I
don't have any photos or paintings of my great grandfather but I do have
some excerpts from his memoirs, starting with this account of his
early childhood in Wisconsin. He married Carlyle Goodrich's daughter in 1902 and her reminiscences of life on the
Great Plains also survive, in addition to quite a few of her paintings,
including one of her father which hangs in my house.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
The Homeless-Industrial Complex, Part II
This is one of my favorite jackets.
It's just a fleece, it crackles with static electricity when I take
it off, it's hard to keep clean and fluffy, and it says Parliament of
Canada / Parliament du Canada on it. I got it in 2001 when I was
working in homeless services. I also have a black winter jacket with
a broken zipper that says “DHS Night Patrol” in shiny black
letters across the back, but it isn't very useful because of the
broken zipper. I do get a lot of comment about the “DHS Night
Patrol” bit though – no one has ever heard of the Department of
Homeless Services so they always think it is from Homeland Security.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The Homeless-Industrial Complex, Part I
Outreach
written
ca. 1999
edited 6/20/2012
I
wrote this in the winter of 1999, just after I had started working
for the city. It is an account of one of my first times going out
with an outreach team. Parts of it make me cringe a little and I can clearly tell in certain sentences that I am just repeating what someone has told me Still, it is an historical document of sorts. I have changed names where I think that is a good idea.
I
get off work around five o'clock and leave our building on the west
side to walk over towards City Hall to catch the 6 uptown. I have no
idea what it would be like after dark to walk down the deserted
streets of the South Bronx, but my own neighborhood was similar and,
by now, felt very safe to me. I cross under the Bruckner Expressway,
foolishly looking the wrong way at one point, and came to the avenue I'm looking for. In any case, the streets are not deserted at all. A lot of
people live here.
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