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A "How To" Guide To Becoming Homeless - Boda-remix

Page history last edited by Boda 13 years, 6 months ago

Javier - I created this new page for my edits so your original page is preserved.  My edits are only for clarity, flow, and grammar.  I like what you say.  My effort here is to polish how you said it.  Don't freak out when you see all the edits :-)  I tried to highlight where I made changes in blue.  If you like anything I do here, just copy those portions back to your original page.  I've also listed a few thoughts below.  Of course, I'm no expert so if you don't use any of the edits, I'm good with that, too.  Hope it helps.  ~ Jay

 

- Long sentences.  I've noticed it's part of your signature.  Long sentences are not always bad, but I'm not a master of what makes a good long form sentence.  I broke up some of yours into more digestible chunks.  I found this link for more info about long sentence form that you might want to take a look at: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sentences.htm

 

- Keep an eye for half sentences - make sure you always have a subject and a predicate - unless you're going for an effect.

 

- Watch out for the homophones.  There, their, they're; its, it's; our, hour; etc.

 

- My newspaper editor always told me in my final edit to do a "which" hunt.  Most times, it's an unnecessary word that doesn't add meaning to the sentence.  Unless you're asking a question such as, "Which beer do you want?" - you probably don't need which in your sentence.

 

- Watch for repetitive phrases.  "In turn" stuck out to me.  If you notice writing it a lot, just think of another way of saying it.

 

Other than that, I like your work.  You might want to add some section headings to break it up a little.  But overall, I thought it hit all of the rubric areas.

 

~~~

 

Imagine for a moment walking in for a job interview.

 

What are you like do you see? Most likely you're well dressed, well groomed, and rehearsing your previous experiences.

 

Now, imagine this...

 

You walk into the same job interview at a fast food joint.  You haven't showered in three days and you're drenched in sweat.  Your hair has lice, your breath stinks, and you're starving. The last meal you ate was almost a day ago.  It was half of a hamburger somebody threw out and you were lucky enough to it pick out from the garbage. You're not rehearsing your skills or previous experience because when you were 20 years old, you were charged with a felony while experiencing a manic episode of  thanks to SchizophreniaA disease that went  which has for the past five years gone undiagnosed for the past five years while you sat in jail. Imagine the wasted potential of this  And what a shame it is that society has not reaped the benefits of the beautiful mind shrouded lies behind this disease.

 

The manager has a soft spot in his heart for the homeless and decides to afford you an interview.  He knows knowing full well that because you don't own a cell phone or home phone so the interview must take place upon the moment you turn in the application.  Let's pretend assume he chooses to ignores the box marked for "felony" as well as your horrendous hygiene and lack of skills or experience.

 

The interview begins and manager is being professional.  You sit down and the manager begins his questioning, in a professional matter.   When Suddenly you hear a voice someone tell you, "PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE!"  You belch out mid-interview, "NO."  The voice man responds, "PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE OR HE'll EAT YOUR INSIDES OUT!  PUNCH HIM, NOW! PUNCH HIM!".  You start to panic. You scream and blurt out, "HE WON'T EAT ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!"  You cause a scene.  Customers are disturbed as they begin walking out.  You stand up swinging your fists at the man who's voice is telling you to hit the manager interviewer. The manager runs to his office dialing 911.

 

You We can imagine what happens next.

 

Ever wonder how people become homeless? Better yet, why they stay homeless? Mental disorders often play a large role. Couple this with a lack of access to medical treatment for them and it becomes far less surprising that walking throughout Pinellas County we find that over 6,500 of our neighbors are homeless individuals. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Civic Engagement Fair at USFSP; however, I have done work with the Hillsborough county non-profit, titled Northside Mental Health. The organization company works with mentally disabled individuals, often homeless and with criminal backgrounds.  It helps them acquire steady work and assimilate back into society.  the normal population.

 

As the famous adage goes, states "Feed a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will never starve."  Northside Mental Health strives to achieve this by providing individuals with interview skills, coping skills, transportation, mental health treatment, and shelter as a means to help these individuals lead normal and productive lives.

 

As a classmate exemplified in his essay Pay It Forward 5000, money doesn't it is not money that help people.  People help people.  Which in turn poses a vital question to be answered: who and what causes people to become homeless and more importantly, what causes people to stay homeless?  The answer to such complex questions can be summed up in a simple one-word answer: people.

 

It's a difficult and often an uncomfortable problem to confront. How do you help a violent veteran, a delusional adolescent, a recovering drug addict?  It's far too easy to dismiss people whom may be emotionally or mentally unhealthy as crazy or even more simply stated, "bad people". Many homeless find themselves isolated, bouncing in and out of prison systems.  In fact, 2008 alone saw 2.4 million Americans in prison.   staring at the blank cinder blocks behind bars.  They sit in small confines listening to a prison full of their own and their cellmates voices violently echoing off cinder block walls.  They're isolated for more than 20 hours a day, often for days, weeks, months, or maybe years at a time.

 

Have you ever left your child locked in his room for more than half a day? It would be cruel wouldn't it? But Maybe they did something they should have not done? Maybe they didn't eat their vegetables, maybe they talked back to you, or maybe they didn't clean their room.  Perhaps they should sit in their room. they should just sit there. For days, doing nothing. That will teach them, right?!  I'm sure it would, sitting there, starring at walls, listening to their voices echoes. Until They'll loose track of time. No windows. No doors. No clocks. Nothingness. They may even forget what they did that was so wrong in the first place? They'll start to think:  whatever it was they did must have made them horrible people.  Eventually, this is the role they will model take on.

 

Would you do this to your child?

 

Probably not. ....

 

Would you do it to your child at three years of age? How about five? Maybe twenty-five?

 

Probably not. ....

 

I guarantee if it were your son or your daughter, you would never enforce this it punishment upon them.  You would work to better them, teach them, and help them. I can nearly guarantee that everyone person has at least one other person in their life lives who, no matter what crime or wrong doing,  they'd commit, you could still see them for their full potential.  You could still see the goodness in their heart.l  And so there in lies a fundamental question.  Would you ever extend this care to someone else's child, someone else's friend?  Could you apply your knowledge that someone out there sees the intrinsic goodness within this stranger?   Knowing full well that more than likely someone, somewhere sees them for the goodness they have. Would you extend that optimistic view unto others?

 

There is I can think of one man in Pinellas county who did exactly this. Following many painful years of struggle with his daughter's mental illness, he founded Vincent House.  It's a community which helps teach vocational and social skills to those whom are struggling to recover from mental illness. something that More than one-fourth of all Americans over the age of 18 suffer from mental health issues in their lives.  Knowing this perhaps puts the problem into a much greater perspective.

 

With the simple statistic above, I challenge anyone reading this to remember that mental Illness is just that - an illness. Have you ever been ill?  I can safely assume you have. Chances are you over came it.  Perhaps you bought medicine, saw a doctor, or consulted someone for help. Most likely, your health improved within a week or two and found yourself in perfect health again. it was no more than a week later that you began to see improvements and not long after found yourself in perfect health.   Sadly, this is where mental illness and physical illnesses differ.  Where a physical illness may take a few days to  maybe a month to take it's course, the mental illness is chronic.  Where one carries little stigma and little shame, the other carries guilt, shame, stigmas and feelings of inadequacy or isolation.

 

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of mental illness is the ignorance toward the topic in general. Many sufferers of various mental illness do not seek help for lack of information or resources. Furthermore, it is not uncommon that people with anxiety, social or personality disorders are shunned, showered with guilt and mocked for what others perceive as simply inappropriate behavior. Many of these individuals, in turn, find themselves having constant issues with law enforcement, being arrested for everything from DUIs to domestic violence.  These issues can arise from panic attacks, manic episodes and states of paranoia, delusion or confusion.

 

Let's look at what were taught as kids in school.  When we all sat in our fifth grade class, listening to "Officer Davis" from the D.A.R.E. program, we remember him talking about the different categories of drugs: hallucinogenics, depressants, narcotics, etc.  As he went through the list, one of the kids in the class with a that perplexed look on his face raised his hand.  "Soooo, the medicines doctors give you are bad for you?"  The officer replied with the standard typical and simple response, that one could expect carefully explaining the difference between prescription drugs which were a necessity and illicit drugs. I figured prescription drugs were always bad for you anyways; my dad had always objected to pills of any sort and I took after him.  In a sense, I'm glad. ...

 

Nearly 2,500 miles away, my cousin sat in her 4th grade classroom.  She had just been diagnosed with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)A disorder diagnosed in something which a scandalous (scandalous is accusatory without later explanation) 7.8% (needs reference) of school-aged children have had a diagnosis of since 2003.   and a psychiatrist Drug companies are making a pretty penny off her prescriptions from my cousin and millions of others.  >>> for a methamphetamine (I don't understand the relevance of this video in relation to ADHD related drugs).   Prescription drugs with a sugar coating and an with the  "Adderall" label.  Prescription drug profits of that which reached 190.3 million dollars in the last fiscal quarter

 

My cousin and I We met when we were 12 years old over a Christmas break shortly before my aunt married her dad.  Almost instantly, we became friends and I remember her being an excited, energetic, and having a contagiously happy personality.  So When I moved to Florida three years later, I was happy content having her as an ambassador to my new surroundings.  and Considering she was a cheerleader, I didn't mind hanging around her friends one bit.  But after a year, I started heard less and less from her.  As I got situated in my new home state, the distance between us started.  we began to distance,  It seemed suspicious to say the least.  She constantly had broken phones.  I'd only sporadically seeing her at family gatherings.  One month I'd seeing her at a hundred pounds, the next weighing 130.  Over the years, an unhealthy appearance began to overtake her face over the years and a tired fatigued look resonated from her eyes. There was still that same excited energetic and contagiously happy personality vibing from her and  still that inner goodness.  However, there was a new found anxiety, antsiness, and an even paranoid aura about her.

 

During holidays get togethers, I'd ask about her.  Each time learning she was living somewhere new.  One month it would be with her grandparents, eight weeks later she would be with her sister, then back home for a short period, then nobody would know.  Occasionally, I would hear murmurs from her side of the family, gossip mostly.  Typically, it was along the lines of how nobody could put up with her anymore.  They couldn't deal with her shit and how it served her well to "be on her own" or "not given any more help".

 

It was nearly a year later that I found my parents turning the other cheek (not sure if this is the right expression - check this link) to me and finding myself in precarious situations with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Working odd jobs and sometimes gathering change to find something to eat, I eventually came across fifty dollars.  I used it creatively and started a business that began to get me on my feet.  It was to me, a surreal feeling to see as friends, family and people you know suddenly, but almost organically, seem to fade away. They say people get close when times are good and drift away when times are bad; I hate to admit it's true.  

 

By December of last year, I was living in a small one bedroom apartment, still distant from the world on Christmas day. Altogether, It was a dull day; I wished I had worked. Then my phone rang and it scared me, not to be confused with startled.  I looked at the unfamiliar number, worried about who it could be.   and In what strangely felt like a leap of faith, I answered.

 

"Hello"

 

"JAVI."

 

"Hey, who's this?"

 

"JAVI," followed by speech too fast for me to comprehend. 

 

Between labored breaths of someone that sounded as though they'd run around a track, Eventually, I was eventually able to put together it was my cousin.  She'd who'd gotten into a fight (something I found so out of character) and needed me to get her.  Something seemed so wrong about her when I got to her.  She had that a weathered, tired look people often take on after months of hardship.  A look that, in turn, seems to make a person them look as though they've aged years. I was excited to finally hang out with her, but by the same token, so worried.

 

 

As we drove, she spoke so quickly, hardly taking breaths in between statements, that I barely understood what she said.  spoke about. We stayed up until 6am the next morning that day, talking (mostly her) until I could barely keep my eyes open.  She was still wide awake and around the time I woke up.  Then she went to sleep, but not for very long.  That night, I realized that night, that homelessness did not necessarily mean not having a place to sleep. It was but having the anxiety of not knowing where you would lay your head from night to night, day to day.

 

My cousin she wound up extending her stay for several months usually bouncing off the walls, cleaning, or rearranging thingsShe'd go outside into the pool all at odd hours. I could tell something was wrong and it seemed she never stopped moving.   and had If I not had immense patience, I'm sure our friendship would have been ruined.  Through it all, Despite it, I can honestly say we had a blastWe'd going out until 4am drinking virtually every day.  We were laughing constantly and making fun of each other.   and and  I could barely keep up.  However, I started noticing a pattern where she'd ask me to take her to doctor's visits.  Every visit was time to a different doctor.  Little did I know I was helping her get a hold of prescription after prescription of Adderall.  After awhile, we could joke so freely about our multiple flaws that it discussing our problems became insignificant.  She told me about how she'd gotten arrested a few months back for fighting in Ybor.  Then arrested again (in the same week) for a DUI.  then And yet again for assaulting an officer.  I see now, that extending my friendship was the ultimate form of paying it forward.  Suffice it to say, we're still best friends and, with upon some advice, I'd suggested she finally turned to her mom for help.  She and moved to North Carolina to clean up.

 

Looking back, however, I see how easily people can become homeless.  Ehle provided an example in her personal experiences with her sisterEventually, As was the case with her sister and my cousin, Ehle's even family can became irritated, frustrated and tired of helping. other people. Without support from friends and family and without a no platform to stand on, it is quite easy to feel isolated and abandoned.  One eventually loses hope and a home.

 

Having programs like Vincent house allow for people with mental disorders to recover which often stem from drug abuse or the residual effects of being isolated.   Programs like these improve a it has on person's emotional health and help them find community and a supportive group coupled with counseling. In my cousin's case, she needed someone to confront her about the problem in a non-judgmental and genuinely concerned matter. More than anything, she needed a friend and someone to confide in.  Someone to help her and seek a solution.

 

When I started this project, my plan was to examine homelessness and how mental illness related to it. As I continued to examine, reflect and free verse my thoughts into writing, I began to remember many of my own personal experiences with homelessness. and  From a first hand account, I can recollect the two months living out from my car and floating about from shopping center parking lot to Super Wal-Mart parking lot.  I realized attaining and maintaining a job with no college education and very limited work experience was not far from impossible. in what was a very niche field and no formal college education was not far from impossible.  Furthermore, after doing the math, even working a steady minimum wage job full time would not afford me sustenance. In turn, I somehow, through creativity and undoubtedly a fair amount of luck, started a catering company which quickly got me on my way.

 

It is often disappointing to see convicted felons taking no other recourse than to resorting to illegal activities.  The very experience of being arrested and serving time in jail, whether convicted or not, will accrue enormous debt furthering one into desperation. Couple this with abandonment or the stigmas associated with being arrested and the combination is far beyond devastating. In turn, people often shun those who have served any amount of time, labeling them as "bad" or "trouble".

 

Coming out of a prison cell, is often like stepping into emptiness with nowhere to go.  There's no one to turn to and no resources available.  to fall upon.  Mental illness often leads to a similar outcome.  when finding little recourse or accommodation anywhere and  Drug addiction also leads to similar consequences.  All three are reasons people very often find themselves arrested.  Ultimately, in turn, it is important to examine this problem and seek ways to create community, forgiveness and rehabilitation to face life with a fighting chance.

 

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