In Your Backyard

My husband and I lived on the sidewalks of Downtown San Jose for years. I can spot the different places where we made beds and memories as I walk around these streets today. Strangely, I feel nostalgic, as if I was visiting my old high school and seeing my freshman year homeroom. It’s almost like...

Becoming a mother a few decades ago and a grandmother recently, I’ve come to appreciate considering the world through the eyes of a child and listening to words out of the mouths of babes. We could all learn a few things if only we would take the time to listen. But listening deeply is easier...

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...

Daylight breaks through the door jam of my “safe spot” where Baby-girl, my canine companion, and I rest each night from our day on the streets. I begin to ready my bicycle and pull-cart on this July mid-month morning with the things we would need for the day: Warm clothes for the evening, food and...

As I approach a year of experience as the community liaison at Second Street Studios, the city’s first permanent supportive housing project in downtown San Jose, I have been equal parts amazed by the knowledge and creativity our residents display and confounded at the subtle ways in which our elected officials and decision makers continue...