by Marlon Crump

Few can compare, few can bear, many can stare or glare. Only some can farewell, with welfare, a stairwell ringing a cathedral bell, a jail cell depicted as hell, monumental moms that foretell a wishing well of wonders, where dreams fell, bodies pale, or spirits that bail by those that fell:

A colony and collage, not a mirage of females with no tall tales, that can march a street with no signs of defeat to accomplish a feat of system resistance and pounding persistance. These are the outcries of irritable sighs, with only the relief of shrunken dollars in the mail:

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Elvira Pollard who's son so unjustifiably cut down from his life, before he fully grew after graduating school, by the blue who knew he could've never slew, was executed like a wild in the zoo. She cried as they tied and lied, and a spirit from her son's soul encompassed, then comforted and told her "I may be felled by the pistol but my spirit will be your missile:

A mighty mom, hands down, with a powerful sound should she frown upon trespass on her ground, the magnetic pound from her heart is the symphony of solidarity and not just sympathy for dignity but peace and prosperity, make and shake the guilty sizzle. The pupils of her eyes conclude her soul more pure that crystal:

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Marylon Boyd a woman of professionable powers of profound motion to laundromat the legions of lawless conducts, until the blue once again knew, her son never slew, taking him away without a clue of what to do. An everlasting candle was lit. The soul of her son inducted for her to be conducted and reluctant, with of the law being the vast vengeance:

A technical error of underhanded tactics, shall not lead this great woman to madness, despite her sadness. The eyes, ears, and energetic entity of humilty to proceed, is a strive indeed. You blues are equipped with artillery, but she fires and will call the shots. You blues's lawyers of lies and leisures, fuels her fury around your blemishes, only she's the astringent and instrument of your sentence:

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Wendi Lefti hardworking of strenous strive from the system, a mother of raising her young, an even more strenous task. Then one day she furiously had to ask, why a demonic dimension sent a pair from the steps of utter despair to tear away from her stairway of the heaven that was her husband; one deep, dark, and dreary day?:

A man, a father, a husband, and a local legend barricaded then erradicated by forces from overzealousness of jealousness. The falsehoods of pestilence was the typical reply, making many of us cry. "Why must you all lie? Is this everyday, inducting us into the fray, into this "American Way?"

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Kathleen Espinosa an angelic mom, who's offspring peacefully sat in his own inhabitable peace of mind, rebuilding his very life in kind, astonishly and monstrously taken out of the blue, by the blue. Nothing faced the blue that was dramatic, yet fired upon him ultimately tragic, but the magic from her fallen son's soul will be the static, that will fuel her energy to make the Satanic squad panic:

A dimensional line was breached from her life, a cognizable deficit sliced into her head, as she mourns daily of her son pronounced dead. However, his spirit announces to her and his loved ones, everyday as she goes to bed, by taking her into his arms, then so soundly said "I may have bled when I fled because I dread their hot lead, but on the Day of Judgement, they will be held accountable in God's Attic":

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman,Mirna Ayall a prominent, dominant female figure, immediately inducted by the Blue that so savegely slew her precious seed, as he inhabitated himself in the musical instruments through his ears, tragically ended with her tears. Unlawful restraint upon her son, that coldly ended as he merely tried to have fun was fried into the sun, by the rays of light of the Blue that had no right to unlawfully flex their meaningless might, who never instigated a fight:

Can anyone hear her plight, as she's no longer able to hold him tight now that he's taken a heavenly flight? An unstable constabulary results in his obituary, but to be proposed in an average dictionary, the definitions, with no distinction of strength, commitment, motivation, humility towards stability. The focus in the justice of her savegely taken son is a fight that will never leave her sight:

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Mesha Monge-Irrizary an eternal champion, heroine of heroines, robbed of her seed who desperatedly sought need and refuge from the deficits of his mind, ultimately was slewn by the Blue that knew, his life has always been true. While many would spend eternity towards crying out in agony for their baby,or seeking drapery of a maybe, but this isn't no ordinary lady:

Her son is now dead and deceased, she was re-born to increase a lifelong lease towards peace, even to the wielders of her son's decease. A foundation built from her fails in comparison of the height of her sight, beamed down onto her from the spirit of her son's light, that forever enchances her might as she tirelessly fight the civil right, plagued by those who only view the world as white as Lady Liberty:

Not an average Internet Service is networked, unlike this incomperable woman of a rare voice messaging system, towards any victim of a kingdom that abhors freedom and equality. The quanitiy spoken from her ultra-sound vocals speaks vast volumes, channeling indestructible positive and electrical energy, opposed to a country allegedly of "Tis of Thee:"

"Of a Land that Knew..."

That great woman, Ingrid De Leon began a prolific struggle from slaverable elements and components, in spite of her deepest darkest moments, from desert plains, crying in vain, from predators viewing her as prey to claim. From sunrise to sunset, she refused to be a stage set by a slavemaster's select towards humilty defect. Only food for her dine, was an impenetrable will and the Promised Land, focused by her mind:

The iron-like limbs of her legs never failed her joints, even as she fell spiritually depleted and defeated, thus born was her powerfully persisted points. A voice slowly, then loudly instructed the continuance of her journey, a voice from the Heavenly Father above, extending his Hand of Love. "Get up, Get up, and go!" True inspiration of a woman, a mom, a fighter and a survivor that defeated roadblocks physically, then mentally by crossing a borderline:

"Of a Land that Knew..."

That great woman, Vivian Hain and her daughter, Jasmine Hain a generation of indomitable struggle, multiplying their very lives by four as they soar against time from the crime by society that proposed economical anxiety, imposing deprivatory of perilous political territory. The vast power of a mom and daughter's struggle thoroughly unmatched, as they are admirably attached inspite of systematic attacks:

Near light years later, they re-emerged into breaking down the walls of poverty perceptions that often invites political deceptions to discourage human affections, as this mother and daughter team crossed countlessly callous intersections.

While the arrogance of ugly aroma stenched from the "high class" hiding behind city governmental facilities, so blinded by the lustful leisures of their deceptivably humble abode; none of them ever came within striking distance of experiencing the blocks of this mom and daughter, as they traveled a ruthless road, that few could lo and behold nearly crawling on their backs:

"Of a Land that Knew..."

That great woman, JewnBug an atomical voice to date that combats an oppressionable era of terror that intends to eradicate those that create. Born of a kinetical energy of spiritual light to inspire the height of a kite that knows no hand, but her own that only blows in her direction that seeks affections, in producing every single mom's protections. A voice in every categorical aspect of a struggling mom's predicament, overcoming all odds is her sentiment as evil constantly claims of no limit:

Two jewels from her eyes can equal a stream of a two, as she wearily wanders daily battling darkened souls deemed unsavory, that dare to glare and sneer, not cheer this courageous lady. A sparkling and rising star that forever stays in orbit, a cosmic energy with a field of asteroids that sustains all her voids of love, in the gleaming radiant rays of her own son, who shall someday beams down on all mothers globally that strive in their drive to be loved, not just intimate:

"Of a Land that Knew..."

That great woman, Mama Dee a wanderer of limitless dimensions of poverty, a mother of a jewel that gleams in the eyes of her very seed,(Tiny "A.K.A" Lisa Gray Garcia), thus cometh a rarest team of an uncommon breed. A lifetime of oppression too great, where few could relate. A savage society that imposed it's guides with lines to re-create and characteristically cremate:

It's attempts proved useless and pathetic, as this great women proceeded to take the initiative and re-create a universe that still longlasts a decade of dynamic arts and crafts. An empire to one day global the poverty immobile, to transform the lost into a noticeable noble. Gone this year, leaving many with a tear, but the symbolic structure of her adventures of poverty cultures the right from system vultures that eternally, artificially inseminate then eliminate:

As heiress to the throne, that great woman Tiny ( Lisa Gray-Garcia) is daily re-born to be that triumphant horn to be sounded in a direction, for many of her ever-growing pupils of poverty that exemplifies soulful solidairity for all eternity. Though deceptions and misconceptions prowl around her true voice of journalism, her phenomenal and astronomical wisdom, acts of heroism gives sight to the blind:

The word "Poor" may shut many doors, for being labled as rotten to the core, but this great woman gave capitalization of "POOR" into the realization surrounding the criminalization and incarceration of it society's major transubstantive errors, amidst this so-called "War on Terror" era. Inspite of uncoming poverty plagues, the dawning of a new age that "POOR" has set a stage with no actors or actresses, emerging from no houses, with just mattresses.

No color lines drawn, no system resistance gone, no interest of a manicuric lawn, because grassroots still continue to grow whether from dusk or dawn. Just a pen, an eye, a voice, a knowledge, being of sound and body, from this great woman's open mind:

"Where the women that still grew"

In the coming of age, the great women still empower their might of their constant fight to battle wolves in suits that continue to bite. A Princess L. that conqured violent hands in her past. A Dharma that relentlessly struggles to succeed a difficult task. A Janie Mae Dickens whose eyes are always widened to the dream owls of poverty struggle, never revealing a wicked mask. A Laurie that refuses submission as a single mom amidst poverty as being viewed upon as a systematic, statistical rash. A Rania , an Amanda , an Anna, Joanna , or a Jackie that work tirelessly around POOR, taking on any turbulent task:

A great woman, Bessie Burger, a beauty of ancient historical resistance of astonishing longevity with the never-ending will to defy "Care Not Cash."

That great woman, my very own mother, Victoria Crump has wrestled demons and shadows, before I her oldest seed (your's truly, Marlon Crump) knew the agony and trauma of hitting the mat. In a lifelong struggle from humble habitats, plagued with poverty and rats, she strived to drive the dimensions of near-extinctions of our very lives, from a monstrous burglar, a system plagued poverty emerger, or trauma encourager, in the form of dressed-up smiles:

The flow of her energy into my very own well-being to be a lifeforce battling a callous society of no remorse, increase my stubborn will to yield to their obstacle course. I lost another great woman, her mother, my grandmother (Elizabeth Crump) due to medical neglect where I still feel the effect. Gone, is my ownself physically to be upon them, but my spirit, my voice, my heart, my very own life speak mass volumes of characteristic quantities of life. Our love, vice versa, can overflow even the River of the Nile.

"Man can flaunt and boast their masculinity, as woman struggle with their stability and self-sufficiency. Man can be aggressive, as woman are daily progressive. Man can shame, defame, and maim, while woman hold their head high from failure to blame, regardless who knows their name, or chases them like hunting game."

Marlon Crump, 12/19/2006.

by Joseph Bolden

Crisis,G.A. And Truth Pt.2

My one regret is that not once did I ever get to eat a Knish or drink an Orange Julius [light breaded baked potato of Jewish creation].

Another also New York City treat [Orange Julius:

made with oranges, strawberries protein power,honey with egg and shell or minus shell mixed in].

The mixer had to really pulverize shells to powder or it scratched your throat going down, you could also choke or gag on it which happened to me a few times.

Not once did I during the whole time ever get a taste or even a whiff of 'em.

It made me so homesick and made that I vow to be a better cook so I can make my own treats from scratch

whenever I wanted not dependent on vendor(s) or store bought items.
Yep',good luck with that.

Ok, a few days have passed, skipped out of town before labor day travel crunch.

Signed up for G.A. again before taking a bart train for a family get together.

Blood bled news, sweet 16 parties, a famous, wacky, Conservationist Australian guy killed by a stingray, and the ‘Prez on television giving his low down on our eminent

destruction of our way of life if certain factions in the Middle East have their way.

It sounds like scare tactics to me.

Linking Lenin With Hitler shows the guy is mixing worker rights and communism with Hitler’s Mein Kampf [A blue print of Xenophobic Jewish Extermination].

When his revolution topples Russia’s ruling class but went into another tangent ending with Joseph, Stalin, a deadly, suspicious, smart, and cunning, leader who during, and post world war 11 turned Russia into a fearful land of death for decades before his death in 1953.

It was creepy the way he says World War III as if that’s his job to "Bring It On."

Anyway I enjoyed a safe space with one of my relatives sleeping most of the two days away until I had to take my butt back to the city.

Jotted other things down,but probably lost forever in the net.

I'll just say I rather rule in hell than serve in heaven.

A guy called Milton said that way back when.

He makes sense to me if one ready and willing to defy the powers of Won't,Cannot,Don't,and Never.

I have...

altinate plans for this lifetime I hope that'll work in the next if our world survives our constant rape and pounding of it.

And with that it’s the end of Crisis, G.A.

Gotta go folks and… I don’t know what to do next but I'll have lots of fun figuring it out. Bye.

by Joanna Letz POOR Magazine Race Poverty and Media Justice Intern

Yvonne Smith longtime resident of West Oakland said, "In the 1940's and 50's West Oakland rivaled Harlem. Right here there was a drug store, afurniture store, a Bank of America, and The Lincoln Theater with the best buttered popcorn…West Oakland was bustling with African-American families…"

Last Saturday’s chilly morning POOR Magazine’s co-editor tiny, her son Tiburcio and I rep-ported and sup-ported on Just Cause Oakland’s tour of development and gentrification in West Oakland. Just Cause is committed to building a powerful voice for and from Oakland's low-income tenants and workers. We started at their newly commissioned billboard across the street from the Bart station on 7th and Chester. The billboard reads, "West Oakland for the People, Stop Gentrification."

The purpose of the gentrification tour of West Oakland as Andre Wright of Just Cause said, "to show city officials what’s happening and what West Oakland used to be. Wright continued on to say, "Change does need to happen. The neighborhood does need to improve. But the same people need to be here with new jobs and new houses." The tour was led through the voices and eyes of West Oakland residents themselves.

Carrie Owens also a long time resident of West Oakland spoke. She said, "My family came on a train sixty years ago to West Oakland. West Oakland used to be a hub of black business. It used to feel like home. But now people are being displaced."

The bus we boarded was modeled after buses in Mexico, with its bright colored paint, old posters adorning the sides, and plastic figures stuck to the dash-board. The bus is a symbol of self-definition and expression.

Just Cause members are demanding that in West Oakland the people of West Oakland decide what the community is to look like.

As the bus rolled away from 7th street the words of Yvonne Smith echoed and bounced off the shiny blue walls as she recalled what West Oakland was once like. I tried to picture what West Oakland must have been like fifty or sixty years ago. Smith continued and said, "The developers get richer while the poor get poorer. The developers build condos that the people of West Oakland can't afford…and people are pushed out. This is gentrification."

Oakland's black population decreased 13% between 1990 and 2000 and has accelerated to close to 25% since 2000. In West Oakland less than 10% of residents can afford the average-priced home.

Smith explained, "Long time home owners are an essential part of our neighborhood."

From 1997 to 2004 the average sale price of homes in West Oakland rose from $53,317 to $315,000. Nearly 80% of West Oaklanders are renters. More than 2/3 of renters are very low or low income.

Vanessa Moses from Just Cause said, "The earliest gentrification in West Oakland happened during the 1990's dot com boom. From 1998-2000 eviction rates increased 250%."

The bus took a turn and Smith pointed out where her Mother's house used to be. Now there sits a parking lot. Smith said the city took her Mother's house by eminent domain. Across the street a monotonous row of condos has been built. The street used to be occupied by old Victorian homes, but they were demolished and replaced with the condos.

The bus slowed and pulled over across the street from De Fremery Park. Smith's voice jumped once again back in time, she said, "The Black Panthers used to hold rallies here in the park. They called for self-determination. For us to decide what our communities look like."

We climbed down into the street, music playing from the speakers. As we stood on the corner of De Fremery Park Andre Wright said, "Decay is Caused by disinvestment in West Oakland. Which has driven down land and house prices. And now the developers are back to cash in."

Andre continued on to say, "We need more vital resources to make West Oakland a place we want to call home."

We were met at the park by DeAngelo Lemmons, also known as Dee Knock, and A'Dunyae. DeAngelo said, "We can uplift the community with music. We need to support local things, like Bump Records, rather than spend your money in Berkeley at places like Rasputin Records." He continued to say, "Developers shut us down out of our own community."

Both DeAngelo and A'Dunyae gave us a glimpse of what they create by spitting some inspiring words of wisdom. DeAngelo and A'Dunyae are both part of Covenant House in West Oakland. Covenant House works to create a different vision of West Oakland and to get homeless youth off the streets.

The sun was shining bright now, but the air was still cold and crisp. As I stepped on the bus I looked back over my shoulder thinking about the Black Panther rallies that took place in De Fremery Park.

We stopped at the Pacific Pipe Factory where a 1500 unit luxury housing development has been proposed. The luxury units would not be affordable for West Oakland residents.

We met with Oakland council member Nancy Nadel. We stood in front of the large structure that was once the Pacific Pipe Factory. Nancy Nadel asked, "What exactly do we want here?" She went on to say, "We need to develop our city in a sustainable way."

The land parcel where Pacific Pipe sits is owned by housing developer Peter Sullivan. Sullivan owns a number of land parcels in Oakland. Sullivan has been telling the Oakland city council that there are no industries interested in the land. But Nancy Nadel explained that she has personally sent interested industry to Sullivan. One such group was Semifreddi's Bakery, but Sullivan would only agree to a five-year contract. The housing proposal at Pacific Pipe does not include a single affordable housing unit. Nadel also explained that the housing proposal does nothing to address the need for jobs in West Oakland.

Nadel said all the large parcels of land in Oakland are being sat on by housing developers.

Nadel showed the correlation between unemployment rates and homicide rates in Oakland. With increases in unemployment, homicide rates increase as well. Nadel said when there are not enough jobs people resort to the black market and this continues violence. Nadel said, "West Oakland needs manufacturing jobs that match the income and education levels of the people that live here."

Ian Kim, the policy director at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights spoke in front of Pacific Pipe. He said, "There are two forces at work when people meet and the group with the plan wins. The City of Oakland has been going without a comprehensive economic development plan. Some factors include job creation, zoning, and education. The city needs to be able to pull the reigns on real estate development."

He went on to say West Oakland needs to build green industry. He gave some examples such as solar and wind energy businesses, and expanding recycling in Oakland. Kim said the Port of Oakland sees massive amounts of scrap metal and wood pulp paper. Kim said, "We need creative ways to create jobs." Recycling programs create many more jobs. We also stopped at Bobby Jones' house. We stood in front of his home and he greeted us all with a hug and began to speak about his experiences in West Oakland.

Bobby Jones said, "The city must put sanctions on development. We must keep rents low and have a concrete rent control plan."

Jones also said, "We must open our eyes and see what we miss. We only have sight and no vision. If you don't know your rights than you will not have a single one."

Bobby Jones and others are trying to start streetcars running in West Oakland again. Back in the day streetcars were a usual occurrence. For more information about the street cars go to soulinthecity.org.

We took the bus a short distance to the historic West Oakland TrainStation. The train station opened in 1912 and was a primary transit center before it closed in 1989. Many African-American families and immigrant families came through the station. The International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first African-American labor union, began at the Station. CL Dellums, mayor-elect Ron Dellum's uncle was part of this union.

We met at the station with Greg Hodge. He said, "Here was the West Coast center for the labor movement. We need to keep this history alive, young people need to know." Hodge also described how the station sits at the geographical center of Oakland as well as the greater Bay Area.

There we were standing outside the train station, in the heart of West Oakland and the heart of the Bay Area, the very place where many West Oakland residents first came. The train station is surrounded by barbed wire. Sea gulls dipped back and forth between where we stood and the station casting their shadows as they went.

Hodge is a part of the 16th and Wood Street Train Station Partnership. They released a development plan report in October. Hodge summarized some of the development plans for the train station, which include, "education, business, self-sustaining restaurants, history, green jobs, and an incubator and home for non-profit organizations." For more information about the Train Station Partnership contact, Margaretta Lin, margarettalin@ebclc.org.

As the bus descended back on 7th and Chester I had a sense that I had traveled in between time. The tour spoke of the struggles and of the resistance and history of resistance in West Oakland. The bus ride was a tribute to resistance as both young and old residents spoke about their experiences living in West Oakland and their visions for their own community.

Bobby Jones said, "We need affordable housing, better jobs, and more opportunity for Oakland residents. The voters have spoken-- It's time to put an end to Jerry Brown- style predatory development."

Before we all dispersed many of us signed Just Cause's Policy Framework to Fight Gentrification and Predatory Corporate Development, which states the following:

- To Advance the rights of working-class West Oaklanders to stay and thrive in their neighborhood.

- To Encourage growth and development in West Oakland that serves the people living here, not that just makes profit for wealthy developers.

- To help secure the resources that will make West Oakland affordable for its renters and homeowners, and that will prevent displacement.

- To be bold and innovative in defending the interests of working-class West Oaklanders of Color against Predatory Development.

For more information about Just Cause visit their website at
justcauseoakland.org

by Laure McElroy

Regina Sharon is a homegirl, a third generation San Francisco native and mother with deep roots in her Potrero Hill community. She is also at present (like me) a member of California's state-funded medical insurance program, Medi-Cal. For as long as Regina can recall, her family has gotten healthcare from their neighborhood clinic, the Potrero Hill Health Center (PHHC).

Two months ago, an eight months-pregnant Regina visited PHHC, seeking to be seen as a drop-in. "I was near the end of my last trimester but I hadn't had any prenatal care. I had been planning to make an appointment anyway, but I decided to go in that day rather than wait because I had been feeling sick all week."

"Feeling sick" in this instance meant far more than morning sickness; Regina was having hot flashes, headaches, and her hands and feet were enormously swollen. "I have a history of health problems around pregnancy," she says. "I miscarried my first child, and with my second I had preeclampsia so bad, I had to stay in the hospital for almost a month. I was really concerned for me and for my baby, and I was relieved when they told me I could go in that day, because I didn't know what was going on with my body."

Hearing Regina's story made me reflect on my own health care history. My mother raised me in Oakland, CA; she was a working-class woman, a single parent by virtue of divorce. Her ex-husband, my father, had a corporate job with middle-class benefits, including a health plan on which the court ordered him to list me as a beneficiary. This meant that although we were by no means wealthy, as a child I enjoyed regular shots, check-ups and care, preventive and otherwise, administered to me in spacious, fully equipped offices by sleek, respectful, well-fed staff. My mother was just like any other mother; she wanted me clean, well-fed, and above all, healthy.

Mother-to-be Regina kept her appointment at PHHC, happy that she only had to wait a week to be seen. She took her preschool-aged son with her, since it was a weekday morning and she did not have childcare.

"I arrived, checked in, and was taken to an exam room," she said. "The exam rooms aren't really rooms, they're just spaces partitioned off with curtains. So I was in the exam room waiting and my son kept slipping out into the hallway, you know, running around like kids do. I was trying to keep an eye on him but I wasn't feeling well at all, and they don't have any toys or play area for patients' children there.

Well, about 15 minutes later, this doctor, not my doctor, comes into the room without announcing himself or asking, dragging my boy by the arm. He glares at me and snaps in a very nasty tone, 'You need to control your children when you're in this clinic!'"

The doctor left and an outraged Regina called a friend on her cell phone to describe the event. In the conversation she expressed her opinion about how the man had treated her, using some choice words. "I said to her, 'you know what this m-therf----er just
did?' I was very angry, but I wasn't shouting or even speaking in a normal tone; I lowered my voice because I did not want to be overheard. It was a private conversation. I wasn't talking to him at all when I said what I did, he wasn't even in the room! I didn't
like the way he had talked to me or the way he had mishandled my son, but I was sick, and I wanted to be seen, not cause a scene."

Despite her precautions and despite what one could call a reasonable assumption that her right to a private telephone conversation would be honored as she waited alone in the exam area, the rude doctor overheard her. "He stormed back in, carrying on about how I needed to apologize for calling him out of his name. He was yelling. He didn't care my son was there. I thought he was going to hit me."

Regina pointed out to him that since he hadn't been the room at the time and she had had no idea that he was listening to her phone call, she couldn't have been addressing him, but her goal was to visit her own doctor, not to insult another. "I told him that I was sorry if I had upset or offended him in any way, even though I had not actually been talking to him." The angry doctor finally left, and she thought the matter was finished. But 10 minutes after he exited, the head nurse came in and told her that she would have to leave the clinic or be "escorted" out by the police.

…

Safely ensconced in the rosy glow of pre-HMO corporate healthcare benefits, as a child I knew nothing of the kind of HELLthcare mistreatment that those of us who cannot afford increasingly expensive private care, those of us who depend on so-called "safety net" services, sometimes endure. My innocence ended one Sunday night in 1994 when I visited the hospital near my house, seeking care for a painful case of food poisoning.

This hospital happened to be private, and as a twenty-something who was (like many of us) much worse off financially than my parents were at the same age, I was medically indigent at that point in my life, no health insurance at all. When I got to the emergency room, clutching my stomach in agony, the front desk staffer looked me up and down then immediately started trying to persuade me to leave and go to the public hospital, which was a half-hour bus ride away. I insisted on being seen where I was because I was afraid that the diarrhea and the vomiting would start up again while I was trapped on the bus.

After waiting 2 hours, an inordinate amount of time considering there were only two other people in triage, a nurse led me back into a freezing exam room. She brought me a gown and an extra sheet, and then told me to strip and lie down on the exam table, a frosty metal affair covered by a stingy strip of butcher paper. An hour and forty five minutes after that, the doctor on duty entered. I smiled at him, relieved, until I noticed his glare, which was even colder than the table. "Sorry," he clipped, lip curled, "but we don't give out opiates. You won't get any drugs here."

I stared at him, nonplussed; it had never occurred to me that the man would assume I was trying to scam the place for drugs. I had been concentrating only on the burning pain in my stomach and bowels, and not the political and social realities that plague me as a Black woman with very little money trying to access medical care in the US. I begged, nearly cried, and ultimately refused to leave until someone helped me, or told me what to do to help myself. The doctor scowled even deeper and stomped out of the exam room again. He came back with a thimble sized cup half full of Pepto Bismal, and pushed it toward me, lips tight. I actually thanked him, drank down the medicine, and left.

It took me until the next morning both to get over the poisoning and to fully feel how angry and humiliated I was behind the emergency room doctor's treatment of me. But I didn't go back to complain.

Doctors are considered superior in the American collective; even for those who are well - off enough to buy into the wealthy - are - healthy healthcare system, holding doctors and their institutions accountable for bad behavior is an uncomfortable, uphill battle. I was not coming from a place of material privilege AT ALL, and I was of course, painfully aware that I didn't even have that limited amount of power. I wanted to go in there and burn the place down with my scorn and my righteousness indignation, I wanted to scream at his superiors and grind an apology from them all, but I didn't pick up the phone because I knew my place, or so I thought, and I was afraid.

…

Regina continued her story."I was pregnant, I was sick and I had lost a baby in the past. I asked to see my doctor, I begged them to see me, but they wouldn't listen. They just kept telling me that I had to go until the police came and took me out by either arm. There was no referral to anywhere else, no checking my vitals, no nothing."

Switching to another primary care physician under the Medi-Cal "managed care" system would take time; Regina was angry and
humiliated, but her concern for her unborn child prompted her to call PHHC back that afternoon to ask her doctor when she could see her, stressing her symptoms. Her doctor advised her to wait a week. She kept calling.

Two weeks after the incident, she received a letter from her own doctor (who had not been involved in the incident) stating that the only way she would be allowed back on clinic property was if she signed a formal letter that the hostile, offensive himself had written, which had her admitting that she had threatened him and apologizing.

"I was still sick, had gotten worse, in fact, probably because of all the stress. I was so afraid." She stared at me levelly, hands clasped on top of her belly. "I knew that what they were asking for wasn't the way it had happened, but what else could I do? I signed the letter."

Signing such a letter may seem like an inconsequential thing, but threatening or otherwise abusive behavior toward another person while on clinic premises, especially a staff person, is grounds for denial of services according to the rules of public clinics in San Francisco. Regina Sharon, who has a history of pregnancy related illness, came into PHHC sick, afraid and seeking care for herself and her unborn. Regina felt that the doctor who had behaved abusively toward her used her vulnerability, her sickness and her need for medical care, to pressure her into admitting to something she had not actually done.

Why? Maybe that admission was necessary to excuse what otherwise would've been an unprofessional loss of temper, or maybe using it to deny her services later was an act of retaliation. Maybe, as one clinic insider suggested, Regina's individual episode of abuse is part of a systematic pattern of disrespect and even outright discrimination that targets people who come to the clinic unable to pay through to the higher realms of the sliding scale.

I do know that though what happened to Regina Sharon and what happened to me may sound dissimilar, but a sinister thread connects our histories; neither Regina nor I were given even the most cursory care because we were seen as people who had no money, no recourse, and thus no entitlement to proper treatment. If any of the medical staff we encountered had thought of us as being able to fight back, to field lawyers or powerful friends, there is no doubt in my mind that we would have been treated with more respect.

Laure McElory is a digital resister, welfare QUEEN, community journalist for POOR News Network and author of the recently published zine, System Bitch , which explores humans’ interactions and relationships with the systems that exist in today’s modern society from a myriad of voices. It is an intense collection of stories, poems and artwork that evaluate and question the existence of numerous systems and their effect on human life. For more information on System Bitch or to order a copy please call POOR Magazine 415.863.6306

by Joseph Bolden

Yeah, I'm Joe doin' this column once or twice a week.

I come up with all sorts of stuff to amuse myself.

Like for instance if Prez' Bush near mid or end of his term did something shocking and heroic lets say:
Not only brought troops home,made V.A. Hospital the vanguard of freed up higher applied science then did same to civilians with an
all out assault on death with international cooporation.

He'd go down maybe as the one greatest Presidents of the early 21st century.

Just as with ex President William,Jefferson ,Clinton who's gave the Human Genome Project added polish Mr. Bush Jr. could have and still can make grand jesture and be forever remembered for it.

So for he's stuck in Born-Again-Christian Dogma
and low roded himself and others on dust heap of human her-his/story.

May the next President, or multi billoinair be bold
and with a little selfish altrusim do what many of us in our deepest soul wishes: Have us live our lives in peace with a global science reaching for both stars above and aeons of life within.

If poor me ends up doin' it its a po'nation that cannot see what evoluted life is all about.

I have less time than some and more than a few but someone's has to jumpstart the next stalled adventure.

Give me life E-I mmortal
or SuSan (suspend/cryo freeze my ass until these knuckle heads get their acts together.

I don't trust government control of science and technologial development.

Its up to those devel-may-care Maverics like S.Jobs,Eric Drexler, and others to name a few not only to get all this going but keep the quantum jumps going unill the whole of humanity are safely delivered to Emmort or Immor lives.

What are you,some kinda' nut.

Maybe,but in burns me up to think young men/women,parents,sometimes grandparents are dying in a One-Man-I'm-The-Decider- War.

It isn't suppose to be this way,we're suppose to be seeking longer,better, improved lives not squandering them for control of resource of long dead prehistoric beasties!

Some long woman,boy,young,girl,or man is probably had enough.

They may seen friends fall in battle, seen, experienced,domestic violence or experienced death of someone young, elderly both of whom had a wisdom they've shared.

Just as we've learn much here comes Grimmy to take us out.

Its no longer a dream but glitters about us and our everyday choices, mind sets can no longer stay close to the possiblity of E - I lives.

At the penultimate moment Timothy Leary decides let go to visit the choir invisible but he left us with as S M Ix2 L E

Space, Migration, Increased Intelligence and Life Extention
No big deal for the young, or young middle aged or...
We never had young midddle aged and elder age before it was all one remember.

I have no money,time is relative, and death looms near where I live in the Tenderloin of San Francisco.

However, I wouldn't be a human which nationality I hale from if I didn't give my best shot at avoiding though not afraid of death.

One guy combining chuch and state business, a few cronies have stiffled our progress long enough, slow our on going self directed evolution to a crawl because he's afraid of change.

We as sentient being must not ever alow this kind of slow crawl ever to happen again...

by Joesph Bolden

Its weird how times change up on folks.

The rules of youth and age is breaking down ever so slowly as Viagra turns old guys,a few younger into former or newly mintedC..K*stars

That young women are just as ready to test so called geezers for stamina and staying power.

Yes,the taboo of old guy and young women was always broken if men with money and power could get away with it.

Fromhttp://forums.
plentyoffish.com

Here's a forum/dating see what women are saying about the situation circa 2006.

The whole thing is just stupid.

And what about guys that date much younger girls...

what'name/label' can they be called?

Lucky bastards.

Do cougars know they are cougars?

Nope...their too busy getting shagged.

Of course they know they are cougars. WHo you kidding?

And they love it as well....

It's not an offense for a woman to enjoy young love again is it?

Women,Guys,remember what she says,and see where logic and satire will lead to on these online threads.

Besides,that boy toy come with all natural...

No pills,no waiting period,no walking around like he was just kicked in the nuts later,

bent over trying to hide it cause the pill hasn't worn off yet......

That says it all.
I also believe that age does not matter.

I am not sure about the 'Cougars' going to the bar to prey on the young.

It seems a little like some drunken fool out to get laid and boost her self-esteem.

However,if she is dating a younger man...is she still called a cougar?

I hate the term "cougar"...it's so degrading (at least I think it is).....

once I heard someone call me a "cougar" and I just about ripped his head off....

cause to me a "cougar" is an older lady who goes out and picks up a young one and takes them home and "F*cks him"

....anyway, I told him I had to desire to take him home with me and *uck him....so I wasn't a cougar.....

So according to the definition....28 is the magical age for me....28 and up and I'm safe.....I can do that......

I absolutely detest the word cougar...

to me it implies an older desperate woman out preying on younger men,and quite frankly it is the other way around...

that word has never gone over well with me.

I have had guys say it and then try to pass it off as a compliment...

riiight, thought you scored one there did ya?

Not tonight little laddie

I'm sure they know they're cougars, but then -

You're only as old as the man that you feel.
getyou

Women seldom say what the truly believe.

For years theyv'e been telling the world that they are the protecters of youth and innocense

the problem is that if it's a guy he's a pervert but if its a woman she's a couger.

Women will always preport to being the moral indicater of the times but with all the teachers getting busted for screwing

around with kids it's finally comeing to pass that the world is seeing womwn for what they really are.

It's not so nice is it!

But if i'ts ok for them then mabey we should ask them to start shareing their youngsters with the rest of us after all were equal aren't we?

Lets drop the age of consent to twelve hey how about it moms sound good to you?

Guys, here's the thing.

It seems women don't want to be called cougar even when they act on it, so a simple solution is:

DON'T SAY, ANNOUNCE OR OTHER WISE INDICATE THEY ARE COUGARS JUST ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE(S)

AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT,TELL NO FRIENDS GIRLS OR BOYS,

YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ONE YOUNGBLOOD

WITH A BIG MOUTH-NO NOOKIE FROM HER BUT

THERE ARE ALWAYS A COUGAR OR TWO WAITING TO GET AT HIM.

Also a day is cumming when 70 - 80 year old guys will actually be biologically
younger than their chronological age and young thangs of 60 to 90 will make girls and
young women in their late teens and early

20's and 40's feel very insecure about who's hot and whom is getting laid or laying their men.

I don't use blue pills Goddess and God for small blessings but if a mature,
sexy, sensuous, cougar (I'll not call her that ever!)

Or young woman chose me as her first test drive.

She has the keys I'll let her drive.

Sacred or lacivious moments are savored by me and what's between two stays.

Any woman,women, wymyn, wimin, or wimmin have any comments lay it on me

http://forums.
plentyoffish.com
I credit them and the online voices that unknowingly helped me with
my humble colunm.

At

(Tell Joe@ poormagazine.org)

jsph_bldn@yahoo.com at my email or even

snail mail @ P.O. BOX 1230 #204 94102 S.F. Ca.

May everyone live long,loving,interesting and exciting lives.

by Tiny

From Jail to Journalism

The morning I got out of jail, I walked through the ice-like streets of
Oakland, California touching ivy and running my fingers along the sides
of buildings, cars and the trunks of trees. It wasn't that I had
forgotten how they felt. It was just to know that they, things, trees,
buildings and cars, were still there, even when I wasn't, helped to
ease the shudder, the ache and the tension that was now permanently
lodged in my head

Due to some extremely innovative lawyering by a local civil rights
attorney I was given a chance to write as a way of working off my
several thousand dollars of fines and jail time for crimes of poverty.
In me and my poor mixed race mama's case, this was for the sole act of
being homeless in the US- a citable offense. My writing/media
production assignment was completed, albeit slowly, while living
through the devastating experience of being a youth in a homeless
family who had to drop out of school in the sixth grade to support and
care for my family

The resulting story, a first person narrative about my attempt to get
our PG&E turned back on through county aid, was published. As a
youth dealing with incarceration and grinding poverty, the sole act of
being published, being heard, about me and my families' struggle to
survive, was revolutionary and life-changing, in fact, it was so large,

that it gave me the strength, the hope, to go on for another day. I
began to consider myself a writer. My scholarship valued.

From that first radical intervention, and subsequent acts of media
resistance, along with mentors that included Angela Davis, Velia
Garcia, and Erica Huggins, me and my mama launched POOR Magazine,
an intentionally glossy , nationally distributed literary magazine
written by poor folks on issues of poverty, racism, disability, police
brutality and more, which put forth actionable solutions to every
problem we discussed.

The magazine led to the eventual founding of a grassroots, non-profit,
arts organization of the same name (POOR Magazine) and several
education, arts and culture based programs and media production
projects such as PoorNewsNetwork(PNN) (an on-line news-service on
poverty and racism), a Pacifica radio show, POOR Press, and The Race,
Poverty and Media Justice Institute for youth, adults and elders, The
Po Poets Project and the welfareQUEENs, and many more. The most
important thing about all of these amazing projects is they are led by
what we at POOR call race, poverty, youth, disability and elder
scholars who are trying through media and art, to be heard, about their
experiences, their solutions and their scholarship.

Poverty, Race, Disability and Youth Scholars become Media Scholars at the USSF

Poverty, Race, Youth and Disability scholarship will be leading all of
the media production at The Peoples Media Center and Peoples Press Room
at the US Social Forum in Atlanta. In a revolutionary collaboration
between independent and corporate media producers, acts of media
resistance will happen throughout the forum

For example, a workshop on immigrant rights will be reported on by what
POOR/PNN would call immigrant scholars or poverty scholars, i.e.,
undocumented poor workers currently fighting racist, classist
immigration laws and deportations. Similarly, a report on the current
crisis of displacement in the aftermath of Katrina would be co-authored
by a resident or former resident of New Orleans fighting displacement
and/or a survivor of displacement in another city in Amerikkka. Both
reports would be written and/or taped in English and Spanish and
hopefully several more languages. The reports would be written, audio
or video taped in the first person, debunking the myth of objectivity
promoted by all corporate and even many independent media makers, and
the reports would be led by the people experiencing, first-hand, what
they are reporting on

The independent and corporate media producers at the conference would
work in collaboration with the poverty scholars to facilitate a media
report across several media platforms; radio, on-line, print and/or
video and in perhaps the most radical act of all for the corporate,
alternative, ethnic and independent media present, the finished piece
will be co-authored and both parties will share the precious by-line,
co-production real estate.

Whether it be radio, TV, on-line or print, it all often comes down to
the by-line, shared or singular, which is always based on who does the
actual writing, editing or scripting, rather than who is the subject of
the story, who the actual story is about, whose story is being told,
whose struggle or struggles are being reported on. It is this tension
that informs the inherently voyeuristic industry of Journalism, and
most media production. Contrary to this notion POOR/PNN believes that
if you are reporting on any issue, struggle or action felt or
experienced by poor folks, working folks, disabled folks, youth and on
and on, it should be led by the folks who have experienced these issues
personally.

Writing, reading, thinking imagining speculating. These are luxury
activities, so I am reminded, permitted to a privileged few whose idle
hours of the day can be viewed otherwise than as a bowl of rice or a
loaf bread less to share with the family, excerpt from Women, Native,
Other by Trinh T Minh-ha

Due to the many struggles inherent in a life lived in poverty, poverty
scholars are often dealing with a deficit of resources, money,
security, and time. literacy, formal education, a minute to spare away
from the pursuit of a loaf of bread, whereas, most (not all) corporate
and independent, ethnic and alternative media producers are coming from
a place of some form of privilege, not necessarily just an
over-simplified notion of race and or class privilege, but the far more
subtle privilege of an organized life, a family that supported you,
emotionally and/or financially through college, or perhaps the most
precious of all, the privilege of time to think.

Because of multiple forms of crisis and lack of privilege our voices,
the voices of poor folks, disabled folks, poor youth of color, poor
workers, single parents, elders children and homeless folks, are rarely
if ever heard within the media, we aren't leading the stories about
ourselves and our communities our families. or our solutions.

Finally, to achieve the mighty and timely goal to make another world
possible, the Peoples Media Center/Peoples Press Room will also be
creating new inroads of access for unheard voices, unheard struggles,
and urgently needed scholarship and community led solutions in a very
exciting, non-hierarchical form of inclusionary, non-competitive media.
We will be creating new national and international collaborations;
media access channels, reporting opportunities, syndications, and
co-authorship opportunities, which will live far beyond the one
powerful week in Atlanta.

Together we will make another world, another world of media production.

by Anna Kirsch/Race, Poverty and Media Justice Intern at POOR

“Yeah we just bought something like twenty pieces of property here,” the young American gloated to me. His clear blue eyes were shinning and I could practically see the money signs popping up in them as he spoke. “Really,” I said trying not to sound too much like I didn’t give a damn. He had after all just bought me an overpriced shot of tequila in this overpriced, Americanized bar.

Here I was in Costa Rica, suppose to be immersed in a new culture and learning a new language, and I felt like I was at a frat party. Thoroughly disappointed with the lack of opportunity to practice my Spanish and wondering how the hell I had ended up here, my mind wandered back to the day I decided to leave San Francisco.

It was an usually, hot and sweaty afternoon in June when I looked around my cramped, messy apartment and thought “I gotta get out of here.” It was a sudden strange urge that I couldn’t ignore. A surge of claustrophobia erupted in my body and I knew I needed to escape—the fog, this place and my life for a while. “I’ll leave the country,” I thought almost immediately. Traveling had always cured my blues. Maybe because the distance between me and reality always seemed to grow as soon as I stepped on a plane or train. I could ignore the world in a way I never could when I was at home. I’ll just take a break from the maddening reality of life in the city. Yes that’s exactly what I need I thought to myself and smiled.

When I mentioned this to my teacher and editor, Tiny, at POOR magazine’s Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute, she warned me not to be a poverty voyerist. She informed me about POOR’s disapproval of travel because it contributed to the colonization of other cultures. She told me that POOR believed tourists were, by default, adding to the suffering felt by increasingly displaced indigenous people all over the world by consuming and participating in the globalized real estate and tourism industries that caused them to live in poverty.

This was something I had never considered before. Traveling to me had always been an opportunity to experience and learn something new about the world and myself. I hadn’t so much thought about the effects of my trip on a global scale. I left my intern meeting that day feeling uneasy about my trip. I felt guilty when I realized I was going to be causing the destruction of a local culture. I vowed to myself and POOR that I would keep my eyes open and be conscious of the colonization I was contributing to. I also promised to be aware of the connections between the injustices occurring abroad and those happening in San Francisco.

A few short weeks later I found myself squeezed into an overcrowded plane on my way to Costa Rica. I was overjoyed. I had never heard a negative word uttered about the country known as the “Rich Coast.” Military less, with a low crime rate and one of the most progressive governments in the world, Costa Rica seemed like just the opposite of the poverty-stricken city of San Francisco. A city where more and more poor people and people of color were being pushed to the outskirts by corporations and investors. A city unconcerned with the well being of its citizens. A city where affordable housing was becoming non-existent. There had to be some place better. And I thought I had just landed in it. A few days later my mind drastically changed.

I wiped the sweat from the back of my neck and shifted uncomfortably on my barstool. He was still talking. “And you know everything is just dirt cheap here so I think we can really make a killing…His voice trailed off as I mentally focused on blocking his words from entering my ears.

It seemed to be the same story on every beautiful beach, in every corner market and in every local bar. Another rich foreign investor talking about his latest incredible property deal in one of the most desirable parts of the country. It was always “such a steal” and “unbelievably cheap.” These people seemed unconcerned with any thing other than a relaxing retirement or some business profiteering scheme. They seemed to have all the power in a country that wasn’t even theirs. The whole country felt hijacked.

Many “local” businesses were owned by foreigners and big corporations and companies had sprung up all over the country. “The stated aim is to entice primarily high-tech corporations to take advantage of Central America’s most educated and disciplined work force…the economy is being transformed from it’s longtime dependence on coffee, bananas and cattle to microprocessor production and high-end telecommunications,” an ad seeking foreign investors proudly stated. I couldn’t believe the country I had idealized in my head so much was turning out to be so different.

Early the next morning, I was walking down a dirt road in the boiling sun with mud splattered on the back of both my tanned legs when I glanced up into the mountains. That’s when I saw them for the first time. Dotting the horizon I saw mansions of epic proportions. I hadn’t even noticed before.

“Yeah, they’re all owned by rich white people, no Tico could ever afford that,” my friend Paige stated matter of fact. She had been traveling throughout the country for the past seven months. “Yeah dude, this place is full of gringos,” she said and sighed. “A gringo’s paradise.”

That’s when I realized the majority of people I had met weren’t indigenous or even local for that matter. They were white, English-speaking and many didn’t seem at all interested in assimilating into the local culture, a culture that was quickly disappearing. Although beautiful, no place I visited felt truly authentic and everything had been built to please the tourist population.

A few days later I was in Manuel Antonio on the Pacific Coast. Wandering up a long, winding paved road to try to get a good view, I became lost. As I tried to find my way back down, I stumbled on more unbelievablely huge, modern houses. These ones were still under construction and had private brick gates.

A young Tico was standing in the yard of one of the houses with modern architectural details and bright shinning metal that looked more like it belonged in L.A. than the grassy mountains of Costa Rica. He stood under the sweltering sun with a large brown dog. “Buenas,” I said. We talked for a few minutes and I asked him if the house belonged to his family. He smiled and shook his head, “No, es la casa de mi patron.” The house belonged to his boss. He told me he lived down the hillside.

I remembered walking by the rundown houses with peeled paint lining the paved road that carried tour buses to and from the sparkling beaches. These were where most of the locals lived I guessed. I thought about the small brown shacks I had seen on the outskirts of the towns all over Costa Rica. These people had been pushed off of their own land because it was no longer affordable for them while foreigners were whisked by to the surfing spots and high end resorts. I thought I had left all this behind in San Francisco, but it just kept getting worse and worse.

Two days later a big, glossy real estate magazine lying open on a wooden table surrounded by dirty glasses and playing cards grabbed my attention. I was sitting in an open-air yellow patio in a small hostel on the Caribbean coast. “OWN YOUR OWN PIECE OF PARADISE,” “JUST ROLL YOUR 401K OVER,” “RETIRE IN STYLE,” “INVEST IN PROPERTY,” the ads screamed from the pages. Written in English, these ads were obviously not aimed at Costa Ricans and I wondered if the government was trying to control any of the rapidly expanding foreign investment. It didn’t seem like it. In fact, the government seemed to be enabling the robbery of land from indigenous people.

“The most strident problem facing Indian communities today is the rapid encroachment of non-Indigenous people onto their lands…the government recognizes this, but has done little to remedy the problem,” Gerard Schulting, a researcher in Costa Rica found. There is an Indigenous Act meant to preserve native culture, but the majority of the time the government does not enforce it’s land protection laws and readily allows foreigners to buy property.

I wandered around the following week and all I could see were the future construction sites, property for sale signs and SUVs hauling building materials. I left Costa Rica a rainy week later, feeling let down in a way. I hadn’t escaped reality at all. In fact, traveling had only made every problem clearer and more pronounced to me. I hadn’t been able to ignore anything.

After returning to the foggy streets of San Francisco, I was walking around the “New Fillmore District” when suddenly memories of my trip flooded my mind. Shading the sun from my eyes, I gazed up and noticed I was surrounded by towering residential buildings, chain coffee shops and live/work spaces for rent. Everything seemed fake, brand-new and shinny in a way that made my stomach turn.

This was the neighborhood that had been severely gutted by the city for “urban renewal” and redevelopment over thirty years ago. The indigenous people had been pushed out, the local culture had been destroyed and a unique cultural identity had become extinct. I thought about this place and about Costa Rica. One already destroyed and one severely threatened. They weren’t that different after all.

I returned to my internship that August with a new perspective. During our monthly newsroom meeting, Tiny discussed the gentrification occurring in West Oakland and about how when poor people are forced out of their homes they often don’t leave the community but become homeless. She spoke about people living in cardboard boxes or what’s called “the sidewalk hotel.”

As she was speaking, I remembered Costa Rica and felt a pang of pain run through my body. I thought about the new homes being built in West Oakland and I remembered the mansions dotting the horizon in Manual Antonio. I thought about the people living in boxes on the streets of their own communities in California and I remembered the shacks with peeling paint surrounding the resort towns of Costa Rica. As I shared this with everyone at POOR, I felt my experience come full circle and everything became clear. There was no escape from this. Locally, nationally and globally these problems were clear if you’re eyes were open and now mine were.

by Staff Writer

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS:

As tenants, and as residents of the city of San Francisco we have rights, Constitutional Rights, and rights we deserve. As myself and many other tenants have experienced and seen, we must not only be aware of our rights, but we must demand them. As residents and tenants we must see to it that action is taken on our behalf.

-Tenants have the right to object when they feel their rights are being violated.

-Tenants should bring all health violations to the attention of the landlords and if need be directly to the Department of Health

-Retaliation by police officers or landlords to those making complaints is illegal and thus subject for court appeal.

-Under the Uniform Visitor Hotel Policy every SRO tenant has the right to at least eight overnight guests a month.

Resources: Organizations and Speakers

Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco (HRC),
Sara Shortt,
427 South Van Ness, SF, CA
Phone: (415) 703-8644,
email: info@hrcsf.org_,
URL: www.hrcsf.org

Department of Public Health (DPH)
Mario Odema,
URL: dphsf.ca.us

Saint Peter's Housing Committee
Lupe Arriola,
474 Valencia St., Suite 156, SF, CA 94103,
Phone: (415) 487-9203

La Raza Centro Legal
Renee Saucedo,
474 Valencia St., Suite 295, SF, CA 94103
Phone: (415) 575-3500

Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC)
Kevin Allen,
480 2nd Street, #100, SF, Ca 94107,
Phone: (415) 597-7711
URL: www.sfgov.org/site/occ

Senior Action Network (SAN)
Lotchana Souriuong,
Phone: 415-546-2088,
URL: www.senioractionnetwork.org/

SAN's new program: Health Insurance Counseling Advocacy Program(HICAP). HICAP is supposed to assist and provide people with supplemental insurance, as a partial solution to the problems of Medicare. HICAP also provides assistance for those that run into problems accessing Medicare.

Mission SRO Collaborative
(415) 553-6284
514 South Van Ness

Police Commission
Petra DeJesus, David Campos
Thomas J. Cahill Hall of Justice
850 Bryant St # 505, SF, 94103
(415) 553-1667
Meetings Every Wednesday, location and times vary.
Email: sfpd.commission@sfgov.org

Public Defender, Clean Slate Program
Demarris Evans,
URL:www.ci.sf.ca.us/site/pd_index.asp?id=143,
email: cleanslate@sfgov.org

Walk-In Clean Slate Clinic Times and Locations:

Every Monday, 2pm-4pm, 1850 Mission Street (Arriba Juntos Office)
Every Tuesday, 9am-11am: Public Defenders Office, 555 7th St (near Bryant)
1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 2pm-4pm, 1075 Fillmore St., (Up from Darkness Office)
4th Wednesdays, 2pm-4pm, 1099 Sunnydale Ave. (The Village Community Center)
Every Thursday, 9am-noon, 1800 Oakdale Ave. (Southeast Community Center)

Check Out:

California Tenant Law: http://www.caltenantlaw.com/

California Tenant Handbook: http://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook/index.html

by Joseph Bolden

Dating And Such
Hi folks, lets get to it.

Dating for guys has always been a difficult chore that most of us must go through.

For the regular woman liking kind of men sadly we know that no matter how much we strive and try it seems women are never satisfied.

Either we’re ugly, too pretty,not rugged enough, too rugged,clingy,afraid, fearless,too short, tall, big,small,poor-homeless or rich playboy-men.

Its all seems stacked against us no matter what we do.

The concept of "The Wingman" for males is one or more male chums to scope out (stealthly) look for the most sexually available if not attractive women in bar/clubs, strip joints, sports bars, and or casino’s.

Women have their versions though slightly complex in that their wing-w Womencan be a group of 2 to 4 deep and they needn’t be present to help their sister’s.

Moble or cell phones are handy in that it can hold many more friends unbeknownst to unwary men on dates.

Don’t get me wrong doctor’s, lawyers, E.M.T. [Emergency Medical Technicians], police, and all life saving personal need to respond when dire problems loom.

But for regular ladies… no all its capable of is shutting down whatever chance we weary men have while on dates.

Yes, women say they are liberated, have no need of males in most of their lives (some not even in bed).

Guys, those lesbian ladies, men bashers, or those with psychological quirks are off radar so we let them be until they get their own acts together and not to become rescuers to those who constantly cause themselves to be in turmoil.

Women have automatic screen-outs that is what they don’t want but they’ve are rude about it wanting so called "cream-of-crop guys."

Yet women who date online say they don’t want online trolls men always online looking to find… THEM.

They themselves don’t see themselves as online trolls but men online are is a oxymoron logic.

Like invisible wing ladies it like wing men only theirs are on cell phones, sending signals from across the bar or pair, tripple, or quadrupled creating a Phalanx or group making it difficult or near Impossible to chat. (offend one or if one takes offence at the slightest misstep or error they take their friend away).

I was thinking of the old San Francisco Armory Building at 14th and Mission Streets [finally a place where one can go if they had a job either as writer, producer/director or actor/actress in erotic film.]

Yeah, though I’ll never get to be in one of the many anonymous swinging phallus in those short commercial adds let alone full length films its good to know where one is.
The place of brick and stone not phallus's

I’ve seen a few of the men in those films (straight only) mind you and a few of the brother men are not the biggest or best guys they look average.

As for housing the S.F. Armory its been abandoned for years and wasn’t being used for anything and now folks are squawking about a sex-fetish house of Kink.com.(?)

I say Mr. Peter Acworth is more the honest businessman than so called moralists who have problems with his online erotica business. The Armory was on the market and Mr. Worth say’s why not."

Just as with women and their constant changing dating rules there’s comes a point where lots of guys are thinking if not saying That guy on the radio talks about vagina-mony,
not marrying the cow getting milk for free and that being equal means women can if they choose buy food, ask men out for dates, and pay alimony.

Until men abandon most of the antiquated notions of women, women will use them against men. Men do change women for all their freedom’s still want men to do for them and then say "We’re not satisfied."

I believe women aren’t because if they went all out for complete freedom men need not see to their needs, wants dupes, or be suckers huge boobs or P-date, marriage taxes.

Guys do wise up it just that our learning curve is slower but we do keep evolving. As those ever change rules of femdom men must evolve, change our own as women do constantly but in our case make it worth our while not their.

Remember "Its My Turn" for women song well now the pendulum has swung back let’s really equalize everything.

At (Tell Joe@ poormagazine.org)

jsph_bldn@yahoo.com at my email or even

snail mail @ P.O. BOX 1230 #204 94102 S.F. Ca.

by Staff Writer

"Most books on poverty or the poor are written by people who have never been really poor, or are individualistic tales of a bootstrap pull that separates the (once) poor person from society as a whole. Tiny, a.k.a Lisa Gray-Garcia, has written an eloquent, graceful and refreshingly humor-filled book that tells a story which places poverty in a larger social, spiritual and political context. It challenges the reader to let go of clichés and catch phrases about the poor and homeless and see a population of struggling, hard working survivors who can work miracles when given proper support. It also is a compelling love story of a mother and daughter who surmount hurdles and climb out of pits that would defeat many, while building ladders and twining rope so that others can join them in their ongoing efforts to bring more and more people out of the quagmire of relentless poverty, hunger and hopelessness." – devorah major, author of Where River Meets Ocean and Brown Glass Windows

"In America we prefer not to see our poor. Only if we turn determinedly away can we maintain the illusion that we are not all responsible, not all culpable. Lisa Gray-Garcia won't let us avert our eyes. With style and verve she hauls our unwilling attention to what matters. If your heart is unmoved when you finish this memoir, then it's made of stone." – Ayelet Waldman author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits

"Tiny’s indomitable spirit comes to life in her amazing story of poverty and homelessness, reaching into and teaching our hearts and minds. With her flawless descriptions of the pain of living in the margins of the richest country in the world, she opens up an important window onto a reality looked upon by many but truly seen by few, augmenting our capacity for empathy and action in an area so in need of social change. Bravo Tiny, for your gift to us all! Punto!!!" – Piri Thomas, author of Down These Mean Streets

"Criminal of Poverty lays bare the devastating effects of inheriting a life of poverty, as well the real redemption and power in finding your voice." – Michelle Tea, author of Rose of No Man's Land and Valencia

by Lynda Carson/Indy Media News Wire

Oakland CA - A developer's recent glossy sales brochure paints the
Coliseum Gardens housing development in East Oakland as being the next best thing, since chocolate milk. Being hailed as the most
comprehensive development to date for one of Oakland's largest
nonprofit housing developers, an in-depth look beyond the hype and propaganda being used to measure the success of the project reveals that only 4 out of the 178 low-income families displaced by the development, actually managed to return to the newly rebuilt housing complex that was recently christened as Lion Creek Crossings.

Documents reveal that as an effort to reduce violence and drug trafficking within and around the Coliseum and Lockwood communities of Oakland, the HOPE VI program enabled the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) to use nearly $61 million in federal funding as a major Police Action designed to displace Oakland's low-income communities from the above mentioned locations.

These projects are only a small part of what is known as the Oakland Coliseum Redevelopment Area, which is approximately 11 square miles in size, extending from 22nd Ave., all the way to the San Leandro City limits, and is located between E. 14th St., and the Oakland Estuary/Airport.

The OHA's Board of Commissioners approved the selection of the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC), the Related Companies of California (Related Companies), and Chambers General Construction as co-developers of the Coliseum Gardens public housing site during its board meeting on October 21, 2002. As partners in the development project, the OHA owns the land, and the developers own the buildings.

As a result of the OHA approval, local nonprofit housing developer EBALDC and Related Companies, LLC., out of New York City, created Creekside Housing Partners, L.P., to take control of Oakland's public housing property at the Coliseum Gardens site.

After the eviction of 178 families and the demolition of their 178public housing units during 2004, Creekside Housing Partners (CHP) moved as quickly as possible to rebuild and finish off "phase 1," of their massive gentrification project. Phase 1 of the development is managed by Related Companies, the tenants pay their rents to the New York based company, and during the past 6 months the developers have moved people into 115 newly rebuilt housing units at the development.

Twima Early works at the management office of Related Companies located at Lion Creek Crossings and was eager to help shed some light on what’s been going on at the newly privatized public housing site in East Oakland.

In an October 18 interview, Twima Early said, "During the past 6 months, we have completed phase 1 of our project and moved people into 115 housing units at our new development. Out of the 178 families who were originally displaced by our project, the OHA sent us a list of 13 families who were eligible to move back into this location, and only 4 of those families actually moved into our new development."

"It seemed odd that the Housing Authority would only allow 13 families to move back into this location, and I can't explain why so few were allowed to return," said Early.

When Randy Shaw of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic learned how few of the original public housing tenants that were actually allowed to move back into the Coliseum Gardens/Lion Creek housing development, he said, "The Hope VI program has once again proved to be the major cause of the displacement of low-income people. I've never heard of numbers so skewed before in regards to the displacement of families who were promised that the Hope VI project would be beneficial to them."

Since 1994, Oakland officials and the Federal Government have targeted Oakland's poor with nearly $84 million in federal funding through the Hope VI program, in an effort to displace the low-income communities from such housing projects known as Lockwood Gardens, Chestnut Court, Westwood Gardens, and the Coliseum Gardens. The above mentioned funds do not include all the other funding sources that have been used to dump the poor from their public housing units, in the name of the Hope VI program.

The privatization of Oakland's public housing units have been
occurring at a rapid pace. When wealthy billionaire Stephen M. Ross,
CEO of Related Companies, teamed up with local nonprofit housing
developer EBALDC to re-develop the Coliseum Gardens/Lion Creek housing complex, it became apparent that the developers made out much better than the displaced families did.

Carlos Castellanos of EBALDC is involved in the Coliseum Gardens/Lion Creek development, and when I asked how did this project benefit the families who used to reside there or how is the City of Oakland benefiting from the displacement of so many families, Castellanos said, "These are loaded questions and not something that I want to talk about. I think that a lot of those tenants did not really want to move back, and I think that you really need to talk to the Housing Authority to find out what happened to all of those families."

Vivian Hain resided in a public housing unit near the Coliseum
Gardens site, and said, "About a year ago, Kim Boyd the site manager where I resided at, told me that I'm lucky to be living here even if there is no money for repairs at this building, because they didn’t have enough funding to finish off the project at Coliseum Gardens, and most of the evicted tenants had no where to go. I believe that many ofthe families displaced from the Coliseum Gardens development couldn’t find any housing to move into and may have become homeless," Hain said.

Records show that on June 24, 2006, the OHA's Board of Commissioners approved the use of market rate rents in its Project-Based Section 8 program at the Coliseum Gardens/Lion Creek development, to cover a$600,000 funding shortfall after the EBALDC/Related Companies claimed that they needed more money to complete phase 3 of the project.

A Sept. 19, 2006, OHA memo mentions that EBALDC/Related Companies are co-developing the rental portion at Coliseum Gardens/Lion Creek Crossings, which will include 157 units of public housing. The total number of rental units, including public housing, now planned is approximately 440 units, plus another 28 units of for-sale housing which are planned to be developed by Chambers Construction Company.

With the demolition of 178 public housing units by the developers, and only 157 public housing units being rebuilt at the Coliseum Gardens/Lion Creek Crossings housing site, there’s been a net loss of 21 public housing units at this location.

Despite the fact that Stephen M. Ross, CEO of Related Companies, is so wealthy that during 2004 he gave away $100 million to the University of Michigan, the OHA and City of Oakland, continue to funnel millions of dollars to the EBALDC/Related Companies partnership, in an effort to privatize part of Oakland's public housing program in East Oakland.

Since it's inception, the Hope VI program has resulted in the
demolition of more than 120,000 public housing units across the
nation, and less than 12% of the displaced families managed to gain
entry back into the locations they were evicted from. In order to make way for the new housing projects being developed that resulted in the privatization of the nation's public housing properties, around 30% of the displaced families are given Section 8 vouchers, 49% are moved into other public housing units, and most of the rest often end up losing their housing assistance.

Lynda Carson may be contacted at; tenantsrule@yahoo.com

by Leroy Moore Jr.

From the blues to jazz to hip-hop, artists with disabilities are present in the music industry in every genre today. From Blind Willie Johnson to Professor Blind F8 and Cripple Clarence Lofton to Four Wheel City, music by disabled artists has helped shape the world we live in by providing new perspectives on life and struggle.

A new mixtape, Krip-Hop Mixtape Vol. 1 , which will be released in January 2007, presents the music, views and world of disabled artists from all walks of life. Krip-hop Mixtape Vol. 1 shares the legacy of many artists by providing a wide range of voices from the US, UK, Spain, Africa & Haiti. These artists not only rap to the Hip-Hop generation, but also to society and the world as a whole about the talents, politics and sexuality they embody as well as about their struggle against the isolating discrimination they face everyday. Krip-Hop displays the beauty and strength in the collaboration of artists with disabilities, while exploring the past, present and future of disabled music.

On this mixtape you’ll hear gospel rap by Pastr
Sâ’wayne, old school, Crank (from Down South) by da
Southern Boyz, Deaf Krip-Hop by the Helix Boyz, international Krip-Hop, by Jake of Spain, C.R.I.$.I.$
of Africa, political Krip-Hop by DJ Quad smooth, radical spoken stories by â’ron daniella and much more.
There are many more voices in the world of Krip-Hop that need to be heard; therefore plans for Krip-Hop Mixtape Vol 2 are already in the making and we are currently searching for help in creating a second powerful array of voices.

Krip-Hop is a promotional product with the aim of getting the musical talents of hip-hop artists with disabilities into the hands of media outlets, educators, and hip-hop, disabled and race scholars, as well as, youth, hip-hop conference coordinators and agents etc.. On Jan 15/07 Krip-Hop will be on cdbaby.com and www.poormagazine.com and www.leroymoore.com

Krip-Hop Mixtape Vol. 1 was created by Leroy Moore Jr., a writer, advocate and journalist on issues and art involving disabled people of color.

Future Projects include a Krip-Hop Book, a Krip-Hop online Catalog (posted on www.leroymoore.com) Krip-Hop workshops, Krip-Hop Mixtape Vol. 2, Krip-Hop T. Shirts, and the ultimate Krip-Hop concert

Krip-Hip-Hop Tracks

Leroy F. Moore Jr. (CA): Crip-Hip-Hop

C.R.I.$.I.$. (Africa, Zambia): Good Foot

JAKE (Spain): Solo saben mentir

PASTR S'WAYNE (TX): GospelHipHopAcapplla

Fezo da MadOne (MA): Game Changer

ROB DA' NOIZE TEMPLE (NY): Pushing Limits

Preechman (Haiti\NY): On A Track Like This

Poppa Wheely (NY): Poppa Don’t Take No

CB-Funk (Germany): Qualen

Four Wheel City (NY): Sometimes I Feel

Profesir X (NY): The Government

Professor Blind F8 (CA): Turn up the funk

DA Southern Boyz (FL): Creep Mode

Fred Beam (D.C.): Secrete

Dream(instrumental)

DJ Quad (CA): 2Many

Helix Boyz (D.C.): Blow Your Mind

Zulu King Khazm (OR): Dear Diary

MF GRIMM (NY): I Don’t Know

Â’˜ron daniella (CA): "The Strength of Love Within"

Leroy F. Moore Jr.
On The Outskirts: Race & Disability Consultant
sfdamo@yahoo.com, www.leroymoore.com www.nmdc.us www.poormagazine.org www.molotovmouths.com

by Leroy F. Moore Jr.

Ronald Reagan closed mental institutions back in the 1980s with no transitional plan putting a huge population of people on our streets across this country. Today some institutions, politicians, police and individuals are carrying out Reagan's policies of dumping people with disabilities in this country and around the world onto our streets.

"Chinese Gangs Dumping Disabled Children in Hong Kong, Lawmakers Says,"

"Disabled Woman Dumped at Inaccessible Shelter"

"Northwoods police Dumped a Homeless Man on the Street Corner in St. Louis"

"Paraplegic Allegedly 'Dumped' on Skid Row"

These latest news headlines tell us that dumping people with disabilities is not new and continues to be practiced by people from all walks of life, from political officers to Japanese gang members to hospital workers.

Although President Bush talked about domestic issues in his state of the Union Address and Californians voted for Prop 1c, Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006; the above headlines continue to fill up newspapers and homeless people with disabilities continue to get abused by institutions and individuals.

In the 1990s Californians witnessed a campaign for force treatment policy toward people with mental health disabilities. And this type of treatment still exists today. For example, a paraplegic homeless man was recently dumped on the street by a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center van. This is not the first time this hospital has dumped people who are homeless onto the streets. According to the LA Times Newspaper this practice occurred in 2005 by the same hospital. A disabled San Francisco journalist, Laure McElroy just wrote an article for the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper about how an African American woman was forced to leave the Potrero Health Clinic with no adequate reason while suffering severe health problems due to a high risk pregnancy. So what happen to the word, public, in public health?

When I was a teenager I saw New York police officers placing elderly and homeless people with mental health disabilities on Greyhound buses with a one way ticket across this country. And when I moved to San Francisco, I witnessed former Mayor Frank Jordan's Matrix Program that cited people who were homeless on petty charges and had vans that circled downtown San Francisco letting people back onto our streets because of a lack of space in nearby shelters.

Mayor after Mayor in cities across the country from New York to California have taken office with get tough on the homeless policies. This type of legislative thinking goes against solutions from local and national homeless advocates. For example The National Coalition on Homelessness has many campaigns and legislations proposals like The Bringing America Home Act (H.R. 4347) and the Health Care Access Resolution.

Michael Reinke, acting director of the Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues and the Director of the National Coalition on Homelessness told me that hate crimes are increasing against people who are homeless due to many factors including institutional policies and actions that are abusive and create roadblocks to services, shelter and medical needs. This environment of hate, crime and violence is furthur fueled by the increase in the number of people with disabilities becoming homeless after being kicked out of hospitals and unable to access shelters.

During the Christmas holidays last year two Independent Living Centers held rallies at California's shelters bringing attention to a lack of accessibility in homeless shelters across the state. Also the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness has kicked off a campaign around improving homeless shelters.

Although it was stated in the LA Times article that the practice of dumping patients is not new, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and many other hospitals have a record of investigating themselves. I have seen the police investigate themselves in cases of police brutality and nine times out of ten it goes nowhere. I hope the city attorney of Los Angeles, Rocky Delgadillo continues with his case against several medical facilities on this issue! In the mean time, please get involved by getting in touch with the below homeless advocacy agencies.

(1) www.nationalhomeless.org for a copy of Hate Crime Bill

(2) Jessica Lehman at the Community Resources for Independent Living (510) 881-5743

(3) Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco, Jennifer Fr (415)

(4) Los Angeles Homeless Service Coalition (310) 474-0222

(5) Los Angeles City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo (213) 978-8100

(6) Disabled People Outside, Danny McMullan (510) 688-2342 or danmcmullan@comcast.net

(7) Western Regional Advocacy Project 415-621-2533

by Marlon Crump/Poverty Scholar/POOR Magazine

The walls are covered by a collage of pictures of people who have fallen as a result of San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) violence; mostly black youth and youth of color whose lives were stolen and cut short. Set within the walls is a feeling of revolution and liberation and also a deep sadness.

The Idriss Stelley Foundation (ISF) is a safe haven as well as an
underground railroad for people who have been brutalized by the SFPD.

Idriss Stelley was shot and killed by SFPD at the Sony Metreon on June 13 2001, "48 shots, 9 officers, as he stood alone in an empty theater." A shrine to Idriss is set in one part of the room. Mesha Monge-Irizarry, mother of Idriss Stelley started the Foundation. Mesha is a phenomenal woman. She is truly a privilege to be around.

For the past month Mesha, myself, and many others have been meeting to plan the march on October 22nd against police brutality. It was at these meetings that I first met Bessie Berger and her two sons, Larry and Charlie Wilkerson. Bessie is 94 years old, Charlie is 59, and Larry is 57. They are living homeless in San Francisco. Bessie and her sons had come to the meetings to voice their concerns and tell their stories of harassment by the SFPD.

Like Bessie and her family, I have dealt directly with police brutality. This past Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of a traumatizing assault committed against me by the SFPD in my own home. On October 7th 2005 twelve armed police officers broke into my room at the All Star Hotel. The All Star Hotel failed to protect my rights as their tenant, which is a part of the long legal battle that I am currently caught up in. The SFPD wrongly accused me of a crime I did not commit and entered my room in the early hours of the morning. This is only one example of the kinds of police brutality that I, and many others, living in Single Room Occupancies (SRO's)
have had to endure. The stories Bessie and her sons tell are all too
familiar.

Mesha and Myself met with Bessie, Larry, and Charlie at the Idriss Stelley Foundation to hear their story.

Bessie is in a wheelchair and is in dire need of a new one. She has trouble seeing and hearing. Both of Bessie's legs are severely swollen. Bessie is a small, gentle woman of incredible spirit and she does not let her age slow her down. Bessie was well respected by the motorcycle gang, The Hell’s Angels, who referred to her as "mama." Bessie's family tree extends from a nineteenth century U.S. Navy Admiral named Allen Schley to Edgar Allen Poe.

Larry and Charlie are both silver haired men. Larry speaks from the heart and he has a stern voice. Charles has a more joking character and ads a comic sense here and there. Their voices contain anger and frustration. They are both tired.

Larry and Charlie are true examples of one of The Ten Commandments "Honor thy mother and thy father." Larry and Charlie's great concern is the well being of their mom. Bessie is bathed daily by her sons either from The City's resource facilities for the homeless or from a one night hotel room that they obtain from the little money they have. They continue to care for
her even while under the pressure of the harshest of times
economically, socially, and politically.

Larry and Charlie are both strong, capable men. They are able to care for their mom but they too are having health problems of their own. They are unable to care for themselves because most of their money goes towards the care of their mom. Bessie only receives a combined total of $800 a month, half of which goes towards her Medicare, she is left with only $400 a month.

Larry, Charlie, and Bessie have only been back in San Francisco four months. They briefly lived here in 2001 during the administration of Mayor Willie Brown.

Four months ago they lived in Palm Springs, California. Both Larry and Charlie worked industrial jobs to support their mom, each making $6.25 an hour. They worked opposite schedules so that while one was working the other one was taking care of their mom.

They lived in Palm Springs and faithfully paid their rent on time. They paid the standard cost of first and last months rent, and the security deposit that totaled over $1200. The building attendant took their move-in deposit and rent, never submitted a receipt, and never turned the money into the management. As a result of the building attendant's criminal conduct they were evicted by the property management. Bessie and her sons immediately brought a legal action upon the management, but they were unsuccessful and the case was mysteriously ruled out.

The All Star Hotel's handling of my situation on that fateful night last year was similar in its complete disregard for my wellbeing. Being evicted from your own home or having twelve unannounced police officers with guns burst into your room are experiences no one should ever have to endure.

Losing practically everything they had Bessie and her sons sought food and lodging from relatives. Bessie in the past had always welcomed family into her home and cared for them in their times of need. Now in need herself, Bessie asked her relatives for help. The same relatives she had always housed and fed would not take her and her sons in. Larry recalled their situation with anger.

"They did not care for one of their very own who had
cared for them when they all had nothing! It really breaks our hearts but we've managed to survive this long. Someone will help us, I hope," Larry concluded sadly.

The family also endured a heart shattering loss of a loved one. In 2001 while staying in Lake County, Bessie's great grandchild, eight year old Tyler James was killed by a drunk driver, named Mark Shifflet. Shifflet struck down Tyler while driving at 70 mph. A California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer arrived at the scene and astonishingly allowed Shifflet to leave the scene of the accident. The accident occurred on Highway 175 in Middletown. It was later discovered that Mark Shifflet had previous D.U.I arrests. But on this tragic night Shifflet was never given a sobriety test. The release of Shifflet was criminal negligence on the part of the CHP officer. The family lost the case in court and Mark Shifflet and the CHP
officer walked away unscathed and unpunished.

I am also waiting for the day in court where I will see legal action taken
on my behalf for the criminal conduct that was committed against me by the SFPD at the All Star Hotel.

Bessie, Larry, and Charlie have had to endure much harassment and abuse. In 2001, Bessie and her two sons approached Mayor Willie Brown, to seek his help in obtaining services. According to Larry and Charlie "We did nothing
wrong, we didn't provoke him, we weren't aggressive. We just wanted him to direct us to the right facility to care for our mom because we were all homeless. He says he didn't like the way we looked and he immediately called security to escort us out. That really hurt us a lot, because we felt he could really help us."

Shortly thereafter, the family caught sight of Mayor Brown at an event in front of City Hall. They again asked for his help and Mayor Brown showed the same discourtesy towards them as he had done before. They have not received any different treatment from the current administration.

They recently tried to seek refuge at the Salvation Army but the director refused them entry because of Bessie and her age. Larry and Charlie told the director, "Look, she's 94 years old, ma'am. We'll be damned if we have to separate and put her in some nursing home. We know all about the evils of neglect in those kinds of places. She is our mother and we are not leaving her to be mistreated!" The director looked at all of them, with a cold and
scornful glare, then replied, "I don't care, ok? She's not our damn problem or fault. She should be in a nursing home and not with her sons."

The response by the director of the Salvation Army towards Larry and Charlie is a prime example of the "Western" notion and belief in individuation. Dr. Wade Nobles, a tenured professor in the Black Studies Department at San Francisco State explains individuation in POOR's fourth issue, "MOTHERS" in the article "The Nature of Mama."

Dr. Wade Nobles says,

"I believe that capitalism and much of the construct in Western psychology emerge out of the same philosophical grounding, and that philosophical grounding is based on the idea of separateness, distinctness, domination, fear, and exploitation. So, capitalism is just the economic system that parallels individuation as a psychological system. It's not that it promotes it, it certainly does reinforce it and allows for it to exist, because individuation would never challenge some of the precepts of capitalism. Capitalism says I've maximized my profits, minimized my loss; in order to do that, I have to exploit others. I won't exploit others if I believe that others and I are the same. So if I believe in individuation, then I certainly have a free license to exploit others."

Larry and Charlie are committed to staying with their mom and caring for her themselves despite what the dominant response is,a committment which like my editor Tiny says, is supported and practiced in POOR Magazine's indigenous family organizing model for poor, and/or homeless families trying to survive and thrive in the US.

Bessie and her sons have been living out of their car. Their car has countless miles on it and they dread the day that it will no longer work. If their car breaks they would be forced to find storage for all of their personal belongings or lose everything.

Since our meeting an unfortunate event occurred. On Sunday October 15 their car was broken into, the registration, all their ID papers, and social security information is gone. This is an unusual theft and they are devastated.

They have continually been harassed in Golden Gate Park by the SFPD. The SFPD have intimidated, verbally assaulted, and insulted them. On one occasion an officer yelled, "No you are not suppose to know or do anything, but be like you people already are, poor and uneducated!"

Bessie, Charlie, and Larry have had to struggle to be triumphant against the criminalization of poverty. As Tiny Gray-Garcia at POOR magazine said, they are Poverty Heroes.

In closing the interview Mesha and I asked what they wanted San Francisco to do to aid them in their needs. Bessie replied, "I only want the city to please help me and my sons out. I also want the city and the mayor to order the police to leave us alone, because we are not hurting anyone. We just want to be helped and not disrespected."

Since the time of our meeting with Bessie, Larry, and Charlie on September 30th at the Idriss Stelley Foundation a short video was created of their situation, and can be viewed at

http://www.current. tv/studio/media/13670557?

You can view Mesha's article about Bessie and her sons at the Idriss Stelley Foundation's website:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/idrissstelleyfoundation/

The Idriss Stelley Foundation (ISF) will be hosting a benefit, after the November elections, for Bessie and her sons, which will help to purchase Bessie a new wheel chair.

You can make donations to Bessie and her sons by sending a check to:

ISF, 4921 3rd Street, SF,CA, 94124, attn:Justice4Bessie

ISF also donated a cell phone to the family. You can call Larry Wilkerson at (415) 368-2261 (415-DOT-CAMI). You can also log on to Justice 4 Bessie Berger, set up by ISF, to show your support, by emailing

Justice4Bessie-subscribe@yahoogroups.com,

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Bessie.

by Lynda Carson/Published on Indy Media Newswire

San Francisco -- On Wednesday, December 20, 2006,
tenants of the Rose Hotel held a press conference in
front of San Francisco's City Hall, to announce the
filing of a lawsuit against Mercy Housing California,
due to serious infestations of mice, cockroaches,
fleas, bedbugs, and other serious Housing Code
violations, at the residential building they reside
in.

The ten Plaintiffs of the Rose Hotel, including
African-Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics, spoke out
against the slum like conditions at their residential
building in San Francisco, then filed suit against the
nonprofit housing organization, as tourists from
around the world flocked to the city for the festive
holiday season.

Diane Spade moved into the Rose Hotel around March of
1997, and says that there’s been problems with mice and
cockroaches in the building ever since she moved in.

"I applied with the San Francisco Housing Authority,
to move into the Rose Hotel, and there’s been mice
running loose in the building ever since I moved in
here. I have to use sticky pads to trap them, and then
I call management to have the mice removed from my
room. I believe there’s a lack of over sight in the way
these nonprofits operate, and I believe that something
needs to be done to get them to do their job
properly," said Spade.

According to documents filed with the court, the
tenants at the Rose Hotel have made complaints about
defects in their rooms, and the mice and cockroach
infestations, and how the owners and managers have
failed to do repairs, or remedy the situation
properly.

The tenants are claiming that they have been
endangered by the illegal uninhabitable conditions
they are living under in the Rose Hotel, and are
asking in excess of $25,000 per Plaintiff, in hope
that it persuades the landlord (Mercy Housing) to come
into compliance with state and local housing codes,
and to make the building habitable for all of the
low-income residents.

Since moving into the Rose Hotel back around October
of 1998, Diane Best says she has been stabbed by one
of her neighbors and has had mice problems for the
past 2, and a half years.

"I was stabbed by my
neighbor Robert Coronado, around 2 years ago, and he
still resides in the building. I don't know why they
still let him stay here, but I think they should have
removed him for being violent. Since living here, I've
been sexually molested by one of the clerks working at
the Rose Hotel while in an elevator one day, and I've
had mice and cockroach problems in my room for the
past 2 to 3 years. I don't like living here, and I can
only hope that things get better," said Best.

Attorney John Murcko, who represents the tenants at
the Rose Hotel, says, "This hotel has serious problems
with vermin and the owners do not care about the bad
conditions. Also, there are problems with backed up
toilets, backed up sinks, cracks in the walls,
defective windows, and holes in the walls that are not
being repaired. These people are very low-income, have
notified management about the problems, and are not
being respected."

It was wheelchair bound Larry Richards, a disabled
tenant at the Rose Hotel, who placed himself at risk
by organizing the tenants to rebel against the
conditions they are living under.

"The most important thing that I wish to say is that
most people expect their tax dollars to be used
properly, and to be used as promised. That is not the
case at the Rose Hotel. For seven years I have lived
in a building where the doors and windows are not
working properly, and I was given a blood soaked
mattress to sleep upon when moving in. I do not have a
shower capable of accommodating my wheelchair, even
though the building was supposed to accommodate
disabled persons. It does not. The housing oversight
system is so corrupt that this building was remodeled
improperly at great expense to the taxpayers, and HUD
and the San Francisco Housing Authority does not give
a damn. Others in the building are being intimidated
and under pressure to not join in with our lawsuit,
but I want it to expose what really is going on here,"
said Richards.

Jasper Brenner works for Mercy Housing at the front
desk of the Rose Hotel, and said, "I work for Mercy
Housing, have no involvement in the lawsuit that has
been filed, and have nothing to say about the
conditions here."

The nonprofit housing organizations are not known for
being tolerant of those who would dare to tarnish
their do good image, with tales of corruption,
stabbings, molestations, slum like conditions, or mice
and cockroach infestations in their buildings.

Since the demonization of public housing occurred, the
nonprofits have been leading the charge to privatize
the functions of subsidized housing in America, and in
an effort to save their image from being tarnished
like public housing, they have done their best to keep
their low-income residents from speaking out about the
problems in their buildings.

The Rose Hotel is just one piece of Mercy Housing's
"$2 billion real estate empire," originally founded by
the Sisters of Mercy back in 1981, with around 20,000
housing units being developed since then, while
employing over 1,150 people across the nation.

According to the San Francisco's County Assessors
records, Mercy Housing has developed around 15 to 20
properties in San Francisco for low-income housing,
including such properties as the Rose Hotel (74
units), the Howard Street Apartments (30 units),
Columbia Park Apartments (50 units), Dudley Apartments
(74 units), and the 7th Street Family Housing (57
units).

Little by little, the tenants under control of the
nonprofit housing organizations are over coming
obstacles and are starting to find their voice, to
speak out against the lack of habitable conditions and
blatant abuse of state and local laws occurring in
some of the properties run by nonprofit housing
organizations, due to political connections and a lack
of oversight in these federally subsidized housing
locations.

In Oakland, the tenants of Effies House, managed by
the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation
(EBALDC), have been speaking out about conditions in
their building. During October of 2006, a young
teenage mother gained public attention when she
refused to stay in a cockroach-infested unit in that
building, and forced the nonprofit to move herself and
an infant, into a unit without the bugs. In defiance
of state law, Effies House (21 units) does not have a
Resident Manager, and in late December 2006, the
tenants were shocked to receive a memo from EBALDC
employee Robin Smith, telling them that no one would
be around for around a week or more to sweep the
floors, take care of the trash, or manage the
building, and security problems have become a
nightmare at this location as a direct result of
blatant negligence.

During August 2005, 43 tenants at the California Hotel
in Oakland, filed suit and spoke out against nonprofit
developer Oakland Community Housing, for major
infestations of bedbugs, rats, and cockroaches in
their residential building.

During October 2006, it was exposed that 174
low-income public housing families were permanently
displaced by a Hope VI project being spearheaded by
nonprofit housing developer EBALDC, at Oakland's
Coliseum Gardens public housing units.

And, in mid December 2006, Bridge Housing, a nonprofit
developer who manages some public housing units that
have been privatized in West Oakland, have come under
fire from the community and local politicians for
being out of touch with what the community wants in
the retail space, for the Mandella Gateway apartment
complex.

During recent years the Berkeley Housing Authority has
placed much of it's public housing units into the
hands of nonprofit Affordable Housing Associates, and
the tenants have repeatedly spoken out about the lack
of repairs occurring in their buildings since the
takeover.

Not all nonprofit housing organizations are bad, but
more and more tenants are calling out for more
oversight, over the activities of these nonprofit
organizations that are out of touch with community
needs, and have left them displaced from their
housing, or stuck in housing units not fit to house
human beings.

Larry Richards may be reached at
booleanpravda2000@yahoo.com

Attorney John Murcko may be reached at 510/465-2241

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule@yahoo.com

by Lynda Carson

Oakland, CA -- With so many people being homeless in Oakland and the Bay Area, it's hard to imagine that
any non profit Housing Authority would have enough
funding in reserve to spend a fortune on evictions.

In Oakland however, that’s just the case and on a recent January 16, the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) memorandum detailed just how the authority plans to splurge a minimum of $400,000 to evict many of it's public housing tenants during the next 2 years.

For that kind of money the OHA could house alot of people, or use the funding to fix and repair many of their public housing units all across the City of
Oakland.

It was only as recent as January 9, 2007, the OHA sent out a press release claiming how impoverished it was, and how it will receive $2.9 million less than it was entitled to for it's public housing program, during FY 2007. Services and particularly property improvements will seriously be reduced, the press release cried out in anguish.

But a mere 7 days later, the OHA sends out a memo
declaring that they plan to spend $400,000 during the
next 2 years, to evict some of the very same people
that will be residing in the very same locations that
will lack the funding needed to maintain their housing
units properly.

It's clear that the funding priorities of the OHA
paint a bleak future for its public housing tenants
during the next 2 years, and something is wrong with
this picture.

The OHA has a choice. It can use the $400,000 to
repair it's public housing units, or it can force
hundreds of families out of their public housing units
by wasting good money that could have been used to
maintain the housing of Oakland's poor, elderly and
disabled community.

Making matters worse, the OHA has just spent a huge fortune on trying to evict 35 families accused of
being squatters at it's Lockwood Gardens public
housing units, despite the fact that the OHA had
accepted rent payments from these same families for
months before this accusation.

As it turned out, the courts have repeatedly refused
to allow the OHA to evict, and the latest ruling (a
few days ago) has once again shot down an appeal by
the OHA, to evict all those families residing at
Lockwood Gardens.

Despite the latest defeat in the court of appeal and
the ruling against the OHA, on February 13, an OHA
spokesperson (Ms. Hogan) stated that the OHA plans to
pursue a course to evict the Lockwood Garden's
families all over again.

Since the courts have repeatedly denied the OHA from
conducting mass evictions at Lockwood Gardens, Ms.
Hogan's public comments are nothing less than pure
harassment on the part of the OHA, as a brutal means
to frighten the lawful tenants into giving up their
rights to remain in their housing.

The recent January 16th OHA memo and eviction scheme,
shows that the OHA plans to funnel wheel barrows full
of money to five different law firms during the next 2
years, if the eviction scheme is approved.

The firms include, Edrington, Schirmer and Murphy,
Beckman and Marquez LLP, the Law Office of Charles
Ramsey, Law Offices of Arnold W. Evje II and Cindy
Lee, and the Law Office of Judondi Bolden.

The January 16th OHA memo does not state where the
$400,000 will be coming from to evict all those public
housing tenants, nor if they will have to raise the
rents on the poor tenants in order to pay off these
blood suckers who profit on the forced relocation of
Oakland's renters.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule@yahoo.com

by Joseph Bolden

You know my thoughts on the process: A stopgap, delaying tactic of cobbled, ever changing laws, bills, and mandates to keep our civilization from falling apart.

A working substitute as long as most of us obey said laws, bills, and mandates.

As we live our lives noticing most times its all cocked up most of us get totally screwed in the process.

If this is the best we've got lets improve it to the best of human capacity which can be awe inspiring when we set our mind and spirit to what needs to be done.
Way past time as Americans and Sentient beings we must end this reign of Mad George W. Jr.
Death, torture, lies, on a inconceivable scale.

Are there God's/Godesses, forces watching every blood drenched moment? Me,I won't waste my lifetime on this mockery of an administration.
Yes, to protest but most
importantly to live through this his/herstory making momentous era.

Few of us, if any can be called the mysterious unknown Wandering Jew,
Lazarous Long,
Lillith,
the family Mc Cloud-Connor, Duncan, or
Ben Richards, a racecar driver...

Whom’s life and that of his family changed because some chance miracle of blood and antibody
mixtures made them though ordinary looking outside are extraordinarily priceless in what they carry within their Genome!
When, not if any of us should find ourselves living their as of now fictional lives in reality only then will politics seem useless to us with centuries of miles before we sleep!

Then those of us might wake up, live out our lives beyond makeshift temporary political Alliances: THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND.

Look up those quotes and others under war, business, or political strategies.

I'd like to be one of many peopling the changes as part participant, part observer of his/herstory living many lives, surviving to tell it all the way it really happened.

I'd like to be one of many peopling the changes as part participant, part observer of his/herstory living many lives, surviving to tell it all the way it really happened.

Come to think on it access to time travel devices could be used so truth will be what can be observed, recorded, and brought back then real his and her-storians will have no doubts what really happened, or how and when.

All of what has happened has to be recorded, filed, and remembered so this never happens again.

But until Homo-longavus, homo-immortus, or Eternus arrives we mortals most hold the line so truth does not die as many loved ones in the armed forces have in the Middle East.

It is up us, free citizens to fight for them as they have fought for us.

Some citizens have already given their lives in this unholy, undeclared war on other nations. We must end this bankrupt regime before it slowly kills us inside.

We know what souless beings look like.

They are our so called elected leaders, let us reclaim, take back our countries soul it doesn't belong to those in power and cannot be bartered at any price!

So, show your souls worth, that ours are priceless, cannot be bought off with the blood of our country women and men, young boys and girls, or the lives of innocents dying in their own land by our so called leader's hands.
While we still have our so called rights let us use them to
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

WE CANNOT PROTEST, MOAN 'N GROAN IF WE DON'T VOTE WITH MINDS OF OUR OWN!

Pod cast words: Until we're eternal, this limited souless polie system is what we've got... USE IT!

by Ingrid De Leon

Ingrid De Leon is an immigrant mother, artist, writer and POOR poverty scholar. Her first POOR Press Publication, El Viaje is a first hand account chronicling her own journey on foot from Guatemala through Mexico and finally into the United States.

De Leon shares her own story of struggle, pain and sacrifice. Published in both English and Spanish El Viaje is an extremely powerful, poignant and meaningful story that takes the reader on a journey to a new awareness of the immigrant struggle and the connection that all impoverished humans share.