6
Street roots
March 16, 2012
Love and The
Mattress Man
By Nancy Drake
It’s 5:00 p.m. on Burnside Street.
Cars roar by on their way
Past the noisy intersection
Up the verdant hill to homes
The Mattress Man can only dream of.
He waves gallantly, bounces
His stick sign, back and forth,
Up and down, smiling, nodding
Strumming with the universe
And the traffic’s rhythmic pulse.
Down the hill on Burnside Street
Homeless people cluster on corners
Turn their backs to traffic.
They will not be zooming home:
They are home, yet homeless.
When the Mattress Man gets his paycheck
Will he visit his friends down the hill?
Will he buy lunch for the woman
Who found him on the sidewalk, stopped
to talk?
She comes by every day now.
The cars never stop while he
Bounces the sign, nods his head
Waves his free hand.
He will smell of exhaust, but
Their lunch will be excellent.
Vendor joins Street Roots board of directors
V
BY COLE MERKEL
VENDOR PROFILE
Darren Alexander
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
ith three years as a Street Roots
vendor under his belt, Darren
Alexander has been steadily
building on a good thing. He has been
selling at the Alberta Food Co-op since
summer 2009 and over the past few years,
has bec^ffT^ re§pgctgd~aTHba55ag6Y With '
Street Roots, always selling with a smile on
his face, recruiting new vendors and
spreading the word about the newspaper
and the organization.
Now, Darren brings his perspective to the
Street Roots board of directors, joining the
nonprofit’s leadership in February. A self-
described introvert, Alexander hopes to
bring his experiences to the organization’s
governing body as Street Roots moves into a
new era.
“In my own unique way I can contribute
to just making the paper better. If I have -
W
We tip our mugs to Coffee
Bean International for
donating coffee to Street Roots
and keeping our vendors
warm in the morning!
Thank you!
coffee bean
IN T E R N A T IO N A
any ideas, I bring them to the table. As we
transition into a new phase of the paper, I
want to help make it better.! ~
_
In his three years with Street Roots,
Alexander has witnessed positive change in
the newspaper.
“The stories are getting a lot better and
people are becoming more receptive to the
paper itself,” he says. And he sees that
receptivity as a great opportunity for
growth. “I want to bring it to a point where
the community doesn’t just see the paper
and just say that it’s a ‘homeless’ paper. I
hope people get the perception that Street
Roots has unique news.”
Alexander’s joins for a two-year term on
the board, and he joins Leo Rhodes as the
second vendor on the 10-person body. He is
still trying to figure out all of his
responsibilities, but feels like he is fitting in.
“The group is lively,” he says with a
smile. “Being a new kid on the block makes
me feel kind of nervous. It’s an entirely new
experience for me because I’ve never been
asked to do something like this. To me the
paper means dignity arid community. I’m
basically a shy person, but Street Roots has
been a way for me to be a little more
extroverted and outgoing.”
In his free time, Darren is an avid,
“fledgling” writer, often journaling or
writing short stories. He is one of the most
consistent participants in the weekly Street
Roots creative writing workshop. And, on
top of his board responsibilities, he can still
be found most days selling Street Roots at
the Alberta Food Co-op.
L*
C O R R E C T IO N S
Answers to puzzles on page 15
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
If
-1
LJ
Donations keep Street Roots and our vendors
working by keeping our operating costs low.
■
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■
■
■
Socks
Lil Hotties
Paper cups
Hygiene items
Towels
CENTRAL CITY
■ First-aid supplies
■ TriMet bus
tickets/passes
■ Printer paper
■ Toilet paper
Changing Lives
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Building Communities
Craig Preston: Labor work, $12 an hour, please
call the Street Roots office to inquire: 503-228-
5657
Creating Opportunities
Tibor S.: Available for any labor work around a
house. 1-201-539-1888.
L
z
VENDOR WORK ADS
www.streetroots.wordpress.com
and Facebook too!
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
www. centr alcity concer n . or g
503-294-1681
Don’t miss a single issue! Visit us online at www.streetroots.wordpresss.com or
friend us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get regular updates. ’