Street roots
May 25, 2012
W IS D O M , fro m page 4
it’s people, it’s relationships, it’s the moments. They
can teach us so much about gratitude and the
preciousness of the moment and having good health
and making amends.
J.T.. Were there any stories that really stuck with
you?
L.R.S.: Many of them. I dedicated the book to a
man named Glasker Rankin. Everybody was
anonymous expect Glasker, and that’s because he
asked me not to make him anonymous. I met him
through Sisters of the Road.
He was really excited about doing a wisdom will
because he didn t have much money. And he wanted
to give this as a gift to his sister and his nephew. It
was going to be his Christmas gift. And I took it back
to him, and it ended up being on his 50th birthday.
So then in December he gave her his wisdom will.
Then in February, I found myself in a little church in
Northeast Portland at his funeral. He had died
unexpectedly. He was 50 years old, and I didn’t know
he had anything wrong with him.
(Sisters of the Road Executive Director) Monica
Beemer, while he was dying, put his wisdom will up
on the wall in his ICU unit, so that the doctors and
the nurses and the patients and visitors could read
his wisdom will so that they knew he was in that bed.
And at the funeral, the minister read from his
wisdom will as well. I was so proud of him doing that
because you know there’s a memory of him that will
live on forever in the community and in his family.
It s a way of assuaging the pain of losing someone.
You have something tangible, it becomes a talisman.
I think you owe it to your family to leave something
like that. It covers what life meant to you so far, what
got you through the hard times, what you value, who
you love and why, how you want to be remembered.
I dedicated the book to him because it was one of
the first ones I did and he died. He had been clean
and sober three years when I met him, and he
wanted to be remembered as someone who was
clean and sober for a reasonable amount of time
before he died.
J.T.: Do you maintain contact with the people you
interviewed for the book?
L.R.S.: Yeah, I still see Mary and hear from Mary,
and she’s had five years of sobriety. A couple of them
came to the book signing. It really enhanced their
self-esteem. I gave them all as many copies as they
wanted. It took from 2005 until last year to get it
published, so some people I can’t find.
Street Roots awarded for coverage
on traumatic brain injuries
S T A F F R E P O R TS
J.T.: You hoped that the book would change peoples’
perceptions homelessness. Did it change any perceptions
you might have had?
L.R.S.: I learned what a sense of community there
is with people who live on the streets. They take
care of each other in ways you wouldn’t expect. They
take care of each other, and they keep track of each
other, and that’s amazing. We’re so frightened of
what we don’t understand.
J.T.: Were there any commonalities in the stories?
L.R.S.: Yes. All of them had commonalities. A lot
of dysfunctional families. The one surprising story
that people talk about is Brian because he was
brought up in a normal, average blue-collar hard
working family and became a hardcore heroin addict.
He didn’t go to his graduation because he was trying
heroin for the first time. And of course you can’t try
heroin for the first time.
A lot of them had a history of alcohol and drug
use. Almost all of them were abused. A lot of trauma.
So there’s hardship. You continue with your
addiction and your hardships just snowball. You keep
losing until there’s nobody who wants a thing to do
with you and you hate yourself. And you do the only
thing that makes you numb out unless you have
some sort of awakening experience. Almost all had
epiphanies about stopping and starting. They have
this a-ha moment that maybe drugs and alcohol are
the problem. When you start using you stay pretty
much emotionally the same age until you quit, and
you can’t accelerate and grow up. If you start using
at 16, you stay 16 even though you’re 40.
treet Roots took home five awards from
the Society of Professional Journalists’
S
2011 Journalism contest, including two
first place awards.
Street Roots’ landmark series on the links
between traumatic brain injuries and
homelessness received top honors for writers
Stacy Brownhill and Kate Cox in the social
issues category. The series examined the
misdiagnosis and lack of research on traumatic
brain injuries among people experiencing
homelessness, as well as the challenges to
treating such injuries while living on the
streets.
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl received first
place honors for her interview with artist Max
Ginsburg, a realist painter who projects his anti
war position in his often controversial images.
Street Roots writer Amanda Waldroupe was
awarded for her report on people in poverty and
homelessness living with HIV/AIDS. Waldroupe
also was honored for her report on new
guidelines surrounding inmates serving time in
the Oregon State Hospital.
Brownhill also was honored for her report on
the financial burden faced by low-income
families when it comes time to bury a loved
one.
Street Roots competed against non-daily
publications throughout Oregon and Southwest
Washington with a circulation greater than
8,000.
Special thanks to
Old Town
Florist
J.T.: You’re a certified grief counselor, did that
inform your work?
L.R.S.: Y e ah ,
it in f o r m e d t h e b o o k , c e r ta in l y
404 M W T e n th A v e .
because I see writing a wisdom will as a talism an for
people to help assuage the grief after losing a loved
one, and it’s a way of reviewing your life and seeing
that everybody has a story.
good, local, food.
In the Pearl District
For your support o f Street Roots!
R e lie f
D W C C b lV Z L V C j
The Native American
youth Family Center
NAYA Students Lend A Helping Hand
ALBERTA
COOPERATIVE
GROCERY
1500 NE Alberta St.
Portland, OR 97211
503.287.4333
www.albertagrocery.coop
open to everyone 9 -1 0 daily
to Street Roots content,
nd artists. Look fo r your favorite
in each edition o f the paper.
As members of the young NAYA community, we have seen many youth
and elders struggling with life on the streets In Portland. We are having a
bake sale to raise money to help alleviate the effects of poverty for our
homeless community.
We will be selling:
Cookies Brownies Pie Cake and more!
We would greatly appreciate if you could bring any food, clothing, and
blankets to donate. Proceeds will go to a local organization of the
students’ choice.
Join us at NAYA, 5135 NE Columbia Blvd., Portland, OR. 97218
11am to 1pm Thursday, June 7
Hope to see you there!