Vendors
Page 6
BY ALEX GILLOW-WILES
S TA FF W R IT E R
rew is a Portland native and, in many
ways, a man of the world.
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“I grew up in Portland and
Albuquerque,” Drew said. “I lived here until
I was 18, and then I socialized in New
Mexico a little bit. I saved up my money
’cause grunge at the time was big and
Portland was rapidly starting to lose its
grittiness and its realness, so I decided to
see other places. When you grow up
somewhere, you think the world revolves
around that place.”
Not that Albuquerque was as far as he
got. He’s traveled throughout Europe,
staying with former exchange students
he knew. He spent weeks in Paris,
Poland, Germany, Belgium and beyond.
“You tell people this, and they get
jealous,” he said.
I immediately told him that I was jealous
Our conversation soon moved to more
immediate and less aspirational
topics, such as the nature of
living outside.
“Homelessness is
both a physical
condition and mental
condition,” Drew
said. “I found out
it’s a sensation
more than
anything.
Anywhere I lay
my head is my
home. I think
that that’s
very true, it’s
a semantic
issue. What
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Street Roots • April 28-May 4, 2017
is a home? A house is a roof over your head,
but what is your home? Is that person living
in a tent with people they consider a family
really homeless or houseless? Other
languages would say that we are houseless
- we are in a condition of houslessness.
“I took enough sociology classes to know
that playing the lottery and smoking
cigarettes are symptoms of poverty. Or are
they symptoms? Or are they a result? The
lottery gives you hope - you have hope
when you play that, and it gets you through
the week. Are people just defending these
things that are
antiquated? Maybe
we’ve evolved a
little bit and
found out more
about the
human
condition
and it
doesn’t
have to be
a cycle of
homelessness? These things get codified
and put into textbooks and locked in and
that’s how it’s gotta be,” Drew said.
“I’m just wondering about how locked in
people are to their idea about how things
are or should be and how far they’re willing
to go to defend a negative attitude towards
the human condition.”
While he has what could be described as
a realist’s view, Drew is not all doom and
gloom. We discuss what an ally would look
like with the houseless community.
“A person that doesn’t sneer at a
homeless person,” he said. “A person that
has compassion, and understands that
homeless people aren’t homeless because
they want to be homeless. People like to
fool themselves into believing that’s what a
person wants.“
Drew returned to Portland in January and
has been selling Street Roots since then.
“I’d always supported Street Roots but
never had - I’d always been able to find a
job relatively quickly,” he said. “Before, I
would always give my jingling change to a
Street Roots vendor. You take it all because
you’re doing something I like. John Waters
is on the cover, I’ll buy a copy.”
Drew said that at Street Roots, “vendors
are trying - they’re trying to be
autonomous, they’re trying to be
independent.”
Like many Street Roots
vendors, Drew is seeking
housing. He has a business
plan too.
“They should make a
Portlanders,” he said.
“We’ll have loggers and
fishermen there.”
You can find Drew
on his turf near
Stumptown on
Southeast 45th
Avenue and
Division Street.
by E liza b e th C o n s id in e