| Sonya on San Pe...'s profileSonya's spacePhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
October 24 more dumping at DROP IN centersWell, perhaps having an increased police presence has done a good thing for Skid Row. The police, while video taping the residents of the street (what, you thought the Central Division LAPD hwe shooting scenes for America's Funniest Home Videos?) happened to tape ambulences dropping of hospital patients on Skid Row. To be fair, they WERE dropping them off in front of 3 Drop In centers - the VOA and Lamp on San Julian. San Julian is the nastiest street of all time. It is a narrow 2 lane road connecting 6th and 7th Streets. No cars can park there and the only businesses on that stretch of street are : The Midnight mission, the Frank Rice Safe Haven and the VOA Drop in center as well as at least one small Single Occupancy Hotel. In other words, San Julian is a Homeless Paradise. As early as 11:00 am the lines start on the sidewalk - these are people hoping to get a bed in a mission. Itis a First Come First Serve kinda deal so if you are not in line before 1 in the afternoon, you won't get a bed. I get that the SHELTERS are SHELTERS and people have to b eout during the daytime and a shelter is just a safer (not safe) place to sleep at night and rest up for the challenge of improving their lives in the day. My issue with this is: How can a person 1. look for a job, 2. go to the Social Service Office, 3. run to the public toilet or porta potty 4. Wash clothes 5. Do ANYTHING to end their cycle of homelessness from a line waiting for a bed. They are in a permanent homeless holding pattern. Anyone who wants to have a safe place to sleep has to forgo advocating for themselves in the day. This is the problem with Drop In Centers and shelters which the county voted to make more of. Housing is the answer that makes more sence. Residents would have a safe place to store theri belongings and reassurance of a safe place to sleep and keep clean clothing and food. With these basic nessisities taken care of - looking for work, seeing doctors of all sorts and getting clean are all possible. October 23 how to spot a Social Worker from 3 miles away . . .I was on another networking site . . . don't tell anyone that it is MySpace, awhen I came across THIS in a profile: "My life has been a journey with some definite rough spots, however, I made it through. I wouldn't give up the hard times ,for those moments were the ones which have contributed to the strong, wise woman I believe I am today. I have two beautiful children who are strong-willed and determined to accomplish what they set out to do. I work in social services with the chronically homeless, mentally ill. Worked on Skid Row for six years and before that worked with HIV positive Latinos. I am a true believer in helping people regain control over their own lives. I do not believe in enabling people. The day I do not have a job is the day I know my job was done!" I like that this woman has declared her goal and identified herself in part by her career goal which is also a social goal. I will admit, however, to knowing this person in real time and being as much a fan of hers as I am a friend of hers. Knowing her and having worked with her, I can tell you that this self appraisal is accurate. October 18 What is Homelessness?Prejudice is fear. Fear comes from not having the facts - here are some about homelessness Even if you have a roof over your
head you can still be homeless. This is because you may not have any
rights to stay where you live or your home might be unsuitable for you.Homelessness means not having a home. Who is affected?Homelessness affects a wide variety of people. Some groups of people are more vulnerable to homelessness because they have fewer rights; particular needs or are less able to cope by themselves. These include:
What situations mean you are homeless?You don't have to be sleeping on the streets to be classed as homeless. You might also be legally homeless if you are:
If you ask the council for help, it will look into your situation to see if it has a legal responsibility to help you as a homeless person. Who is affected?Homelessness affects a wide variety of people. Some groups of people are more vulnerable to homelessness because they have fewer rights; particular needs or are less able to cope by themselves. These include:
How do people become homeless?You could become homeless for many different reasons. These could include:
so YES, this can happen to you Think on how you can address the issue and make it smaller. October 17 More RussoHow odd is it that I was just talking about this to you. Mr. Russo killed himself over the weekend. Rather than reprinting the details, I think you can google it - pardon - LIVE search it. His name was Richard Robert Russo. I did not find out by reading it, instead, at 6:30 my mother called to tell me... um, hello?!?! that is NOT the way to give a wake up call! October 12 changesAs I turned on my desktop PC after adding memory, I came across a photograph of the Russo family. A year ago Carmen, the mother was murdered. It freaked me out - to no end. Our daughters are the same ages and saw each other every Sunday. Carmen was light itself -smiling happy and filled with love. Her life was full and joyous but unfinished. Losing her hurt and reminded me of my endless goal to have a memorable life. In the past year, I have done a tried a million odd things, fallen in love with the wrong men, tried to fall for the right ones, tested friendships and enriched others. Julie once read a book about having a Juicy Life... even back then my life was fluid, now it fairly drips with exciting experiences and the occasional dasterdly deed. Please remind me to tell you of some of them. October 11 It came!!! It came!!I have been taking all my photographs and art and turning them into merch. through the wonder of Cafepress.com.My MOBILE HOME shirt came and I am wearing it! Waaaaay too cool! October 10 Job huntOn Sunday I saw a cat that was part domestic cat and part bob-cat. Figuratively, this is me on the hunt for a job. A nice, cleamn, biring regular job that I won't have to give my weekends to - one that won't overload me such that I am working at the dinner table and checking e-mail at 6:30 in the morning. I know, I know, I ask alot out of a job. If you have met me, you know that I am pretty boring. I am docile and lumpy, content to sit in a sunny spot and think or write or read a book. I very rarely stalk anything with the purpose of pursuit and capture. I don't even have long disctance on my home telephone because I believe that if you want to talk to me, YOU can make the call. However, my last traditional job came from a campaign of active slalking, emailing the HR lady, sending her notes and follow up phone calls. It seems it is that time again. I am having to do some homework and look up skills listed on the jon announcements and run home and try them out on my computers - 'tis a good thing i have enough machines in my house to make a virtual laboratory. The Big Question is: Social Work or Computer Work? I think that almost 4 years of work with the chonically homeless, mentally ill adults with addictions and sometimes co-occuring disorders is enough homage to pay my heritage. My karma is clean. I have also had a fill of extremem social work - it is like Street Luge without the helmets. But, is one year of home grown in the fire on the spot Technical learning enough to really give me the chops for ANY computer position?I am a quick study, but do I want to do this for a living? Why couldn't I say YES anytime someone proposed so I could be a happy little housewife now? What exactly was I thinking? October 06 taking a breakI will never be the girl who works for the Dollars, I enjoy social work too much. To that end, last week I began looking for a new place to work where I could actively participate in improving the social environment and ending homeless. This is officially my last day at Lamp Community, yesterday was my last day in the office. I am hoping to find a company where Housing first and Harm Reduction and Client Centered Service are more than media plugs - they are heard, seen and used everyday. Now, I know that at least 15% of all homeless adults will always be so - but that means that there are 85% of people willing and able to move in from the streets . . if only there were a place for them to move to! October 02 Skeeter BitesI am sooo gonna die of West Nile Viris one day with all the bug bites I get. I forgot not to wear a skirt to work today and now I ITCh! I have been looking up anti-itch cures on the internet. so far Vinager and De-odarant are the front runners. grosssometimes, people are gross. Like the guy who kills a mosquito in his hands and want you to look at it and then he looks at you funny when you suggest he wash his handsbefore touching anything you may have to touch later. ----------nasty------------------ like the people who don't wash their hands after a potty break. In my next life I am coming back with a gas mask and being a bathroom attendant (I am also going to BEG plead and stomp untol someone at MSN puts a SPELL CHECK in their blogging stuff). ----------ewww----------------------------------------------- Nose pickers people who play "guess who this is and cover your eyes but when you breathe in, you know if they had a movement recently people with giant islands of scalp floating in their hair people with underarm sweat rings bathrooms with gunk growing in the caulking dried up eye boogers and sleep in a man's face when he has been up for 4 hours and is now in public poop in the street giant cystic boil pimples that you can't pop for DAYS but the weep anyway and when they finally DO pop your eyes water and you yell a KIA and the marble of crud crashes and explodes onto your car window and then your face weeps blood instead of Lymph okay, I feel strongly about that last one. what do you think is nasty? OCTOBERYum, I LOVE October!!! I love pumpkins pumpkin bread Starbuck's Pumpkin and Cream Cheese muffins Pumpkin Pie Halloween Making the kid's costume every year Trick or Treating Eating the kid's candy (she never does)... October 01 just another dayHello dear reader, How ya be? As for me, I am wishy washy. I had someone in power tell me to come to work for the money, not for the mission statement of the company. Of course this person also went on to accuse me of all manner of things and ended by saying "this isn't a Pick on Sonya Day..." and ended her tiny high heeled rant by saying I was having a bad hair day. I sat across from her with a blank stare. What?!?!?!!! I'm sorry.... WTF?!?!?! If this is how people who direct the business of service organizations think, maybe I should get out now and volunteer. How are you ever going to end homelessness if you don't work with that as your goal? How can you help people be more independant and financially stable if you only look to your own pocketbook? Anyway, here are some pictures from my week. |
|
|
