Street roots., March 13, 2015, Page 6, Image 6

So every day, Dirk hits the Internet,
shops for jobs and carries resumes in his
bag. He has worked in many restaurants,
but his current bout of psoriasis, a
noncontagious skin disease, excludes him
from those jobs. He hopes his new
BY LEONORA KO
treatment protocol in a research study will
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
clear up the condition.
As for an ideal job, Dirk says, “copywriter
hen Dirk Benson sits down in the
appeals
to me the most. I have an
Street Roots office, his priority is
affinity for it. I’m good at i t I’ve done
to plug in his aging cellphone.
if for years.”
There’s no electricity in his hut at Dignity
Village, and the phone is a lifeline to the When Dirk gets freelance jobs,
he completes his work at the
two most important things in his life: his
Independent Publishing Resource
faraway family and a search for a job.
Center, a nonprofit organization
“I used to be one of those guys they look
on Southeast Division S treet
for in the Lexus commercials, nicely
In between jobs and when
appointed cars for well-qualified buyers,”
things get dire, Dirk sells Street
Dirk says. “I owned the house and two cars
Roots in front of Walgreens on the
and had the kids and dogs.”
corner of Northeast Grand Avenue
Back then he was living in Alabama and
and Northeast Weidler Street.
producing motion graphics, copywriting and
“When you’ve burned your
animation for television and the NASA-TV
life down to the ground,” he
space flight center. Then, Dirk says, “what
says, “Street Roots is
happened was bad choices as with most of
■
the last house on the
us around here. I did it to myself.”
J
block with the door
Needing a change of scenery, Dirk left
still open. And that
Alabama and a failed marriage. He has been
means a lo t I’m
in Portland for almost three years. His
just treading water,
unemployment ran out, and it has been
but it’s keeping
difficult to get a living wage.
me upright. It’s
I
“I’m one of those people that you read
about in the paper and who’s been out there giving me some
hope. I’m still
looking. Eventually, if you don’t have the
trying.”
income and you can’t pay rent anymore,
His 14-year-
you’re out pretty quick. It’s a whole new
old daughter
world out there.”
is another
Dirk has frostbite on his feet from his r
Dirk Benson
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■
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that she didn’t like, and he said, “No, no!
Honey, any picture of you, to me, is
precious. Please don’t do th a t That’s 14 for
you,”
He adds, “I don’t know how much my
daughter knows about my current situation.
I just want to get back to that point where
she can be proud of me, and that means
getting out of where I’m at.”
And Dirk knows that means
getting a job with a living
wage.
E “I stay hopeful that
| there’s something out
f there with my name on it,”
JF he says. “There has been
fin the past. Tell people, if
[they’re looking for an artist
(or a writer, I’m at Grant and
Wheeler. I’ll give them a
& resume.”
■
reason for.
, -
Its, not a walk in the park — pun
iritended,” he says.
For the moment, Dirk lives at Dignity
Village and has a roof over his head.
“I’ve got a tiny dog and a tiny life; I don’t
need much space. My goal is to get enough
money to actually build my own tiny house
on a trailer. The springboard is a job.
Everything hinges on that.”
trying to
improve his
situation. Last
year when he traveled
east for his sister’s
wedding, he saw his
daughter and took
cellphone photos. He
says his daughter
deftly deleted thè ones
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Street Roots • March 13-19, 2015
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