Jimmy Walker
Thank you for your kind words :-) Moo, the ForeRunner is super cool and I would get one just for walking. I'm tempted to wear it the whole week just to see how much I walk. It Auto Stops when you stop. Very clever.
Yesterday I met Jimmy Walker. My propensity to talk with strangers led to this encounter. I was unloading my open house sign on the corner of 17th and Josephine and there was Jimmy. He ambled up to me and with his toothless smile and said "hi". Jimmy is homeless, 59, ex-military, African American, and very articulate. He unfortunately smells very badly else I would have prolonged our encounter. I offered him 4 bags of Lays which he graciously accepted.
Today I ran into Jimmy on the same corner. He is such a nice guy and I have to wonder to myself how he found himself in the position he did. Skip the rest of this paragraph as it's upsetting. Apparently there are 21,000 homeless people in Colorado. The bush administration pre-war pledged 7 Million to the plight but since then not much has happened. The numbers are growing dramatically due to our pleasant climate. He has met people from all over the world who are homeless in Denver. The worst part is the abuse that homeless women experience. He witnessed a homeless friend that was struck by a car, lost both her legs, and then died 3 days later. He said it was the most helpless position he has ever been in as all he could do was hold her. Talk about perspective.
Anyway, I'm reading the book "One Thousand White Women". To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. After all the hype the book got it really seems a let down. There is one paragraph that I felt was redeeming. The conversation centers around happiness and what it means to different cultures. I love this quote "..that's exactly the good think about Injun life - you don't have to stop and think about whether or not you're happy - which in my opinion is a highly overrated human condition invented by white folks ..you got a roof over your head? you warm? you got enough food to eat? you got a good man? you got friends? you got something to do to keep you busy?".
Well, I guess I must be happy :-)
The great news is that a couple I'm currently working with are both English teacher, one university and one middle school, and they have given me excellent reading recommendations. That makes me really happy!
Yesterday I met Jimmy Walker. My propensity to talk with strangers led to this encounter. I was unloading my open house sign on the corner of 17th and Josephine and there was Jimmy. He ambled up to me and with his toothless smile and said "hi". Jimmy is homeless, 59, ex-military, African American, and very articulate. He unfortunately smells very badly else I would have prolonged our encounter. I offered him 4 bags of Lays which he graciously accepted.
Today I ran into Jimmy on the same corner. He is such a nice guy and I have to wonder to myself how he found himself in the position he did. Skip the rest of this paragraph as it's upsetting. Apparently there are 21,000 homeless people in Colorado. The bush administration pre-war pledged 7 Million to the plight but since then not much has happened. The numbers are growing dramatically due to our pleasant climate. He has met people from all over the world who are homeless in Denver. The worst part is the abuse that homeless women experience. He witnessed a homeless friend that was struck by a car, lost both her legs, and then died 3 days later. He said it was the most helpless position he has ever been in as all he could do was hold her. Talk about perspective.
Anyway, I'm reading the book "One Thousand White Women". To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. After all the hype the book got it really seems a let down. There is one paragraph that I felt was redeeming. The conversation centers around happiness and what it means to different cultures. I love this quote "..that's exactly the good think about Injun life - you don't have to stop and think about whether or not you're happy - which in my opinion is a highly overrated human condition invented by white folks ..you got a roof over your head? you warm? you got enough food to eat? you got a good man? you got friends? you got something to do to keep you busy?".
Well, I guess I must be happy :-)
The great news is that a couple I'm currently working with are both English teacher, one university and one middle school, and they have given me excellent reading recommendations. That makes me really happy!
posted by bobette @ 1:36 PM
2 Comments:
At 8:36 PM ,
Megan said...
I'm envious of your ability to talk to strangers. I just never have anything to say. My mind just goes blank and I say really contrite things. It's awful.
In a future post, you should share the book recommendations with us. I want to start reading again, but I just can't find the right book to get my mojo back. I'm so exceptionally book-picky. I wish I was with books the way I am with TV or movies: just not that picky. Oh well.
And, aren't I lucky with three recent blog posts from you. Woohoo!
At 3:29 PM ,
Unknown said...
V--Have to agree about being disappointed by the book. It would have been interesting at least from a historical perspective but even that is pretty distorted I think. --M
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