PHILIP
“Why are you doing that?”
TONY
“Doing what?”
PHILIP
“You’re a homeless guy tossing bits of your bread to pigeons, that’s what.”
TONY
“Well sometimes they’re the only company I have.”
Archive for the 'homelessness' Category
Tossing bread upon the waters
July 8, 2007Against the wind
July 6, 2007
TONY
“There’s this woman who comes around, she’s got this homelessness project [commonweave.org]. Her name is Tanya and she’s getting folks to make scarves and give scarves to street people. She’s been bringing me lunch just about every day. You should say something about her on our blog.”
Just walk on by
July 4, 2007
TONY
“You see that guy in the blue shirt coming this way?”
PHILIP
“Sure. Why ?”
TONY
“Believe it or not, he’s walked past me nearly everyday for maybe 5 years and he never once looked me in the eye.”
Smog alert
June 28, 2007
TONY
“That smog was really bad yesterday. I didn’t get here ’til 3:30pm. Anyway, thank God I got myself one of those Ventolins. You know, it’s harder than most people think, working in the summer.”
The justice of sodomy
January 31, 2007Frozen assets
January 29, 2007 
PHILIP
This bike is Tony’s only asset with a street value.
His other assets:
– a box of photos and mementos (stored at a friend’s house);
– a sleeping bag and blankets (hidden during the day); and
– his personal effects (stored at the Don Jail).
Tony is back in the Don Jail
January 26, 2007PHILIP
He went in front of a judge yesterday but did not make bail. I don’t know what the charge(s) are.
It’s going to be very cold tonight [-20C], so I see a good side to his situation, although I don’t know if Tony would agree.
I’ll tell you more when I speak to him.
Job troubles, bone troubles and crack troubles
December 29, 2006PHILIP
“Tony, why don’t you look for a job? One guy even put a question on the blog asking why you don’t look for a job every day. Lots of people genuinely don’t understand why you don’t. I even bet quite a few people who are sympathetic to the homeless issue have problems with the job thing.”
TONY
“OK, well, first of all, you don’t get paid for looking for a job because you’re not at your panhandling station. So how am I supposed to get food when I’m looking for a job?
“And how are folks supposed to call me when I don’t even have a phone? Well, if anyone ever finds out that I went and got a cell phone, I bet most of ’em wouldn’t give me money again. A homeless guy with his own cell phone?! You got to be kidding me. Even if someone gave it to me I’m dead in the water.
“Then there’s that I don’t even have an address. You can’t even a shower except in a shelter or sometimes when you rent a room.
“Look at the bags under my eyes. How’s someone going to hire you if you got bags under your eyes since you don’t get enough sleep?
“I’ve got a bad back, my knees are killing me and there’s my collar bone. So I can’t do stuff with lots of walking or lifting things like I used to. I used to deliver those big phone books. You should try carrying eight phone books on your shoulder going straight uphill.
“Plus my feet are real bad. I’ve got a [deep skin] crack in both of ’em now.
“Anyway, just have those folks walk in my shoes for one day. Then you’ll understand what it’s all about.”
Homeless Man Speaks 