amount in 14 years. In addition, the number of new death sentences handed up by courts in the United States totaled 111, the lowest figure since 1976, CNN reported. The state of Ohio killed two prisoners last year. �6 Community News STREETVIBES January 2009 Beaten for Being Homeless Ohio says it’s not a ‘hate crime’ but victims know better 1 Hate crimes are characterBy alyssa konerMann ized as being motivated by Staff WritEr hostility towards a victim on account of membership to a “The homeless living on the group. Based on this definistreet get jumped a lot. People tion, Zack’s attack was a hate won’t help, and hospitals don’t crime: The perpetrators knew help,” says Zack R. nothing of him except his staFor Zack, this statement tus as homeless, and for this, was unfortuthey beat him. “Four people nately not a “I guess the vague notion, jumped out of the people who but rather a weeds and attacked aren’t homefirsthand exless think they me, beat me,” perience. are better than Originally everyone and from Western Kentucky, Zack can do whatever they want,” was kicked out by his mother Zack says. six months ago and came to The homeless, however, are Cincinnati for his fiancée. not protected under Ohio’s Once here, he found himself hate-crimes laws. The state’s without housing and forced only protection from hate to live by the Ohio River with crimes comes from the Eth- Zack, a homeless youth living on the streets, was attacked at his camp on Freeman Avenue. Photo by Alyssa Konermann. his brother. nic Intimidation Law, which Several weeks ago Zack requires harsher sentencing some years we don’t have any There was also one man who people in the media is negawas set on fire while he slept. tive and this is exasperated by was attacked at his camp on for crimes motivated by bias reported at all.” Ohio is ranked the fourth He also died from his injuries. politicians who blame homeFreeman Avenue. against race, color, religion or most dangerous state for the Cleveland had an incident a less people for ‘ruining down“Four people jumped out national origin. homeless. few years ago where young town,’ ” Getty says. “This can of the weeds and attacked me, “Hate crimes “ T h e people were using stun guns lead to a vigilante attitude, esbeat me,” he says. “They all fluctuate in Ohio,” “We’ve had several worst are on homeless people as they pecially in young people, who seemed to be about 16 or 17 says Georgine people who were the years slept.” feel that no one cares about years old. I didn’t know any of Getty, director of beaten and a few we have Perhaps most troubling is their victims and that they are them.” the Greater CinZack’s brother took him to cinnati Coalition who died from their h o m i - that “most of these hate crimes ‘cleaning up’ their city.” “This has been happening Christ Hospital after the at- for the Homeinjuries. There was c i d e s , ” are committed by groups of G e t t y young men—ages 14 to 18,” to a lot of homeless recently,” tack. less. “The Naone man who was says. “In according to Getty. Zack says. “There are about “They X-rayed me, but tional Coalition set on fire while he To 30 or 40 people living down the past counter this, both the didn’t do anything else,” for the Homeless slept. He died from decade in Cincinnati and National by the river — a lot more than Zack says. “They reported it has been tracking his injuries.” Cincinna- Homeless Coalitions work there used to be. It seems reto the police, but the police them for years; ti, we’ve extensively to educate high lated to the economy. The never came in. It has been and some years - Georgine Getty had sever- school students about home- homeless need a whole lot two weeks and I still have six we’re among al people lessness. more help than people are givcracked ribs, a broken jaw, the worst states “Unfortunately, all you ing.” and I haven’t been able to eat in the country, up there with who were beaten and a few a real meal yet.” California and Florida, and who died from their injuries. normally see about homeless Letter to the Editor To the Editor: I have just read the book by Carol Rainey on nuclear sites in our area, and I was glad to see Greg Flannery’s full-page review of it in Streetvibes, a work titled 100 Miles from Home: Nuclear Contamination in the Ohio River Valley. I believe that in time this book will become well known around the country, as we count up once more the terrible costs of war machines and weapon-making, the damage they do to people and the earth. Greg Flannery opened his review with a very compelling sentence: “The Ohio River Valley is a victim of nuclear war -- and the aggressor is our own government.” That is the absolute truth of the matter. As Greg reports, Rainey describes six sites of nuclear weapon making, and readers may find, as I did, that they had never realized before the vast scale of these operations. Whole communities were left devastated, whole villages wiped out, leaving miles and miles of wasteland where nothing will be fully safe again. 100 Miles seems to me a monumental work involving years of study and research. It’s most carefully documented. Yet Rainey has taken what must have been rooms of notecards and photocopies, books and newsletters and newsprint of all kinds and from them extracted a picture of these immense activities that is under 200 pages of clear and logical narration. It is a task that may never need to be repeated. I have written about radiation injury and death in Cincinnati in a book about cancer patients swept into military experiments in our hospital, and I have a good idea of what the workers and residents at Fernald and other plants have suffered. Was it not known in advance, one might ask, that workers crawling through radioactive pipes for repairs would suffer multiple tumors of head and neck? That the air we breathe, the water we drink, might be infected? Cincinnati has been an Atomic City in more ways than one. We must learn from this tragic past. After all, we did not need all the terrible weapons we concocted at Fernald and Portsmouth and the other nuclear sites up and down river from Cincinnati. Rainey reminds us that during the Cold War we came to possess 40 times more weapons of mass destruction than the Soviet Union. The enemy we met was, as Greg Flannery puts it, simply ourselves. Carol Rainey is an author whose poetry and other writings have been much admired here. It feels good to support original works like 100 Miles from Home, which can tell us hard truths about ourselves we might otherwise never know. 100 Miles can be ordered for $19 (shipping included) from Cyndell Press, 1497 Beacon St., Cincinnati, OH 45230. Martha Stephens Martha Stephens is the author of The Treatment: the Story of Those Who Died in the Cincinnati Radiation Tests, Duke University Press 2002. Want more Streetvibes? Check out the new StreetvibeS blog for discussion and coverage of other issues between editions. streetvibes.wordpress.com �STREETVIBES January 2009 Local News 7 Stickin’ it Wit The Most High Homeless by choice, seeking something with God. These tangents sometimes seem to flow toward the same end, that he has been blessed. He was destined for this life. By Paul koPP He is measured in his speech, Contributing WritEr sure of himself and confident aviyD is talking ‘bout yet pious enough that you the most high. If you can tell he is a real genuine. ask him what his life is like, Puffed up in his jacket and he will tell you it’s some real surrounded by his few borlife biblical type shit. What is rowed belongings, which include some books (one of the most high? “The most high is god -- them called, What is a FamJesus or Muhammad. These ily?), a small portable radio are different names for the and a manila notepad with a same thing,” he says, his freshly drawn sketch of some hands perched upon a small sort. A kind of emblem. It is space heater. He is holding a giant pot leaf with a crown in hand-rolled cigarette over the the center. Circling the leaf is flame of a lighter half-intently an inscription that reads “Dawatching its embers begin to viyD, all blessings to the most glow and not giving any indi- high.” He is slow to talk about the cation that he will put it to his outlines of his life. He was mouth. born and raised a foster child in Mar“I dove head-in first into ion, Ind. Growing spirituality. Some would say up, DaviyD was Christianity, some would very aware of his say Catholic, some would status as a foster kid. say Jehovah’s Witness. “I knew I was, Well I just went all out truth. but people in the Homeless, justice.” family would whis-Daviyd per and have little discussions about “Man, I’ve been sitting here it,” he says. DaviyD doesn’t have any the past couple days thinking ‘bout how I ended up on this recollection of the time he spent in an orphanage from couch,” he says. DaviyD is homeless and ages 1 to 4. He has, however, currently spending nights in met a family who said he was the basement of an Over-the- abused at the orphanage and Rhine warehouse that has that they took care of him for been turned into a loft-style a short while when he was a apartment building. His eyes baby. Joining the army at age 17, are big and always seem to be at ease. DaviyD is not used he spent time in Germany and to talking about himself. He then Korea right around the doesn’t necessarily like it, but time Desert Storm was in full is very open and willing to. effect. Upon his return to the In between answering basic states, he was stationed in Calquestions about his life, he ifornia near where his mothconsistently returns to talking ers’ relatives were living. After his discharge he about the most high, his spirituality and his life long walk worked in the restaurant busi- D DaviyD, Photo by Noah Rabinowitz ness but, never being quite satisfied, he drifted around the country from job to job and eventually ended up back in Cincinnati around 1995. “I don’t know why I came back,” he says. “I was just praying and meditating and I felt I needed to be here.” Once he was back in the city DaviyD began hustling, selling large amounts of marijuana while attending the University of Cincinnati for nursing administration. He dropped out shortly after the beginning of his sophomore year. During this period of his life he notes that he momentarily had lost touch with the most high. This developed out of a few disagreements with local churches. If he felt the preacher was incorrect in his sermon, would stand up in the middle of congregation and let him know how he felt. It was soon after these experiences that DaviyD began seriously considering “pulling out of the grid,” as he calls it. He believes the most high was calling him to the streets. This presence of God calling him is the most important part of his life. After completely disassociating himself from mainstream society in 2000, DaviyD became completely conscious that he was going on a journey to prove something. When asked what he was trying to prove, he mentions the most high. He talks about ones coming forward and telling him, “This is who you are; this is the walk you gotta walk”. It was like a sort of prophecy for him. He’s a spiritual cat. Although the circumstances of his life can at times seem a bit muddled, it is easy to tell that these things don’t particularly matter to him. “I dove head-in first into spirituality,” he says. “Some would say Christianity, some would say Catholic, some would say Jehovah’s Witness. Well I just went all out truth. Homeless, justice.” When the word “homeless” comes up in conversation, it becomes clear that DaviyD took it upon himself. He is a smart man; he does not need to be homeless, and he knows this. He has chosen this path and, in his own words, felt God would always provide him with the things he needs to survive. He says he has never stayed in a homeless shelter. A man showed up at the apartment building in late November with orders to clear out all the things from the floor DaviyD is staying on, things that have been left by past tenants, possibly DaviyD’s couch. With his veterans check due to arrive the first of December, he says he might be ready to stop walking the streets everyday. He believes his pay from the government is his admission to enter back into society. “I called up my dude, and he says I can stay with him and his girl up in Corryville,” DaviyD says, pacing slowly back and forth, close to the door. “I just found out he lives with his mom!” It’s true DaviyD might be leaving soon. He speaks so much that he is ready for change. He is trying to find that balance. In the eight years he’s spent on the streets, it’s possible that he wanted to simply lose himself to find out what was really important in life. Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper. �8 STREETVIBES January 2009 Short Story Hidden Homeless of the Ivory Tower Higher education and lowered expectations By siBonGile sitHe Contributing WritEr DL, but we were pretty into each other. After nearly a week of unusually long hugs, public handholding and sleeping in the same bed, Ye’s father became suspicious. When his friend left, Ye’s father asked him a simple question: Did you have sex with that young man? “I’m not into lying,” Ye says, “especially to my parents.” So he said yes. “And then I realized — at that moment — that my father is determined by God, not by who pays rent,” he says. So, at the age of 17, Ye found himself in search of another place to live. * * * Among the privileged elite of Yale, Ye might seem anomalous. But he is, in fact, part of a small percentage of the stu“There was one rule in my dent body who has flirted with father’s apartment: I could not homelessness — a situation have sex with anyone, at all, perhaps unfathomable to the while I lived with him. Sex majority of anywhere else was fine — as Among the privileged elite of Yale, Ye might the student long as he didn’t seem anomalous. But he is, in fact, part of body. And beknow about it.” a small percentage of the student body who cause of Sitting on his couch in his Yale has flirted with homelessness — a situation the stigma University dorm perhaps unfathomable to the majority of the attached to homelessroom, Qiang student body. ness, few Ye (not his real students name), Class is a fundamentalist Christian,” are eager to share their expeof ’08, continues matter-ofhe recalls five years later. riences, even with their closfactly. Although he tried, nego- est friends. For this article, all “So I came home with this tiation was fruitless. At one the once-homeless students guy from (boarding) school point, Ye suggested flattening — and the friends and family who I had this huge crush on,” the parent-child structure, as affiliated with them — asked he says, “and we spent, like, he contributed to the payment to remain anonymous; their four days having really inof living expenses. His father, names have been changed so tense sexual encounters … in however, had none of it. Ye that their stories can be told. my father’s home. smiles ruefully. Some, though, chose to “We tried to keep it on the “The father-son hierarchy write about them in their ap- plications to Yale. “It does come up,” Dean of Admissions Jeffrey Brenzel says in an e-mail, “but only very rarely.” Like the rest of their classmates, these students deal with the stress of academics, athletics and a perpetually looming p o s t - Ya l e future. But more so than Harkness Tower at Yale University: Academic most, they grandeur can hide homelessness. worry about where they * * * will go when dorms close for the semester. Caleb Lucas, class of ’10, For Ye and other students like him, leaving Yale there- drives a simple four-door sefore means not just finding a dan. It’s cheaper than an apartway home, but finding home ment and easier to move. Two weeks itself. ago he See Yale p. 15 Photographs from “In the Zone: Redrawing Community” Brandon Nelson (right), Streetvibes Vendor of the Year, receiving his Streetvibes jacket from Kenny Havens (left), case worker at the Drop Inn Center. Photo by Andrew Anderson Bren Blaine (left), former executive director of Tender Mercies, presenting Sally Karl (right) with the Buddy Gray Lifetime Achievement Award. Photo by Andrew Anderson. Peter Block, keynote speaker, discussed homelessness and community. Photo by Andrew Anderson. �STREETVIBES January 2009 Poetry/Photographs 9 The Woman at the Well By Mike Henson III. I. She shuffles into the park in her big buckety boots, stumble-stupid, sag-eyed, double-damned drunk. She smells of sweat and cheap wine, a muttering haystack in her big, loose coat. The black flog of a braid falls down her back. The park is full of people who would rather ignore her, Dawn, and the river mists ghost about the park. She feels a hand at her shoulder and a voice at her ear. but she mutters and shuffles The hand shakes her and the voice says, into the unavoidable midst of them “Wake up, babe. You can’t stay here.” and down to the fountain. He probably says more, Mothers steer their children away but his words are buried beneath her curses. and a cop in his cruiser It takes her a moment watches with a long, suspicious eye, to curse some clarity into her mind, but she pays them no nevermind. She wants to hear the waters of the fountain and by then, the man has gone to wait near the fountain. cascade and overlap like a mountain stream The iron-colored light spikes her eyes and when a little wind kicks up, and drives through her skull like an axe and she aches the waters bless her with spray. The sound and the spray ---my God, she aches. She curses and cries An encounter in Florence, Italy: Are you a combat casualty? whose hand has wakened her And so she sings, to this half-blind, brain-boltered muggleton of “No, industrial accident,” he said. Lost both one of the old songs of her people. legs and had severe damage to one arm. a situation, Her throat has gone coarse with alcohol; His shoes were shined. This is his job. but she is awake and cursing into the foggy He doesn’t work Sundays. she croaks like a heron light. That’s his choice. and her voice wobbles up and down the scale. Her head aches, her body aches, are enough to make a person sing. and mutters against the stranger The children stop their play to listen and she does not know this place and the mothers watch sidelong and suspicious, and she does not know this man but the woman croaks and warbles without shame. how she came to be cursing in this bed of needles She shuffles with her song and she does not know Photo by Ben L. Kaufman Berta’s Art Corner with her clothes all odorous of sap and sweat. to a place in the trees at the edge of the park. IV. She sits in the needle bed beneath a great fir and sings as the hour darkens. This man who woke her wears a long black coat The shadows of the children and there is about him grow long in the grass. something terrible and redemptive. II. She fears him, but she wants to know Why did he wake her? The woman cannot now remember What does he want? the shame that brought her to drink. He stands in the mist at the curb of the fountain. She drinks now to relieve the shame of drinking. and it works, so she sings, where the waterfall sound is enough to make a person sing. shameless and free, But without the wine she cannot sing. her heron-croak song She does not know him, in the old words she does not understand. and her head is hammered with hangover When she finds an end to the song, but she thinks she knows how this story will turn out the mothers are gone with their safe children and the cop has taken his suspicious eye to some other corner. Alone, beneath the fir tree, she pulls on the last of her wine. She watches the mists rise from the river and gather at the fountain. She mutters another snatch of song, then stretches out to sleep. -- this whole damn story -and she hopes there will be wine enough to forget it all again. She reaches for the bottle -- the empty, terrible, traitorous bottle -and her hand begins to tremble. “Opera at the Bus Stop” Downtown Cincinnati �10 STREETVIBES January 2009 Column New Year Notes Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. Hope rises in the face of war, heartbreak, and city council A new year, a new season. A new hope? We do not know yet what promise this new year holds, but we know it closes a bitter, wasteful, ugly chapter in human history. Will this new season bring back a sense of balance, community and compassion to our lives? Will it end a time when brute ignorance and full-face greed held sway? We can only hope. ***** In Cincinnati, where I live, it rains in winter much more than it snows. For a day or more at a time, the rains will range from a drizzle to a downpour, relentless, seemingly endless affairs that chill the body and dampen the soul. In the midst of the first of these winter rains, at 11:30 in the morning, I saw a man laid out across the stoop of a shut-down corner bar, fully enclosed inside his sleeping bag like a caterpillar inside its cocoon. He had a backpack and a pair of satchels beside him. He did not move at all that I could see. He could have been dead for all I could tell. I paused for just a moment -- I had business to tend to in the coffee shop down the street -but I thought about him for the better part of an hour before I came back. By then he was sitting up, looking around him in a groggy, half-dazed manner, pretty My daughter in New York City tells me a story of her friend Hope. Yes, that is her name. Hope goes every day for several years to a little East Village bodega (we would call it a pony keg) for coffee or a bagel. The bodega is run by a man from Korea and, because she comes in nearly every day for several years, Hope befriends him and they talk. The bodega stays busy, so she is not surprised to hear that it is successful, that it provides him a living. But she is surby MiChaEl hEnSon prised to hear about his $7 million house in MonBut we’re here. tauk and the property he owns One more day. One more around town. So maybe he year. makes a little money on real estate as well. It could be. ***** Then, on a particular day, as she talks with her Korean In the calendar of the Chris- friend about this and that, in tian faith, the new year is the walks a desperate-looking season that celebrates the time woman who wants the ownwhen the baby Jesus, accord- er’s attention. The woman lays ing to the custom of his peo- down a crumpled bill, and the ple, was taken to be presented man hands her a small enveat the temple. There he is tak- lope. The woman looks in the en as a sign and a wonder, the envelope and says, “No, not being who embodies the hope this one, the other one.” So the of a people. man hands her another and the I would like to think that ev- woman is satisfied. Then she ery child is a sign and a won- asks for a little glass pipe with der. I would like to think that a rose in it. “I’ll get you for it later,” she every being embodies some measure of hope. tells him, and she leaves. Hope knows by now this is ***** not a coffee and a bagel sort of transaction. She asks the man, much as the rest of us do when we first wake up. I think of him now as an emblem -- a sign that tells me something about hope. His bed is hard, but he’s alive. He sleeps a hard sleep, but he rises again. The rest of us have bigger cocoons, but we’re still vulnerable to the storms of life. And yet we rise; we look about us. We’re groggy and unsure of what we’re seeing, where we are, or why we’re here. ammered H and say, “You are a baby” and keep selling whatever ugly thing they are selling. Hope is not an easy thing. The story of this season is not an easy story. We like to celebrate around it, but at its core, the story of that baby is a story of exile, hardship, massacre of the innocents, poverty -- the whole heartbreak. And if conditions today are any sign, ***** easy stories will still be hard to come by. Of the children A baby. born this season, far too many A sign and a wonder. will be born to the chatter of Anew guns, far year and Of the children born this too many a new under a season, far too many will c h e m i c a l hope. be born to the chatter of B u t haze, far hope has guns, far too many under too many a lot of to will a chemical haze, far too see a catching never many to will never see a up to school, too school, too many will be do. The many will given a weapon before be given factories are they are given a book, too a weapon before they shutting many, far too many will down. are given a never sing. T h e book, too houses many, far are foreclosing. The savings too many will never sing. we counted on are evaporatCan we turn such a situaing. The wars drag on. And tion around? I hope we can. If city council wants to close the we cannot hope we can, then homeless shelters. When that what hope is there? child was brought to the temBut hope always has to walk ple, he was lifted up and seen a stony path. Hope always as a sign and a wonder, a new has the wind against it. And hope for those who were bur- yet hope is like my man on dened and oppressed. People the stoop. It wakes up, looks of hope look around and think: around, and gets up. It pulls its This has to change. This can second-hand coat tighter, and change. People who have cast goes on. And on. aside hope look at the hopeful “What did you just sell that woman?” He ignores her at first, but she keeps asking. So he tells her. “Crack.” “How could you sell that woman crack?” He rings up her bagel and her coffee and shuts his tiller. “You,” he says, “are a baby.” Book Review A Symphony of Memes ‘The Soloist’ wants us to believe in spite of it all By david HeitField Contributing WritEr One thought seared in my brain from the prologue of this book, borne from a series of columns written by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, when the author beckoned, “I’ll be back” to the homeless man he’d just met, foreshadowing the Hollywood story treatment to come: What in the hell happened to this country? The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship and the Redemptive Power of Mu- sic is a good story, and it’s ties get involved, and Lopez told with the yeoman-like ef- at least comes out as a much ficiency you would expect of richer man for having known a professional journalist, with Ayers. The movie, starring the proper tugs of the heart Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie strings at the right “human in- Foxx, was due to come out in November, but has since been terest” moments. Nathaniel Anthony Ayers pushed forward several times to what is currentis a homeless schizophrenic, How could we, ly an April 2009 originally from as a society, al- release. Given the subCleveland, who low a man with ject of this story was a classmate such commer- – homeless man of cellist Yo-Yo Ma at Juilliard. cial potential to with mental illness Lopez “dissimply whither treated indifferentcovers” him in away? Attention ly (and worse) by society – I cannot Skid Row in must be paid. help but think of L.A., writes a the popular work few columns, and his readers respond with that brought light to the “proban outpouring of meaning- lem” of the mentally ill when less gestures, such as donat- I was younger, which also ing old musical instruments. eventually got a Hollywood Not everything goes well, but treatment: Ken Kesey’s One Lopez tries hard, some good Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It wouldn’t be fair to comtimes are had, some celebri- pare the works directly, of course, but my interest is one of memes, since The Soloist is nothing if not a contemporary American meme-fest (heck, you have “dreams,” “friendship,” “redemption” and “music,” and that’s just in the subtitle). R.P. McMurphy was not mentally ill – in that generation, we apparently locked up too many people as mentally ill, rather than dumped them in the street as incurably uninsurable – but his message couldn’t have been more clear: You have worth and dignity as a human life, as a sentient being, and don’t let the Nurse Ratcheds of the world take it away from you. As a protagonist, McMurphy could hardly have been less sympathetic. Convicted of statutory rape, there was nothing to admire about the man – except as a catalyst to return a little dignity to the voluntary inmates of the asylum. Ignore the political ties to McCarthyism, and you still have what used to be the most powerful American meme of all: You have value and worth as an individual, no matter how messed up, nonconformist or outside the mainstream you might be perceived to be. Jump ahead a generation or two, and The Soloist presents quite a different story: Here’s an exceptional man – “He reminds me a little of Miles Davis,” Lopez says at the beginning, a rather odd thing to say about a homeless man playing a violin. He wonders “how safe it can be for a man trying to reconnect with Tchaikovsky as drug dealers, prostitutes and hustlers work streets See Soloist, p. 12 �STREETVIBES January 2009 Local News 11 Surviving the Hurt in the Heart Depression doesn’t have to be deadly um prescribed for his tinnitus. Schulte has told me I can ask him anything. “People need to learn about It’s a day of heavy rain this,” he says. “It doesn’t broken by flashes of bright bother me. That’s why I speak, sun cutting through violent that’s why I share my story clouds, a day to mirror the life openly.” that Skip Schulte has come to So I ask him: How many tell me about when he blows did you take? into the Streetvibes office red“I took 50,” he says matter- cheeked and smiling. of-factly. The first In the small “I was scared that I silence that thing he does it is hand me would die,” he says. follows, two small “I didn’t really want strikes me pieces of paagain how deto die. I wanted to be per. One is scribing the out of pain.” titled, “Falandscape of depression is mous Persons Who Have Committed Sui- like pointing out landmarks cide” (among them: Sigmund on a topographical map. You Freud, Socrates, Virginia can outline the general lay of Woolf, John Belushi, Kurt Co- the land, but you can’t ever bain). The other small piece of really convey what it’s like to paper is titled, “Have Had De- navigate from the ground. A pression.” Abraham Lincoln man can tell a reporter he once took 50 pills, but he can’t ever tops that list. The life Schulte has really really describe the wordless come to tell me about, though, morass that was a depression so deep it made him want to is his own. At age 31 Schulte fell into die. After swallowing the pills, his first diagnosed bout of major clinical depression and Schulte says he immediately grew so scared that he called tried to commit suicide. “Some people are offended his parents, who took him to by the word ‘commit’ sui- have his stomach pumped. What were you scared of? I cide,” Schulte pauses to say, “because suicide is not a crime ask him. “I was scared that I would of any type. They prefer the die,” he says. “I didn’t really phrase “complete suicide.” want to die. I wanted to be out ‘Out of pain’ of pain.” This time Schulte spent a litIn 1982 Schulte was a fi- tle more than a month in inpanance instructor at Miami tient psychiatric care. Within University. Within three days days of this release, someone over Christmas break, his two had totaled his parked car. best friends moved away and “I can laugh about this now, his girlfriend left him. Schulte but it wasn’t too funny then,” started traveling from Oxford he says. “One of the things to Cincinnati to see a psychol- with depression, it’s hard to ogist. make decisions, and here I “One day I went in to see was trying to decide what kind him and said, ‘I am thinking of car to get and how to spend about closing my eyes on U.S. seven or eight thousand dol27 one of these weeks when I lars.” come down to see you.’” He says that without exagSchulte stayed four or five geration he went to every Hondays in the inpatient psychi- da, Toyota and Datsun dealeratric unit of Good Samaritan ship in the Greater Cincinnati Hospital. On day two after his area two or three times. release, he overdosed on Vali“One Saturday morning I By stePHanie dunlaP Contributing WritEr Tues and Thurs Buffet($7.00)-11AM-2PM Wed-Thur-Fri-Sat 9PM-3AM got angry about something – Sigmund Freud called depression ‘anger turned inward’ – and I said to myself, ‘Skip, you are gong to buy a Toyota today at Howard Adams Toyota on Fifth Street in downtown Covington.’ ” And he did just that. Two weeks later he enrolled in a psychology class. He vividly recalls sitting in that class and suddenly feeling “100 percent better.” Schulte went on to earn his master’s degree in mental health counseling from Wright State University. He started Wright State’s doctorate of psychology program, but after three quarters he relapsed into depression, dropped out and never returned. He’s had seven relapses into clinical depression in the 26 years since that first bout. Though he says some of them have been more difficult, he has never again tried to take his life. He knows now how to treat his depression. He’s taken 10 different kinds of anti-depresSkip Schulte. Photo by Andrew Anderson. sants. He participates in and leads depression and suicide support groups, walks five to real talent lies in helping pro- But people just don’t know how to address depression. 10 miles a day and works on fessions.” Often family and friends developing his spirituality. Learning QPR either don’t know the char“I personally strongly beacteristics of depression or lieve in the power of prayer,” Though Schulte is a fount other mental illnesses, or they he says. “I believe everybody of statistics, there are far few- don’t take them seriously. has a spiritual side” -- whether er statistics on suicide among They think someone threatenor not someone believes in a ing suicide is joking around or the homeless. higher being. trying to get attention. The telling first result in my As a single, older male who “They are trying to get athighly scientific Google search has already attempted suicide is an article titled, “Where is tention, they’re crying out for once, Schulte says he’s in the very highest risk classifica- the Research on Homeless help!” Schulte says. He says other signs of suition. The chances of his kill- Persons and Suicide?” cide potentiality are giving Schulte believes it’s because ing himself are 38 times that the homeless are not the most away possessions, drawing up of the general population. a will and otherwise getting “I don’t lose any sleep over preferred or studied people. “A lot of people couldn’t affairs in order, risk-taking it,” he says. “But I know it, care if the homeless people behavior and obsession with I’m cognizant.” Among other organizations, kill themselves, which is so death. His preferred suicide preSchulte volunteers with the sorry and sad,” he says. Worldwide there are a milvention technique is the simPartnership for Mental Health and speaks about suicide pre- lion suicides per year and 100 ple “QPR”: Question, pervention to any group that will million people are affected by suade, refer. Ask direct questions, such have him. It gives him pur- depression. There are three suicides for every two homi- as, ‘Are you suicidal?’ Dialing pose. 211 accesses a local United “I think I’m probably mis- cides. And yet, Schulte points out, Way hotline to find help. placed,” he says. “I think my it’s easier to find a transgender Schulte doesn’t think any1128 Walnut St support group than a depres- one can save anyone else, sion support group. Not that however. Pizza by the Slice “I think you can help people there’s anything wrong with the former, he’s quick to add. save themselves,” he says. Are you interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist or photographer? If so, contact Greg Flannery at 513.421.7803 x 12 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com �12 STREETVIBES January 2009 Local News ‘Soloist,’ continued from page 10 teeming with the lame and the afflicted.” Reminds me of the Beatitudes, when Jesus told people they’d need to kick the lame and afflicted out of their way if they wanted to enter the kingdom. Davis, Ma, Juilliard, “I’ll be back” … How could we, as a society, allow a man with such commercial potential to simply whither away? Attention must be paid. Where Kesey’s book made one uncomfortable – you suspect you’re not really all that different from those in the asylum – The Soloist is earnest in its attempt to reaffirm some American memes that seem in danger under the current economic uncertainties: The cream always rises to the top (unless that evil mental illness gets in the way; but even then, if you don’t give up, you’ll soon be “discovered” as special); most homeless people are that way because they like it that way (read the reviews on Amazon and you’ll be sight, in which Jill Bolte Tayamazed at how some people lor, a neuroanatomist, recounts found this message “reassur- her own stroke, in which she ing”); friendship is far better witnessed the difference befor people than health insur- tween the evil left-side, ratioance; and nal part of the music is more brain, and the ‘The Soloist’ is healing than “nirvana” of earnest in its medicine. the intuitive attempt to reaffirm right It seems to side. some American me that the Guess which memes that seem “self-help” side she liked genre, after a in danger under the better? couple of deIt’s as if current economic cades of milwe’re still uncertainties. lions of books paying for our with pretty postmodern much zero drift. The subhelp to anyone, is gradually jective has not merely turned being displaced by an “inspi- on itself; it’s transformed itrational” genre, of which this self from leftist polemics to book is one. Other recent right-wing rationalizations. best-sellers this year include So, if postmodernism says The Last Lecture by Randy there is no objective truth, any Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon explanation for life is just as professor who, before he died, good as the one science prodelivered a sentimental but vides – hence, we have that rather vapid lecture that was awful “creationist museum” a viral video before it became just across the river, working a book; and My Stroke of In- “entertainment” deals with our zoo. Likewise, any subjective experience can and should be used to make pronouncements about an objective truth that just doesn’t exist. In our current culture, with the reality television shows, the inspirational reading lists and millions of blogs that only other bloggers read, the subjective is eating itself alive. I think this is exactly what the head of the Nobel awards committee, Horace Engdahl, meant when he said American writing had become “too isolated, too insular … too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture.” I don’t mean to fault any of these authors – you can read Amazon reviews to see how thousands of readers have been “inspired” by these titles. I just find them cynical and nihilistic, in much the same way I find the current political climate cynical and nihilistic (like, say, when the best representative we have for the “common man” is Joe the Plumber, who is neither Joe nor a plumber). We can’t solve problems such as mental illness, homelessness, cancer, strokes, etc., so it’s best if you just smile and make the most of it, because a positive attitude means everything. And if you see Miles Davis hanging out next to a Dumpster, fix him up with some lessons from the Los Angeles Symphony and contact your agent immediately. Jamie Foxx needs another shot at an Oscar. And, hey, if we bring some awareness to the plight of the homeless – or, specifically, the “good” homeless people who look or act like a celebrity – that’s just gravy. The Soloist is the 2009 selection for “On the Same Page Cincinnati,” the communitywide reading program of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. To participate, visit www.CincinnatiLibrary.org/samepage/. Proving Cincy Cares Pilot project is first step in new health-care initiative 1 By lew Moores Contributing WritEr A tattoo parlor in Clifton was the first to apply. Day care centers, a few non-profit organizations, barber shops, restaurants and other small companies soon followed. Now, just a month after the process began for signing up, 92 employers representing 1,226 employees and families have applied to be included in the city of Cincinnati’s CincyCare program, a pilot health care project intended to help uninsured employees who work for small companies in the city. “I was surprised by the response,” says Dan Gahl, a Cincinnati Health Department official who will be project coordinator for the program. “I hope it highlights a diamond in the rough.” The $1.4 million program – a partnership among the city, health department and the private sector – will offer primary care, health evaluations and limited prescription benefits to employees of Cincinnati companies who are ineligible for federal health care benefits. The employees will otherwise have to meet federal income guidelines. A medical home The program was about two years in the making, according to Gahl and Hirsh Cohen, an assistant city health commissioner. The idea was born when the city’s health department was going through budget discussions with the city and there was talk of possibly closing one of the department’s seven health centers, which handle about 135,000 visits each year. Councilmember John Cranley (who did not respond to phone calls and e-mails for comment) and others stopped that closing from happening, say Gahl and Cohen. Cranley thought the city health centers a great asset and began to think of a way to get more to use them. “He thought, ‘Why don’t we leverage that asset to do a program to get employed but uninsured workers in the city into a program that would use the health centers?’ ” Gahl says. City council set up an advisory committee to look into the possibility. They came up with a two-year pilot project. Funding was provided by the city through a federal block grant of about $600,000,with another $100,000 provided by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati for the first year and again in the second year. The program is expected to begin March 1. Employ- ers who have applied to be The rationale for the proincluded generally include gram is pretty straightforward those who employ anywhere – encourage businesses to from two to 20, with most re- remain in the city and attract serving slots for three to six other businesses to the city. employees. It’s a market most “What I’ve heard from some health insurers don’t go after, employers is that it gives them says Gahl, because there’s “no an advantage among the comeconomy of scale.” petition in the suburbs for emThe process would involve ployees,” Gahl says. “They’re an employee or family mem- looking at the health of their ber filling out a medical his- employees. That’s a bigger tory and having blood drawn deal than I ever thought it for analysis. would be.” “So right off the bat we It would mean a healthy hope to identify people who work force is a productive have no idea they have high work force, with less absencholesterol, no idea they have teeism. high glucose,” Gahl says. “A lot of people who don’t Patients would choose a city have health care end up in an health emerc e n t e r, gency “Everything they need will which be at that home for primary r o o m , ” would G a h l and preventive care. That then bewill be provided at a $10 co- s a y s . c o m e “ T h e payment. There will be no the pacost of pre-existing exclusions.” t i e n t ’s doing “medithis care cal home.” in an ER is about 10 times the “With that, primary care cost of doing it in a clinic. It will intervene and stop it from will provide a more cost-efbecoming a major and ex- fective program.” pensive problem,” Gahl says. “We know there’s an unmet “Everything they need will be need of uninsured people, and at that home for primary and we want to get them into some preventive care. That will be sort of regular care model to provided at a $10 co-payment. show that getting that care is There will be no pre-existing actually going to improve their exclusions.” health over the two years,” Cohen says. Healthy for business A handful of cities that are trying a similar program, both say. Because the program is a pilot project, it will be closely monitored over the two years. “We’re going to watch what kind of people, what kinds of employers sign up,” Cohen says. “We’ll be measuring the utilizations and outcomes of this data to be in the forefront of creating maybe a new approach of going forward, maybe with different funding or subsidies. We want to have enough data to go out on the streets and expand this to a broader population -- what it costs and how it should be funded.” What they’ll be looking at, basically, after two years is the “wellness of the individuals,” Cohen says. The incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is also encouraging. “I’m not expecting a total panacea,” Cohen says. “It will be incremental. I think we’ll see counties and cities think strategically about the value of health care in our own neighborhoods and be creative about how they fund things.” “My opinion is there’s going to be federal funding for health care,” Gahl says. “It’s going to be trickled down. I think Cincinnati has an unbelievable architecture to compete for those funds. I hope to be able to say that this program is evidence that we deserve that funding.” Read the Streetvibes blog for stories between issues at streetvibes.wordpress.com �STREETVIBES January 2009 Interview 13 A Chef for the People Once homeless, Michelle Ross cooks for those who still are By anGela Pancella Contributing WritEr I n the front of the serving line at Our Daily Bread is a box where guests can put “compliments to the chef.” On a recent day the box had comments such as, “I like the hamburger, I like the pasta, I like the salad” and “Doing a good job, Chef!!” with a smiley face drawn on the exclamation points. Michelle Ross started as assistant chef in October 2007 before becoming Our Daily Bread’s chef in March 2008. How did you get started at Our Daily Bread? Actually, I was doing community service. I came down here to volunteer. I liked it, and then Kathy (Ray, kitchen manager) called me one day and asked me if I wanted to work here. I was working at 2020 at the time — Juvenile (the Youth Center). I really wanted to work here anyway in the first place but they weren’t hiring at the time. So then I said, “Sure.” What was it you liked about it? I like to cook, number one. I like the atmosphere. I can relate to all the people here because I’ve been where they’ve been at in my life. What surprised you about the job? It just was overwhelming, like, oh, God, I was scared. The quantity of people and the quantity of food. But then it just became (snaps fingers) like that, I can just do it. I love it down here. I loved serving. What makes you happiest? When the food comes out good and everybody likes it. If I can talk to somebody and help them and tell my story, that really is cool. Like, there was a couple in here, they needed help with shoes and coats and stuff, so I hooked them up in the back room. They was real grateful. That made me feel good. I got messed up in drugs and alcohol real bad in ’95. I was homeless myself, living in the woods, here and there, wherever. I went through a treatment center through the First Step Home program. I highly Michelle Ross and Eric at Our Daily Bread. Photo courtesy of Our Daily Bread. recommend that program. I meal, you’ve got a place to Have you gotten to know went in there in June of ’96 want to pass that on? Oh, yeah. And I learned a come and get warm for a couthe guests? and graduated in November Yeah, I try to come out evof ’97. I’m doing good, and lot through that program; that ple hours.” Keep your gratitude — I’m still grateful for program was wonderful. And ery day and say, “Hi, how you I like working here because somebody took the time to hot water and a hot meal. doin’?” and stuff like that. I see every day what I don’t How do you process it? And I’ve been close with a lot want to be like anymore, and help me. So, yeah, every day Most of the time I try to I get to give back here. That’s of volunteers. there’s hope for those people, think back to where I was. cool, ’cause I come to work That makes it tough when too. I talk to some people I wasn’t grateful back then, going, “God, they go away. about my story. “I got messed what can I do when I was all caught up in Yeah. It kinda hurts your If you have the today for someusing and stuff, I wasn’t very heart. up in drugs and willingness to else?” grateful. I thought I was, but What would you like to see help yourself, alcohol real bad body You know what apparently I wasn’t. I learned in the future? then you and in ’95. I was I just would like to hopefulGod can do it to- homeless myself, I mean? That’s a lot of things about myself how I feel—I through treatment. I was very ly keep cooking good meals gether. I believe living in the try to feel that selfish. But I just kinda think and doing the best job I can that with all my woods, here and way. Some days back to where I was, and I and serve the people. I’d just heart. That you have to want it. there, wherever.” are better than just let everybody be where like to see peace and everyothers, but, you they’re at right now, you body getting along. I’d like to - Michelle Ross Nobody can do know, I’m hu- know? Or I’ll go talk to (So- see people get out and try to it for you. cial Worker) Miss Joyce Cue help themselves, better themman. How did you What’s the toughest part of if I get upset. But for the most selves. get involved with First Step part, it’s great. I love working the job? Our Daily Bread is an Home? I don’t really consider anyhere, I mean, I have my days, (Cincinnati, Over-the-Rhine Actually, my friends told thing to be too tough — just but for the most part I love ’it Ohio) ministry of Christian me about it; they were in AA when people complain and cause I do get to see where hospitality serving more than at the time. You feel like, because your stuff, ’cause I’m thinking, I’ve been every day, which is 500 meals daily at 1730 Race St. friends helped you out, you “Well, you’re getting a free really helpful to me. When Humanitarianism Goes Bad City Council’s sneak attack on the Drop Inn Center By toM dutton, Marcia enGland, kate Fadick, cHris wilkey, and BarBara wolF Contributing WritErS B eware the new language of concern — the new humanitarianism — regarding homelessness in Cincinnati. In October 2008 Cincinnati City Council passed an emergency ordinance that, while probably not technically in violation of the state’s Sunshine Law, sure is sketchy in that it was not formally on the agenda and never received public commentary. Placed in front of council members on the day of its passing, the ordinance sailed through with barely a hiccup. Regardless of its legal status, the ordinance clearly articulates council’s intention: “Directing the Cincinnati/ Hamilton County Continuum of Care for the Homeless to immediately address the inadequacies of the current provision of services for single homeless individuals in the City of Cincinnati and to put into place a comprehensive plan to implement such services. The plan must ensure that, as a critical segment of the homeless community, single homeless men and women will have access to safe, appropriate shelter facilities and that such facilities will pro- vide comprehensive services necessary of homeless individuals to obtain and maintain housing. “Furthermore, council directs that the comprehensive plan guarantee the highest standards of care for the homeless so they can successfully move from ‘Homeless to Homes.’ In addition, all plan recommendations must insure that any facilities are ‘Good Neighbors’ and do not result in any behavior or actions that are disruptive to businesses and residents. Recommendations for shelter facilities and service models must be based on nationally recognized bestpractice methods within the context of the Continuum of Care for the Homeless and shall include case management services, medical services, mental health services, and recovery services. “Furthermore, it is the intent of the mayor and the Cincinnati City Council that the recommended best practices model will guide city of Cincinnati resource allocations for services to single homeless men and women in the future. Any and all providers of these services will be selected through an objective, competitive process consistent with HUD guidelines that homeless services planning and implementation are coordinated, inclusive and outcome-oriented. The Continuum of Care is urged to submit its recommendations to the mayor and Cincinnati city Council no later than March 31, 2009. “Furthermore, it is the intention of the mayor and the city council to empower the Continuum of Care to respond to this mandate by creating a process that in inclusive of all of the key stakeholders in the community, including but not limited to homeless providers, the business community, government representatives, funding entities and regional/national experts. Failure to present a comprehensive completed plan to council by the deadline will lead to di- See Council, p. 14 �14 Editorial STREETVIBES January 2009 Council, continued from page 13 rect intervention by council to Fourth, the ordinance has a address the homeless system rushed time schedule. Few in in a different manner.” homeless care feel comfortIf you pardon the not-so- able that a “comprehensive veiled threat of the last sen- completed plan” can actually tence, the ordinance might be accomplished by March seem reasonable at first 2009. This raises concerns glance. Isn’t it a good idea to about the validity of the proexamine shelter facilities and cess itself. City council’s statto ascertain the best practices ed intent to implement its own of homeless care from around plan “in a different manner” the nation? suggests that a script is alIt would seem so, but a clos- ready written and that failure er reading of the ordinance re- of the process to actually deveals the emperor’s clothes of liver a “comprehensive plan” this new humanitarianism. is the desired outcome. First, the ordinance is speFifth, the ordinance is miscious. Without offering evi- guided. Rather than recogdence to support its claims, nizing homeless facilities as the ordinance’s first sentence places of compassion because sets a tone of crisis in home- they deal with the least fortuless care that needs address- nate of our neighbors and thus ing “immediately.” Shelters deserve our respect, the ordiare thereby positioned as nance has the temerity to have places of deficiency. Rather facilities prove their status as than trying to “good neighThis “good nurture a sobors.” At this cial discourse neighbor” policy is historical mothat can al- where the ordinance ment, when low citizens criminal acts reveals its true of violence to learn from and appreci- intentions, because on homeless ate otherness the elephant in the i n d i v i d u a l s — to come to are increasing room here is the see the homeand when citDrop Inn Center ies are in efless for their gifts — the fect criminalordinance reinforces the dom- izing the homeless by passing inant, pernicious discourse draconian legislation and inthat sees homeless people as curring more police sweeps deficits, as lower-than-life in- (Washington Park), the ordividuals needing to be fixed, dinance, in the worst of the disciplined or regulated. discredited blame-the-victim Second, the ordinance is tradition, faults shelters imspurious in that its pitch for plicitly as bad neighbors from comprehensiveness is be- the start and relieves other lied by its narrow focus. At a neighbors of their responsibiltime when the fastest growing ity to civil community relasegment of the homeless are tions. This “good neighbor” polfamilies with children — 25 percent of the total homeless icy is where the ordinance population are children, and reveals its true intentions, be45 percent of this number are cause the elephant in the room 5 or younger — the targets of here is the Drop Inn Center the ordinance are single men — the second largest home(49 percent of the total) and less shelter in the state and single women (16 percent). home to mostly single men Third, the ordinance is mis- and women. Many do not see directed. Rather than address room for a homeless shelter the political-economic forces in a neighborhood experiencthat actually create homeless- ing renewed development in ness — lack of affordable the so-called Gateway I, II, III housing, joblessness, poverty, and IV; a redesigned Washingless public assistance, lack ton Park; a new SCPA — all of child support, massive in- at a time when city and corequality — the ordinance ig- porate figureheads chime for nores those forces and shifts economic mix. attention to homeless proNo, all this mobilization of viders as if they are the only people’s time and resources to problem in this matrix. look at “best practices” with a Sam Burton, longtime volunteer at the Drop Inn Center. Photo by Andrew Anderson “clean slate” is merely cover Rhine, as if, yet again, they proffer is best for the poor. for city council’s real inten- are the problem. Styling themselves as the new tion: to displace the Drop Inn Attacking social services humanitarians, the highbred Center from Over-the-Rhine. is nothing new in U.S. cit- rhetoric of compassion only This should come as no sur- ies and continues to grow in masks the lowbrow project of prise. City and corporate pow- popularity. Zoning ordinances urban colonialism. Be not surers-that-be have been plotting targeting social services have prised about the new language the Drop Inn Center’s future been put in place over the past of concern that will take form behind closed doors for some several years in states such as and rain down over Cincintime now. But even when they Washington, Maryland, Flor- nati. It will go something like have been out in the open, ida, Texas and Connecticut. this: their track record has mostly Some have been challenged The way we care about the amplified Cincinnati’s unre- by the American Civil Liber- homeless, both as a society lenting war on the poor. For ties Union on the basis that and in our Queen City, is unexample, Cincinnati does not they violate the Constitution. acceptable. The homeless are have just one anti-panhan- In a landmark 1985 case, the not getting the services they dling ordinance, but two. In U.S. Supreme Court ruled that need. The homeless need supfall 2001 city council passed a Cleburne, Texas, ordinance port systems. And this lack of the “Impaction Ordinance” to similar to that put forth by support is affecting the neighrestrict public monies in af- Cincinnati City Council was borhood negatively—the confordable housing development overturned because it fur- ditions in Washington Park, in poverty-stricken communi- thered no government interest for example, have to change. ties. The ordinance mistakes other than the removal of so- We are behind the times. We symptoms for causes by im- cial “pariahs” due to commu- need to put resources behind pugning low-income housing nity prejudices. the facilities. We need to build as the cause of poverty rather It’s all just a little bit of a new state of the art facility. than job We are not l o s s , fooled by this A compassionate Cincinnati would work to governdiscourse — develop relationships and connectedness mental which is just among those who are homeless and their rollbacks, code to disneighbors, not simply move the homeless out declining place the Drop of sight. wages, Inn Center and patterns take its land. of racial discrimination and history repeating, as ShirA humanitarianism worthy geographic segregation and ley Bassey would say. In the of its name argues for a difpoor education; and the list 1960s “Urban Renewal” came ferent societal vision — for a could go on. And then this to be called “Negro Removal,” different political imaginary: past June, in a resolution (No. precisely because it displaced One that stands for eradicating 4-2008) that seems to take its blacks from their neighbor- homelessness altogether, not cue from the Housing Impac- hoods across the country. See- just building another shelter; tion’s attempt to restrict af- ing that the script has already and one that stands to counter fordable housing, city council been written, we can now call economic inequality, not just this time is trying to reduce council’s pattern of ordinanc- settle for economic mix. the concentration of social es as well as its most recent Let us work toward a society service agencies in Over-the- “good neighbor” policy pre- that is empathic and compascisely for what they are trying sionate, one that adds services to do, “Homeless Removal.” and adds housing, the sum of As the project for Homeless which the Drop Inn Center is Removal gains steam, some, already doing. A compassionof course, will be rank and ate Cincinnati would work callous to the poor. Good rid- to develop relationships and dance, they will say. But the connectedness among those more sophisticated will veil who are homeless and their their intent in a faux generos- neighbors, not simply move ity, believing that what they the homeless out of sight. If you like what you read, but don’t live in the Cincinnati area, you can subscribe to Streetvibes. Call us at 513-421-7803 x 12 to learn more about subscribing to Streetvibes. �STREETVIBES January 2009 Short Story 15 Yale, continued from page 8 drove it halfway across the country — 16 hours — to see his little brother Micah. But Lucas never goes home to Michigan for more than a week during breaks; it’s just too much trouble, he says. When he is back, he usually crashes at his best friend’s apartment. “It’s hard,” he admits, referring to his relationship with his parents. “I want to accept their apology. I want to be OK with them.” Like Ye, Lucas was also 17 when he left his house with then-12-year-old Micah in tow. He had been living in Detroit — ranked the most dangerous city in the United States in 2007 by the FBI’s crime statistics report — since he was 10 and, he explains, “It got to the point where it just wasn’t safe to be in my household.” Strangers came in and out of their house at all hours due to his parents’ lax security; and on more than one occasion he was robbed in his own bedroom. “I didn’t know what was going to happen to me when I went to sleep,” Lucas says. “And I damn sure didn’t want to have to sleep outside of my little brother’s room every night.” At first, being on their own wasn’t that bad, Lucas says. Two of the day’s meals were provided at school, and they stayed with a family already housing one of Lucas’ friends, who was in a similar situation. Though he knew he needed to move, he still felt conflicted. “I was turning my back on my family, on my neighborhood,” he says, “and that’s one thing you don’t do. No matter what.” Soon after they realized their sons were not returning, Lucas’ parents started calling. They threatened to call the police if Lucas didn’t immediately bring his brother home. Because Lucas was still a minor, he couldn’t fight his parents for legal custody of Micah. But he held his ground. After some negotiation, he agreed to let Micah stay with his older sister, who was also living in Detroit. “I would never have done it if (Micah) hadn’t said, ‘I’m going to be safe. You take care of yourself,’ ” Lucas says. * * * As a teenager, Miles Marks, class of ’10, never got an allowance. He laughs, remembering his childhood, as he sits over breakfast. “I used to sell tea bags and tell people it was reefer,” he says. He’s still chuckling as he recalls growing up in Chicago and “doing a Cheering crowds at Yale don’t know that even Ivy League athletes have experienced homelessness. lot of things I probably Marks says when asked about gambling, Ye says, declining shouldn’t * * * how much money he had to elaborate further. Shortly have been doing at that age.” When Marks was 8, his par- when he left. “If I remember after Brad moved in, Huan “I mean, it’s scary to wake ents sent him and his 5-year- correctly, I had about $3 worth went to live with friends, and up and find bums outside your old sister to live separately of quarters in my coat pocket. Ye moved in with his father. car, but it seems like people I had about 20 singles, two Ye was never formally with their maternal and patertry to glamorize it when they nal grandmothers, hoping they twenties, and $100 my grand- asked to leave, so he stayed do stuff like that,” Lucas with his father for another says, referring to Tyra Banks’ would be safer away from father had given me.” One hundred sixty three three weeks after the sex con- undercover experience as a their rough neighborhood. frontation with his friend from homeless person. Marks moved to another part dollars. boarding school. But with his of the city, and his sister went He finds the concept entirefather’s constant insistence to Missouri. ly ridiculous. * * * that he “reconsider (his) bad Marks’ grandmother died “There was no tangible end habit” — his decision to be when he was 15, but he confor me,” he says. “I had no idea “When I was born (my tinued to live in her house parents) had a yacht and two with a man — Ye knew his fa- how I would handle it menwith his two aunts. Before cats,” Ye says. “Then the yacht ther’s home was not the place tally. Would I lose my damn he needed or wanted to be. his grandmother’s death, his sank, and I got older.” mind? … I spent 48 hours in a “It’s incredibly uncomfortAunt Lind* had started dating car, where I didn’t leave but to Ye’s parents divorced when able to live with someone who a man named Greg, whom his he was 5, and he and his older use the restroom.” grandmother had never liked. brother Huan went to live with thinks very, very, very little of During the year and a half you,” Ye says, “It’s doable, Marks always he was on his own and wasn’t their mother but it’s miserable. thought it was staying with friends, Lucas es“There was no in the sub“I think for him the most because Greg tangible end for me,” urbs of Bos- upsetting thing was his reac- timates he spent three to four was white, months living off and on in his ton. he says. “I had no tion to my reaction,” Ye’s fabut after Greg car. But, he idea how I would ther reflects. “Like, he had no and Linda got Logistically, at least, benotes, living idea I would have that kind of married and handle it mentally. ing an athlete made fulfilling arrangements Greg moved Would I lose my damn did not be- reaction. I just started to cry, I some basic necessities easier, in, Marks dismind? … I spent 48 come prob- was so upset. I tried to think of even in high school. what a good father does in that covered the While he worked to pay for hours in a car, where I lematic until situation.” truth. food, he showered at the gym he was 14 or He says he was most wor- and used the school’s laundry Marks says didn’t leave but to use 15. Around the restroom.” Greg was that time, his ried about the stigma Ye facilities to wash his clothes. “loud and igHis bonds with many memmother began would face. “My biggest concern was if norant” and bers of the custodial staff alseeing a man he had chosen this as a deciwould start unnecessary fights named Brad. Although Ye was lowed him to get away with with him. He would come at boarding school at the time, sion,” he says, “it would be being at school at odd hours. into the living room and, the information his brother re- very costly to him for the rest “I know what it’s like to feel of his life.” Marks says, scream, “‘Turn layed made him uneasy. invisible, too,” he admits. The ensuing argument, that fucking TV off!’” for no Heated verbal fights bereason. When Greg got physi- tween Huan and Brad turned he says, “marked a point of * * * cally abusive, Marks knew he physical time and time again, departure that we’ve never had to leave. and Brad had problems with broached again.” To be continued...Feb 09. “I want to get this right,” Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES January 2009 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion Terry Ranson Anthony Williams Nell Williams Grady Cook Cleo Wombles James Davis Jon Darby Dede Stoops Julie Walker Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson Riccardo Taylor Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Charles Cole Alfred Woolfolk Terrence Williams Raynard Jones Richard Tyree Michael Holley Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Talbert House...684-7965 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Treatment: Women Resources First Step Home ...961-4663 Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...641-4300 Shelter: Both Advocacy Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Appalachian Identity Center ...621-5991 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Shelter: Men Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Starting Over...961-2256 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Oral Health Council...621-0248 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2009 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource January 2009 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: The Year’s Longest Night Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes with a ‘Street Walker’ Pg 4: Hitting the Streets Pg 5: Annual Dinner Continued The Longest Night Continued Pg 6: Beaten for Being Homeless Pg 7: Stickin’ It with the Most High Pg 8: Hidden Homeless of the Ivory Tower Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Pg 10: New Year Notes Pg 11: Surviving the Hurt in the Heart Pg 12: Proving Cincy Cares Pg 13: A Chef for the People Pg 14: Council Continued Pg 15: Yale Continued Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource January 2009 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Margo Pierce Angela Pancella Michael Henson Larry Gross Alyssa Konermann, Lew Moores Dede Stoops Alan Attwood Brittany Middlebrooks Terrence Williams Bill Joiner Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Richard Blumberg DeJong family Alan Attwood Berta Lambert Lynne Ausman Laura Damasceno Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Andrew Freeze Georgine Getty Michael Henson Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Alan Attwood Alyssa Konermann Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Arts & Poetry Berta Lambert Bill Joiner Brittany Middlebrooks Chef Cincinnati city council Cooks Dede Stoops DeJong Family Depression Drop Inn Center education GCCH Georgine Getty Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Annual Dinner Gregory Flannery Harness Tower Hate Crime Humanitarianism Joe Wessels Larry Gross Laura Damasceno Lew Moores Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Michael Henson Michelle Ross New Year Ohio Photography Richard Blumberg Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Street Paper Terrence Williams Yale