Entry 7 – June 1, 2009: B. held his ace bandaged, right hand aloft as D. and I entered his über tiny room near the end of outreach. Forty-five minutes later, our nurse E. arrived w/ A. and confirmed that it was broken below the first two fingers. Whether he’d broken it against a wall or against a face was a matter of some dispute between B. and a manic Bd. who had been and continued to attend to his needs with terrifically abrupt movement and speech; B., however, managed fine, happy enough that she was just there. B. had been to St. Mike’s hospital once already with no results, and, given his general hatred of doctors and hospitals, I doubted he’d go back without some real incentive. E. and A. provided it. He was shaking a good bit from the pain and because he hadn’t had a drink in two days. I know that he has withdrawal seizures. Four days, he replied, when I asked how long until they began. He was also running short on an impressive list of medications he needs for his devastated liver and related ailments. The former flyer in the Canadian Air Force has taken to drinking rubbing alcohol and listerine again.
Staff meeting was relatively uneventful, other than the interruptions of S., whom I’d set up in my office with a pirate game on the web and a Bob the Builder video on J.’s laptop. The day began with a couple hour meeting with the Christian Peacemaker Team that works specifically with first nations issues here in Canada. There are no present blockades, active protests, or other crises and the team is considering something of a shift to politicization via urban accompaniment, especially during such downtimes. Three of them will join me for a walk tomorrow.
I phoned it in a bit for a church group that I’d agreed to introduce to a street orientation walk this evening. It had been a terribly long day, I’m struggling with a bit of a cold, and J. and the kids and K. were waiting in the meeting room to leave immediately afterward to see Up at the new AMC temple at Yonge and Dundas.
Entry 8 – June 2, 2009: This evening W.A., my supervisor’s supervisor at MCC, attended my steering committee meeting in large part to continue to hammer out the implications of my refusal to ask volunteers who work with my program to obtain police background checks. The basic positions were laid out with some clarity, but no particular progress was made, in my view. Further discussions are to be had. T. said after W. left that program supervisors are now floating the idea of switching insurance companies altogether, which might go a long way toward alleviating the underlying issue. T., my supervisor, is also taking a half-year combination of vacation and sabbatical, creating certain complications with respect to hiring, general administrative work, etc.
I had two CPTers with me during the walk today, and Jn. had another with him. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of outreach today was the time spent discussing the Norval Morrisseau painting (maybe Shaman’s Ride - I’ll have to check next week) that is hanging in the lobby of Council Fire. We were waiting, to no avail, to meet with A.W. sans appointment. B.’s hand is broken but has no cast, though he did stay at the hospital until discharged. He was too sleepy today to inquire further. Mt. Sinai did wrap it and give him pain medication, but he’d removed the wrap, saying it was too tight. My day began with my monthly check-in meeting with A., the managing director at [the church]. Unremarkable, I suppose, but the kind of check-in that both greases the wheels and provides helpful emotional support for difficult work. I did lobby further for the hiring of K., with some success I think, and I requested two Tuesdays a month for the remainder of the summer to be working at the MCC office and doing writing and further work following up on the C. and D. situation. Between A. and my steering committee meeting tonight, I’ve received such permission.
Entry 9 – June 3, 2009: T. – such little legs and a scrawny butt! – now looks for all the world like a refugee from a reenactment of the American Civil War. I cannot look at him without a healthy chuckle followed by deep, deep concern. Three weeks or so ago he was one of the first of three guys to tell us about waking up on fire. Small, but, in his case, enough to burn through his toque and singe his right eye brow. T. experienced a second such incident soon thereafter. Last week, the singed eyebrow was completely shaved and when I ran into him in the parkette next door yesterday, his scraggly medium length beard had been quite unevenly trimmed, but not clean shaved. He said he knew who was doing it, and C., a rotund aboriginal who also hangs with Tony’s crew, mostly suppressed a smile. Today, Tony showed up completely missing both eye brows, sporting mutton chops with a similarly lengthed mustache. Meanwhile, his chin whiskers look as if they had been shaved with a three guard. I really hoped that meant that the 3 am firings were Bert Blyleven type pranks gone a bit too far. Alas, C. admitted to the shavings, denied the small torchings , and showed me a red spot on his back. He’s been burnt himself within the last week. So, at least four people, at least five incidents within a month. Quite worrisome. We are inquiring with additional street organizations downtown (beyond the two who’ve yet to hear of similar incidents).
A. died Saturday night. She was found in her room above Jilly’s strip joint on Sunday and most of us found out today (I visited her above Jilly’s during a mission with Thea and Keren to make sure that S. didn’t still have the gun he was talking about using in the same way that once landed him and a gay lover in jail long term. S. recently tried to blow up City Hall.) Natural causes. Memorial service at [the church] next Wednesday.
A text from my sister during drop-in informed me that the Nashville prosecutor’s dirty trick means that she’s going to jail today for twenty days. C. the Mime turned up at drop-in today. I discovered with K. that he will write. “I get headaches when I talk,” he scrawled. More than once he’s signaled that he’s finished talking forever. I tried to get M. to change the multiple piss bearing pants that he’s been wearing for a few weeks straight and others tried to get him to take a shower. Not sure of the outcome as I didn’t witness his exit. It’s June, but he was shivering violently throughout drop-in today.
Entry 10 - June 5, 2009: I brought the kids along to pick-up T. for grocery shopping for him and also for G.. We had the rental car already for our weekend trip to Silver Lake with our church. T. asked if Ke., his much younger love interest, could come along. Ke. is in his early twenties, addicted to crack, and looks a lot like a youngish Joaquin Phoenix, only generally much more ebullient. Ke. raced the kids around the store on the bottom rack of one of the grocery carts. His food desires put Thomas over budget by over twenty bucks. S. had a little too much trouble listening and lost the gumball I’d promised if they could do well. He had a terrific meltdown. It was just about over until J. received her reward. G. happily received his food and the twenty-five dollar money order to get himself a new key, a transaction I’d promised to help him complete six weeks or so ago.
A. inquired by email whether I’d be willing to have five students from H. College’s police foundations program do walks with me on Monday nights. Two street outreach colleagues, no longer with us, have successfully insisted that we ought to do these kind of things to train ’em when they are starting to treat homeless people right. While I understand, and even to a degree respect, the logic, I’ve generally held myself aloof from such missions in the past, and outright declined this time. Using the opportunity to proselytize against policing when I’ve engaged at all hasn’t come close to making any disciples in previous situations. Throughout the week I’ve had conversations with W. and L. that I’m still not totally sure what to make of. I mostly insisted on Wednesday night that W. needs to be totally up front about what his primary desires are in the conflict with G. and A. [management]. …
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