12:24 a.m. - 2003-12-06
TGIF
There are people among the homeless community who are quite unique. A number of them try to help themselves by writing, producing, and selling a newspaper called "Street Talk" with input from local writers and publishers. The articles are articulate, insightful, and pull no punches. Alternative press at its finest. I attended a conference about addressing poverty in this very wealthy province about seven years ago. One of the sessions was about how street people survive below the radar of most citizens. One of the street vendors, a woman with a powerful sense of humour and humility, started the first after noon session by emptying her pockets for the attendees. She counted out $1.87 in small change for the group and noted that was her total income from sales of her papers that morning - that was what she lived on.
There are three vendors here, that I talk with on a regular basis. One is an IT specialist who developed a mental illness that makes it impossible for him to work. He's quiet and diffident, just wanting to feel accepted in a society that seems to have no place for him, even though he obviously has a lot to offer. One is a man who seems to be invisible to most people walking down the street - they brush right past him. The stories that play behind his eyes tell of a past with addictions - ovecome - and a desire to move on, do the best he can. The third is so unique a character that he defies any categorization. In his 50's, but child-like and innocent in demeanor, yet with a life of hard living behind his eyes. He was orphaned just after birth and was on the streets by his teens. A rodeo bull rider. He told me that today as he stopped me to give me a copy of his paper - he didn't want money from me, he wanted me to read his article. It's an excerpt from a book he hopes to publish called "Eight Seconds". He just learned to read and write this past year. Pretty impressive. I laughed when he told me about the bull riding. He had always seemed very familiar somehow. I asked him if he'd spent time in the hospital I had worked in years ago. We always got a few of the bull riders coming in every season for injuries that scared the daylights out of everyone else. These guys would stay in hospital long enough for the stitches to heal, then head back out to the chutes for another ride. Crazy. He chuckled and said yes, he was quite familiar with the place. Interesting man.
Work was touchy today. The co-worker who seems to be in conflict with several other people has decided she wants to ostracize the other woman working contract in the department. Doesn't like her personality and feels threatened by her questions about the work we are to do. On the other hand she has tried very hard to be friendly with me, telling jokes and stories. She has also watched out for me while I work in the stacks. People continue to slam the shelves along the rollers on a regular basis without checking to see if we're working in there. They just undo the locks and proceed. On Monday, I had three near misses in less that an hour. Today I looked up to see her get up from her desk and relock the unit I was working in after someone had nearly shut me in again. That being said she is also trying to coerce me into her practice of ostracizing the other contract too. I don't tolerate bullying or isolating behaviour when I see it, but its very difficult to find the balance when the one is looking for the opportunity to create a confrontation. I just keep openly being inclusive with my actions when both are around and try to be friendly with the other contract quietly when we are together. Walking a tight rope, because of the extra power differential between the woman being aggressive - the permanent employee in management - and contract workers who have very little protection, if any - I'm so thankful for my supervisor - in the workplace. My liaison for this contract came by this morning checking to see if I was going to be kept on for a while. She has said several times that she is very happy with what has been done so far and would like to move to the next level of work with the material I'm handling. I'm glad she wants to keep me on and I am glad that I have work to tide me over for the next while. I remember how difficult last Christmas was without it.
Stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I'm hoping I can just stay put this weekend to catch up on housework and paperwork/e-correspondence. It's easier to do that, if I don't have to carve time out of those limited hours to do errands as well. Everything was going smoothly until I tried to call a cab to take me home. All the lines for all the companies were busy for half an hour, before I got through to one. Wait time another half hour minimum. That was bearable for me, but the other person trying to get a cab had five children with her - the oldest probably eight or nine - as well as a large cart full of groceries like mine. On streets like ours, covered with snow and ice, pushing them the long distance home would be nearly impossible. It is also not allowed to remove carts from the premises of the store - fair game. Since I got through first, I talked with the dispatcher about the other woman's dilemma, but the laws here require only a certain number of passengers per cab. There were no taxivans available before 9 pm (it was just after six pm) and finding two cabs available at the same time for her was going to take just as long. The grocery store finally came to her rescue. I remember being in the same situation when my guys were small, I'm glad she got the help she needed.
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