Today I am thankful for conversation with beautiful people.
I have a talent for getting people to approach me and talk to me.
The secret is copying a small facet of a person's body language upon approach.
If they move their hands side to side, do that.....they'll approach you.
Find something small.....copy that....people will acknowledge you.
I spent my afternoon talking to homeless people in my hometown.
I emptied the cash in my purse.
It wasn't much.
I spoke to them.
They were all male.
They have been homeless on average of one year to eighteen months.
They are not from the big city. They are from the same city I visited today. In other words, the men I spoke to today were priced out of their Arvada apartments.
They are living in Arvada.
The city council is barking up the wrong tree by blaming Denver and Aurora.
I don't live in Arvada anymore. I gave up my Arvada business due to the stalking. They may not want to hear from me or care for my help.
My cousin ran for city council in Arvada. He didn't live long enough to see this painful sight.
He was my younger cousin. He died of skin cancer two years ago.
What would he do?
I don't know.
Would his ghost lead me here? I hope he'd have much better things to do in the after world.
Maybe I should try to do something to honor Justin.
I'll reach out to the tiny church these men spoke about to see what I can do.
I have no clue when my next day off is.
I plan on going back. I don't know when...if I did, I couldn't say....because I don't want Mike's family to harass me there.
They'd probably be too afraid to harass me when I'm near homeless men.
People avoid homeless people. I think people avoid things they fear. I don't think people fear homeless people per se, they fear the idea that it could happen to them. People fear becoming homeless.
As I wondered around, I noticed that many of these men have adopted street dogs.
It's interesting how generous those with the least can be; the less we have, the more we tend to give.
The question begs to be answered:
What can I do?
******
I parked my hypno-mobile and walked up to my former office.
As I approached I noticed a man to my left. He walked fast. I quickened my pace.
He approached me asking how to get to the airport.
I asked "Why? Where would you rather be?"
He said he was just joking.
I looked at him, inquiring "How long have you been here?"
He was stunned.
He was a handsome man of color in his thirties.
He spoke of his children.
He missed them.
He wanted to know how I knew. How did I know he was homeless?
Before I could answer, he figured it out.
He looked into my eyes and said "Oh.....you have to promise to do whatever it takes not to come back."
He knew I was once homeless. He wanted me to promise that I'd never let myself be homeless again.
That was hard to hear.
Am I that transparent?
I gave him a wad of cash. I have no idea how much. It was probably $10 or less.
It wasn't enough. I'd need at least $5,000. He'd need rent, deposit, food, a coach/counselor......$100 would have been a pittance.
I shook his hand. I wore a Djinn ring. As we shook hands, I wished out loud that a miracle would quickly come his way.
He said it already had.
It broke my heart.
In all my years talking to homeless people, this was the first time someone guessed why I care so much.
I think it unnerved me on some level.
He knew I saw him as a human being.
I'm afraid he saw into me.
I'm still in hiding.
******
I am bothered that the Arvada city council and that the local press is that out of touch.
They need to have someone actually talk to the homeless in the city.
That is the only way they'll be able to root out the cause of the problem.
*******
Arvada is an ICLEI city. ICLEI is a treaty that Mayors sign promising to do three things each year to cut pollution. I'm not a fan. As a pretend Mayoral candidate, I promised never to sign it.
It's a mess. They're letting some European group ask them to make life more expensive for their constituents. Politicians work for their neighbors, the taxpayers and their constituents. The needs of the community must come before the needs of some greedy conglomerate trying to handcuff free societies to stupid rules.
ICLEI used to be big on sustainable housing. They used to promote cheap apartments near rail stations. Arvada will soon have a rail station about one block away from this burgeoning homeless population.
They have built apartments nearby. They are not affordable. It would seem that they have strayed from their ICLEI promise.
I never thought that would work. Greedy developers often push city council candidates that will help them get tax breaks. Those tax breaks never, ever get passed down to the townspeople. They just increase the corporations profit margin.
I have no clue what to do.
*******
As I sat in the Arvada park in my Druid cloak, I mindlessly broke twigs while drilling down why I hate the government.
I know why I hate the government.
It's so big that it has an issue holding government agents and officials accountable.
That's always been where I step in.
Here's a short list of the things I've fought. I've never fought alone. I've always had the good fortune to find like minded souls to help. By the time I get pissed off, I quickly learn that there are hundreds more like me. The trick is to find someone willing to be the front men while I can sit in the background and do the grunt work.
I like grunt work. Sadly, the spotlight has a way of finding me.
1987:
- Foster parents forcing kids to have sex in the hopes in getting the girls pregnant so they'd get more money each month. Bonnie never went to jail. Some of those kids sued the state of Florida. I don't know if their lawsuits brought them comfort.
1999:
- Schools teaching telling parents to put their elementary age kids on Ritalin. They'd call social services if the parents objected. It took me a decade to find out that Jefferson County and Denver County Public schools received $400 per child coerced onto the medication.
Denver tried it with me. They tried it with my nephews. It got to the point that the Head of Elementary Education hated hearing my name. My middle name is a guy's name. When you hear my name - you know who I am.
This is how I met lawmakers the first time. Luckily, I was a graduate student and knew a lot of politically active psychology professors who loved to write letters to government officials. One of them gave me his letters right before he passed away. They were funny. They had a lot of NLP in them. I treasure them greatly.
2008:
- A city auditor who illegally fined her employees $500-$1,500 cash whenever they didn't do what she wanted them to do. We got caught for $500 because my ex allegedly beat me, feel asleep at work, didn't steal $250,000 from local businesses, and because I allegedly fake heart attacks - no, I was never able to drill down exactly why she stole my grocery money. Another man was fined $1,500 because he stayed home with his sick daughter. As I became more politically active, I'd learn about more employees facing fines for minor things.
Do you want to know about the fine that makes me angriest? It was a $300 fine for a man who would not promise to refrain from talking about politics at church. I was asked to leave his hearing by the Aurora Civil Service Commission. The board made the same claims about his wife that they made about me. They also accused the man of being violent. I met an attorney who represents union employees in hearings and she said that the tactic the city uses is common. Men are always said to be violent and women are said not to be team players. This lawyer suggested I introduce a Union into the city to help the employees.
The union wasn't interested. I tried. Libertarians believe in private contracts. If the employees agree, why not?
The city council never did anything to stop this behavior. I wound up whining about it to a friend who practices hoodoo. She took care of it. That night, I had a dream the lying, fining bitch crashed her jeep. I hear she was in a crash and can't walk anymore.
Stupid woman.....
Stupid City Council....maybe I need to talk to my hoodoo buddy again.
I still hear stories of the illegal fining of city employees. I warn them when I meet them. This is why I ran for office. I wanted to put a stop to the crap. By the time I was asked to run, I heard about a heck of a lot of crap (cronyism, arresting rape victims, assaults against citizens and on and on and on).
Sigh....I'm more powerful where I am now.
This is just a sample of crap I've fought. It all drills down to one thing:
A LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE EMPLOYED BY THE GOVERNMENT.
I don't hate the government - I hate how there is no accountability and assholes get away with a lot of crap.
Accountability and transparency - that is where the fight is.
I have to find my bearings so I can jump back in the ring.
Love ya,
S.