Street roots., June 08, 2012, Page 6, Image 6

street roots
6
June 8 2012
B eat Me
Staying
positive, rain
or shine
By K a t
Beat me
To a bloody pulp
It’s okay, I won’t fight back
It’s just a little pain,
Right?
BY COLE MERKEL
Rape me,
It’s okay,
Been there, done that.
Blame me
For all the pain you caused me
It’s alright
I dserved it anyways,
Right?
Hate me,
Because I hurt you so much.
Beat me,
Because I won’t put up a fight
Kill me,
The cars won’t stop
Because I deserve it anyways,
Right?
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
aking up to sell Street Roots day in
and day out is hard work. Vendors
have to brave the elements —
seemingly endless rain in the winter,
unrelenting sun in the summer. They are
required to regularly explain the paper’s
mission to new customers and have to wear
emotional armor to endure the constant
uncertainty about when their next sale will
come.
Jason Hutchcroft, who has been a vendor
W
Jason Hutchcroft
on and off for more than a year, knows the
ups and downs of selling well, and says he
has become a stronger person for the
experience.
“I don’t like being ignored or looked down
on because I’m homeless,” says the 36-year-
old. “I assume that’s how people are looking
at me sometimes, but I could be wrong. I
probably am wrong. Sometimes people look
at me with a glare that’s not really friendly
looking. But I’ve gotten a lot thicker skin
because of it. For me to be able to do this,
it’s a necessity to have that thicker skin or
else it’s going to drive me crazy.”
Still, Jason is at heart a very sensitive and
kind man: A caring father, a compassionate
partner to his long-time girlfriend, and clean
and sober after struggling with addiction for
the better part of two decades. He says that
several factors have 'been integral in helping
him stay sober: having a job, the possibility
of getting into housing and spending time
with his 9-year-old daughter.
Most of the time Jason’s customer
interactions are fulfilling, especially since
establishing his own location: Pioneer Place
ŒNTRALCITY
Changing Lives
Building Communities
Creating Opportunities
P H O T O B Y C O LE M E R K E L
at SW 5th and Taylor. “I like the positive
interactions,” he says with an authentic
smile. “I like the money because it’s helping
me provide for myself with everything but
rent, and I like the fact that it gives me a
little bit of pride to sell a paper, to offer a
product, to be able to say I’ve got a job.”
Hard work is something Jason has always
valued. While he would ideally be driving a
truck or working in a warehouse (careers in
which he has nearly 10 years of experience),
he is glad to be selling Street Roots for the
time being.
“It makes me feel good about myself to
know that I’m working and contributing to
society,” he says. And he takes his sales
seriously.
“My strength when I’m selling papers is
that I’m very polite. As long as someone
looks at me and says, ‘No, thank you,’ I will
tell every single one of them to have a nice
day. I’m friendly and I smile.”
Jason has a lot of regular customers; his
relationship is so good with a few that they
will even buy him lunch with a paper. One of
the greater challenges he encounters is
explaining the newspaper to people who are
not from the Portland area.
“If I am talking to someone on the
weekends whom I don’t know, I’ll ask if they
would like to help the homeless.” This, he
says, usually gets a positive response.
In his free time, Jason is a fan of pretty
much any sport, though he is partial to the
Timbers and Trail Blazers. He loves music
and his favorite bands are Alkaline Trio and
Atmosphere.
TheTaft Home
www .centralcityconcern. org
503-294-1681
Residential Care Couimun ihj
Where senior and disabled adults
receive the care and respect they deserve.
Answers to puzzles on page 15
Call us for more information
(503)223-2144
1337 S.W. Washington, Portland, OR 97205
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3035 S.E. Division • Portland, OR 97202
503.234.7499
Vendor Wish List
Donations keep Street Roots and our vendors
working by keeping our operating costs low.
Paper cups
Hygiene items
Towels
First-aid supplies
Autism is the fastest growing
disability in the U.S. with an
economic impact of more than
$90 billion. And according to the
Autism Society of Oregon,
Oregon state has one of the
highest rates of autistic diagnosis
in the country.Photographer Leah
Nash spent more than a year
focusing on five individuals with
Asperger’s, exploring the
diversity and complexity that
exist across the spectrum.
■ TriMet bus
tickets/passes
■ Printer paper
■ Shaving razors
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
Leah Nash Photography Exhibit
A Different Kind of Normal: Stories of Asperger’s Syndromi
Now through June 30