Sensitivity

I'm proud to call this young man a friend of mine, although he scares me sometimes. This from Paul Rice, an intern that we had the opportunity to warp straight out of high school. He went on to actually graduate from college, edit the Spare Change homeless paper in Boston, and develop some unusual proclivities when he's not busy as a free-lance writer.

This presents a fabulous opportunity to share yet another song from my vast repertoire. Real Change intern blues was written and performed by me for an intern going away party back in 2001, when I actually knew how to play guitar. Paul, Willis, and Laura. I found something to say about all of them.

I should probably say that this song dates to before our remodel, which put in an HVAC system to circulate the air. It was a dark period for us all.



I got the blues, Real Change intern blues.
Somethings making me crazy, and confused.
Something’s smelling real bad.
Think someone’s pissed on my shoes.

My name is Paul Rice. I work for free
My life’s ambition is not to be a yuppie.
I got the blues, Real Change intern blues
Something’s smelling real bad.
Think someone’s pissed on my shoes.

My name is Laura, my hair’s kinda weird.
I used to be normal before I started workin’ here
I got the blues, Real Change intern blues
Something’s smelling real bad.
Think someone’s pissed on my shoes.

My name is Willis, tell you something about me.
My biggest thrill is ridin’ home on my donkey.
I got the blues, Real Change intern blues
Something’s smelling real bad.
Think someone’s pissed on my shoes.

I got the blues, Real Change intern blues.
I got the blues, Real Change intern blues.

When "Empowerment" Ain't About Power

Tonight I was thinking of all the reasons I moved away from the "homeless empowerment" model of organizing that prizes homeless leadership above all other values. Over the late 80s and early 90s, I organized one empowerment project after another, and witnessed numerous other attempts, and time and again the same sorts of things happened.

But the dream died hard. As late as May, 1993, after I had learned the hard way that this sort of organizing doesn't work, I was still insisting to a reporter from the Boston Globe that it did:

Q: Are you still convinced that the homeless have to lead their own political movement?

A: Absolutely. A homeless person speaking for himself or herself is far more compelling than any advocate speaking on their behalf. Because they have a direct interest in seeing that something is done about the housing crisis and about rights in the shelters, they're willing to be more militant than the advocates. The advocates have a vested and institutional interest in maintaining the status quo. For example, at the Statehouse they have to protect their access to politicians. The homeless don't have access to begin with. The only way to organize the homeless into a powerful political force is if they're in charge. Otherwise, they just see it as someone else's show.

What a load of crap. I could spend the next 1,000 words on why this is all ideological drivel. But at this point, it would just bore me to fucking tears, so I won't. The funny thing was that by the time I did this interview, I knew better. It was just that I'd been saying the words for so long, I didn't know how to change.

I'd turned homelessness into an essentialist category, meaning, that this was for me their defining characteristic. It wasn't a crappy thing that happened to people. It was what they were. This isn't a good thing for anyone.

Not surprisingly, the people to whom this appealed were generally those who sensed there was some level of power to be had in the deal. This power usually came at the expense of building broad internal leadership or cultivating allies.

This mistake gets made all the time. It's a natural reaction to want to assert pride and power against dehumanization and social control. But obviously, not every homeless person is honorable and brave and not every advocate is a craven sell-out. And regular people just disappear here altogether.

I'd seen one homeless run organization after another — the Union of the Homeless, Spare Change, The Homeless Civil Rights Project, Homefront 88, the list goes on — fall into the same shortcomings:

• leadership who hold power by creating fear and distrust
• insufficient expertise to build strong, thriving organizations
• stagnant thinking brought about by a reluctance to challenge leaders
• failure to build real alliances or work in coalition with others
• insufficient resources to offer long-term stability
• various vulnerabilities such as addiction undermining organizational stability
  
• entrenched leadership that never develops a real following
• elevation of homelessness into an identity that limits personal growth
• a focus on bogus external enemies to deflect attention from internal problems

I'd like to think that the past thirty years of applying the identity politics rhetoric of various separatist movements to the situation of homeless people has revealed itself as an organizing dead end. But it hasn't. The mistake keeps getting made. It's really time to learn and move on. No one benefits from a romanticized idea of homeless leadership. What we need is leadership, built across class, that doesn't define anyone as "less than" or hold anyone down. That's a pretty good pace to start

Cambridge Photos, and Me, as Rock Star

These will have to do as the post for today. I took the top photo this morning as I left my room at Episcopal Divinity School. Apparently, Jim Stewart has some sort of an in there that allows him to score free lodging for guests. This is Burnham Hall, where I'm staying. The guest lodgings are are on the nice side of college dorm-like, which is surprising, considering the building looks like some sort of medieval manor. The wide windows in my room have a built in 1863 feel, and the steam heat gurgles happily in the iron radiators. It's lovely.

Below that is Greg Daugherty, who is Spare Change's most successful vendor. Greg dates back to my era, which was about 14 years ago. He twirls in a circle like some kind of an autistic paper selling machine and finds something to say to each person who passes by that connects to them personally ("How are you, young maaaan? Help the homeless today?"). He is a street paper vendor genius. It's always nice seeing him again.

Finally, there's me, in 1990, accepting an award from the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless for Boston Jobs with Peace's key role in the local 1989 Housing Now! March mobilization. My memory is that Boston sent 39 buses. I think I look a little like a rock star giving a speech at the World Economic Forum at Davos. I purchased the suit that day for the occasion. Jim Stewart bought me the tie.