field notes of a real anthropologist
Here are some of the field notes that I’ve taken during my time in Seattle hanging out with the homeless. This is the raw data that will turn into a paper during the next semester. Take a look and learn some new interesting stuff about the homeless in Seattle. You’ll find interesting information about what it’s like to live as a homeless person and some discussions about panhandling and homeless shelters, etc. May God capture your heart for these that He loves. . .
Structured Observation
6.23.08
Pike’s Park, Downtown Seattle
It’s a very grey day today. Although very glairy! Monday afternoon doesn’t call many people to the city or to the park. Although, because it’s summer, there is not a small number of people enjoying the park in the midst of downtown. Having been to this park a number of times, I am used to the spattering of people and have previously identified it as a node for homeless people specifically. There are generally found here those who are homeless and tourists. I was here several times in the last week, though not specifically for research and noticed several of the same men. One is even laying in the same place. I will probably write up field notes on those experiences later today.
The temperature is cool today, although there is no rain.
The park’s main entrance is from a cross-walk that comes directly from Pike Place Market. This is the cause of all the tourists. On the park side of the crosswalk directly at the entrance to the park is a man drawing a sketch of the park and selling other sketches as well. Benches that line the borders of the park are comfortably enhabited by people, both tourists and others. I need to find a new term for them because those in this community, but the look of things are not only homeless but may simply not have a home that allows them to live there. Homeless doesn’t seem politically correct.
A child plays happily by me and his mother scolds him and his brother. They are running all over the grass. She looks cautiously at a man with several bags who is curled up under a blanket. She appears to be nervous about her boys getting too close. Perhaps she is worried that he will disturb his sleep, but there seems to be something more to her caution.
Some questions to ask. . . What are indicators of who a homeless person is?
To my knowledge at this point, there appears to be four homeless men sleeping on the grass here in the park.
Man #1: He has a blanket spread out on the grass and four grocery bags full of cloth next to the blanket. (The other participant with a blanket spread is a mom with her children having a picnic). He is wearing a dirty pair of jeans and two jackets. The under one is brown and appears to be very dirty. The outer one is grey. He lays on his right side with his right arm covering his eyes from the light. He has grey hair and a thick grey beard.
He just rolled over and is now laying on his back. His stomach is slightly exposed
A park ranger just strode past me. He has kind eyes, although he is watching ver intently the goings on of the park. He is also watching the birds. He stands with his arms crossed and one leg out to support himself. He is asserting dominance and making a presence known. On the other side of the park is a man dressed in the same uniform. He has his hands held behind his back and is also very aware of all that’s going on in the park. I might need to talk with these guys to find out more information about this park. Now the one that strode past me is gazing off into the distance toward the Olympic mountains. They are beautiful today. They are not veiled by the clouds as they usually are. The cloud cover is very high. And mt. ranier is also in the distance.
The park rangers just walked out of the park together and got into a van parked just outside of the park. Maybe going to another park? Hopefully I can talk to them sometime.
Man#2 is laying against a trash can. He doesn’t have as much stuff with him but is dressed similarly. He is wearing boots. He has switched positions several times since I’ve been sitting here.
Two young women just walked in front of man #1 and although they didn’t seem to care that he was there, one of the girls looked very apprehensive.
Man #1 just sat up and is now eating food out of a white foam “to go” container. He’s taken 5 bites and looks to be deciding whether or not to eat more. He does. He is not using utensles of any kind but sloppily takes large bites of food with his fingers into his mouth. He closes the box. I cannot see if it is empty or not.
People walk by without so much as looking at him.
Can I assume that a man with a beard and long dirty hair his homeless?
Homelessness 101
Laura Prichard, Lecturer
7.12.08
This lecture or class was intended to be a training session for those who desire to work with homeless youth in the University District of Seattle. According to Laura, the lecturer, most of the homeless youth in the city end up in the U district and spend their adolescent years there. Most programs offered for the homeless in the U district are geared toward young adults and youth.
The training session was held in the U district YMCA which houses some of the programs for the youth in the neighborhood. It is a relatively small facility with a handful of workout equipment and several rooms for meetings and activities. I arrived a few minutes late due to traffic and walked into a room occupied by 10 other people. Nine were participants who were planning on volunteering to work with youth and Laura, the lecturer. Laura was a young thirties woman with short black hair, dark rimmed glasses, a black shirt with Tattoo sticking out of the sleeves, loose fitting jeans, and black tennis shoes. She was a professed cigarette smoker and has an education both in social work and non-profit management. She herself is a case manager and helps run the programs in the U district. She is also one of those who helps in networking all of the programs together and training the volunteers.
When I walked into the room, Laura was standing in the front addressing all of the other participants. She was standing behind a folding chair with her foot propped up on the chair. She was using it like an improvised podium and had her notes and her ½ drank iced coffee sitting on it. All of the participants were sitting (three rows deep) facing her. All participants were white upper-middle class save one who was probably Filipino. They were from varying distances, one from only a few blocks away and others from 30 minutes away. Only one had previously volunteered and so had a good idea of what Larua was talking about most of the time. Others seemed very ignorant about the topic and asked very simple questions throughout to clarify issues.
The following facts are all according to Laura Prichard who taught the session and prepared all of the training materials.
Homeless youth who attend programs are referred to as ‘clients.’
We began by discussing the causes for homelessness in youth. Many of these reasons also carry over to adults. Homelessness is generally defined as the inability to maintain a stable, standard place to live. The other term that Laura defined was ‘street involved’ which suggests that the individual may be in transitional housing but their relationships, social networks, and sometimes family are on the streets.
The majority of homeless youth come from abusive home situations. There is often a presence of neglect, domestic violence, or family conflict. They are sometimes kicked out and sometimes they leave on their own accord. Nearly 60% have been in the foster care system at some point during their lives. Some families in the foster care system are very supportive and helpful to young people, allowing them to live normalized lives and providing for all their needs, physical, emotional, mental, intellectual, etc. Such families do not generally push young people into street life. At 18, they age out of the system and are no longer allowed to receive care from those in the system. Often, when there wasn’t a support system in the home, young adults who have just turned 18 will go to the streets. The main two reasons Laura explained as causes of this were that individuals do not come out of the system with sufficient life skills. They cannot apply for a job or get housing. They have difficulty understanding how to follow through with keeping a job or turning on the lights in their new place even if they are able to obtain them. The second reason is for a lack of resources (financial, emotional, intellectual, etc).
What was explained is that homelessness has become a culture in the city. In urban centers, we are seeing youth who are second generation homeless. It is difficult often to help a person get out of the lifestyle because they (a) don’t necessarily want to leave it and (b) don’t understand the basics about getting by in a non-homeless life. Laura explained a disconnect in the understanding of how one would sleep in the same place every night and keep their stuff in the same place. “It’s a given for me that all my stuff is in my apartment, but for these kids, they’ve never lived that way, so they don’t understand it.” In King County, there are 1500-1600 youth on the streets.
In the suburbs, the police and policy makers have more motivation to harass the homeless and kick them out. People have more control over their space the smaller the domain. Seattle, a large city, has a moderate and periodically aggressive anti-homeless policy. The general feeling in the city is relatively compassionate toward them. The development of Tent City is a demonstration of that.
Tent City is an organization of tents that moves around the cities every few months. They usually land in church parking lots/fields, etc. They are self-organized and they have rules and policies within themselves. Usually people who live there have jobs. There are check-in and check-out policies. They have security. They are completely self managed. Usually a food bank or shelter will sponsor their meal tent. Some concerns with them is that they have the potential to perpetuate drug problems, violence problems, and other issues within the homeless community. It’s in Bellevue right now. It also brings up public health issues. They have community meetings and a self-electing structure.
A question about panhandling and what Laura thought about it.
Laura’s policy: If it causes you turmoil to give money because you are so worried that it will be used inappropriately, then don’t give money. Some will buy their next batch of pot or a beer, others will try to eat, find a room, buy a gift for a loved-one, or pay for their ID. The rumors are that people make more panhandling than having a full-time job. Laura’s guess: probably not. It’s really not that easy. Even if you’re going to say no, look them in the eye and say it. Sometimes, if you offer them an alternative to money, they won’t want it. It’s okay. Just leave them alone. Compared to other cities, we have pretty good basic services in this city. Most people can probably eat one meal a day if they choose to.
Interview
7.9.08
Informant: Polly, Volunteer Coordinator for Real Change
Location: Real Change Office, 2nd Ave, Downtown Seattle
The Real Change office is on the ground floor of a business building in a neighborhood known as Belltown in downtown. It’s a small office housing approximately 15 staff members. The decoration is very eclectic and the RC logo is posted on the front windows and door. The door knob does not work well, so as I entered the office I had to lift the handle up rather than pull it down. There was a sign indicating that was necessary. The whole office was rather thrown together. It reminded me somewhat of the SMU office in it’s eclectic and spontaneous looking nature. There was a small lobby in the front of the office which housed a few old, brown, leather couches and a coffee table. It was a welcoming place that was very comfortable. When I walked in there three women in the front of the office who were looking at baby pictures. One of them had just become a grandmother. They were all dressed very casually. One girl had a cut-off sleeve t-shirt and overalls. They almost all had facial piercing and short hair. They looked to me like typical young Seattlites, representing the generation of grunge rock and independent thinking. I informed the ladies that I was there to meet with Polly, who was one of them in the mix. She identified herself and we went into the office to talk about the organization. I had previously arranged to meet with Polly because I had emailed RC to inform them of my interest and see if there was anyway that I could get plugged in volunteering with the organization or hanging out with their people. I was also interested in finding out what they do as an organization as I planned on possibly focusing on their programs for my research. They had been the organization with the greatest presence in the city since I had been observing.
We walked back into an office area that was very, very messy. There were computers all around the room which was lined with desks. Chairs were all over and I was again reminded of the SMU office in all of it’s messy glory. Polly grabbed some literature for me and she took me into a back conference room. As we walked to the conference room I caught a view of an open computer area that looked a little bit more public as it was cleaner and there were homeless people using them. Also toward the back of the office was an editing room in which people were going over video footage and editing. The conference room was decorated in a similar way, posters and information all over. There were bookshelves and cabinets lining one wall and another wall was open for a projector to project onto. Another wall had a few large posters of celebrities with homeless people in the city. These had been a part of some campaigns to reduce the stigma of homeless people in the city.
We sat together at the large conference table and Polly began to tell me all about RC.
RC begun in 1994. Its primary focus is the newspaper which is published every Wednesday morning and is sold by homeless people around the city. There are no requirements to become a vendor except for a one hour orientation to the process which boils down to (a) be sober (b) don’t be a jerk. When they come in for their first batch of papers they also receive an ID badge which has a picture of the vendor, the name they choose to use, and an vendor number. These numbers are the primary means of identifying vendors in the city because many of them use false names. If there are issues with particular vendors, their vendor number is what is used to locate them.
Papers cost $.35 for vendors and they sell them for $1. When a vendor signs up, they get their first 10 papers for free to get them started selling. RC has about 250-300 regular vendors. Some sell over 1000 papers a month and others only sell 10 a month. For some it is a full time job, they pay their rent with it and take care of their needs with their income. For others, it is a very here and there type of thing. The demographic of vendors tends to be older men or men who are involved in homelessness for a while. Many are older males of racial minorities with mental health issues. Represent much of the demographic in the city as far as homeless go. RC offers little to no services to homeless individuals. They do not have case managers. They have drives (hats, coats, gloves, blankets, etc) during the winter, but not much else besides that. Providing assistance alongside of their vendor program is limited and very grey. Nothing is spelled out or planned in program form in these areas.
There are processes for issues with vendors. They are primarily held accountable by peers. There is a voting process in which the vendors all vote for vendor representatives. There are three of them. They serve terms for a couple months at a time. It’s basically a jury of their peers. There are also 3.5 vendor staff who are involved with the vendor reps and help to provide guidance to them.
There is a system set in place for vendors called TURF. There are two levels of turf. The first is called the 300 club. The 300 club is those vendors who sell 300 or more papers per month. These vendors are allowed to claim a part time turf somewhere in the city. They specify which hours of the day they will be selling there and, although other people can sell their during their off hours, they are allowed to kick them out when they arrive for their hours. Those who are a part of the second level or the 600 club have full time turf and are allowed to kick other individuals selling there out at anytime during the day. If a vendor does not sell 300/600 papers one month, they have a grace period in which they are allowed to have one more month in their turf but after the second month, if they did not sell enough papers they are either demoted to the 300 club or their turf is given away. The idea is that vendors will get to know people in their neighborhood or on their corner. There are only minor issues with turf, but usually people respect it. They also have regular customers at their turf locations.
The publication “Real Change” is the primary program in RC. They have 3.5 editorial staff (the .5 from vendor staff is also .5 on editorial staff). These individuals are the ones who produce the paper. They write, photograph, and edit the weekly publication. There are also a dozen or so volunteers and interns who work on the publication in all processes of it. There are street papers all over the country and this is Seattle’s (She kept using the term “street paper” which, I gathered, is a term used for papers that give voice and employment to homeless people in cities around the world). All street papers run their programs slightly differently. There is no cookie cutter way of operating them. The distinct thing about Real Change is that they are a paper focused on not only issues regarding homelessness in the city, but also with social justice, poverty and disempowerment. The focus is much more broad. They have surveyed readers extensively and know pretty well who their readers are. They try to cater to the interests of their readers, knowing what types of issues they would be interested in reading about.
Another program that RC offers is called their “Speakers Bureau.” Being a member of the speaker’s bureau involves being available to lecture and speak about your life and work in schools and other public venues in which people invite speakers to come. These indivudials are all homeless and any money that is given to them for their speaking goes directly to them.
Another program is an arts program of sorts. It used to primarily be a writing workshop to help individuals learn how to write and articulate their experiences and life stories. Now its is more focused on theater, video and other mixed media. Helping individuals articulate their stories and experiences on video or through drama in order to sell eventually or contract. There was actually a camera set-up in the conference room while we were in there that had been used for such a video a few minutes before.
The final program that makes up RC is their Advocacy programs. They have one full-time employee (Natalie who I will interview later this week). RC tries to look at the big picture of homelessness and poverty in the city. They want to examine the structural causes of poverty. Their advocacy department works on networking with other agencies whose focus is also structural change and policy. They also want to work with shelters/service organizations to get them all working together for the one cause. They also focus on putting political pressures on politicians to make change in areas of housing and employment. Once a year they take a handful of vendors to Olympia (the capital of Washington) to advocate and speak for themselves to politicians on issues of housing and poverty.
The main focus of their advocacy program is increasingly becoming their Real Change Organizing Projects. They noticed that one of their strengths as an organzation (something sustainable) was their ability to create relationships between people who are not normally connected. These relationships typically cross socio-economic class lines. People who are normally not exposed to individuals outside of their class are forced to interact due to the publication and their vendor program. They decided that they needed to make a more concentrated effort to do advocacy for the poor. They wanted to begin to reduce the stigma surrounding the poor and homeless in the city. They were seeing increasing stigma in the policies and reactions of people against the poor. They were feeling unwelcome and were beginning to be seen/understood as being a bother. Their main events have been camp-outs in front of city hall. They saw that people who had no place to sleep would find places in the city to sleep during the night. The city was not dealing well with these people and making them unwelcome by claiming that the property was the city’s and thus action was taken against the homeless to be sure they didn’t’ come back. People’s tents were destroyed, their personal things were burned or thrown away. Pictures of family members, their personal belongings. People’s lives were destroyed by the police attempting to kick them out of these camps. In an attempt to draw media attention, RC created campouts in front of city hall at which people camped in front of the city hall and held signs advocating for better housing programs rather than violence against the homeless. The goal was primarily to increase media attention. They had one in December, March, and June. In June 15 people were peacefully arrested for civil disobedience. They had notified the police ahead of time that they were going to do it and so they were very polite, but they wanted to increase media coverage to draw attention to the issues at hand.
