A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
Dear Mom,
It’s been about a year since your last visit and even longer since I’ve written you a letter. The last time I wrote you I was in jail. I know that I haven’t become all that you had hoped and dreamed for me, but I’ve still got a long time to accomplish things in my life. I’m practically still a kid.
I want you to know what I do to take responsibility for the way my life has become.
For the past four months, the Street Sheet team has been working hard on the Street Sheet’s first ever Youth Issue, an issue created for and by the homeless youth of San Francisco. We’ve worked closely with youth ambassadors from Larkin Street Youth Services’ Youth Advisory Board, Zak Franet and Anubi Daugherty, who have helped fill these pages with their own writing as well as outreach to other young people. Lovingly filled with powerful poetry,
Yesterday, San Francisco broke an all-time high in temperature records and hit 106 degrees. It was hot, really hot—and it still is. The heat wave continues on this weekend, with Saturday slated to reach up to 93 degrees and Sunday, 83 degrees. While housed folks may complain about the rising temperatures—especially since most homes in San Francisco have no air conditioning, it’s crucial to remember and support the folks on the streets living in tent encampments,
The San Francisco Human Services Agency’s (HSA) program and other community food resources play a major role in the homeless population’s quest for food justice. HSA has very specific criteria for those seeking food benefit assistance and the homeless are not exempt from county-specific requirements. The homeless population faces issues of food insecurity and economic pressures that prevent them from accessing healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate foods — in the social justice realm,
Picture this.
You are eight. Your father brings you to a strange apartment in a neighborhood far away from where you live. It’s dark and smells like pee. He holds your hand as the door opens and a man in a white, stained tee-shirt says something to your father that may or may not be in English. It’s a question and your father knows the right answer. The door opens to let him in.
Visual art has served many purposes throughout history and across cultures, from personal expression, storytelling and creative imaginings. Art isn’t just drawings and paintings, though—it is spoken word, prose, poetry, music, dance, performance, sculpture and more. However, visual art, perhaps more so than any other medium of art, has been able to successfully utilize nonverbal communication to transcend socioeconomic and accessibility barriers for self expression and discourse. In the 20th century, artists increasingly began to use visual art as a medium for political purposes,
Oree Originol
What is your journey as an artist?
I have been a creative individual as long as I could remember. I was that kid in kindergarten who would win all the drawing contests and I remember my mom paying me a dollar to draw pictures of Jesus Christ for her. I always had a big interest in art and sort of identifying myself as an artist early on in my childhood. In middle school,
I interviewed Megan Wilson and Christopher Statton, who are among a few of the major organizers of the Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP). CAMP, developed in 1992 by a group of local artists (Aaron Noble, Rigo 92, Sebastiana Pasztor, Michael O’Connor, Mary Gail Snyder, and Arcely Soriano), provides a voice for marginalized groups by creating public art revolving around compassion, respect, and social justice. Megan and Christopher have collaborated on various pieces for Clarion Alley and continue to create art together.
Success as an artist is often the result of talent nurtured by access and opportunity. In turn, certain perspectives—those of people with less financial access to the materials needed to foster their artistic passions—tend to go unseen. Hospitality House’s Community Arts Program is the only free-of-charge arts studio in San Francisco, serving as a welcoming space for those whose socioeconomic difficulties would otherwise impede them from making art. Participating artists benefit from the free materials offered at the studio,
San Francisco, CA – The Coalition on Homelessness’ mission is to address the systemic causes of poverty and homelessness through grassroots organizing, where homeless people themselves are at the forefront of the struggle. Hand in hand with campers, disabled shelter residents, and destitute families we stand up against institutional hatred against homeless people, and push back against mean spirited policies that would hurt those out on the streets. The majority of our time is spent fighting for the creation of housing for homeless San Franciscans.
