I don't 'get' our elected officials sometimes

With kids dressed up in masks from movies and jewelry like tanzanite rings, this holiday we have the shift from being told to celebrate it out of convenience to soccer mom's and local churches.

Two days ago I got wind of a member of City Council trying to 'officially' change Halloween from observed on Sunday to Saturday, in what came across as political convenience. While the requesting person 'did' put a stop to it, it's another example of bills pushed without decent thought.

What's funny is there's also rhetoric being pushed regarding sex predators and offenders to protect kids this year that specifically gives wording to 'shelters'. I'm curious what's next: will oversized Snoopy costumes be checked for age appropriate wearers?

Clean is hard to do on the streets

Different people have different reasons for being on the streets, but when they get there they all have the same issue: cleanliness. Young people; and older as well; face severe acne. Women have to deal with feminine hygiene. Then at the end of the day when there's tons of people in a shelter there's always foot hygiene.

I've heard the arguments from both sides regarding access to potable water for basic hygiene. Businesses don't want to be magnets and the service providers don't plan effectively for the masses they do attract. Local governments don't entertain basic public bathroom installation. In fact over the years of cell phone technology advancement, it's almost impossible to find a public pay phone anywhere outdoors in downtown Jacksonville.

When different people are asked what they believe the common factor is, 'the homeless' usually are thrown in as a reason by the armchair quarterbacks. Yet in what amounts to years the same people claiming to be confronting local government downtown haven't accomplished anything positive.

What's sad is there are initiatives in underdeveloped countries to create what's called 'toilet pits', thousands of people die daily due to having nowhere to 'go'. Face it, if a homeless person can't wash their hands and their 'going' outside...doesn't that hit close to home?

Appearances keeping time

Some weight loss drinks don't taste good. Either too thick and chalky or thin and icky. When looking at immediate options and paths to take, people experiencing homeless have sometimes the same feeling.

Then it wears down a tad after a day or two. And pretty soon a week goes by, and they're still looking like they're adjusting, but they're not greet. It's usually after 30 days that a person begins to transition and their body starts physically accepting what's going on.

And the longer they continue, the less likely they are of positively wanting to make change and ever return from whence they came.

When they originally felt and were.

Because they don't want to go through it all again.

Sometimes when you're homeless, it feels safer to be stable that way than the instability of becoming homeless.

One person's green is another's waste

A number of local and international sites I follow are big into green shopping. People selling things from food, carrying bags, and even a rickshaw in London touting a "I'm green, hire me" theme.

What many don't consider is how 'green' homeless people can be. Some call it 'frugality' the systems they come up with to reduce cost and recycle things others would throw out. One system in particular of mine is how I cooked six years ago that I still do today: I try not to use the oven.

When we were a family of six living in a cramped hotel room, I'd invested in a large toaster oven. A few months ago after seeing increases in electricity I began looking at ways to cut down costs and realized I was using the range oven...when I still had the toaster oven.

I also changed out every lightbulb in the house from 40/60 watt bulbs to energy efficient ones that use around 13 watts. I began setting my iPod's alarm to remind me to turn off the air conditioning at certain times as well as checking weather forecasts in advance...if it's not necessary and planned, it doesn't come on.

Add to this closing every bedroom door when not in use to avoid larger air pockets having to be cooled that affect the thermostat reading when it's in use.

All of these green systems contribute to immediate monthly savings. For some, homelessness occurs due to immediate financial distress due to lack of planning...my aim: never being homeless because I had to choose between which bill to pay for something I didn't need to use in the first place.

In the end, being green can prevent homelessness.

Homeless schooling

I picked up on someone following the blog that's involved with home schooling her children as well as homeless theater in her community. It reminded me of the differences kids face when parents make the choice from children in rooms with slide shows to more direct 1:1 education.

On the flip side I don't blow off standard education as a Big Brother thing to fear. The majority of cases of home schooling I've had direct contact with reflect less social skill building through age appropriate interaction.

You get the kids away from the juvenile delinquents, but the loss of interactivity of positive influences rests solely on the parent. There's stories of homeschooling parents that are heavy into networking to the point of creating ad hoc classroom environments, but the majority of kids home schooled don't have this benefit.

I've had the chance to see families experiencing homelessness in Jacksonville, Florida continue home schooling. Doing so can create situations where these parents are targeted to discontinue and place their children in local schools. One situation comes to mind of a mother of two children informed she would lose Food Stamp benefits unless her children attended school, another time the threat of a report to state Child Protective authorities she was feigning home schooling.

One person's rights are another person's administrative nightmares. While we have laws, rules, and regulations in each of our communities it's up to managers of service providers to teach their staff to not only support their clients but to educate themselves rather than make hasty, ignorant, and sometimes unlawful decisions.

On the other side of the argument, Federal Acts were put in place decades ago to ensure that children experiencing homelessness are able to both be provided an education as well as be in a safe location the majority of weekdays as well as eat two times a day.

I don't discount a parent's right to 'home school'. But I will say that any parent choosing to do so needs to invest time and support to see it through. Too often I've seen single parents in homeless shelters get the home school 'bug' with intent on pulling children out of existing support that's protected.

Simply put...a parent needs to either let their child be educated by professionals or do it themselves. If they can't, for whatever reasons, apply themselves to things that they CAN get a bigger bang for their buck...for themselves and their children.

Who the heck is Hank?

A different perspective and example of homelessness through blogging I caught on through Theresa's site sidebar.

It was interesting I found this due to recent developments regarding the conflicting standards and definitions that our Federal Government has towards people experiencing homelessness. It was just in 2008 I confronted the business I was directing to be more proactive and asking a mere additional twelve questions during 'homeless counts' to discern if people locally were actually 'hard sleeping' or couch surfing...typical annual counts are only interested in providing input/support regarding the Housing and Urban Development Agency's definition and criteria.

When they had the chance to collect the data for conclusive disclosure for present and future needs, they weren't interested...until they could get their own slice of someone's pie. To me that wasn't serving the needs of the community, it was serving the needs of the business.

I encourage everyone to read this account and perspective, and thanks again, Theresa.

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For want of a nail...

The old story goes that because of initial events causality was the reason a kingdom was lost. The same can be said of many circumstances families face prior to entering into homelessness of the varying degrees.

Even with higher education, people gearing for science jobs can't get them without stable shelter, communication, and the available infrastructures in cities such as mass transit. While education 'is' necessary for better jobs, without support in place people are required to expend unnecessary finances on vehicles, upkeep, and other living costs just to get by.

When people face urban sprawl and massive impending strikes by bus drivers, they face the reality of whether or not those higher paying jobs are worthwhile in the long run.

Same words, different meanings

Sometimes communication between different people is hard. You get one group that 'should' have enough sense after years of 'being there' to know what their audience is talking about. Too often though I find people in positions of authority like to talk 'at' people...and the only times they talk 'with' people below their position is usually when they want something.

Usually that 'something' is for their job to be easier in some fashion.

Some people are natural abrasives. They wittle and wear people down bit by bit over time, and no matter the stature or integrity of someone the longer something files against them...they'll eventually break.

It took me decades to learn this. I used to be somewhat of a person that believed they could take it. But seeing the game played and the spin both given and accepted by many, I'd rather sit to the side and watch it as a side better.

You can't stop homelessness. It'll always be around. You can watch someone decide and use systems to get out of the cycle, but in the end you can't make a horse drink if it doesn't want to.

Kids looking cool

I remember the families with both young and older children that were living within the walls of a prominent shelter in downtown Jacksonville, Florida. They say kids adapt well, but the longer a family took having to wait for an open room while sitting on a curbside...you could tell the effects as passing them day by day.

Different kids have different tastes. Some get in to parish clothing, others Izod, still others get caught up in what sometimes looks like online role play gaming costume wear. All working out who they want to be in a place they can't escape.

And while there are many people doing great things supporting families, there are still those that target them for their own purposes. The older men hanging around the eighteen year old girl with a daughter in tow. The jitterbugs slumming to sell a handful of rocks to the guys standing in meal lines after a long day of menial day labor.

I still sometimes hear the voice of a friend as he described the gunshot that rang out, just before his friend lied face down bleeding on the floor from his head...he only wanted to finish his meal he came in late for.

Too much, not enough?

When a person lives through homelessness, their immediate concerns in some ways are both similar as well as different to residing in homes.

Some worry on how to keep up car payments while others with children think as much on life insurance when looking into the faces if their children.

They have hopes, dreams, and aspirations no different than the homed...if not more some times. Although barriers need to be assisted with sometimes, sometimes a person becomes more stable the less they are enabled.

Just food for thought.

Varying degrees of sleeping hard

With changes in the thermometer taking temperatures to the fifties this week, people experiencing homelessness outside of regular shelter usage are prepping for Fall. Already those that have caches and storage locations are talking about jackets, hats, and gloves.

It shouldn't be rocket science, but without safe locations to store basic survival equipment many people are prone to ditching items. Being on the streets means being mobile, and large bundles of possessions can be cause for targeting...whether other envious homeless or the hating homed.

These coming months aren't any different than prior years. Kids still want to know how to get rid of acne, they want to spend their own money, and they want to succeed. If you're interested in providing gifts of giving, consider prepaid chain store cards for local supercenters.

Giving someone something is nice. Giving the gift of choice, empowering.

Site Review: Myrtle Beach Golf Packages and Vacations

The other day I was asked to look over and review a site, http://www.myrtlebeachgolf.net, and I was actually impressed from the start. Not too busy, and being colorblind the contrasting colors were definately opposing without conflicting to the point of making me dizzy.

People come across sites usually through search engines. This one in particular serves the interests of golfers intending to head to Myrtle Beach. Now most sites being made these days are STILL being done by amateurs overkilling the KEYWORD meta tag. Not this one, in fact looking at the page source it's apparent the writer's been doing this beyond other 'claimed' webmasters.

The key information and selling points the site pushes include Myrtle Beach golf packages. While there's a handful of links in the right banner, the majority of the site stays internal and keeps the viewer in 'their' portal. The only one I found external to the site was for Tee Times...and chances are if I'm right, the webmaster will eventually find a way of partnering to include that data to be displayed within his or her site's wrapper.

Besides the packages, they also have a link; Myrtle Beach golf courses; that provides direct information regarding such.

No overkill, good sales tool, and a nice layout.

Getting around on a dime

A few months ago Jacksonville residents both homed and not were facing a potential crisis within their urban sprawl they live in, imminent threat of a strike by Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) contracted drivers.

Like many cities, Jacksonville doesn't offer many travel deals outside it's infrastructure that are affordable if even existent. While ordinary employees grapple with the powers that be, thousands of residents faced job security issues. Some had to make life changing choices.

For some the facts of urban cross county urban community came to an end. Some individuals chose to look for work that would be guaranteed accessible through JTA's system of Community Shuttles, which are operated by a separate contracted entity. Others continued to sit on the fence and going along with whatever was offered to them.

This is a good example of causality, of how a horseshoe nail being lost can cause a kingdom to be lost if all systems relying on one simple matter fail. The funny thing, the alternative many 'professionals' have to offer people: "then it's time to plan for a car".

When they can't even afford a home to live in? That doesn't sound like case management to me.

Sounds like denial and passing the buck.