FEBRUARY 7, 2025 WHERE I SLEPT Sleeping in the Lion's Den PEDRO CAMPOS Groundcover vendor No. 652 It was past 11 p.m., on January 23, 2025, at the Delonis Center on 312 E. Huron in Ann Arbor. After playing jokes trying to humiliate me, in public, she said, “You’re free to go…” Go outside in the cold, she meant, 10 degrees Fahrenheit. This was the manager known to harass honest people, targeting those who question her evident incompetence. She banned me for going outside to smoke weed, a medicine according to state law. In a place where everyone smokes everything, everywhere, at any time — even methamphetamine and crack on a daily basis, in the bathrooms and smoking rooms, she decided to leave her little cell and pretend she cares. So she kicked me out to discipline me for my behavior, trespassing me for three days. Disoriented, I left with no money or place to go, without a jacket or a blanket. And as I rumbled up on Huron Street, I stopped at the Fire Station, where they have an emergency button that should work 24/7. Nobody answered. I can’t say that the Police of Ann Arbor are friendly to the homeless. They are not. I can’t even say it’s safe there. I have been harassed by a couple of criminal police officers there once, and they can get violent. Everyone knows. But when I saw a kid inside the little room in between the doors that access the building, the Ann Arbor City Hall Police Department, I knew it would be safer than the streets, and warmer. Living my life in Brazil, I have not developed survival skills for this cold Michigan winter. The "kid" inside the vestibule, apparently a homeless man, agreed to share his refuge with me. We didn’t talk much. I checked the floor, it was warm. I was so sad and tired. Thank God I was able to rest protected from the cold, and with the police cameras watching us. You gotta make the most of it. Streets can get violent, and when you take violence from shelter staff members who you should be able to rely on; get no assistance from the fire department; nor the police who watch everything, you find comfort and shelter from an unknown man, a poor homeless person like me, rich in the heart. There, in the vestibule, I could lay my bones, stretch my legs and warm my soul, not like a sardine in a can surrounded by all that disrespectful noise, violence GROUNDCOVER NEWS 7 Pedro sitting in the Police Department vestibule, where he slept the first night he was kicked out of the Delonis Center. and thievery, people dealing and using drugs, with nasty smells and bad attitudes. In the silence I planned my next steps; I even read my book. Even if God didn't bless me with that night's sleep, which I did deserve because I work hard, and even if I had to spend all night, again, walking around lost in the cold, avoiding tweakers and criminals, cops and ambulances, like many times I did — it would be totally worth it. Because the fire that comes from inside of me, will always burn strong enough to warm myself and others. I keep my dignity, and tired as I get, I just sleep anywhere. As my uncle Gustavo once said, “The rest of an honest man.” That’s what keeps me going, walking wherever I want, with my head up, able to look people in the eyes.
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