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Street roots
Nov. 25, 2011
EDITORIAL
Building something special with every edition
T
Time to roll up our sleeves
and put OWS to work
F | Ahere’s a lot of white noise enveloping the Occupy Wall
Street movement, but one truth still resonates: OWS
X. has awakened a sleeping giant, and despite tense
confrontations, the menacing numbers of riot police, and
even the immense gravity of the status quo - it is a positive
force in which we can all find strength.
At its core, the movement seeks to reverse the policies
that have resulted in mass foreclosures, rampant and
unwavering unemployment, skyrocketing student debt,
downward mobility and widening economic inequality for 99
percent of Americans. It is about the positive change people
desire and deserve as citizens of the richest country in the
world. It’s about decency.
The camp in downtown
Portland sent a clear
History has shown us that
message that the massive
amazing change can occur march and demonstration
when Americans put their
on O ct 6 was not a one-
mind toward righting social off, like so many other
grievances.
protests that bubble up
■■ h b b h h h b h b h h h u h
and then simmer down.
This is a movement that is
here to stay, even if the camp, for the long-term, did not.
The camp was a place of daily meetings and concensus
gathering, and academic workshops on political issues,
including corporate personhood and economics. It wasn’t
perfect, but it made a statem ent 24 hours a day during its
existence.
The camp is gone, but perhaps we don’t really need it
anymore. This movement has legs, across the country, and
its future lies with people flexing their collective muscle. It’s
shortsighted to say, as one politician did, that the movement
is “just anger and frustration.” Still, that’s a powerful
combination, now shared by multiple nationwide unions,
including the Teamsters, SEIU, AFL-CIO, United
Autoworkers and National Nurses Union, among many other
organizations. It is millions in solidarity on issues that are
becoming common talking points in city halls and capital
buildings across the country.
Mayor Sam Adams has said himself that he hopes the
movement doesn’t go away. And he can be a positive part of
keeping it in motion. He can start by following through with
talk of moving city funds out of the major corporate banks,
including Wells Fargo, and into local credit unions. He has
pledged to work to peacefully continue the message of the
Occupy movement, and he should have the full support of
the City Council to be bold, to be a leader within
government. This includes passing a resolution calling for
the end of corporate personhood policies that have
corrupted our democracy and our economy, and
overpowered the will of citizens who have Leen clamoring
for change for more than a decade, but who only now have
bent the system’s ear.
We can also throw our weight behind the campaign
finance reform efforts to end corporations’ freedom to spend
unlimited resources to influence elections. The samé is true
for putting real teeth into banking regulations that
institutions have criminally skirted to their great financial
gain and our peril. There’s a lot of work to be done.
History has shown us that amazing change can occur
when Americans put their minds toward righting social
grievances. That giant has been asleep for 30 years. Now
that it’s awake, let’s roll up ite sleeyes. Our anger and
frustration may have gotten Wall Street and Washington’s
attention, but action is what will hold their feet to the fire.
Ü I
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him a t israel®
streetroots.org
e Street Roots mottos are “For those
who can’t afford free speech,” and
“Real news from the streets.”
The content and investigative journalism in
the paper provide ongoing narratives on a .
range issues concerning poverty, including
health care,
immigration, housing,
homelessness, public
and more.
DIRECTOR'S safety
The newspaper
DESK
offers solution-based
models
and pathways
B y Israel Bayer
for the community at '
large — often taking
very complex issues,
boiling them down and showing readers ways
to be involved.
More than that the newspaper offers a
voice to people on the edge, be it
economically or socially. It offers a snapshot
of life on the streets without apology, but
always with a purpose.
One SR volunteer put it best when she
said, “If the investigative journalism of the
paper uncovers the way people are being
marginalized, the personal side of the
newspaper reminds us that we are all
connected.”
The vendor program is something more
altogether. First and foremost, it’s about
basic survival and allowing people to access
immediate income. For some that might
mean a hotel tonight, out of the pouring rain,
for another it might mean supplementing a
small income to improve their quality of life.
SR puts $10,000 minimum into the hands of
people experiencing homelessness and
poverty every two weeks. Multiply that by 26
— and that’s $260,000-plus a year for people
to become self-sufficient. That’s about the
same amount of the annual SR budget We
are creating as much income for people in
poverty as we are spending as an
organization to publish the newspaper, the
Rose City Resource Guide and offer a variety
of services. It’s a win-win.
Moreover, the SR vendor program is about
creating relationships and building self-
confidence. For many people, purchasing a
newspaper from a SR vendor may be the only
interaction they have with someone on the
streets. For vendors selling the newspaper, it
allows people to be part of the broader
community and to not be reliant on the
social-service continuum for their basic
survival. Instead of hanging out all day among
other people on the streets, many vendors
are selling the newspaper and developing a
relationship and customer service with
businesses and individuals throughout the
region. Beautiful.
SR, along with the help of people like you,
has built something special in Portland. We
are delivering readers some of the best news
and commentary the city has to offer, all
while giving people on the streets a hand-up
and offering a healthy environment for
bridging class and cultural lines.
SR can’t do this without you. We ask that
you make a donation to SR through the
Willamette Week GivelGuide (see back page)
or through the Web site at www.streetroots.
org. No amount is too small or large, and
with your donation you are helping SR
remain strong and build capacity towards
expanding our programs. With your support,
dreams come true, and social change does
happen.
Thank you for your consideration.
ESSAY
The w a r is over
BY JAY THIEMEYER
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
Send letters to the
editor to the Street
Roots office, 211
NW Davis St,
Portland, OR 97209,
or e-mail to joanne®
streetroots.org.
he old man with no color in his face
wanderedloosely down Lombard
saluting every dark window he passed.
It was approaching midnight, only a few
weeks until Thanksgiving. A week from
Armistice Day. 1Ì-Ì1-11.11th hour, 11th
minute. 11th day of the 11th month. The
war in Iraq was over.
The old man saluted his reflection.
Everybody who thought they knew him
said he was no damn Marine. He was just
crazy. Been a drunk since before dirt. Been
a familiar in St. Johns forever, walking and
checking, walking and checking, never
letting a pay phone get past him. Wasn’t a
coin slot that was safe when he was around,
They wouldn’t even allow him in the bars
these days. I saw him once try to get in ,
Brad’s, and even they wouldn’t let him in. No
neighborhood taverna to call home. Man,
that’s sad.
That’s doing something. Getting barred
from Brad’s, For life! But he didn’t
remember.
Next night I saw him get barred again, like
a
nothing from the night before had registered
at all. When he left that door, with that same
bald-headed fuck yelling at him, telling him
no one wanted him around, he checked the
coin slot at the payphone he’d just passed
and crossed the street.
I’ve seen him walk across Lombard in
rush hour. Oblivious. But this night there
were no cars. Everyone, it seemed, had
disappeared. Only a ghost like him was
about. The Spirit of Thanksgiving. OldSt
Bic, I called him. Don’t ask me why. Maybe
because his flame was out of fluid. Like his
brain, it’d all leaked out.
And all he could come up with to do this
Sunday night when he had the stage of
Lombard all to himself, was thump on dark
store windows, pound on locked doors and
yell for someone whose name was
unintelligible. Over and over till he came to
the corner and turned.
God knows where he lived. When I’d
asked him, to . see if he needed help, he
looked right through me. Like I was the
ghost.
Our mission
Staff
Board of Directors
Vendors
Street Roots creates income opportunities for
people experiencing homelessness and poverty by.
producing a newspaper and other media that are -
catalysts for individual and social change, - .
Executive Director Israel Bayer
Bruce Anderson (Chairman), Michael Anderson (Vice-
chairman), Heather Stadick (Treasurer), Eddy Barbosa
(Secretary), Rich Rodgers, Brad Taylor, Leo Rhodes,
Ken Hawkins' .
Street Roots vendors buy the newspapers for 25 cents
each and seli them fo r $1; keeping the 75 cents in
profit fo r themselves. In order to keep the cost low to
■our vendors,we receive additional support from
donations and in-kind contributions.
Street Roots publishes every tw o weeks, launching
on Fridays, and is available exclusively through our
street vendors or by subscription, We are proud
members of the North American Street
Newspaper Association and the International
Network of Street Papers.
Street Roots
211 NW Davis St
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax: 503-227-3117
www.streetroots.org
www.streetroots.wordpress.com
israd@streetroots.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl.
joanne@streetroots.org
Vender Coordinator Becky Mullins
becky@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Grant Writer Sarah Cloud
Accountant Heather Stadick
Reporters Amanda Waldroupe, Stacy Brownhill,
Jake Thomas
Photographers Leah Nash, Ken Hawkins, Jennifer
Jansons, John Ryan Brubaker
Intern Liz Fosteer
Volunteers
Christine Gadeholt, Mary Patios, Leo Rhodes, Jan
Bayer, Eliese Baker, Sue Zalokar, Tave Drake,
Michael Moore
Street Roots Rose City Resource
Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a
comprehensive booklet o f services for people
experiencing homelessness and poverty.
To inquire about getting an order of the Rose City
Resource for distribution, please write to
pdxrosecityresource@gmail.com. Resources are also
available online at www.rosecityresource.org.
goes directly to the vendor
w ho sold you the paper
goes toward
printing costs
Vendor orientations are at 1 p,m. every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office.