Mental illness is not always hereditary. It’s usually a combination of genetic changes and environmental factors that determines if someone will develop a disorder — and this is true for homeless people. Research and cellular biology has shown that about 5% of diseases are genetically determined, whereas the remaining 95% are environmentally based. This makes...
Author: Cecilia Martin (Cecilia Martin)
In Your Backyard: How police treat you when you’re homeless
Two weeks ago we watched in horror the ugly side of the San Jose Police Department. For many of us, the aggression and cruelty was a surprise. For the writers of the In Your Backyard column, this was the police force they’d known for decades. Below are three accounts of what it meant to face...
Martin: Human life is worth more than getting back to business
I have seen many difficulties in my life. Some undeserved — a product of being born poor in an unstable family unit. I have also made many mistakes that have led to repercussions, both emotional and physiological in nature. I was homeless for years. I have feared for my life many times. But nothing comes...
Martin: Just another blue (and freezing) Christmas in San Jose
I can’t remember many holidays as a little girl. So much has happened since then, I often struggle to remember much at all about that period in my life. I remember homelessness much more vividly. I recall the holidays on the streets felt particularly lonely, filled with dark sadness, deep despair and nagging hopelessness. Days...