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anitra
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Name: Anitra
Country: United States
State: Washington
Birthday: 7/17/1949
Gender: Female
Interests: reading, writing, computer art, and rabble-rousing
Expertise: I have experience with homelessness, bipolar disorder, mental health rights, poetry, science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, literature, creative writing, journalism, web publishing, desktop publishing. I can answer questions and give useful information. Does that make me an expert? I try new things often, to avoid "expert syndrome" -- getting a reputation for doing well at something, and becoming afraid to try something new that you won't do well at.
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
9/29/2000
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| Hello again!Sheesh: it's been over five years since I've posted here!
I have been active elsewhere, though: you can, if you are interested in details, catch up-to-date on my MySpace blog, my StumbleUpon blog, and the StreetWrites group blog Out of the Margins.
 A brief overview:- I am now one of the Seattle Raging Grannies
- WHEEL and SHARE homeless organizing groups are still going strong, but no longer have their own website. I plan to put up a basic information page for them. Nudge me about that, okay?
- Our area now has two SHARE/WHEEL Tent Cities: one in Seattle, one on the East Side. We're in Wikipedia!
Homeless people have long resorted to seeking shelter in tent groups, but these communities are one of the first known to be organized by a sponsoring organization (a partnership between the Seattle Housing and Resource Effort and Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League, often referred to by the combined acronym SHARE/WHEEL), and, even more notably, are one of the first in a major U.S. city to be largely accepted by local governments. Contrary to some stereotypes regarding the homeless, many residents of Tent City are employed, mostly in temporary or day labor jobs, but have insufficient income to obtain more permanent housing.
The original Tent City and Tent City 2, both created in the late 1990s, were opposed by the City of Seattle, which claimed they were illegal. After being tolerated for some time, they were eventually forced to shut down. In March of 2002, as a result of a legal battle centered in large part around the constitutionally protected right of churches to serve the poor, city attorney Tom Carr and SHARE/WHEEL attorney Ted Hunter signed a court ordered consent decree with SHARE, allowing Tent City only on private land (by invitation) and setting standards for its operation.
Based on the consent decree Tent City 3 was created and rotates around the Metro Seattle Core. Tent City 4 was created in May of 2004 as an attempt to expand beyond the Seattle city limits. Originally slated be be housed on public land owned by King County, the encampment wound up being hosted by churches instead due to community protest. Like Tent City 3 in Seattle, Tent City 4 moves from one host to another every 60-90 days.
Tent City rules do not allow drug or alcohol use, and evicts anyone caught stealing or committing other crimes within the camp. Participant stays for Tent City 3 have been around 3 weeks on average while Tent City 4 has had stays as long as 100 days.Tent City 4 is a homeless encampment of up to 100 people operated by the homeless residents and sponsored by 501(c)(3) organizations Seattle Housing and Resources Effort (SHARE) and Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League (WHEEL). The camp was created in May 2004 and limits itself to places of worship in eastern King County outside of Seattle. Minors are not allowed in Tent City 4, although there is a provision for emergency situations. Residents may use their own tents or community tents that are segregated by gender. Dumpsters, portable toilets, and a shower, paid for by SHARE, are provided to address sanitation concerns. In order to control access to the encampment, there is only one entry/exit to the camp that is guarded at all times.
Unlike its sister tent city in Seattle, which moves around Seattle with little to no resistance, Tent City 4's moves are often met with stiff resistance from some residents of the communities they move in to. In response to Tent City 4's movement and the resistance of its opponents, King County and many of the cities have established land use codes in an attempt to balance the desire of faith-based organizations to host the camp and the concerns of some of its neighbors over health and safety. The latest news from Redmond.
- Real Change is still going strong, and has a new video. Most recent campaign: Stop loss of low-income housing to condo conversion.
- Wes is still going strong, and has three new blogs:
- Adventures in Bloggery, collected Real Change columns from 1995 to present
- Somewhat Art, the very best art blog I have ever seen (obligatory disclosure: Wes is my husband)
- Wes Runoff, for everything else, including Wes's latest adventures in video.
Well, that's quite enough for you to have to get through in one sitting. Maybe I won't take so long before my next post. I have other neglected blogs to get to before I loop back here again, however: Participate.net and Democracy.org, and the set of blogs in my ambitiously dreamt, slow building web redesign.
Write On!
Anitra
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|  Snow Hits Buffalo, N.Y.
Cabin Fever by Virginia Conn
(from WHEEL's 1997 chapbook)
I'm freezing, so I tack flannel sheets
under the blinds, discovering the frost
has resurrected the finger oils
of someone named Linda. Twice
the precise lettering appears, well
out of reach of a child's hand.
The window overlooks the street.
I've stood there, impatient for mail
or visitors, yet this is the first
I've heard from her. I scan my studio
for other traces, blaming her
for the erratic nails, especially
one eye level screw, dead center, that
no painting hangs from comfortably.
I start to attribute other mischief
to her; misplaced keys and night knocks,
then fear she may be trapped, the bitter
cold compelling her to contact me.
"I never got out. It never warmed up."
I keep checking the pane for further word.
I remind myself: It is winter everywhere.
Outside, Buffalo trudges past, layered in
clothes like shuck on corn. Like that screw,
an act of defiance, Linda versus concrete,
in relief of the wide white wall.
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|  Hey, it's Monet's birthday! If you don't want to surf through all the commercial channels on that search page, try going direct to WebMuseum: Monet, Claude, or Art of Claude Monet.
I see Xanga is trying to speed up downloads, including changing to only 5 entries a page instead of 10 entries a page.
And what have I been up to? Obviously not blogging.  I got the October StreetWrites Zine out, and now I'm working on the WHEEL chapbook, which is a bigger project. The StreetWrites zine is four pages, once a month; the WHEEL chapbook is 54 pages! but only once a year.
That's only part of organizing for the annual WHEEL Homeless Women's Forum on December 5th, an event with 250 to 300 attendees. What with everything else that went on this winter, we got a late start in planning, so I'm in a bit of a swivet and neglecting my journal writing and my journal reading.
Please be patient with me, and Write On! | | |
| This is Halloween night for me, over here in Seattle. If you'd like some Halloween reading from Anitra Freeman :
Humorous stories:
Humorous poem:
Darker stories:
Essay on Horror Literature
Enjoy your costumes, candy, or celebrations of choice! | | |
| No, I didn't go back to jail! I've gone to court twice so far, but not back to jail.
I've just been busy. Let's see: two tabling events, promoting the Women's Funding Alliance; organizing for the Severe Weather Shelter; beginning to organize for the upcoming Homeless Women's Forum; getting the StreetWrites zine "Out of the Margins" ready to print, expanding my "click-to-donate" directory, overhauling my website... was that all? I thought I was busy.
Latest news story: Church's homeless shelter irks neighbors. The good news is, the shelter has started and, if experience proves out, pretty soon nobody will be irked any more. They'll be bragging about their neighborhood shelter!
Gotta go -- "Polymorph" is on Red Dwarf tonight!
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