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Damn, I'm sad I missed this. Next time!

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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One major recurring experience I had while on the street was the disdain with which I was viewed as a homeless person. So many people assume that a homeless person is lazy, addicted to drugs, stupid, and dishonest. Even though none of those things was true, the condemnation of other people and the loss of meaningful social interaction during that time hit my self-confidence in a way that sometimes is apparent even today.

In response to the on-air discussion just now of my earlier comment:

I know that the experiences of many people were much harder than what I experienced. For one thing, it is much easier to be homeless if you're under 21... there are many more resources available.

On the other hand, I did experience a lot of the hardships of the street. I have many memories of huddling through a long winter night with little or no shelter from the wind and rain or snow and only a single blanket. Even in the middle of that, I often felt like the trials I faced were for my own good... a kind of ascetic character-building or something.

posted 5 years ago
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When I was first homeless, I kind of idealized it, much like your interviewee (Shaggy Simpson?) indicated: there's definitely a certain romantic freedom of individual expression available when you are disconnected from all the obligations involved in maintaining a "normal" life.

For me, that idealistic view of homelessness lasted most of the way through my time on the street. My experience with the kindness of strangers led me to see the value of having resources with which to offer help to others, which helped motivate me to start establishing a more mainstream life...

Sometimes I still find myself feeling a sense of claustrophobia about the commitments in my life now. The open road still has a strong appeal to me. Even now, I sometimes hitchhike somewhere just to remind myself that my life now is a choice, not a trap in which I'm caught.

posted 5 years ago
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I was homeless in Portland for about 2 years, when I was 19 and 20 (a little over a decade ago). I spent most of the nights during that time sleeping on church porches and under bridges in Portland, though I stayed in shelters part of the time as well.

My life now is completely different, and most people I know would probably never suspect that I ever lived that life, though I'm not ashamed to tell anyone. I'm now established in a comfortable middle-class lifestyle: my wife and I both have full-time jobs and together bring in a six-figure income. I'm on my way to getting my Bachelor's degree in Nursing at a local university. You never know who around you may have experienced something like this...

I met a lot of different people while I was on the street, and it seemed like just about everyone I met had different reasons for becoming and remaining homeless. Solutions to homelessness will need to take a wife range of circumstances into account, and will probably require a range of coordinated approaches.

posted 5 years ago
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Once again you've picked a topic that is interesting, current, and supremely relevant. Keep up the good work, TOL!

Just last night I stood in front of the cheese display in Lamb's Thriftway - Garden Valley. I was looking for blue cheese, but wanted to buy local. After spending several minutes examining the fine print on every option there, I found that none of them were produced here in OR, so I ended up buying some Tillamook sharp cheddar (another yummy option for my roast beef sandwich! :) ).
My point is just that it can be a lot of work to try to determine what is local. How about a few standardized labels that could be put on food, specifying different degrees of "localness?" There could be one indicating that something is completely produced and processed in OR, another for foods either grown here or processed here, etc. I'm sure a lot more people would be willing to buy locally produced foods if that attribute was easier to determine.

posted 5 years, 1 month ago
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