Vendors
Street Roots • Jan. 8-14, 2016
At 19, Bri discovered her natural love of
exploring beyond her neighborhood and
went off to live in Mexico with her husband
and his family. Eventually she grew
disillusioned by the role she was expected
to fill as a wife in a culture so different from
BY DIANA RICHARDSON
the one she knew.
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
She recalled some enjoyable moments in
Mexico when a friend who taught English
rianna “Bri” Bryant has a lot to smile
to Spanish-speakers invited her to class one
about. She loves being Mama to her
day to assist her in some role-playing with
21-month-old daughter, Luna. She
her
students.
loves selling Street Roots and credits her
“They didn’t know I could speak Spanish,
work for a transformed personality: from
so they tried very hard to speak to me in
quiet to outgoing, genuinely enjoying
English, asking me lots of
chatting with her customers.
questions, such as ‘Are
“I love listening to people’s stories,” she
you
going to have
said with enthusiasm.
children?”’ She
Bri, a Portland native, said she’s lived in
laughingly told them,
every part of the city. When she was young,
“Yes! There’s one
her family moved around a lo t She said she
inside me right
was enrolled in five different middle schools
now!”
and quit school in seventh grade.
Back in Portland,
“But I went back in the eighth grade,”
Bri
gave birth to
she said, “because my cousin was in the
Luna. Around this
same school, and we always hung out
time, she w as.
together.”
reunited with a
Bri went to one high school and
friend, her current
graduated early, at the end of her junior
partner, whom
year. She planned to study to become a
she has
nurse practitioner
known since they were 8 years old. Bn and
her partner sell Street Roots as a team.
Now, they’re looking at the locations that
are not reserved by other vendors to see
where they’ll find their special spot. It takes
time, Bri said, to learn whether a place has
the potential to be what they’re looking for:
nice customers and a clientele large enough
to support two vendors.
When Bri thinks about the future, she
envisions a home of her own where she can
find peace and quiet and to raise her
daughter. She recognizes that her interest
in others is an asset that could open doors
to various vocations.
She loves to read and likes to write. Bri
reads to her daughter. She takes Luna
“everywhere” with her when she is
free on weekends.
“My daughter and I are so much
alike. We love to go out and
explore.”
Bri said some of her choices
I were not always the best, but “I’ve
flearned to be accountable for
^myself and to act on that
responsibility the moment I notice
I’m going off course - to correct it
right then.”
Becoming a mother changed
everything, she said.
“My child is the
center of my
universe. I can’t
a go floating
V around. It’s
very grounding
-
‘ W to ^ave ^er be
Page 6
VENDOR PROFILE
Bri Bryant
Keep Going
by Don Hynes
The color of the morning
says keep going,
don’t let the burden
of memory
and the unforgiven
take you down.
Sunrise cuts
the rusted iron
of fallen leaves,
the grass below
still green and wet
with autumn rain.
B
Answers to puzzles on page 15
E D e
b V 3
3|
IAI E r
0
z
b
n
E
n Z
i
o
z
1 z
V IA1 o
H n ¡AI I r
tí i
2 iH
'Ö
V' B È V
b 0
±
tí c
D n V d |
j. V i
1 0
V
ftí
l<?
b
«
w
r
±
3
i
V B V
V tí 0
b V tí 1
z
1
Z
1 3
O D D r
V i E tí
IAI V 0
E I Z
E D V IAI
IAI V
E tí 3
H
V Z
E b
B E D 1 IAI
À
tí O O 3 1
i V IAI B 1
z 3
È 'l' w
'z
w
3
C V z
E IAI E Z
1 3 C Ô
b V
IAI
1 D
n
tí E V
H n
3
1 b 3
r
D 3
1 V Z
V Z 1 1
° n c H
tí 1
C tí 0
C
and enrolled in a
junior college.
When that
didn’t work out,
she chose a
trade school
and was
promised an
¡internship at
si
.
- & my c e n te r ,
4
|â u
the
completion
of her
* J s
formal
studies. But
the job placement never
W W R3
wbbsb
materialized.
Disappointed, and burdened with
student debt, Bri tried working at
whatever was available - first at the deli
counter at Walmart, then at the gas pumps
for Fred Meyer. She didn’t view either of
these jobs as a career path; they were just
to “get some money together.”
Out of Luck?
Free Counseling
for Gambling Problems
H B
.■/
B
f e
o
C EN TR A L C IT Y
COFFEE
Sourcing & roasting craft coffee to
benefit programs at Central City Concern.
IN STORES
Call 503-239-5952
L
Z
9
9
L
P
6
8
8
9
L
8
8
I
6
P
S
Z
6
8
P
9
Z
8
L
Z
9
P
9
6
I
8
9
8
Z
Z
Z
8
Z
P
8
9
9
6
L
8
9
Î
Z
6
Z
8
9
P
Z
P
9
6
9
k
Z
8
8
9 8
6
Z 8
8 Z
9 P
8 Z
Z 9
P Ir
6 9
Start the new year right with an
extra dose of poetry! "Life is
Beautiful" a special Street Roots
poetry zine, is on sale now!
New Seasons Market, Whole Foods, Food Front
Cooperative Grocery, Green Zebra, Chuck's
Produce and Will Leather Goods.
AT YOUR OFFICE
Interested in serving Central City Coffee at your
office? Get in touch with us and we can help you
make that happen. 503.226.7387
ON OUR WEBSITE
Buy Central City Coffee online and have it
shipped directly to you or a friend.
Follow our Facebook page for updates and specials.
centralcitycoffee.org facebook.com/CentralQtyCoffee coffee@cccbncern.brg
I
lo y e to feel
B grounded.”