Wednesday, February 25, 2004
He says, "My nails are so short because sometimes I keep myself up at night scratching my skin raw and clipping my nails is the only way to get the skin cleaned out from underneath them."
She says, "That's nothing, I didn't fall off my bike last week, I cut my leg open with a knife."
He says, "I have this problem you see, it's this itch that I can't quite get at it. It's driving me nuts, because the two solutions, ignoring it and scratching the itch, both seem temporary."
She says, "It looks like we've got the same problem, igoring it doesn't work, because the ignoring that would take place would be a concious act. The itch, the cause of the itch would still be there and you'd know it was there. It's hard to sucessfully ignore something when you're aware you're ignoring it. Scratching it would just make that itch worse."
He says, "It's like what the fuck do you do when you don't know what to do? It's been too long now that I've been saying fuck the damage."
She says, "I've been trying for a while now to just dig it out. It ain't working."
She says, "That's nothing, I didn't fall off my bike last week, I cut my leg open with a knife."
He says, "I have this problem you see, it's this itch that I can't quite get at it. It's driving me nuts, because the two solutions, ignoring it and scratching the itch, both seem temporary."
She says, "It looks like we've got the same problem, igoring it doesn't work, because the ignoring that would take place would be a concious act. The itch, the cause of the itch would still be there and you'd know it was there. It's hard to sucessfully ignore something when you're aware you're ignoring it. Scratching it would just make that itch worse."
He says, "It's like what the fuck do you do when you don't know what to do? It's been too long now that I've been saying fuck the damage."
She says, "I've been trying for a while now to just dig it out. It ain't working."
I was going to write a rather large entry about all the first times I did various drugs, but then I thought noone really cares about that stuff. My life isn't sordid enough for it to sound interesting in 'print', at best it would be just masturbatory. It's not like I'm Rick Fucking Ferrari.
my friends are getting famous
oh what can I do?
my friends are getting famous
and I think I ought to to
I really don't like when people assume that they know what's best for me. Take for example the recent curfew that was instituted in Halifax, the rationale behind the curfew was that it would keep pedestrians out of the way of the snow plows. I understand this would be a concern for the blind and the deaf, but being in possession of my sense allows me to recognize that a giant yellow front end loader could potentially cripple me if I come to close. I've seen the war amps commercials, I'm not going to try and 'beat the train'. It just seems to me that the curfew gave more power to the police to stop and question people for no reason which they did. I suppose I'm beng a little unfair, but so is threatening a thousand dollar fine.
When I lived in Alberta, I didn't encounter too many panhandlers in my day to day activities. Banff was devoid of panhandlers on its streets, not that there weren't people in need, but those in need were soon run out of town due to the dearth of support services and Banff's numerous laws that severely limit one's ability to panhandle. Calgary was a different story. When I visited Calgary (about every other weekend), I noticed that Calgary had a number of destitute homeless, much worse than what I had seen in Halifax. In Halifax it seems that there's a high number of people with some form of shelter panhandling, whereas in Calgary it seems that a large percentage of those panhandling in the downtown core are street people with very few options for shelter. In Calgary you can pretty much avoid the destitute due to the abundance of plus 15's and a plethora of indoor elevated shops serviced by the plus 15's (elevated passageways that connect a number of large office buildings and malls together, the system spans several blocks in any direction). In truth you could go weeks without ever having to descend to street level and encountering street people. You could leave your house in the suburbs, entering your car through your attached garage, drive downtown, park in a parking garage (that is conveniently attached to
your place of work), go to work, eat lunch inside one of the many restaurants in the pedway system, do all your shopping without going down to street level, drive home and repeat. It's hard to care about people when you never have to face them. It's hard to care about people when you don't know they exist, or don't want to know.
It's a nice out of sight, out of mind routine. What's even more apalling is the fact that the cities main homeless shelter is attached to one of the cheapest liquor stores in the city. It's not a block away, it's not on the neighbouring lot, there's no seperation between the back walls of the two buildings. Sometimes it's hard to accomplish anything when noone even wants you to try.
In Halifax recently the Spring Garden Road Business Association (which represents the interests of businesses on one of downtown Halifax's busiest streets), complained that the Salvation Army outreach van was attracting an undesirable element to the street and thus discouraging people to shop. There was a suggestion by one of the businesses that the van move to Uniacke Square where it would be of more service to people. How altruistic! However he slipped up when he referred to the area as 'Maniac Square'. Yesterday the Salvation Army caved to pressure and decided that they would move to a more low-key spot a few blocks away.
This isn't the first time that the Spring Garden Road Business Assocation have taken measures to limit panhandling and the amount of homeless visible on the street. They've hired security guards to keep the streets clear of riffraff and have placed enormous pressure on city council to put restraints in place that severely limit panhandling.
When I shop I don't feel the need to spend money at every store I see. I have a choice on where to spend my money, I am able to make choices because I'm a reasonably rationale and mature adult. I don't hand money to every panhandler on the street, I can't I just don't have that much money, but I try to not just ignore people when they ask me for money. I'd rather they not just disappear. Sometimes it's good to be reminded that there's people out there that have to resort to begging just to get by. It ain't pretty. It's not like anyone panhandling keeps banker's hours and heads home to their mansion in an SUV, laughing at all all the suckers they duped.
People need to realize that there are people who aren't well off out there. Maybe it's a good thing that before they go into HMV to buy the new Malcolm Norah Roberts cd that they realize that they are some people who have to resort to eating the paper bag french fries from McDonalds come in. I don't want to be protected and sheltered. I don't want you to decide what's best for me. I don't want to pretend that there aren't people panhandling in order to survive, because there are.
I know that there's people who huff gas in order to get by. I know that there's a woman who's been working the block near my house every night for the last three during this blizzard. Pretending that they aren't there doesn't change a thing.
oh what can I do?
my friends are getting famous
and I think I ought to to
I really don't like when people assume that they know what's best for me. Take for example the recent curfew that was instituted in Halifax, the rationale behind the curfew was that it would keep pedestrians out of the way of the snow plows. I understand this would be a concern for the blind and the deaf, but being in possession of my sense allows me to recognize that a giant yellow front end loader could potentially cripple me if I come to close. I've seen the war amps commercials, I'm not going to try and 'beat the train'. It just seems to me that the curfew gave more power to the police to stop and question people for no reason which they did. I suppose I'm beng a little unfair, but so is threatening a thousand dollar fine.
When I lived in Alberta, I didn't encounter too many panhandlers in my day to day activities. Banff was devoid of panhandlers on its streets, not that there weren't people in need, but those in need were soon run out of town due to the dearth of support services and Banff's numerous laws that severely limit one's ability to panhandle. Calgary was a different story. When I visited Calgary (about every other weekend), I noticed that Calgary had a number of destitute homeless, much worse than what I had seen in Halifax. In Halifax it seems that there's a high number of people with some form of shelter panhandling, whereas in Calgary it seems that a large percentage of those panhandling in the downtown core are street people with very few options for shelter. In Calgary you can pretty much avoid the destitute due to the abundance of plus 15's and a plethora of indoor elevated shops serviced by the plus 15's (elevated passageways that connect a number of large office buildings and malls together, the system spans several blocks in any direction). In truth you could go weeks without ever having to descend to street level and encountering street people. You could leave your house in the suburbs, entering your car through your attached garage, drive downtown, park in a parking garage (that is conveniently attached to
your place of work), go to work, eat lunch inside one of the many restaurants in the pedway system, do all your shopping without going down to street level, drive home and repeat. It's hard to care about people when you never have to face them. It's hard to care about people when you don't know they exist, or don't want to know.
It's a nice out of sight, out of mind routine. What's even more apalling is the fact that the cities main homeless shelter is attached to one of the cheapest liquor stores in the city. It's not a block away, it's not on the neighbouring lot, there's no seperation between the back walls of the two buildings. Sometimes it's hard to accomplish anything when noone even wants you to try.
In Halifax recently the Spring Garden Road Business Association (which represents the interests of businesses on one of downtown Halifax's busiest streets), complained that the Salvation Army outreach van was attracting an undesirable element to the street and thus discouraging people to shop. There was a suggestion by one of the businesses that the van move to Uniacke Square where it would be of more service to people. How altruistic! However he slipped up when he referred to the area as 'Maniac Square'. Yesterday the Salvation Army caved to pressure and decided that they would move to a more low-key spot a few blocks away.
This isn't the first time that the Spring Garden Road Business Assocation have taken measures to limit panhandling and the amount of homeless visible on the street. They've hired security guards to keep the streets clear of riffraff and have placed enormous pressure on city council to put restraints in place that severely limit panhandling.
When I shop I don't feel the need to spend money at every store I see. I have a choice on where to spend my money, I am able to make choices because I'm a reasonably rationale and mature adult. I don't hand money to every panhandler on the street, I can't I just don't have that much money, but I try to not just ignore people when they ask me for money. I'd rather they not just disappear. Sometimes it's good to be reminded that there's people out there that have to resort to begging just to get by. It ain't pretty. It's not like anyone panhandling keeps banker's hours and heads home to their mansion in an SUV, laughing at all all the suckers they duped.
People need to realize that there are people who aren't well off out there. Maybe it's a good thing that before they go into HMV to buy the new Malcolm Norah Roberts cd that they realize that they are some people who have to resort to eating the paper bag french fries from McDonalds come in. I don't want to be protected and sheltered. I don't want you to decide what's best for me. I don't want to pretend that there aren't people panhandling in order to survive, because there are.
I know that there's people who huff gas in order to get by. I know that there's a woman who's been working the block near my house every night for the last three during this blizzard. Pretending that they aren't there doesn't change a thing.
