Adam Walls discovered why The Hood is The Hood: Holy Crap!

Wow.  Fucking wow.  That's my first thoughts after listening to this TED Talk.  Mad props to Adam Wall for doing the research on this.  I don't even know what else to say.  If you're any kind of minority, hate racism, or are interested in the affordable housing issue, just watch this talk. 

Net Neutrality is teetering on the brink of collapse

The net neutrality that has led to tons of average people creating cool web content, small businesses, innovation, and a more democratic business world is on the brink of going away.  It's been dismantled by the FCC, and is up for a very close vote in the Senate right now.  If passed it goes to the House.  So, we the people of the U.S. are in the lame ass position of hoping Washington D.C. will do the right thing and not cower to corporate interests.  Never a hopeful scenario.  This article from The Hill has recent details on the issue.

SAVE NET NEUTRALITY!

Judging Maya and Michael

 Although I'm not an official artist in the Studios at 625 on Trade here in Winston, Rachel White has welcomed me in, and is an Energizer Bunny when comes to promoting art.  She put these two drawings, done in my Sharpie art scribble style, in some competition with official judges and a cash prize.  She is always bouncing between her own projects, guiding people through wine and art projects at her Designs, Vines, and Wines, ($20, wine to sip, cool projects anyone can do and take home), promoting art, organic gardening and promoting wines.  When she gets an idea, she just goes full steam at it, so I don't even know the details yet.  But these are two of my better works, and recent ones, so we'll see what happens.  Thanks Rachel! 

Update:  It's an upcoming juried art show at Delurk Gallery that she entered me in.  

Homeless man to working artist: How I created my own job in Winston-Salem

Full disclosure:  I'm still homeless for the moment.  But I have enough work lined to to believe I'll be able to rent a room full time in the next few weeks.  The drawing of Kurt Cobain, above, was one I did for the show at Earshot Music (3254 Silas Creek, W-S).  For me, that drawing was a milestone, taking my work to another level.  Phred, owner of Earshot, used it for the online flyer, as well.  The remaining works there will be up until the end of February.

The reality of the local job market hit me at a job fair I went to in Kernersville a few years ago.  I had a doctor's appointment that morning, and showed up with my paper resume' at a large church about 10:00 am.  As I walked in, I saw the line of job seekers coming out of the multi-purpose room and heading down a hallway.  A long hallway.  I walked past the people also in line for the 100 jobs at a local plant.  The hallway turned, the line continued... and continued... and continued.  None of the people looked happy.  I was half expecting to see a "Welcome to Virginia" sign before I got to the end of the line.  By the time I got there, I had walked past about 2,500 people.  My resume' had gaps in employment (when I was homeless) and several years as a taxi driver in California, where I worked 70-100 hours a week, and was also homeless.  I lived in my taxi while as that industry collapsed due to new technology.

While most people in the line talked about the lottery-esque chance at getting one of the jobs, the Californian in me thought, "Man, I should open up a snack bar next to this line, these people need snacks...and some caffeine."  Years of being around the highly entrepreneurial people in the BMX and skateboard industries gave me a different perspective.  I had seen many, many people start their own businesses, and wind up making a good living.  Several are now millionaires.  I knew a "real job" wasn't the only answer.  Like 2,400 people in that line that day, I didn't get a job.  In fact, in applying for about 150 jobs over a couple years in this area, I only got one call back, and got turned down for that fast food job when the manager saw I was fat, over 50, and a former taxi driver.  I had never experienced anything like that.  Up until age 28, I got hired at every single job I ever applied for.  Those ranged from working at a shooting range in Idaho to being a proofreader at national magazines, to working on the stage crew of the American Gladiators TV show.  I was used to getting rejected by women, but not for jobs. 

I was living with my mom, in Kernersville, after my dad's death in 2012, and things were tense and money was tight.  Finally, in late 2015, I decided to step up my "art game," since my weird drawings with Sharpie markers were the only thing that made me any money at all.  I spent a couple of hours on the computer, looking at all kinds of art, and asking myself a simple question, "What could I draw that I would want on MY wall?"  I finally found a picture of Bruce Lee, my first childhood hero, and drew it.  I liked it.  I taped it up on my bedroom wall.  And I started asking friends online if I could draw something for them.

It started slow, and I sold the drawings really cheap, usually only getting $1 to $2 an hour for the time I spent working on them.  But I was able to draw fairly consistently, and I was able to greatly increase my skills.  I already had a unique style of drawing with Sharpie markers, something I'd been doing since actually living in an indie art gallery (while driving the owner's taxi on the weekends) in 2005-2006.  I call my technique "scribble style."  To get each final color,  I scribble several layers of colors, 3 to 8 in all, over each other.  When I got around to looking for people doing the same thing online, I found there weren't any.  My scribble style was unique, apparently in the whole world.  That surprised me, because there are a lot of people, artist Jessie Armand in particular, who do really cool things with Sharpies.  But no one does the scribble thing I do.

So I kept plugging away at it, and fighting with my mom because we never got along well to start with, and the financial pressure just kept things tense.  Even though she had a car I used, I was never able to make it here to the First Friday Gallery Hop in Winston-Salem to meet other artists and gallery owners.

At the end of May last year, I finally just packed up my stuff, stored most of it in a friend's closet, and came to Winston-Salem with about $15 in my pocket.  I already knew the city well, I worked as a taxi driver here in 2011-2012, until my dad's stroke and eventual death.  It wasn't like I was wishing on some long shot of being a world famous artist or something.  By that point, I knew I had the skills and unique style to become a working artist, and eventually make a living with my Sharpie art... if I could survive until that happened.

Homelessness is no joke.  There was a homeless man who was savagely beaten and later died here last year.  I knew him by sight, though I never talked to him.  Bad things happen on the streets, I'd been homeless enough before to know that well.  But coming here to turn my art and writing into a business was a leap of faith.  I knew intuitively that it was time to go for it, all or nothing.

I built a lean-to in a patch of woods I'd hiked in years before.  I used to go there to get some exercise when driving the taxi.  After three days with little sleep and lots of bug bites, I ran into a guy who guessed my situation, talked to me a while, and then offered me an old tent he had in his trunk.  I can't tell you how great that first night in the tent felt.  It made my existence possible as I spent my days drawing in a library or fast food joint.  The tent turned out to be huge, but didn't have a rain fly, so I got wet often during the summer thunderstorms.  I kept working away on my drawings, promoting them online, and talking to local people to look for ways to sell them.  I found little ways to make money to scrape by, and struggled day by day just to survive.  Some days a single McChicken sandwich at McDonald's served as breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Usually I could manage two cheap sandwiches and drinks there a day.

Many people asked why I didn't go to the homeless shelters to stay.  I stayed in them a few times years before, and learned they are not geared to helping people get back to work.  They're geared towards getting people into programs, usually for mental health or addiction reasons, and then getting those people to scam Social Security Disability so taxpayers have to pay their way for the rest of their lives.  There are a few people who get Disability legitimately, but they seem to be far outnumbered by lazy scammers.  I just wasn't down with that.  Plus, I had my niece's old laptop, which I used to promote my art and to blog, and laptops won't last long in any shelter.  Either it would get stolen, destroyed by some jealous goofball, or I'd get jacked for it while walking around during the day. 

But the main reason was, when you stay in a shelter you have to be inside that building by about 7 pm every night.  There's a reason for that, it keeps guys out of a lot of trouble.  I knew my future depended on meeting people in the art scene here, centered mainly on Trade Street.  Those people aren't around during the days.  I learned long ago that getting around the people making cool stuff happen is the key to success in anything.  In the shelters, the majority of guys spend their time arguing, playing spades, or stealing socks.  Those aren't the people who could help my new career happen.  So I chose the woods.

That, of course, has its own set of issues.  The biggest thing most people don't understand about homelessness is that, the minute you become homeless, going to the bathroom and sleeping become illegal.  You can literally get arrested for going to the bathroom in a business if you don't buy something, or sleeping anywhere.  Last fall I managed to get arrested, for the first time in my 51 year life, for buying donuts.  Technically, the charges were trespassing and resisting arrest.  But I literally got arrested for walking into a store (that I had been told to leave, and did leave, earlier)and buying a pack of donuts.  I jumped when the officer grabbed me from behind, which qualifies as "resisting" in their eyes.  So in addition to to the other challenges of trying to go from homeless to small business person, I spent three days in jail.  Generally I'm a fan of trying new things, but I don't recommend that one.  Avoid jail if you can.

Back to the tent.  I'm sure most of you have gone camping at some point, and had your adventures.  But sleeping in the tent night after night led to a few new adventures.  I huddled under my rain poncho during the most intense thunderstorm I've ever witnessed.  I had raccoons and a fox wander by at night.  I found a baby snake in my tent one morning.  That was interesting.  I managed to catch it in a little box I used as a soap box, and let him loose by a fallen log.  Win-win for both of us.  I spent many wet, soggy, cold, and not-so-happy nights in the tent.

One night I returned to find some kids had thrown sticks and ripped my tent.  I patched it up with shipping tape.  Another time my tent had been searched, everything gone through, (I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs, just for the record) and there was a three foot long knife cut in the side of my tent.  There were two pairs of blue latex gloves discarded on the trail out.  I'm pretty sure who was responsible for that.  I'm homeless, there was nothing I could do about it, except patch the rip with more shipping tape, and just keep pressing on day after day.

In my days in BMX freestyle, there's one lesson we all learned early, on the physical level.  When you fall down, get back up and try again.  It becomes ingrained in BMXers, skateboarders, and action sports athletes of any kind.  We just don't give up.  That's a big part of why so many action sports people become successful in business later on.   

One night I returned in the dark, tired and just wanting to go to sleep, when I found people in my tent.  At that point, anything can happen.  Luckily for all involved, they went on their way as I politely, but firmly, told them to leave.  They're my "neighbors" now.  They have their own tent or something.  My tent collapsed under the six inches of snow we got in January.  I managed to afford a motel room that night, but I spent the next two nights huddled in the wet and partially collapsed tent until I got it shoveled off and back up.

Then came a break.  A couple of guys watching me draw at a McDonald's commented on my work, which was a picture of a musician.  They said I should go talk to the people at the music shop across the street.  So I did.  Within a short time, Phred and Jane from Earshot Music put a couple of my drawings up on the shop wall.  The response was good, so Jane asked me to do several more and do a proper show there.  I spent the late summer and early fall drawing as much as possible, so I could make it happen.  That's the show that the drawing above is a flyer for.  Several pieces have sold, and led to more orders.  I knew that was my shot, and I ran with it.  I owe a huge thanks to Phred and Jane for giving a chance to a sketchy, and usually smelly, homeless guy, based on my work itself.

Around the same time, I finally made it down to the First Friday Gallery Hop on Trade (and Liberty) Street.  I wandered around, with my big sketch pad in wrapped in garbage bags (to keep rain out), and showed my work to anyone interested.  I started talking to a woman named Luba, who really liked my stuff.  She led me around, showing my work to everyone she could find.  She introduced me to Rachel White, of Designs,Vines, & Wines who's in the Studios at 625 building on Trade Street.  I went by the next couple First Fridays, and Rachel put some of my work up in here area, and dubbed me a "featured artist" for the month of February.  Rachel is an Energizer bunny when it comes to promotion, and has helped me immensely, and I have to give her a big shout out for all her help.  My Michael Jackson drawing and one of Maya Angelou are in her front window, along with great work from other artists, right now.

Between Earshot Music, Designs, Vines, and Wines, and my own online promotion, I now have a solid six weeks of paying work lined up.  That means I need to finish up this blog post and get back to work pretty quick.  I'm writing this post now because it seems I have finally reached the tipping point where I can say I'll be able to get a place to live, and make a living, as an artist, from now on.  It's been a wild ride, and I don't expect the craziness to end, but I feel I'm at the starting point of a legitimate new career and some great opportunities.

I'd also like to thank Lisa O'Donnell from the Winston-Salem Journal.  She did the initial artist profile on me tying into the Earshot show, and has become a friend as well.  My friends Rick and Ben have also been lifesavers during these last crazy months, and I owe both of them big thanks (and some money) as well.  Thanks guys!

So that's the recent part of my story.  I need to keep working every day, do my community service and pay my fine from my arrest, and try to stay out of the types of trouble that plague homeless people.  I'm writing this now to show that it is possible for someone here in the Triad to create their own job, even starting from a low level like homelessness.

You can see four recent drawings of mine in the last post.  You've found my blog, where I write about several subjects, and share my artwork.  I was a writer long before I was serious as an artist.  You can check out my drawings in person at:

Earshot Music - 3254 Silas Creek Pkwy, W-S (right next to Marshall's, same shopping center as A.C. Moore and Toys-R-Us, across from Hanes Mall.)  Five drawings are still up until the end of Feb., probably a couple up after that.

Designs, Vines &Wines/Studios at 625 - at, you guessed it, 625 Trade Street, downtown Winston Salem.  Several drawings are up there right now, and a few small signed prints are available as well.

What I do best is... 18" X 24" drawings of musicians, athletes, or other performers.  For now, I work from photos of taken by others, but once I finally get a decent camera, I'll shoot my own photos to draw from.

  Here's my other social media info:

Facebook fan page: Steve Emig The White Bear 
Facebook page: Steve Emig (in Winston-Salem)  
Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/stevenemig13/my-sharpie-art-20172018/
Likes, shares, and shameless promotion are always welcome...


I don't have a phone, really kids, I don't, so no Instagram or Twitter yet.  You can reach me at: stevenemig13@gmail.com if you have questions, comments, or want me to draw you something.  It's "steven", not steve, don't forget the "n".  

"The White Bear" is my nickname/penname from the BMX days of the early 90's, and a lot of people in that world know me best by that name.  It has nothing to do with race.  It came from a poem I wrote when my first really serious girlfriend dumped me way back when.  My roommate Chris read the poem, and started calling me The White Bear to harass me.  The nickname stuck.

Recent Sharpie art 2/23/2018

 I was asked to draw Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead, and put the drawing on Facebook while waiting to get paid for it.  A friend in California wanted to buy it.  So I did this second Jerry Garcia drawing for her.  I never got paid for the first one, so it's now on sale at Studios at 625 on Trade Street (in Winston-Salem).  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24"

 A man who'd bought a couple other drawings asked if I could do an "amazing" Michael Jackson drawing.  He never got back to me when I sent him the photo of this one.  It's now in the front window of Studios at 625 on Trade Street, and is for sale.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24".

I drew this Tupac for my show at Earshot Music (Silas Creek at Hanes Mall Blvd./next to Marshall's), but it sold before it made it up on the wall.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24".

This one is my favorite of the recent ones, my tribute to the song "Tainted Love."  The Marilyn Manson version of the song has a web edit with Harley Quinn and The Joker from the Suicide Squad movie, and I thought that would be fun to do.  Honestly, I did this one just for myself, but it is up on the wall for sale at Earshot Music.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24".

All of these drawings took 25 to about 40 hours to draw, and are colored with my unique Sharpie "scribble style," where I scribble three to eight layers of different colors to arrive at the final color.  This is my own unique style, which I've been doing for 12 years now.  At the moment, I have work lined up to do for the next five weeks or so, but if you're interested in a drawing after that you can email me at stevenemig13@gmail.com . I go by Steve, but my email is "steven," don't forget the "n".  Or you can check out my finished works at Earshot Music (til the end of February) or Studios at 625, at 625 Trade Street in Winston-Salem. 

I'd like to give a HUGE Thank You to Phred and Jane Buck at Earshot Music, and Rachel White at Studios at 625 for giving my work a chance to be seen locally.  I also want to shout out all the people from the old school BMX and Facebook world who bought drawings over the last couple years as I worked to hone my skills and turn this into an actual job.  Thanks everyone!

Would you live in a town Google built?

I found this video by Nick Paris, who lives in Toronto apparently.  He does a really good job at gleaning the very limited details out of the initial plan.  Here's the basics: Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has a unit called Sidewalk Labs.  Sidewalk's mission is to figure out how to make cities better using today's ever changing technology.  They were looking for a place to try out these ideas in an actual community, and decided on an area of the Toronto waterfront known as Quayside (pronounced keyside).  So it's an empty chunk of land right now, and prone to flooding, which seems like a dodgy place to start.  But, hey, they're Google (sort of), they fart money, they can afford it.

They're going to spend a year planning with the local development people, and getting it up to spec on the flood issue.  Then they are going to build a neighborhood with "modular" buildings.  Yeah, that's the fancy word for trailer parks, but this will be a new kind of modular.  The building will have a strong outer framework, and minimal stuff inside.  This way, either they will switch modules out, or change the insides quickly somehow, when a building changes purpose.  So far, that sounds good.

Sidewalk developers will try to get a chunk, maybe 20%, of energy from renewable sources in the area itself.  This will be done with heat and solar collection, it appears.  Again, sounds cool.  Then they will try to encourage people to walk or ride bikes as much as possible in the neighborhood.  Sounds good, except, this is Toronto.  CANADA.  They have winter... SERIOUS winter.  So the bike riding may suffer half of the year.  Even so, sounds good.

There will also be sensors all over the freakin' place, which means your every move will likely be tracked even more than it is in our current world.  That could get really crazy.  I mean, will the toilet send you a text message if you take  a big dump and nearly clog it, like "eat more fiber this afternoon or you'll be banned from pooping in the neighborhood."  I doubt it will go that far, but who knows what it will be like in a completely sensor rich environment.  This is a double edged sword and will probably be good and bad in ways.

Another thing is that they will have "taxibots" (as a former taxi driver, that bums me out) and "vanbots" to drive people around.  They ultimately want to ban traditional vehicles from the neighborhood, except for emergency vehicles.  So... no old guys with classic cars living there, and no rat rods.  But also, no assholes doing 70 mph down a residential street at 3am.

The housing is aimed to be affordable for a much wider group of people.  That's good, Toronto is, in many ways, one of the more progressive cities out there, and rent is fucking ridiculous from what I hear.  Affordable housing, starting with tiny units of about 150 square feet, will be available, as will larger units and some kind of new, creative financing.  So what does that mean?  Yeah, you guessed it, in a couple years, you to could be Korbin Dallas from The Fifth Element, except you'd be out of work because he was a taxi driver.  Lelu multipass?  I doubt it.  


OK, not exactly what it will look like, but it is about the right size. 

So, will Quayside in Toronto show us the future?  Or will it be a lame-ass group of boring tech-tards trying to hack the taxibots to pick-up strippers or drive their friends out onto the Lake Ontario ice in the winter?  Who knows?  Will Quayside look as stupid in 40 years as Tomorrowland in Disneyland looked in 1995? 

Hey, Google and their co-companies have a shitload of money and know tech.  They will probably come up with a ton a really good things to help our cities in the future.  But will it be a place we want to live?  I really don't know.  Time will tell. 

Here's the feature story in The Atlantic about this project.

Here's a short promo video that makes the idea look really good.

Alright, let's get to work! 2/20/2018

On the art front, things have just jumped to light speed.  Unable to find a "real job" for years here in central NC, I decided to step up my art game a little over two years ago, and turn it into a business.  I've been plugging away at drawings of people in my unique Sharpie marker "scribble style" ever since.  But I haven't been making a living.  I made the necessary move here to Winston-Salem last summer where the best regional art scene is, despite my lack of money for little things like, you know, rent and food.  Things have been crazy since, and sketchy as a junior high art class.  But I now have my drawings up in two great locations, and just sold three of them, including the Johnny Cash "Man in Black" drawing above. 

I was stoked that this all happened in a couple of days.  It's the exact opposite of what happened a month or so ago, when a couple people asked me to do drawings, then ghosted when it came time to pay.  So the recent sales allowed me to rent a "cheap" motel room for a couple nights, and indulge in a luxurious $5 pepperoni pizza from Little Caesar's.  Make fun if you like, I love those pizzas.  I definitely needed a break from my sketchy existence, and really, REALLY needed a shower. 

Then, more surprises.  Good ones.  I have orders for more drawings, besides the couple smaller drawings I was getting ready to start.  I am STOKED!  If things work out, which is never assured in creative work, I could make the jump back to having a stable roof over my head in a matter of weeks.  I might be busy for the next six weeks solid.  That's a real good thing. 

Like I said, it's like somebody flipped a switch and said, "OK, start buying Steve's drawings."  I was telling a friend last week that creative work is like that, you just plug along working, promoting the work how you can, and then a sudden leap seems to come out of nowhere.  Alright, let's get to work.

Gold bug Peter Schiff on the coming financial crisis

I've been listening to Peter Schiff's ideas for maybe 20 years now, and I believe most of what he's predicting in this speech will come to pass.  Since few, if any, of the 1,500 people who looked at this blog last week will listen to this, I'll paraphrase him.  In short, we're in for another recession soon, the dollar will lose a ton of its value, which means the price of gold will rise.  For the average person, this coming financial crisis will be worse than the Great Recession of 2008.  I'm with him, by and large, on that part. 

He says that because the Republicans and President Trump have claimed credit for the rise in the stock market over the last year, that they, and capitalism itself, will get blamed for the coming crisis.  That will lead to a "Socialist-type" president in 2020, someone like Bernie Sanders.  I think that Trump will be impeached, and will be forced out of office.  Now that we've seen him in action publicly for a couple of years, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Donald Trump committed suicide when the shit really hits the fan, but I hope I'm wrong there.  All narcissism aside, I think Pence will inherit the financial mess, and won't do much of anything.  He's just not a strong leader. 

We will get a 2020 president from farther Left, Elizabeth Warren is a possibility, or someone much like her.  There will be a push for more social spending to help the TENS OF MILLIONS of Americans struggling to simply survive.  It will be an incredibly tough time for a huge number of people, no doubt about it. 

Here's where I think Peter Schiff is wrong.  First Capitalism IS to blame for this coming crisis  to a large degree.  That doesn't mean capitalism is evil, like many on the Left believe.  I'm a capitalist, I'm working on starting my own little business.  But Capitalism sets the stage for unbridled greed, and the "capitalists" completely rig the game in their favor and suck wealth away from the average working people.  This starts small, and increases over many decades.  It's just plain ridiculous now.  What's really funny is that the "true capitalists," the ones who actually work hard to build well-run businesses, aren't the ones who rig the game.  It's the half-assed, incompetent business people, those who are in business due to cronyism and not talent, that work with politicians to rig the game.  They do this because they simply aren't smart and hardworking enough to stay in the game if it isn't totally rigged in their favor.  These people are going to get ANNIHILATED in this next recession.

But by rigging the entire financial system to support lazy, incompetent, groups of cronies, they literally set the whole system up for collapse.  And that's where we are now.  The average people have been so screwed over for so long, that they're rising up.  Different groups of average people are feeding off each other's energy, and growing in numbers, power, and social steam.  The populist movement, on the Left and the Right, is still growing and still gaining steam, and will erupt big time in this next recession.  But there won't be a Republican rebound in 2024.  IF the United States is still alive then as a country (which I hope it is), there will be a massive restructuring of how things work across the board. 

All of this is part of trends and themes that are much, MUCH longer in time frame than even Peter Schiff thinks about. 

So is there an upside?  You bet.  The greatest change and innovation happen during deep recessions and depressions.  There will be a collapse of much of the surviving, Industrial Age economy, but there will also be a huge rise of new businesses, new ideas, and new industries.

So there you go.  That's what I (a currently homeless artist/writer) have to say in response to one of our country's best known, gold-standard believing, financial thinkers.  Time will tell who's closer to the mark.  

Swampfest 2018: BMX like you remember from BITD

Are you a fat old school BMXer like me who's sick of seeing young kids doing backflip quad-tailwhips to abubaca on a tight course manufactured for TV?  If so, lose some weight and get back on a bike.  I'm working on that myself.  In the mean time, sit back and watch this video of the Florideah (?) Swamp Fest that just happened.  This has crazy new school riding, but the "anything can happen anytime" vibe of those contests we remember in the 80's and 90's.  Mad props to whomever put this thing on.

I found the behind-the-scenes video with Trey Jones.  This guy rocks.  Clone him.  Or do something like this on your own.  Awesome.

Schralpin' with Grasso

This post was sparked by a album of photos of old school rider Craig Grasso in the Facebook group "Freestylin'.  It's a bummer, but there aren't many videos with Grasso riding on You Tube.  So I picked this one, which is my edit of the first 2-Hip Meet the Street contest in Santee, California in 1988, from the 2-Hip BHIP video.  Craig Grasso is wearing the black beret and yellow and black shirt.  You can see him painting at :25, and riding at 1:54, 2:36, 4:11, 4:34, and 4:46.   Craig was known as a weird, artsy, funny guy, and not a top placing contest rider.  But he ripped it up.  If you check the results for this comp, Grasso came in 4th in the "Great" (pro) class, behind Dave Voelker, Craig Campbell, and R.L. Osborn.  That's some seriously heavy company.  Just for the record, I'm the guy who ghost rides his bike into the big wall.  I decided I'd only include myself in this clip with a goofy shot, since there were so many guys ripping it up that day, and I couldn't give everyone fair video time.

I actually met Craig Grasso on my first trip to Southern California, riding along with my Idaho trick team partner Jay Bickel.  His family took me to the AFA contest in Venice Beach in 1985.  Jay had a co-sponsorship deal with SE Racing, and they sponsored Todd Anderson and Grasso then.  So on my first trip to see the "real" BMX freestyle world, Jay and I hung out with, Todd, Craig, Steve Broderson and that crew all weekend.  It was epic for us.

My life took me to San Jose, California later that year, when my dad got a job there.  I rode with the Golden Gate Park/Curb Dogs/Ground Control riders for a year, and published a zine about that scene.  That little zine catapulted me to a job at Wizard Publications.  That job changed the course of my life in a huge way, and landed me in Redondo Beach, CA, as a roommate with my co-workers Gork and Lew.  Their local riding spot was The Spot, a brick area on the north end of the Redondo Beach Pier complex.  I followed Lew down there night after night.  Gork, although editor of racing magazine BMX Action then, came down to freestyle at least 4 nights a week.  Locals Craig Grasso, and high school kid Chris Day were down there every night as well.  R.L. Osborn came down to ride 2 or 3 times a week.  Skater Rodney Mullen also would practice on the concrete next to The Spot when staying with Steve Rocco for a few weeks at a time.  It was a great scene, but a much different vibe than the NorCal guys I'd been riding with.  Not better or worse, just different.  Industry guy and natural comedian McGoo came down regularly, often bringing Ceppie Maes and Dizz Hicks with him.  They were the CW factory team then.

We all sessioned and practiced our flatland for a 2 or 3 hours every night.  Chris didn't do anything but flatland, and he was busting his amazing "flail" boomerangs back then, swinging his legs wide like a flair in gymnastics.  He was kicking his legs higher and higher, blowing all our minds, as the weeks went by.  Grasso also had a trick he called the Flail.  But it was totally different.  Craig would start pedaling fast, heading towards a group of people either walking or riding up the bike path.  He would pretend to slip a pedal, drop down onto his top tube, and purposely get all squirrely like he was out of control and going to run into the people.  It was always hilarious as people bailed out of the way in panic.  That, and random jokes, were ways that Craig kept us all laughing night after night.

Flatland riding then was filled with single tricks, like backwards wheelies (on the back pegs), sliders, boomerangs, decades, lawnmowers, and the like.  R.L. Osborn was starting to link his tricks together, something that I, myself, had also begun doing.  He was as much, much better rider, of course, but we had the desire to link tricks in common then.  We also all played games of FREESTYLE, often, like HORSE in basketball, where one guy would do a trick, and everyone else had to pull it or get a letter.  That helped us all progress and try new stuff.

 Lew at the time had nerves of steel.  I would get nervous riding with R.L. or other top riders that came by.  Lew would pull his tricks solid, and with tons of style, no matter who was watching. So that was the main form or riding for our group, the group that Lew dubbed, "Club Homeboy" that fall, before opening that club up to riders everywhere.

At times, for whatever reason, a couple of us would wander off and do some street riding.  At the time, street skating, led by Mark Gonzales (who came by The Spot a couple times) was just becoming a thing.  And Andy Jenkins and Lew at FREESTYLIN' were starting to cover BMX street riding in the magazine.  Those little roaming street sessions were usually Grasso, Lew, and me wandering around to hit some bank or curb jumps.  Grasso, being the weird, artsy guy, even back then, showed his latent creativity in finding weird things to try and ride.  At the time, wall rides and wall fakies hadn't been invented.  So we'd do kickturns and footplants on banks a lot.  Even then, Craig Grasso shredded the street obstacles.

On one of those street sessions, Craig and I realized we both liked to do a backside boneless on a bank.  A backside boneless is a skateboard trick, basically like a BMX can-can footplant, BUT done as one swinging, pendulum motion.  Brian Blyther had been doing can-can footplant flyouts on vert for a while.  But on those, he would flyout, land on the can-can foot, stall a few seconds, then hop back in  But Craig and I, independent of each other, had learned to do a more fluid version, more like a skater, on banks.  What was really weird, was when we tried to figure out exactly when each of us learned that trick.  We discovered we "invented" that trick, me in NorCal in him in SoCal, in the same week.  Trippy.  This is something I saw fairly often in the early days of freestyle.  I called it, "spontaneous revelation."  It's more like a form of the "100th monkey" concept.  Riders in different areas, with no contact to each other, would come up with the same trick at almost the same time.  It seems the idea was out there, and Grasso and I tapped into it simultaneously.  That happened to other riders with other tricks as well back in the 80's.

Then I got laid off at Wizard in December of 1986.  The inside joke was that I got fired because I didn't like the band Skinny Puppy, a big favorite of Andy J. and Lew.  But I just didn't fit the Wizard scene, I was way to uptight and dorky.  But I had enough money saved to pay my rent for January of 1987.  So I was still roommates with Gork and Lew while searching for a new job.  So everyday that month, I'd meet up with Grasso, who lived at home then, and we'd ride around and session different places all day.  One day we'd bomb down 190th street hill and head inland to session a some skaters' ramp.  The next day we'd head up PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and session the Jinx Bank and the Fat Burger banks.  The next day, we'd wander around an find other stuff to ride.  Many days we'd start out at the Wall Ramp in Hermosa Beach.  It was two foundations for a building that never got built.  There was a big concrete slab, a five foot high wall, and then another slab above it.

On the top slab, local skaters had built a tiny mini ramp, eight feet wide and 2 or 3 feet high.  On the bottom slab, there was a launch ramp up against the wall, with a parking block on top of it.  I started doing fakies on it.  I'd been trying to do a fakie on a wall, which wasn't invented yet, for months.  Gork had dubbed the trick the "Spud Stall" since I was from Idaho.  I could get close, but never get my back tire on the wall.  Grasso said my fakies on the launch ramp and parking block were super close to a true wall fakie, with my back tire coming within a couple inches of touching the wall.  But the wall wasn't high enough.  If I tried to go higher, my front wheel would go over the top of the upper slab, and I hang up and fall backwards.  So I never got the wall ride fakie until a couple years later on a wall in Huntington Beach.

Some of you may remember that the person who did get the first wall ride fakie photo was... you guessed it, Craig Grasso.  He did it on the Jinx Bank wall, a bank I found and showed to both Lew and Craig.  That was also the location where the first wall ride photo of Eddie Roman was shot by Windy Osborn.  It's funny how things work out.

While Craig Grasso, in those days, was known mostly as a weird, artsy rider who listened to The Cure and Gene Loves Jezebel, he was also a truly amazing rider, and just a fun guy to hang out and session with.  He could bust four foot airs and several variations, launch a curb jump, bust original tricks on a bank, and lay out serious flatland.  And he was funny as hell all the time.  Just a great person to hang out and session with. 

I know Craig has had some serious struggles since, including in recent years.  I hope things are going better Grasso, and you're out there making people laugh somewhere. 

I'm doing most of my writing on Substack now, check it out:

Steve Emig The White Bear's Substack  

A more spiritual look at the concept of love

While most people are thinking of a more lustful kind of love on Valentine's Day, here's a deeper look at love, a talk pulling from readings of the late Edgar Cayce, the most documented psychic in history.  For those of you who've been turned off to religion in life, maybe this will sound preachy.  This is not for everyone (at the moment anyhow), but for those of you who think it sounds interesting. 

5 Sarcastic Valentine's Day Poems

If you were around in the 90's, I bet you remember this song, but don't know who sings it.  Maria McKee.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Valentine's Day is expensive
So I'm dumping you

Valentine's Day
Has me thoughtful and pensive
I do love you babe
But DAMN you're expensive

Valentine's Day
Is expensive and stupid
So I got my 12 gauge
And shot that damn cupid

It's been many years
Since we first made nookie
But I love you still babe
Though you smell like a Wookie

Valentine's Day
Alone, watching the tube
A big box of candy
A small bottle of lube

Other great songs for people with broken hearts or just sick of Valentine's Day:

The Buzzcocks - "Ever fallen in love"
The Guess Who - "Running Bear"
Johnny Preston - "Running Bear" 
Kerry Getz - "Love has no pride"
Til Tuesday - "Voices carry"
Queen - "Somebody to love" 
K. D. Lang - "Hallelujah"
Meatloaf - "Paradise by the dashboard lights" 
Kerry Getz - "Beautiful to you"
Dropkick Murphys w/Stephanie Dougherty - "Dirty glass" 
Alanis Morisette - "You oughta know"
Linda Ronstadt - "You're no good" 
Joan Jett & Blackhearts - "I hate myself for loving you"
Nazareth - "Love hurts"
J.Geil Band - "Love stinks"
Berlin - "No more words"
The Eagles - "Lyin' Eyes"
Johnny Cash & Hank Williams Jr. - "Kaw Liga"
Meatloaf - "Two out of three ain't bad"
Johnny Cash & June Carter - "Jackson"
Social Distortion - "She's a knockout"
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - "AC/DC"
Carrie Underwood & Miranda Lambert - "Something Bad" 
Social Distortion - "99 to life"
Guns n' Roses - "Used to love her"
Prince - "I could never take the place of your man" 
No Doubt - "Don't Speak" 
Looking Glass - "Brandy"
P!nk - "Me and Bobby McGee"
Janis Joplin - "Me and Bobby McGee"
Ugly Kid Joe - "Everything about you"
Spin Doctors - "Little Miss can't be wrong"
Imelda May - "Psycho"
Janis Joplin (w/Elissa Steamer) - "Take another piece of my heart"
Kenny Rogers & First Edition - "Ruby... don't take your love to town" 
Kerry Getz - "Walk away Renee'"
Left Bank - "Walk away Renee'"
Bobbie Gentry - "Ode to Billy Joe"
Miranda Lambert - "Mama's broken heart"
The Descendents - "She's just my ex"
Sinead O'Conner - "Nothing compares 2 U"
Nirvana - "Where did you sleep last night?"
Lead Belly - "Where did you sleep last night?"
The Black Crowes - "She talks to angels"
Roy Orbison & K.D. Lang - "Crying"
No Doubt- "Sunday morning"
Tori Amos - "Silent All these years"
Patsy Cline - "Three cigarettes in an ashtray" 
Jane's Addiction - "Jane says"
Miranda Lambert - "Little Red Wagon"
Miley Cyrus - "Jolene" 
Dolly Parton & Pentatonix - "Jolene" 
Gloria Jones - "Tainted Love"
Gloria Jones- "Tainted Love (Vixen version)"
Soft Cell - "Tainted Love"
Social Distortion - "Tainted Love"
Imelda May - "Tainted Love"
Marilyn Manson - "Tainted Love"
Linda Ronstadt - "Desperado" 
Jefferson Airplane - "Somebody to love" 

If you're determined to stay depressed, don't listen to any of these songs (NSFW!!!):
The Descendents - "Clean sheets" 
The Buzzcocks - "Orgasm addict" 
The Dead Milkmen - "Punk rock girl" 
Killer Pussy - "Teenage enema nurse" 
The Red Aunts - "The vibrator song"
Tank Girl - "Let's do it"
The Divinyls - "I touch myself" 
Berlin - "Sex"
The Poxy Boggards - "Good ship Venus"
The Merry Wives of Windsor - "Has anybody seen my cock"
The Poxy Boggards - "Hey Nonny, Nonny"
 The Merry Wives of Windsor - "Come roll me away"

3 to 1 ROI on treating mental illness?

According to the report cited in this CNBC article, treating mental illness returns $3 for every $1 spent.  How?  People become happier (or at least less sad), and get way more productive.  Is this just hype to sell more depression meds?  I guess it depends on how you get over the mental illness. 

I want to draw you a kick ass picture

Here's one I never got finished, from a classic street riding photo of Eddie Roman.  One of these days, Eddie, I'll finish it and send it to you.  You want one of these of your favorite rider, musician, or one of an old photo of you riding? 

I'm looking for 25 people who want me to do a custom drawing in my unique Sharpie "scribble style," for $120.  Are you down? 

Steve Emig's White Bear Creations Launch

 

States with worst student loan debt

Just saw this article on CNBC's website which lists the worst ten states affected by student loan debt.  Total student loan debt in the United States is now $1.5 trillion.  That's more than the $1.3 trillion in sup-prime mortgages that collapsed the economy in 2008.  We'll very likely see another Great Recession due to all this student loan debt.  Time will tell. 

There are a lot of colleges here in North Carolina, but on the graphic map, it appears to be in the middle range of student loan debt effect.  How does your state rate?  Follow the link and check.

A look at the homelessness surge in Los Angeles

Here's an L.A. Times article looking at the reasons for the surge in homelessness in Los Angeles county.  I have a lot to say on this subject, but not right now.  Tomorrow, maybe.

In 2000, the United Way and others embarked on the "Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness."  Guess what?  It didn't work.

Art sale #5 - 2/8/18- "Tainted Love," Michael Jackson

 This is my personal favorite of all the drawings I've done in the last few months, and I really don't care if I sell it.  "Tainted Love" featuring Harley Quinn and Joker from Suicide Squad movie.  18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, $120

Michael Jackson, 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper.  This one is in the front window of Studios at 625, in the heart of the Trade Street art scene here in Winston-Salem.  $250 FIRM. 

Other than Michael, I'll wheel, deal, and bundle the drawings in these last 5 posts.  I'm looking to raise/earn $3,000 in the next couple months to turn my art thing into a legit little business.  You can email me at stevenemig13@gmail.com , or PM me on Facebook if interested. 

Art sale- #4 - 2/8/18- Blues Bros., Jerry Garcia, Ron Wilkerson

 From the top:  The Blues Brothers, 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, $120;  Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead, 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, $120;  Ron Wilkerson, 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, $120.

I will deal and bundle all these drawings with those in the other posts.  I'm looking to raise/earn $3,000 in the next couple of months to step up my art into a legit little business.  You can contact me by email at: stevenemg13@gmail.com, or PM me on Facebook if interested. 

Art sale- 3 - 2/8/18- Cash, Simmons, Stefani

 Johnny Cash, "Til things are brighter, I'm the man in black."  18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, $120

 Gene Simmons/KISS- 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, $120

"Gwen and Now"- Gwen Stefani, 1994 &2017, 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, $120

I'm willing to deal and bundle these drawings.  I'm looking to sell these and do $3,000 worth of work in the next couple months to step things up and make this a legit little business.  You can email me at stevenemig13@gmail.com or PM on Facebook if interested in one or more drawings.

Art for sale- 2- 2/8/2018- The Ramones and Kelly Slater

 Joey Ramone, 18" X 24"- Sharpies on paper, $120, will bundle with others and deal.

 The Ramones, 18" X 24"- Sharpies on paper- $120.

Kelly Slater, 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper- $120

All to be sold without frames, and I'll bundle and work deals.  PM on Facebook if interested.

Art for sale 1- 2/8/18

 Carolina Panthers panther, 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper.  $75 or make offer.

 Lebron James/Cavaliers 2016 NBA Champs, 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, $75 or make offer.

Kyrie Irving/Cavaliers 2016 NBA champs, "The Three."  18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, $75 or make offer.

Time to take the next big step

The woman who ordered this Jerry Garcia drawing hasn't come up with the cash.  It's one of the drawings now for sale to help me move to the next step with my art and writing.  I'll be adding more drawings that are currently available tomorrow.  Club White Bear group members get the first shot.

White Bear Creations Launch

The Space X Faclon Heavy and other big rockets

I can't stop laughing when I see this.  Yes, there's now a Tesla Roadster in space.  If you're an old Generation X kid like me, you remember being glued to the TV set as a kid watching the huge Apollo V rockets sending astronauts to the moon.  If you're younger, you probably spent some time watching space shuttle launches live in the 80's and 90's.  Let's face it, most of us have thought about going to space at some point. 

With all the hype around yesterday's Space X launch of the first Falcon Heavy rocket, I wondered just how it stands up against the other rockets humans have launched.  Here's a CNN article comparing the Falcon to other American rockets, past, present, and future. 

CNBC look at Trump's first year

While I take great pleasure in messing with the goofballs who voted for Donald Trump, I'm not a Democrat or a Republican.  Both parties suck at this point.  I avoid the propaganda news channels of Fox (All Republican all the time) and CNN (Christian (in name only) News Network).  If you want an idea of what's actually going on in the world, those two won't give it to you.

I listen to CNBC for a businessperson's take on things, and usually MSNBC for political stuff.  Neither one is is perfect, but I can get a decent take by checking them out and putting the two takes together with some critical thinking.  In the short clip above, we see the CNBC's take on our first (and only full) year with Donald Trump as president.  This clip is only a couple weeks old, and already the stock market has dropped significantly.  We'll see what else happens in the coming months.  I'm betting on a recession that will be even greater than The Great Recession.  I thought it wouldn't start for another 6 months to a year, but we may be at the start of it already.  Time will tell.  I'm also betting that the coming recession will be what the Republicans use as an excuse to impeach Trump and run him out of office.  Like I said, we'll see.

As I write this, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down more than 1,300 points, or roughly 5%, from it's recent all time high.  Hmmmmmmm.

2/4/2018- Air Bum n' Bum?

Life as a homeless artist/writer/wannabe entrepreneur can get pretty weird at times.  I met up with a friend yesterday morning, and chilled for a while.  He had some of my older drawings, so I was able to get them and later take them to Studios at 625 (Trade Street Art scene/Winston-Salem), where Rachel White said she'd like some more of my stuff to put up.  I did some work at the library for a while, then headed to the gallery.

I wound up staying there, did some drawing, met several new people, and watched Rachel help a young couple make bowls out of old record albums, and paint them.  Good use for your mom's old Osmonds records.  Later, the Saturday night poetry jam got started.  We were accompanied by a guy whose name I forget (sorry man) who did an amazing job of accompanying us on a bongo drum.  That led to some freestyle rapping and impersonations.  Good stuff.

I headed out last night, taking a bus, then walking to my campsite.  I knew there was rain coming in the early morning, and that it might freeze into a minor ice storm.  I wasn't really looking forward to that.  As I walked through the woods, I noticed boxes outside my tent.  I was tired, burned out, and just wanted to crawl under the covers and get to sleep.  I tapped on my tent, and heard two voices come from inside.  A young couple.  "Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked the universe.  I politely, but VERY FIRMLY, told them they needed to get out and go somewhere else.  They gave me some bullshit about thinking the camp was abandoned.  It took a while, standing there, tired as hell, in 40 degree chill, hoping things wouldn't get stupid.

When you're homeless, you have to be ready for anything.  And by "anything," I include situations where you might have to fight, to the death, if necessary.  Yes, I mean that absolutely literally.  It CAN happen.  And I have to be ready for it.

In my 8+ years of homelessness, most of that while working full time as a taxi driver and sleeping in my cab, I've had to deal with a lot of crazy situations.  I'm much better at it than I used to be.  But things can always go South in a hurry, and get stupid.  I was praying to myself last night that it wouldn't happen.  The couple got their shoes on, grabbed their stuff, and I pointed the way to a park not too far away with a picnic shelter.  I told them rain was coming, and they could at least avoid the rain there.  They went a different way.  But they left.  The guy seemed to be talking some shit in the distance, but I didn't have any other trouble the rest of the might.  So if there's an Air Bum n' Bum app to rent out the tents of homeless people, take my damn tent off of it, please.  It's in use.  And it's sketchy as hell anyway, it's so old.

Then the dang rain came.  It rained, and rained, and rained...  My bedding is wet around the edges, and it's about 35 degrees out right now.  Not going to be the best night, but hopefully I don't have to deal with any more strangers.  Just another day in the life of a homeless artist/blogger trying to sell my (kickass) drawings and get back to making a decent living again. 

Update:  I met my new "neighbors" this morning, we shook hands and made peace.  Hopefully things will be chill in the 100 acre woods now.

Trade Street First Friday Gallery Hop 2/2/2018

This drawing of Jerry Garcia was not up at the Studios at 625 on Trade Street last night.  But it was in my tablet, and I showed it to a bunch of people who were interested in my work.  I got a great response to my limited group of drawings.  I've been waiting to get paid for this particular Jerry drawing since about Christmas.  Hopefully the money will come in a couple of days. 

At the invitation of Rachel from Designs, Vines, &Wines, I had my Michael Jackson drawing (see last post) up in the front window at Studios at 625 (Trade Street), and she's dubbed me a "featured artist" this month. I was in the gallery drawing, hanging out, and talking to people most of last night.  It was great to be back in a small gallery scene again.  There was free wine samples, crafty beer from a nearby pub, and healthy snacks to be had, while I sipped my Diet Coke.

The tattoo shop down the street had a live suspension happen.  I guess "live" is inferred.  A suspension of a live person is pretty freakin' nutty.  A suspension of a dead person would just smell bad, and be much less exciting.  I didn't go see it.  I was enjoying drawing and talking to those wandering in.  A group painting was there to add to.  We had a small poetry reading, and I got up and did an amazingly bad reading of my "Become" poem.  That's the first time I read a poem in public since the first poetry reading I went to in Huntington Beach, (CA) in about 1994.  At that first reading, a beautiful blond gave me her number, and said she loved my poetry.  We met for coffee a couple days later... and she tried to get me to join Amway.  I haven't gone to a poetry reading since.

A spontaneous hillbilly music jam erupted with a guy playing spoons (forgot your name, sorry) and me busting some hambone knee slapping.  I whipped out my harmonica, and played my song, "Labor Ready Blues," for the first time in public. 

All in all, it was a dang good time.  You missed out. 

February First Friday Art Walk in Winston-Salem -2/2/2018

Today's a cool day for me.  This Michael Jackson drawing above is now hanging in the front window of Studios at 625, on Trade Street in Winston-Salem. I want to thank Rachel (DesignsVinesAndWines.com) for this opportunity.   I'm not really big Michael Jackson fan, but you can't deny his insane amount of talent as a singer, dancer, and pop star.  This was a fun drawing to do.  I wanted to get both a sense of his singing and dancing in it.  For those not familiar with my work, this drawing is done with Sharpie markers on paper, and is 18" X 24".  It is for sale.  My specialty these days is doing drawings of musicians and athletes.  I shade in what I call "scribble style," scribbling several different colors of ultra fine Sharpies over each other to get each final color.  My scribble style is completely unique in the world, which really surprised me when I started looking at other people's Sharpie art online.  There are a lot of people doing really interesting things with Sharpies, but none use my technique.

I came up with my scribble style while actually living in an indie art gallery called AAA Electra 99 in Anaheim, California back in 2005.  I've been playing around with this style since then, doing several different types of drawings.  Most of them weren't very good.  But I kept trying different things.  Two years ago, unable to find ANY job in this area, I decided to step up my art game and focus on turning my art and writing into a small business.  I've been selling drawings ever since, mostly at low prices to start, about $2 an hour for the work I put in each one.  These drawings took 20 to 25 hours each to draw back then.  My recent drawings, which are more intricate and detailed, now take 25 to 40 hours each, and have been selling for recently $120 each.

Today is the first time my art will be up in a gallery on Trade Street in Winston-Salem, the center of the local art scene, and the Triad's art scene, as far as I'm concerned.  For those of you seeing my work for the first time, here are some links to my social media, and other info about me.  I've led a really weird path through life, and been through some really tough times in the last 15 years or so.  If you're interested in having me do a drawing, the best way to contact me is by email:

stevenemig13@gmail.com

Check out my other stuff:

Facebook Fan Page: Steve Emig The White Bear

Facebook: Steve Emig (Winston-Salem, no fake or lame profiles, please)

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/stevenemig13/

Artist's Profile in the Winston-Salem Journal

Current Art show at Earshot Music (1254 Silas Creek Pkwy, Winston-Salem)
Huge thanks to Jane Buck and Phred at Earshot for this opportunity

My creative work in the past

A hard look at low income housing in America

While drawing one of my Sharpie pictures today, I was looking for a speech or documentary to listen to, trying to see if the economy really has improved for rural and small town America.  The more I look into the big picture of what's happening in our world, the more I see how many people are struggling, particularly in small cities, towns, and rural areas.  I come in contact with several personally everyday, both homeless and low wage employees, but I wasn't sure how widespread this issue is. 

This is one of the better docs I've come across, and it's from last year (2017), so it's recent.  If you're at all interested in the subjects of poverty, low income housing, homelessness, and related issues, this is worth watching.  What's happening in Dallas and Florida in this documentary is probably happening many other places to a greater or lesser extent.

As a currently homeless artist/blogger/entrepreneur, I'm working on these issues both for myself, and on the larger scale, looking for ways to get people making a decent living doing meaningful work.  We need a lot more people working on the various aspects of poverty, for the good of EVERYONE.