June 17, 2011

The song of the day today is "America's Favorite Pastime" by Todd Snider.  If you don't know the story of Dock Ellis's no-hitter while tripping on LSD, click here.  And, if you don't know Todd Snider click here.

I decided to take the bus yesterday as my bike needed some work that I didn't feel like waking up early to do.  I arrived at the bus station downtown to find that the bus was free all day.  The bus station is very nice, and a remodel which began last year is almost complete.  It's got the feel of an airport, but it is actually nicer than any airport I've been to.  I decide to buy a cup of coffee from a vending machine while I wait for my bus to arrive.  A man in his fifties who is wearing slightly nicer clothes than I am approaches me and asks if the bandana I have hanging off my backpack is an American flag.  I ignore the fact that it's a strange question and tell him that it is an American flag.  He then asks me for spare change, and I don't really know what to think.  I'm wondering if he's got some sort of sixth sense about who is really homeless and who is just a poser until I notice the drool on his chin.  I'm relieved to find that he's just insane, and I give him the rest of my change (about thirty cents).  I walk outside and I see Bill sitting on a bench waiting for the same bus as me.  He's drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette, and he doesn't look so good.  I don't imagine waking up in a tent with the sun shining down on you is pleasant after a night of drinking beer, and I feel his pain.  We exchange nods and sit in silence until our bus arrives.  The ride was quite pleasant as I was able to sit and read the newspaper the entire thirty minute ride to work.  I may consider taking the bus more often.

After work I head back to Tent City.  A big group of people are lounging around at the picnic tables near the Administration Building.  There's a group of six people all in their twenties from some church that I don't catch the name of hanging out and talking with the residents of Tent City.  These people have been here before, and I really like them.  Some people who come out to Tent City bring supplies and leave.  Other people bring supplies and preach.  These people just come to hang out.  I'm talking to a few of them as they help me fix my bike.  A couple of girls in their group go to cosmetology school and they get out their clippers and begin cutting residents' hair.  In the past few days, three different people have dropped off old refrigerators at Tent City.  This is one need that definitely needed to be filled as leftover food often sits on the counter for days at a time.  A technician came out today and discovered that only one of these refrigerators works.  The working refrigerator is in the barn about fifty yards away, and before it can be put in the Administration Building it must be cleaned and the nonoperational one currently in the Administration Building must be moved.  Slim says that we're waiting on a dolly to switch the refrigerators, but one of the visitors says that he thinks we have enough man power to move them.  Slim assumes the role of supervisor and begins coordinating the removal of the nonoperational machine.  It takes quite a bit of work getting it out the door with Slim and two others all shouting conflicting orders but not laying a hand on the appliance.  "Now, take it to the barn."  Slim orders as soon as it's out the door.  Somebody says that we shouldn't take it to the barn since it needs to be thrown away, but Slim insists and six guys all carry the refrigerator to the barn.

I decide to look around out in the barn while I'm here and there are piles of various things scattered about the place.  Most of the articles out here are clothes and books.  I look through several stacks of books and see that every one of them is Christian non-fiction.  A lot of the clothes out here are old and outdated.  Shoes seem to be pretty popular, with women's shoes dominating the piles.  I doubt any of the women at Tent City wear high heels so most of these will end up at Goodwill as soon as somebody with a car volunteers to take them over there.  There are stacks of dishes in one corner of the place and several coffee makers scattered around.  Five or six bikes in various states of disrepair lean against the wall next to old TVs.  Slim tells me that this will be a recreation room one day.  He's got big plans for Tent City, but it's hard to imagine any of them coming to fruition.  Demolition began on the Administration Building remodel this week with one carpenter showing up for a couple of days and getting very little work done.  For the most part, Slim seems to understand the position the homeless have on the priority lists of other people, but I have a feeling he gets frustrated at times.  I wonder why he doesn't just ask for the supplies and the tools and use Tent City's wealth of labor to complete the remodel until I remember that only one resident helped move the refrigerator, and Slim thinks of himself as more of a manager anyways.

A resident and a visitor volunteer to clean out the functional refrigerator and Slim takes a break from his duties and rolls a cigarette as he sits for his haircut.  He's saying that the new refrigerator needs to be moved into the Administration Building when it's clean, and I'm sure that he means it needs to be moved before the visitors leave.  Slim means well, but he can be very demanding at times.  He tells me that the bikes in the barn were donated by various groups and that he had told them beforehand that the bikes needed the solid inner tubes.  They didn't listen and now there are a bunch of bikes with flat tires in the barn.  I begin to wonder if maybe somebody else should deal with the public as Slim can be brash.  I realize that won't happen when somebody asks Slim if he's going to shave his beard to match his new haircut and he replies that the beard is part of his TV persona.  Somebody tells me that a news crew came out and interviewed him a few days ago and Slim says that he's the face of Tent City.  I'm still trying to decide if he was joking or not.  As I'm pondering this, Rufus stomps by holding his basketball and I think that we're about to see some serious skills but he marches right past the basketball goal and throws the ball in the dumpster.