The Homeless

I see that you've come back. No surprise there... They always come back.

I've decided that I will probably begin on what some may consider a sour note. No matter how one wishes to ignore it, homelessness surrounds and saturates many city dwellers. I've noticed that homeless life here is much like that of larger cities. The shameless beggars, buskers, drug-addicts… Although their motives are not always honest, the homeless are not as much of a threat as they are put out to be.

I am not free of sin: I have turned down many an inquiry for change. There are reasons to be suspicious. Just the other day, my friend told me of how she was walking down the street when a homeless man approached her for some spare change. She denied, offering him her sandwich and a free Tim Hortons donut - he turned down the food. One could easily assume what the change would have been used for.

Allow me to share an anecdote. For anonymity's sake, no names will be revealed. It was sometime in the summer at the beginning of my high school career. I was at my friend's house. Her mother had always been involved in Windsor's drug scene, and favoured funding that habit over adequate shelter or food, bumming such needs off of male friends. We were hanging out at her father's one day when her sister called, frantic about how her mother's state. My friend and I rushed to the apartment she was staying at. Her sister met us at the front door and warned us of the scene: Completely delusional, her mother was defecating on the carpet, feeding raw eggs and ketchup to the cat, leaving all of the faucets running, answering the door to no one, and unable to have any coherent conversation. Not to mention her frail physical state; she was clearly malnourished and yellowed in the eyes and nails. The unraveling of the story serves no purpose to my blog, but this was the first time I had intimately encountered such a reality. The moral is that we must be aware of the things we cannot see.

The people that you see standing on the sides of the roads with their cardboard signs are tricky. I've seen faces plastered with genuine anguish, ashamed at where life has lead them. On the other hand, I've heard that the majority of these people are not necessarily homeless. Supposedly, as an aside from their real jobs, people will beg in such a fashion, and end up making a whole wad of extra cash.

Once you have familiarized yourself with Downtown Windsor, you begin to see patterns in the people you run into. Whether it be the same bearded man on the same street corner, or the same straight-faced, straight-gazed elder solemnly rolling by on an electric wheel-chair, they scarcely leave the area. For this reason, the cops are very well acquainted with the homeless. I have often see them keeping tabs and lending open ears.

I have noted that there exists some rather peculiar behavior among the homeless. Once, I was at the bus terminal, and a disheveled man in a wheel chair was speaking with a plastic plant as if it were Jesus. On a separate occasion, I was at Milk Coffee Bar to watch a jazz improvisation. My seat was next to the large window at the front of the café, which was wide open thanks to the warm weather. The same man rolled up on the sidewalk and began flailing and singing to the music, very tastefully, might I add! I also frequently encounter many of his kin, but none have been able to make a name for themselves as Feather Hat Man has done.

There were recent rumours about Feather Hat Man being a disguised sociology professor from Toronto, but that article was proved to be sheer satire (1). Surely many who roam the streets of Windsor have wondered at this character - he has been around for years. Though I've never summoned enough courage to begin a conversation with the man, I found a Youtube video that had it covered:
(WARNING: The following video may contain what some will find offensive. Swearing, drugs. I feel it is necessary to include the video in order to fully portray the character at hand.)

Furthermore, human trafficking is not lacking when the sun sets. Although illegal, many young people, particularly young women, will sell sexual services. It is needless to say that this is a very dangerous occupation. I watched a documentary on Youtube where a man would circulate the streets of Windsor, notably Wyandotte, and would interview the females who made approaches to him. The girls' stories were very diverse, though some more saddening and brutal than others. There was the common element of a lack of money and homelessness. Unfortunately, I have no proof of the documentary having existed because it was deleted shortly after it was posted for reasons unknown.

Oftentimes, we will pass by someone on the street who does not seem in the slightest despair. I feel that, more frequently within the homeless youth, people will be ashamed of their situations and are at a constant internal battle between survival and potential humiliation. Thankfully, the Windsor Youth Centre opened downtown and immediately knew success. You can read for yourself in the following article:

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/05/25/more-homeles-youth-than-first-thought/

It is a shame, however, that the WYC has no places for the homeless youth to stay the night. I imagine it wouldn't be ideal to rest your head on a park bench or in a bus terminal, which I have known some people to do. I have made friends with a handful of the homeless youth in my city, and each one of them copes differently. Performing live music, or busking, is a very common way for them to attempt at picking up money. One of them, a self-proclaimed Buddhist, collects and sells hand-crafted jewellery. Another of the bunch builds himself canoes and jaw harps to pass the time, selling them occasionally. However joyful the prior hobbies may seem, they are not always necessarily fruitful. The stress that comes with constantly scrounging to sustain oneself can easily lead to mental ailment, which would explain sometimes irrational behavior in many of the homeless.

To wrap up the post, I would like you to listen to a song by La Dispute. It discusses a man's discovering the dichotomy between a city at night and the same city during the day, it also sheds light on the ignorance of one half towards the other. You can read the words in the video description; I find that they are well dramatized, and the story, eye-opening. Do share your thoughts, comrades!

On a side note: Look, Windsor was ranked 162nd on MoneySense magazine's list of best places to live!

http://windsorite.ca/2014/03/windsor-ranks-162nd-on-list-of-best-places-to-live/





(1) http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/04/11/cant-believe-everything-you-read-satirical-story-on-windsors-feather-hat-guy-spreads/