Interviews, Trainings and Case Filings, Oh My

On Monday I spent the entire day interviewing Howard Gentry and Howard Allen for an upcoming issue of The Contributor and for a new column for Change.org.

I had originally set aside an hour and a half for the meeting.  I should have known better, since both these guys are talkers, and both have compelling, interesting stories about themselves that illustrate how just a couple of different decisions made early on in their lives can send one man to the top of the career ladder and take another man to the gutter, and then keep him there indefinitely.

It'll take me some time to sort through the 4 hours of tape I have, organize the article and get it proofed, but I think once it's done, it'll be worth the effort and will provide Nashvillians with some insight into two locally popular - and some might say notorious - gentlemen who have made a tremendous impact within the homeless community in this city.

I'm sitting in a Holiday Inn in Jackson, TN preparing for another training for the National Healthcare For The Homeless Council; I'll be doing this particular training sans Kraybill, but Heather and WillyC are in attendance so it will definitely be a fun-filled and informative one for the good folks in West Tennessee. 

I've got an army of cases to submit to SSA and will be getting busy on them upon my Thursday return to Nashville. 

I'm also currently looking at a couple of ph.d programs; thinking about Urban planning and underserved populations, something in that particular vien, thanks completely to Andy - and he's gonna kill me but I cannot recall his last name at the moment (and let this be a lesson to all you who think cannabis doesn't have any long-term effect on your noggin; I sometimes feel like I'm suffering advanced stages of Alzhiemers and I can just about guarantee it's a direct result of those California sinsimilla plants I spent a good portion of my adulthood consuming) - who spoke about his own program when we were in Louisville doing the last training.  I had been waffling between another Masters and ....shoot, I didn't know what, but again, thanks to Andy, I at least have a clearer picture of the direction I'd like to take my education in, and in my opinion, that's half the battle for us kolludge-kids.

I'm starting yet another project with my blogging colleague and kind friend over at Homeless Tales, Matthew Barnes and at this point, I'm not exactly sure how he's going to make his idea come to fruition, but I know enough about Matt to know that his creative ability will make whatever he touches turn to gold, so I'm exceptionally proud to  be part of his effort.  Now if I can just get the universe to add another couple of hours to each day, I should be able to accompish about half of the things on my plate.

Finally, over the course of the last several days, I've had discussions with several critically important peeps in the homeless services delivery arena here that, of course led to additional work for me, but - BUT - this may be the most important thing to come to Nashville yet, and while I cannot divulge much about what's now in the works, I can say that it has the potential to turn the status quo on its head and make the lives of damned near every homeless person on the street here significantly better, if they so desire. 

It's an exciting possibility and I'm proud to play any role in it.  As things develop, I'll keep you posted, but for now, suffice it to say that 2009 has great potential to bring radical change to homeless services in our area. 

It couldn't have come at a better time and by the way, thank the Gods for Obama's budget because without it, I doubt any of this would come to fruition......