TOLEDO STREETS NEW SP APER IIssue 103 $1 One Dollar suggested donation. Your donation directly benefi ts the vendor. Please only buy from badged vendors. Pezzie Barnett When Pezzie started with Toledo Streets last summer, the Vendor Manager thought she was a little rough around the edges. Pezzie has made changes and now is on to fi nding a stable place to call her own so she can truly fl ourish. Page 12 Rep. Ayanna Pressley asks Marginalized Communities to Remember Our Greatness Two years ago, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley won her seat in the House of Representatives after running against a 10-time incumbent. Page 8 INSPIRING HOPE • FOSTERING COMMUNITY • CULTIVATING CHANGE Toledo Streets is a member of the International Network of Street Newspapers
TOLEDO STREETS NEW SP APER About the cover: Art Director Ed Conn recreated vintage wood block art to celebrate Cultivating Change, the third pillar in the Toledo Streets Vision Statement. 3 4 5 6 p 8 Rep. Pressley "I have a tense relationship with change". p 4 Bryce Roberts on Change 7 8 p5 Violence Interrupters p 10 Change: The Only Constant Book review by Frank Vitella 12 Page 2 Pezzie Barnett Featured Vendor 11 Cultivating Change We have the unique experience of having other people going through the same hardship as us and it’s important that we keep supporting and loving one another. On Change Bryce Roberts, former TSN Chair, takes a personal look at change. Toledo Streets Fundraiser Happening on line Every year Toledo Streets Newspaper Vendors hit the streets supplied with disposable cameras, and in search of images that capture our community from their unique perspective. How ‘violence interrupters’ are stopping gang shootings Since the 1990s community anti-violence initiatives have reduced crime locally, at least temporarily, by “interrupting” potential violence before it happens. Climate change is drying the lifeblood of Navajo ranchers as their lands become desert Competing with large nearby cities Phoenix and LA for a water supply, the Indigenous Americans on the Navajo reservation are left with dry lands, thirsty cattle and harsh, dust-specked winds. One: The Documentary is released on Amazon “This fi lm was created to start some important conversations around addiction,” noted Amy Clark, executive producer. Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Marginalized Communities Two years ago, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley won her seat in the House of Representatives after running against a 10-time incumbent. Telling Stories: Resilience in Art Three internationally renowned artists, who represent the extraordinary vitality of contemporary drawing, will be featured at TMA in November.
Cultivating Change Arika Michaelis, Executive Director “We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.” - Max DePree Change is tough. Any kind of change can be uncomfortable. It asks us to come out of our comfort zone and try something we aren’t accustomed to. And in today’s world we are being asked to make a lot of changes, all at once. Whether it be slowing down and staying home because of the threats of a global pandemic, wearing a mask in public to be considerate of other peoples or only visiting with friends and family over a video call, we are in the midst of many life altering changes. And these changes would be uncomfortable on their own, but coupled with one another they can be overwhelming. The truth about this change though, is that we’re all going through it together. We have the unique experience of having other people going through the same hardship as us and it’s important that we keep supporting and loving one another. And that mindset can be applied to other changes in our lives as well. If we have a support system loving us through our changes and growth, we have people who remind us who we are as we grow. Our support systems can remind us through the uncomfortable changes that we’re worthy of love and support. And that is what Toledo Streets strives to be for our vendors. One of Toledo Street’s pillars of our vision is to cultivate change. We work towards that not only by inspiring hope but especially fostering community. When someone has fallen on diffi cult times, having a community surrounding them can make all the difference. At TSN our vendors are reminded they are strong, important, unique and loved. Because going through change is uncomfortable but add to it searching for a place to live, compromised health, and loneliness and it can seem damn near impossible. Toledo Streets welcomes people to become agents of change within their own lives. They are invited to take control of their situation, focus on their goals and move towards who they want to be. Our community nurtures one another with love, positivity and encouragement. With this, our staff and vendors are empowered to embrace change with open arms. Being reluctant to change is natural when the other side of change is so uncertain. You have to dive head fi rst, heart open to experience the beauty of the true seasons of life. Welcome to this month’s issue on change. I hope you’ll fi nd it comforting to know that though change is happening rapidly, you’ve got a support system walking through your growth with you. Happy reading! The Buck Starts Here Toledo Streets and its vendors are a powerful, community-driven solution to the problem of homelessness. Our vendors earn their way out of their individual situations through a collaboration of journalism, local business partners and their own hard work. Use these four steps to be a part of the solution. Meet Vendors Buy a Paper Get Informed Take Action • Vendors -- the people who sell the paper -- are at the core of Toledo Streets' mission. Each year more than 70 individuals work as vendors with Toledo Streets. At any given time, more than 25 vendors are at work, in the rain, snow, or heat. Vendors play an active role in the management of TS, meeting regularly to discuss issues of concern and even serving on our board. • With the money made selling the newspaper, vendors are able to secure basic needs, independence and dignity, and work toward obtaining housing. Vendors buy papers for a quarter and sell them for a $1, keeping all income and tips for each sale. Toledo Streets tries to tie its editorial to three basic principals: • Inspiring Hope, Fostering Community, and Cultivating Change. We are a member of INSP, our global organization of street papers around the world which provides us with content relevent to social justice, homelessness, and street community around the world. • Donate to the organization and give vendors experiencing homelessness and poverty a hand up. It supports not only the paper but also issues throughout NW Ohio. • Volunteer your time and expertise and help the organization grow. • Share Toledo Streets with your network, and tell people about the organization. Page 3
to embrace its effects, it may be helpful for us to take time to pause and contemplate how change is helping us better understand who we are and just how incredible our lives unfold. On Change by Bryce Roberts I have a tense relationship with change. Throughout any given day I find myself longing for it and avoiding it in different areas of my life and society. The possibility of change can fill my heart with hope and trigger my insecurities at the same time. If you’re anything like me, you know this tension and have experienced the impact of change in your life. As creatures of habit and proponents of stability, we crave a life without much change. The idea of breaking away from our routines, reexamining our beliefs, or adjusting behaviors we have used to cope can be jarring and even scary. Change, in this way, feels as though it is threatening our sense of certainty in our daily life. Conversely, change can be the source of hope. In times of political unrest and stalemate, in times of personal struggle and confusion, and in times of healing and reconciliation, the promise of change can be the light at the end of the tunnel. Change, whether the kind that scares us or fills us with hope, is helpful. It is helpful because it can be a tool to better understand who we are and what we need. When the prospect of change scares us, we better understand where we may need to grow, where we may be passionate, where there are injustices in our community, or where we may need to process experiences from our past. When change gives us hope, it serves as a guidepost to the things we hold most dear and the treasures in our hearts that long to be created. Inevitably, whether welcomed or unwelcomed, change is occurring in our lives. As we manage that change and work Page 4 Toledo Streets Annual Calendar Fundraiser is Happening…. Online! Every year Toledo Streets Newspaper Vendors hit the streets supplied with disposable cameras, and in search of images that capture our community from their unique perspective. The goal is to discover images of our city from the eyes of those with an intimate knowledge of our Toledo Streets. Each image included in our annual calendar is a photograph taken by one of our skilled and dedicated vendors. These local artists work hard to capture these images every year and we share them with you as a way to further establish our vision of inspiring hope, fostering community and cultivating change. Because of the global pandemic, our fundraiser looks a little different this year. We are still producing our annual calendar with photos our TSN vendors have taken from around the city. However, in lieu of an in-person event, we are moving our calendar sales to pre-orders online. We will be offering a “DriveUp” Event on December 10th for those who have pre-ordered calendars to pick up their purchases with a brief transaction in front of our downtown office. As we are not gathering in person, we are relying on our friends and supporters of Toledo Streets to get the word out about our TSN Calendar. Please go to www.toledostreets.com/shop to purchase one now! They make perfect holiday gifts for family, friends, coworkers, bosses etc. Thank you for continuing to support us, especially through this challenging year! Supporters will also have an option of having their calendars shipped directly to them, though we think you’ll want to join us at the event.
How ‘violence interrupters’ are stopping gang shootings Urban gun violence is an entrenched but not intractable problem in the US. Since the 1990s community anti-violence initiatives have reduced crime locally, at least temporarily, by “interrupting” potential violence before it happens. By Deanna Wilkinson The 4 July weekend was one of the deadliest in recent US history, with 160 people, including several small children, killed by gun violence in Chicago, New York, Atlanta and beyond. And the body count keeps rising. Columbus, Ohio, had 13 homicides in the first 26 days of July, according to police data – 46 per cent higher than July 2019. Many shooting victims are from the same Black neighborhoods in cities that have borne the burden of American gun violence for decades. Urban gun violence is an entrenched but not intractable problem, evidence shows. Since the 1990s community antiviolence initiatives – many of them run out of churches – have reduced crime locally, at least temporarily, by “interrupting” potential violence before it happens. Preventable violence One such program is Cure Violence, previously called Chicago CeaseFire. Founded in 1999 with Illinois state funding, CeaseFire employed community members with street credibility – that is, status in their community – to identify those at highest risk of being shot or being a shooter, then intervene in feuds that might otherwise end with fatal gunfire. Working with churches, schools and community groups like the Boys and Girls Club, CeaseFire also helped gang members and atrisk youth move beyond street life by finishing their studies, finding a job or enrolling in drug and alcohol treatment. A National Institute of Justice evaluation found that between 1991 and 2006, CeaseFire helped shootings decline 16 per cent to 28 per cent in four of the seven Chicago neighbourhoods studied. Variations of the CeaseFire program run by law enforcement, public health experts and hospitals have also substantially reduced gun violence in Cincinnati, New York, Boston and beyond. However, many of these successful initiatives, including Chicago CeaseFire, were ultimately scaled back or terminated due to a lack of sustained funding. Restorative justice That’s what happened to CeaseFire Columbus, an Ohio program modeled after Chicago’s program but with a religious orientation. CeaseFire Columbus was run by Ministries for Movement, an anti-violence community organization founded in the deadly summer of 2009. After 20-yearold Dominique Searcy became Columbus’ 52nd murder victim that year, Dominique’s uncle, Cecil Ahad, teamed up with local youth and the former gang leader Dartangnan Hill for a “homicidal pain” march through their community of South Side Columbus. A local pastor, Frederick LaMarr, offered his Family Missionary Baptist Church to host the group’s anti-violence work, giving rise to Ministries for Movement. In 2010, the group were invited to implement a local CeaseFire program. CeaseFire Columbus adopted many of Chicago’s violence interruption tactics, but the guiding philosophy of Pastor LaMarr and Brother Ahad was to meet everyone with compassion and openness, whether they were a grieving mother or a gang member. To convince high-risk young people to stop killing each other, they used positive motivation – not threats of jail time, as some CeaseFire programs do. Evidence shows young people trapped in a cycle of violence are often willing to drop their guns for the chance of a better life: a high school degree, say, or a job offer in a field of interest. LaMarr and Ahad also encouraged perpetrators of violence to take responsibility for their actions. Sometimes, that meant turning themselves in to authorities. Other times, it meant making amends through community service. Ministries for Movement has helped several hundred young Columbus residents escape gangs. An evaluation for The Ohio State University found that between 2011 to 2014, CeaseFire Columbus helped to reduce shootings by 76% in our 40-block target area. For one 27-month period, no one was murdered. The first homicide after those two years of peace was heartbreaking. The victim, 24-year-old Rondell Brinkley, had been turning his life around with the help of Ministries for Movement. Days before his murder, Brinkley had inspired attendees at a community event with his personal story of change. Gardening for change Violence interruption works, but it takes intensive and sustained effort. That can be difficult with a volunteer staff. CeaseFire Columbus achieved its best results after getting $125,000 in grants to expand its street outreach, community mobilizing, public health messaging and conflict mediation. Funding came from The Ohio State University, the Ohio attorney general’s office and the US attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. Ministries for Movement is still active in South Side Columbus: It leads a healing march on the first Sunday of each month, among other activities. But CeaseFire became a casualty of lost funding and city politics. With gun violence quieter in our area but spiking in other parts of Columbus, Ministries for Movement is now sharing its approach with community members and faith leaders in those areas. It is also trying something new to stop the violence: gardening. In 2015, with Department of Agriculture funding, saw the launch of the Urban Gardening Entrepreneurs Motivating Sustainability program and planted a garden at Pastor LaMarr’s church, replacing the overgrown rusty fence line of an abandoned neighbouring house. Urban Gardening Entrepreneurs Motivating Sustainability helps young people build skills, strengthen social connections and improve health in their communities by growing and selling fresh food. Many of the program’s 300 participants have witnessed gun violence and deaths. Many say they find gardening therapeutic. Surveys conducted find that Urban Gardening Entrepreneurs Motivating Sustainability improves participants’ eating habits, problem-solving and leadership skills, persistence and workforce readiness. “Personally, it has taught me a lot of things: How to eat healthier, how to grow produce,” said Nasir Groce, who is now 13 years old, back in 2017. “It’s taught me that I can do anything I put my mind to.” Deanna Wilkinson is an associate professor in the department of human sciences at The Ohio State University. Courtesy of The Conversation / INPS.ngo Page 5
Climate change is drying the lifeblood of Navajo ranchers as their lands become desert Competing with large nearby cities Phoenix and LA for a water supply, the Indigenous Americans on the Navajo reservation are left with dry lands, thirsty cattle and harsh, dust-specked winds. The cost of obtaining and hauling enough water has made ranches unprofitable. Climate change is the main cause, but the denial of Native American rights to the land and its fruits dating back decades also contribute. By Andrew Hay Two decades into a severe drought on the Navajo reservation, the open range around Maybelle Sloan’s sheep farm stretches out in a brown expanse of earth and sagebrush. A dry wind blows dust across the high-desert plateau, smoke from wildfires in Arizona and California shrouding the nearby rim of the Grand Canyon. The summer monsoon rains have failed again, and stock ponds meant to collect rainwater for the hot summer months are dry. With no ground water for her animals, Sloan, 59, fills an animal trough with water from a 1,200-gallon white plastic tank. She and her husband, Leonard, have to pay up to $300 to have the tank filled as her pickup truck has broken down. When it’s working, she hauls water herself every two days, spending $80 a week on fuel. Page 6 The cost of hauling water has made their ranch unprofitable. The Navajo Nation – covering a 27,000-square-mile area straddling the US states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah -- competes with growing cities including Phoenix and Los Angeles for its water supply. And as climate change dries out the West, that supply is becoming increasingly precarious. In decades past, “we got rain every year around June, July, August,” said Leonard Sloan. The 64-yearold rancher pointed toward the dry ponds in the ground near a local butte named Missing Tooth Rock. “When we had that storm, there would be water and they would be full. And now due to global warming, we don’t get no rain, just a little.” To keep their ranch alive, the Sloans have to get water, which is free, from the sole livestock well in the area some 15 miles to the east. They spend between $3,000 and $4,000 a year on hay to supplement their animals’ feed as the open range no longer produces enough grass to sustain them. Maybelle has cut her sheep herd down to 24 head, and Leonard tells her to get rid of them and her 18 goats to focus on their 42 cattle, which bring more money at market. But Maybelle bristles at the thought of giving up sheep herding learned from her mother, and grandmother before her. Maybelle’s mother, father and sister all died in April from coronavirus. “I’m doing it for my parents,” Maybelle said, wiping tears away as she sat on the metal railing of a corral as her cattle licked salt blocks and drank water. Gradual disaster The Sloans remember grass growing as high as the belly of a horse as recently as the 1980s. But drought conditions on the reservation have become largely relentless since the mid-1990s. Annual average temperatures rose by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the reservation’s Navajo County area over the 100 years to 2019, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. The months of June to August this year were the driest on record in the area for the three-month period, according to drought monitoring data studied by climate scientist David Simeral of the Desert Research Institute in Nevada. Three of the five driest July-August rainy seasons in the area have occurred since the late 1990s. The warming trend has prompted desertification, with sand dunes now covering about a third of the reservation, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). All but one of the reservation’s rivers have stopped running yearround, said Margaret Redsteer, a scientist at the University of Washington in Bothell. “That’s the really tricky thing about droughts, and climate change is like that too,” Redsteer said. “It’s a gradual disaster.” Determined people On paper, the Navajo Nation has extensive water rights based on the federal “reserved rights” doctrine which holds that Native American nations have rights to land and resources in treaties they signed with the United States. In practice, the Navajos and other tribes were left out of many 20th century negotiations divvying up the West’s water. There are signs some of the next generation are keeping up ranching traditions. Some youths simply help their grandparents haul water each day from the sole well for livestock in the Bodaway-Gap area. Still others, including Maybelle’s children, send money from their work off the reservation to help fund their families’ ranches. “Us Indians, we don’t give up really easy,” Maybelle said. “We’re really determined people.” Courtesy of Reuters / INSP.ngo
One: The Documentary is released on Amazon Toledo film grapples with the Impact of Addiction One: The Documentary is released on Amazon Toledo, Ohio / September 29, 2020 / Spring Green Educational Foundation, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to connecting, healing, and equipping individuals for the future, has released its film, One: The Documentary via Prime Video. A film that explores the elusive bridge between the broken and the unbreakable, the footage uses the words of the great Zen scholar Alan Watts to further highlight the devastations brought on by addiction. “This film was created to start some important conversations around addiction,” noted Amy Clark, executive producer. “Between the stories shared within the documentary and the underlying themes, we hope viewers will come away with a self-examination into their own lives.” “One carries a special place in my heart as it follows on nicely with our 2017 film Chasing Hope, which began conversations in the schools, noted Dawn Duhaime, producer. “The stories shared are authentic and speak to the pain associated with those facing addiction.” Directed by Mike Goedecke and Lauren Dubac, One: The Documentary is a winner of the Burbank International Film Festival’s Awareness Award and the Maui Film Festival’s Heal the World Cinema Award, both in 2019. The film is available to buy now for $9.99, rent for $2.99, or watch for free with Prime Video. All proceeds are dedicated to future programming. To learn more about the film, please visit: www.onethedocumentary.com Amazon’s Prime Video link is: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ detail/B08GY659QL/ref=atv_dp_ share_cu_r Page 7
Rep. Ayanna Pressley asks marginalized communities to remember “our greatness is older than our oppression” introduced this bill, the Anti-racism in Public Health Act, with Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Barbara Lee specifically so that we can be actively anti-racist when it comes to dismantling structural racism and improving policy when it comes to public health. There are three things that I think are important to highlight here. The first is that we’re confronting and dismantling these racist systems and practices, which have created these racial disparities, by creating the National Center for Anti-Racism at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which first declares racism as the public health crisis that it is and then provides the critical research needed to develop anti-racist health policy. The other matter is the bill will also establish a law enforcement violence prevention program at the CDC, because police brutality is also a public health crisis. In fact, this is the sixth leading cause of death for young black men. I really do ultimately believe that that which gets measured gets done. So, if we’re really serious about ending systemic racism, then we have to invest in the policies and the research that are actively anti-racist. And that’s what the Anti-Racism in Public Health Act does. Ayanna Pressley at recent community event in Boston. [Courtesy photos] What does the federal government need to do to meaningfully address the housing crisis and homelessness in this country? By Ann-Derrick Gaillot Two years ago, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley won her seat in the House of Representatives after running against a 10-time incumbent. That was one of the nation’s first clues that the Chicago-born and raised politician was game for taking on the seemingly unchangeable. Upon doing so, she, who in 2009 became the first black woman ever elected to Boston City Council in over 100 years, took on a new, trailblazing superlative: first black woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress. She’s taken a similarly undaunted approach in Congress, having thrown her support and efforts behind a number of fair housing and racial justice policies and efforts, tackling other seemingly inescapable, entrenched national realities, like homelessness and police brutality. Earlier this year, she and Rep. Page 8 Rashida Tlaib introduced the Public Health Emergency Shelter Act, calling for $11 billion of grants for emergency funding for those the pandemic has left homeless and housing insecure. She also secured $4 billion dollars in homelessness assistance funding in the CARES Act, passed in March. Meanwhile, Rep. Pressley has steadily emerged as one of Congress’s more relatable members, often speaking to how her formative experiences in Chicago, as well as her specific experiences as a black woman in America, inform her policy work. Now up for re-election, Rep. Pressley took a moment to speak to INSP about housing justice, racial justice, and holding on to hope in turbulent times. Ann-Derrick Gaillot: You introduced the antiracism and public health act calling to formally declare racism as a public health crisis, which Boston did. Can you talk more to our readers about this legislation and the impacts that it could have across the country? Ayanna Pressley: The Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District, my district, has been the hardest hit in the Commonwealth by this pandemic, and that has everything to do with the comorbidity of structural racism. Unequal access to healthcare, transportation deserts, food apartheid systems, lack of safe, affordable housing, a confluence of all of those things which, by the way, are not naturally occurring. They are policy choices and decisions. And so, during this moment of national reckoning on racial injustice, it’s not enough to simply call out racism. The federal government really has a moral obligation to actively pursue anti-racist policies and to dismantle systemic racism once and for all. I’m grateful for the Boston City Council, which I served on, the Somerville City Council, and Cambridge as well in the Massachusetts 7th, Boston, who have all declared racism a public health crisis. But I Again, housing is a critical determinant of health, but also social and economic mobility. So, access to safe and affordable housing is a matter of public health. The fact that we find so many people on the precipice of eviction, contributing to growing homelessness in the midst of a pandemic, is unconscionable. We have arrived at this moment not only because of the failings of the federal government to meet the scale and scope of the crisis, but [also] because of a confluence of a lack of political will and leadership and policy. When I was a Boston city councilor, the number one calls my office received were related to housing. And now as a member of Congress, that’s still the case. This is about choices, ultimately. For the price of one military aircraft carrier, we could end homelessness. That’s $13 billion. And I know that because I serve on the Financial Services Committee. Housing and homelessness are under that jurisdiction. And the very first bill to be considered in the 116th Congress in full commit
tee was an act to end homelessness. And I so appreciate that it says “to end,” because it is possible. But it really is about the choices that we make in our budgets on the city and state level and the choices that we make when it comes to federal policy. Can you talk to our readers a bit more about the intersections of racial justice and housing justice? So again, I serve on the Financial Services Committee, and I wanted to do that because of my lived experiences growing up in the residual aftermath of precisely discriminatory policies like redlining. That practice still exists, which is also why we need to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act. The fact that 98 per cent of our financial institutions continue to pass those examinations, meanwhile, the practice of redlining persists, then the 2008 foreclosure crisis, and now our current eviction crisis, black folks are suffering from generations of systemic discrimination in housing. If you’re black, you’re more likely to face housing insecurity, less able to build generational wealth and home ownership. It’s why black students borrow more and default more, because of the policies that have obstructed our abilities, our families’ abilities, to build generational wealth. What’s happening during this COVID-19 pandemic has really only laid bare and worsened these longstanding racial disparities and health outcomes. One of the things that I’m going to continue to fight for is the cancellation of rent and mortgage, for eviction and foreclosure moratoriums. They’ve been a critical lifeline for folks during this pandemic. We know that evictions disproportionately impact black folks, especially black women. We’ve seen in Massachusetts and across the country, landlords are illegally attempting to evict tenants despite moratoriums banning them from doing so. It’s also why I introduced legislation with Senator Kamala Harris and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, the Housing Emergency Lifeline Program, or HELP Act, which would guarantee a right to legal counsel for those who do face eviction. What it provides is an added layer of renters’ protections for those facing eviction. We know that there is an increased likelihood that they will not be evicted if they do have legal representation. REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY D-MASS: “(THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM) IS XENOPHOBIC AND RACIST, AND JUST TINKERING AT THE EDGES WITH LEGISLATIVE REFORMS IS NOT GOING TO BE ENOUGH. WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING BOLD AND TRANSFORMATIVE.” How have the activists and protestors taking to the streets over the past several months influenced your work? Oh, the past several months. No, my entire life. I grew up in a household of a single parent. Our household was destabilized for many reasons, not only because of short-sighted, discriminatory policies, but other destabilizing, social factors. Poverty, incarceration, substance use, trauma. My mother was a tenant’s rights activists. And so, I grew up in the activist household and tradition and my mother made it very clear to me early on that I had a role to play in the movement and in that struggle. It was her expectation that I would. And so now as a policymaker, I’m very intentional about engaging activists because I believe the people closest to the pain should be the closest to the power driving and informing the policymaking. Of the 11 housing bills I’ve either authored or co-sponsored, eight out of the eleven have been directly shaped and informed by my co-authoring legislation with those closest to the issue. People are experts based on their lived experiences. So, my mother’s example really just demonstrated for me the power of activism, of organizing, of mobilizing, the power of movement building. And so as a legislator, I just seek to affirm that our freedoms and our destinies are tied, and to legislate in a way that is bold and intersectional, because each issue builds upon the next. None of these things happen in a silo. In talking with friends and family, about the upcoming election, what keeps coming up is this fear that no matter what happens, things will get worse as far as racist violence and political violence. What words do you have for people with marginalized identities as far as resisting hopelessness or resignation as all this comes to a head? Much of my work on the city council and now in Congress has been informed by my commitment to mitigate the impacts of trauma and to prevent it. I think many things cause trauma. Some things are more obvious, like being besieged and accosted by the consecutive murders on video of unarmed black Americans. I think trauma is also caused by policy that is violent, policy that is precise in the hurt and harm that it causes. [Recently], we asked the City of Boston to respond to the trauma that is all around us and the gravity of our challenges. An activist in the community, Thaddeus Miles, partnered with Boston City Councilman Julia Mejia to designate Black Joy Day in the city of Boston [on 12 September 2020]. One of the affirmations that came out of that was “our greatness is older than our oppression.” So that’s what I would say to all marginalized communities, who are marginalized because of structural racism and systemic oppression, that our greatness is older than our oppression. This is the time to call upon our ancestors. This is the time to revisit the blueprint of what the early chapters of the Civil Rights Movement taught us. We have to dig deep. A dear friend of mine recently challenged all of us to choose the discipline of hope over the ease of cynicism and to choose fortitude over fatalism. My mother taught me to believe in the power of the people, and my conviction and my belief in that has not waned because every transformative systemic change that has been ushered in in this country was made possible because of the power of the people. I would bet on that movement and the American people every day. Ann-Derrick Gaillot is a freelance journalist and writer based in Missoula, Montana. Find more of her work at annderrickgaillot.contently. com. Photos: 1: Ayanna Pressley headshot. Courtesy photo. 2-3: Ayanna Pressley at recent community event in Boston. Courtesy photos. Page 9
Change: The Only Constant by Franco Vitella Buddhism, other Eastern philosophies and religions, and even some Western philosophies, tap into the only thing you can ever truly rely on: everything changes. Each of us changes as people, we die, we go through pandemics even if we don’t want to, our favorite things in life come and go, the seasons change…I could go on forever. In a world that is ever changing, there is one thing that has been going strong in the face of all of it: libraries. From origins in the United States as mercantile and subscription libraries, to Toledo’s own public library founded in 1838, we basically have all the books through thick and thin. OK, maybe not ALL the books. But a lot of them. Anyway, here are some that you might find useful as you confront change. The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams Author Julie Yip-Williams had an improbable and amazing life. She was born blind in Vietnam, was nearly euthanized, fled the country in the late 1970s, and had her sight partially restored after arriving in the United States. She had a thriving career as a lawyer and a family she loved. But at the age of 37, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She died in 2018 at the age of 42. This book is a chronicle of the final 4 years of her life and untangles the miracle of being alive that we all experience. Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen by Brad Warner Brad Warner is a Zen teacher and author of multiple books on Zen, but this book carries a personal touch as a series of letter written to a deceased friend that serves as a discussion on core Zen concepts. The River at Night by Kevin Huizenga Kevin Huizenga’s graphic novel opus deconstructs time itself, beginning with an insignificant conversation and a late night cup of coffee between main character Glenn and his wife Wendy. This unfolds into a night of fitful sleep, dreams, an exploration into the nature of reality, and how time bends, folds, and ultimately causes change. The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis by Christina Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac You only have to look at the news to see the impact of climate change: wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, extreme heat, melting glaciers, and more. Figueres and Rivett-Carnac present a sensible argument for the urgent action humanity must take to combat the climate crisis. They describe what life on Earth might look like in 2050 (just 30 years away!), what we’ll need to do to be carbon neutral, and how amidst all the doom and gloom there is still hope. Page 10 We Are the Change: Words of Inspiration from Civil Rights Leaders Children might have a lot of questions about what has happened during 2020, especially in context of the Black Lives Matter protests. This book, a collection of quotes from notable leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Gwendolyn Brooks, and presented in an accessible picture book format is a great conversation starter for kids and their adults to have a sincere discussion about civil rights.
in the face of pressing societal and ecological concerns is a central focus for each artist. Their tales offer the viewer varying modes of human engagement with one another and the natural world – whether in collective harmony, or through self-destructive impulses and shifting alliances – and the struggles that ensue. At the same time, the works draw on a range of cultural and stylistic sources, characteristic of the global nature of contemporary artmaking. Robyn O’Neil is well known for her monumental graphite compositions depicting tiny, anonymous male fi gures who inhabit vast and forbidding natural settings. In style and mood, her distinctly contemporary works build upon the longstanding tradition of landscape art to consider human struggles in nature, extreme weather and nature’s ephemeral beauty. Scenarios that often recall the collective sense of anxiety and isolation are inspired by a wide range of artistic sources, ranging from the Northern Renaissance artist Hieronymous Bosch (1450 -1516) to the Hudson River School painters and their evocation of nature’s grandeur and destructive forces. “Telling Stories: Resilience and Struggle in Contemporary Narrative Drawing” at Toledo Museum of Art this Fall Amy Cutler, Fossa, 2016. Graphite on paper, 55 ¼ x 47 in. Courtesy of Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects. Three internationally-renowned artists, who represent the extraordinary vitality of contemporary drawing, will be featured in a special exhibition beginning in November at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA). Telling Stories: Resilience and Struggle in Contemporary Narrative Drawing will be on view at TMA from Nov. 21, 2020, through Feb. 14, 2021. Twenty-fi ve large and smallscale works and an animated fi lm, drawn from TMA’s holdings and public and private collections across North America, will be featured in the exhibition. Telling Stories displays the work of the third-generation Inuit artist Annie Pootoogook of Cape Dorset, Canada, and two American artists, Amy Cutler and Robyn O’Neil. These artists showcase the power of drawing as a distinctive form of expression, creating open-ended narratives within natural landscape settings that chronicle the complexities of modern human relationships. Their remarkable compositions – that rely upon inventive mark-making systems and singular approaches to rendering space – incorporate the surface of the paper to call attention to the medium’s distinct properties. “Drawing has seen a remarkable resurgence as a preferred means of art-making over the last 35 years by young artists who have discovered exciting new possibilities for the medium,” said Robin Reisenfeld, TMA’s senior curator of works on paper. “The exhibition offers a lens into this accessible and ever-evolving form of expression by bringing together three artists whose central practice utilizes graphite and paper. Telling Stories also supports the Museum’s mission to provide a diversity of exhibitions for a broad array of audiences.” Told primarily through pencil and paper, the theme of human resilience Annie Pootoogook’s colorful, directly observed compositions chronicle the everyday domestic and social activities of her Cape Dorset community and challenge picturesque portrayals of Inuit life often found in traditional Inuit graphic art. Her scenes of interior home life and outdoor recreational and hunting activities, sprinkled with references to western rituals of media consumption, mass-produced consumer items and modern technology, document contemporary Inuit experience as a fl uid continuum between past and future. Pootoogook’s perceptive and inventive drawing style utilizes fl attened and cinema-like perspectives, the isolation of objects and the distortion of scale to capture the rapidly changing, local Inuit culture and its absorption into our global society. Amy Cutler taps into a broad range of visual motifs, fairy tales and personal experiences to create dreamlike compositions. These depictions feature female characters often engaged in illogical, repetitive tasks accompanied by animals. Her large-scale, exceedingly detailed graphite composition Fossa (2016) utilizes the paper’s surface to imagine a fi ctional, self-sustaining community of women dwelling within the confi nes of tall, hollowedout tree trunks. Cutler’s enchanting worlds subvert narrative conventions to comment on the prescribed roles and expectations society places on women. Page 11
Pezzie Barnett Pezzie has been with Toledo Streets Newspaper since last summer. If I am being honest, she made me a little nervous when she started. I guess I would describe her as a little rough around the edges. But the edges started to soften as we pelted her with unconditional love and continued to reinforce that she is worthy. We are still working on getting her housed, but she has truly embraced change. Change isn’t easy and together we have experienced some backslides or proverbial relapses. But I can’t ask someone to make a flawless change and never revert back to old ways. The change has been uncomfortable and hard, but it is happening. Although becoming housed is a major part of what we do, we also have to work towards helping people make the change is attitude that will help them be successful once they are housed. Pezzie has made that change and Page 12 now it is on to finding a stable place to call her own so she can truly flourish. In One Sentence- who are you?I am kind, caring, loveable, and inspirational. What is a recent accomplishment you are proud of?I have changed my attitude and my aggressiveness. It has been a hard change but I made it through. What is one misconception you think people have about people who are homeless?They think that people who are homeless are disgusting. When and why did you start selling Toledo Streets Newspaper?I started selling because I was panhandling and homeless. I started last year. What is one thing you want people to know about you?I want people to know that I am strong and that I can get through anything. How would you like to see Toledo/Lucas County change for the better?I would like to see everyone come together. What is your next step/goal? I want to get in my own place and stay out of jail. Where do you sell TSN? I sell at the courthouse and at the liquor store on Monroe and Bancroft. What is your favorite part of selling TSN? My favorite part of selling the paper is getting to see my family that works at TSN. What is the most inspirational/ interesting thing that has happened to you while selling? Claire teaching me how to control my anger and the difficulties that come about without learning the hard way or getting in trouble. What do you want people to know about your past? I have been through hell. What is something unexpected that you have gotten from TSN? Love, a lot of it too. Anything you want to add? Nope.
Don’t Have Cash? Toledo Streets Newspaper vendors now accept payment through Venmo! We are taking notes from other street papers around the globe and going cashless! The initiative could not have launched at a better time. While the world is taking precautions to remain socially distant to keep themselves and the people around them safe, we are too. Cashless payments reduce the amount of hand to hand contact, making buying a Toledo Streets Newspaper safer during this time of great uncertainty. This option also opens the door for people who don't carry cash on them often but still want to support our vendors. The process is simple, read our graphic below for more details. Page 13
PuzzlePage Cartoon Characters ACROSS 1. Brocadopa or Larodopa 6. They are often covert 9. Used for watering 13. Vexed 14. Took the bait 15. Spot for boutonniËre 16. Old West pack animal 17. Big-headedness 18. Render harmless 19. *Bamm-Bamm’s dad 21. *Angelica, Tommy and Dil 23. Opposite of yang 24. Archipelago unit 25. Solemn pledge 28. Depletes 30. Works, as in a bakery 35. Kind of beige 37. Hammer or sickle 39. ____ firma 40. Lecherous look 41. Computer key 43. Lure for a dieter, on a package 44. Tropical smoothie flavor 46. Health club offering 47. Hourglass filler 48. Popular saint’s name 50. Pea ____, pl. 52. Limit, to some 53. Peace symbol 55. Like King George, 1760-1820 57. *Ill-tempered fourth-grader’s last name 61. *Beast Boy and Starfire 64. Rossini’s offering 65. Lobe locale 67. Sure sign of fire 69. Pretend, two words 70. Number cruncher, acr. 71. Lusitania destroyer 72. Gave the boot 73. Pivotal 74. Santa Maria’s companion DOWN 1. Party choice, abbr. 2. Clobber 3. Southern stew staple 4. *Stepbrothers’ bipedal platypus 5. Apollo Creed’s son 6. Toe the line 7. *Peppa’s or George’s last name 8. “The buck ____ here” 9. *King of the Hill 10. Milky-white gem 11. Dry as dust 12. Popular street-lining trees 15. Aglow 20. Related on mother’s side 22. Type 24. Carbon-12 or carbon-13 25. *The “brains” of Scooby-Doo’s group 26. Billy of ‘80s Billboard charts 27. Small songbirds 29. *Pinky Pie or Fluttershy 31. Unagi, pl. 32. A in A=ab, pl. 33. Did it to Kool-Aid 34. *Land mammal in Bikini Bottom 36. Give a pep talk 38. *Emmet Brickowski’s brick 42. Spokes of a wheel, e.g. 45. *Mr. Magoo or Mr. Burns, e.g. 49. Bygone bird of New Zealand 51. Opposite of ‘lies down’ 54. Sweater style 56. More than one iamb 57. Float liquid 58. Mt. Everest to Earth 59. Network of nerves 60. Walked on 61. Cafeteria carrier 62. High part of day 63. 3-handed card game 66. *Magilla Gorilla, e.g. 68. Pilot’s announcement Cartoons Page 14 Solutions Solutions
TOLEDO STREETS NEW SP APER Mail: 913 Madison Street Toledo, OHIO 43604 TOLEDO STREETS WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, CORP. Board of Directors – 2020 Chair Lauren M. Webber Vice-Chair Tom Kroma Treasurer Lauren M. Webber Secretary Kristy Lee Czyzewski Ken Leslie Michelle Issacs a new job, because he lost his old job because of presiding judge, Leonie Mengel, as he summed up the case after the two-day trial. Michael P. has said that he wants to fi nd attack. “I was drunk,” he admitted in the courtroom. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have done such a stupid thing.” P. seemed depressed as he described in court how he felt that his life had been slipping through his fi ngers. He has suffered for many years from a rare nerve disease: problems with walking and balance are consequences of the disease and sometimes he is unable to leave the house despite using medication. The fact that he could only calm his nerves with alcohol was confi rmed by an expert. Did the combination of alcohol and pills make him aggressive? This possibility cannot be excluded, according to the expert. However, “how [the attack] actually happened remains unclear,” said the his sentence, mainly as a result of his behaviour after the attack. While it is true that he ran away on the night of the attack, shortly afterwards he apologised to the victim in person on several occasions. And, although the victim told him that he didn’t need to go to the police, P. did so a little while later. “I wanted to take responsibility for what I did,” he said in court. Sven, his victim, did not appear in court, but later said in a conversation with Hinz&Kunzt that, “if he hadn’t contacted the police then they never would have found him, so he has my respect for that.” Michael P. only vaguely remembers the The 27-year-old got off so lightly, in terms of Seifert, the coroner, in the court proceedings that were held nearly seven months after the attack. Sven, a homeless man, had to be taken by ambulance for treatment in hospital. The sentence for the attacker was rather mild: he was sentenced to one year and three months in custody for causing grievous bodily harm and given a further two years on probation. This was just what the prosecution asked for. After he completes his sentence, Michael P. will be a free man. “He was incredibly lucky,” said Dragane he could sleep deeply. It was 6.20pm when a dark fi gure suddenly appeared in front of him at the Ohlsdorf station in Hamburg, where he had settled down to sleep. Then things kicked off. “I was only just able to prop myself up,” the 45-year-old remembers. Then came the pain as a 12-centimetrelong cut was slashed across Sven’s throat. It could have been fatal. Vendor Representative Marthia Russell Julie M. McKinnon Ken Leslie Chris Csonka Deb Morris Zobaida Falah • Kristy Lee Czyzewski• • Treasurer Lauren M. Webber Secretary • Vice-Chair Tom Kroma For Sven, the attack came out of nowhere. In the evening, he had some drinks so that By Benjamin Laufer and Jonas Füllner Ohlsdorf station in Hamburg when he was slashed across the neck in an unprovoked attack that could have cost him his life. His life-threatening injuries were infl icted on him by a 27-year-old, who admitted that he was drunk at the time of the attack and who later handed himself into police after running away from the scene of the crime. Hinz&Kunzt learns more about the attack and its repercussions. Translated from German by Hazel Alton Courtesy of Hinz&Kunzt / INSP.ngo • • • • Bryce Roberts Chair respect the space of other vendors, particularly the space of vendors who have been at a spot longer, and will position myself at least two blocks away from a working vendor unless otherwise approved; 45-year-old Sven was sleeping outside • “I get scared by every little noise”: The aftermath of a violent attack • Board of Directors – 2018 Mail: 913 Madison Street Toledo, OHIO 43604 CONTINUED FROM P 3TOLEDO STREETS WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, CORP. OUR GLOBAL INSP COMMUNITYOur Global INSP Community Page 19 understand I am not a legal employee of Toledo Streets but a contracted worker responsible for my own well-being and income; • not buy/sell Toledo Streets under the infl uence of drugs or alcohol; agree to sell no additional goods or products when selling the paper; his illness. “I want to get my life back on track,” he said, after four months in custody. Sven’s life has been unsettled since the attack last winter. “Sleeping has changed,” he explains, “I get scared by every little noise.” Sven would most like to have his own apartment, or at least a room of his own. When you have your own place, he says, “you can sleep properly again.” agree to treat others- customers, staff and other vendors - respectfully, and I will not “hard sell”, threaten or pressure customers; only purchase the paper from Toledo Streets staff or volunteers and will not sell papers to other vendors; agree not to ask for more than a dollar or solicit donations for Toledo Streets by any other means; All vendors must agree to the following code of conduct to: The following list is our Vendor Code of Conduct, which every vendor reads through and signs before receiving a badge and papers. We request that if you discover a vendor violating any tenets of the Code, please contact us and provide as many details as possible. Our paper and our vendors should positively impact the city. While Toledo Streets is a non-profi t program, and its vendors are independent contractors, we still have expectations of how vendors should conduct themselves while selling and representing the paper. Vendor Code of Conduct understand Toledo Streets strives to be a paper that covers homelessness and poverty issues while providing a source of income for the unhoused and underprivileged. I will try to help in this effort and spread the word. understand my badge is the property of Toledo Streets and will not deface it. I will present my badge when purchasing the papers and display my badge when selling papers. I realize badges cost $1 to replace when lost or damaged; always have in my possession the following when selling Toledo Streets: my Toledo Streets badge, a Toledo Streets sign, a vendor’s license waiver from the mayor, and Toledo Streets papers; agree to only use professional signs provided by Toledo Streets; Abby Sullivan Shannon Nowak Shawn Clark Amy Saylor LaParis Grimes Wanda Boudrie Toledo Streets is a monthly publication called a street paper. We are part of a worldwide movement of street papers that seeks to provide simple economic opportunities to homeless individuals and those experiencing poverty. Our vendors purchase each paper for $.25 and ask for a dollar donation. In exchange for their time and effort in selling the paper, they keep the difference. They are asking for a hand up, not a hand out. By purchasing the paper, you have helped someone struggling to make it. Not just in terms of money, but also in dignity of doing something for themselves. We thank you. FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER Crystal Jankowski Our Staff EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR John Keegan WRITING TEAM LEADER Jonie McIntire ART DIRECTOR Ed Conn Toledo Streets seeks to empower individuals struggling with extreme poverty to participate on a new level in the community through self-employment, job training, and contributorship. Our Mission Toledo Streets is a registered nonprofi t corporation in Ohio. While your gifts to the vendors, who are independent contractors, are not taxed deductible, any donations you make directly to our organization are deductible. These monies go to supporting programming, which includes job training and skills development. Our vendors purchase each paper for $.25 and ask for a dollar donation. In exchange for their time and effort in selling the paper, they keep the difference. They are asking for a hand up, not a hand out. By purchasing the paper, you have helped someone struggling to make it. Not just in terms of money, but also in dignity of doing something for themselves. We thank you. Toledo Streets is a monthly publication called a street paper. We are part of a worldwide movemment of street papers that seeks to provide simple economic opportunities to homeless individuals and those experiencing poverty. Toledo Streets is a registered nonprofi t corporation in Ohio. While your gifts to the vendors, who are independent contractors, are not tax deductible, any donations you make directly to our organization are deductible. These monies go to supporting programming, which includes job training and skills development. Our Mission Toledo Streets seeks to empower individuals struggling with extreme poverty to participate on a new level in the community through self-employment, job training, and contributorship. Our Staff EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Arika Michaelis VENDOR MANAGER Claire McKenna ART DIRECTOR Ed Conn INTERNS John Brindley, II Julia Holder Trinity Episcopal Church Vendor Code of Conduct As a vendor representing Toledo Streets Newspaper , I: • • • • • • • • • • • • agree not to ask for more than a dollar or solicit donations for Toledo agree to treat all others—customers, staff, pressure customers. agree to stay off other private Toledo property and highway understand I am not a legal employee of for my own well-being and income. Streets Newspaper vendors—respectfully, exit Toledo under and ramps when selling Streets Newspaper agree to sell no additional goods or products when selling the paper. will not buy/sell the in luence agree to only use professional signs provided by Toledo Toledo Streets badge, a Streets sign, and of but drugs will always have in my possession the following when selling Toledo Toledo Streets papers. understand my badge, vest, and sign are the property of Toledo them in any way. Toledo I Streets will Toledo a or Streets Newspaper. Streets Newspaper agree that badges and signs are $5 to replace and vests are $10 to replace. understand that when you are wearing your vest you are representing Toledo inappropriate behavior while representing Streets Newspaper may result in Streets Newspaper : my Toledo will and Streets Newspaper, disciplinary not alter thus action any by any not contracted alcohol. will respect the space of other vendors and will position myself at least two blocks away from a working vendor unless otherwise approved. other means. “hard sell,” threaten Streets Newspaper. worker responsible or Page 15
Fresh and affordable. Local produce, meat, dairy and everyday necessities near downtown Toledo. Committed to offering affordable, healthy food; delivering nutritional education; and providing job training opportunities. Open to everyone. | WIC/SNAP accepted. 1806 Madison Ave. UpTown Toledo marketonthegreen.org Hours: Mon. – Fri. 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. Sat. and Sun. 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. © 2019 ProMedica
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