August Just Posts

He stumbles in haggard stopping short of the counter. I can smell him, the funky smell of unwashed hair and dirty socks. He looks up, one blue eye muted by glaucoma looking slightly past me and the other, a light and beautiful blue looks me right in the eye. His skin is weathered, deep ruddy skin with wrinkles around his eyes and a sallow jaw. His red t-shirt is tattered, there are holes and a decidedly large brown stain down the front. He could use a belt, the edges of his worn brown pants drag on the floor. He drops his bulging trash bag and starts to mutter. A defensive mutter, if there was such a thing. He's been sleeping in a parking garage and was hoping he'd find a place to shower and a bed for the night, just enough to offer a small panacea from the utter aloneness of his life.

I often think in moments like this about the lifetimes that brought him to our door. He may be somebody's father, brother, grandfather, or at the very obvious least someone's son. Somehow he's evolved into a grizzly, a man who survives and lives along, hardscrabble for every meal. His posture reflects his position in the world, an achy teetering on solid sort of posture that seems it could expire at any moment and yet in reality will probably outlive us all.

He wanders this world alone, dodging fancy SUVs and BMWs people rushing most hurriedly to their next very important thing. I wonder how many even see him except to avoid him, his lack of comfort must be discomforting as they sip their lattes trying not to spill.

There are thousands more like him in the United States. Tens of thousands of people without a place to live, who use dumpsters for restaurants and alleys for sleep. And while I wish that this was everyone's issue, the one thing they chose above all else I know the competition is strong. The rational part of me knows that AIDS and trafficking, child abuse and our environment are just as worthy and as such we split the difference on where we choose to focus and what we choose to fund. But for me it is this. And I will forever refuse to concede that this is anywhere near the best we can do.

The Writers

Bon at Crib Chronicles with Blessings
Crazymumma with If I'm going to talk the talk...
Cecilieaux with blogging last word, who is anglo, people of 1066 and portal for billionaires
Jangari with more on squandered funds and stuart highway robbery
Maypole with false hope and i know what it means to love
Denguy with boyo man
Jen with what a long strange trip it's been, national news and side by side
Alejna with some of my best friends are republicans
NoMotherEarth with about a boy
Urban-Urchin with disposable people
Emily with miscarriage of justice
Kevin with Jena 6
MBT with What you'll get nekkid for
Vera with dominator tentacles
Packaging girlhood with increased suicide rates among teen girls
Lex with compassion
Kitchen Fire with postscript
Aliki with disparity
Gwen with feed your head
From the Front Lines with philanthropy thursday
Flutter with the morning commute and What Should Flutter Cook?
Stumbling and Mumbling with you know you're a conservative when and the tangible harm of inequality
Izzy with forgive my bluntness but i hate george bush
11D with bob herbert morphs into david brooks
MOTR with enough
Janet with my grass roots are showing
Eden with some animals are more equal than others
Acukiki at Sticking to the Point with Follow Your Dreams
African Fragments with Sisters Can Do it For Themselves
Christine at Running on Empty When I Grow Up
Ewe with Baaaaad Party, Baaaaad Party and A Sunday Not-So-Funny...
Fortune and Glory with What fills us up makes us whole again and Today as I hold my head...
Gary with Homeless
Gettin' it wrong with Twisty Slides, Twisted Logic and Olivia
Jen with Teaching Fish to Swim, I Was Interviewed by National News, side by side and What a Long, Strange Trip Its Been
KC with Colorless, II*
La vie en Rose with It's the body...always the body
Latoya Peterson at Racialicious with 4th Generation Racist: Can you be racist if you're anti-white?
Lia with Pensioned Serenity
Maddie at Persisting Stars with Someone with sky and birds in his heart
Nina Smith with Books Review: On My Own Two Feet
Open Synergy with Darwin's Jihad-A Luta Continua
Snigdha Sen with Streets Are For Walking, Stop Stalking
Suzanne Reisman with The Real Story: Attack Of The Predatory Lenders On Single Women Homeowners
Susanne at Creative Mother Thinking with Housework for Children and Being Sick Shouldn't Make you Bankrupt
Thailand Gal with Katrina put me over the edge, Repeat ch-ch, repeat-ch-, and Your silence will not protect you
Tired Mommy with Learning what we live
The World's Yours To Live!! with The World of Peace
Wayfayer Scientista with Seasonal Goodbyes and Working against cultural biogotry

The Readers

Jess
Thordora
Cecilieaux
Chani
Alejna
KC
Christine
Catherine
Aliki
Sarah
Karen
Mad
Jen
Hel
Susanne

We've gone global this month and added two new hosts to our Roundtable. Hel and Susanne have joined Mad and I and have brought with them some fruits from other parts of the world. I hope you'll swing by their places before you go as we work together to incorporate more global voices at this little table of ours. It's a wide reaching social justice bounty this month, each and every one of you making a difference in your writing and in your living.

We can and do make a difference. Thank you for joining us this month.