Vendors will sell the publication during the holiday months as a means of earning additional income
The art of survival is abstract.
While survival is essential in all our lives, means to maintain it are unique to everyone. We live in a world of assumptions, where judgment fosters disapproval of others’ decisions. How are these habits justified when perspective is woven from personal experience and we fail to listen to others? If we stop averting our gaze from trauma and hardships experienced by our neighbors, whom we view as strangers, and truly pay attention, empathy will sober us to feel connection.
“This time of constant change and adaption has brought housed people a feeling of what experiencing homelessness is like,” says Leo Rhodes, a Street Roots board member, vendor and poet.
It is important to seek relations to those around us. Lifestyle changes forced by a global pandemic this year have brought unfamiliar modes of survival, no matter if you live inside or out. Street Roots proves that fostering connections within survival creates strength. Whether you have known your local Street Roots vendor for years or this is the first time you’ve stopped by for a paper and a chat, the writers’ insights offered in this zine give us the privilege to further understand the world through a set of eyes other than our own.
Against the odds of a pandemic, raging wildfires and the everyday adversity of selling the paper on the rainy streets of Portland, the writers and artists in this zine were able to beautifully encapsulate their survival experiences. No matter the circumstances, vendors work to overcome.
The production of this holiday zine was a collaborative, creative effort where vendors’ visions fueled the decision-making process. Vendors are purchasing this zine for $1 and selling it for $4 to provide additional support through the holidays, along with the weekly paper, which they purchase for 25 cents and sell for $1.
Thank you for supporting the Street Roots community through this purchase and showing up for your neighbors. Street Roots is what community can accomplish when we come together in goodwill and answer what survival asks of us.
Wishing you hope and happiness this holiday season!
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
© 2020 Street Roots. All rights reserved. | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657, ext. 404.
