Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Homelessness
Say Hey Billy
A post from five years ago. We’ve lost touch. But I’ve not forgotten. I saw Billy tonight on homeless outreach. Billy and his friends pulled my older son from his burning car after an accident last year. There were five of us on the… Continue Reading “Say Hey Billy”
It’s 13 Degrees in Milwaukee
One of my father’s sayings was “you don’t have to say everything you know.” I know he said it to me more than once but now I’m wondering why. Certainly, for a long while, well, all the time I was growing up, he didn’t… Continue Reading “It’s 13 Degrees in Milwaukee”
Peeking Out from Under a Rock Friday Round-Up
Street Angels has its annual strategic planning sessions tomorrow morning. In the past year, Covid has weighed heavy on our team, hanging around our necks like tractor tires, making every part of our work a hundred times harder. But lugging those tractor tires around… Continue Reading “Peeking Out from Under a Rock Friday Round-Up”
Snow Angel
Trees, bushes, alleys New snow pressed flat by someone Gone looking for heat ____________________ Photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash
Misgivings
We could hear the man yelling while we were in the elevator riding up from the first floor. He was loud and mad, fierce. We stopped at the second floor, my husband and I, and, as it works with old elevators in old buildings,… Continue Reading “Misgivings”
5 Sentence Saturday Round-Up
This morning, the owner of a coffee shop handed me a check for $500, half his sales from the day before, to support Street Angels, his reason being that he had been homeless himself once and hadn’t forgotten. In the past two days, 650… Continue Reading “5 Sentence Saturday Round-Up”
Friday Heartache
Someone torched one of the Street Angels buses last night and it is a total loss. We have two buses – the white one is larger and the blue one, relatively undamaged, is smaller. Both of them were out last night, driving routes in… Continue Reading “Friday Heartache”
Stoplight Hand-Off
Roll up five dollars Roll down the window, say hey Roll away, say thanks ________________________ Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash
Behind the Bench*
It was a very long night. I’d decided that I had to sleep, that I wouldn’t be able to deal with the next day if I stayed awake all night. So I rolled out my sleeping bag on a slight hill covered with wood… Continue Reading “Behind the Bench*”
Maybe I’m Amazed
What is it with women? I went to the volunteer training for the Street Angels warming room tonight. Eighteen prospective volunteers attended. Guess how many were women? Seventeen. These are the volunteers who are going to greet homeless people, mostly men, at the door… Continue Reading “Maybe I’m Amazed”
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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