No Fun At All: Homeless In Berkeley And Poor In Jakarta
15 March 2013By Jane Stillwater
My friend Gordon Lau works for a charitable foundation
in Jakarta that tries to help the poorest of the poor
-- and so he decided to see exactly what his clients
are going through by being "Poor for a Day" himself
http://www.grameenfoundation.org/
I wanna be poor for a day too -- and have just been
given the perfect opportunity to do so. My housing
co-op is being re-habbed and I have to be out of my
apartment for three weeks while they do everything to
it except install a new chimney for Santa Claus to
come down.
Fifteen years ago, I started fighting like a tiger to
get my co-op re-habbed because it was falling apart --
but its board of directors kept balking or even
actively fighting the idea, getting so sick of me that
they even threatened poor sweet me with eviction and
jail if I didn't shut up.
However, some broad members finally had a change of
heart and others retired, and we actually finally
started getting re-hab plans made -- but even then it
took us an additional five years to get the re-hab
finally under way.
And now that it's here and actually happening? I think
I've created a monster!
Almost everything on the property must go, from
shingles to roofing to flooring to kitchen sinks. The
whole place has been in complete chaos for months.
Around forty units have been re-habbed already -- and
now it's my turn to put up or shut up as my own unit
goes through a complete wash-rise-and-dry cycle. But
although the co-op is giving me a per diem to stay
somewhere else for three weeks, if I can somehow
scrounge by for less than the per diem, I'll have
extra money for food and/or for getting a root canal
(you gotta be a member of Congress or live on Wall
Street to receive federally-funded dental care these
days -- so most of the rest of us are either going to
have to work three jobs, win the lottery or go
toothless. But I digress).
So in the interest of not going hungry and good dental
hygiene, I decided to follow Gordon Lau's Jakarta
example and go "Poor for a Day" too.
Let's see. First I can follow a rising trend here in
Berkeley and camp out on the front steps of that
abandoned building next door. That won't cost me
anything. However, the current policy there seems to
be, "Bring your own mattress".
Now where can I get a good meal for less than a
dollar? St. Paul's AME church does a free lunch on
Tuesdays. I'm in.
The rest of the day I can spend at the public library,
using its computer and reading murder mysteries in the
back room. Then what about dinner? You know that Chez
Panisse caught on fire recently? http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/../fire-at-chez-panisse-damages-front-of-restaurant/
Maybe they would be having a fire sale? I could always
swing by and see.
And then there is always dumpster-diving. Oh, and the
Sweet Adeline bakery might have some leftover
chocolate cream pie at the end of the day? Wistful
thinking. There's never gonna be any left over. That
stuff sells fast!
The South Berkeley farmers market is held on Tuesdays
too. I could see what they have for cheap at the end
of the day. Or up on Telegraph, at People's Park,
don't they still have a soup kitchen at night? Or the
Berkeley Bowl is having a big sale on Brown Cow
yogurt. I could do that.
Then back to the abandoned building for the night --
or perhaps I could get a more scenic view by
sheltering in place up in Tilden Park? And still have
fifty cents left in my pocket at the end of the day. I
could do this. Once. But every single day? No, no, no
and no! I truly don't see how genuinely homeless
people can do it.
"But what if it rains, Jane?" you might ask. "Or what
if you get mugged, raped or killed?" Oh well. Just one
less poor person and one less senior citizen on Social
Security for the RepubliDems to look down their noses
at and/or rob. No wonder Congress is helping seniors
die off so fast -- less Social Security to pay out, so
more money for Wall Street and War Street!
What makes us human? Capitalists say that it is our
ability to produce profit -- at any cost. However,
Jesus, the Buddha and Mohammed all agree that it is
only compassion for others who are weaker than us that
gives us our humanity and raises us up above the rest
of the beasts.
Still and all, I will be really really really glad
when I can move back into my apartment again. And if
you live in the Berkeley area and need me to house-sit
between now and the end of March, please let me know.
I'll even try to walk your dog. Er, maybe not. Or
there's always http://airbnb.com. And my wonderful son
Joe's futon in his apartment in La Mission.
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