LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[December 28th, 2005] HOMELESS, NOT HOPELESS

This is in regard to the recent police presence in the South Park Blocks. This is NOT a "down on martial law in the park" letter. I think everyone has the right to walk the streets without fear. This is to express my dislike at being blamed for drug dealing, fighting, mugging and other sordid activities that occur there just because I am homeless. That's right, I said, "I am homeless."

I am also a college student, attending classes at Portland Community College. Today I missed class because I was awakened at 2:30 am—in the rain, on a church doorstep, where I have permission from the church to sleep—because I, and people like me, are now the cause of everything that is evil in Portland.

I am not a drug dealer, nor is anyone else you see panhandling. The funny thing about drug dealing is that it causes you to have money. The funny thing about having money is that it causes you to lose all interest in panhandling and not living in a house. Therefore, drug dealing leads to not being homeless, and I find it unfair that so many newspaper articles discussing the problem of drug abuse and sales are headed by a big black headline that says "something, something homeless."

A typical day for me starts at around 8 am, when I get up and catch the free shuttle bus to PCC. There I go to class, do homework, etc. until 6 to 8 pm, when I catch another free shuttle downtown and sit outside a restaurant, hoping someone is kind enough to buy me breakfast/lunch/supper. Then it's off to a doorstep or under a bridge to sleep for the night. Once in a while, when someone is so kind as to let me use their bathroom, I shower so as not to be any more offensive to my classmates than is unavoidable.

Funny, isn't it? In some ways I am so much alike anyone else, but so different in others. Take, for instance, that if someone asks me for money, and I have some, I give it to them, or perhaps the fact that I want to pursue a career in social service and/or mission work after graduation because I see people who need help, not nuisances to be overlooked or run out of downtown. I feel it is a sad society, a society destined for a fall, that does not strive to help its underprivileged and pushes them out of sight instead.

Finally, before I say thank you and goodnight, I must apologize for signing this letter "Anonymous." It's not that I'm afraid to tell you who I am—I'm all around you. I just hope that the next time you turn up your nose at that girl in the hooded sweatshirt, you'll wonder, "Did she write that letter?" Am I the old man with the sign on the corner? I could be. Do you really want to make me go to bed hungry? Could some of the other "nuisances" that you try to pretend aren't there be just like me? YES.

Anonymous
Portland

CORRECTION

In "PGE's Taxing Story," (WW, Dec. 14, 2005) we referred to KGW's public affairs program as Newsmakers. The correct name is Viewpoint. WW regrets the error.