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street roots
Education ♦ Dialogue* Independence
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NORMAL
A documentary film by |
I
E i
On sinners and saints
Brian Lindstrom
about Central Q ty Concern's
Mentor Program
;
Buy it now on DVD
Julie McCurdy, shown here
with her dog Maggie, lives
in Portland without a
home. She is a regular
contributor to Street Roots.
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T t ’s been awhile since we last spoke (wry
I grin). Thia article is dedicated to
X “Maggie” and the person who helped
me live past her loss (she was stolen on July
4). L et this be a thank you to an entire
community of
gypsies who did .
■■■■P- ■■■■ and continue to do
their best to be
supportive. I think
they secretly voted
By Julie in the only person
who could get me
McCurdy
past this (himself ,
being an ex-army
ranger combat vet.
— not in the least
bit intimidated by screaming gypsies).
Every society, and the one I live in, has
its sinners and its saints^ Most people are a
combination of both, though, so let me tell
you about the saint who could sin with the
best of them! Nope, he isn’t dead - just off
in charm school, repaying his debt to
society.
I will tell you. of the things I know and
steer clear, of what I don’t His past is a
mucky thmg whose mysteries I made no
attempt to soive. Why? Because street
people don’t ask the same questions other
people do. To’do so might reopen wounds
better left alone.
I only know what I experienced being
next to him. I know he dragged me kicking
and screaming back to semi-sanity after
Maggie’s loss.
No, he wasn’t a lover. He was, and
remains, my. dearest friend. This is a man
known as much for his harsh, .
uncompromising honesty as his deep belly
laughter. I never heard this man make an
anything. Neither have X sgen.;,
him allow anyone else around him'to make
one. I have pretty hard-to-handle notions of
heroic figures, and am often disappointed
when a person’s humanity shows through.
Not in this case; I watched this man, day in
and day out, do the right thing regardless of
personal cost (my definition of heroic). He
never denied any woman shelter or
complete safety when they needed it. I
believe that we can be a crazy little lot, and
these women often repaid this by screaming
and tossing water on his bedding. Still, he
URBAN
.GYPSY
dit. *
Mother Nature’s
5
¿ÌjLliOJ
never stopped offering sanity and safety.
How do I know? Because I spent a great
deal of time with the man. I never saw him
let someone go without If he could help, he
was the person who listened and saved daily
details, who didn’t rant or raye. Just a “get
Shit done” kinda guy, you know? This is the
man in the background making things
happen while others in the forefront got the
credit. When I brought this to his attention,
he growled back that was just a hillbilly, not
a Kero. Never a good idea to call a hillbilly a
hero —who knew? ,
He is solely responsible for reminding me
how to savor the moment because that is
what life offers everyone — moments of
sublime joy, deep belly laughter; and
moonlit madness — that somehow make up
This is the man in the background making
things' happen while others in the forefront
get the credit. When I brought this to his
attention, he growled back that was just a
hillbilly, no ta hero. Never a good idea to call
a hillbilly a hero — who knew?
for, the mind-numbing grief of others. He
taught me that there really is as much glory
in the rain as there is in the rays of the sun.
“Here’s to yourself hillbilly,” to the sinner
and the saint in you, let’s tip a brew and
remember your gift of moments and the
^gypsy you insisted on, saving.
Thank you, from myself and everyone
else w h o se lives a re b e tte r for you having
spent time in them. In closing, let me state
that every one of us, if we look hard
enough, has a “hillbilly” .in th eir lives.
Someone who, without thought for
themselves, helped us breathe past some ,
impossible o r implausible circumstance. He
is mine; who is your own?
For myself, I will honor him by never
letting the pep fall from my hand again, and
doing for someone else what he did for me.
What will you do to honor your own?
T he L eft C oast E isteddfod
a Welsh-American performing arts festival
21-22 August 2009
STORY
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