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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2017)
Street Roots • April 21-27, 2017 News weight because we were eating a lot of NWPP secured her a room in a motel for salads. We had one of those water coolers a month, and from there, a bed in a long people have at football games. We had ice in term shelter - Pixel came too. there - milk, condiments, cold cuts, salads. In August 2016, a studio apartment Flip over the lid, and it’s a picnic table.” downtown, where she was waitlisted, She was going to AA meetings, became available. She moved in a month sometimes three or four a day. By this time, later. she had come to realize that her drinking At 57, it’s the first time in her life she’s had become a problem. lived alone - aside from Pixel, of course. “It had got to the point “It’s been an adjustment,” she where I didn’t know what to says, smiling. do anymore,” she says. With help from the Easter "1 really lik e liv in g She and her daughter lived Seals, she got a full-time job downtown. The in the car for six months. buses and MAX are as a pharmacy technician in Then, a woman at AA who North Portland. She takes the spectacular. 1 help MAX train to and from work, was about to have knee surgery offered Carolyn, her out at a church working various shifts, often daughter and the cat a room nearby. I go to the getting home late at night. in her house in exchange for “I really like living lib ra ry ." help while she recuperated. downtown,” she says. “The C A RO LYN W IL L They spent six months buses and MAX are there, during which time spectacular. I help out at a Carolyn, who, at times, she church nearby. I go to the said, could barely walk, had library.” her long-overdue hip replacement. A few She’s cooking again. “I make hot fudge weeks after she had the surgery, the woman sauce and cookies.” gave them a no-cause eviction. Her daughter, “my backbone, my support At this point, Carolyn’s daughter was 18. through all of this,” is doing fine, living in a “We decided for both of us to survive, it small apartment with her boyfriend. was best to split up,” Carolyn says. Her son, on leave from the Navy, stayed Carolyn’s church had connected her with at her apartment for a few days and fell in Northwest Pilot Project, where she was love with downtown Portland. working with a housing specialist to Carolyn is sorting through boxes from improve her rentability. her storage unit right now. She was on waitlists for housing, but “It brings up memories that I don’t there was nothing available. She couldn’t go want.” She gazes into the distance. “There’s to a shelter because she was still still a lot of loss.” recuperating from surgery, and she wasn’t But, says Carolyn Will, making a joke able to climb onto a bunk bed or use a toilet about her last name: “Where there’s a will, without a raised seat. there’s a way.” She sighs, smiles slightly and says, “I had to have that perspective.” “Another character-building situation,” she says, and smiles. Page 9 Wave of Pride . by Melle My rainbow is a wave, rippling to the sunset under the West Coast ocean. I cannot stop watching the Earth move My blue, is the motion My yellow is the high tide, rolling with the whales I swim with them My orange, is telling its tale My purple is swell in the flow, swaying there under the perfect sand I splash in it My red, is my footprints on land My green is the East Coast sunrise, with a perfect wave to ride I touch the salty cold My rainbow, is everywhere I cannot hide A At Health Share, we believe good health is more than what happens inside your doctor's office. Good health starts in your community and includes staying active, eating healthy food and getting regular check-ups. A •■'’T t y 5: Share your healthy habits with family and friends. We can all have better health when we share it together. health Better health together. www.heatthshareoregon.org Support Street Roots' outstanding vendors and great journalism. Give a one-time or recurring donation today streetroots.org '* ill Street Roots is a 501 (c)3, nonprofit organization. Your donation may be tax deductible.
