Story Archives

by Gay Montgomery/PoorNewsNetwork media intern

How did I get here? When did the journey to nowhere begin? Why was I closing the door for the last time on my apartment of over 30 years in the Bay view district of San Francisco? Was it when I walked out of the Homeless Advocacy Project, and knew that I had to find a place for my 61-year-old father to live by 5:00 pm that same day? I felt as low as the curb.

When I got to my apartment I knew my father was waiting for his dinner. He did not know it was time to move out. My footsteps were beating in my heart like a drum and I moved like a snail as I fixed his dinner as usual. I still could not face the reality of telling him, "Dad, we’ve been evicted." I said nothing.

"Do you have the rent." It was September 25, 2001. The Manager, knocked at the door, a torturing sound if you are behind on your rent, because you had to use money like I did, for liquid Drano on my apartments broken plumbing for months and months.

I was leaving the next day on a trip to Georgia. I said, "My father will have it for you. Did you know our car got towed?...Did you come to see the sink? ...Did you bring the key for the garage?" He just stood there like a bull, staring, hands on his hips, scowl on his face, impatience in his voice, he said in a loud voice, "NO!" Then he turned on his heel and left. I slammed the door so he could hear it. I thought, why did he come here on the 25th asking for rent, he had not done any repairs on the apartment since the owner had acquired the place in 1996. I thought we should be able to live here for free anyway, like the scores of roaches did. The Manager and I never got along; I felt heat and hatred whenever I saw him. After he left I drafted a letter to the owner of the building, asking for the garage to be opened and the sink to be unstopped and left on my trip. Riding a wave of uneasiness, I went to Georgia to help mom with the family business. Little did I know that he was to begin a process of evicting me.

I got back to San Francisco five days before Halloween. I felt no need to worry about rent. All I could think about was that my 13 year old son had gotten too old for a costume. I was worried that I’d have to try and scrape up the money at the last minute. That morning my son’s stepbrother came bouncing in asking for a breakfast of bacon and grits and money so he and my son could go downtown shopping. When my son opened the door his eyes looked real big as he handed me a paper that was taped to the door. He said, "Mom what’s this." Notice to Vacate by October 31, 2001 was at the top of the letter in large type. I said, "It’s nothing" as I handed him money. I sat on my bed and just cried. My heart felt so heavy like an anvil was on it; I could not believe what was happening to me. Time seemed to stop.

Daily, with fear in my heart a pit that made my stomach feel empty. I started making phone calls to stop the eviction, lawyers, POOR Magazine, cousins, friends. Breathless fast paced mountains of hope conversations full of fear and courage. I walked in the rain the next day to the Eviction Defense Collaboration, then I went to the S. F. Tenants Union. They helped me with paperwork to get a stay until November 7th. I felt clouds were lifting, I made appointments with potential lawyers.

I have an aunt and uncle who were Deputy Sheriffs so I contacted Deputy Lewis of the S. F. Sheriff’s Department I asked him to come see my dad. He saw dad was a senior and disabled but he said there was nothing he could do. He could not stop the eviction. I knew that if my Aunt had been alive she would have stopped the eviction.

I spent 2 days with a staff lawyer at the Homeless Advocacy Project. All I wanted was to move back into my place. Then negotiations started with the landlord, he told the building manager to make me a key to the garage and asked me to store my belongings in it. The landlord told me I could move back in when they finished making renovations, but only if I went and talked to his lawyer, Daniel Bornstein about a yet to be negotiated amount of money.

I called Daniel Bornstein, he never called back. The dark clouds formed again. I was beginning to think my landlord enjoyed the treadmill theory. Keeping me on a string of lies and disappointments.

I kept going and going and going, calling agencies and trying to negotiate with the landlord. Time ran out. The eviction still happened.

I felt like I was stuck to the floor. I stared; my eyes glued as if hypnotized to a spot on the wall were my mother had broken a mirror years ago. The walls to me were in a spiral and I was falling down I could not leave there… but I could just see myself cling to a window as the sheriff locked me out I felt like shouting. "Why God, Me!" Stop the wind from blowing me out this door." I love this dwelling it is the place that brought the sunshine and the cookies and these walls they know my voice and I give parties like no other ever will, so say these walls. These walls are standing looking at me, singing to me bout’ the fun we always had; my head is swinging to fro and I am crying and the walls say she is our girl don’t let her go. I grab my head and wipe my tears on the back of my hand and lift my 10-ton head back up. I grab my stuff that feels like it is a worthless bag of rocks. I closed the door, and then I cried like a river was flowing.

I walked out of the apartment I had lived in ever since I was 1 years old. My thoughts were racing like a NASCAR car spun out unto the track and my mind was spinning wildly. How could I have done this to my family? It was my fault for asking for repairs & not paying rent on time. Thinking I was doing right. When the world I knew had gone all wrong. I saw me fall off of a cliff, I saw a train blurring towards me in the distance, and I saw it run into me and take me out. All I saw was darkness.

Postscript;

Gay and her family are currently homeless, wrongfully evicted from their family home of 30 years. Gay is fighting the wrongful eviction through media organizing at POOR Magazine. Meanwhile, they are hoping to get the help of an attorney who would take their case probono. If you have any referrals please contact her through POOR at (415) 863-6306

by Gay Montgomery/PoorNewsNEtwork media intern

The rain and the wind practically pushed me off the street into the Herbst Theater into the vast marbled floors of the lobby. I searched for one of my co-workers from POOR Magazine, only to see grey sculptured ceilings, feeling small and alone in a room full of people.

I found my nametag on a big table. I heard voices murmuring all over the room poised to participate in workshop discussions and meetings for solutions to homelessness at the first annual San Francisco Homeless Summit on March 7, 2002. I ran into Isabel Estrada, youth in the Media writer from POOR Magazine and we found seats together in the theater. We kept turning to each other in wonder as we watched, the Po' Poets reveal some of their life experiences and at the same time rock the house. We cringed together at the comments of Supervisor Tony Hall, who outlined his seven points including throwing homeless people in jail for sleeping on the street.

My story’s assignment began in the Green Room. The room was green from ceiling to floor. Light spilled into the room from tall, arch shaped windows, on this rainy day the brightness was welcoming. Walking in hurried motions I watched attendees excitedly taking steps across the warm, green rug to sit in green cushioned chairs trimmed in gold. I met faces full of wonder, when there was eye contact among us.

The clouds had ceased for now. The room was crowded. This room held memories for me of another time. I had a corporate job. I was here with my daughter, the chairs were spaced out, and the food was catered. We were among fifty students, from low-income or 1 parent families who received $1000 scholarships from the San Francisco Maison Society in June of 2000. On this same balcony I was able to give my daughter, Kelle $500.00 and a pair of new shoes. I was a proud mother, a part of society. A bag lunch was served today

"I thought I was a part of society", says Carolyn Johnson a 64 year old African-American woman who stays in a shelter called Next Door. "Until America get right with America and help us, how can we attack someone else. "I do not deserve to be homeless." We talked about the need for low-income housing. She continued to talk to anyone who would listen.

Advocates from Shelter Outreach Project, Coalition on Homelessness (SHOUT) (COH) started the workshop without microphones and equipment, they were greeted with another shout by Carolyn saying, "Louder we can’t hear you!" There was a bit of a wait but microphones and equipment finally arrived and the workshop about Under-served Communities: Homeless Families, Youth and Seniors began.

"We advocate and educate and still our stories are not included," said Leroy Moore, Executive Director of Disability Advocates Minority Organization (DAMO). "Only in the last couple of years have people of color really been organizing, but we are here!" "We now are embarking on a campaign to get into all communities. This is very, very, new...So far it is working." He invited all participants to a meeting Friday, March 15, 2002 at City Hall about in home support services for Americans with Disabilities.

"There were times when I thought that I would almost die," said Mari Villaluna. A member of S F Youth Comission as well as a staff writer for Poor Magazine, she took us first hand into her life as a homeless youth on the streets of San Francisco. "Why don’t you have a job?" Why aren’t you living with your parents?" There are no shelters for youths 18-25 in San Francisco. "No one asked what my parent’s did to me."

"This is serious when there is only one homeless facility in Bayview Hunters Point. We serve over six thousand meals there per week", said long time advocate Mother Wright.

There are over 130 homeless families with children on the waiting lists in San Francisco for shelters. Figures regarding the decline of spending on funding for homeless programs, public housing development and Hop VI severely distressed in the year 2001 lowest point since 1979 according to figures from calculated from the budget of the United States Government. I saw my family funds reach the lowest point in my life with a budget of $520.00 per month from Cal-Works I understand budget cuts.

We were asked to raise our hands as panelists led a brainstorming session. Around the room underserved homeless people, providers and advocates of all races and genders suggested solutions raising our voices trying to make homelessness go away. Included in the discussions were seniors, trans-gender, immigrants and families with children. Ideas such as more job training, low rent housing for working people and quality childcare are some of the words that I heard around the room. Safe check cashing facilities for senior citizens was also suggested. I thought of my parent’s needs when I raised my hand and shouted "outreach programs for seniors that have been evicted!"

Sally Green of the Senior Housing Action Committee, greeted me warmly. She said "Come to a meeting Wednesday, March 20, from 1:30 to 30 at SAN, it’s at 965 Mission, Room 700." Do you think you can make it." I told her I would be spending time with my mother, who is 68, on Wednesday, but I appreciated the invitation.

I caught up with Chris Daly and asked him what he wanted the readers of POOR Magazine to know. He said, "I thought it was past time for a healthy dialogue amongst the homeless, the providers of services, and the advocates who care about them. The homeless should have a stake in this City."

The workshop ended with panelists asking for volunteers to relay the results of the brainstorms back to the general assembly. I became a participant, I did not feel alone. The rain was gone. Memories of my daughter and I recieving a gift on my last visit to the Herbst Theater filled my mind. Athough I don’t have as much money as I had before, this time when I walked out , I felt better. I was the giver, I was a volunteer, all it took was a little time.

by Carol Harvey

Chants resound over a KPFA reporter's cell phone: "Gavin Newsom's scared of the people!" Screams protest Newsom's press converence, where he proposes useless vouchers and stipend reductions, which would slash General Assistance from $345 to $50 a month.

The chants continue: "People have legitimate uses for the money." "Living wage jobs and housing." "Racist, opportunist attack, criminalizing the poor."

The coalition on Homelessness, POWER, and Picture The Homeless, a New York-based organization, were at San Francisco City Hall in mid-February to protest Supervisor Newsom's proposals to drastically reduce General Assistance, fingerprint homeless welfare recipients, and further criminalize homeless people for panhandling nearly anywhere.

The protesters' voices rang out: "Newsom is hiding.  We are following him into the elevator." Frightened response: "The legislation has just been drafted.  You are criticizing based on emotion."

Reporters seemed stunned as Newsom was spirited away in the grip of five police officers, surrounded by 75 poor people. Viewing TV news, a friend chuckled. "He was so white.  His eyes looked like a doe's caught in the headlights.

Is his political career over?"

What career.? [Newsom's] Poli-sci degree, wineries, restaurants, investments and Gordon Getty gromming don't count for much."

A housed wealthy man writes a condescending proposal omitting homeless people from the plan, prejudging them as mental cases or addicts.  Selling wine, he knows alcohol.  Poor Magazine reported that his OBOAT legislation was about drug treatment in private doctors' offices for "rich junkies" who would be "spared the indignity of the methadone clinic."

POWER's Larry Lattimore said, "We stopped the Monday supervisors' meeting, confronting Gavin playing the cringing victim, an uncomfortable forced smile.  He knows we protested [that] we were not included. The temple may look nice; but, if the cornerstone is flawed, the building will crumble.  Don't say, 'Talk to me,' while applying the finish."

Newsom investigated New York City's shelters and The Doe Fund's "Ready, Wililng, and Able" program.  Did he fly the jet streams of Doe's multinational corporate board, wining and dining in the Big Apple, viewing the tidiest shelters?

Doe's 11-member board connects Rudy Giuliani to chemicals, crude oil, natural gas, AOL-Time-Warner, real estate, construction, banking, pharmaceuticals, health care, a California corporation making electronic image processing devices, miniature cameras, and integrated circuits.  A stable population warehoused in jails or shelters have, in the past, made excellent candidates for "research."

A director for The Doe Fund answered an e-mail.  "We have been contacted by a group...who tour(ed) our facilities twice...interested in incorporating our...procedures into a San Francisco program."

But, in my interview with Anthony Williams, founder and director of Picture the Homeless in New York City, he painted a picture of a system Newsom will never see.  Williams, an innovative former shelter resident, organized street folk in New York to express their voice.  Also present at the interview was Richard Ferry, feature film electrician, unemployed after Giuliani pulled film permits following the 9/11 attack.

Williams explained the origins of Giuliani's repressive treatment of homeless people in New York.  "During the Denkin administration," he explained, "the Manhattan Institute, a right-wing think tank, developed the 'Broken Windows' theory: 'If you clean the dirt, the homeless will be out of sight, out of mind."

Manhattan Institute think-tankers, Williams said, "are friends with Giuliani," and Raymond Kelly, the feared police commissioner.  After a thief, described by the mainstream media in an unthinking rush to judgment as a homeless man, attacked a New York woman named Nicole Barrett, Giuliani decided to "get those crazies off the street." He never called off his attack after it was shown conclusively that the theif was not homeless.

Giuliani started arrests "for sleeping, loitering, urinating, obstructing benches, life-sustaining issues that people don't have money or means to do if they're homeless," Williams said.  The real agenda was for security patrols to remove them from business districts and tourist areas like Disney-owned Times Square.

"Since 1999," said Williams, "hostility was directed at the homeless because of Quality of Life policies."  He described Giuliani's NYPD as, "Terror and fear with the devil in the blue dress."  In 1999, cops were rushing homeless shelters at 3:00 a.m., "arresting friends, throwing them against walls."

"Big as New York is, no one was speaking against Giuliani on Quality of Life issues," Williams said.  Newspapers announced $60 million in funding for homelessness.  Williams read that sheltering an individual cost $2,000 a month, but then he regarded the unclean shelter facility, the bed, locker, and common bathroom, and reflected that "for $2,000, we could have an apartment."

Louis Hagens, a socially savvy sound engineer, told him, "I know people at WBAI.  We can be on the radio tomorrow."  On the day of the interview, from 3:00 to 5:30 a.m., they hiked 60 blocks, 30th street to 120 Wall Street.

On the way, listening to his Walkman, Hagens said, Bernard White mentions he has special guests coming.  They seem like interesting guys."

"It was us," Williams recalls.

On WBAI's "Wake Up Call,"Anthony Wiliams described pre-dawn raids at homeless shelters, brutal security, people warehoused for 5, 10, 20 years.

Bernard White said, "I used to see homeless people in certain areas of the city." Williams replied, "People ask, 'Anthony, where are all the homeless people?'   Walking around right in the freaking midst of you.  Unlike the population on the street with shopping carts, backpacks, dirty --- you have 25,000 people in the system with a change of clothes, a locker, a shower.  Also, we had to find places to go covert.  In certain areas of the city, it wasn't nice, cops kicking your boxes with sticks, and like, 'Get the hell out of here!'"

Homeless people become invisible to the public when they are driven from view by police sweeps.  That repression can make the larger issue disappear from view as well; the public is lulled into believing the problem isn't as bad because fewer people are visible on the streets.  There was a real urgency in Giuliani's New York to make the homeless visible again.

Lou Hagens said, "We need a name." The phrase "Picture the Homeless," popped into William's head.  Giuliani "disppeared" the homeless.  Williams would make them visible again.

What Williams describes is a warning that Newsom appears to be exploring ways to import Giuliani's police crackdowns and centralized shelter intake system to San Francisco.  Newsom seems to want to get elected on saving money, importing Giuliani's plan.  San Francisco's panhandling ban targets the most visible homeless people first in the identical way that Giuliani targeted visible "squeegee guys" cleaning New Yorkers' windshields.  This is to be followed by shelter vouchers, reduced GA benefits, and, as in New York, a central intake center with people herded through one site, data collection, fingerprinting, and removal from the city.

Williams and Ferry warn of the outcome, "Yeah.  They send them to Ward's Island.  A women's prison, the Clark-Thomas Building, was converted into an all-male shelter of about 1,200."  For noncompliance, you're threatened with Camp LaGuardia upstate holding another 1,200."

Williams and Ferry proclaimed New York's system disastrous for San Francisco, citing the following reasons.

1.  IT  IS  COSTLY.

New York City's homeless system needed a $60-million infusion in 1999.

2.  THE  BROKEN  WINDOWS  THEORY  IS  MISGUIDED.  Sweeping people away is a public relations gimmick.

It is a facade concealing an unsolved problem.  Richard said, "Ironically, after the World Trade Center [destruction], Giuliani haired Whistleblower Erin Brockovich and her new reality program for ABC TV, saying she could take a burned-down building and make this park beautiful in eight days."

The irony is that, to make a "miracle" happen at this site, Giuliani knowingly had the Parks Department destroy a homeless encampment where Ferry lived with friends.  Then they showed the event on television, but Ferry couldn't watch it because he has no home and no TV.  Brockovich never knew she was part of Giuliani's sinister hidden agenda to get rid of homeless people behind the facade of a beautification program.

"My friend and me were squatting a bandshell in East River Park," Ferry said.  "Parks Department told police and threw our shit into dumpsters.  To ensure we wouldn't come back, Giuiliani razed the place.  Erin has no idea homeless people lived there.  They cleaned us out two days before.  On commercials, she and Giuliani shake hands with big smiles."

"This was going to be a great project.  Not having a TV, I didn't watch."

3. CONTROL  IS  ENFORCED  WITH  TERROR  TACTICS.

Using over-aggressive anti-homeless ordinances," Giuliani created the sleight-of-hand homeless disappearing act, Williams said. "Who cares if you violate their rights, because then they are in fear?"  Homeless people rolled over from police attacks and fear of Giuliani.  "The homeless are scared of [mayor] Bloomberg," and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.  Homeless people are swept wherever they gather.  Monthly police sweeps are conducted for small Quality of Life crimes.

When Richard Ferry left prison, well-paid corrections officers laughed, saying "You'll be back.  With a new mayor in New York City, you're job security."

4. SHELTERS  ARE  FULL.

Supervisor Newsom cites reduced intake time: 21 days for singles, 10 for families.  Williams says flatly, "It's a lie."  He also said that with 30,000 people homeless in New York, shelters are at capacity, and people are turned away.  "If every homeless person requested a bed, there's not enough.  Beds aren't freed up.  People are housed 20 years."

5.HOMELESS  POPULATION  IS  GROWING.

In 2001, rich landlords evicted 25,000.

6.NO  (AFFORDABLE)  HOUSING  IS  AVAILABLE  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.

Williams said that from "Harlem to Lower Manhattan, it's over."  Ferry said, "You have to make $30,000 to qualify for low-income housing."

7. THEY  CAN'T  FORCE  EVERYONE  OFF  THE  STREET  OR  INTO  SHELTERS.

Thousands run from the cops, and won't enter shelters.  Richard says, "I'd go to jail first," rather than going to a shelter.  The working homeless avoid social workers' pointless evaluations, deciding.  "I'll just stay on the street."  The homeless count is inaccurate.  The Homeless Commissioner's circular argument provides a pretext to keep the count artificially low: "You won the legal 'Right To Shelter.'  If you don't enter, you're not homeless because you are not counted."

8.OUTREACH  IS  DEFICIENT.

"WHAT outreach teams?  There's a guy walking around Washington Square Park for years."  Williams called for assistance and got an answering machine.  Outreach teams sweep for a $2,000 "bounty."  Most people swept up bounce out of the system in 72 hours.  Holding people is illegal, and the shelters are full.

9.MASSES  ARE  MERELY  WAREHOUSED.

Enormous numbers are warehoused for years.  Anthony said, "The system fails.  From management to individual counseling, it is horrible; just cattle."  "Before Clark-Thomas Building on Ward's Island got MICA, Mentally Ill Chemical Abusers, the dangerously mentally ill were together on one floor without services."

10. THE  SYSTEM  CALLS  TEMPORARY  HOUSING  "PERMANENT."

Ready, Willing, and Able calls two years "permanent housing."  This cruel promise of "security" disrupts family bonding and stability for schoolchildren.

11. HOMELESS  LABOR  IS  EXPLOITED.

"Project Breakthrough" paid Anthony $12.50 a week sweeping cigarette butts, cleaning bathrooms, then "promoted" him to 8 hours at $2.00 an hour.  "Climb that ladder to get to $6.00 an hour. Feeling worthless, you do things for nothing; from having nothing to being exploited."

The Ready, Willing, and Able director wrote that the starting salary of $5.50 goes to $6.50 at 6 months, tax-free, with opportunity for overtime.  Everyone saves at least $1,000 through the mandatory savings program, with matching funds.

Williams said the reality is different.  His experience is that two guys share a room and work for the program, sweeping and bagging garbage.  The homeless laborers, though, work alongside regular workers making quadruple for the same work.  People untrained for living-wage employment later recycle back into poverty.

13.THE  INDUCTION  PROCESS  AND  CONDITIONS  ARE  ABUSIVE.

The program targets the visibly homeless, squeegee people (windsheild-washers) and panhandlers.  The city's extended intake results in people forced to sleep in chairs in shelters.  One mother sued when her children slept on the floor for weeks.

People are funneled through centralized intake, and Williams charges that this database is misused for tracking "suspects."  Centralized intake results in farming homeless people out of Manhattan to outer boroughs, and in warehousing enormous numbers in temporary housing.

The mandatory rules of New York's shelters undermine people's sense of worth. Williams and Ferry describe the infantalization of adults.   Remarks Ferry, "It is ridiculous to give 10 p.m. curfews in 'The City That Never Sleeps.'"  "Grown men won't knuckle under," says Williams. "It's humiliating to sign for a shelter bed."

Other humiliating factors include mandatory drug tests, police raids, abusive shelter guards and staff.  Ferry, who completed parole for selling drugs, said, "If you are institutionalized, you can be brainwashed.  Prison or shelter, it's emotional coercion."

14. PROGRAMS  CONTROL  THE  PEOPLE.

Williams doesn't trust Ready, Willing, and Able, calling it a monopoly bent on "controlling" the homeless, adding that it makes big money off homelessness but doesn't give the people themselves any say-so.  He said that Ready, Willing, and Able "uses homeless people, takes their voice away, beats them down, [then] tells Giuliani, 'We get them off the street.'  It's a lie.  They get two years of housing, call it 'permanent,' then get cycled right back into the system again."

15. THE  SYSTEM  IS  CLASSIST  AND RACIST.

"The majority are black and Latino," said Williams.  Ferry added, "How'd they get there?  No jobs, services, or education."

"White or black, you're economically profiled."

16. THE  SYSTEM  IS  CORRUPT.

It's a growth industry.  Intake headhunters make sweeps worth $2,000 each.  With 30,000 homeless, there's no incentive to move people out of beds.  "Money pumps this homeless machine around and around."  Williams charged that conservatorships rob the mentally incompetent.

William called New York's shelter system "corrupt" and denied that Giuliani's approach has been successful in getting people off the street.  Instead, he describes it as a revolving door for the poor with no exit.  "Guys go into one door, treatment through the next door, the next door maybe jail.  Jail, back to the system."

"Will San Francisco create this vicious cycle?" Williams asks.

by Mari/Youth in the Media Intern

I was casually checking my e-mail on a slow workday, and one of the e-mail's subject line said: Digital Storytelling. The subject line seemed interesting so I didn't erase it. The email basically stated that there was a workshop coming up for youth that wanted to do digital stories on domestic violence, and it was going to be free. So I thought why don't I check this out, it sounds like a good experience. So I called the person who was in charge of interviewing people for the workshop, her name is Amy. She de-briefed me on the workshop, and I got even more excited. I was going to basically make a mini film talking about an issue that is relevant to my community, which is domestic violence.

The workshop was separated into five days. The first day I met the other youth and the workshop presenters. Everyone seemed nice and friendly. It definitely was a safe space. Then we thought about ideas for our "script". I wrote about my personal story with domestic violence in a poetry format. The next few days we started to work on our digital stories. We had to get pictures to describe what we were saying in our script. That was really hard for me. To get a picture to help explain what it feels like to be beaten or see your parents fighting was just difficult.

The reason why we were doing this is to get our stories about domestic violence out there. Too many times adults will speak for youth in cases of domestic violence. This time we wanted our voice to be heard! The silent victim now shouting for a survivor's voice to be heard.

In October, we had an event called Break the Silence, Stop the Violence. At this event we had education, music, spoken word, and presented our stories which talked about domestic violence. It went so well. We raised money for the kids of Claire Joyce (a woman who was murdered by her boyfriend in front of her kids), and educated people about domestic violence.

A few months passed by, and then I got a message from Amy. She asked me if I could let her show my video at the V-day (a Vagina Monologues event which raises money to help stop the violence against women) opening celebration, and in the Masonic Auditorium lobby at V-Day. Also if she could put my story on the Silence Speaks CD (which is a compilation of digital stories about domestic violence). Of course, I told her yes. To me this was such a beautiful opportunity to share my story with others, which is one of the reasons why I did the digital story.

A few days passed, and I get a message from Amy again asking me to tell my story written in poetry format on the stage at the Masonic Auditorium. I would be sharing the same stage with Eve Enlser, Gloria Steinem, and many more powerful happy vagina friendly women. I would be sharing my story in front of over 3,000 people. I said yes, but I was so scared. I would be telling a sold out crowd my story about domestic violence. At first I felt why was I the chosen one? Why do I get to say my story? How about all the other people who have stories to tell? At one point, I even thought that I might not even be worthy to tell my story.

Then I made up my mind I would do this piece for myself and all other young silent victims out there. I did it in the hopes that one-day we can grow up in happy, healthy homes.

I called my sister, brother, mother, and stepfather to tell them the news. My sister was happy even though I am not sure she understood the whole thing. I think she took it as my Ate is doing something great and she's happy, so I am happy for her. Then I told my Mom. She went crazy. She knew what the Vagina Monologues were because she loves to watch The View with Barbara Walters and they talk about the Vagina Monologues. So, my mom's reaction summed up was basically "MY BABY IS GOING TO PERFORM WITH THE VAGINA LADY!" Then she told my stepfather I was going to be in Vagina Monologues during our conversation. So in the background while I am talking to my mom. All I hear in the background from my step dad trying to talk to my mom saying "Honey did you just say Vagina?" "Vagina What?" "Excuse Me, did you say Vagina?" "Hello, Vagina?" "Vagina What?" "Why are you saying the word Vagina?" Interestingly enough this was the reaction I got from most men when I told them about me telling my story at V-Day. The only difference is that my step dad was the one of the few who could say vagina.

So the next step was to meet Eve Ensler. I knew of her somewhat before I met her. I knew she had to be a tight woman to write the Vagina Monologues. I found out about her and the Vagina Monologues in an independent bookstore. I saw the word VAGINA on the cover and knew whatever the topic was I just had to buy the book just because the word VAGINA was on the cover. I eventually started reading it and I liked it. I told my self whenever Vagina Monologues comes to San Francisco I must go see it. I never got to see it, which is probably good because I might have been more scared to go on stage.

On Monday, I walk into the Masonic Auditorium lobby, and walk towards the stage. It a very welcoming, inviting stage. There was red, plush, soft carpet on the stage. There were cameras surrounding Eve too. I was just looking around thinking WOW! I can't believe I am going to be a part of the V-day movement. Then Eve comes to me and hugs me. At this point I was like EVE IS HUGGING ME! I was hugging Eve! WOW! I got to meet Abby who was very nice and classy. Then Eve took my hand and held it. We walked backstage so Eve, Abby, and I could talk. We stepped inside the green room, which wasn't green at all. I told Abby and Eve my story. They both were shedding tears. Eve was holding me. She was very supportive, and protective of me. She is like a very healthy mother to me. Eve told me how did we ever find you? I told them the story. Eve told me also if I wanted her by my side while I was telling my story to ask her. Eve gave me some beautiful advice about life. Then we talked about what we were going to wear and about the Vagina Monologues coming on HBO. Abby and Eve made me feel like that I was the diva of the show, which helped me to be less sacred.

Next day is the big day; V-Day. Amy comes back and picks me up to go to the Masonic Auditorium. I get to the Auditorium and do my sound check and rehearsal. In the middle of the rehearsal Eve says, "I love you, Mari." Then I say "I love you, Eve." Then Amy and I rush to my house to pick up my costume for that night. Then I go to work and back to the auditorium to start getting ready for V-Day. I go back in the green room, and there is this lady practicing her monologue. I tell her "I've seen you somewhere before." She looks back to see if she has seen me before. I tell her "You live in San Francisco, right?" Then she says "No." I say "You live somewhere in the Bay Area then, right?" She says "Yes, but I just recently moved. You probably seen some of my work." I still am convinced that I have seen her at an event, protest, or action somewhere. (Later, I find out I saw her in A Thin Line between Love Hate, and her name is Lynn Whitfield.)

I am backstage getting ready with all these other beautiful women. My friend Chyna does my makeup. People keep on asking if we are sisters. (We are not.) I paint my nails. Then I get told to go to the basement of the auditorium to take pictures of the cast. I grab my red boa and head downstairs. The whole cast goes downstairs to take pictures. In the basement, there are all of these paintings of white men all in a row. I told Julia Butterfly-Hill "I hope we don't take pictures in front of these scary paintings." She said, "Oh, I hope we do. Can you just imagine all these beautiful women with red boas taking a picture and all these men rolling over in their graves?"

We started taking pictures. We were singing about happy vaginas. The person leading the singing was Eve. The lights go off. Then Kathy Najimy starts singing "A boy like that." Eve joins in, but Rita Moreno did not join in. We all go back to the green room for a Powwow before the show starts.

Then we all were waiting to go onstage. People are running everywhere. Red boas are grabbed, shoes are taken off, and members of the cast go onstage. Eve starts introducing the Vulva choir (the all-star cast). I am in the green room painting my toenails red. I continue to watch the TV in the green room when one of the crewmembers tells me to get ready to go on stage. I grab my boa, and Eve comes backstage to come and get me. She introduces me. I walk onstage to tell over 3,000 people my story about domestic violence, and child abuse. I start crying in the middle of my story. Tears run down my face. I am healing the pain that I have experienced in my life. I finish by saying "You got to stand up and say the cycle of violence will and has to stop with me!"

I move away from the back and see the Vulva Choir giving me a standing ovation. I walk back to sit on the nice red, fluffy couches that are on stage. I hug others members of the cast. The are so supportive towards. I sit between two strong women Gloria Stienem and Rita Moreno. Rita is about to her monologue "My Angry Vagina" she leans towards me and says "I am gonna make you laugh." Well she did. Rita was onstage and took off her thong. It was so hilarious. I was cracking up laughing.

It was coming to the closing, so Eve Ensler said thank you to the supporters. She also asked people to stand up if they been victimized, then if they knew someone who has been victimized, then if the violence of women is going to stop with the people who have not stood up. Then there was a live band playing music and the Vulva Choir started dancing and singing. Rita started running around with her thong. Eve and I started dancing together. The show was finally over. Everyone in the cast went back stage and was hugging each other. I went outside to the lobby to find my friends. I hugged all of them. Then these people asked me for my autograph. I was like Ok, but I was thinking are they talking to me?

So many people are coming up to me and telling me their stories about violence that has happened to them. The story that affected me the most was from this lady. She told me that she had gone to Vagina Monologues and V-day events ever since they first started. Tonight though was the first night she ever stood up when Eve said "Stand up if you violence has ever happened to you." She said my words made her realized that abuse had happen to her. She never before thought her mother hitting her as abuse. That is why I did V-day.

by Joseph Bolden/PoorNewsNetwork

On a warm Sunday in March I attended "The Housing Winter Summit" taking place outside the Polk Street side of Civic Center.
We are supposed to start at POOR Magazine’s office at ll:00 am. Glad I’ve done my daily Martin De Porres free breakfast and not sleeping in, which is what I would do normally. Usually on Sunday I like to plan my day around doing absolutely nothing. That’s either sleeping, television, listening to radio, or being in Berkeley meeting with my ladyfriend, suffice to say, resting is always a treat.

The Housing Winter action started at 12 noon, with James Tracy and Willie Warren (Po Poet and activist) from the "Right To A Roof Project, talking softly, strongly and passionately about suffering Veteran’s from VietNam, Desert Storm, getting little but lip service from the country they pledged their honor, blood, limbs, mental stability and lives for. After much heartfelt testimony from several speakers we were then blessed with a Capoiera troupe. Midway through the day a Free Tibet march walked on the other side of the street- we paused to wait them out and give them respect for their resistance. Then on to the Poetry…

It began with a piece by Jack Hirschman, poet, actor, activist and author, whose stirring, true depiction of struggling street life mesmerized audiences with its deathless prose. Another poet, Nancy Esteva from The Coalition on Homelessness spoke her poem or, should I say poesa, completely in Spanish, and even though it was in another language her emotional content came through clear.

Then, almost simultaneously, and very quickly, two structures were erected, one was an arch erected from shopping carts, in honor of all the folks who were arrested and had their shopping carts taken away by DPW and the SFPD, and a brightly painted pink house with two sleeping bags inside.

The Pink house stood as a representational, physical backdrop of the need for housing for all.

At first I though I having an adverse bummer trip seeing a carnation pink brightly colored structure in the shape of a small house, behind it metal shopping carts suspended in the air by thick metal normally used for foundations in high rise buildindgs.

I blink at the sight feeling whoosy and and sick again the sun beaming on me - heat hurts.

Next up was poetry and kinetic sculpture by the performance group The ‘Po Poets` Project including .Junebug, A. Fay, Dharma, Tiny, Mari, and me. Each person did a piece to the theme of Equal Equity in housing, holding signs that read; Will Work For Equity, Will Work for Land and Will work For Justice. At the end we all chant a line, Permanent Housing For All and depart the "stage" There were more poets before the day was over – and then finally, the remaining people "occupied" the Pink House, hoping to also seize the unused land of the Civic Center

Still feeling the after effects of getting over the flu I wanted to simply get under covers and sleep in my little SRO in the Tenderloin that I am lucky enough to have.

However, I have one more duty to perform on this Sunday, help someone move out of their long cherished living space in Bay View Hunter’s Point, where they were evicted for no good reason at all and now are homeless.

That Pink House is still standing, I hope.

by Dee/PNN

Poor folks pitted against the not as poor in Baton Rouge, La

By KELLY BREWINGTON, The Baltimore Sun
September 16, 2005 courtesy of rollbacktherents@yahoogroups.com

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Two weeks after rallying a
massive relief effort to welcome survivors of
Hurricane Katrina, the strain can be seen everywhere
in this laid-back college town, and many are having
second thoughts.

The waits at gas pumps are daunting. Grocery stores
have trouble keeping food on their shelves. And
classrooms are overcrowded. Meanwhile everyone --
including Red Cross volunteers, job hunters, store
clerks and television news crews -- is perpetually
stuck in traffic.

The ripples of Katrina seem to have left no one
untouched. And beneath its delightful southern
hospitality, this has become a town of brewing
tensions.

Crystal Brown, a lifelong resident of Baton Rouge, is
searching for a new home to rent but can't find any
vacancies. Her landlord is forcing her out because she
doesn't have a lease and he needs the home for
relatives displaced by the storm.

"You hate to complain because you know you are so
much better off than a lot of other people," she said.
"But I'm fixin' to be homeless and I wasn't even in
the path of the storm." Many Baton Rouge natives who
are looking for housing or jobs can't find them, she
said. "We've been swallowed up by an influx of new
people."

No one knows exactly how many Katrina survivors are
living in Baton Rouge, but officials estimate the city
and surrounding East Baton Rouge parish have more than
doubled in size from about 400,000 to more than
800,000.

The economics worry Brown the most.

"A lot of people who came in are from New Orleans and
couldn't get out because they are poor," she said. "I
would think that now, East Baton Rouge Parish is the
biggest welfare area in the state. And that's not a
good thing."

The displaced have picked up on the subtle changes in
attitude. Some say the overwhelming generosity has
faded, replaced by a humiliating assumption that
they're packing in some of the Crescent City's biggest
troubles, including struggles with crime and
relentless poverty.

Only about 80 miles apart, Baton Rouge and New
Orleans are distinct in their demographics and
character. The median income of East Baton Rouge is
about $5,000 more than in New Orleans. Nearly one in
four New Orleans residents live in poverty while the
poverty rate in Baton Rouge is lower -- 19 percent.
Blacks make up nearly 70 percent of the population in
New Orleans, versus 43 percent in Baton Rouge.

Charles Watts, who's living in a Red Cross shelter in
Baker, just north of Baton Rouge, said he feels
judgment in people's stares.

"People look at us like they think we have always
been poor and desperate," said Watts, 21, who
evacuated New Orleans' Elysian Fields neighborhood
with his extended family. "The truth is, we made it
out during the storm and we're just trying to get our
lives together."

"This is a storm that did this," he said. "People
need to realize this could happen anywhere to
anybody."

Geraldine Walker, who evacuated New Orleans and is
taking refuge at the Bethany World Prayer Center in
Baker, said she has come to view the blue wristbands
that shelter residents must wear as an added
indignity. Sometimes she covers hers up when she
leaves the shelter for an appointment. People dismiss
her when they notice it, she said.

Some in Baton Rouge fear that a host of urban ills
will infiltrate the town. Along with the New Orleans'
distinction for jazz, gumbo and the French Quarter,
many here have long viewed it as a city of crime.

After Katrina, word spread through Baton Rouge that
the town was experiencing an upsurge in looting and
violent crime, although the rumors proved to be false.
City officials say its crime rate is unchanged.

Nevertheless, many believe the newest residents make
higher crime inevitable.

"New Orleans is a major urban center with a pretty
severe gang problem," said Stewart Clayton, 32, a
surgeon at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical
Center in Baton Rouge, who lived in New Orleans for
many years. "A lot of these people who are part of
those gangs are now here. It's only a matter of time
before we see that activity here."

In fact, Baton Rouge has become inundated with so
many evacuees, it's difficult to classify any of them.
Along with exiled New Orleans residents of various
races and backgrounds, there are business owners from
the suburbs of Metairie, shrimpers from swampy
Plaquemines Parish, and immigrant families who have
recently moved to the Gulf Coast seeking the American
Dream.

Many believe the city simply will have to pull
together through this tough time.

"You can tell the city is tense," said Elle Burton, a
Baton Rouge resident who has taken in various
relatives who fled New Orleans.

"You can tell it's a real burden on our city," she
said. "But what we are dealing with is nothing
compared to the people who lived on rooftops waiting
to be rescued. I just think everyone's going to have
to get over it."

Community Advisory - A few ways to help the Black Community directly
*

Sisters & Brothers;

As many thousands of Black people, African people evacuate the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans many are coming to Houston with literally the clothes on their backs. Thousands are here staying with family members/friends, others in over 20 shelters at church's etc. and many thousands at the Houston Astrodome. Families, local media, artist and community groups are stepping forward in this emergency migration of people. As we are aware the major relief agencies are providing aid, however the level of need is so great grassroots groups must and are coming forward. Houston as one of the largest major cities closest to New Orleans and having strong family ties to the entire state of Lousianna must come forward to help our people. We are calling on our communities across the country for help to meet this need! More people are coming and are not likely to return to New Orleans anytime soon. The following are grassroots organizations and activities taking place in Houston, Texas for relief and aid. These are only some of the furry of activies taking place, these groups have a proven track record of consistent work in our communities.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY! Some groups/efforts need volunteers call them directly.

HIP-HOP RELIEF/AID

Friday, September 2, 2005 9pm - Until

Candy Lady Comedy Club

4812 Almeda

Houston, Texas 77004

SOS RADIO Featuring ZIN, SAVVY & MORE

$7.00 Cover all proceeds after expenses go to aid efforts
Collecting non-perishable food items, toilitries, medical supplies, pampers, clothes

Coordinating with similar relief efforts in Florida to support Houston displaced persons Hurricane Katrina
sosradio@yahoo.com

RELIEF/AID DRIVE

Saturday, September 3, 2005

Nation of Islam Muhammad Mosque #45

4443 Old Spanish Trail

Houston, Texas 77231-1715

713-741-2747

non-perishable food items, toilitries, medical supplies, pampers, clothes, linens

Beginning 8:00am throughout the day
11:00am Millions More Movement LOC meet to caravan to shelters
MONETARY Contributions Made To: A.C.T.I.O.N. CDC Memo Line Hurricane Relief

ONGOING EFFORT

Shrine of the Black Madonna Pan African Orthodox Christian Church
Currently Housing, Feeding 150 displaced people

Make Donations To: PAOCC In Memo Line Hurricane Relief

5317 M.L. King Blvd.

Houston, Texas 77021

ONGOING EFFORT

New Black Panther Party - Houston Chapter

Krystal Muhammad Chapter Chair Person currently coordinatingsupporting 50 family members displaced in different parts of Houston & Texas. Gearing up to offer housing, food etc. to other displaced persons.

2812 Live Oak

Houston, Texas 77004

713-534-4021

Contribtuions To: New Black Panther Party, Memo Line Hurricane Relief

ONGOING EFFORT

S.H.A.P.E. Community Center

3815 Live Oak

Houston, Texas 77004

Open Monday thru Friday 8:00am-6:00pm & Saturday's call first

713-521-0629, 713-521-0641
drop off non-perishable food items, toilitries, medical supplies, pampers, clothes, linens
working on providing housing need funds to get electricity turned on in units
Contribution To: S.H.A.P.E. Community Center Memo Line Hurricane Relief

OTHER

St. Peter Clavier Catholic Church

Houston, Texas

Currently Sheltering, Feeding over 300 displaced persons
Church were organizing activities took place for Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham)

Contact info TBA

New Black Panther Nation
Providing Housing and Aid
Contact info TBA

SPECIAL REQUEST

Reknowned Poet Activist Kalaamu Ya Salaam & family staying with family in Houston
Need Monetary Assistance, NBUF-Houston is seeking to make direct contact with him to provide assistance.

From Kalamu.

"if you are in a position to help, i have one request: i need work: speaking engagements, lectures, readings, short term residencies, writing assignments. please contact me via email:
kalamu@aol.com or kalamuya@yahoo.com"

If you wish to send contributions to NBUF- Houston earmarked for Hurricane Relief we will insure that funds/assistance gets directly to one or more of the above mentioned efforts and/or directly to those in need.

National Black United Front -Houston Chapter (NBUF)

2428 Southmore Blvd.

Houston, Texas 77004

713-942-0365
Contributions To: NBUF memo line Hurricane Relief
Community Meeting Every Monday Night 7:00pm

NEWS

Dr. Imari Obadele & Sister Johnita Scott-Obadele (RNA & NCOBRA) living in Baton Rouge, LA are okay. Not much damage in city. Evacuation has placed many people in city. Refute scattered reports that prisoners have taken over prison.

Forward,

Kofi Taharka

Chairman National Black United Front-Houston Chapter

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

Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network

http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/lawpress.html

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

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

*DISABLED FOLK IN HURRICANE KATRINA

By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express

August 31, 2005

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA--While some of those who were
caught in the path of Hurricane Katrina did so because
they failed to recognize the storm's danger, it is
becoming increasingly clear that thousands were unable
to leave because they couldn't afford to, or had
disabilities or existing medical conditions that made
evacuating difficult or impossible.
Several newspaper, television and radio accounts are
telling stories of people with physical disabilities
who were trapped on the lower floors of their homes or
apartments as the water from the storm surge climbed.
Fluffy Sparks, 46, told the Cox News Service that she
sat in her wheelchair in her Slidell home, just
northeast of New Orleans, as the flood waters rose to
her chin.

"I prayed like I've never prayed in all my life,"
Sparks said. "I told God, 'I can't believe you're
ready for me now. Don't let me die in this water here
by myself.'"
She pulled herself up onto a small table just as the
water stopped rising.

"It was horrible, and it's still horrible, but I'm
breathing," said Sparks, who was rescued Tuesday
morning.

Charlotte Goodwin, 62, who has diabetes, high blood
pressure and lupus, managed to escape the flood waters
at her New Orleans home. A reporter spoke to Goodwin
as she walked toward a shelter, carrying a bag full of
medications, but with no drinking water to take the
pills.

"I'm wondering if I'm going to make it," she said.
Police on a boat picked up 63-year-old Aleck Scallon,
who is paraplegic, and set him, his wheelchair, and a
companion in a dry spot on an Interstate freeway
on-ramp. Unfortunately, the place where they deposited
Scallon was surrounded by water.

"Where am I going to go?" he asked the Times-Picayune.

"They were supposed to pick us up and take us to the
(Super)dome."

Many people with disabilities who survived the wind
and the floods continued to struggle Wednesday with a
general lack of food, clean water, medical supplies,
and medications. Most of the hospitals in the area had
no power or fresh supplies.

Several reports described how many of those initial
survivors who were rescued -- even those who made it
to the "special needs" shelters -- later lost their
struggle. Some told of people having epileptic
seizures out on the open ground. Others told of dead
bodies in wheelchairs simply covered with blankets or
bed sheets.

There was one piece of good news: Twenty-five babies
at a makeshift neonatal intensive care unit were
airlifted Wednesday from a parking garage roof at a
New Orleans hospital and transported safely to other
hospitals in the region. Many of the babies were
hooked up to battery-powered ventilators to keep them
alive.

The babies' parents had been ordered to evacuate and
leave their infants behind. By the end of the day, the
parents had been told where their children were taken.
State officials had no concrete estimates Wednesday,
but said that many nursing homes, group homes and
other congregate living facilities in the area cannot
be saved. Those that were still standing could take
months or years to be livable again.

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

*Banned Pregnant Graduate Walks Anyway

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A pregnant student who was banned from graduation at her Roman Catholic high school announced her own name and walked across the stage anyway at the close of the program.

Alysha Cosby's decision prompted cheers and applause Tuesday from many of her fellow seniors at St. Jude Educational Institute.

But her mother and aunt were escorted out of the church by police after Cosby headed back to her seat.

"I can't believe something like this is happening in 2005," said her mother, Sheila Cosby. "My daughter has been through a lot and I am proud of her. She deserved to walk, and she did."

The school's guidance counselor delivered Cosby's degree to her house earlier Tuesday, but she still wanted to participate.

"I worked hard throughout high school and I wanted to walk with my class," she said.

Cosby was told in March that she could no longer attend school because of safety concerns, and her name was not listed in the graduation program.

The father of Cosby's child, also a senior at the school, was allowed to participate in graduation.

*Hawaii Woman Evicted From Lava-Tube Home

WAILUKU, Hawaii -- Karen Mayfield has made quite a home for herself, complete with a table and a canopy bed. But there's just one problem - her domain is inside a lava tube, an underground tunnel formed by molten rock.

A judge has evicted her while she awaits trial on misdemeanor counts of illegal camping, disturbing a geological feature and littering.

"I really miss it out there," Mayfield said. "I really prefer living an alternate lifestyle where I can hear the wind blow and see the stars at night."

Outside court, defense attorney David Cain likened Mayfield to a modern-day John Muir or Henry David Thoreau.
Advertisement

"During their time, a lot of people said they were kooky, especially Thoreau, and now his writings are looked at in high school classes," Cain said.

*SSI Recipients at-risk

The latest report from the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities reveal that 220,000 SSI recipients are at
risk from the latest proposed budget cuts to the
low-income programs.

Congress is pitting the poor against the disabled in
the latest round of budget cuts, that will affect both
in the coming years ahead, due to the multi-trillion
dollar tax cuts granted to the rich.

Despite the known cuts to the major housing assistance
programs being proposed, little news has come out
about the proposed cuts to the SSI program that serves
the poor and disabled.

In the latest round of proposed budget cuts, SSI
recipients (seniors & disabled) face huge benefit cuts
which may result in some 220,000 recipients being
dumped from the program during the next few years!
[[[Income assistance for the elderly and people with
disabilities. If the Ways and Means Committee does
not achieve all of its required cuts from the EITC, it
might choose to make some cuts in the Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) program, which provided modest
income assistance to 6.9 million poor seniors and
individuals with disabilities in 2003.[2] If, for
example, the Committee met its target by cutting all
low-income programs under its jurisdiction by the same
percentage, SSI would be cut by $4.8 billion over five
years and by $1.2 billion in 2006 alone. Achieving
this cut by reducing the number of recipients would
mean dropping some 222,000 poor elderly individuals
and people with disabilities from the program.]]]
See the full report directly below from the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities...

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
HOUSE BUDGET RESOLUTION WOULD REQUIRE MUCH DEEPER CUTS
IN KEY LOW-INCOME PROGRAMS THAN SENATE BUDGET PLAN:

The budget resolutions passed by the House and Senate
in mid-March differ sharply in the size of their cuts
in key mandatory (or entitlement) programs that
assist low-income families with children, the elderly,
and people with disabilities. The House Budget
Resolution calls for an estimated $30 billion to $35
billion in cuts over the next five years in Medicaid,
food stamps, and low-income programs under the
jurisdiction of the House Ways and Means Committee,
such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, foster
care and adoption assistance, the Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, and child care.
The Senate Budget Resolution, by contrast, does not
include cuts in low-income mandatory programs other
than the Food Stamp Program. The Senate budget plan
would require the Agriculture Committee to make $2.8
billion in cuts over five years to farm and nutrition
programs, a portion of which is expected to come from
food stamps.

In other words, the House budget plans cuts to
low-income mandatory programs would be at least ten
times larger than those in the Senate budget plan.
This difference will be a key issue when
congressional conferees meet to develop a compromise
budget resolution.

While flipping through the New York Times on Sunday I came across a small, one-column article in back of Section A, snuggled between Macy*s and Volkswagen advertisements. The headline read: U.S. Inquiry Re-examining Prison Death. The opening paragraph reads, ?n a rare step, the Justice Department is re-examining its investigation into the 1995 death of a federal prisoner that the victim? family contends was a murder at the hands of the government. Several official inquiries have ruled the death a suicide.?The federal prisoner? name is Kenneth Michael Trentadue.

This column relates ?nformation has since emerged that evidence was mishandled or lost, prison officials lied and potential evidence of a struggle in the cell before the death was overlooked.?The Justice Department told the court that it did not yet want to release documents from an earlier inquiry regarding the death due to ?ngoing, related criminal investigation.?Trentadue? family used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain records, which point to the fact that evidence of a suicide was tampered with. The family has been awarded $1.1 million for intentional infliction of pain because the government had failed to explain the state Trentadue? beaten body.

A little research finds that Kenneth Michael Trentadue was wrongfully thought to be an associate of Timothy James McVeigh and therefore implicated indirectly to the Oklahoma City bombing. According to the Department of Justice Kenneth took his own life during a 20-minute window of time, between bed checks, in the early morning hours of August 21, 1995. The Department of Justice's official version of Kenneth's death is that he hanged himself from a thin plastic air vent with a bed sheet, but the injuries his body bore do not support that story.

Here are some details that the Times did not include in their piece: Kenneth's head had been repeatedly smashed to the skull by blows from a metal baton; his throat was cut; there were burns from an electrical stun gun on his head, shoulder and at the base of his spine, and there were cuts, bruises, and abrasions all over his body. Kenneth had literally been beaten front and back, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.

The Department of Justice claims that Kenneth's wounds were either all self-inflicted or that his family mutilated his body. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner, however, refuses to declare Kenneth's death a suicide. Kenny's family believes that he was tortured and killed by federal agents, and that his murder is being covered up by the Department of Justice. This week Justice Department public integrity section chief Noel L. Hillman re-examines the inquiry of whether the death was a suicide or a murder which was then covered up by prison and FBI employees.

www.deathrowspeaks.info - Death Row Speaks

www.mvfr.org - Murder Victims?Families for Reconciliation

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

Getting Recycled By The System - More on Welfare De-form

Yolanda Mendez of Long Beach, CA talks about her experience with the welfare system....

"Since 1998, I have been through the CalWORKs ?xpress to Success?job training program three times. When I first went to their job club, they showed us this video of how a housewife became a successful receptionist and can do all these things now, like order in pizza for her kids. In the six months I was in the program, I received no job training. Instead, they did trainings on how to dress and how to interview for jobs.

Their interview training taught us how to sit down politely, how not to chew gum, and how not to put our feet on the boss? desk. It was really insulting...We needed to be taught job skills, not be treated like little children.

I went to the job club ever day. They would give us the yellow pages and tell us to call places like Macy? and Pollo Loco. In six months, I had over two hundred interviews. I finally got a job working for a security company at $6.75 an hour. My shift was from 1am to 10am, but the county never paid my babysitter, so she quit, and I had to leave my job.

Later, I got a job in the printing office at the Housing Authority that paid $5.75 an hour. The welfare office then cut all my cash assistance and Food Stamps because they said I was making too much."

Yolanda is just one of the women whose story is documented in a recent report published by the Race and Public Policy Program, the Applied Research Center. Falling Through The Cracks: How California? Welfare Policy Keeps Families Poor points to systemic violations of the law by the state? CalWorks program. The report documents the experiences of over thirty families in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Alameda counties.

Findings illustrate that California? welfare rules and regulations are ?ife with arbitrary decisions, errors, and illegal practices on the part of the county administrators. Even when the system is working as the law mandates, many families remain in poverty due to arbitrary time limits, and outdated method for determining how much income is necessary to match the local cost of living, and a bias against providing families receiving assistance with the means to attain the training and education necessary to become economically self-sufficient and secure."

California Department of Social Services Director Rita Saenz has yet to respond to the study.

CalWORKS or California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids is a welfare program that is supposed to give cash aid and services to eligible needy California families. The program serves 58 counties and it operated locally by county welfare departments.
www.dss.cahwnet.gov

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

The Justice System is Not Designed for the Poor

Letter from the North Carolina October 22nd Coalition

On May 18, 2001, Gilbert A. Barber was killed by a Guilford County Deputy. He was involved
in a one car accident, suffered a
severe head injury, had other injuries over much of his body, was naked, and yelling at
passing cars when the deputy tried to
arrest him.

The deputy alleged sprayed him with a chemical spray and an alleged struggle
with the deputy left Gilbert dead, and
the deputy wounded.
In the past three years, here in North Carolina alone, the October 22nd Coalition has been
able to document 12 lives lost
because law enforcement isn't trained to deal effectively with Emotionally Disturbed People
(EDP).

Statewide in the last five years,
the North Carolina SBI has looked into more than 58 fatal shootings by law officers. All
homicides by law officers are not
investigated by the SBI, but some departments conduct their own investigations, as the
Guilford County Sheriff's Department
alleges. With the count as high as 58, surely there were many more than 12 that fit the
classification of emotional disturbed.
The lawsuit, the Estate of Gilbert A. Barber vs. B.J. Barnes, Thomas Gordy and the Guilford
County Sheriff's Department that
allege wrongful death and fail to train its personnel to respond properly when calls
involve an emotionally disturbed person were
moved to the Federal Court, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

This lawsuit is of enormous importance, not only for this local case, but will have an
impact on national policy on how law
enforcement handles situations with Emotionally Disturbed People.
This we believe is the first case to go to trial using the research from the law article by
Professor Mike Avery, of the Suffolk Law
College "Unreasonable Seizures of Unreasonable People," Defining the Totality of
Circumstances Relevant to Assessing the
Police Use of Force Against Emotionally Disturbed People.

The attorneys of McSurely & Osment, Anita Hodgkiss, of the Lawyers Committee for Civil
Rights of Washington, D.C. with
collaboration with Professor Mike Avery of the Suffolk Law College have developed a strong
case against the defendants. The
case has all the elements to prevail, but they need to be introduced by expert witnesses.
To have the best chance to prevail the facts have to be presented by expert witnesses.

Expert witnesses are needed in these
areas:

(1) Crime Scene Investigator to compare the physical and forensic evidence to Gordy's
deposition.

(2) EDP expert who has worked on training law enforcement agencies on accepted policies
and practices toward EDP and can
analyze the problems in this case.

(3) An Expert on how law enforcement should investigate a homicide. Issues that include the
department investigating it's own
officers, how that department allowed evidence to be immediately destroyed,
and that the department immediately took
steps to justify the homicide and obstruct any independent inquiry into it.

(4) Private Investigator to investigate what happened before Gordy's arrival, when Gilbert
was assaulted in the church. Was
Gilbert injured in the car or church? Why was Gilbert naked and where exactly
were his clothes and his hair found? And
other puzzling uncertainties.

Our biggest problem is MONEY and the amount of TIME we have to get it. The cost to
hire the experts needed, is
tremendous. The costs of these experts are from $5,000 - $10,000 each.

The Justice System
is not designed for the poor, for the
poor to get any form of justice it costs large sums of money. The deputy has the help from
a large foundation that solicits money
from the public to pay their legal expenses. (The Police Benevolent Association). Their on
going solicitation of public funds puts
any citizen with limited finances that challenges the authorities at a severe disadvantage.

The N.C. October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the
Criminalization of a Generation is soliciting funds to
pay for the expert witnesses needed to pursue the Gilbert Barber case. Again we
must emphasize the enormous importance of
this case, as it will affect the way law enforcement treat Emotionally Disturbed People
(EDP).

Make checks to; Beloved Community Center *, In Memo write; Justice Fund

Mail to: N.C. October 22nd Coalition

P.O. Box 1737
Jamestown, NC 27282

Contact Phone # 336-272-2155; 336-883-1721

* nonprofit 501(c)(3)

** $1000 donation you receive a Stolen Lives Book and O22 T-shirt, $500 Donation you will
receive a Stolen Lives Book

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

The Righteous Occupation

The US has taken Iraq, Israel is still in Palestine and hundreds of housing activists and their supporters have occupied a section of Montreal? Parc Lafontaine, where subversive and unpatriotic acts are occurring: a Tent City has been constructed and people are enjoying food, drinks, conversation and music.

The housing activists are not alone, the police have joined them! How nice. Since the gathering has begun, riot police evicted hundreds of participants at the Tent City inside Parc Lafontaine early Monday morning. At least 40 riot police were already placed inside the large park, and using floodlights in the dark, they proceeded to push back Tent City participants with shields and batons. Many people scrambled to gather their belongings, including their tents and tarps, while others maintained a line in front of the riot police, chanting defiant slogans in defense of the Tent City. According to one legal team member, at least 12 people were arrested in total.

The action was organized by the Comit? des sans-emploi (The Committee of the Unemployed), CLAC Logement (the Housing Committee of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence) and the Housing Committee of Ahuntsic-Cartierville -- is in response to Montreal? housing crisis, which is marked by vacancy rates of less than 1%, increasing gentrification of formerly low-cost working class areas, as well as increasing homelessness. Every July, hundreds of Montreal residents with expired leases are rendered homeless by the lack of affordable housing, while potentially thousands more are forced into substandard or unaffordable apartments.

The Tent City organizers have three principal demands: Decent housing for all; the end of the criminalization of poverty and homelessness; and the repossession of empty buildings for community use. They are stressing the anti-capitalist nature of their action, critiquing the root causes of the housing crisis in Montreal. According to a flyer being passed out at the Tent City (?ecent Housing for Everyone?:

?ehind the evictions and rent hikes, the homelessness and police, there is a logic ?the logic of capitalism. Under capitalism, things are produced, not because they are needed, but because they can be sold for a profit. It? not that there simply isn? enough roofs to cover everyone in Montreal that there is homelessness. There are unused buildings all across the city. But under capitalism, houses are only made available to people who can buy (or rent) them. The poor don? factor into the equations of supply and demand. When landlords evict their tenants, it is because they want tenants who can pay more ?they want more profit out of their property. When police harass, brutalize and jail the homeless, it is in order to raise the property values of the area.?

The Tent City website is at: http://tentcity.taktic.org

thanks to Indymedia for the newswire

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

Economic Degeneration: ExxonMobilChevronTexacoPetronas in Africa

An oil consortium headed by ExxonMobil Corp backed by the US government and the World Bank, are laying 5,000 pounds of pipeline in the oil fields of Chad and through the rain forests of Cameroon. Contrary to what was promised to locals in these African countries, the jobs that were created due to the ?nergy project?were insufficient in number, low paying and mostly temporary. The exploitation is apparent despite the euphemistic term for what have in the past have profited multinational corporations and corrupt regimes: ?hird World economic development project?he World Bank voted to support the project, asserting it provided "a unique opportunity ... to play a significant role in reducing poverty in one of Africa's poorest regions." This unique opportunity is doing plentyfor the oil companies and a few of the top government officials in these countries and nothing for the poor who live here.

In Mpango, a village of about 600 people a few miles from the pipeline's end on the Atlantic coast of Cameroon, the consortium has promised to replace one-room schoolhouse, a termite-damaged, tin-roofed building, to compensate the village for the loss of land to the pipeline and disruptions caused by construction, including pollution of a stream used for drinking water. "The new school is badly needed, and that's what we'll remember most from the pipeline," said Savah. "There have been some positives and some negatives, but the changes have not been great. We thought this was going to be a development project, and that is not what has happened."

At a work site near Nanga Eboko, almost all the welders laying one of the last stretches of pipeline were from the Middle East or South America. ExxonMobil says that locals hold four out of five pipeline jobs in Cameroon but few of these are of the highly skilled, highly paid ?ariety? The consortium has a financial incentive to hire Cameroonians because they are paid one-fourth or less what foreign pipeline workers earn. Instead of investing in training for locals, ExxonMobil says it simply can't find enough skilled workers in the country and hires foreigners.

Ekani Lebogo, a union representative for pipeline construction workers, said this explanation is unconvincing. "We have had welders on jobs in Angola, Equatorial Guinea and other parts of Africa, but here most of the welders are foreigners," he said. "Tell me how you should feel if you are Cameroonian and see this?"

The lack of Cameroonians in skilled jobs has resulted in strikes and protests. Bruce Hayes, an ExxonMobil employee who implements labor agreements in Cameroon, attributes the frustration to unrealistic expectations. "Everyone wants a job, and those that don't get one are upset," said Hayes, whose tan work shirt bore an embossed patch with a tiger giving the thumbs-up sign. "There's nothing we can honestly do to resolve that."

The sex appeal of the consortium's social efforts is its compensation plan, which has paid $10 million to thousands of people in Chad and Cameroon. It? a familiar tale: Anyone displaced by the pipeline, or whose farming is temporarily disrupted, is eligible. The oil consortium has also compensated villages that suffered a communal loss, such as the destruction of mango trees.

ExxonMobil officials say that the oil company is not a social service provider, and that the two African governments have promised to use their oil revenue to fight poverty. "There's a need to distinguish between the company's role and the governments' role, especially as the government presence has been largely absent," Exxon-Mobil anthropologist Brown said.

The ?evelopment project?proves itself environmentally and culturally devastating. The pipeline's southernmost section in Cameroon is its most environmentally sensitive stretch, running near Pygmy villages, through thick forests filled with soaring palms, and ending at the Atlantic Ocean in the town of Kribi. The consortium provided $3.5 million to the Foundation for Environment and Development in Cameroon, which is responsible for establishing two new national reserves and an Indigenous People's Program to improve health, education and agriculture in Pygmy villages.

In June 2001, its five-member board, which included an ExxonMobil representative, sent a request to the World Bank and the oil consortium, saying that is would need three times the

by Joe B.

To all Editor’s, Publisher’s, Literary Agents, and hard working industry people.

I, Joseph Bolden as a POOR Magazine’s columnist appreciate comments on my work on PM’s-website.
If time permits to read and respond by email or snail me.
Please Do At.

askjoe@poormagazine.org or snail

P.O. Box #645 1230 Market St.

San Francisco, CA. 94102-4801
I’ve no phone but working on it.

Whatever help you can to a struggling scribbler is priceless.

I’m not thinking of anything in particular to write about this Thursday, March, 15, 2002 except if and when life exstension and immortality humans coexisted side by side how would our perceptions change?

The time between birth, death, and living inbetween would become awkward, odd, and continue as utterly strange.

The right to Life, Death With Dignity, Neptune Society, and Immortalists, Eternals, Cryoic-Iced people both full body and neuro-cold (Frozen Heads Only) will have lively discussions [minus frozen dead body or/ head folks.

The ultimate political stake: long people will want to live.

Question:Do we really want politicians and corporate entities deciding how long we or our children's children lives will be?

If like me the answer is no then there now is the time to begin a process of tackling these questions face on in a public forum, and not only by people in in business, politics.

I believe most of the scientist and researchers are with us because they to have families and want to personally see themselves, friends, friends, and loved ones benefit from the booming bio-sciences.

Lets start an on going debate on the most important
decision in all our lives.

The Extension of and eventual Immortality in our or vastly extended lives.

There might be underground networks of shadowy corporate research scientists, techicians, nano-molecularists working individually or in groups make money the new feild of sleeper/ extension/Immortalism.

Longer life may become a both open and gray market business.

From legitimate Life Ex/ ‘Emmortal clinics to places like the Brain Wash, or other spots in San Francisco may really have temporary and perminent hormonal, intelligence/paranormal increasing drugs, serums, med-tech devices, combined with cyber-organism with mutual parasitic and symbiotic properties to not only maintain health but when possible nanosecond by nanosecond subtly improves all germ/stem cells in the system.

These healthier humans will look and and like us still subject to death even if it no longer age related, better control of interior and exterior biological systems though still not gods just the first of long lived humans full of lifetimes of experiences, worries, regrets, and whatever human folly they are subject to - in other words...

Look in the mirror, that is the face of immortality.

Stronger, faster, intelligent using 40 to 60 or more percent of increase brain capacity and dormant paranormal abilities.

Stay on earth, travel starward, live on other worlds, create human made ones in space, greet aliens, or become so genetically changed that our species become alien to our ancestors and descendants, parallel or altinate world traveling, or through time itself.

When one has time its hard close off other possibilites of study, living, exploring.

It may not be in your or my life times [that’s what cryonics and hibernation chambers, and suspended animation is for].

Now a surgeon name Joe says he can make it possible for humans to fly; he’s talking real flapping wings (High Flying Angel) X-Man/Woman wings.

I’d go for it but first I need time to see the pitfalls.

I can already see and feel the joy of complete freedom from the ground but I’ll deal with one hard science miracle at a time.

For now life exstension and immortality is what I want and need and with time I just might want and need wings in a long future.

How about it readers extremely long lived to immortal humans able to fly under our own power?

Would you if you had long life go for winged flight too?
'Kinda makes that
"Men wern't made to fly, "I can't stand to fly "Superman" song obsolete, well not yet but someday soon. Bye.

by Anita Roddick

If you consider yourself a person of
conscience who believes in justice, this is one
letter you'll want to read carefully. It's a
Letter of Conscience, offered in solidarity
with the Angola Three, three men who have been
languishing in solitary confinement for 30
years for crimes they did not commit.

If, after you've read this brief overview of
their story, you are as outraged as I was when
I first heard it, I urge you to sign your name
to the bottom and send it on to your friends.
We hope to gather several thousand signatures
to be delivered to the lawmakers and human
rights officials who have the power to right
this egregious wrong.

Albert Woodfox, Harman Wallace, and Robert
Wilkerson are three black men who arrived at
the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in
the early 1970s on unrelated robbery
convictions. At the time, Angola was known as
the most brutal, corrupt, and racially
segregated prison in America. Stabbings,
shootings, and rapes were almost daily
occurrences. Hoping to make a stand for basic
human rights and dignity, the three men founded
a chapter of the civil-rights group the Black
Panthers to protect those inmates being
victimized the most and to expose and fight the
corrupt prison administration.

When a young white guard turned up dead inside
the prison, officials worked quickly to pin the
crime on members of the Panthers in an effort
to smash the group. Woodfox and Wallace were
soon tried for the crime, based on testimony by
known prison snitches who were paid for their
testimony with reduced sentences and, in one
case, with a carton of cigarettes a week. They
were convicted by all-white juries, sentenced
to life without parole, and thrown into
solitary confinement indefinitely.

Wilkerson soon joined them, convicted by
another all-white jury for the stabbing death
of a fellow inmate, again based on testimony by
a fellow inmate who later said he was coerced
into fingering Wilkerson. While on trial, the
judge had Wilkerson's mouth duct-taped shut.
Wilkerson's conviction stood for 29 years,
despite the fact that another man had confessed
to and was convicted of the murder.

Wilkerson's conviction was finally overturned
last year and he was freed. But Woodfox and
Wallace remain behind bars, in solitary
confinement 23 hours a day. The American Civil
Liberties Union has filed a suit against the
prison administration maintaining that 30 years
in solitary constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment.

Mumia Abu-Jamal said of the Angola Three, "It
is past time for people to organize for their
life in freedom. They are political prisoners
of the highest caliber who deserve your
support."

http://www.prisonactivist.org/angola/ .//www.prisonactivist.org/angola/>//www.anitaroddick.com/>

By signing this letter and forwarding it to
other concerned citizens, you are expressing
your commitment to human rights and justice, in
America and elsewhere. No one is free while
others are oppressed.

STATEMENT: Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace
are political prisoners who have suffered for
three decades under inhumane and cruel
conditions for crimes they did not commit. We
demand that they be moved immediately from
their solitary "supermax" cells into the
general prison population. Further, we demand
that evidence that has since emerged that their
convictions were based on false and coerced
testimony be considered in granting them new
trials. The American justice system lies at the
heart of the country's very identity as a free
and democratic republic. Travesties of justice
such as this weaken the system as a whole, and
therefore weaken both the country itself and
the cause of freedom around the world.

SIGNED:

1) Anita Roddick, West Sussex, UK

2) Justine Roddick, California, United States

3) Scott Fleming, Oakland CA, United States

4) Cal Joy, Brisbane, Australia
5) Brooke Shelby Biggs, San Francisco CA,
United States

6) Stephanie Green, San Francisco CA, United
States

7) Bruce Allen, St. Catharines, Ontario,
Canada

8) Marina Drummer, Berkeley, CA, United States

9) Kiilu Nyasha, San Francisco, CA, USA

10) Mary Ratcliff, San Francisco, CA, USA

11) JR Valrey, Oakland, Ca, usa

12) Lisa Gray-Garcia San Francisco, Ca, USA

TO SIGN: Copy the entire message into a new
email (please don't forward it!), add the next
consecutive number along with your name and
location, and send it to as many friends as you
can. (Please be sure to include this endnote!)
If there are 100 names signed when you receive
this, please send a copy of the email back to
me at staff@anitaroddick.com, clear the list of
names, add yourself as #1, and send it on. If
you choose not to sign or forward this email,
please send it back to staff@anitar

by TJ Johnston from Weird Services

"Call off your dogs," pleaded former President George H.W. Bush to the residents of Marin County, California. "I apologize. I am chastened and will never use 'hot tub' and 'Marin County' in the same sentence again. I shouldn't have done that," stated Bush in his Feb. 26 mea culpa to the affluent suburb, whose name he mispronounced.

That was his request to Marin Independent Journal editor Jackie Kerwin, who urged readers to respond to Bush's Jan. 25 defamatory remarks against suspected American Taliban John Walker Lindh as "some misguided Marin County hot-tubber."

And the letters flowed from maligned Marinites. In the last month, three editorial pages were devoted to their rejoinders.

Since Lindh, formerly of San Anselmo, made headlines with his involvement with the now-ousted Taliban of Afghanistan, the Marin lifestyle has been put under a microscope. Pundits have long ridiculed the home of the hot tub party, but after Bush's characterization of the 20-year-old Muslim fundamentalist, residents were fed up.

Because of the controversey, Kerwin guested on the Today Show on Feb. 28. The signature water container conspicuously appeared on the set.

Judging from the reaction of area yuppies, 23% of whom voted for Bush in 1992, most seemed forgiving.

"Of course, nobody wants to painted with broad strokes and I'm against stereotyping," notes San Rafael housefrau Mindy Universe while shopping for Zinfadel in Safeway. "Not all of us should be grouped in with the 'hot-tubbers,' especially Walker. Like, did you see how the boy looked? He needs to be deloused."

Particularly sensitive to Bush's comments is Kensington spa proprietor Blaine Worthington III. "If he hadn't apologized, I would still be smarting. It's never OK to hold a grudge. The recession and Sept. 11 have already cramped business. His saying 'I'm sorry' may stop the slide from going further."

However, other hot tub enthusiasts, like realtors Todd and Tiffany Terwilliger, still feel a sting. "We Marinites take a lot of flack for our lifestyle," muses Todd. Tiffany is quick to add, "Don't they have key parties in Conneticut or Maine or Texas, wherever he's from? He thinks jacuzzis are absolutely sinful." Todd goes on to say that Bush is uptight and "in need of a good soak."

Outside the area where Huey Lewis calls home, contrary viewpoints are plentiful. One angry, anonymous emailer vilified the Golden State. "You jerks from California have way too much time on your hands if this remark offended you poor babies! get a life. Most of the people in this country can't even afford food and health care, let alone feel bad about the hot-tubbers in Moron County."

Another vitriolic and nameless detractor wishes for "a really big earthquake will come along and separate California from the rest of the United States and it will drift out into the middle of the Pacific ocean."

"Dissing the county don't mean a thing," wrote Marin City storekeeper Muhammed Malcolm al-Kaline in an unpublished letter. He voices different concerns. "If baby Bush and Ashcroft go after this white boy from a nice neighborhood, there's no telling who else they'll lock up and throw the key away." Attempts for additional comments from al-Kaline were unsuccessful. He has since been reported missing and no one knows his whereabouts.

While apologizing for his "hot tub" comments, Bush denies disparaging local wildlife. "But what's this about peacock feathers?" he writes to Kerwin. "As Dana Carvey might say, 'Didn't say peacock feathers, wouldn't be prudent.'"

by Connie Lu

I am seated at a round table with pale purple
tablecloth and enjoying the festive trio of Mexican
musicians playing their guitars and maracas, as I rub
my hands to replenish the warmth that the angry wind
had taken with its every exhaling gust. The entire
room brightens softly, as the sun peaks through the
heavy clouds to shine its rays through the glass
skylight at the top of the pointed church ceiling.
The murmurs of surrounding conversations are heard
without the recognition of specific words. But, my
ears then draw my attention to the familiar sound of a
Chinese conversation at a nearby table, which sparks a
curiosity for the poems that I was about to hear and
experience at this book reading.

"Voices of Our Own - Mothers, Daughters, and Elders of
the Tenderloin Tell Their Stories" by Nancy Deutsch is
comprised of a collection of works by an eclectic
group of women from various walks of life, who have
shared their life stories with each other, but are now
able to share their beautiful words with many more
through this new book. The writers themselves span a
wide age range of 7 years old to 77. They have the
combined ability to speak a total of 11 different
languages.

Several poems are recited, but I am especially moved
by Jean Hui Shih's piece, which is read from Jean's
oral history. She nervously begins reciting with a
shy Chinese accent and I suddenly recall my own
memories of sweating and stuttering through dreaded
oral reports in school. Her piece is both a
recollection of her past, as well as a reflection of
her inner strength. Growing up in a family consisting
of one sister and four brothers within a society that
favors boys over girls was far from easy.
Then in 1984, she immigrated to America and was
determined to give up anything to give her daughter
the life that Jean was never allowed to have due to
the importance of carrying the family's name through
the boy, and not the girl. A few more lines are read,
as she continues to paint an image of her love for her
daughter with each carefully chosen word. Her
sacrificial love is shown again, when she sells the
few pieces of jewelry she had out of a relentless
desire to give her daughter a successful life full of
opportunities and joy.

After hearing Jean's piece, my heart is touched by the
incomparable love between a mother and her daughter,
as my gratitude for my own parents is renewed after
realizing how easily I would take them for granted in
countless instances. I am also reminded of the
hardship my parents endured in coming to America with
a small amount of money, in addition to the language
barrier they faced. They have come such a long way in
overcoming many challenges so that my brother and I
could have what we have today, a loving family.

I continue to listen to a few more poems. Then the
guest speaker is introduced. Her name is Dolores
Huerta, Cofounder of the United Farm Workers, who
endorsed Nancy's book and inspired her to work towards
social justice. I could sense the effect her
presence was about to have upon the room as she begins
to speak. Her words are a source of encouragement and
motivation to me. I write down her simple, yet
powerful phrase that she concludes with, "Women must
learn to speak loud and proud".

Nancy then proceeds to the next set of poems.
However, this time the poems are not recited. Nancy
explains how the writers were given the title of the
poem which was, "Every Girl Should BeÖ" and asked to
write a poem based upon this title. Coincidentally,
all the women had overlapping ideas and words such as
sweet, nice, quiet, and skinny, despite the fact that
they had come from completely different countries and
backgrounds.

At that moment, I found myself sharing this same idea
of being and living up to the expectations of others
upon the characteristics of a woman. I don't remember
being told to act a certain way, but perhaps it was my
reaction to fitting into the ideal mold that society
places women in, instead of defining my own identity.
But at the same time, this feeling brought great
comfort and reassurance to me, knowing that these
women truly understood my struggles.

A few of the women felt reluctant to read their poems
because they do not feel comfortable in front of an
audience with its several pairs of daunting eyes
focused upon them. I could feel their hearts beating
nervously on stage. Every passing minute would feel
as if it had been several hours since the first line
of the poem was read. However, I have great
admiration and respect for these soft-spoken women,
knowing that it is difficult for them to speak
publicly because I have yet to overcome this fear as
well.

As much as some of these women disliked being on
stage, Nancy asks all the women to stand in front of
the audience as this event comes to an end. These
women may appear timid and weak due to their fear of
being on stage, but their true inner strength and
courage is spoken even louder by the words they write.
I recognize the women as they stand together because
their faces are familiar now. Some have gray hair,
others have a head of braids. There are almond-shaped
eyes, as well as eyes of other colorful skin. Each
face is a reminder and symbol to me of each woman's
achievement.

To order books Directly you can go their website: www.frommywindowbooks.com

Voices of Our Own, upcoming events:

Thursday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.
Reading/signing with Nancy Deutsch and women
from Tenderloin; Barnes and Noble @ Jack London Square, Oakland

Sunday, May 5, 2 p.m.
Reading/signing with Nancy Deutsch and women/girls from Tenderloin;
SF Public library, Main branch.