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Originally Posted by jimjamuser
Wow!!!! That was REALLY some way interesting post. Good to not be afraid to relate to low points in ones life (everybody has those, few let them out to get oxygen). That WAS pure participation. And I was beginning to think that this site was just about CV info-bullies and threads like - What candy bar did you like growing up?
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It wasn't a low point in my life, at all. I wasn't homeless. I slept in a graveyard WITH homeless people. They invited me. I was welcomed among them because I was a street musician, and Harvard Square (Cambridge, MA) has a sort of counter-culture there with buskers, homeless, near-homeless, artists of all sorts, and "poor college students on scholarships." I considered it an honor and a privilege to share their "living space." To allow an "outsider" into the only semblance of privacy they have, is a very rare opportunity and a huge gesture of trust on their part.
The condemned building was a sort of flop-house for a group of the street people (not homeless exactly - but still part of the counter-culture). I was "with" one of them for several months, he was a Vietnam Veteran suffering from PTSD, alcoholism, and a rare gift of expressing himself through music. He's mostly cleaned up his act, gotten the help he needed, and is now a street-minister who uses his music to spread the good word and help others who live in difficult circumstances.
The stories I share are mostly stories of my personal observance - of other people. How they touched me and my life through THEIR experiences. That's why I'm so passionate about this topic. It breaks my heart to see these kids having to grow up afraid to leave their front door, out of fear of "charged with being black in public."