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10 Yard Penalty For Delay Of Game

4/29/2014

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if you've ever watched any sort of sports, you've seen it....the celebration by an athlete after scoring a point, making a touchdown or hitting a homerun. there's nothing wrong with a little celebration or excitement after doing this, but it's gotten out of control. it's transformed from a little celebration into something completely different. some spike the ball in the end zone, some do a dance, some run down the basketball court mugging for the cameras. some athletes celebrate after gaining a lead in the score, almost taunting the other players. i find it amusing later in the game to see these same athletes with that "what happened" look on their face when the other team gains the lead and it becomes inevitable that the victory dance or celebration taunt has turned into an acceptance of defeat. i almost feel a sense of .....uh huh, that's what you get...sort of emotion.

celebration is part of the game. it is appropriate when you score a victory and should be enjoyed by the participants. but it shouldn't be premature and it shouldn't be done simply for scoring a point in a long game or by making a big play in the middle of the game when the outcome is still to be determined. a premature celebration often gets the crowd excited and they sense a victory watching the athletes as they perform their dances, make their taunting faces or perform unneeded fancy plays that often irritate the opponent to the point of giving them momentum. when the game turns and the tide goes in the opponents favor, the crowd will often boo the home team or show its disapproval in some other manner. some will even leave the stadium entirely. the news the next morning will sometimes show the losing team at the point they were ahead in scoring, the players' celebrations and mug shots, only to show them later in the game with "that look" and then show the final outcome....a loss.

i've been reading alot of headlines lately concerning homelessness and how we're scoring a victory in that fight. i've read different cities have found the end to homelessness. i've seen headlines about the federal government being on the track to ending homelessness in tennessee. they didn't stop in saying tennessee, they went on to say that president obama's central planners were on the way to ending homelessness across the united states. i've been watching carefully while many agencies in america have declared that free housing is the answer to ending homelessness and that all cities should follow this model. it's so much cheaper to house the homeless than to leave them in missions, shelters or on the street. even canada...who is typically pretty level headed and reasonable when it comes to the social service agencies they have....now says that free housing is the answer and they could very well be on the way to ending homelessness. these headlines and these announcements are just like the premature celebrations in any of the sporting events i mentioned above. they come in the middle of the fight, when the outcome is far from determined. they are happening when only some very small victories have taken place and the game is still in progress. the people making these statements fall in one of two categories...they are either looking for a headline or they are totally unaware of what is really happening in the world of homelessness and trying to end it. they make these very untrue and totally misinformed and self serving statements coming off a brutal winter when every mission and shelter in the united states that i've checked has been over capacity during the entire cold weather season. major cities like new york, los angeles, san diego, fort lauderdale, washington dc, atlanta, memphis and nashville all report homelessness at an all time high and spiraling out of control. nashville...which is in the very state where the obama administration says they are going to end homelessness, has over 6500 homeless individuals alone. one city...6500 people. 

this is one of the reason we're not winning the fight on homelessness. not only are we not winning, we're losing ground, not only in pubic support but in funding. we are announcing a victory when we haven't even scored enough points to say that we're ahead of the game. we're reporting that we know how to end homelessness and the problem is under control. while we do this, news reports and op-eds and local newspapers are reporting that the homeless problem is growing at an ever increasing rate. the american public is more informed today than ever before. they have information and technology and every sort of news report and article and opinion at their fingertips. they read.....they stay informed.....they research when they want. the days of being able to squeeze a headline in a newspaper or on television and have it go unchallenged are over. the leaders of our country continue to report there is no problem. our agencies continue to mislead the public and say that we can end homelessness with a program that is financially unsustainable and impossible to produce enough housing for anyone but a small per cent of the homeless population. even the originators of the free housing program that will end homelessness....phoenix and salt lake city have now stated that their proclamations were premature and that they may have very well underestimated the severity of the problem and the total long term cost. 

it's time to be honest with ourselves and the homeless. it's time we put aside all the publicity and opportunities to grab a feel good headline by saying that we can end homelessness by a certain time or date. we've been doing that for over 50 years and still haven't made any real progress. we haven't even come close. it's time to stop all the nonsense and begin to develop a common sense, no frills approach to ending homelessness. we owe it to the homeless. we also owe it to ourselves after making such a huge investment into finding a solution over the course of the last few decades. i think more importantly, we owe it to our children and our grandchildren. we owe them an america where homelessness and homeless is not spoken of on a daily basis. we owe it to them to be able to walk the streets of a city and not see men, women, and children who have no place to take shelter. we owe it to them not to see the generation of children after them on the streets in the winter, vying for warmth and struggling to survive yet another day. we owe it...to everyone. so let's stop declaring victory...and finally....unquestionably...begin a real fight on homelessness. 

i'd love to be in that end zone when the final touchdown is scored. i'd like to chest bump somebody when the final whistle sounds. but until then...i don't want to be booed later on and i don't want people to leave the stadium. so for now...let's just keep playing. 

see you around town
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The End

4/25/2014

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Police are investigating the discovery of a body along a ditch in Delaware Wednesday morning.The discovery was made at about 6 a.m. in the 300 block of South Walnut Street in Wilmington. According to investigators, the body of male was found in ditch. Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene. Police say the victim was a homeless man in his mid-60s. His body was found near a gas station.

that was the end of ken miller as far as the news goes. he was found in a ditch on april 2nd and he was homeless. there wasn't an obituary for ken in the paper. the homeless people i encounter daily spoke of ken and how he died for two or three days. i heard his name a few times after that but now there is silence. he is being forgotten and relegated to the hundreds of other homeless people that have died thru the years in wilmington under similar circumstances. his name is on the friendship organizations list of homeless clients who have passed away, but other than that there will no remembrance of ken. from what i understand he was buried in the indigents graveyard where many other homeless people have been put to rest when noone claims their body or makes arrangements for their funeral. i'm sure he will be briefly remembered when they ring the bell at the annual homeless day rememberance. 

ken was in his 60's and a quiet man. he kept to himself most of the time. i saw him often in a few places around town. he would always have his red cart with the cardboard sign on the front that said, "god loves us all." the few times ken spoke, it would often include the fact that he had accepted god in his life and was trying to live a good life. in the mornings he would stand by the bus station across from the amtrak train station. he never spoke much but would always reply if you said good morning. after he left there he would go to the rvrc center where he had become a regular. he had begun to take better care of himself and seemed to enjoy being at the center. ken had two sons who lived in florida. he didn't speak of them much but i got the impression it had been quite awhile since he had seen them. the last time i spoke with ken before his death he was planning to see them before the summer was over. i'm not sure if that was a reality or just a wish that ken had. in any case he smiled when he spoke of them...every time.  that particular day he had just gotten a haircut and trimmed his white beard and said, " i feel like a new man, how do i look?" i smiled but didn't reply. not because he didn't look better but it wasn't a question directed at me as much as it was a statement he was making that he felt like new man. ken never panhandled that i knew of. he made do with what he had, but seldom asked anyone for anything. he didn't eat or sleep at the sunday breakfast mission. he was one of the homeless people that just didn't want to be there. even during the harsh winter, from what i understand he didn't sleep there. he slept very close to where he died in that ditch early that morning, in an enclosed bus stop about fifty yards away. winter had passed, but that morning was still abit cold. it was the first of the month, so ken had money that nite, and like so many homeless people with addictions he had been drinking. if i had to speculate, i'd say alcohol and hypothermia was the cause of death. but that wasn't what took his life. what took his life was years of being homeless and feeling like there was no way out of it. i'm not sure if ken had a mental illness or not, but i'd say yes if i was asked. he is preceded in death by antito Rivera  Bruce Gerrish  Brian Casey  Kenneth Johnson   Matt Kane  Stephen Joslin
Willie Harmon   William "Gus" Gordon  Leonard Bayliss and Martha Rose, all of whom were homeless and passed away thus far 2014. 

rest in peace ken. i hope you have found your home. i know we failed you.


see you around town



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A New Program--Honesty First

4/24/2014

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the long brutal winter is over. spring has arrived and warmer weather is finally here. with it comes a sense of relief and welcome to the flowers popping up and the trees budding out. spring also brings a time when we tend to not think about the homeless. the change of seasons doesn't end the struggles of the homeless. it just brings about a different set of challenges along with the ones that are constant in their lives. in many ways the struggle becomes more difficult when warmer weather arrives. winter shelters close, leaving the homeless to once again seek a place to sleep and survive. organizations that feed the homeless and provide warmth during the day close and become scarce during the spring and summer months. the homeless once again are faced with the problems of eating and surviving on a daily basis. as their visibility increases so does the danger of violence against them, either random or premeditated. the economy is improving slowly but surely and when things are good we tend to forget that the improvement didn't include everyone. support for the poor and the homeless often tend to wane except on holidays when we are barraged with mailers, commercials and people raising funds for the new year.

when i was a child we played on a see-saw...or a teeter totter as some call it. one kid would sit on each end of the see-saw and raise each other up and down. sometimes one kid would jump off when the other was high in the air, leaving him to fall rapidly to the ground. the bump would be painful when you hit bottom. at various times in life we may feel the ups and downs, much like riding the see-saw with a playmate. we trust the other to be there with us when we're low and raise us up slowly to a high position. when we're in that high position we trust the playmate to be there with us when the see-saw slowly comes down to the bottom. but when life takes a wrong turn and your playmate suddenly isn't there, you come crashing down to the ground. we feel the pain as we hit bottom with noone on the other end to raise us back up. we watch as the playmate walks away while we sit there experiencing the pain of crashing down.

i think this is the sort of emotion the homeless often feel. they feel like they've crashed to the ground and are experiencing the pain and realization that someone has walked away from them at the low point and while feeling the pain of crashing suddenly to the ground. to complicate the situation they often feel betrayed and misled about the help and services available to them. homeless people don't have a house or a shelter to call their own. it doesn't mean their reasoning or the ability to recognize untruths or condescending statements have diminished. we have let the homeless down. we have let the homeless down with false statements of hope. we have failed to be honest with them and they know it. it's no wonder why many homeless are mistrustful of agencies and organizations that exist to help them. they've heard the optimistic words and promises that help is close...that a solution and a way out of being homeless is near. but as time passes, these words and these promises become empty words that remain a reminder that they are alone in their struggle. the homeless read newspapers and watch television. they see the misguided statements about the poor and the homeless by politicians and they are aware of the debates about helping them or abandoning them. they hear the names and descriptions used when speaking of them. they are aware of the programs, both current and in the past and the results of those programs, both positive and negative. 

it's time to stop fooling ourselves. the end to homelessness is not near. there is no answer in sight. we need to be honest as a government, as a politician, as a community and as individuals that we have failed the poor and the homeless miserably. we have implemented ten year plans, numerous programs and have expended a large amount of capital and resources with very little progress on reducing homelessness or addressing the causes effectively. we have let the federal government and various agencies attempt to solve a problem that should be and only can be addressed at a local level by city governments and organizations that are familiar with the unique problems and personalities of a community. we have raised them up on the see-saw during times when the poor and homeless are a popular political topic, only to jump off the see-saw during times when austerity and the debates on social safety net programs become popular. as individuals, when that see-saw crashes to the ground, we stand by idly and sympathize with the pain that is felt while not jumping on the see saw to raise them back up. 

we need to stop this see-saw effect when it comes to the homeless. we need to rethink our agencies, our policies and our dealings with the homeless. we need to stop grandiose plans and programs and use some common sense approaches. above all we need honesty. we need to make everyone aware that we have no final solution, but we will do our best to help as many individuals as we possibly can with the resources that we have. we need to begin to make some substantive and quantitative results when it comes to not only housing the homeless, but offering them the support and services to allow them to remain in a home and treat their addiction, find help for the mental illness or overcome whatever personality trait or physical flaw that is hindering them from living a normal and full life.

spring has indeed arrived. it's time for a new season in our approach to helping and speaking with the homeless also. honestly is always the best approach. maybe it's time we rebrand our thinking and instead of housing first.....we use the battle sound of.....honesty first.

see you around town









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A Special Sort of Park

4/22/2014

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i'm just going to write a general post today about some things that I hope are going to happen in the very near future. if you read this blog you know a short time ago I planned to put some local photos on the site. I acquired a nice camera outfit and was ready to go. unfortunately I momentarily forget what world I live in and the camera outfit along with some money was taken when I turned my back for a few minutes. that delayed me a couple of months, but I still plan on putting local photos up. I've almost saved enough to replace the camera, but it will be a couple of weeks longer

very soon I will moving into a studio type apt. that too was delayed with the loss of the money. when I do that i'm going to aggressively...as aggressively as I can....begin to pursue some things i'd like to do here in Wilmington for the homeless. I have found a park area that is perfect for a homeless type park. it sits close to the friendship house....actually right next to it. the park hasn't been used in quite some time, so I can't imagine why anyone would object to cleaning it up and putting it to good use. it's in the perfect location, being next door to the friendship house and only two blocks from the mission. my initial idea is to clean it up, add some benches and other items and make it a nice area where the homeless can come and sit unbothered and without worrying whether they will be asked to leave. i'm formulating the ground rules, alcohol, drugs, and no camping out overnite...although i'm still thinking about the sleeping part of it. I'm going to contact the owner of the park in the next few days and see what their reaction is. to me...it makes perfect sense due to the location and the type of park it is.

i'm also thinking about opening up a chat session once a week or once a month on the forums section. I've had a closed irc loop there for awhile now that would be perfect for a half hour or hour chat session intermittently if anyone is interested. it could be for homeless, poverty,hunger, unemployment or any other issue people wanted to discuss. this is going to depend on the interest and participation if I begin or continue this.

If I am able to accomplish what I want with the park I want to expand it to a couple of areas that aren't being serviced in the homeless community at the present here in Wilmington. in the park i'd like to install or build a small area for a block of lockers that the homeless can use to store their belongings. i'd like to make it a safe, clean and relatively ease of use area for them so they don't have to haul their belongings around or worry about leaving them somewhere they will be discarded or stolen. again...i'm still formulating this and putting the details to the plan.

there are some other minor things i'd like to incorporate into the park. we'll see how it works out and if can get it off the ground initially. obviously this is going to take money to do these things, so i'm thinking of different options to raise money. I may open up a web store of some kind on this website. I may go to a fundraising site like gofundme.com or some other site. I want to see if I can get some local support for this project also. that may be harder to do than you might imagine. in any case, I haven't decided which route to take just yet.

all this will begin to happen after I secure housing for myself and get settled in. I am anxious to get started but I have to be patient until that happens and I can remove myself partially from the situation i'm in.

well...that's about it for today. i'll be back to my regular blog entries tomorrow. I just wanted to throw these things out and hopefully some of you will have some input or comments. you don't usually comment much, but on this particular entry I hope you do. i'd like to see what the reaction is. if you don't want comment on this site....email me at homeless110@mail.com or drop me a comment on facebook. either way.....say something.

oh...one more thing...visit my page on facebook and "like" it. apparently I need a certain amount of likes before facebook officially recognizes it. i'm not quite sure what that purpose is though. it's nothing special and will get more local content when I can order another camera set.

be safe

see you around town

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Vote Like You Own It

4/18/2014

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in todays economy a large portion of america continues to struggle for things they took for granted a very short time ago. employment, housing, food and some semblance of security continue to haunt the poor. with high unemployment and job insecurity these difficulties have found their way into the middle class. these individuals struggle daily under the stress of obtaining and keeping adequate food, shelter and essentials, not only for themselves but often for their families. even those who are employed today often are finding themselves underemployed or underpaid to the point of facing the same struggle as the unemployed. more and more americans are realizing that the cliche, "many of us are only two or three paychecks away from being homeless,' is now all too true. to complicate the situation that many of us find ourselves in, the federal government continues to report the recession is over and we have turned the corner. conservatives such as paul ryan have begun anew to assault the safety net programs that have protected americans thru the recession and prevented even more homelessness, poverty and hunger than we have experienced. they continue to report the problem is almost over....while more and more americans continue to to slip into poverty with many facing homelessness. the problem is definitely not over. 

despite dismal job numbers, non existent job creation and a net loss of more than six million jobs since the recession began, the american media continue to sensationalize and stigmatize the poor as being lazy, unmotivated and unwilling to work. unfortunately, many americans, without reading, doing minor research, or even thinking beyond the headlines, commentaries and loud tweets, accept as fact these total misrepresentations and misconceptions. this allows the federal government, conservatives and misguided politicians such as paul ryan to continue to assert that poor and unemployed americans don't know what's in their own best interest and don't know how to lift themselves out of being unemployed or being poor. that is a very dangerous assumption and a preview of the basis for the november elections. 

the biggest barrier between the poor, those living in poverty and the unemployed getting a job and going to work isn't motivation. it's the availability of jobs and lack of opportunity in todays economy. the single largest reason for unemployment isn't laziness or willingness of the unemployed to live on the meager benefits paid by long term unemployment insurance, but rather a failure of the current administration, the congress and the senate to put into place any sort of real economic policies to stimulate job growth. the snap program...one of the major targets recently of the poverty experts....is actually one of the most successful and most economical programs the federal government offers to those who need assistance. most recipients leave the program after a brief few months. although fraud does exist in the program, in comparison to other assistance programs it is very efficient. economically it offers more return for the investment than any other program. for every five dollars paid a recipient thru the snap program, nine dollars is generated thru local economies. 

the problems facing americans today are a result of the policies of the federal government. the issues of hunger, poverty, homelessness and unemployment are the result of the inefficiency, ineptitude and failed  policies of the federal government. the congress and senate are complicit in these failures by continuing to pass bills and enact laws that do not benefit the majority of the american people. but that is ultimately our own fault. we elect these senators and congressmen. we elect the president. in alot of cases we continue to elect and put back into office politicians who have so blatantly ignored the needs of the american people that they become more of a detriment to their constituents than a benefit. 

november is approaching and with it elections. two years after that the presidential elections will arrive. i truly hope that each and every american eligible to vote will go to the polls and exercise that right. it is the only way to change this country and the misguided direction we have taken. do not be fooled by loud rhetoric. do not be fooled by election year changes of heart. do not be fooled by news clips or commentaries. do not be fooled by party platforms. look for yourselves....pay attention to the candidates that are going to represent you. look into their past record in politics and see what they truly stand for. what they say amid crowds and on camera is not what they stand for....how they've voted and what they've supported in the past tells you what they stand for.

this is america....this is our country. it's time to change. vote like you own it.....because you do

see you around town
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Should We Really Be Helping The Homeless?

4/14/2014

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should we really be helping the homeless in america? it's a question that i'm convinced most people really don't give much in depth thought to. i'm not talking about giving a homeless person a dollar or buying someone coffee. while they both are wonderful gestures, they are temporary relief to an individual. i'm talking about real, quantitative assistance to the homeless population in your community. not in san Francisco, not in new Orleans, not in Syria and not in new York city. i'm speaking of your own community, your own citizens and In some cases your own neighbors. people you know...either by association or by passing them daily in some circumstance. i'm speaking of the people you read about in the occasional op-ed or article in your local newspaper when a homeless person makes the news for some reason...usually either by dying or committing a crime.

helping the homeless is more than words and ten year plans. it's more than collecting data and formulating a budget or coordinated effort among the various coalitions that exist among our advocacies and agencies that were founded to help the homeless but often are long on words and short on results. it's very easy to talk about doing more than we actually do and to speak about results and expected outcomes when in reality we are accomplishing very little at an extremely high cost. we become bloated with words and data and statistics while the reality of things are that the homeless are still increasing and hunger is spreading. we are not living by our own measurements of success when it comes to the homeless and the poor.

at times we all find ourselves in the position of being a survivor of something. soldiers returning from war, patients who survive cancer, the death of a loved one. we survive...and we're not quite sure why. if we stand where others have fallen, it should be to raise our hand and grasp the arm of another that has fallen beside us and help them survive. today America has survived one of the most devastating recessions and slowest recoveries this country has seen. many have fallen....but many have also survived. and in these times and within those people are the keys to ending homelessness, hunger and poverty in America. but also within these survivors is the question....should we help? the question still lingers... has America during its economic struggles lost its compassion and willingness to help those around us. in reading different articles and the such I find a lot of people speaking in anger and frustration and even ignorance about the reasons we shouldn't help. all too often we speak these reasons and it shows how truly broken the American spirit is. the...some can and others can't....attitude is becoming all to prevalent in today's society and today's political arena. while it may be true that some can and some can't...there is still the ability for everyone to try and that opportunity should be available to all...even if it requires some guidance and assistance along the path.

in a world of ever present social media and instant awareness of every news or non news event in America it's very easy to formulate an argument and compile a compelling case against helping the homeless and the poor. it's very easy to gather instances of abuse and people who game the system that is designed to help these individuals. we are continually confronted with details of fraud and the waste of tens of millions of dollars not only by recipients but by administrators of social programs. this wave of information has become so prevalent that it has invaded our political process and governmental decision making to the point of being a near accepted valid point of argument when it comes to funding for the homeless and poor.

the real question that cuts right to the center of the debate on social spending and programs designed to help the homeless and poor goes beyond government programs. it goes beyond budgets and political agendas and the loud, empty words of politicians. it goes to us...as individuals and what we believe America is today. it cuts right to our own cities and communities and to us as shareholders and keepers of those communities. it's not a question of should we help the homeless and the poor. it's a question of can we afford not to help them. can we afford not to help to lift our neighbors out of a financial struggle. can we afford not to end homelessness for the sake of the next generation. can we afford not to end hunger in the richest country on this planet. can we afford...not only financially , but spiritually and morally to continue to accept homelessness, hunger and those struggling to keep food on their table and a roof over their head.

I am a survivor of homelessness. was I worth the expense and the effort to help bring me out of being homeless and back into what is considered the mainstream of society? are the remaining 700 or so homeless individuals remaining in Wilmington worth the expense and the effort to bring them too out of being homeless? are the children who wake up every morning and go to bed every evening wondering if they will have food tomorrow worth our collective effort? are the individuals in your own community worth your time, your effort and your money to help them off the streets and back into your community? if you can't answer or hesitate too long to think about this question then the answer is probably no.

if we truly want to rebuild America to the strong, proud country that we all know it once was and could be again, I think the anchor of that rebuilding process should be to answer the question....should we help our homeless, our poor and our tired. this, is what the grand lady of new York stated to the people flooding to this country decades ago and perhaps should be the statement we all make today.during election time politicians answer this question loudly and often with grand gestures and speeches, both in the affirmative and negative only to have other perceived priorities overshadow this question shortly after the polls close. the answer should be a resounding, clear, loud yes...we should help. it's our duty and our obligation and perhaps our own salvation as a nation. it's a question we shouldn't and can't afford to make the next generation have to answer..

see you around town









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Martin Luther King's Dream Is Dead

4/7/2014

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on august 28th 1963 martin luther king jr. delivered a very powerful and very emotional speech in Washington dc. it was to many the summation of mr kings ideology, his goals and his firm belief in equality and opportunity for all americans despite their race, religion, sexual orientation or other differences. his opening decreed that it was perhaps the greatest demonstration for freedom this country has ever seen. considering the times and that moment in history he could very well have been correct. in delivering this speech he set the course for a transformation this country has seldom seen. he laid out the path for freedom, equality and opportunity for all, free from racism, free from prejudice, free from oppression, free from the long held beliefs that any man or woman is inferior or superior to another....for any reason. many view this as a speech only for the black population of America and the wrongs they had endured for years at the hands of those that held on to the principles of segregation and racial division. it developed into a call for all Americans to be free and have equal opportunity as decreed in our constitution. dr. king declared," And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.. We cannot turn back."

we stopped moving ahead. there are those that would have us turn back. today, dr. king's dream is dead. it began to die the moment he was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. today there is noone carrying forth that dream of equality and justice for all the people. even dr,king's associates seem to have forgotten the very foundation of that dream and have failed to continue the struggle until it completely manifested itself. the dream that dr. king lived for, struggled for, and ultimately paid for with his life has been snuffed out. it has been replaced not with the ugly disease of racism, not with the prejudiced opinions about being white or black, not with the terrible injustice of denying basic American liberties and rights because of the color of our skin....but with the failure of us, as americans, to hold on to those dreams and beliefs that dr. king so passionately spoke of on that day. dr. king had a dream of not only racial equality, but another sort of equality. he had a vision that all americans would have the opportunity to pursue the American dream of raising a family, having a home and being secure when old age beset us.. dr, king had a dream of not one single woman or child being homeless in America. he had a dream of every man, woman and child living in this country to have adequate food and the ability to pursue the happiness and security that has eluded many of our population since that dream began. he had a dream of a great America where all people lived together with the belief that all us, each and every one of us, could rest at nite secure in the fact that tomorrow would not bring homelessness, hunger, addiction or the lack of basic opportunities and employment.

that dream has died for America. it has been replaced by a nitemare. it's a nitemare of the reality of homelessness, which knows no color. it's the nitemare of hunger permeating our society and becoming the accepted rather than the rarity. dr.king's vision of economic opportunity and equality has been replaced by a government that destroys our opportunities to fulfill that dream for the sake of corporate profits, budgets and federal control of our economy. dr, king would be greatly disturbed to see what America has done to his dream. today I firmly believe that he would once again go into the streets to demand change. he would demand change from the government to reverse the damaging laws, policies and strategies that have slowly but surely destroyed the very lower and middle class that he fought to protect, preserve and offer an opportunity to prosper. he would condemn with a loud voice politicians in Washington who pass laws that do nothing but damage and do harm to our children...our most precious and vulnerable asset. he would demand change to protect those struggling with poverty in America and ask...no demand...that we aid and assist those struggling for food and shelter daily. it was his dream. it was his life's goal. it was what he paid for with his life.


today...we should begin again that dream. we should resurrect it from the ashes of the recession and our own moral failings. we should breathe life into that dream and begin a new policy and a new dream, not only in Washington but across America that we once again make decisions, pass laws and make it our generation's goal that we raise up the American people and bring prosperity to all. if he were alive I think once again he would say "And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream."

we all should have that dream. America...we need that dream again. we need to make available to all the opportunities to achieve those dreams.

 it's time to dream once again.

see you around town









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I See Pigeons, They're Everywhere

4/6/2014

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it was a beautiful day yesterday so I went to tubman-garret park to sit for awhile. I went there with an agenda, to see how many homeless people were there and if they were going to be harassed. the day was so nice I sat there and made some calls and enjoyed the afternoon sun.

as I sat there a pigeon appeared in front of me. it came out of nowhere, walking around aimlessly, looking at me out of the corner of its' eye to see if I noticed and exactly what I was doing. pigeons are not very annoying. whenever you sit down somewhere, whether it be in a park or at a bus stop they invariably appear. you know they're there but they aren't much of a nuisance so you generally ignore them. every now and then you may throw them some bread or whatever you may happen to be eating at the time. I had a bagel and a coffee I had picked up at the Amtrak station so I tossed a small piece of it to the pigeon without thinking much about it. it quickly began to peck at it, all the while keeping an eye on me out of the corner of an eye. then another appeared and another...and another....seemingly out of nowhere. I tossed another piece of bread in the middle of them and they all began pecking away at the bread. I stopped what I was doing and began watching them. soon there were around fifteen of them gathered around the bread...all pecking away...but all seeming to get their turn at the bread.

I started looking at these pigeons abit more closely. I see pigeons every time I go to the park or to the riverfront. I just never pay them much attention. on this afternoon I could see their colors reflecting in the sun. there were blue, red, green and a hint of yellow shimmering off their backs and heads. you generally think of pigeons as being dirty and they're not the sort of bird you'd want to pet or have hop on the bench beside you. but if you take a closer look you can see the colors  pigeons survive as scavengers and they rely on the whims of humans to eat most of the time, accepting whatever we may toss their way. their colors are not as bright as a robin or a blue jay or cardinal. but the colors are there still the same. these other birds generally don't gather or mix with the pigeons, even when they're eating. some stay at a distance or perched in a tree, waiting for the pigeons to leave, most just ignore them. every now and then a gull will arrive and walk in the middle of the pigeons. the gulls are louder, bigger and cause more of a stir than the pigeons. they will encroach on the pigeons and often cause an annoyance. the pigeons tolerate them, deftly moving out of the way of the louder and more obnoxious bird. usually the gull won't stay long. he'll make his presence loudly known, cause a commotion and then leave. the pigeons will return to their business of gathering the bread that you've thrown to them. you see the pigeons in every season of the year. they're not as visible in the winter, most are hunkered down on top of buildings, under ledges or sitting on slanted roofs with their feathers ruffled to keep warm or dry in the weather. but they're there all the same.

I've never known of anyone that wanted to have a pigeon as a pet. I've known people that feed pigeons every day. they come at the same time of the morning or afternoon and throw bread to them. the pigeons gather, eat the bread and then leave, returning to the places they sit and wait for the next meal. some of these people have a genuine concern for the pigeon and show up promptly every day to feed them. they almost feel responsible for the pigeons. I've seen some of these people who seem to be on friendly terms with the pigeons and actually strike up sort of a relationship with them. they actually enjoy feeding, and watching the pigeons and having their company. others want to house the pigeons. i'm not quite sure of the purpose of this. but they build small houses with chicken wire on it and put the pigeons inside the cages. at one time I think the pigeons were used as carriers and maybe this is a carry over from that, but people still practice this, especially in larger cities and inner city environments. the pigeons get to eat daily and have a roof over their head, but all in all I think they'd rather be free. it's odd now that i'm thinking about it....I've never seen a pigeon nest. they just live and sleep and rest wherever they can. they can't or don't migrate like other birds so they have to live and eat wherever and whenever they can in the area they exist.

alot of people don't like pigeons. they consider them a nuisance. they'll clap their hands and make a loud noise to disperse the pigeons. the pigeons will fly away...a short distance...then return when the noise maker has left the area. other people kick their feet at the pigeons when they pass a group of them. the pigeons will usually move out of the way and then return to whatever it was they were doing before they were rudely interrupted. now some cities have such a large pigeon population that they have considered it a health and safety hazard. the pigeons dirty up rooftops and other places they gather, especially where they tend to sleep. these cities have even taken some extreme measures to greatly reduce or eradicate the pigeon problem. often they have an annual pigeon kill day when it's legal to shoot pigeons. i'm not sure if this is done today, but I know not long ago it was still being practiced. other cities have tried loud noises generated automatically in places where pigeons gather, introducing predator birds into the pigeon environment and anything else they could think of to rid themselves of the pigeon blight. nothing seems to have worked so far.

i'm not sure anything can be done about the pigeons. i'm not sure anything should be. in the end, they're only trying to live and eat and survive with the abilities they've been given. they've learned to adapt to our behavior and coexist with us, without being obtrusive. gathered in a group they may be annoying and we all may have the urge to clap our hands and shoo them away. but watching these pigeons on this day, wanting to approach me, but wary enough to keep their distance....I didn't have the urge to shoo them away.as I was leaving I looked around the park and noticed that three or four homeless people had sat down on various benches, some reading, others just enjoying the sun. I could almost see their colors.

tomorrow....look around. you'll see the pigeons if you try. they're there, perched, wating and watching you as you pass by.

see you around town








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Who The Poor Really Are

4/5/2014

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thanks to paul ryan and it being an election year there is alot of talk in america today about poverty. there's debates and arguments about the poor and the root causes of them being in their circumstance. there is a real poverty problem in america and it's growing every day. but it's not the material sort of poverty you might think of when you see a headline or a tweet about the subject. it's not the sort of poverty where you don't have adequate living space, enough food for your family to not experience hunger or constantly living on the edge of survival. there is very little true material poverty in america today.

the real poverty in america lives in each and every one of us. we have fallen into a poverty of the spirit. we have lost the ingredients that made this country rich...not in material value...but in spiritual and moral value. we have become trapped in a contest that pits red against blue, black against white, christian against muslim and the rich against the poor. we have entered a contest of we versus them. it's a contest that has no winners, only losers. we have become so poor that we can walk by individuals daily who are homeless and manage to not see them. we have become so poor that we can ignore the small quiet voice of a child who is asking for our help. we have become so poor that we can justify the deaths of the mentally ill who live on the street by those who are entrusted with our and their protection. we've lost a wealth within ourselves that will cost not only us but the generations to follow us a great deal more than money, gold, silver, stock or properties. we've lost the wealth of compassion for the people who are experiencing unemployment for the first time in their lives. we've lost the wealth of caring about the men and women who are dying on the streets of our very own city because they have no place to call home. not only have we become poor within ourselves, we have become poor in the eyes of the world. they are watching us as we bankrupt our morals, our character, our sense of helping not only our families but our neighbors and citizens of our own communities. 

nowhere is this bankruptcy of the american spirit more visible than in our political system. we have become so poor that we allow these elected politicians to continue robbing us with their careless policies and nonchalant way of doing business in washington. we allow these officials to operate in a way that further rings up the deficit of compassion and acting in the best interest of us all. our coffers have become so bare that we accept this robbing of the american way as the normal and shrug as if to say we concur. 

our children will pay a high price for the poverty of our own souls if we continue on the path that we are walking. they will inherit a country of the poor in spirit, poor in compassion and love, and poor in doing what made america great. they won't know the rich country that we knew, they will know a battered, beaten and impoverished country that has grown hard and cold and uncaring. we should not leave as an inheritance to the next generation a country that abandons its own citizens in favor of self preservation and materialistic obsessions. we shouldn't leave to the next generation a country filled with anger and arguments about what is right, what is wrong and what is morally acceptable. we shouldn't leave to the next generation hunger, homelessness, poverty and needless dying. we shouldn't leave to the next generation the attacks on our religion, our beliefs and our morals by those who lack any moral center. we shouldn't leave to the next generation the experience of dealing with members of that very generation who are experiencing homelessness at an age when noone should.  we were left with these plagues and perpetuated them by complacency. it's time for us to say enough.


the poor today are you and i. we are in poverty. we are living poor. i read often that anyone can overcome poverty. i also read that often poverty is intergenerational. i hope that the first sentence is correct. i also hope the second sentence is proven to be wrong. it's an inheritance that no generation deserves and a debt that we cannot afford to pass along. 

see you around town
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Fraud Or Not?

4/4/2014

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i posted an entry on april 1st, april fool's day. if you haven't read it, take a minute and scroll down one entry and read it. it's relatively short. make you sure you read all of it though. i don't usually do april fool's pranks, except very minor ones in passing. but i woke up tuesday morning and decided to do one. i had no idea what i was going to write or what i would prank, but when i sat down that particular one came to mind. i've made several entries on this blog and oddly enough this one was the second most read one. it also garnered the most responses to my email account than any other entry. the second day it got almost as many reads as the first day...which is again out of the norm for this blog. even the third day was still strong as far as reads. usually on the third day the reads taper off significantly. now, take into consideration on the second and third day i didn't post an update to this blog so there was no notice that would catch anyone's attention. 

taking this into consideration it made me begin to think about the entry and the type of response it got. 
some people obviously didn't finish reading the entry, after they read the initial two paragraphs they had become indignant enough to stop and email me....very tersely....about how i shouldn't have pretended to be homeless and how i shouldn't have pretended to be struggling. others didn't like the joke....period. 

let me clarify something. it was an april fool's joke. the last line should have clarified that, but reading it a couple of times i suppose i didn't make that point perfectly clear. i should have ended it with something as plain as april fools! or maybe something similar. how about....you've just been pranked...or you've just been punked. but in any case....it was an april fool's prank. i am indeed homeless and my entries and tweets have been true. 

but there's another issue here i addressed in a past blog. seeing the responses to the 4/01/2014 entry made me think of that entry. i made an entry titled Homeless Naked Women on february 20th. it's a very short entry and it had abit of a different purpose at the time but it now has become relevant. read it if you have the time. in short it cautions against taking for granted what you read on twitter and facebook and other social media without delving into the source and completely reading what the original article or news report contained. words can be deceiving....particularly on twitter. know what you're endorsing....before you endorse it. know what you're repeating.....before you repeat it. actually read the article the tweet was about. it's too easy to spew a one line tweet that totally skews the original source. 

if i offended you with my april fool's joke...i'm not going to apologize. but i'll just admit to maybe being somewhat insensitive. but you can't always be deadly serious about whatever cause it is you are supporting or whatever it is you believe in. if you are, it will consume you .the homeless, poverty and hunger are serious issues. but there is still room for humor and a normal sense of being. 

i have to go now. i won the lottery last nite and need to go to dover.

see you around town


 
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