CORRECTION
The Oct. 27 edition of Street Roots
included a photo of a campsite with
incorrect information in the caption. The
campsite’s owner was misidentified. The
photo was taken by Damien Blakeley in
the fall of 2016. Also, the photographer’s
first name was misspelled.
Street Roots strives for accuracy and
regrets errors. Please send requests for
corrections or clarifications to Joanne Zuhl
at joanne@streetroots.org.
P H O T O B Y D A M IA N B L A K E L E Y /
SISTERS O F T H E R O A D
Answers to Page 15 Puzzles
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Street Roots • Nov. 3-9, 2017
Vendors
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BY LEONORA KO
S T A F F W R IT E R
avid Avery Samson is a natural
leader who makes the world a better
place through his art and his
activism.
“I have healed myself with art,” David
said, and he wants to do the same for
others.
Early on, David studied art at Clackamas
Community College and quickly became a
de facto teacher’s assistant by tutoring
other art students. He also supported a wife
and three children, supervised kitchen
crews and agitated for the union in the food
service industry.
But his world fell apart when his wife left
him and took the kids.
“I had built up a rock shop. I do lapidary
work - gold, silver and stone,” David said.
“When me and my wife divorced, I lost my
shop. I lost everything, and I kind of gave
up for about six years.”
He went into deep depression, drank and
used drugs and ended up at Dignity Village,
an intentional community
of nearly 60 homeless
people near the
Portland International
Airport.
At Dignity Village,
David took on
leadership roles
such as village
chairman and
security head. As
a donations
officer, he made
sure everyone got
their fair share.
He became a
communal chef
so that all would
have enough to eat.
He was also an eloquent
voice as an outreach officer
and spoke to the Ashland City
Council and Eugene Rotary Club.
D
But David was still having troubles.
“During the day, I was sober and I would
attend to all my duties,” he said. “At night, I
was just getting baked.”
David’s recovery came through a series
of events.
He said he began meeting with Michele
Mannix, a gifted drug and alcohol counselor
from Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare.
Through counseling and after the deaths of
two friends from alcoholism, David started
asking himself: “What am I doing here? I
have education, I have experience, lots of
skills. How do I get to the other side?
“I sort of wrote my way out of it. I filled
75 spiral notebooks with political, spiritual
and physical observations and poetry. I
found my way back to myself with it.”
When his stepmother died and left him
art supplies, his creative side got blown
open: “I realized that she actually had a lot
more aspirations and hopes for me than I
had ever assumed.”
David went cold turkey from drugs and
alcohol and moved from Dignity Village to a
house where he takes care of his father.
He taught himself Photoshop and created
mandalas.
“I started feeling better and better. Now
it’s to the point unless I do two or three
pieces of artwork a day on
the computer, I feel
David hopes to start a website and sell
T-shirts with his designs.
“I don’t want to do anything other than
inspired stuff, beautiful colors, patterns and
shapes - because the world is full of
ugliness. I always believe in bringing in joy.”
For now, David and his girlfriend sell
Street Roots and beads along a two-mile
stretch from the Multnomah County
Courthouse to Safeway on Southeast
Hawthorne Boulevard.
“Two-thirds of the money that we make is
actually beads,” David said. “Street Roots is
more of a talking point and it fits right in
with my personal mission - as a person and
as an artist. Street Roots has the luxury of
not being beholden to (government or
corporations). So a lot of times, those
articles are a lot more hard-hitting and to
the point. And I like that.”
David’s goal continues to be sobriety and
skills for the houseless.
“The people on the street are not there
by choice,” he said. “They have mental
health problems or financial difficulties or
things that are beyond their control. If
those people were given an option - a real
valid option - they would take it. Almost
none of these people would live like this.
“I’m one of the most blessed people
where I have choices. Me and Jo have to
struggle to help my dad pay bills for
the house and food, but we have a
house. In back of the house, I’ve
got a wood shop, a metal shop,
and I’m starting to grow my
rock and jewelry shop again.
If I can make enough off my
T-shirt idea, just imagmer'-
supporting other artists that
could come and use my shop.
“There’s a power to doing
things by hand and creating,”
said David. “My activism is
spiritually based: take it
directly to the people.”
o
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