The city of Portland, where I live, is the urban center of a county with more than fifteen thousand homeless people. That figure includes not only people who sleep on the street and in shelters, but also those who sleep on friends’ couches, in cars, and in transitional housing. People often offer various explanations for why this is: the abundance of social services, the minimum wage, the way the Northwest’s moderate climate enables people to live outside for most of the year. In 2009, Oregon ranked first in the nation for homelessness per capita. I wanted to investigate this; to see who these people are, and how they get by. So I spent the summer of 2011 talking to some of the homeless population here in town.Here are most of the interviews in the series, posted by two literary magazines:
“Just Wander Around: Eddie.” Audio/text interview, Better: Culture & Lit, Issue 1 Fall/Winter 2012.
“Josh: I Like Free Things, Part I and Part II.” Curbside Splendor, August 2012.
“We Have a lot of Resources, and a lot of Drag Queens: Kevin, Shelly, and Greg.” Curbside Splendor, September 2012.
“You Know, Like–I Don’t Know: Casper.” Curbside Splendor, September 2012.
“My Face Is a Mirror. Look At it. You Will See Yourself: Terry.” Curbside Splendor, September 2012.
“Just Stuck on This Corner for the Time Being: Elizabeth.” Curbside Splendor, September 2012.
“That Got Totaled, and That Was the End of That: 25-Year Old Addict.” Curbside Splendor, October 2012.
“Climb That Mountain.” Audio interview of a hitchhiking kid, The Collagist, October 2011.
Also: The Portland Mercury mentioned the series in September, which was nice of them.
Great series!
Thanks, Caroline.
Nicely done. I work in Colorado as a bike mechanic (and loose admin) for a very small non-profit where we provide and repair bicycles for homeless and otherwise transportation-less clients. The bikes are donated (used) to us, a couple of local shops helpfully act as drop-off points for donations. The weather on Colorado’s Front Range, (unlike the famous ski terrain near the Continental Divide) is bearable through the winters, we have sunny skies for nearly 300 days a year. Intrepid cyclists, homeless or not, can ride through the winters here more often than folks from sunnier climes might imagine. Many of the resourceful but street-weary folks we meet have stories to tell, & philosophies to expound upon. Some should write a book. We believe that friendship and a listening ear is just as important as a skilled hand with a wrench to keep a client’s bike rolling. It isn’t hard to imagine living by your wits in tough circumstances after hearing some of the stories. We may not always hear the truth, but we know we are listening to fellow human beings deserving of our attention. (I wrote a piece about homelessness on my blog, Werk in Progress, recently. http//:werkinprogrs.blogspot.com/2013/01/homeless.html?m=1)