Street roots
May 25, 2012
Where
wisdom
sleeps
like to be interviewed for a book telling me
your story?”
As soon as I say who I am and what I m
doing and I’m a recovering alcoholic, and I
had brothers who lived on the streets, it
levels the playing field. We know each other.
People in recovery know each other. As
soon as you meet each other, the
boundaries disappear. That’s true for
everyone in recovery pretty much, no
matter what your social status is. People
pretty much open their mind.
■ SB
J.T.: What sort o f wisdom d id you fin d
under the bridge?
L .R .S .: First of all, people can change.
Author Linda Ross Swanson
chronicles the lives o f addiction
and recovery on the streets
BY JAKE THOMAS
S T A F F W R IT E R
etween 2005 and last year, Linda
Ross Swanson began making regular
trips to Backspace in Old Town. But
she wasn’t going there for a cup of coffee or
to see live music. Instead, she went there to
listen to stories of despair, grit and
redemption from Portlanders who’ve
struggled with poverty and addiction before
getting on the road to recovery. Swanson
used the material for
“Wisdom Under the
Bridge: The Prophets
from Skid Row.”
The book includes
the stories of 12
individuals who have
overcome addiction
and street life to
become sober and
productive people.
The stories are
B
sr
p re se irfe d as o rí
h is to rie s an d ta k e on
stream-of-
consciousness-like
qualities, which
Swanson used to
capture each
prophet’s voice and
narrative. Swanson, a
private grief
counselor who serves
as an associate sister
Linda Ross
at the Holy Names
Swanson
Sisters Foundation,
hopes that telling the
stories of how these individuals overcame
adversity will provide lessons to others,
while also challenging readers’ perceptions
of the homeless.
J a k e T h o m a s: The stories in the book are
meant to be sim ila r to or modeled after
“ethical w ills” or “wisdom wills. ” I was hoping
you could talk a little bit about how you
discovered wisdom wills and why you wanted
to use this format.
L in d a R o ss Sw an so n : Well, in 2005, I
got my master’s degree in applied theology
at Marylhurst University. It’s an inter-faith
program, and one of the exercises in one of
our classes was to do a ritual from one of
the major religions. I came across the
Jewish tradition of an ethical will, which
dates back to biblical times when Jacob
gathered his 12 sons around his death bed
and bequeathed his blessing and his wisdom
and his instructions.
It was an oral tradition for centuries, and
when writing became popular people began
writing these and they were like last letters
passing your wisdom onto the next
generation. I didn’t like the name “ethical
will” because I didn’t like the connotation.
So I trademarked the name “wisdom will.”
I had thought about putting a book
together using them even when I was still in
school. I thought, we don’t learn from
sheltered lives; we learn from adversity, so
who has the most adversity? Certainly
people who live on the streets or people
who have lived on the streets.
I ’ m a re co v e rin g a lco h o lic TTTT y e a rs . I
had two brothers who were alcoholic, both
homeless. One of them lived in the Mark
Hatfield for a while after he got sober. H e’s
only been sober about a dozen years. But
both these brothers lived on and off the
street most of their adult lives. So I found
the downtown chapel, which is Saint André
Bessette Catholic, and I started going to
church there, and I met three recovering
heroin addicts and they were all housed and
giving back to society. They were working
and volunteering. So that’s where I got
those three. Then the other folks I found
through Sisters of the Road Cafe, and a
fellow I met through Central City Concern
who works there.
J.T.: H ow did you go about building a
rapport with the people you interviewed?
L .R .S .: It was easy. “Hi, my name is
Linda. I’m a recovering alcoholic. Would you
The people in the book are the hardest-core
addicts and alcoholics you can imagine. They
were in and out of jail and in and out of
recovery. Everyone had given up on them,
including themselves. But somehow by the
grace of God they got sober. Some of them
had been in treatment centers 13 times. A
couple of people in there were helped by
the mentor program through Central City
Concern.
So it’s pretty obvious that if these people
can change their lives, anybody can. No
matter what. And so many of them had
traumas that you wouldn’t believe. M ary’s
mother and brother were murdered and she
found their bodies. Every single one of them
is grateful for every single day they have.
Every single one of them wants to give
back. Every single one of them believes in a
higher power of some sort. They’ve found
happiness in the most minute ways. We take
so much for granted.
In one of the stories, there’s Mary Sue
Rich who is spiritual director at the
Mcdonald Center right behind The
Downtown Chapel. It’s an assisted-living
facility for poverty-level folks. She made
friends with this guy from-Haiti, and he was
severely mentally ill, and one day he invited
her into his room and he was ju s t beam ing,
and h e h a d s o m e th in g in h is h a n d , an d h e
just couldn’t wait to give it to her. So he
made her pick which hand and finally she
picked and there was a $20 bill in his hand,
and he said, “Look, my sister gave me this
for my birthday, and I want to give it to you
so you can give it to other people that need
help on the streets. That’s what I want to do
with it.” And she said, “Oh, but your sister
gave you that for your birthday. I’m sure she
wants to buy something nice for you.” And
he said, “Look, and he opened his closet,
and said, look at all my clothes.” And he had
one t-shirt and one cotton shirt, a pair of
jeans, a couple of pairs of socks. And he
popped open his cupboard, and said, “Look
at all the food I have.” And he had three
cans of soup. “I have so much,” he said. All
of them want to give back. When you start
to rise you really realize what’s important -
See W IS D O M , page 5
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