Being homeless at the current time, I have a few more challenges than most people. Which is fine, that's the nature of things. I bailed form a fucked up situation in NC, I landed here in Richmond by accident, maybe fate, and there's a lot of art and a cool BMX scene here. So I'm working on stabilizing my life, and getting back to selling art. I landed here the beginning of August, in a strange city, where I didn't know anyone, with about $3 in my pocket. It's been been tough to survive, but for the first time in nearly two decades, I don't feel like I'm walking into a 75mph headwind. Getting back on track FINALLY feels possible.
One thing that sucks when you're homeless is holidays. Most people look forward to them, because they may be hectic, but there's good times to be had. I can't wait til they're over. I woke up early Thanksgiving morning, it was 30 degrees out, and I walked to the local McDonald's where I usually start my day, eat breakfast, and do my morning blogging and social media that helps me sell art. It was closed. I was broke. There was no place to go that I knew of and could afford.
One of the hundreds of things that average people don't understand about the homeless situation is that homeless people don't go to fast food places to eat breakfast or lunch. For the price of my sausage biscuit and Diet Coke (yeah, I know, Breakfast of Non-Champions), I'm not just eating breakfast. I'm renting heat, I'm renting a place to sit down legally, I'm renting the use of a bathroom, I'm renting wifi to be able to work, I'm renting a place to draw for a while. When I saw McDonald's closed, all of those things disappeared. Luckily, Hardee's (that's Carl's Jr. on the East Coast for those in Cali), was open for the morning. I cussed out the entire neighborhood in frustration, vented thoroughly, relaxed, and went to Hardee's.
There was a free Thanksgiving meal I heard about at the convention center downtown. The Pulse bus down Broad (kind of like a light rail route, but with buses, pretty cool idea) was free for those going for the free meal. So I went downtown, carrying all my belongings like I always do (until I can rent a storage unit or get a room), and entered a big room filled with the Riff Raff of Richmond. Pretty sure they had a few police in plain clothes to make sure everything stayed chill, which it did.
I didn't go for the meal, really. Homeless people do things for reasons most people don't understand. I went to the meal to get out of the cold for 2 or 3 hours. That's all I really cared about. I almost just sat in one of the rocking chairs in the lobby and blew off the meal.
Everything is closed on Thanksgiving, which is fucking stupid. Homeless people aren't the only ones who need services on holidays. Police, firefighters, garbagemen (and women?), taxi/Uber/Lyft drivers, bus drivers, EMS, doctors, truck drivers, and plenty of others have to work. Those people need to eat breakfast and lunch, drivers need to take restroom breaks, most people need morning coffee.
It's the 21st century people, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's Hardee's/Carl's Jr., Starbucks, gas stations, convenience stores, and drug stores should be open, full service hours, 365 days a year. Period. "What about the employees?" many of you are asking? What about them? If you want Thanksgiving day off, work at Chick Fil-A, or get a better job. Managers should schedule so most people get most of Thanksgiving Day off. But stay open, people depend on you, and let the people who hate their families get some freakin' overtime. That's what I always did when younger.
We all had to wait, standing in a huge line, for an hour or so at the free dinner. There are a disproportionate number of people with health issues in that crowd, some chairs in the waiting line are would be a good idea next year. Some idiots jumped the line, probably the same ones who did that in grade school. But we all got to eat, it was a really nice dinner, so thank you volunteers.
The family who were the hosts at my table were cool. I sat next to the woman, who asked about 3 million questions, but was very warm and friendly. We all got a goodie bag to take with us. And bananas. There were bananas everywhere for some reason. I took one. One guy at my table grabbed 3 or 4 and about 6 or 8 cans of soda. Homeless people, many of them, anyhow, do that.
I walked back to the bus stop, it was still chilly, but not super cold. I looked through the goodie bag, grabbed 3 or 4 things I could use, and gave the rest, still in the bag, to another homeless guy standing at the bus stop. I can't afford to have to carry useless stuff around. I have enough of my own. That's another thing most people don't understand about the homeless. Every "gift," no matter how well intentioned, is dead weight we have to physically carry. That's why we dig through goodie bags and leave most of it behind.
Anyhow, I spent much of Thanksgiving day cold, because the places I rely on, were closed. That part sucked.
Black Friday, in the shopping sense, is also meaningless when you're homeless. I'm far from an average homeless person, I just want to work all day. And the holiday weekend fucked that all up. On Friday, the library was closed. I was going to go somewhere to sell some art prints, I finally had some money from an art commission to make some prints. That's something I'd been wanting to do for MONTHS. I stopped by a gallery that has some of my work on the wall. I was told the guy wanted to see me later. So I wasted more money going to a place to work for an hour, came back, and he didn't have anything important to tell me. I might sell one more piece this week... MAYBE. Maybe not. But I never got to the place to sell my prints. So I was low on money. When the normal places I hang out are closed, I have to spend more money to rent heat, a bathroom, and a place to sit.
Saturday, it rained all day. A cold, miserable rain, it was 45-50 degrees out. I had to go out in it to scrounge up money to get through the day. I got totally soaked, and basically had to stay wet, and cold, all day. Late in the day, when the rain was ending, I went to a laundromat to dry out my clothes. If I had done it earlier, I would have got all wet again when I left, and would have had to spend more money to dry out again.
Sunday was beautiful and warm. And I was completely burnt out and had no energy. I got some writing done and worked on a drawing. But I didn't get out to sell any prints. So the Thanksgiving weekend, by and large, was a pain in my ass, and I didn't get near enough done. But now things are back to normal schedule for a while, and the First Friday Gallery Art Walk is this week, so I need to gear up and promote my stuff.
So that's why holidaze suck when you're a homeless artist. OK, back to work. I'm going to post some Richmond area art videos ahead of First Friday, and do a lot more art-related posts in general from now on. Onward.
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