“And this has gone on for too long,” as one of my favorite poetry lines exclaims.
Finally, after camping out for about seven years in Tenleytown and idling at the American University Metro station to stay warm in the brutal winters, I may have found a way into a place of my own.
It seems I’m being shown a change of heart by the powers that be. This is after a T-shirt campaign to raise awareness of my homelessness and fending for myself despite having the spotlight of being a founding member of the Street Sense Media Homeless Film Co-op!
Something finally seems to be working: attaining a housing voucher once “the process” is complete. Maybe I won’t have to put up any more with the years-old “Sears Gang” that claims the area.
Additional motivation to vacate my post atop the Tenleytown Metro escalators — a.k.a. “the warmest place in D.C.” — was a newcomer in the area who would not get off my back. He even tried to take my now-occupied sleeping space.
Once, things escalated into a near-physical confrontation. But fortunately, I was able to maintain my composure in spite of his testing me. It seems it is essential to remain a nonviolent offender within most of the city’s housing programs and I didn’t want to lose this opportunity. I even suspected he was a plant to try and trip me up.
As the story goes on, I’ve been trying to remain strong while “the process” comes to fruition.
