Street roots
6
Feb. 3, 2012
‘It's not the
cards you're
dealt, it's how
you play them’
Abyss
by Ghost Gabriel
And they may say to me
Do you still love her?
To which I can only reply
The heart I wore for her
Fell somewhere in the chasm
Between wanting something
And having it
That it catches the lamplight
As I pass it on my way home each night
And on certain wreckless nights
Of the soul I dream
Its not irretrievable
Like a bridge more worthwhile
Than the other side
BY COLE MERKEL
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
t 19 years old, Jacob Anderson may
look young, but a difficult past has
forced him to grow and brought him
a lot of wisdom in the process. “I’ve said it
many times before: It’s not the cards you’re
dealt, it’s how you decide to play them,”
Jacob says. “I could see myself doing so
much better than being at a homeless
shelter, and slowly I’m taking that step to
making it in society.”
Jacob just achieved five months of
sobriety after battling addiction for more
than two years. “I was just tired of the
drama and bullshit. I got tired of waking up
A
Here is a truth
That would not be truth
Were it not written
On the backs of napkins
W1MB0B HIOF1EE
coffee bean
Jacob Anderson
IN T E R N A T IO N A L *
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B ean International fo r
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and keeping our vendors
warm in the m orning!
Thank you!
coffee bean
IN T E R N A T IO N A
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every morning and thinking about how I
was going to get money for that day.”
Anderson can trace the roots of his
addiction to the age of sixteen when he was
admitted to the hospital for pancreatitis.
Doctors gave him a morphine drip to help
with the pain but for the two weeks that
followed, he had delusions and very little
sleep as he experienced withdrawal. Within
a year he was using marijuana and abusing
prescription drugs.
Being a homeless youth, Anderson has
had difficulty finding advocates that treat
him like an adult. He says, “There are a lot
of people, it seems, who look down on me
when I am sleeping outside because I am
so young - that I haven’t been through as
much as them, when really, when it comes
to that, age doesn’t matter. It’s experiences
in life.”
Jacob had a difficult childhood. He says
he often had to be the primary caregiver
for his young brother and he got in trouble
with the law many times before turning 18.
In spite of this personal history, one of the
biggest signs of Jacob’s maturity and
VENDOR WORK ADS
Craig Preston: Labor work, $12 an hour,
please call the Street Roots office to inquire:
503-228-5657
Tibor S.: Available for any labor work
around a house. 1-201-539-1888.
Cassidy Morse: Looking for work. Will do
most anything, light and heavy. $10 an
hour, four-hour minimum. References
supplied. Please call 503-224-5398 or Street
Roots at 503-228-5657
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wisdom is his personal decision to get
sober while living on the streets. “It’s a
hard thing to do,” he says.
Jacob finds the strength and will to stay
sober through his family, especially his
mother. “I want to prove to my mom that
she didn’t lose her son to drugs and the
streets. I don’t want to hear the
disappointment in my mom’s voice.” He
says that since he became sober his
relationship with his mother has improved
dramatically.
Anderson recently was invited to a family
dinner at his mom’s house and got to spend
time with her, his little brother and his
mom’s boyfriend. “It wasn’t a big feast, but
it was a home-cooked meal, and it was time
with my family and the ones I love. That’s
what matters to me. Even if it’s just peanut
butter sandwiches, I’m still with my family,”
Jacob says proudly.
Jacob is approaching his fourth month of
living at the Clark Center. Soon, he will
need to move on, and he is currently in the
process of securing permanent housing and
a social security check to help him thrive.
Anderson describes all he has been
through as part of the process of growing
up and becoming a self-sufficient adult.
In twelve months, Jacob says, “I want to
see myself having a year and five months
clean and sober. I want to see myself with a
place to live and an income. I want to see
myself off the streets, starting to get back
in shape, continuing with my recovery, and
building a closer bond with my mom and
little brother and her boyfriend. I want to
be able to sit back in five or 10 years and
say, T did this, I made it. I’m comfortable
where I am. I’m comfortable with who I
am.’”
Jacob Anderson can be found selling
Street Roots most days at Bipartisan Café
on SE 79th Avenue and Stark Street.
Vendor Wish List
Donations keep Street Roots and our vendors
working by keeping our operating costs low.
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Paper cups
Hygiene items
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CENTRAL CITY
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Changing Lives
Building Communities
Creating Opportunities
Street Roots strives for accuracy, but
we're human. So we also strive to correct
errors in our paper whenever possible.
Please report any errors to our managing
editor, Joanne Zuhl, at 503-228-5657, or
write to joanne@streetroots.org
www.centrcdcityconcern.org
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