Story Archives

pstrongReViewSfortheRevOlutioN- a PNN review column for all your literary, visual and audio art needs/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/350/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby George Tirado/p pWhat can you say about a piece of work so volatile, that just reading the back cover of the book will make 80% of P.C. America cringe in their boots? "I own nigger . I purchased it with the blood of my fathers. I stole it from the mouths of my masters. I created it in the soul of my sons. It is mine. I am it's god......." This is only a taste of what there is to expect from bGrowing up Free in America/b by Bruce Jackson. /p pWhat Bruce Jackson has done is to take the pretty out of art, poetry and short prose, and instead of creating something nice for the reader, he has given us a loaded gun filled with bullets of reality./p pWhat makes Bruce Jackson's work important, especially now, is this war on poverty. This is a war in which there are no winners, and each person who is fighting to survive is not really living. The pain is real, the addiction is real , the violence is real , and the outcome is also very real. If you give into it you die, but sometimes it's easier to quit. "There is brutal silence in the night. Listen. They are screaming. Black is the fire in the city below the dark of the sky. Black is inhaling fire, exhaling smoke into base pipes hissing gripped liquid crack, burning until the hissing explodes...."/p pThis is a view of America from the eyes of a Black man, cold and angry. Here is a man who is not afraid to write about gentrification, racism, poverty, drug addiction and violence. Not only violence by police, but by his own race. This is a book in which the main character is not human, but a being driven to extinction by his own hand. What is the point of writing like this? It's the truth found in between the lines; he makes you work for it. This book is great in that it falls in line with other revolutionary writings such as uSolidad Brother/u by George Jackson, uOn a Mission/u by The Last Poets, and uAn Autobiography of Malcolm X/u . /ppThis book is for everyone. This book will open your eyes and challenge something inside of yourself: something called Freedom.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongOakland is under siege by developers seeking to make their riches by displacing downtown residents with the 10 K Plan. /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/351/photo_1_feature.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Lynda Carson/p pOakland Ca--Last week during the Oakland City Council meeting, the sparks were flying before the vote was cast 5 to 3 "for" on the agenda item "S-15.1/Residential Infill Development Project." The item sets in motion the process to continue with the downtown 10 k Plan./p pThere were no staff reports to provide any details, and City Staffers scrambled to answer the many questions that arose. It became crystal clear that Mayor Jerry Brown was trying to make an end run around C.E.Q.A.-California Environmental Quality Act- so as to proceed as quickly as possible with the 10 K Plan with as little opposition as possible. Mayor Jerry Brown's henchman Robert Bob, City Manager, overrode any and all misgivings and rushed it through, despite the lack of the staff report. Council Members Nadel, Brunner and Wan voted against the agenda item S-15.1, and were alarmed by the intent of Mayor Jerry Brown to narrow the scope of the Master Environmental Impact report for the whole of the 10 K Plan during the next five years. Council Members Spees, Reid, Mayne, Chang, and De la Fuente sided with the Mayor in this attack against democracy. /p pOakland, nearly 54 square miles, is under siege by developers seeking to make their riches by displacing downtown residents with new settlers brought in by the 10 K Plan. Like the founding developers of this nation who cared little for the native inhabitants who were displaced and died off as gentrification occured, Oakland's City Officials continue to pursue their efforts to make downtown Oakland a playground for the rich. As these efforts unfold it's plain to see that every step possible is being taken to steamroll over the rights of the environmentalists/citizens that seek E.I.R.'s before an individual project permit is granted. The strong Mayor Jerry Brown now operates as the strong dictator of Oakland, and presently seeks a third waiver from environmental laws that he feels are cramping his style./p pRumors are flying that the local chapter of the Sierra Club owes the Mayor a favor and plans to back him on this. Mayor Jerry Brown's intent is to narrow the scope of the Master Environmental Report needed during the next five years for the Central District of Oakland, where the heart of the infamous 10 K Plan proceeds. Mayor Brown has nothing but contempt for the California Environmental Quality Act known as C.E.Q.A., as he tries to do the two-step around it, bulldozing the poor into oblivion to make way for the rich./p pStill in the way of Mayor Brown's 10 K Plan is St. Mary's Center, and a contingent of 24 hotel buildings in the Central District that contain SRO's (single room occupancy hotels). A minimum of 1,811 units are in these SRO's , and the Mayor believes that the poor people in these hotels are of no value to the Oakland he envisions. In his obsession to arrange for a Final Solution to rid downtown Oakland of the poor, the Mayor had his city staff analyze the estimated value of all the SRO's of the Central District in order to figure out the cost of a massive relocation plan. The cost to take over these properties and relocate all the occupants of the hotels came to a whopping figure well over 100 million dollars, which may be why the plan is still on hold at this point. Despite this setback, strategies to implement the 10 K Plan still are unfolding very quickly. /p pNot only are the low-income renters at risk from the 10 K Plan, but Alameda County Social Service Providers and the huge non-profit sector located downtown feel the pressure from the City's marketing strategies that attempt to sell off downtown Oakland to the highest bidders. City Officials rudely act as though they can run roughshod over the inhabitants of downtown Oakland, in their rush to show off the Central District to wealthy developers prospecting for gold. /p pThe 10 K Plan has estimates of 6,000 units of new housing over an area of 30 to 40 city blocks to make room for the 10 thousand new settlers Mayor Brown wants to bring into town. If you think the Palestinians are having problems with settlers in their homeland, just wait and see how Oaklanders shall feel about being pushed aroundbr / once things get really heated up./p pThere are seven contrived districts that make up the 10 K Plan Area, with the 6,000 new rental units split up among them. They include the Valdez District, Lower Lake Merritt District, San Pablo Gateway District, Old Oakland District,br / Lower Broadway District, Loft District, and the Lake Merritt Channel District.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongAn insider look at Welfare to "Work"/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/353/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Lisa Gray-Garcia/p pThe edges of the hard plastic chairs sliced deeply into my legs, the longer I sat in my workers’ office , the more pain I felt...physical pain that is, my emotional pain was more like an ache, a dull terrifying ache that accompanies hopelessness, and yet I tried to looked pleasant anyway, rarely even risking a sigh, worried that any minor indication of my humanity might annoy or distract him, causing him to react with some new and different punitive measure against me, something he had a habit of doing at random times if he had to look up from his paperwork too much. /p pIt was 1998 and I was trying to not be discouraged by the Personally Assisted Employment Specialist (PAES) Program options offered to me. The PAES Program was newly implemented in San Francisco due to the Welfare Reform bill signed by Clinton in 1996 - “you would be a great receptionist” I was told several times, while being handed a brochure on the possible programs I could get into. It seemed odd to me, even at that time, that I was offered information on the same training programs at the same agencies at three different appointments. /p pThe concept of me` being a “receptionist had been established at a series of “assessments” and yet in each one I felt more discouraged. I had told workers on several occasions that I wanted to be a “writer” a writer and a reporter- I had also told them that I lacked formal education but I would be interested in pursuing a college degree program - to this I was told - a degree with your lack of education will take too long, and besides, is that really a practical career choice for someone in your position./p pI don’t know.... was it?- my mother and I were endlessly battling homelessness - we were deeply entrenched in the so-called “cycle of poverty”... one crisis - snowballing into the next until you are never really able to fix any one problem, because you are just catching the last one, barely. There was no substance abuse- but there iwas/i disability , eviction, depression, isolation, confusion, incarceration and poverty, grinding endless poverty with noone to call and no where to go, that is, until there was writing - writing freed me - someone heard me and that “voice” allowed me to hope again - to dream again - to care about going on. Then there were plastic chairs and receptionist jobs and nothing all over again. /p pI didn’t mention the writing I had been doing with POOR Magazine to my worker because it paid no money and would have therefore been frowned on as more examples of why there was no viability to my “career” dreams, but quietly I forged ahead, barely moving in the plastic chair that was my life vowing to somehow change the situation for very low income people like me - to change the “career” options for welfare recipients like me./p pI began to work on the impossible- while still on welfare, still sitting in the plastic chairs - hard and not so hard - postponing the inevitable PAES training and still in silent fear of my workers assaults I began to formulate the POOR Magazine Welfare to Work job training program in journalism, media and multi-media through a Request for Proposal process at San Francisco Department Of Human Services/ Private Industry Council. /p pThe struggle to actually get this proposal seen as a “viable” career option was also felt on the other side of the chairs, from the inside of DHS - It took almost 12 months, but we prevailed, our support came from the organizing efforts of other community based organizations working for economic justice, who gave us the confidence organizationally and conceptionally, to forge ahead with our idea. These grassroots organizations also gave me the confidence personally, that I wasn’t stupid, bad or lazy just because I was on Welfare./p pAnd then the day came to meet with who we at POOR would later call “visionaries” two women who decided to “take a chance” on a new program that wasn’t like anything else - just because they thought it had merit- those two visionaries were; Amanda Feinstein and Joyce Crum, from DHS and PIC respectively./p pbDateline 2001, 33 Gough, San Francisco,/b The newly formed Workforce Investment Board (WIB) was convening to hear the decisions on the proposed Welfare to Work (WTW) programs for 2001-02 in San Francisco. The crowd was nervous, several people were hoping to speak on the decisions, a two minute per agency limit was announced. ../p p A permanent pit was lodged in my stomach, I had been here before - almost a year ago-in 1999 facing the PIC board of directors to fight for our (WTW)job training contract that we had proposed to PIC/DHS- fighting what seemed like an uphill battle - After the emotional testimony of several staff members and students at POOR questioning the fact that several larger organizations were getting grants and several of the smaller ones were only getting a vendor status- we were granted a partial contract - but the battle was terrifying, and here we were again, fighting the same fight../p pThis time there was more confusion with process, several members of PIC staff were explaining the funding process to the WIB board, with a complicated warning about the possiblity of "conflict of interest" issues. We didn't know what to think, after all, this was supposed to be a new, more just situation- The workforce Investment Board - who knew what would happen? - all we did know is, once again, the smaller organizations and some of the innovative larger ones were getting no contracts, while several small organizations like POOR Magazine and Recovery Survival Network were granted mere vendor status. /p pThrough the ongoing dedication of all the journalists, writers, artists and poverty survivors, POOR’s bNew Journalism/Media Studies Program/b is still here, fighting for comprehension, recognition and understanding every step of the way. We continue to be optimistic because we know so clearly... that without hope - possibilities and a voice... biall/i/b people suffer...especially bipoor folks!!/i/b/p piPOOR Magazine created and proposed the bJobs Organized to Break Stereotypes (JOBS) in the Media Program/b which is specifically aimed at JOB creation for very poor people, who are the “so-called” harder to serve population, a population who all the studies show are unable to successfully transition off of welfare into permanent economic stability due to long-term welfare dependency, disability, substance abuse and/or homelessness./ibr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pbr /Recently my birthday passed,br / it was celebrated quietly with littlebr / fanfare. Which is how I like it, beingbr / a thousand plus. /p pbr /All kidding aside, its a daybr / closer to the reaper’s scythe. /p pThe irony is our applied sciencesbr / makes it harder to strike us all down,br / sooner than later death’s blade willbr / break from rust.br / /p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joseph Bolden/p pbbr /I was born nine years after World War II, ten years before the end of WW II‘s Baby Boom./b /p pI’ve heard there is a w-site dedicated to this vast middle group I am part of by sheer chance./p pbr /Its funny that our squeezed in-group sees what’s happening to our brother’s and sister’s ahead of us and tries to warn our younger siblings how it’s changing. /p pbr /Two books, 1 called "The Age Wave" and another "Third Wave" comes to mind./p pbr /Did you think any of you would be here alive, healthy, married with children, wealthy, or poor in the Twenty First Century?/p pbr /I am still pissed at being gypped out individual jet packs, anti-gravity belts, rings, boots, or rolling roads that people can stand or sit as moving sidewalks conveys them to where they want to go with or without automated computer guided cars. /p pbr /and hoverboards the size of skate and surfboards with child or adult auto-safety devices enbedded in these sports itemes. /p pWe men have found that we are as complex as womenbr / claim they are, that they can indeed rape us if they have a weapon or are physically stronger [think of China] that beautifully sculptured, tall, sexy amazon lady wrestler./p pbr /Some women say don’t need us, can clone us, themselves or even given time improve on the original model. The exact same argument can be said of women by men. /p pbr /These battles of the Sexes wars without sex is exhaustion without the fun. /p pbr /Men and Women sitting out the battle engaging with each other will produce offspring that will end this insane war./p pbr /My future plans are simple be, healthier, stronger, more intelligent, sensitive to my own needs before worrying about others, most importantly maintaining a sense of humorbr / about myself, the world around me and to leaveb[if and when I do]/bthis world slightly better than when I entered it./p pbr /My one disappointment is that young folks haven’t kidded each other on the "thousand years" millennium jokes./p pbr /Dad, mom, what did you do before DVD’s and Virtual Immersion Games?/p pbr /How does it feel being 500 to 1000 years old?br / br /Son, you’re a thousand years old you just look 13, 15, 18, 20, 25 and so on./p pbr /"It's true everyone in grade school, Jr. high, college, university, undergraduate, graduate school, all have turned 500 to a thousand years old at the stroke of twelve midnight at the end of 2000." /p pbr /Ok, so everyone is sophisticated and its all-so-2000 already; it doesn’t mean all fun is dead, let us celebrate anew our survival as a global species in this new age./p pbr /Problems sure, death, illness, dying, granted but all human beings are on this floating rainbow jewel in space. /p pbr /We better take care of it like a sacred talisman or we won’t survive long enough to spread ourselves off world and beyond our solar system./p pbr /That’s one of our varied futures if we dare take up the challenge. Dare I say, quest?/p pbr /That’s enough. I’ve got to find a place to swim after doing Tai Chi exercise either in the City or Berkeley across the bay. /p pbr /I’d like to be living in the 22nd century and beyond. But there are a few things to do this century. /p pbr /Getting back in shape for my own wellbeing is a start. Live Long, and prosper./p pbr /Please send donations to Poor Magazine C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9th St. Street, San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA/p pbr /For Joe only my snail mail:PO Box 1230 #645 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102br / Email:askjoe@poormagazine.br / orgbr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongbbr /THE WAKING NIGHTMAREbr / BEGAN WITH 5 words./b/strong/p pbbr /"JOSEPH, YOURbr / BROTHER'S GETTING MARRIED."/b/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joseph Bolden/p pPlease send donations to Poor Magazinebr / C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9th St. Street,br / San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA/p pFor Joe only my snail mail:br / PO Box 1230 #645br / Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102br / Email: a href="mailto:askjoe@poormagazine.org"askjoe@poormagazine.org/abr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongbr /bTHE WAKING NIGHTMAREbr / BEGAN WITH SIX WORDS./b/strong/p pbr /bJOSEPH,br / YOUR BROTHER ISbr / GETTING MARRIED./b/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe. B./p pThis column is dedicated to anyone born with a rotten sense of direction.br / br /Dreading long drives, walking, flying, or taking trains or otherbr / transportation to destinations unknown with vague approximationsbr / from others with perfect or near perfect powers of direction. /p pLike perfect pitch of musicians and singers some of us havebr / those gifts in abundance while most can only admire br /true talent when seen and heard./p pIt has taken me three weeks to get over my brother’s marriage not the marriage itself it’s the gearing up for br /this special event, going to it that was constantly giving me a queasy feeling./p pSuddenly there are new clothes to buy, taking time off from work, for a few days, money from br /the bank, maps to read, and how to spend less on food and gas./p pMy mother, brother,and I live in three separate areas of Californiabr / Fairfield, San Jose, and San Francisco. /p p lucky for me that years ago while emptying trash from my br /one room apartment there was a dirty portable icebox./p pYou know the kindbr / they are different colors, rubber lined for water proofing whenbr / filled with ice and keeps sandwiches, soda’s, water, beer orbr / whatever placed inside in ice cold until ready for use./p pI was glad to have something of value to contribute not br /having enough money to buy gifts for bride or broom on such short notice./p pbr /With my immediate family, the couple to be wed, their closebr / friends who are married, two relativesbr / of ours from of town came out too. /p pbr /My mother bought me a complete suit from head to toe and one my brother.br / br /The wedding is to take place in Las Vagas, Nevada. I will not name the Casino Hotel because immediately after the wedding there was a medical emergency and one of the rare times I am glad there were persons with cellular phones calling an ambulance for medical help.br / br /Even before that incident two weeks before I’m a nervous wreck worrying about gifts I cannot buy, If I have a gambler’s genes, or do I write about this and what to keep out./p pbr /All the questions swimming in my head as I rode a Richman bart train to the El Cerito Del Norte bart station./p pbr /My mother is at the station to drive me to Fairfield. /p pAll of my new clothes are in a clean, dry, aluminum lined portable icebox whose name will remainbr / unknown not wanting to give a free plug unless br /I’m paid a few dollars./p pbr /The aluminum is extra padding protecting br /both the icebox and new clothes within. /p pIn my mother’s home after carefully taking the clothes from the icebox, hanging them up br /carefully I placed the icebox in the bathroom's bathtub, took the foil out br /for reuse, before running water in it then closed br /the box letting it sit. /p pbr /This is the background before my trip to Las Vagas, Navada./p pI dislike doing a second part to this however if I didn’t no one br /will believe how people with a map can go sobr / wrong both ways to and from Las Vagas, Nevada. br /But it is a true story./p pPS I'd like to paid for voice over radio spots or, television or internet work.br / br /I'm not greedy scale is fine for me./p p I can learn on-the-job though cold readingbr. may take some practice./p pbr /Please send donations to br /Poor Magazinebr / br /C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9thbr / br /St. Street, br /San br /Francisco, CA. 94103 USA/p pFor Joe only my snail mail:br / br /PO Box 1230 #645br / br /Market St. San br /Francisco, CA 94102br / br /Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org/p/br./p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongBy Drek/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/357/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Drek/p pI wake up in the morning as I run my fingersbr / br /through my nappy hair, I remember the awkward glancebr / that thebr / br /guy behind the counter gave me./p pI open my eyes to another day where my being will be scrutinized./p pas I lace my Timbos and slide on my baggy jeans,br / br /I grab my walkman portfolio and I head off to work.br / br /I think about mybr / appearance as I listen to THE ROOTSbr / br /on the bus ride, and by the time "You Got Me” comes thru,br / br /I've forgotten the awkward glances. /p pI say “what's up” to my coworkers I head upstairs br /and I study my hands as the lady clutches her purse.br / /pPMy menacing Brown hands/p p. while I don't know what she's thinking,br / br /I can't help but wonder what the guysbr / br /that shadow me when I'm br /in storesbr / br /downtown think./p pI wonder how my relatives were seenbr / br /before they fell victim at Moore's Ford.br / br /I wonder if they felt the need to validatebr / br /their humanity or intelligence./p pby the time I Step Into the Realm comes on,br / br /I could care less what people thinkbr / br /about my skin, hair, or dress I begin constructingbr / br /my own definition of Drek./p pI paint with the shades of my fore bearersbr / br / rest my brush on a palette of colors visiblebr / br /to all./p pand I frame this image in raw truth /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/363/photo_2_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Leroy Moore/p pbSave our Disabled Brothers Sisters! /bbr / br /COME Express Your Thoughts,br / br /Solutions and Network/p pJuly 14th 1-5 @ CENTRO DEL PUEBLObr / br /474 Valencia St. San Francisco Second Floor cross Street 16th a block frombr / br /16th Mission Bart Station/p pbCrimes Brutality Againstbr / People with Disabilities/b/p pDo you know the rate ofbr / violent crimebr / is 5 to 10 times higherbr / against peoplebr / with disabilities than against the general public?/p p* Many of these crimes are not reportedbr / but when they are the testimony of victims with disabilities are not taken seriously./p p* Do you knowbr / there has beenbr / a rise ofbr / police shootingsbr / of people withbr / mental illnessbr / especially poor peoplebr / of color?/p pBecause of this there has beenbr / an increasebr / demand for disabilitybr / training of police officers./p pA groundbreaking network to bring people with disabilities,br / advocates, services providers,br / law enforcements and local media together.br / There will be panel discussions and presentations by disabled advocates,br / SFPD ADA Coordinator andbr / Resources etc../p pSponsored by Disability Advocates of Minorities Organizationbr / Co-Sponsors: Crime Victims with Disabilities Initiative,br / San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness br / Poor Magazine/p pFor more information call Leroy Moore atbr / (415) 586-2047 orbr / E-mail a href="mailto:sfdamo@Yahoo.com"sfdamo@Yahoo.com/abr / Scent free environment!br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Leroy F. Moore Jr/p pbr /Nigger With Disability, NWD isbr / br /Here, there everywherebr / br /Leroy revolutionary Black disabled poetbr / br /Can't stand stillbr / br /Yuppies need to get realbr / br /Breaking through white picket fencesbr / br /Downing Southern Comfortbr / br /But NWD is anti comfoftablebr / br /So eveybody on your feetbr / br /And welcome Leroy AKA NWD/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pbFriends and family of my brother and his fiancée are on their way, by car or by jet, to Las Vagas, Nevada. p/p/b/p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joseph Bolden/p pThis column is dedicated to anyone born with a rotten sense of direction who dreads driving, walking, flying, or taking trains or other kinds transportation to destinations unknown. This is not for the know-it-alls who, with only vague approximations from others maintain perfect or near perfect powers of direction. Like the perfect pitch musicians and singers are gifted with, some of us have gifts in abundance while most can only look on admire this true talent./p pIt has taken me three weeks to get over my brother’s marriage, not the marriage itself, but gearing up for the special event and going to it./p pSuddenly there were new clothes to buy, work to be missed for a few days, money to be taken out of the bank, maps to be read, and studies to be done on how tospend less on food than gas./p pMy mother, brother, and I live in three separate areas of California—Fairfield, San Jose, and San Francisco. /p pIt is lucky for me that some years ago, while emptying trash from my one- room apartment there was a dirty brand name portable icebox. You know the kind, They are multi-colored and rubber-lined for water proofing when filled and perfect for keeping sandwiches, sodas, water, or whatever is placed inside in deep cold until ready for use./p pI was glad to have something of value to contribute, since I didn’t have enough money to buy gifts for the bride or broom on such short notice./p pPresent at the wedding were my immediate family, the couple to be wed, their close friends, and two more relatives from out of town. My mother bought me a complete suit that decked me out from head to toe as well as one for my brother./p pThe wedding was to take place in Las Vagas, Nevada. I will not name the hotel casino where we were because immediately after the wedding there was a medical emergency, It was one of the rare times I was glad that there were persons with cell phones who could call an ambulance for medical help./p pEven before that incident, two weeks before I was a nervous wreck worrying about gifts I could not buy, Do I have a gambler’s genes, or do I write about this another time. So many questions were swimming in my head as I rode the Richmond BART to the El Cerrito del Norte station.br / br /My mother picked me up at the station to drive me to Fairfield. All of my new clothes were in a clean, dry, aluminum-lined portable icebox whose brand name will remain unknown, since I don’t want to give a free plug unless it’s a charity or I’m paid a few dollars. The aluminum provides extra padding that will protect both the icebox and the new clothes within.br / br /At this point I have never used the icebox. I have only cleaned it. Its use as a carrying case is only for purposes of not damaging the clothes. At my mother’s home, I carefully took the clothes from the icebox and hung them up carefully. /p pI placed the icebox in the bathtub and took the foil out for reuse, before running water in it. Then I closed the box and let it sit./p pThis is the background, before my trip to Las Vagas, Navada.I dislike doing a second part to this; however, if I didn’t no one would believe how people with a map can go so wrong, both to and from Las Vagas, Nevada. But it is a true story./p pbPlease send donations to Poor Magazine C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9th St.Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 USAbr / For Joe only my snail mail: PO Box 1230 #645br / Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102br / Email:askjoe@poormagazine.org/b/p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p