Last week Street Roots posted blogs from Marla and the Coffee Shop Journal about her travels to Portland and wanting to experience meeting a Street Roots vendor, among other things. In the Coffee Shop Journal’s post Marla said,
David and I are in Atlanta, but headed to Portland tomorrow. I’m going to try to find someone selling a copy of that paper. I wonder if I’ve ever walked on by a person trying to make their living that way before?
Read the entire post here.
Five days later Marla and the Coffee Shop Journal posted their experience buying a copy of Street Roots.
Writing about the homeless is tricky. For one thing, they are a remarkably internet-savvy group. Every time I write about them, I hear from them. This delights me, and terrifies me all at the same time. It delights me because traditionally homeless have not had a voice for themselves, but in this internet age, they have an electronic presence. This gives them a way to speak. It terrifies me because, well…I’m not homelesss and I really don’t have even a bit of understanding what that would mean. I know I run the risk of sounding exactly like the person I am: a middle-class suburban mom touring the streets of Portland. So to all of you who will read this — the guy who runs that homeless blog, Street Roots, Real Change, anyone else — I’m sorry in advance!
In any case, I was determined to follow through on my promise to find a vendor selling Street Roots in downtown Portland. Street Roots, if you read my original post based on a story in Relevant Magazine, is a paper produced by and for the homeless in Portland, Oregon. Street people can buy copies of the paper for 25 cents and sell it for a dollar, giving them a legal and quick way to make some money. What a difference having a little bit of money can make!
Marla goes on to talk about her experience buying a newspaper from George one of two vendors that sell in front of Border’s Books in downtown.
George has a great personality. Honestly, he’s the guy you want to invite to your awkward dinner party because he can keep the conversation going. George has been on the streets six months, but he’s been hanging around the homeless longer than that. He’s always had a heart to lift these guys up. “Be positive. That’s what I tell them,” he tells us. “You can’t get out of this by having a bad attitude. And with a good one, you can do anything. I’m OK.”
Of course Marla arrived in town for Street Roots April Fools edition.
Street Roots itself, by the way, was a hoot. I sat in the Borders cafe and read the paper half way through before realizing it was their April Fools edition! I laughed out loud at their description of the city council of Portland’s acquisition of new chairs, and how this large civic project was accomplished. The April Fools edition poked alarming fun at just how foolish we must appear to people struggling to get by, and I appreciated the skill and wit that went into its production.
She wrapped up the post by saying,
Two days and several conversations with several Pacific Northwest homeless folk, including one young teenager, certainly don’t make much of a difference. But I feel different. Each story changes me inside just a little bit. I’m hoping it means that I won’t be in such a hurry next time I pass by a guy trying hard to make a little money. I’m hoping I’ll remember stories.
You can read the entire post here. (There’s a great photo of Marla and George.)
And then Street Roots recently stumbled on 101 Adventures from Sarah and Jarred. The post starts off by saying,
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?
After explaining what Street Roots is Jarred and Sarah wrap the post up by saying,
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.
You can read the entire post here.
It’s often been said that tourists come to Portland and have negative experiences concerning people experiencing homelessness – both of these posts give us a different perspective. Which ultimately begs the question – has Street Roots changed your perspective of people experiencing homelessness and poverty? We would love to hear from you…
Posted by Israel Bayer