I talked with a man this afternoon about the terrible feeling of it being Monday. Not because of the reason most people hate Monday (although this gentleman does work) but because Monday means dealing with the waiting. Waiting all day to find out if you will have a bed for the next 28 days. And if so, at which shelter. It's hoping that your name will be picked early so you have your choice of the 3 smaller shelters but knowing that if not, you have to find another option before the night is over. And that option might mean walking an hour up to the north end of downtown to the more sketchy shelters, the ones that pack over a hundred guys in a room mat to mat each night. Where people steal your belongings and deal drugs in the open air in front of the Minneapolis City Police officer posted to keep order where the 2 large shelters share the same block.

It's a feeling that I've luckly never had to experience but one that I can somewhat imagine. It must fill one's chest with pressure and anxiety. The waiting game must be a slow torture if you let it be, especially as the nights grow colder and the options become more limited.

I'm putting together a fun (at least I think it is) series inspired by a book called "An Encyclopdeia of an Ordinary Life" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal that I adore.

More to come...

Things going on in the upcoming month:

At the Bedlam Theatre:
September 4th - Full Moon Cabaret
September 9th - Prison Doula Benefit

At the West Bank Social Center:
September 10th - "Presentation & Discussions on Creatively Unbundling the Housing Crisis
Presentations and discussions on creatively unbundling the housing crisis.

In the exhibit “Unbundling the Housing Crisis,” at the Form + Content Gallery now through September 5th, 8 interdisciplinary groups of artists, designers, writers, scientists, and thinkers were asked to collaborate, research, create and present projects examining all aspects of the housing crisis.

At 7pm on September 10th at the West Bank Social Center, these 8 groups come together to present their projects, discuss their process, and share their creative approaches to understanding and unbundling the housing crisis.

Thursday, September 10th7:00pmWest Bank Social Center501 Cedar Ave S. Minneapolis (above the Nomad World Pub)$3-$5 Suggested Donation
With short presentations on:

• Mapping neighborhood financial flows in the Hawthorn neighborhood.
• The flora of of a condemned property at 3001 James Ave. N.
• A machine to interactively decipher the housing crisis.
• PPoD: A flexible housing system.
• Houses that work with their climate.
• From a pool of slime to a McMansion in only 3,700,000,000 years!
• Complexities of the urban fabric.
• A physical examination of 26 square blocks of North MinneapolisAnd a panel discussion led by “Unbundling the Housing Crisis” curator Jay H. Isenberg, AIA"
  

September 12th - TASK Party
"The artist also came prepared with an event idea: a Twin Cities installation of Oliver Herring’s TASK party project. TASK partygoers create tasks for one another to complete, ranging from directives like “build a cardboard racecar track” to “confess a secret to someone you don’t know” to “saran wrap yourself into a cocoon.”
Mark your calendars for the West Bank TASK party, Saturday, September 12. Expect a night of mischief and makin’ stuff. "

September 22nd - MNKINO Screening with a theme of "Tranparency"

General:

September 20th - Minneapolis Bike Tour

Spreading the word:

zAmya Theatre - A artistic collaboration between homeless and housed individuals to create theatrical productions.
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At Stevens Square Center for the Arts:
August 29th - 7pm to 10pm
"Featuring:CHAD AUGUSTIN SHAWN DALSEN BRYCE JACOBSON ERIC MATTHEIS MATT WELLS
ONE NIGHT ONLY Live music by:Samwell Rowan and The Vignettes

Short films and advocacy from St Stephens Human Rights Program
FREE

“You’re in the right place...” - Metro Transit
Metro Transit fare during rush hour in the Twin Cities is $2.25 for local trips. The paper transfer you receive as receipt of this transaction is valid for two-and-a-half hours after purchase, enabling you to ride any number of bus routes, as well as the Hiawatha Line’s light-rail service, meeting deadlines and new people along the way. Several years of commuting on the routes and rails can result in a lot of new acquaintances, and a lot of spent transfers. Five local artists have capitalized on all the rides that they have taken, and all of the refuse that was generated, in order to make something new, that will work for anyone's budget and imagination.
In keeping with the theme, the work in RUSH HOUR is priced at rush hour fare: $2.25 per transfer."

Within the past 2 weeks, I've been replying to rental ads on craigslist, about 4 out of 7 were scammers. These bastards are using other peoples ads and/or random photos then creating fake ads. One was really slick, had I been a kid out on my own for the first time, I probably would have fallen for it. Their property managment name was "homeyestates" and they wanted you to follow a link to fill out your credit information then bring it to them... They required no security or pet deposit and the rent was reasonable. If it weren't for the now obvious ID theft scam they were trying to pull, the rest looked legit.

Jerks.

Testing, testing...

I'm taking the plunge. Creeping slowly from livejournal to Blogger.

I feel like this a way to move from my past into my future. I will keep my lj archives but only as a documentation of history.

This year I have been very humbled by job hunting, helping homeless men attempt to find jobs in a cutthroat market and challenges working with other humans. I have less fight in me than I've had in the past, still stubborn but more willing to back down and shut up.

My family is back to our old routine of evening walks - smelling backyard fires, scaring neighborhood cats, spouting envy over cool houses that we can't afford and just shuffling along. It's what we do. Walk and talk and hope to find notable things or see something interesting. If only we could lose the TV, we would do this more often. And when I say my family, I mean myself, Ariana, her father and the big slobbery beast, Pepper.

Looking forward to fall. The mornings have been crisp and have given me an excuse to pull my sweaters out. Being ever the shy one, I like when I can huddle under my sweater and pull my sleeves down and hide.

We watched The Soloist last night. It was done well, I was impressed that they acknowledged the struggle of wanting to help and not forcing someone to accept help. And wanting to help but being afraid of becoming too enmeshed.