On The Homeless

(xpost)

San Francisco/Tenerloin/Market St: Fucking pandemic, out of control, but these are the real deal - crazy, drug addicted street people. Market St is their Mecca.

Berkeley: Annoying psychedelic relics with funny signs like "Spare Change for Weed?" Haight St. is like this, too.

Oakland: Mind-numbing poverty, but pandhandlers are often polite (usually) and quite deferential - lots of "Excuse me, sir, can I trouble you for a moment of your time?" etc.

Santa Cruz: The fucking worst! Dread-head stoner Crass punks with pitbulls and face tattoos that make comments - "Sorry I don't fucking shop at the Gap, bro!" There should be a camp somewhere... round 'em up!

I've seen it! It's called "bedsheets and blankets."

If people are too persistent, I degenerate quickly from "no" to "F*ck Off". I realize the homeless are people too and often not treated with dignity, but I just don't care anymore. To all the non-aggressive homeless out there, too bad there are so many assholes that ruin it for you.

That's worse than money. The money I can see because that's like the gateway to everything else ... but the cigarettes. Ugh. I usually will give out like 1 a day to a random person if I'm feeling generous but it's likefuck, cigarettes cost a lot of money, you know? Because you see me smoking are we like friends or something? I saw you eating a sandwich but didn't ask you for a bite. I also don't say sorry in this situation either, but rather "no thanks" and is in "no thanks I don't want to pay for your smoking addiction dick."

OTOH, i have rights too. and i DON'T like being threatened or hustled by folks.

Ah, the anguish...

sometimes i do worry about her.

O.k.

Someone asks you for change. You say no. You forget about it. Why harbour all the rage? Is it because you have middle-class guilt or something?

The only time I gave a large sum away was when I did ectasy, MDMA an coke at a party when I was 17. I was walking through the *insert name of big city* at five in the morning. A homeless dude asked me for money. I gave him £50.00. He kissed my hand. I felt his teeth mush against my skin. I was a bit. Oh. Traumatised. Like WTF? Do you think you have POWER because you can gift someone with a bit of cash? Not accusing just a'wonderin'...

The Covent Garden end of Shaftesbury Avenue is full of drunkies and junkies; there's a bit of a needle park behind the cinema. People constantly beg off passers-by and once this really sketchy girl got Ed to give her three pounds 'to get home' and then came into the bar where we were having drinks and actually canvassed him again.

I'm not happy when I see women using their kids as props during fundraising initiatives in tube stations or shoving a note about how shit things are in Bulgaria into the faces of commuters, but that's nothing on the legless vets that used to canvass on trains in NYC. When people ask me for change I'm likely to say 'sorry, I'm skint' whether or not it's the truth, and at least in London that seems to be a reasonable excuse. When I lived in NYC I got into the habit of leaving cheap restaurants with a 'doggy bag' and giving this to the first homeless person I saw.

i mean, if they're supposed to be so wise then how come they ended up HOMELESS??

Jimmy, I think it depends on how often you are asked for money and the manner in which you are asked. Where I live, you cannot avoid being hit up around 10-15 times every day, with some of the panhandlers wheedling and some subtly menacing. Also, it's not so simple as saying "no" and moving on; frequently, you will be followed and harassed or harangued. In fact, the other day I did give a guy some change just because it was below zero outside and he proceeded to yell at me as I walked away because I wasn't sufficiently polite when I gave him the money. If it were a simple case of "can I have some change", "No", "all right then", I don't think this thread would even exist.

this "you MUST have rage b/c of middle-class guilt" is the attitude of someone who lives in suburbs or north bumblefuck (where, like, they don't have homeless people and if any showed up the cops would beat the shit outta them).

Everybody knows that Berkeley Amoeba is the best, anyway. Plus there is the guy that sells jokes just outside. He told me that they would "guarantee [me] pussy".

i am filled with hatred rn

― the spectacular cow (Lamp), Wednesday, August 21, 2013 8:29 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

somehow misread this as 'i am filled with ham rn'

I’ve made friends with the homeless people in my area and their character is amazing. I’ve had a cast applied for my broken arm by a former nurse who is homeless, been given beer, smokes and pot. Ultimately character is what counts imo not life circumstance

lol

:(

I saw an interesting talk recently about these programmes that involve homeless people in the creation and/or production of operas. Streetwise in London has been going on since 2000; the Opéra de Montréal project started just a couple of years ago and just presented a new opera about two weeks ago (I didn't see it):

http://www.streetwiseopera.org/about-us
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/lopera-de-montreal-collaborates-with-formerly-homeless-to-craft-opera/article33351804/

So many rough sleepers in London right now: I walked the canal from St John’s Wood to King’s Cross around 8am and under half of the underpasses, there were men rolled up in sleeping bags and dirty uncovered duvets. A few days ago, walking from Dalston to Angel on another stretch of the canal, people were sleeping in little tents on grass verges.

The government here makes me sick.

After spending the last 8 years in various reaching out to the homeless, my advice (possibly obvious) would be never give them money. I’ve seen them clear 70 dollars a day, spend 10 bucks a pop on heroin or meth (or cheaper)

Most homeless people I know around here get food all day, that would benefit them vs the cash. Also a lot of homeless people live in shelters or even drift and crash on friends couches. A good 8-10 hours of their day may be spent panning, usually early to late afternoon or evening.

Ime most homeless people are not worth trying to befriend,
I’ve had a guy I knew 8 years scream at me while in the throes of crack. Some are sweethearts, names withheld because i respect their anonymity.

Often the police let them off with drug possession, the kinds of things the cops give them a court date for involve stealing money from parking metres, vending machines or fights with other street people or cops.

Without going too deep into how many of these people are victims of sexual abuse (especially women who are often approached to be picked up or alcohol is given to them to try to get them to come back to some assholes place) - - -
Local resources like Work BC will offer anyone a job if they spend 4 weeks or so cleaning up their clothes and act. The act is the harder part, clothes and food and free transit passes are all provided by Work BC. The reason my friend doesn’t work in her words is “I can’t work around other people” and “I would get dope sick”. Attempts to offer to take her to the hospital, 12 step or an alternative rehab centre are met with indifference. First thing and last thing on a lot of these folks minds is scoring and doing drugs.

How can you blame them? I would want to be out my gourd if I was on the street too. Also most homeless people in specific areas know every other street person, often sharing the same dealer.

Anyway, here’s some homeless slang to finish up:

Side: meth
“Got any side?”
Red zone: police kicking you off a block or radius for crimes
“I was redzoned for stealing from a parking metre”
Goof: pedo or human trash person
Binner: bottle or can collector

Etc

wow great tips ross, thanks for "redzoning" me on giving to the homeless.
and you say they could all get jobs but aren't willing? damn, sounds like these homeless are a bunch of "goofs"

No need for the snark

My post was intended to be thoughtful

Not to one up anyone

You can give if you like. Sometimes I still give money. Your world

big news from the Ninth Circuit Court:

Cities may not prosecute homeless people for sleeping outside if they have no access to shelter, appeals court rules

we should give them some homes . i think there are plenty empty ones around .

san francisco, one of the richest cities on earth, cannot afford to provide for its homeless, but can afford to roll rocks onto the sidewalk where they sleep.

this country's contempt for the poor *it creates* is staggering. https://t.co/OpIyguozwy

— p.e. moskowitz (@_pem_pem) September 29, 2019

exterminationist rhetoric against the homeless is obviously a deliberate 2020 strategy for the GOP. Dems should start discussing hate crime protection for the unhoused. Austin's already seen at least two anti-homeless vigilante attacks this year and more will likely follow. https://t.co/q4rwmv1pxI

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) October 2, 2019

they always find money for alcohol tobacco and drugs so i wonder why?!

bye, thanks for playing

poor people all have smartphones and 40" televisions yada yada yada

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