Homelessness | Homelessness
Mar.25.2013
...from "Ode to Santa Cruz," _New & Selected Poems_. Red Hen Press, 'a sidewalk of broken glass, a street filled with jewels. Loma Prieta, The Earthquake of the Dark Hill, place, this place, always coming back from a disaster. Natural beauty and unnatural events, jazz, blues, canoes, tattoos, I...
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Dec.09.2012
Among the papers and documents and newspapers that Mark Redmond wedges into his briefcase is a Christmas card he received a few years ago. While the papers come and go, that card remains. Redmond is the executive director of Spectrum Youth and Family Services. On the front of the card is a colorful...
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Dec.06.2012
I arrive home from a day on the reservation and notice my clothes smell of smoke. Then I remember the three homeless men sitting by a fire. Neda had asked the Senior Center to pack extra lunches - salmon, boiled potatoes, broccoli - then we drove to the men's camp to give them the food....
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Nov.18.2012
This Thursday is that day of the year when we gather together with family or friends and say a prayer of thanks that my mother took her recipe for Broccoli Mold to her grave. This year, however, is one of those Novembers when Thanksgiving should mean more to us than the start of a four-day weekend...
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Nov.08.2012
Apartments.com has started a campaign to end homelessness. You can read about it, and how to help here.
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Aug.29.2012
The following essay was adapted from my book, "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora" in the section called Viet Kieu (Vietnamese living overseas). A version of it was also adapted for a commentary on NPR's All Things Considered. Also embedded between the text are...
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Aug.02.2012
Ashland churches and civic organizations worked with Southern Oregon University to conduct an extensive survey of the homeless people of Ashland. It was a snapshot, of course, part of the data collection effort to figure out what to do. To assess the problem, you need to know the problem.
We...
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Jun.26.2012
It’s a cold night in Denver, and a homeless woman sits waiting for a kind stranger to drop some change or even a dollar or two in her container. Whatever the amount is, she only hopes it’s enough for a meal to share with her faithful canine companion. A man briefly enjoys the air conditioning at a...
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Jun.14.2012
I live in the center of Jerusalem. I live and die for Jerusalem. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Yet I could not afford to breathe the air here. It seems as though it wasn’t always this way. Thirty years ago when I came to this city it wasn’t this expensive. Today you should be a...
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May.14.2012
It's great that we spend so much time and effort at every level of government to create and maintain parks so that all may share our lands and enjoy nature. But if we're willing to spend so much on parks, can't we share a little more to help the homeless? Is it ironic or tragic that a park opposite...
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