You have talked so often of going to the dogs--and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it. It takes off a lot of anxiety.

       That was George Orwell in Down and Out in Paris and London – read that if you think things are tough now.  Being homeless does challenge your assumptions … come on, you do suppose certain things about the street people.   After my mere two months in that category, let me share some thoughts from someone who did have a very middle-class upbringing and ‘ran off the rails', as the English say.    Oh, I had my cross-country hitchhiking days, but hitchhiking was a long time ago.

       The homeless don't get the jobs that are reserved for pretty people with good clothes – and you see very few women under 35 – make up your own joke here.  Aside from that, they are suffering from any combination of:  bad luck, bad teeth, bad attitude, criminal record, substance or mental problems, other disabilities … but whatever you assume about one person is liable to be wrong.

       Once with my son, we rolled past some street friend of his and he yelled in a terrible voice:  “BUM !”. Sure, we laughed till we cried.  We're none of us laughing anymore.  I wouldn't see the writing on the wall, that temp work in my field has gone to India or God knows where.  Finally I couldn't even pay $475 a month for my space and I said, “All righty then.  Luckily I have a camper to live in.”

            You read lately that a lot more “clean-shaven homeless” are looking for services – they borrowed too much against their vacation home,   they got beat on their mortgage, they got canned after many years of faithful service … it used to be an amazing thing when big law firms went out of business, but not any more. 

            There are problems you didn't anticipate … where to go if you needed an actual toilet in the next (hour? ten minutes?)   How to charge your phone if you don't have a nickel in your pocket and the libraries are closed (hint:  the large hotels downtown, if you're sly and can blend in).  Yes, killing time is easier when you've got  funds, for sure.  You start out thinking of what things you must keep with you, carry that bag everywhere you go … extra checkbooks?   Oh my, what if my passport gets ripped off?   You'll realize, though, that any one thing could be either somewhere safe or you won't die without it (sleeping bag a possible exception).   In the old hobo days, the one thing you dared not lose was your spoon.

       Shelters do exist, and they're not even overrun (as of January when temps got into the 30s). Showers?  Free meals?  It's all out there … Emergency Housing Consortium Boccardo Center , the Salvation Army, InnVision – good places to look in on.   You can get three meals a day , seven days a week if you can get around.  Walking (I hope you like walking), it's not as convenient.  Imagine whole countries where there's none of that, nor welfare, unemployment insurance, food stamps…

         Sleeping at the shelter:   there's a lot of regimentation, sure – standing in lines for everything, but you will almost always get a bunk or a mat on the floor, a blanket, sheet and towel, dinner and breakfast of some sort … if you have any experience of jail, you'll say “This isn't so bad.”   But you've never heard such snoring in your life…

            So, don't camp by the river unless you're really scary, don't think about sleeping in St. James Park (at night anyway), and if your clothes are clean you can look like half the people who are vacationing here.  The economy could get a great deal worse, they say, and ecosystems are collapsing, and the big earthquake could be any day.  At least Bush is out, so happy days may be here again.  But, it might be time to brush up your survival skills.

SHELTER / MEALS

Emergency Housing Consortium --  2011 Little Orchard St., San Jose 294-2100

686-1300 (Families)

Sign up for “Continuum of Care” Card -- also good at Sacred Heart, InnVision

1 st time, get there well before 3:30 pm Salvation Army   (Men)   405 N. 4 th St., San Jose

282-1175

Showers: 10-11 am Mon-Sat

Beds (14, as available) lineup at 1:30 pm

Lunch Mon-Fri 12:15 pm (all welcome)   Dinner: Mon-Sat 5:15 pm

InnVision 358 N. Montgomery St. San Jose

271-5160 Showers (Men) 8-10 am, 2:30-4 pm

Breakfast Mon-Fri 6:00 am Lunch: Mon-Fri 1:00 pm

Dinner: Daily, 6 pm Shelter – Call for details+                            

Services for Women/Children: 260 Commercial St., San Jose - call 453-3124

San Jose Family Shelter // 1590 Las Plumas Av. San Jose // 926-8885

GROCERY BOXES:   Call Food Connection 800 984-3663 for referrals by Zip Code