Well, another weekend is upon us. I'm gonna need to start gathering blankets and jackets; I walked the dogs around 5 this morning and it was cold enough to need a flannel, so I know some folks spent a miserable night shivering last night - sigh.
I've got some blurbs and shorties to report here so bear with me as we jump hither and yon bringing you "the downlow" on the happs here in Nashville.
First and foremost, I'm proud to provide the following info:
My friend Kevin - and new colleague - dat's rite, colleague - over at TheHomelessGuy had been hinting in his blog at "something big" coming to Nashville soon and those of us who formed the core startup group and currently make up the steering committee were all so excited about it we could hardly stand it, but until we collectively arrived at a decision to formally announce it, we've been holding our tongues (or fingertips, as it were.)
Yesterday we finally decided to let the proverbial cat outta the bag. I'm sending you to Kevin's writeup on it, since he's said everything I would have, plus a whole lot more. The only thing I would add is that I'm extremely honored and proud to be an integral part of such an awesome project with such a great group of concerned and professional citizens. It is refreshing, challenging and exciting, indeed.
Oh yes - one other thing - we're hoping to have copies of
"THE CONTRIBUTOR"
on sale very very soon. Stay tuned for updates and additional info.
I saw my first two
peeps from Chattanooga friday afternoon, so my prediction was correct. The guys I spoke with stated that "the Noog" was downright unfriendly to the Homeless and they'd heard that Nashville was the opposite. What a rude awakening they are in for....
Still no sighting of the young lady who's being pimped - they've disappeared from all known haunts and no one has seen them anywhere. Not sure whether they left for "better opportunities" or something happened to Big Daddy Pimpzilla and "young-thing" went back home to play with her dollies, but I can dream, can't I?
I've some all-day "training" coming up in October, plus a trip to Nawlins for a conference, so I'll be off the street for about a week and I'm unhappy about that but we've got to keep the outreach specialist running in the realm of "special" and the only way to do that is to stay up to speed on the cutting edge criteria for caring for the Homeless. And what the hell, work's paying for it, so I'll take the camera along and mebbe get some shots of folks down there who are still struggling with the idiocy of our government's efforts at "assistance" to the Katrina survivors. Ought to make for some compelling video, eh?
The Jefferson St 8 story may have some additional ramifications. I've received word that after seeing my video, there are some very unhappy officials who want to know why in the hell it is that some of our men in blue think it is appropriate to trash the shore of the Cumberland in Downtown.
Now before everyone starts running around bashing Metro's finest for what
occurred at the bridge, I want to be very clear here - this behavior arose from a tiny percentage of folks involved in that camp "dismantlement;" not all of Metro's police are like this. We don't want others to judge every Homeless person on the basis of the behavior of one who acts the fool after drinking a half gallon of mouthwash, do we? So we don't do the same thing because of the obnoxious behavior of one or two of the cops over at Metro. Most of those guys are conscientious, caring and doing what
we pay them
to do - maintain order and enforce the laws. That a couple of them let the badge go to their heads is a shame and a disgrace - for them - but we shouldn't be quick to view all the members of the force in this light.
I've been hanging downtown and around the park and the library lately, as I ran into a problem getting my mileage turned in on time this month - and last month! :-( - so I've put the car away and have
been riding the scooter. It makes transporting clients almost impossible but it has freed up a huge amount of time to do nothing but real and genuine outreach. It makes for a very enjoyable day, that's for sure, but I'm not so sure my clients who have depended upon me to get them to places would agree that this was a good thing. Unfortunately however, payroll/finance in any organization is one of those areas that simply must have rules in place to keep things running smoothly. While it is sometimes a pain in the ass to have to deal with those rules, if they didn't have them we scatterbrainers and procrastinators and ultra-busy folks would be swamping their offices with requests for exceptions to the rules on a daily basis. Tis a beeyaatch, but I'll make do and will get my clients what the need with or without my mileage reimbursement for July and August, come hell or high water.
Let's see, anything else to mention while I've got everyone gathered around here? Oh yeah,
watch for some additional video to come out over at Stone Soup Video Station of one of our major Homeless encampments in Nashville; I actually shot some of it already and although it's great, I don't want to use it as the way it was shot provides too much information on the whereabouts of the camp, not to mention that there is audio on it that I'm sure would be considered inappropriate if we were trying to keep this blog rated at about the PG level. I do not want the video to come out and then have a bunch of morons head over there to instill a little vigilante assholiness on these fine folks homes - and let's get something understood here - those are their homes. You wouldn't want nosepickers to come to your neighborhood and get all up in your business simply because your unique lifestyle has been publicized, would you? No, I didn't think so.
Okay - that's about all I'm gonna bore ya with for now.
been riding the scooter. It makes transporting clients almost impossible but it has freed up a huge amount of time to do nothing but real and genuine outreach. It makes for a very enjoyable day, that's for sure, but I'm not so sure my clients who have depended upon me to get them to places would agree that this was a good thing. Unfortunately however, payroll/finance in any organization is one of those areas that simply must have rules in place to keep things running smoothly. While it is sometimes a pain in the ass to have to deal with those rules, if they didn't have them we scatterbrainers and procrastinators and ultra-busy folks would be swamping their offices with requests for exceptions to the rules on a daily basis. Tis a beeyaatch, but I'll make do and will get my clients what the need with or without my mileage reimbursement for July and August, come hell or high water.
Let's see, anything else to mention while I've got everyone gathered around here? Oh yeah, watch for some additional video to come out over at Stone Soup Video Station of one of our major Homeless encampments in Nashville; I actually shot some of it already and although it's great, I don't want to use it as the way it was shot provides too much information on the whereabouts of the camp, not to mention that there is audio on it that I'm sure would be considered inappropriate if we were trying to keep this blog rated at about the PG level. I do not want the video to come out and then have a bunch of morons head over there to instill a little vigilante assholiness on these fine folks homes - and let's get something understood here - those are their homes. You wouldn't want nosepickers to come to your neighborhood and get all up in your business simply because your unique lifestyle has been publicized, would you? No, I didn't think so.
Okay - that's about all I'm gonna bore ya with for now.
