Street Roots

Each time Jarred and I go to Portland, we questions the sanity of the homeless people who live in Portland. I know, questioning their sanity is pointless, but if I were to be a homeless person, I would definitely head to some place like San Diego. Warm, dry and full of cheap taco stands. Regardless, Portland seems to be a bum friendly city. I can't decide if that means that the bums are more friendly to each other OR the city is friendly to the bums but bums are a plenty in the Rose City. Admittedly, I'm one of those people who does not give to those who beg. I figure I provide enough social services to the general population through my job, giving a dollar to someone who is not working isn't high on my list.

So as Jarred and I approached the REI Portland a couple of weeks ago and a meth mouthed bum asked Jarred if he wanted to buy a newspaper we'd never heard of, I kept walking. Jarred, being the social butterfly he is, stopped to see what type of newspaper this fine citizen was selling. Who would have thought that this brief encounter would make such an impact on my view of the homeless?

Street Roots is a non-profit newspaper that homeless people can sign up to sell. The newspaper focuses on Portland news, specifically social and political events. Stories are written by the staff, some are homeless, some are members of the non-profit group who is responsible for producing the paper. The stories are often eclectic but well written and often offer an interesting perspective into the lives of the homeless in Portland.

The paper sells for a dollar. The seller makes $.75 for each paper he/she sells. Each seller can sell as frequently or infrequently as he/she wants. They are assigned locations throughout the downtown area. Not only do they receive money, but they also can receive clothing and basic toiletries. The idea behind the paper is to provide basic employment to people who may not always qualify for a "real" job for whatever reason.

I was thoroughly impressed by this idea. I feel that this is a great alternative to begging. It provides basic structure to the lives of the displaced and it made me see these people as individuals, not a collective lazy group of losers. Each time I've read the paper, I've read a different story about the good will of people and the way in which people become displaced. It gave me a whole new perspective and the realization that community is much more important than I thought.

Oh My God, I Love Sweatshop Union!

I've never been a big concert goer and am open to listening to a good variety of music. I'll even admit to listening to and enjoying the occasional top 40 stations. Since Jarred started kayaking and obsessing about the sport, I've been privy to a number of kayaking videos. Other than the momentary entertainment of a guy hucking himself off a 50 ft. waterfall, I don't have much use for the videos, however they do have great soundtracks. This is where I was introduced to Sweatshop Union. We both like the group so much that we skipped school one Thursday to see them in Hood River late one Wednesday night. They look like a bunch of BMX bike dirt bags and white gangsta wanna-be's but the music is great!

 

 

 

 

I just realized that I'd not made a blog post in over a month! Where has the time gone and what have I been doing? I think I've been getting the most out of life because I can't remember the last time I sat down at the computer and took time to blog! So here's an update on our latest adventures.
1. Mountain biking. Since Jarred has an obsessive type personality, it's hard not to get excited about whatever he is excited about. I had to take a pass on the kayaking passion but now that he's newly obsessed with mountain biking, I admit, I too have caught the disease. This winter we discovered the winter mountain biking Mecca. Syncline is located just between two tiny useless but beautiful Washington towns; Bingen and Lyle. Because if it's location, Syncline is generally dryer than our house (we get 100 of inches of rain a year, why someone didn't point this out to us when we moved here is beyond me- who needs 100 inches of rain a year?) and not as cold as E. Washington. It has great terrain, something for everyone.
2. Nic. Nic has been my money pit for the past year. Actually, he's been a money pit since I purchased him, but he generally gives me hours of pleasure and entertainment in retun. Since having foot issues last summer, it seems like he's had one ailment after another. I recently moved him to the horsey Taj Mahal. He's got a stall linked to a covered area linked to a nice dry (not Western Washington mud) small fenced run. These ammenities are only his poor weather quarters. When it's nice, he has a pasture to run around in with his new found (but ugly) buddies. Now that Nic is at the Taj Mahal, his ailments seem to be disappearing and I've actually been able to put time into riding him in hopes to get him in shape for the show season this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that he'll remain injury free. Between he and Jarred, I'm done playing nurse.
3. Every day is an adventure when you're a teacher. While I often dream of having a mundane job where I don't talk to anyone and don't have to look at teenage girls with too much cleavage, I do really like my job this year. Of course, the state of the education budget in Washington this year looks grim. Somehow, the majority of the money from Obama's stimulus package didn't go towards education! Therefore, educators and administrators in Washington are facing an $800 million budget shortfall. Where do the savings come in? That's right, cutting educators. What does this mean? Shoving more and more students in to one classroom which means the quality of education drops YET the state just mandated that each graduating senior in the year 2011 have 3 years of math. Go figure. Being a recent hire at Camas High School, I'm low man on the totem poll as far as having a job next year goes. I'm trying to remain optimistic but I don't see any money coming from politicians who actually value education, so I may be searching elsewhere next year.
3. Yoga is awesome. While perusing the books at the library, I came across Sarah Ivanhoe and Fat Burning Yoga. Sarah has made me realize how un-flexible I am and how good stretching feels. I spend much of my life doing fast paced events and yoga forces me to slow down. I also have the desire to be able to contort my body into a variety of positions but doubt I'll ever get there because I can barely be in triangle pose and lift my arm over my head.

I'm off to dine on Goo-Goo Cluster ice cream. Until further adventures....