Will do a post for Packs a Punch soon. Lots of issues to talk about.
This includes homeless topics and many other Burning Issues for 2010.
Alice
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thursday, August 6, 2009
I was haunted by Jacob Blaylock. What is going on???
Hi Loyal Readers:
I am not a big fan of the military or of going into the military.
BUT ... recently a story in The New York Times caught my eye. "After Combat, Victims of an Inner War," was on the front page this past Sunday, August 2 (it may still be online.)
Normally, I would just ignore a story like this, but I read the first two paragraphs and after that was sucked in. Mostly it talks about Sgt. Jacob Blaylock, 26, who was from the 1451st Company (Transportation Company), which was based out of North Carolina and part of the National Guard. Blaylock was from Houston (or at least he lived there for some time.) Blaylock killed himself (put a gun to his head and shot himself) on Dec. 9, 2007. Including Blaylock, a total of 4 guys from his company have committed suicide since returning home.
I was sucked into reading the story not just by what the reporter wrote but by the pictures of Blaylock. In one picture on the inside of the NYT, Blaylock is seated with two other soldiers, getting ready to go out on a mission. In the photo he just looks like he would be an interesting guy. He looks like somebody who I would want to know. It is partially the pensive expression on his face that makes me say that.
While Blaylock was in Iraq, two of his friends (Sgt.'s Brandon Wallace and Joshua Schmit) died. Apparently before he went into the Army, Blaylock had suffered from depression and maybe other mental health issues, which only compounded his situation later.
I am against the war in Iraq and glad that Obama has pledged to bring the troops home. In a civilized, normal society, people should be able to go off to war, serve their tour of duty, then come home and resume their lives as normal. Although war can be terrible, there should be enough help for them when they return home that if they are haunted by what happened, they can get better. It is deeply disturbing that so many soldiers have committed suicide. Im looking at them as human beings, not just soldiers.
I was in church a couple of weeks ago (St. Monica in Dallas), and in a Prayer Book where people can write their requests, I saw that someone wrote, "Grandson back from Iraq. Hung Himself."
So much for BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE!
Alice
Here are a couple of web sites (the links never work on my computer):
www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com
http://www.buildingbands.com/JacobBlaylock
I am not a big fan of the military or of going into the military.
BUT ... recently a story in The New York Times caught my eye. "After Combat, Victims of an Inner War," was on the front page this past Sunday, August 2 (it may still be online.)
Normally, I would just ignore a story like this, but I read the first two paragraphs and after that was sucked in. Mostly it talks about Sgt. Jacob Blaylock, 26, who was from the 1451st Company (Transportation Company), which was based out of North Carolina and part of the National Guard. Blaylock was from Houston (or at least he lived there for some time.) Blaylock killed himself (put a gun to his head and shot himself) on Dec. 9, 2007. Including Blaylock, a total of 4 guys from his company have committed suicide since returning home.
I was sucked into reading the story not just by what the reporter wrote but by the pictures of Blaylock. In one picture on the inside of the NYT, Blaylock is seated with two other soldiers, getting ready to go out on a mission. In the photo he just looks like he would be an interesting guy. He looks like somebody who I would want to know. It is partially the pensive expression on his face that makes me say that.
While Blaylock was in Iraq, two of his friends (Sgt.'s Brandon Wallace and Joshua Schmit) died. Apparently before he went into the Army, Blaylock had suffered from depression and maybe other mental health issues, which only compounded his situation later.
I am against the war in Iraq and glad that Obama has pledged to bring the troops home. In a civilized, normal society, people should be able to go off to war, serve their tour of duty, then come home and resume their lives as normal. Although war can be terrible, there should be enough help for them when they return home that if they are haunted by what happened, they can get better. It is deeply disturbing that so many soldiers have committed suicide. Im looking at them as human beings, not just soldiers.
I was in church a couple of weeks ago (St. Monica in Dallas), and in a Prayer Book where people can write their requests, I saw that someone wrote, "Grandson back from Iraq. Hung Himself."
So much for BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE!
Alice
Here are a couple of web sites (the links never work on my computer):
www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com
http://www.buildingbands.com/JacobBlaylock
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Club Speakeasy Brings Its Unique Presence to the Blogosphere
Hi Loyal Readers:
Three women are starting a hope-building blog at The Bridge, the largest homeless shelter in Dallas (downtown, at 1818 Corsicana). I've blogged about The Bridge before but this is a brand new story.
Club Speakeasy, www.clubspeakeasy.blogspot.com, (sorry, every time I try to insert a link it does not work) will be up and running soon. Club Speakeasy is a place for homeless people to voice opinions and talk about their lives.
Beth Freed, 27, one of the Creative Writing instructors at The Bridge for a class that meets Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m., said of the blog's name, "Staci (Pettus) and I did a little brainstorming and we kind of came up with a bunch of different things. We wanted it to be a space where people felt free to voice their experience."
The other women spearheading the blog's inception are: Pettus, 40, and Lisa Brooks, 22.
On a recent very hot afternoon many people living at The Bridge were filling out forms so that they could become bloggers. The blog is a first for the homeless shelter.
On the same hot afternoon, while still setting up the blog, Freed, standing in the library, said she wanted to take the blogging adventure "one step at a time."
alice
Three women are starting a hope-building blog at The Bridge, the largest homeless shelter in Dallas (downtown, at 1818 Corsicana). I've blogged about The Bridge before but this is a brand new story.
Club Speakeasy, www.clubspeakeasy.blogspot.com, (sorry, every time I try to insert a link it does not work) will be up and running soon. Club Speakeasy is a place for homeless people to voice opinions and talk about their lives.
Beth Freed, 27, one of the Creative Writing instructors at The Bridge for a class that meets Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m., said of the blog's name, "Staci (Pettus) and I did a little brainstorming and we kind of came up with a bunch of different things. We wanted it to be a space where people felt free to voice their experience."
The other women spearheading the blog's inception are: Pettus, 40, and Lisa Brooks, 22.
On a recent very hot afternoon many people living at The Bridge were filling out forms so that they could become bloggers. The blog is a first for the homeless shelter.
On the same hot afternoon, while still setting up the blog, Freed, standing in the library, said she wanted to take the blogging adventure "one step at a time."
alice
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
"It Ain't Right": Homeless Man at The Bridge in Dallas
I was at The Bridge (homeless shelter, 1818 Corsicana, in Dallas) yesterday, hoping to talk to someone about giving them some proceeds from my Homeless Magnets (a.k.a. the Magnet Project).
Two guys heard me talking on the phone outside and said that if I was a reporter or if I knew a reporter, they wanted to talk to someone about the conditions at The Bridge (it opened in May '08 downtown). I said that I was not currently a reporter but that I had a Blog. Latwane Thrash, 29, whose picture is below, talked to me the most. He is bipolar and said he stays at The Bridge often.
Thrash, who was very upset although he did smile for the picture, spoke to me a few steps from The Bridge and said he's seen homeless people threatened by employees at The Bridge. "It ain't right," he said of conditions at The Bridge and how he feels homeless people are treated by employees at The Bridge, which is operated by the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. "This woman smacked the s*** out of a woman," Thrash said, referring to a female employee hitting a homeless woman. Thrash did not say when this occurred.
Thrash, who was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, said that he feels employees at The Bridge have a "penitentiary mentality," in terms of the way they treat people. Thrash said he has gotten his cell phone stolen before and has gotten his clothes stolen twice while at The Bridge.
Another guy, who said his name was Ted (he was maybe in his early 30s, very pale, with 2 packs of cigarettes in his hand), spoke to me briefly, but when I looked for him again to get more information, he had disappeared. According to Ted, some employees at The Bridge only give sleeping mats to their "favorites" and some companies who pick up homeless people for a day's worth of work pay the workers less than minimum wage (this includes passing out flyers in area neighborhoods).
Thrash said he feels he has gotten low self esteem from staying at The Bridge and said he feels surrounded by negativity when he's there. "A homeless shelter like this, it's crazy."
To hopefully balance this out, I did not speak to anyone from The Bridge about their side of the story. I just felt what Thrash and Ted had to say was important. The Bridge does a lot of good and seems to have helped many people get on their feet.
Alice
xo
Two guys heard me talking on the phone outside and said that if I was a reporter or if I knew a reporter, they wanted to talk to someone about the conditions at The Bridge (it opened in May '08 downtown). I said that I was not currently a reporter but that I had a Blog. Latwane Thrash, 29, whose picture is below, talked to me the most. He is bipolar and said he stays at The Bridge often.
Thrash, who was very upset although he did smile for the picture, spoke to me a few steps from The Bridge and said he's seen homeless people threatened by employees at The Bridge. "It ain't right," he said of conditions at The Bridge and how he feels homeless people are treated by employees at The Bridge, which is operated by the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. "This woman smacked the s*** out of a woman," Thrash said, referring to a female employee hitting a homeless woman. Thrash did not say when this occurred.
Thrash, who was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, said that he feels employees at The Bridge have a "penitentiary mentality," in terms of the way they treat people. Thrash said he has gotten his cell phone stolen before and has gotten his clothes stolen twice while at The Bridge.
Another guy, who said his name was Ted (he was maybe in his early 30s, very pale, with 2 packs of cigarettes in his hand), spoke to me briefly, but when I looked for him again to get more information, he had disappeared. According to Ted, some employees at The Bridge only give sleeping mats to their "favorites" and some companies who pick up homeless people for a day's worth of work pay the workers less than minimum wage (this includes passing out flyers in area neighborhoods).
Thrash said he feels he has gotten low self esteem from staying at The Bridge and said he feels surrounded by negativity when he's there. "A homeless shelter like this, it's crazy."
To hopefully balance this out, I did not speak to anyone from The Bridge about their side of the story. I just felt what Thrash and Ted had to say was important. The Bridge does a lot of good and seems to have helped many people get on their feet.
Alice
xo
Saturday, May 2, 2009
AAAAAAH!! ... Swine Flu is on the Prowl
Dear everyone:
Wake up! Swine Flu is not SARS or the Anthrax Scare of 2001.
Do be cautious!!!!!
But I am troubled by the paranoia that I am seeing. People are scared already about so many potential tragedies that we do not need to be overly scared about Swine Flu as well. I'll post more when I can.
Go read Andrea Mitchell's memoir (called Talking Back),
Alice
Wake up! Swine Flu is not SARS or the Anthrax Scare of 2001.
Do be cautious!!!!!
But I am troubled by the paranoia that I am seeing. People are scared already about so many potential tragedies that we do not need to be overly scared about Swine Flu as well. I'll post more when I can.
Go read Andrea Mitchell's memoir (called Talking Back),
Alice
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)