I've been dog/ house sitting the last few days. Friends headed north for a long weekend. A much needed change of scene and pace. I sure hope they come home renewed.
I'm caring for their dog along with mine, both oldsters. Theirs is more peppy. I love their dog despite her many bad habits that they never expect her to change. One day when I had to be away, I came back to find my dog, unused to me being away for so long, had been sitting by their gate and crying with anguish for hours. I saw that their dog was beside her, however, and as I came through, their dog used her nose to tap the face of my dog, to comfort her and say, "There she is. I told you she would come back. You have not been abandoned." Their dog is aware that my dog is going blind. Their dog held out faith that I would return, watched for me, was there for her. So how can I hold it against their dog that, after I gave both of them baths, she ran for the freshly laundered bed that belong to my dog, and spread herself out on it? Leaving my dog on the floor. That she runs for my dog's food if my dog stops eating for a moment? That she is fat and mine is too thin. Mine gives her warning barks about the food. Mine barks a lot to tell on her when she is invading to get treats.
I hold their dog and I tell her that I know that she starved in a past life. I hold their dog and tell her that I know that she poops and pees on their bathroom floor to make a point: she is actually a human and humans do use that room to do their business.
Right now the two of them are trying to distract me from writing by tail wagging in hopes of walks and food. "When I finish my essay!"
Outside birds are chirping. An early spring nest, perhaps, is in their tree. It is a cold morning. I'm under the covers and don't feel like starting my day. I'm enjoying the quietude of a house empty but for me and these dogs, at least until the end of the day when they return. I'm fortunate in that way.
Do I, you wonder, write every day? Have some sort of routine or schedule for writing? Overall, the answer is no. I do write often. I do write for hours. I do still hand write, though I get more done typing. I don't publish on this blog or elsewhere most of what I write. Some of it is just for me. Some of it is experimental. I wrote a short short the other day, the first time in a long time that I wrote a short short.
I remember in my writing program there was a student who wrote a children's book that I thought was charming in its imagery. This student was warned by the university that he needed to get on with finishing his projects as he had acquired too many units and might have to go without completing a degree. He was procrastinating his final paper. He was in therapy for writer's block. (Probably also he was procrastinating because he knew that once he graduated he would probably have to move somewhere and find a job.)
I could not imagine that. I think, however, that many writers are suffering the specter of Cancel Culture, of being told that they may not write about something they imagine or research, that they must stick to what they "know." Imagination and research are being cancelled in favor of testimonials. Cancel Culture has been brewing for at least twenty years at college campuses.
Ideas come to me all the time. Often I forget the idea because it comes to me at a time when I can't stop what I'm doing at the time in favor of writing. It is like forgetting a dream one just woke from, knowing it was a memorable dream. You hope you will dream it again.
The first thing I do these days, before I'm even out of bed, is check the news. Specifically the hard news, the war in Ukraine. The atrocities of war crimes committed by soldiers of the Russian army against civilians. I wish the Power of Hate worked like magic because I despise them, I loath them, I want them all to spontaneously combust from their own evil. I want them to get the hell out of Ukraine. (I wish I could be more spiritual about this. I watched the Pope's Consecration of Ukraine and Russia - careful to include all the countries in the world - with interest. Will that white magic work?)
The torture, the rape, the mass graves that testify that genocide is being committed, make me feel upset and also helpless and hopeless but I feel - maybe you do too - that not knowing would be worse. I'm so impressed with the way so many millions of people have been giving of themselves to help others but a question I have is, how can we collectively continue to afford this? Is my imagination too small? Have I no idea just how rich, rich is?
Well, what about our refugees here in the United States, the homeless?
Years ago I was told that anyone without a permanent address is considered homeless. I was surprised because, like many people who immigrated to Southern California as the land of opportunity from other parts of the United States, I relied on others who had moved here first to receive me and shelter me until I could find a job and my own apartment. I was three different places before that happened, though I did make it happen within three months. At the time there was a feeling of optimism in the air, that there was enough for everyone. People still walked into places they wanted to work to apply in person. People might find jobs other ways, such as personal networking, but I didn't have a network. When I walked into a place that was not hiring, and people actually told me about other places that were hiring.
I also relied on the kindness of a friend after graduating from college and having nowhere to live immediately. I had other 'friends' who could have taken a turn to have me, giving her a break during those months, but they were nowhere to be found. (And living in houses that their parents made possible.)
(If you are wondering, I've senselessly given, even to people who I came to understand were clearly not respecting me, within my means.)
However, now I'm hearing that agencies do not consider people who are sofa hopping or staying with other people temporarily, or even those who live in RV's, vans, and cars, to be homeless. No, now homeless means on the pavement. I met a woman dog walking who told me that she had been sofa hopping for several years without any hope of help from these agencies. By redefining, the count is actually lower than it could be.
Also the count is always an under-count and was suspended during Covid. I know the people I'm going to mention further in this post were not counted and do not want to be.
I currently know two people who have been living in vehicles for years, getting Social Security, who are terminally ill and wasting away. One is in stage 4 cancer. They are both rugged individualists and have some connection with others for the purposes of mail and showers. One has been helped by an AA group though he has not been a member for many years. The other is still performing whenever possible.
I currently know of four people who are staying overnight in a business where they work, with permission of the owner. I know this because I'm one of the 'in-crowd.' Two of them need surgery.
Out walking dogs I go to a park where there are people in tents, waiting on living in one of those tiny house villages.
I hear my old neighborhood has a long stretch of tents.
Pre-Covid there was a woman who had two shopping carts that she would move several times each day, going from bus stop to bus stop, I suppose so as to not be accused of loitering. We would stop and talk to her and she would pet my dog. I haven't seen her and hope she got in somewhere. Whatever her mental illness might have been, she had clarity when we interacted.
There were also two individuals that I was so concerned about, I filled in one of those outreach forms on line. The one man decided to sit on a bench near a store and he sat in that same spot, but for going into the store to buy food and use the toilet, day and night for months, in the cold, in the overnight rain, when he would spread some plastic over himself. I spoke to him and he smiled and was mild mannered. I learned other people were also concerned and trying to get him help. He is not there anymore. However, the other man I reported as needing help was far gone. He roamed wearing nothing but sweat pants and one morning as we were walking to the store, he proceeded to pull the pants down, squat, and openly take a shit.
As I see people in Canada, a country in which previous Ukrainian immigrants have proven themselves, especially welcoming in any and all who want to come there, I'm impressed. I reason that Canada has space and that Ukrainians are already used to living in a cold climate. (Manitoa -15%, Sadkatchewan -13%, Alberta -10 % , Yukon -5%, British Columbia 5f% and Ontario - 3%)
On YouTube I saw an interview with one woman, who spoke with an American accent, who was a Canadian living in Poland who had taken in ten Ukrainians fleeing that war. Asked how long she expected them to live there, she said, at least a year, or as long as it takes. Even if the war ended tomorrow, the damage to the human spirit - of having endured rape - gang rape - seeing your child killed - knowing your mother was hung - never seeing your brother or husband again - all these things are much to cope with. So about 4 million Ukrainians are now refugees. I won't say 'get over' because I don't think people get over these experiences. I think 'closure' can be a lot of B.S.
So why do we think that mental illness comes first and then homelessness? When homelessness is not just tough, but dehumanizing. When homeless women especially are the victims of rape? When sex traffickers prey upon homeless teens? When not sleeping regularly and not being able to use the toilet when you need to can ruin your health?
What of those who commit these crimes? It is easy for me to think they are not operating with a soul. Are they human? Well then, I don't like humans. There's a theory that rather than eternal damnation, a person must earn their soul while on this earth and when a person does such things, upon their mortal death they do not obtain eternal life, they are gone, blank.
Which brings me to the promise of the title of this post. The race to be elected mayor of Los Angeles. As of yesterday Mayor Garcetti had not been approved to be ambassador to India. (India is not willing or able to go without Russian oil.)
I watched the debate with interest.
Rich Caruso, the millionaire property developer, has ads coming up on YouTube videos. He claims he will solve the homeless issue. It is impossible for me to believe him. (I think there is corruption in City Hall because developers seem to get away with a whole lot.) This cannot happen unless a half a million apartments that average people can afford are build in Los Angeles County yesterday. Average people are all in the pipeline towards homelessness. (Anyone on EBT is in that pipeline.)
It is possible for someone who develops property to care, but as I see it, unless he has detailed plan on how he expects to do this revealed soon, we can be pretty sure he will not solve the issue.
Mike Feuer is someone I briefly interacted with a few years ago and I was directed to fill out a form with one of his office personnel who was to get back to me. No one got back to me. That said, he had the experience to take on the job, and frankly, has had a good reputation overall.
Around that time that I met Feuer, though I prefer snail mail, I e-mailed the same letter to every person on the Los Angeles City Council but for one. The letter focused on the homeless issue as I witnessed whole families coming into a library asking the librarians for help on finding housing. These people were mostly in older and small buildings in the Valley area, were mostly of Mexican heritage, and that summer there were also many families on floors of friends and sleeping in cars around libraries and parks. There was a program in areas where young people were joining gangs and in an attempt to deter this, there were weeks where food was served nightly along with basic entertainments and things to do. I went one day to see how this was going and various politicians had booths set up. I spoke to the teens who were hired to cook, set up tables, and so on, and basically, there were homeless families there night after night.
Not a single member of city council got back to me, two people who worked for two of them sent an email back asking me what I wanted. I said "If you read my letter you would know." My impression was that LA City Council did not give a rats ass.
Joe Busciano appeals to home owners and those who think human beings in encampments need to be "cleaned out" and basically evicted from where they have planted themselves as they are 'moved.' We need to equate this with what happens in war - forced migration - loss of personal property. Not a chance in hell I will vote for him.
Karen Bass was a gentlewoman at the debate while the men pretended to love each other and be friends, while also slinging mud. However, this may have come off as too timid. I will be learning more about her in the next few weeks.
I also do not know enough about Kevin DeLeon.
So right now Mike Feuer has my vote.
C 2022 Christine Trzyna
