Although she is only 21 years old, Kae Wren has lived a long life. She was born in Belarus and immigrated to the United States when she was eight years old. She was adopted by a Southern Baptist family in Tennessee, where, as Kae noted, “blood ran thicker than water.” Despite this, Kae has always been fervent in her belief that real family is chosen.
Kae’s partner is Street Roots vendor Irida Wren, who was born in Arkansas. They met in Memphis, Tennessee, and as two queer people in the South, they clung onto each other.
“My partner is 100% the most important thing to me,” Kae said. “We’ve just been through a lot of hardship together. Homelessness is a big one. And, she’s always just been there to bounce off of, to take care of me.”
Along with Portland’s queer-friendly communities, Kae was drawn to the activist culture of the city. She and her wife decided it would be the best place for them to live. Kae has been involved in Black Lives Matter protests in Portland for the past two years, a very different scene than the conservative South she left behind.
“It was awesome,” Kae said. “It was just really cool to see something that has only been relegated to TV and news screens in the South, come to life for me.”
She wants to fight for change on a national level, but for now, she's happy being “a little grunt on the ground.” Activism also helps her on a personal level.
“It gives me something else to focus on while I'm going through my recovery and stuff like that,” Kae said. “It makes me feel like I'm a part of something a lot bigger.”
Kae’s activism was influenced by her biological mother, a leftist immigrant from Belarus. After they reconnected later in Kae’s life, she learned about her biological family’s background.
“We're Jews and we're this and that,” Kae said her mother told her. “You have a heritage of these things that you need to defend.”
Kae’s grandfather survived the Holocaust and is currently living in Belarus. Kae is fascinated by her family history, but hasn’t quite “built up the gall” to ask her grandfather about his experience, and she says he doesn’t talk about it very much.
Kae has been unhoused since she got to Portland. She doesn’t have any items that are particularly important to her, and most of her things with memories attached to them have been taken in sweeps. She is consistently a victim of street sweeps, where she has lost lots of tents and stuffed animals from her collection. She plays guitar, but had to sell hers to move to Portland. She hopes she will have enough money for another guitar one day soon.
You can support Kae through @StreetRoots Venmo by entering her name and badge number (802) in the notes.
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly investigative publication covering economic, environmental and social inequity. 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.
© 2023 Street Roots. All rights reserved. | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657, ext. 404
