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comment by cgod
cgod  ·  1029 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: June 2, 2021

This lady walks around in all black with a black blanket put over her head, covered in dirt and soot. It's like some kind of comic arson villain.

I've never felt like I had less ability to make useful change or that my actions were more futile than I do now a days. I think part of this is age and realism.

There was a lady near my house who was in the throes of a full blow psychotic episode today. Covered in scabs, near insensible, no shoes, dirty tanned as brown as mahogany. I talked to her for a minute to try and find out what size shoes she wore and came back with water (it's in the 90's) a snack and a pair of shoes. She needed all three of those things but I have no idea if she ever put the shoes on. I was a distraction to her so I went home.

She needed all three of those things but none of those three things were what she really needed. I can't call the fucking cops lest they beat her ass in an effort to protect her. There is a new mental health response team but it only operates in one of the 95 neighborhoods in the city. I couldn't give her what she needs but godamn she was in need.

The homeless explosion is overwhelming. Twice people have tried to break into my home while I'm home now, once into my sister in laws van which is in my driveway and which she is living in. Crazy Soot Bitch tired to burn my shop down. There is trash everywhere, there is misery everywhere.

If things were a little different I'd get the fuck out of here but they aren't and I can't, oh well.

I've been thinking about what I'm going to do next in life. I always thought that I would be good at sitting with dying people for Hospice but maybe I need to find a way to work with the mentally ill or homeless. I'm pretty tired of not doing much of anything besides giving money, a meal, a cup of coffee or a pair of shoes. Most the people I know who work with the homeless or mentally ill seem worn out by the system and lack any real hope that things are going to get better any time soon, I don't know if that's something I want for myself.

Maybe I should just pursue my dream of being a ditch digger.





kleinbl00  ·  1029 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    This lady walks around in all black with a black blanket put over her head, covered in dirt and soot. It's like some kind of comic arson villain.

There was a guy in my old neighborhood who covered his bike and his outfit in HVAC flashing, like a GoBot. He was half Tin Man, half Bender. He'd get really angry at you if he thought you were fucking with his bike. And there was a guy in my new neighborhood who was meticulously made up and rode around on a cruiser with about 30 rear view mirrors on it. I think "persona" is an important survival mechanism. Which would you rather be - a crazy homeless lady or The Pyroninja?

LA taught me things about homelessness. Like, you're never going to fucking solve it, the best thing you can do is take the sting out of it and provide as many avenues as you can away from it. LA does the opposite. They criminalize it and make it as shitty as they can. The end result is the same as if you only take half your antibiotics - you kill off the weak and leave the hardened. Then the hardened learn how to be hard, and create a culture of hardness.

I watched 'em sweep the river three times. The first time they got rid of people who had been basically homesteading for a decade or more. The guys who moved in were apex homeless - not so crazy, know how to find a good spot. Then they swept those guys out and left the survivors - the rowdies who are good at hiding when the cops come and are more than willing to steal to make it. So each time the LAPD came through, the river got shittier. Towards the end I'd ride through there and guys would threaten me with a taser for having a headlight. Guys they chased out the first time? Interviewed in LA Weekly in the '90s.

I don't know how to fix it. I've long since figured out that vandalism is the memorial of the powerless. One thing about the powerless? Ditches aren't what they need.

mk  ·  1023 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Spending a shit ton on the mentally ill would never be noteable financially, but we would likely notice some positive changes about us in time. There is so much demonization going around in the name of grand political strategy that we don't have free empathy to allocate.

We think we can't afford to take care of mentally ill people. That's fucked up.