the faces of homelessness

Went to a homeless camp on assignment today.  Wow.  I left with a little more understanding then when I came.

Della has never had a stable life.  Never.  Her parents died when she was young and she said that gave her PTSD.  She's 48 and lives in a tent with her boyfriend Dave.  She has a wit about her and I can tell you she's street smart and articulate.  And if you fuck with her you'll lose.  That's why I took the Bible she insisted I take.  I didn't want to tell her she'd be better off using it for fire starter.

Rex has been chronically homeless since his father kicked him out of the house at 16.  He lives behind Sonic and gets social security for food.  He's on parole for charges he said were drummed up.

Mike said he keeps warm when he sleeps under five blankets.  He plans on heading Alabama in a few weeks to get back to his family.  "I've seen enough of Colorado", he said.

Chas said he never got job training and has little job skills.  He gets temp jobs when available and has been homeless for only a few months.  He was a fairly "normal" guy, staying clean cut and neat.

The common thread with all these people are they never had a strong or stable family life and they never got a good education.  period.  I have no answers.  I wish I did.

Ok after that I went out to Peterson AFB.  Quite the contrast.

This Col. gave a slide show on Peterson Air Force Base 101.

I was thinking ,"why am I here?"  I mean really, I guess I got file art of the Col.

but really it was such a needless assignment, as there was no story.

So after that I needed to go and just go somewhere that was neither a bummer or unnecessary.

So I stopped by Prospect Lake.  The warm sun felt good.

That's all I got for you.  I know pretty bleak.  Tomorrow's my first Wednesday off.

Lookin' forward to it.  Keep it real, C.