Story Archives 2003

by Staff Writer

The goal of POOR Magazine's Poverty Studies Institute (PSI) is to examine the root causes of poverty and racism through research, critical analysis, activism and advocacy.

PSI is open to all people who are interested in working with, creating media on, or providing services for, communities impacted by or directly affected by issues related to poverty and racism (see below for tuition and enrollment information)

One of our current explorations include the examination of Individualism, Separation and Independence as it is also our belief as Poverty Scholars* at POOR, that these practices lead to the very harmful manifestations of isolation and separation which eventually can lead to and/or worsen houselessness, ageism, mental illness, etc rather than the notions of collectivism and interdependence, most often associated with non-western, indigenous cultures, which can prevent if not heal poor families sufferring from these issues. It is our belief that especially for poor families, these notions are harmful and often lead to the interventions/assault of families by racist and classist institutions and policies such as Child Protective Services, The Criminal (Un)Justice System, The Foster Care System, Welfare (de) Reform, and many more.

Teachers/Poverty Scholars at PSI use several forms of media as a tool for critical analysis. Our current media "reading" is a series of films that explore these issues..

The Following is a series of student analysis through Responses to questi ons by PSI on the Film; Real Women Have Curves.

Teacher/Poverty Scholar; Dee

Teachers Assistant; Alex Cuff

Sometimes We didn't have a Phone

By Intern/Poverty Scholar; Jewnbug

How does the film deal with individuation?

The Mother is against Ana going to college anywhere she wants her to stay close to the family and work. The Father would rather Ana go to school close by instead of New York because he has worked hard to keep the family together and New York is too far away. The family (grandpa, older sister, father, cousins) live together and work together. The oldest daughter Estella works very hard with her Mother making dresses. The Mother wants Ana to know the value of family and hard work. The father works with his nephews doing garden landscaping. Ana no longer is working at a place that makes burgers because of the conflict with the manager. Her mother has Ana work with her and her sister making dresses. She sees first hand the everyday hard work and struggle of making ends meet for the family that her sister and mother do. At the same time Ana is still determined to go to college with the help of her teacher (this part of the movie is similar to a part in the movie Stand and Deliver). Her mother wants Ana to stay with the family and to help with her sister's business and most importantly stay close to the family that the Mother goes as far as saying she's pregnant to convince Ana more and more the need for her to stay close to the family. Estella is older but still shares a room with her sister. They all use the same phone line and share the same computer unlike the boyfriend who had his own room and seemed to have his own laptop computer and is going to Europe and doesn't seem to be struggling with his parents in convincing them to let him go. Ana in the end makes the decision to go and receives her Father's and sister's blessing but not her Mother's. You see Ana walking the streets in New York by herself with a smile like Mary Tyler Moore.
I wonder if she will get really home sick and transfer to a school in L.A.

Well I think that it's a good and wise thing to share a bedroom, phone and computer etc. in the family. I never had my own phone line and sometimes we didn't have a phone. We my family don't even have a computer and we only had one TV in the apartment/studio/hotel and sometimes we didn't. My brother might of have had a small TV at one time but we all shared it. I can remember going to other people's houses and they would have TVs even in the children's room to me this was odd but then became something I was influenced to desire too because other children making fun of you and you not being cool really effects you.

Basically this movie showed a family's value in sharing and working together in order to survive but Ana getting an education can help the family survive but only if Ana goes to college with the focus in mind that this is for the family and how what she is learning can be applied. Also when you don't have the funds to go to college it makes it hard in getting a so called higher education and when you are offered a scholarship it's hard to pass up but I believe that more research could've been done to get her a full scholarship to a college nearby.

I could never leave to a place far away from my family I couldn't do it. I will never forget what my Daddy told me is that he stays here in SF because of me and my brother. I may live in another apartment but it is still close by to my Mommy and Daddy. My younger brother I wish he lived closer but we make ways to stay in contact with him. However it still is hard but he is a bus/car ride away.

Does the ending of the film conflict with what you learned at POOR or does it agree with what you learned at POOR regarding individuation?

POOR wouldn't like or agree with the ending because it doesn't translate interdependency. The ending does translate individuation.
Interdependency is a family no matter what the members consist of meaning even if it's a single parent home the family stays close and shares which helps build a strong family unit which to me is resistance to capitalism, nourishment and one of the best medicines for depression, poverty and learning disabilities etc?
Individuation is separation of the family members everybody out for them selves, wanting everything as your own and not sharing etc. Ana leaving off to college to another state without her Mothers approval is an example and in the beginning her not wanting to work at the factory with her sister and mother is another. Lastly and most importantly here's Ana in another state going to a top college with full scholarship but what about her Mother? What about her Mother and all she has done and does and is? This scene in the end angers me and is sad. I know that I have caused my Mother pain (not being respectful or patient) when I should be at all times and will apologize for it for a life time. Prior to me working with POOR my Mother and me was always in relations we never separated, in one way we still stayed close but we weren't as close as we once were when I was really young and I miss that. I gave in to the pressures of a society that I'm a outkast in. POOR enforces me and others to build a relationship with our family where we respect at all times and draw close to are family in the means of making a better life not pulling away to be so called acceptedwhen this world rejects our Mothers then turns around and rejects her children. Ana has rejected her Mother and probably doesn't look at it like that, but that is what has happened.

What would an alternative ending look like?

Ana stays home with her family gets a scholarship to a nearby college. She goes to school part time and sill works with her sister and Mother making dresses. She helps her sister Estella open up her own Boutique where they no longer are working as cheap labor/sweatshop for Bloomingdales. Estella is making her own clothing line with sizes that fit women of full figures to plus sizes and they are able to provide the family with Health insurance and the Mother no longer has to sew but still works with her daughter and shares her stories with the women that work there.

Lovin? Latina?s from Califas

The film depicts a family?s struggle to keep itself together for the sake of its economic, cultural, and physical survival
while battling dominant western cultural forces that promote its dismantling an d the individuation of its members. The
beginning of the movie depicts the protagonist, Anna, the youngest daughter, as a model of Western individuated success.
The opening scene shows her battling all the apparent obstacles to this success: she swi ftly ignores her mother?s whining
calls for attention as she marches to school on time, she takes a number of buses escaping her barrio home to get to an
elite high school in Beverly Hills, and she hides her poverty as she mingles with her wealthy schoolmates.

These seemingly positive strides are overwhelmed when Ana announces to her teacher that she must forego college
because she can not afford it. Under her matriarchial mother?s command, Ana?s family is initially understood to be the
enemy to Ana?s progress, unwilling and unable to pay for Ana?s college education.
As the movie progresses, this Western individuated model of success is subtly challenged. Ana begins to go to work with
her mother and sister at the dress factory that her sister owns. There Ana gradually learns to appreciate the ways in which
her family works to support each other. Her high-minded ideals of individuated, college-won, family-removed success are
humbled once Ana comprehends the great sacrifices and collective effort made by her family in order to keep itself intact.
Anna?s prior culturally enforced ideals of self-made success had obscured the great debt she owed to her family?s love and
sacrifice as well as her accountability to them.

The euro-centricity and class privilege of Ana?s model of success are exemplified in the character of her short term
boyfriend. He is a wealthy, upper middle class white boy who has everything given to him, desires creating an artificial
situatio n (teaching abroad) in order to understand suffering, and whose parents are nowhere in sight. Through his
character, the individuated model of success is seen to be a natural extension of his economic stability and white
individuated family model. A nna?s belief in this model is seen to deny her very existence as a Mexican-American, lower
class member of a strong family.
Ana is awarded a full scholarship to Columbia at the end of the movie (because Columbia loves Latinas from California-
de e) which she eventually takes in defiance of her mother?s wishes and her family?s needs. This decision symbolizes Ana?s
struggle between her two cultures. While she has come to understand the vital role she plays in her family- not as a "good
daught er" who must bear the burdens of her family at the cost of her own life (a Eurocentric definition) but as a privileged
member of a strong collective to whom she is accountable- she is also fed the dominant ideals which valorize individuation
and uprooting the family. The movie does a good job of demonstrating how difficult this decision comes to be for Anna so
that strongly individuated audience members aren?t on their feet cheering when she finally makes the decision to leave.

Many times, the movie does depict the family as an old-fashioned, sometimes backwards unit. Ana?s mother is
sometimes a caricature of an overbearing matriarch who is overly dependant on her family. This depiction easily feeds
notions that the family inhibits p ersonal growth. Many who have seen the movie come away believing that it is just another
right-of-passage film where the daughter must make the tough but ultimately correct decision to leave the nest and gain
her independence. I was a little upset that the movie didn?t spell out the problem of individuation. At the same time, I
understand that the movie probably had to be made the way it was to appeal to larger audiences.

As a final note I?ve experienced the same struggle Anna did in many ways- most immediately is this struggle over
research. Ana?s idealization of college is akin to my own idealization of research. Just as she believed that she would be
helping her family in some long term eventual way by leaving her family and becoming educated, I?ve believed that doing
research will in some long term, hopeful, eventual way help the people "studied". In doing so, Ana and I conveniently
ignore the present reality. The success we envision is removed, uncertain and ultim ately self-serving. Understanding this
took an initial leap in consciousness for both of us and a continual readjustment of values for me.

The end of the movie showed a newly confident and made-up Ana strutting down Times Square towards the end of a
corner. The scene is made to parallel the opening scene where she is slumped over and trudging down the LA streets
towards the bus stops to get to school. It?s interesting that at the end of the block where Ana is walking, a large travel bus
is waiting. The final shot is of the bus pulling away before a cut to the credits. It was my hope that the bus was containing
Ana on her way back to LA and that a second more of the shot would show that Ana was no longer standing on the corner.
But this was my hope and may not have been the actual ending. Ana?s choice to go to Columbia conflicted with POOR?s
teachings on individuation. In POOR version for Ana and Isabelle, the girls, if they must, go to school but to ones that is
close t o home so that they maintain their kinship and communal ties. The ending conflicted with what I have learned at
POOR because Ana decided to individuate and abandon her family.

An alternative ending would have Ana and Isabelle at schools close t o home maintaining their communal ties and their
familial obligations. It would also have a moral audit of the Columbia University California Latina Trust. The money would
be taken away from its individuating purposes and would be given to POOR Maga zine for expansion and accredidation of its
Poverty Studies and Community Building Programs. If I said anything more, I would just be stealing Ashley?s ending
because it was so good.

Revisiting this movie with my mother and being able to give her the handout of all the other interns? answers has given
an alternative ending to our conversation. She says that she has been thinking and rethinking her Westernized belief
system. We spent much of the last two days trying to dissect where it c ame from in her family and her education and also
how it had invaded out own family life. We also started talking for the first time about how this western model is hurting our
family. How do I not sound like a telethon or a really bad sitcom when I say- thank you POOR for helping to make my
family closer. Awwwwww!

Soy Como Soy

1. How does the film deal with individuation?

It portrays Ana's family struggling in East LA and it shows Ana struggling with the desire and need to be herself and to find her identity, and the dilemma and dynamics between the family but primarily the women. She wants an education, she doesn't want to be stuck in a sweatshop and feel obligate d to her family duties. She doesn't necessarily want to leave them but feels trapped. It is obvious that her family's beliefs do not coincide w/ individuation. Her household included three generations, plus her Tia and her primos. I believe it shows a c ontrast of Latin Culture and tenets, that are family oriented but not always healthy, and Euro-centric thought/individuation but did possibly have an underlying tone thought of individuation.

2. Does the film agree w/ what you learned at POOR regar ding individuation?

The answer to be truthful, is both yes and no. I suppose that scholarships aren't given with an exchange rate: i.e. allowances made for people to go to the best schools and yet be able to remain with their families at home (bum mer). So, I would say would say that unfortunately, a decision has to be made that may separate the family temporarily or perhaps forever, I believe it depends on the family's desire to be cohesive and healthy. what I have learned at POOR is, I feel, very valid and pertinent but then I must also look at Isabel's move/decision to go to Columbia University. I know it was a hard choice for her to make, but she is alright and her relationship with her mother remains intact even though they are geographically separated; it does not have to stay that way forever. I'm sure she will return or facilitate a way to live with or near her mother... Then again, what if she did indeed move to Cuba? Would that not be considered the product of individuation? I guess what I am saying is that there are many issues involved that contradict each other and the family's of Ana and Isabel will have to put forth the effort, love , and work to remain a family: to remain whole so that Euro-Centric values do not invade their familie s cultures or tenets. It does not work to just tell an adolescent or young adult, "No" and thus have them feel obligated to their families for the wrong reasons, to feel trapped in their love for their family.

3. What would an alternative ending be?

Shit here you go...what happened to the easy questions? I can think of many, but how about this one? Ana goes to Columbia for a year, maybe two and then transfers back to California (perhaps Berkley or Stanford) and is closer to her family, can see them, and still have a chance at good schooling. In the meantime: Ana has talked her sister Estella into pursuing better contracts and to start selling her own line of clothing. Estella gets a small business loan to get started, format, and present her new business. This enables Estella, their mother, and the women who are employed by her to earn a living wage. Then they create a additional line of clothing called "Real Women" for real women with curves. Ana's mother tries to be loving, but still can not be demonstrative and is still too critical of her daughters (although she now tries to listen once and awhile.) Her Grandpa is still at home with the family and they continue to have a beautiful relationship he live to be 99. Her dad still works hard but is not discontent in his decision to give his nephews more responsibility w/ the business (landscaping.) Ana majors in Literature and minors in Latin Anthropology/Cultures and becomes a renown Latina author. Her novels are of Latina/Latin histories, c ultures causes and life. "Soy Como Soy", her first novel is now a prerequisite for college in California high school classes. She is acclaimed for her ability to merge creative writing, poignancy, clarity, insight and humor without losing cultural or family values.

Sacrifices

Student: Mike Vizcarra

The theme of individuation is seen throughout the film. The main character, Anna, is torn between helping her family
or going off to college at Columbia. This is where the heart of the movie lies: the constant conflict of whether to contribute
to the family/community or be individualistic and be on your own.

The ending of the movie conflicts with what I learned at Poor. The begin with, Poor taught me that taking care of the
family is first and foremost. You have to make sacrifices to help out the family; sacrifices to the individual self. In the
movie, Anna as faces with staying with the family and helping her sister?s company or she could go to Columbia on a full
scholarship.

One possible ending could have been for Anna to not go to Columbia and stay and help her family. She also could
have applied to another local University and be closer to her family. If she went to all the trouble of going to Beve rly Hills
High, going to UCLA or USC would?ve been just as easy for her. Also, she would have been closer to her family and still
would be able to help her sister?s clothing company. That would be the ideal situation. If she could get a full scholar ship to
Columbia, why couldn?t she get a full scholarship to other colleges? Granted LA is not as cosmopolitan as NYC (Harlem), her
education would practically be the same from other prestigious schools in LA.

Cultural Expectations

Student(Teacher?s .Assistant): Alex Cuff

How does the film deal with individuation?
at first i thought the movie didn?t really deal with individuation. it certainly addressed the issue of
individuation on many levels. most obviously between ana and her mother, carmen. if ana and carmen?s relationship
was the only relationship looked at in the film, then i would have to say that the filmmaker wasn?t seeing the
issue of individuation, the situation from the mother?s point of view, at all. but although we are given a stronger
view and allowed to connect more with ana then her mother, other subtler aspects of the movie brilliantly offer the
audience a point of view other than ana?s.
1. the sister ? the role of estella?s charac ter was, to me, ambiguous. ana does toward the end of the movie
appreciate how hard her sister works when she borrows money from her father to pay the rent on the factory space
but i feel like the overall view of estella is negative from both the m other?s point of view (which provides
entertainment from the audience) but also because ana calls her business a "sweat shop" . . . i guess i wanted to
see more activism on ana?s part in at least discussing why she felt her sister?s business is a sweat shop. i mean
we know why she says that but what can she do, besides iron, to help that situation?

the women who work for estella ? the women at the factory certainly validate carmen and her cultural
expectations and ideas when ana comes to work for estella. again, although our (my, other individuated audience
members?) "pity" lies more with ana for having to work there and also to deal with her mother?s negativity
regarding ana, we see through the reaction of the other women, that ana is acting a bit spoiled. it also points out
the importance of family in the latino culture. one example being that the woman who gets married and moves to
mexico with both her mother and sister who had worked there with her. and another woman wh o tells the story of her
father?s death and the way in which she pretends he is alive and wheelchairs him out of the hospital cause she
can?t afford to pay the bills.

Overall i think that the film is depicting the young woman ana and her "pr oblem" being that her family is old
fashioned and doesn?t understand her. threaded thoughout the film is positive moments of her family life especially
with her sister, grandfather, and father ? but the film?s answer was that she just needed do what she needed to do
for herself regardless of her relationship to her mother. there were scenes that related the filmmakers cognizance
of the sensitive relationship between mother and daughter: on the bus she sees a mom with a crying daughter and to
me that was to show ana, and us, the sacrifices mother?s go through to have children. the situation with jimmy was
great in providing a contrast between the privileges and those that aren?t privileged. him on his ibook, with his
volvo, and with his plan on meeting her in europe.

Does the ending of the film conflict with what you learned at Poor or does it agree with what you learned at Poor
regarding individuation? the end of the film agrees with what we learned at poor regarding ind ividuation. we learned that
individuation affects non-european descendent family who now live in cultures, america in this case, that strongly promote
individuation. this is clearly an issue in this film.

What would an alternative ending l ook like? um, there could be a few alternatives....the most obvious is that ana?s
teacher could have helped her look into universities around LA or closer than NYC after he first witnessed the parents
reaction to him visiting at her graduation party. his role was definitely "teacher knows best" and we in the audience trust
him more since he speaks spanish (i know that sounds dumb but it is true.) another ending could be that ana does leave
for nyc but she takes the time to explain to her pare nts that with a prestigious university degree she will be more of an
asset to her family in the long run cause she will be able to earn more but that she?ll be back for xmas, holidays, etc. and
plans to move home after school or look into transferri ng down the line. another ending would have been that she helps
estella get her own line of dresses off the ground and figures out a way to rid of the nasty middle woman designer who is
selling her dresses for $500, $600. then she could go to colle ge after that or go locally while working part time with estella
and taking the pressure off her mother who has been working so long.

A Full Scholarship

By Student: Connie Lu

Ana, the main character in the film, is a young Latino woman in her senior year in high school. She is a very intelligent
student, who works hard. Her teacher encourages her to apply to Columbia University in NY, but she explains to him that
her family can?t afford to pay the tuition. Ana?s mother is a gainst her daughter going to college because she needs to work
to support the family. her mother forces Ana to work at her sister?s clothing factory. But Ana still wants to leave her family to
be her own "individual" person at Columbia University. She looks down upon her family and sees her sister?s clothing factory
as a sweat shop.

Ana takes the advice of her teacher and applies for college, despite her mother?s wishes. She ends up getting accepted
to Columbia University with a full scholarship and leaving her family. I thought her mother would come out of her room to
say good-bye to Ana, but it broke my heart to see a severed relationship between a mother and daughter because there?s
something so special about the bond and unity that is shared within a family that sticks together.

The ending of the film conflicts with what I learned at Poor because Ana leaves her family. She wants to pursue her own
future, education, boyfriend, and separate herself from her family. Her desire to become independent from her family fits
under the American individualistic mindset of our society. However, at one point in the film, Ana does improve upon her
individualistic ways and realizes how hard her family works to support each other, which brings her closer to her family and
makes her more willing to work at her sister?s factory.

Perhaps, Ana should have applied to a college and scholarship within the LA area, so that she could live at home and go to a nearby school, be close to her family, and support them financially.

When One becomes Many..

Student: Ashley Adams

In the film, the daughter, Ana, becomes individualized. She leaves her family in LA to pursue formal education in NY
even tho ugh her mother refused to say ?good-bye?. Ana leaves against her mother?s wishes, then the movie ends without
showing the viewers the flip-side of becoming individualized and how painful the process is for all involved?There are no
scenes of how Ana copes in NYC without any members of her family and there are no scenes of how Ana?s family and
especially Mother handle their day to day life without her in their home, in their city.

The movie shows what a working class inter-dependent family experiences as their daughter becomes individualized.
The ending of the film shows Ana walking down the street in NYC with a smile on her face. I gathered that the film was
promoting such decisions by the ending. Towards the end, I thought that Ana would not leave and I was surprised at the
outcome. Very much like Isabel.

The ending of the film conflicts with what I have learned at Poor regarding the issues of individuation. I have learned
that family and community are the most import ant part of survival, and one of the most anti-capitalist behaviors and
actions that one can participate in. When the ONE becomes a part of the MANY, the individual?s need shift from personal
gain to collective gain, which is the exact opposite of c apitalism and the truth about our existence is our interdependency.

Ana would choose to stay with her family in LA realizing she is a part of something bigger than herself. This decision is
make just before going to the airport to fly to NY. S he does not receive her mother?s blessing to leave home, so she does
not go. Instead she applies to UCLA and gets accepted with a full ride scholarship. She helps out with her sister?s factory
work when needed. Her sister, begins designing a dress l ine for ?real women that have curves?. The dresses are made in her
factory and instead of getting $18 for a dress that is sold in department stores for $600, she begins to sell the dress all
over the world via internet, for $300 each, and she gets a s many orders as she did as a contractor. Ana helps her with this
transition, as Ana helped her to see the slave labor, sweatshop conditions they were working with to survive. They, as a
family, changed the course of their survival by staying togeth er and helping each other actualize dreams.

Hospitale Generale..

Student: Andy Dellarocca

Individuation was certainly THE underlying theme of the film. The girl
wanting to leave, the mother wanting her to stay not just because she is
going to miss her, but because she wants her daughter to now give back, and
work for the family. A cultural struggle ensues, as the daughter is
prompted to leave for college (Beverly Hills culture) because "it is the
best thing for her", while her mother and father, do not want the family to
break apart (Mexican culture).

The ending of the film is not conclusive. What occurs- the girl living in
Manhattan -certainly goes against Poor's doctrine. However, the filmmaker
does not reveal to the audience whether she agrees that it is the best
decision. The filmmaker leaves her opinion intentionally ambiguous. The
focus of the film is the struggle between individuation and collectivism.
Therefore, the ending does not conflict with what we learned at Poor,
because at Poor we learned that the conflict exists. Poor, however, would
prefer that she stay at home. So Dee was mad.

An alternative ending, naturally, would be the girl staying ho me and working
in her sister's factory, laughing, dancing in her underwear, ironing
clothes, and talking with her friends about Jose's illegitimate child and
how he secretly dates boys, and how the alien on "Hospital Generale" falls
in love with a sock.

by Valerie Schwartz/PoorNewsNetwork Community Journalist and Poverty Scholar

For the Poor People of the World

There is no respect

Living or Dead

Ode to the throes of the Poor,

lost and forgotten and not mourned

The homeless can not rest in peace….

……excerpt from "Barely in yo grave" by A. Faye Hicks, Po’ Poets Project

I have lost more than a few friends to homeless deaths, as a matter of fact it is almost too depressing to think for about very long because the body count is high. . I have known homeless people, friends and acquaintances who have died from things as varied as exposure/ hypothermia, heart attacks, seizures, blood poisoning, staff infections, Hep C, AIDS, alcohol poisoning, overdose, suicide, renal failure, diabetes, flesh eating disease, abscesses, pneumonia, and violence. I myself had quite a few close encounters with the Angel of Death while living on the streets of San Francisco. To say that I cheated death would be an outright lie. I was fortunately in the right/wrong place enough times to rob the death angel, boldly and forthright from taking myself and other people on the streets.. Most of these deaths are and would have been preventable. In 2000,the Department of Public Heath stopped counting homeless deaths and the study of homeless deaths. The DPH claimed that due to a shortage of funding, employees, staff, and a change of priority the study would end.

It's dreary gray Monday afternoon typical of January in San Francisco. I am standing at the cable car turn around at Powell and Market Streets as the people walk by to look and the diverse array of street vendors and their wares. As a woman stares out the second floor window of the GAP, people are getting ready to start the "Homeless Death Funeral Procession and Protest." We are dressed in black, some have their faces painted in the stark black and white death mask as this is a protest of a serious erasure of people by Dr. Mitch Katz of the DPH. Folks from Coalition on Homelessness, People Organized to Win Employment Rights, POOR Magazine and many more economic justice organizers are gathered here to demand that the Department of Public Health reinstate the annual homeless death study and to acknowledge the lives of the homeless we have lost here in the city. Clipboards are being passed through the crowd to gather signatures to endorse the reinstatement of the homeless death count as well as food for those who are hungry.

"Every year in San Francisco there are at least one hundred homeless deaths", said Machiko Saito one of the organizers of the event. According to statistics since 1987 more than 1,600 have died homeless here in San Francisco. The Tenderloin Times first started the tracking of homeless deaths in 1987 and even though they have folded, they started a monumentally important task: the death count of our city's homeless. The Department of Public Health started keeping track of the deaths in 1997-1999. Information from the Medical Examiners Office was used to create a database on sites of deaths, preventable deaths and information on deaths caused from intentional and non- intentional injuries. The tally was abandoned for 2000 due to lack of funding and the need in September 2001, for a study on "bio-terrorism" superceding the homeless death study.

There had been a "Community Advisory Board" that used and implemented this data for health outreach workers to hamper deaths and educate the public. It also served to create a database of what information was pertinent to creating solutions within the health and social systems of San Francisco.

There is a black plywood coffin and some flowers, from the side of them steps Madigan, a mental-health advocate, and a self described, "punk rock cellist." Madigan told the people how being present the march and "protesting and organizing is good for your mental health."

" We ain't gonna take this shit cuz people are dying!" said Garth Ferguson, a long time advocate for the homeless. He told us of how he "stumbled across a dead man" in 1987 and that was the beginning of the homeless death count that the Tenderloin Times carried the news of, the news that the corporate media would not cover.

Through the start of this homeless death count, the literal stumbling of Garth Ferguson, several things of major import happened. 1. The Mac Millan Drop-In Center opened thus facilitating a place for homeless folk that had been turned away from the shelters for being intoxicated which left them susceptible to hypothermia to get in from out doors. 2. A death prevention: an outreach team that combines outreach mental health, substance abuse and medical services to those at risk. 3. The "Substance Grievance Procedure" to help ensure that addicts who would be put out of treatment, receive other treatment rather than be put out in the streets with nowhere to go making relapse inevitable, especially after tolerance levels being lower from being in treatment.

"In the last six years I've lost fifteen people", said Delphine Brody. A member of the Substance Mental Health Workers Coalition, Delphine says, "People are dying due to a lack of access" and that when Prop N goes into effect "Chances are people won't be able to get into hotels on fifty-nine dollars a month. Ms Brody talked of how it was Dr. Mitch Katz of DPH that had made the decision to end the count and study of homeless deaths, "He thinks it is more important to fight bio-terrorism.

I didn't even want to try and think, it made me so very sad and angry to even try to count all those who have passed, that I have known, who have passed here in San Francisco homeless. Some weren't counted as homeless even though they most assuredly were. Some slept in their vehicles, other peoples rooms, apartments, basements, or couch surfed and those that sidewalk surfed the gritty pissy pavement of the city finding refuge in the slivers of cardboard, where they could. They were not legal tenants anywhere, but still not listed as homeless. Some had people give them addresses upon their death for reasons of burial, mortuary service, and in the end it all comes down to money doesn't it? They don't even have a paupers graveyard anymore, I'm not sure what they do with the ashes of the homeless. I know the morgue wanted six-hundred dollars to have my friend Tiffany's ashes sent to her mother in Oregon. I believe it is imperative that we have the homeless death study to help prevent these deaths that are so unnecessary and re-implement the education of harm reduction and the valuable information that can be obtained through this study and to acknowledge the people of our city in death and to pay homage to them.

Bianca Henry, an advocate of housing for the poor and homeless then stepped up to the microphone and said, "Every year we lose family to the street. Bianca brought to us the knowledge that the largest growing segment of homeless across our nation are families and that the conditions should be changed. Says Bianca, "Families are being left out, for the City to leave children on the street is not okay... It is not a crime to be poor."

"Bay City Love", an accapella trio of three African-American men then gave a beautiful tribute to those who have passed on our streets homeless. They started singing 'Down by the Riverside" in a three part harmony and then helped Madigan and Machiko in the chants and songs for the march.

The march/procession started to move up the sidewalk chanting and singing as we, in a number of what I would estimate at seventy people, went up Market to Seventh Street where we made the first of several stops to honor those who have passed away. On Seventh between Mission and Market we stopped and paid tribute to Teresa Guerra. Yolanda Catzalco of POWER spoke about Teresa, her friend who died in a shelter where no one called the paramedics for help until ten hours had passed and nothing could be done. "Teresa was one of the forefront leaders against Prop N...she took on the big one, she took on Gavin Newsom, ", said Yolanda. Teresa had been an advocate for the poor and homeless. She worked with POWER and fought for jobs and housing for people.

We then went to United Nations Plaza to evoke the memory of a personal friend of mine Cesar Cruz a very good, kind man. I had known Cesar since about oh 1993 or 94 when he first came to the Tenderloin he used to work at the Western Hotel and eventually became homeless and lived in Civic Center with his dog, "Bear". L.S. Wilson spoke first at the statue and the end of the Plaza at Hyde St., "Cesar was as much a fixture of this city as this statue...he was a leader of the U. N. Plaza homeless."

Another man spoke, an elder. He talked about how "Cesar was loved by a lot of the people here" and how Cesar had been instrumental in organizing the homeless, Cesar's generosity and how Cesar, a Veteran, had been a diplomat as a homeless person. The gentleman also said, " In seven years I've seen forty-nine people that I know pass" and followed with a message to the Mayor.. " F' you, Mayor Brown we are still here and more determined!"

From the Plaza we walked up to Mc Allister and Larkin to honor yet another homeless death, that of Trent Hayward. Trent was a talented writer, advocate, and a volunteer for the Coalition on Homelessness, Street Spirit and POOR Magazine. Allison Lum quoted a passage written by Trent to the DPH in regard to the fence that was put up on the corner of Larkin and Mc Allister, where Trent lived, houselessly, in which Trent said the DPH might as well put up signs that said, "Please refrain from dying on our property." The fence was put up because people had been camping out there and apparently dying on DPH property.

On the way towards City Hall I ran into an old friend that I haven't seen for about a year and a half, April. April informed me that while she was in treatment/program her lover, our friend, Dean Lockart died in front of the Post Office on Golden Gate and Hyde Streets last February 2002. I had known Dean since 1984, he was a gentle and good person. It is weird how things happen. I was just thinking about Dean and April not more than a week ago and wondering if they were still surviving out there and today I have my question answered. I couldn't help but get mad at myself for wondering about them as if perhaps if I hadn't thought about them maybe I wouldn't have had to know the truth and maybe Dean would still be alive. I am glad we did not go to Turk and Hyde for I would have broke down thinking about the loss of Mama, my friend and a friend to many, a vehicularily housed elder who died of a heart attack in her van, homeless. I am growing tired of the truth and that is: The city's poor homeless are in dire need of service and the truth is that I am sick and tired of seeing people die out there when it isn't necessary, not ordained, nor part of any divine plan.

Our final stop was at 101 Grove St. at the DPH's Public Health and Safety building. Outside on the steps and the entrances to the building the SFPD was present and informed people that they could not take in any signs placards or posterboards. I expected a search but they allowed us in and were actually pretty reserved. Mary Kate from Caduesus Center spoke before we went into the public meeting of the Health Commission. "I"m really sad that we are all here...what it speaks to is that here is a group of people here who care", "These lives do not have value, this is the message we are receiving", said Mary kate. She then added that if it was smallpox it wouldn't have happened, that it would have been addressed and taken care of. Before we walked into the doors she said, "Every life has value." Mary Kate then read the list of demands on the steps that the organizers, supporters, and the homeless were standing.

We are demanding that Department of Public Health work to:

1. Prevent Homeless Deaths

2. Count and Study homeless deaths within the Health Department

3. Re-institute homeless people's Over-site Committee to make recommendations for change

4. Adhere to existing San Francisco Definition of Homelessness in the study.

We then entered the building and went up the steps to the third floor where the Health Commission was meeting, we entered, perhaps forty people into the hearing room while others stood in the hall. Chanting and singing started, the gavel banged and banged, the chair said we would not be acknowledged. Wrong, it was he who was not acknowledged: for the tribute to our friends, loved ones, and citizens was louder than the gavel.

L.S. Wilson of the Coalition on Homelessness then approached the Chairman and the Health Commission. He stood at the dais and into the microphone he spoke clearly and loudly in behalf of those who have passed, those presently homeless, and served the following Summons Malpractice Lawsuit. The room quieted as L.S. read the summons to the defendant Dr. Mitch Katz. When he finished the chanting and singing resumed until everyone exited the room and went outside.

Although it was a serious and somewhat somber afternoon and at times sadly reflective: I had a sense of unity to come and that the tear in the fabric of humanity is being repaired slowly, methodically, and with love and with a voice that will not allow itself to be stifled or censored any longer. "We are still here and more determined."

by Joe B.

"It "Freak-in happened again! 7 intelligent, adventurous, creative people flashed-to-ashes. Mr. Ilan Ramon, a colonel of in the Israeli Airforce, First Israeli astronaut In Space
Dr. Kalpana Chawla, First citizen of India in space.
Col. Rick Husband, Lt. Col. Michael Anderson, Cmdr. William McCool, and Capt. David Brown, Laurel Clark.

"When I heard someone talk about it Saturday, February 1st it didn’t register.

The thought came "It must’ve been an empty shuttle tested for flight by remote control, it couldn’t of happened again?

There’s an emergency escape pod or pods for two or three astronauts at a time to glide safely to earth.

But I’m wrong, no escape pods, Mc Giver like glider kits that can be deployed at the edge of space along with one-time us emergency thermal suits for added protection.

I am glad I only heard and not seen as what happened but it will be displayed what happened it its awful entirety.

My own moment of silence was through out that day and Sunday at a new church I pray in.

The bare facts of the matter is no matter what humanity does to make it safe for us to become a space-faring race their will always be a cost but it shouldn’t take the best of our people in one blast like this has once again.

Maybe a combination of robotic probes, inexpensive, of-the-shelf-cheap one-time to multi-use Nanotech- nological solutions could be the 21st technological equivalent of 19th century canaries in the mine telling miner how dangerous gaseous build up that kills canaries but warns the miners.

That could be what Artificial Intelligence nano devices are for, the safeguarding of human lives in space, on a planetoid, moons, asteroids, comets, or on near worlds like mars, or reforming, regenerating, life on dead worlds for human eventual habitation.

Meanwhile poor and working folk are being crushed underfoot by rising taxes, longer jail terms, legalized death camps (State Penitentiary Prisons) where more and more innocent people are dying because of rush to judgement prosecutor’s and overworked defense lawyers.

Selected ‘Prez B Jr. does not pause in the face of ultimate heroism tragedy but continued talk of war which grounds our economy to dust.

That’s my reasoning.

Part 3 of Gay, Straight, & Women or GS&W will continue because one cannot keep this tragic accident upper most in mind or it’ll cause weeping, sobbing, jags for people I’ve never met but admire.

I cannot imagine what family and close friends, students are going through.

May all of them hurt less as weeks, months, and years go by although it will be a long rough process.

This could be too deep wound for many that may never completely heal.

Too much knowledge, applied science, personal courage, and sacrifice of these people and their families have gone into NASA to let the dream and reality of space exploration go.

But safeguards or A.I., robotics has to take up the slack where humans are too vulnerable.

There must be a way to fuse the above technologies in the service and safety of Peoplekind.

Any ideas about safety in space besides not going?

Not going isn’t an option too many human’s have died in the endeavor to end this venture.

How do we protect and proceed in space? Bye.

Please send donations to

Poor Magazine or in C/0

Ask Joe at 1448 Pine Street,

San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA

For Joe only my snail mail:

1230 Market St.

PO Box #645

San Francisco, CA 94102

Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

by Staff Writer

Who is poor?

I think my cousin is poor because her dad tells her if she wants to live with them, she needs to pay rent to her dad.

I am

I am a Mexican who only wishes to have a good future. I am not rich or poor.

by Nelsy Suarez

by Joe B.

As a columnist at POOR Magazine going on 6 years she maybe right, most of the time either my address was written wrong, glitches in programs, electromagnetic storms or server mishaps, plus my own incompetence in this highly technical arena prevented many readers from responding in positive or negative ways.

[not one racy though demure pinup of a feminine fan.]

I truly don’t know if readers like, hate, or laugh at my work?

I’m just a guy doing what I can with words but some–times my written work shock its been called odd, crazy, experimental, Erotic garbage, to downright Pornographic.

I try not to offend anyone but as my 3 editors say I’m dialoging with myself.

As an intern at POOR Magazine, a year ago or more her name: Marissa Villaluna, at the time I don’t know if she’s a Youth Commissioner, was sworn in, or what.

I didn’t even know she was in college at the time.

She’s had a life of drama, abuse, former soldier, (She knows 10 way to kill barehanded!)

I’d like to learn those techniques before she away from my small orbit into the wider world.

She lived in Germany, Texas, other places, and visited Taiwan.

When her internship was up I thought I wouldn’t see her for awhile little did I know she lived closer to my bosses than to me but I was able to walk to her apartment when I found out where she lived.

As a platonic friend she taught me about some of her
Spanish/Filipino (Philippines) Heritage, food, and cultural esthetics, club dancing, and bars. (I don't drink and not a good dancer but now taking classes in Latin Ameri Folk Dance other dances and later tap I'm thinking of learning also.)

Its one of her outlets of a busy, hetic, stressful life full of political events, travel, dinners, and meetings through out the week.(The Woman Has To Have Some Fun After All The Dedication To Improve The Lives Of Younger and Elder Folks of all genders and Orientations).

I’ve said she lives her life at warp speed and that’s and me I’m trying to live as slow as possible.

Sometimes she sleep in her apartment or mine and I’ve had to wake her up because leaving without tell her really panicked her.

Because of a serious life threatening incident in Feb. of 2002.

To trust me, another male completely made me feel really special.

All that combat knowledge and she is caught by surprise by a battering boyfriend didn’t matter.

I told her once that I deeply appreciate her trust in me, it meant a lot to me.

She shrugged it off as no big deal so I wait until I'm home behind closed doors to let the flood overrun my eyelids.

There is respect, humor, friendship, deep gratitude, for her trust.

I gripe, groan, make an ass of myself sometimes she’s use to that.

She’s no perfect young miss herself even when she’s bored she’s a "Thick, Stunning young, woman who's already a political leader among the youth.

Like she says "She’s no leader of the future she’s one now."

I can only see her ‘Pol Star continue to rise.

"Mari has told me her friends don’t read my columns, that it’s a "B.S. Column."

Oh, well everyone has an opinion and as third editor she has squashed many a budding column by looking only at the title.

She has a habit of coming up with statistics to back up whatever she’s saying while pick out junk from the air and not deep research.

"You have no evidence, so your argument is a load of crap."

I fix that by not talking politics, sexism, racism, or any other ism’s for that matter because I’m not looking up stuff all over the world to back up every little detail.

That’s why I’m not into politics because it all changes everyday, month, and year and I won’t spend time tracking all the minutia down to make a point as she does.

I guess I’ll look for evidence and for once win an argument just as she used them against me.

I hope Mari’s friends tell her about this column that is about her.

I’ll write another if she’s not satisfied but she’s must write some of it herself… Bye.

Please send donations to

Poor Magazine or in C/0

Ask Joe at 1448 Pine Street,

San Francisco, CA. 94109 USA

For Joe only my snail mail:

1230 PO Box

#645

Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102

Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

by Ace Tafoya/ PNN Community Journalist

I peer outside my studio apartment window into the streets of the Tenderloin. All religions, races, creeds and sexes queue up for Glide Memorial Church’s daily feedings. How many are on G.A. (General Assistance) or homeless, I wonder. I say to myself that most people in that line will be effected by Proposition N in some way and the slashing of G.A. checks from $390 to $59 a month come July 1st of this year. I shudder in disbelief.

The coalition to repeal Prop. N, in front of City Hall is having an on-going “24/7 Vigil #2” to stop the implementation of Prop. N. “Everybody’s going to be effected in one way or another,” exclaims Starr Smith of the Coalition On Homelessness at the press conference in front of City Hall I attended last week. “Not just single adults, but my family will be hurt by Proposition N, even though my family isn’t on G.A.”

My worn, torn and dirty tennis shoes hit the pavement as I walk throughout the TL. A police car with lights flashing screams by. Two older gentlemen are having a conversation about the upcoming Chinese New Year. “Of course it will effect our business (the passing of Prop. N),” Rico from Chico’s Pizza on 6th Street relays to me as I stop in for a slice before the press conference. “Most of the 6th Street residents are on G.A. or SSI.”

“Proposition N or Care Not Cash is unjust. It’s gonna make more people homeless,” cautions John McDermott, co-ordinator of “24/7 Vigil #2” while standing on the red carpet at City Hall that was intended for the Opera Singers set to arrive in grand fashion. “The city is unjustifiably coming down and ripping the poor off!” Adds Colleen Kaelin, advocate for the homeless and member of POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights), “I don’t believe what the city is trying to do to the homeless people in San Francisco is right! We need affordable housing, we need living wage jobs, we need medical care, and we need immediate action on medical situations.”

Maceo Brown waved a picket sign at the conference that read “Prop N (Care Not Cash) Smoking Gun In The Hand Of City – Father Will Make More Homeless On Gavin Newsom”, while Father Louie said a prayer.

I leave the press conference and trek on over to the San Francisco Main Library, home to many houseless people during the day to rent a CD and movie. I get back home in time to watch the guys in the yellow jackets given by Glide hand out meal tickets to the people that have been standing in the line for dinner. There are many people waiting tonight. Something tells me when this initiative is in effect that there will be many more people to serve.

I close the door to my small studio and think of what Andre Rucker, a member of POWER said to me once about all this rubbish Prop N. will bring, “This is inappropriate to ask for my fingerprints if I can’t pay a hotel fare and need to stay in a shelter.”

The line outside is moving swiftly now as I contemplate joining it, since I don’t have much for dinner. I haven’t yet, but one day I’ll swallow my pride and grasp a ticket. I feel warm inside knowing there are places like Glide and St. Anthony’s that actually care for people in need. Perhaps Gavin Newson, Trent Rhorer and the rest of their co-horts could actually give a damn about these people in San Francisco.

This vigil is on going. Please support them by showing up, honking horns, blowing whistles or holding up a sign. This measure truly does need to

by Christina Heatherton/Community Journalist

Dividing lines come in all sizes: long as a baton, wide as a man, lean enough to sign on, or brief as a breath. Saturday the line stood thin and blue and seven officers long. It stretched across a vacant Pacific Heights house that 30 people have called home for the past six months. Thirty demonstrators from the Autonomous Collective, Homes Not Jails (HNJ), Right To A Roof, Coalition on Homelessness, Food Not Bombs, and POOR Magazine convened in front of the house to protest the recent eviction by United Dominion Realty Trust, the agency that owns the property. Clenching banners and signs, and chanting into bullhorns, we threatened to stretch the thin blue line to its limits. As one protester declared, “If you think we’ll run out of people then you are wrong! There are thousands of us who would rather risk arrest than sleep on the street.”

The building at 2161 Sutter Street had sat empty in the affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood for one year before squatters made it into a cooperative self-managed home. After six months the building was occupied, converted into a fully functioning home with plumbing and heating that sheltered thirty people, and then emptied again. On Monday, January 27th, the squatters were forcibly evicted by the police. Later that week, two of the squatters were arrested for defying the eviction and re-entering the building. United Dominion Realty plans to redevelop the space into a pricy apartment complex that would be inaccessible for San Francisco’s poor. The move is consistent with the ongoing gentrification and displacement trends in the city.

The scene Saturday was symbolic of the city’s housing crisis. As police guarded a starkly vacant building, the people demanding housing were detained in the streets. The building is one of many in the city that remains unoccupied in face of an ever growing homeless population. As Sam, an HNJ activist described it to me, the situation is disgusting since “there’s enough there to share”.

Before the police barricade, protesters took turns giving speeches and leading chants. Some enraged demonstrators roared into bullhorn about their lack of options between the dangerous SROs, the unsafe prison-like conditions of the shelter systems, and the streets. “Housing is a right!” they declared. “We shouldn’t have to be out here doing this in order to live like human beings!”

We soon left the house and took off into the streets of Pacific Heights chanting “Homes Not Jails! Food Not Bombs!” Saturday afternoon shoppers browsing the blocks of upscale boutiques and bistros were thoroughly confused with the march. We headed up the hill to the busy intersection of Sacramento and Fillmore. There, three demonstrators locked arms through specially rigged PVC piping while others unfurled signs saying “People Over Profit” and “End the War Against the Poor”. Fifteen demonstrators occupied the middle of the intersection stopping all kinds of traffic and attracting a lot of attention. After 20 minutes, there were around 150 people poking their heads out of coffee shops and standing on the corners, watching in curious disbelief.

Those of us present for Saturday’s action presented an ultimatum to the city. We will continue protesting and demonstrating until the price of guarding outweighs the cost of giving the housing. As one protester announced, “They are either going to have to give us housing or they’ll have to guard every vacant house in the city! Give it or Guard it!”

How you can help:
Tell United Dominion Realty Trust not to prioritize profits over housing for the poor. Phone: 925/224.8670 Fax: 925/225.8657 http://www.udrt.com
Contact:

Homes Not Jails 415/346.3740

Autonomous Collective autonomouscollective@mutualaid.org

by Leroy F. Moore Jr.

The Black Race

The Black Race is a promotional commercial for a yearly event in the
Black community

Characters - The Host – Tom, Dick and the Referee

Place: Washington, DC i.e. The Chocolate City

Narrated by Leroy Moore

Tom: Hello Dick!

Tom: It's about that time of year again

Dick: Yes it's Tom and we're expecting more people than last year.
Let’s going to the video of last years BLACK RACE

VIDEO - Yes, where are here today in Washington, DC what
those people call the Chocolate City.

Tom – I can see why Dick that's all I see are niggers oops
I mean Black people for miles

Dick - The Black Race happens every year all over
the country. For twenty-eight days the whole
country can see, hear read and buy Black American
history, culture, art and literature.

Tom - I love hosting this race Dick! Seeing and promoting
capitalism and exploitation of Black Americans!

Dick - But isn't that America?!

Tom - Oh yes it is Dick. But today the race is more diverse!
I mean you've Black women, gays and lesbians and
Black disabled people are putting in their two cents.

Dick - Tom, I hope they have more than two cents. You got to
have money for this race!

Tom – But isn't it amazing how those people come out
every year to exploit themselves on our behalf and
to fit their culture and history into the shortest month of the year! It is just amazing!

Dick - We're about to begin the race. Lets go down to the starting Line.

The Referee: Listen up! Listen up! Welcome to the 2004
Black Race. Here are the rules:

1) Like every year, the Black Race is only for twenty-eight days. After
the 28th we don't wont to see or hear from you until next year!

2) This race is about how much you can give to the market and that
means nothing is free. Sell, charge it, just get that money

3) The Race must be diverse.

4) Always remember rule number one and two

ON YOUR MARK GET SET GO!!

Dick - Look at them run.

Tom –“It's going to be an exciting but short month
Well we're you host Dick and Tom

Dick You've twenty-eight days to watch The Black Race.

Tom - Yeah, don't miss it cause there will not be any reruns

This is Tom and Dick in the Chocolate City, Washington, DC.
We'd like to thank our official sponsor of the Black Race,
Kentucky Fried Chicken and Nike.

END OF VIDEO BACK TO TOM AND DICK

Well that was a clip from last years Black Race. Join us in Oakland, CA.
for the Black Race of 2004.

Think about it!!!!

Leroy F. Moore Jr.
Sfdamo@Yahoo.com

*****************************************************************************

HEADS OR TAILS

By Leroy Moore

Flip it

Floating in the air

Anticipation is everywhere

Huddled over

What is it, what is it?

Its heads!

Tossed in the air

I hit the ground

But nobody is around

Is this a game

Is there a referee

Its life in America

One side or the other side

Black or disabled

Disabled or Black

Can’t be both

Take the oath

And you’re American first

Hot in this melting pot

Boiling away our culture

Our brains are mash potatoes

Identities wrapped in

Red, white and blue boxes

Traded in at the Salvation Army

1 +1 = 1

Can’t have two

You must chose only one

In court cause I’ve been raped

But the Jury can’t look at me

The judge, jury and my lawyer are all guilty

Two identities two personalities

Flipping back and forth back and forth

No wonder I’m schizophrenic

Halloween is every day

I’m the masksman

Can’t reveal the real me

Walking to the Million Man March

Wearing my Black skin but

Hiding my disability

Sitting on a picket fence

Always the last one to be chosen

Black and disabled my coin has no value

Black or disabled

My Black brothers and sisters see only one identity

Racism running rapid in the disabled community

Black History Month

Black Entertainment T.V.

Black Caucus

Black gays & lesbians

Black feminists

Black, black black black black black..

James Bryd, Black AND disabled

Margaret L. Mitchell, Black AND disabled

Marcus Hug, Black AND disabled

My people are 20 feet under and can’t come back

Black studies don’t teach my history

White disabled scholars trying to write my story

Heads or tails

Hey, get real

I’m Black AND disabled

So put away that coin

I’m flipping your mind

With my dual identities

By Leroy F. Moore Jr. 10\14\2000

by Tiny/Po’ Poet and Co-editor of POOR Magazine

"Children don’t listen to their parents no-how, but to read my story, to read about my resistance to poverty, through the Word – that’s when my son started resistin’ , started healin’ started listenin to me, his mama’" Rising from half-eaten crackers, a pile of steaming bagels, and a mist of coffee steam was the light emanating from Ms. A. Faye Hicks, Po Poet Laureate of POOR Magazine. The mini-mess hall at POOR headquarters with its harsh florescence could hardly contain the spirit, the power and the glory that was A. Faye. As she spoke, illustrating each consanant with a pinch of southern salt, she used several long limbs of her tall, slim body to underline the crucial points.

Ms. Alice Faye Hicks, an aspiring dress designer, was sporting black skin tight knickers, white tights and low platforms in the current vaguely 17th century send-ups that are all the rage on the runways of Paris and in the streets of Beverly Hills. But A. Faye did not waste her time in such elitist spaces, her fashion ensembles grace the hallways of one of the largest shelters in San Francisco. Ms. A. Faye is currently houseless.

My name is A Faye

I am a Lady of the Shelters.

I am a student and teacher of Life

In Indoor shelter living and Outdoor cardboard shelter living

I have met Hundreds of People

Most with Tragic Stories.

Jailhouse, Sickness..........Mental and Physical

I am all alone

Yet not alone!

Sheltered in the Wings of Heaven!!!!

(from A. fayes "slam bio" a tradition of The Po Poets Project)

"My son was in jail, not doing well, then he read some of my poetry that I wrote in the Po Poets, that’s when he started changing his life, studying for his GED, getting a good job across the Bay, you know healin, cause I think that’s when he started to understand my life – he said, ‘mama you the strongest woman I ever met’, now that’s the power of The Word, that’s the power of resistance"

As I listened to A. Faye recall her son’s catharsis, who grew up with Faye, "in a Section 8 apartment in the only Oakland neighborhood that would rent to us that felt like death row thanks to all the harassment by police of the youth", I was reminded of my own life with my mother, our poverty together and my ability to work through my issues with our life through my own writing. As a formerly houseless, currently at-risk poverty survivor, the first time I was able to write my story and have someone read it – have someone "see" me as something other than a bum, lazy, stupid or "useless" was the first time I felt alive, like there was a reason to go on living….

I asked A. Faye how she first got into the Raising Our Voices (ROV) Program of Media Alliance, which then led to her membership in The Po Poets Project of POOR Magazine,
"I saw a flyer on the wall at St Anthony’s Dining Room while I was eating lunch, and of course I had already met up with Ben (Ben Clarke and myself co-teach creative writing through the ROV Program) when he taught a workshop at Tenderloin reflection Center, so I had some idea of what that poetry writing would be like, but you know, I never did like poetry in high school – poetry was all about flowers, hearts and shakespeare, those things didn’t speak to me…

"How did you feel when POOR nominated you to be the first Po Poet Laureate"

"Well you know I didn’t even know what that word meant til I was nominated so getting that title opened my eyes to a whole new world – I started reading about other writers like Amiri Baraka and Quincey troupe and their experiences with poetry and society…"
I smiled cause POOR launched the Po’ Poet laureate project to seize that lofty literary canon and bestow it on the folk who we consider poverty scholars, and in my mind there was no larger, more deserving poverty scholar than A. Faye

I asked A. Faye about her other dreams, "What about this rumour of you being interested in being a chef "

" Yea I pursued that, " she spit out each word of this curt reply and then after a long pause continued, "but the food industry in San Francisco doesn’t hire older Black women to be Chefs- so I said the hell with you…..but all I wanted to do is something for people and now instead of feeding their stomachs I am feeding their minds…..

"I have always faced obstacles to my dreams – whether it was a dress designer or a chef – writing and publishing my book of poetry is the first dream I have had that came true… a dream that is possible … we should all have our dreams realized… knowing that people read my work ..knowing that I affect people with my words…. Gave me a purpose to being alive…."

The POOR Nation – selected works by A. Faye Hicks published by POOR Press will be on sale at the POOR Press Book Release party and Benefit on Sunday, Febuary 23rd @ 6:00pm at 255 9th street in SF (bet Folsom and Howard) at the ILWU union hall. As well you can access her recent work as a Po Poet Laureate on topics ranging from Police Brutality of youth of color to Proposition N on www.poormagazine.org by clicking on the Po Poets Project Column on the front page- see below for more information on the POOR Press release party!!!

by Joe B.

While waiting to perform some poetry I’m told about the banning of St.

Valentine’s Day by an uptight guy named Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell, born in Huntingdon in 1599, was a strict Puritan with a Cambridge education when he went to London to represent his family in Parliament.

Clothed conservatively, he possessed a Puritan fervor and a commanding voice, he quickly made a name for himself by serving in both the Short Parliament (April 1640) (information supplied by www.britannia. com/history/monarchs.

Because this guy was both smart and such a Puritan.
that: [italics mine]

In the early 1600s: Oliver Cromwell's government bans St. Valentine's celebrations in England.

Oliver Cromwell came to power, declared valentines immoral, and had them banned.

Being a Puritan with strict ethics he saw the holiday and pagan and people just having all kinds of devilish fun at his God’s expense.

The holiday and its customs are restored in 1660 when Charles II defeats the Roundheads and assumes the British throne Oliver Cromwell (1649-1658 AD)

I’m thinking that Mr. G W B if not genetically is (dare I say spiritually of same stripe) and nothing sways him when he believes he’s in the right.

Lord, deliver me from the righteous who may think they’re doing your will but haven’t a clue to why you lived, died are opened heaven for us all.

As for all the women, young girls, and/or mature wymyn going through their own personal hell.

May you meet your equal half whatever sexual orientation you and they may be and finally find your slice of personal heaven(s).

It’s a horror story some lives are going through and if one survives it might get even worse as some of our so called idiot leader rush foolishly into a bloody, stupid war.

An you lover’s, hold each other tight, don’t break apart unless it cannot be helped.

My love life is floating and hasn’t drifted to ground yet.

The best thing for me is checking out the new "Good Vibrations" that had an open house last Saturday and Sunday.

While I’m not with a current "friend."

I might as well by books, video, dvd’s and pleasurable massage equipment so the next "friend" met will have a much relaxed and better time than either our last folks did.

Tell me, folks-when you‘re single still are what does one do on Saint Valentine’s Day?

Be anonymous if you want. After a break up, or
when lovers leave what does the one left do?

Well, that’s my Valentine for anyone by their lonesome but lonesome doesn’t necessarily mean alone sometimes people need their spaces that separate space.

Got places to go, people to confuse. Bye.