|
|
|
|
|
Next Studio Time January 25th
|
Join us 2nd and 4th Sundays from 1-4 pm for studio time. Come with your creative project, ideas, or just come to play. There is no fee for studio time. 730 29th St. in Oakland. When you arrive, call 510-593-4221 to be let in. RSVP and questions to kim@braidedbridge.org.
|
|
|
|
Please Help Replace Melissa's Car
|
Melissa's car was destroyed in an accident during the bad weather on Christmas Day as she was going to see her grandchildren. Her car is essential to carrying on the daily outreach she does for people who are unhoused. Melissa is one of our Braided Bridge members and is a founding member of Homebridge Connect. She has 7 years of lived experience of homelessness, and loads of street medicine and advocacy experience. She now runs her own nonprofit, called RISE, where people with lived experience serve people presently still unhoused. She uses her street medicine knowledge and contacts with various agencies in the county to connect people with services and overcome barriers to them getting help. She lives off of practically nothing and crams her days with service to others. If you can contribute to her gofundme campaign to replace her vehicle, it will help not just her, but many, many more. Here is the link.
|
|
|
|
Save the Date for Winter Tea
Please save Saturday, February 28th for Winter Tea at the studio
|
|
Winter Tea was once an annual tradition of my letterpress studio, Painted Tongue Press. The most memorable one was fifteen years ago this week, when I brought newborn Amelia, who had arrived a bit early, home for the first time on the day that had been planned for the tea. The house was a bit messy after my unexpected departure to the hospital, and we arrived only a couple of hours before the guests did. We carried on! We had one more winter tea, the following year, according to my pictures. I think I was so sleep deprived from having young children by then that I would never had remembered if I hadn't come across the pictures today. Now, it's time to revive the tradition with Braided Bridge. We'll use this as a time to gather, to visit and share, and to shift leadership roles for those who would like to. Everyone is welcome! Feel free to bring a dish to share if it suits you, but above all, bring yourself!
|
|
|
|
Winter tea in 2011. I'm seated, with the baby.
|
|
|
|
Last Scenes from SF Immigration Court
Michelle has another set of court watch drawings to share from the San Francisco Immigration Court. This court will be closing soon, after most of the 21 judges have been fired. They are currently down to seven, with three retiring at the end of January. One day when Michelle was there drawing, she was told about a judge who had recently been fired by email, in the middle of hearing a case. The judge had to immediately excuse herself from the bench and leave the room. The case load was already backed up by years, before the number of judges was drastically reduced. Now, all of those cases will be transferred over to the court in Concord.
In December, Michelle was shadowed by a reporter from Mission Local who wrote this article about the drawings.
|
|
|
|
|
This is a sign outside of the courtroom. It used to give the name of the immigration judge presiding, but no longer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vacuum
|
I knew her from the warming shelter. On the nights when I dropped in to help, she was often there. So cheerful. Always polite. We could only speak through the translation app on the phone, but we used it. We had several conversations. She worked during the days, at odd jobs she could find, some of them housecleaning. Being able to find work was very important to her. It's hard to work when you don't have a place to keep your belongings during the day. There are many who are unhoused who would like to work, but can't manage it with the instability of homelessness encroaching on every need, including the need to keep track of the belongings that help you survive the night. This shelter was only open if it rained, or if the temperature was especially cold. On nights when the shelter wasn't open, I don't know where she slept.
|
She told me that sometimes, she missed out on cleaning jobs because she couldn't supply her own vacuum cleaner. I tried to connect her with a resource I knew of for immigrants, and I also tried to arrange for a vacuum cleaner for her to use, -one that she didn't have to carry around with her unless she needed it to work that day. I was close to having something figured out when the winter shelter closed for the year. On the last day, I gave her my contact information and went over the vacuum plan with her. She expressed profuse gratitude, but I didn't hear from her again. I was recovering from a long illness and going into one of the busiest times of the year for families. I didn't finish the arrangements, and didn't reach out to her, as I should have.
|
|
This year, I heard about her. I learned she had found someone to stay with, but ICE came there, and took her away. This year, they are not running the warming shelter. There is no option to come inside during the rain and cold for the hundreds in the vicinity who are sleeping outside. And this year, there is no cheerful smile from her, not in the shelter, nor anywhere at all. There is no more news of her. She has disappeared into the detention centers, and I don't know where beyond that. It is a vacuum in which the people are sucked away.
|
|
|
|
|
Active Love: The Foundation of Justice
We call for justice to address harms but many have a faulty understanding of it. Some demand retribution and punishment in the name of ‘justice.’ Retribution and punishment use harm to address harm, and therefore cannot functionally repair or prevent harm. If these methods succeed in anything, it’s to impose a limited degree of control over the harm, to make it more predictable, or to deflect it onto less powerful people.
|
|
Justice is often also commonly understood as an objective system of fairness, determining what someone deserves. This belief lacks awareness of the inherently subjective nature of deciding what is ‘fair’ or who is ‘deserving’ of what kind of treatment. Groups with the most power in a given social system will define what is ‘fair’ and ‘deserving,’ according to a myopic perception based on shared experiences and characteristics. Those with different life experiences and characteristics, belonging to groups with less power, become disproportionately accused, convicted, and sentenced. ‘Fairness’ as determined mainly through the perspective of the powerful is another form of violence inflicted on those with less power. (...to be continued)
|
|
|
|
|
|
God Gave Me a Purpose
|
Recently one of the members of our Homebridge Connect team, Barbara, was interviewed for the podcast, "Now What." In the interview, she shares how her faith and spiritual practice accompany her in her in sharing support, advocacy and love for people who struggle with homelessness. The interview can be viewed here.
|
|
|
|
|
Studio Use
Extended studio time is available. Reply to this email to make arrangements with Kim.
|
Joining and Supporting
Join us in this work! We are a 501c3 organization. We welcome donations and we welcome YOU into closer involvement with our community. This month, donations have been used for:
|
- Bringing someone with a badly infected foot who was living in harmful conditions into a hotel for two nights to clean up, begin his antibiotics, and rest. He was able to walk again when he left.
- Replacing bald tires on a vehicle needed by an outreach worker with lived experience of homelessness who is now housed and employed in helping others, but still barely getting by. The car was unsafe to drive, but needed for work.
- Regular purchases of water for distribution to local unhoused communities.
- Making a contribution towards the replacement of Melissa's vehicle, described in the article above.
- Printing and sharing Active Love zines.
|
These are just a few examples of how donations have been spent. To those who have contributed, please receive our deep gratitude. People die on the streets all the time. Even something as basic as water, or respite for two nights to give someone a chance to heal instead of get worse, these help people to survive. And when you help people dedicated to outreach who are themselves living in poverty...you often can't see the ways that bit of help not just ripples, but magnifies, in care for others. Care for others who sometimes then are able to find safer ground and return to help more. We personally witness this from our work in the group all the time. So please know that you contribute to saving lives. Thank you for being here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|