SERIES:

IN OUR OWN

BACKYARD

          (At right, Wanda enjoying a warm, buttered cob of corn with her new teeth.
                                                          Photo by Harold Grice)

Part 61 - Introducing Monterey Peninsula Makeovers - Who Will You Become? - CHRISTMAS MAKEOVERS
(I am celebrating this holiday with an inspirational short fiction story in which Mrs. Santa Claus becomes homeless and makes a surprise life-changing decision. It’s the final column in the current series and introduces the new “Monterey Makeovers” series that debuts next week.)
TWO NIGHTS before Santa's big gig in the Macy's Christmas parade, he went on his annual post-Halloween bender, chugging eggnog as his bewildered wife stared at his costume. “The Lone Ranger?” Merry asked. “Why not Robin Hood, as you've been for. . . ?” (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 60 - All They Want For Christmas Are A Few Used Cars 
ASKING for a car seems like an exercise in Christmas-spirit futility if you’re a disbeliever or homeless person without shelter. If, however, you’d welcome the possibility of a holiday miracle, make your request wish anyway. Why? Because you’ll never know whether a wish might be fulfilled if you don’t ask. I learned that lesson from my billionaire mentor John D. Rockefeller when I was flat-busted broke in 1980. Rockefeller, father of Standard Oil Company, as well as student of mysticism, said, “I have ways of making money you know nothing of.”  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 59 - Where Do The Homeless Go When They Need To Be Counted?
IGNORING homelessness isn’t an option; counting the homeless in your community is crucial.  If the number of homeless people in your own backyard is unknown, federal funding to cover their costs could—and might fall on you!  Why? Because federal dollars to cover homeless costs depends on how many there are, based on actual head counts, such as those submitted from the biennial event colloquially called “the Homeless Census.”  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 58 - What's Happening With The Robert's Lake Community? 
CONDUCTING my own homeless head count was inspired by a recent Seaside City Council meeting.
If Seaside’s boondoggle-busting city manager Craig Malin hadn’t reported in-depth about the former Robert’s Lake Community of homeless campers, my census-taker’s curiosity wouldn’t have been inflamed.
But Craig did speak out and the drama that followed will carry over into next week’s column. 
(CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 57 - Fond Farewell To Two Political Icons 
(Posting this early on Facebook and Nextdoor gives readers a chance to participate in the annual holiday feast described at the bottom of this column. If you want to make reservations, do it now! Have a safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving.)
SAYING thanks to iconic retiring public servants is a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving. If it seems I’m creating two imaginary awards, you’re right. They’re gobblety-gulp unique. First, the Friend of Puppy Dogs Award is for state Senator Bill Monning, shown here with this doggy at the SPCA. Bill’s gentle, kind-yet-firm approach to public service reflects how he treated everyone and everything with honor and grace. Second, the Hottest Hat Award is for  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 56 - Thanksgiving Week Features Turkey Feast And Roommate Mingler 
PLANNING your Thanksgiving Day? If you don’t want to cook, highlights from the flyer about the annual community include: “Everyone in our community should be able to enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner.” The Kiwanis Club of Monterey, Food Bank for Monterey County and City of Monterey Recreation Division offer a drive-thru and walk-up Community Thanksgiving Dinner on Wed., Nov. 25. Masks are required.  “Each individually prepared meal will have all the traditional Thanksgiving fixings including turkey, yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and green beans, salad and pie.”  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 55 - Politics, Poetry, And Drive-Thru Turkey With All The Trimmings
FEASTING at the Monterey County Fairgrounds—often a highlight of the year for local homeless persons--is off the menu this year, but turkey is still on the table for everyone in the community interested in, and able to participate in, the annual Thanksgiving feast, according to co-sponsors Monterey Recreation, the Kiwanis Club of Monterey and the Food Bank for Monterey County. If you’re interested, exact details are outlined at the end of this column. For the moment, let’s return to the question left dangling in last week’s column. I asked Vinz Koller of Carmel, Elector for the California 20th Congressional District, if it’s possible a split ticket could be voted by the College of Electors into office for the next four years and he said it was possible.  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 54 - Remember This Warning:  Beware Of The Red Mirage! (Or, Is It Possible For A Split Ticket To Win?)
HOMELESS issues are on hold while the world awaits the outcome of Tuesday’s election! If you recall the warning flashed between Covid-19 updates - “Beware of the Red Mirage!” - you’ll survive!
In metaphoric prose it means: Republican candidate Trump, symbolized by red, will appear to win the first phase of popular votes; don’t be fooled, because the chimera—vision of victory—will flex as waves of Biden’s Democratic blue flood in. 
Absentee ballots, military ballots, and mail-in ballots can collectively transform the colors if Biden, blue dark horse, surges from behind and takes the lead.  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 53 - The Mysterious Case Of The Big Box Of Food 
VOTING should be history by this time next week. If predictions hold true, all winners will be known by Thanksgiving.
So, I am expressing gratitude to those who help us survive, even if not all of us need quite as much aid as is given, starting with staving off my own starvation.
I’m 85 and live alone on social security; I receive help from the Food Bank of Monterey County, which started stuffing its weekly boxes with letters from President Donald J. Trump a month ago. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 52 - Sand City's Mayor Answers "An Open Letter To Mary Ann Carbone"
FOLLOWING my posts last week on Facebook and Nextdoor titled “An Open Letter to Sand City Mayor Mary Ann Carbone,” she e-mailed her answer. If you’re curious about our comments regarding a commercial of Mayor Carbone with Steve McShane at the soon-to-open Casa de Noche Buena shelter in Seaside, implying he is the ONLY candidate who supported the project, read on!  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 51 - What Would You Do If This Happened To You? 
STAYING apolitical flopped for me, despite my vow to stay out of the election.  If you dare, imagine yourself in my hypothetical situation to get the picture.
It started as I was preparing to do some baking while watching the president, full of drugs that supposedly freed him in a flash of Covid-19, hit the campaign trail as a solo act after cancelling the second presidential debate originally slated for this week. As his denouement, he blew a silent kiss into the camera and mouthed “I love you.”
To whom was he speaking? Certainly not me!  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 50 - Would You Vote For A Pierced Or Tattooed Candidate? 
VOTING is under way. If you haven’t yet received your mail-in ballot, it should come by October 10.
Mine came Saturday. I got side-tracked as I studied the issues and spent hours researching “body art” as it appears in the community-at-large. Very interesting!
First come artists, who design the messages tattoos convey. They work with mixed media, from henna-based reddish-brown tones, that fade from fingers and toes in a few days, to permanent inks that last a lifetime. Love, hate, fear, sorrow, joy and anger are projected in indelible ink. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 49 - Vote For The Candidates Who Seem Guided By Their Muses!
PREDICTING winners of the Nov. 3 election is easy. If the final votes match last week’s tally for winner of the 2020 America’s Got Talent contest, a muse-driven candidate should win every conceivable race, from local city council/county commission to the national presidency. That means poets should, but probably won’t, win. Why predict that poets should win public offices? (CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 48 - A Wheelchair Named 'Old Faithful' Needs A New Human
GIVING away her old wheelchair was so challenging that retired Latin teacher Marla Dean asked for our help. “If I want to give it to a needy person, do you know where I can donate it?”  she emailed, preferring a homeless person get it.
“Unfortunately, during the Covid-19 crisis, agencies like Gathering for Women and I-Help have said they’re not taking donations, other than financial contributions,” I replied. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 47 - Could This China Virus Be Aliens From Space?
(Taking youthful fantasy Twilight Zone trips inspired me to write sci-fi “think pieces” as an adult. If you enjoy puzzle pieces, here’s one I wrote in 1992.) VENUSIAN DIET LOSING excess weight wouldn’t be easy. The planet’s atmosphere was leaking. The Minister of Inspiration exuded frustration as his engorged body shrank: “Foof-foof-foof.” (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 46 - Is There Any Hope For The Lost Art Of Neighboring?
GOOD NEIGHBORING online isn’t easy.  If you yearn for pre-pandemic personal HOG (Hometown Opinion and Gossip) neighboring, join the Unwelcomed Social Distancing Club (USDC).  We’re evolving a new form of acronymic jargon as WOG neighborliness is happening in a CR (communications revolution) in which we’re all ETs (evolving together).  So, IMHO (in my humble opinion), WOG means Worldly Opinion and Gossip. Who cares? WAD (we all do or should).  
(CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 45 - How To Stop Boondoggling And Start Building Dreams
DREAMING works. If dream-builders know what they’re doing, they can convert boondoggles into goals, as proven by the progress toward opening of the peninsula’s first homeless shelter in Seaside in November. For example, remember when veteran Seaside city councilmember Dave Pacheco and newly installed councilmember Jon Wizard co-sponsored a “Homeless by the Bay” town hall in Feb. 2019?  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 44 - Attention Landlords: 150 Low-Income Housing Units Need You!
PROVIDING affordable housing is a top priority of every community on the Monterey Peninsula.
If the NIMBY buck was boondoggled by being passed in the past, the federal Shelter in Place orders of March 13, 2020 ended that old gig and kicked off a new one: Shelter in Place (SIP).  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 43 - How To Help Defray The Cost Of A Homeless Hero's Funeral
DYING happens once in each of our lives.
If the decedent is well-prepared, with prepaid funeral arrangements and living will in order, disposition of his/her remains is easier on survivors than in chaotic situations created by the demise of people like Ezzard Charles “Dreadman” McCall, 65, of Salinas, who suddenly couldn’t breathe and then died on Aug. 1. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 42 - I-HELP's 2020 Pasta With The Pastors Without The Pastors
RAISING funds at the annual Pasta with The Pastors benefit for the Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program (I-HELP) won’t be the usual gala event in San Carlos Cathedral’s dining hall, since practically no one will be there. If successful, bulk of I-HELP’s operational costs for the forthcoming year will be raised through the first-ever virtual Zoom feast next Thurs., Aug. 20, 6 p.m.–7 p.m. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 41 - Homeless Monterey Woman Appeals SPCA's Seizure Of Her Service Dog
CONTINUING last week’s column, “If dogs could testify in court, would Peanut win his legal case?”:  Josephine “Josie” Guerrero of Monterey appeared in Superior Court in Salinas Thursday to start the appeal process for her July 9 misdemeanor conviction for animal neglect, a criminal record that could prevent her from finding housing as well as work as a licensed security guard. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 40 - If Dogs Could Testify In Court, Would Peanut Get To Go Back Home?
APPEALING her conviction - and winning - would be a godsend to Josephine “Josie” Guerrero, 73, Monterey, who’s grieving the seizure of her poodle Peanut by the SPCA of Monterey County on February 14, and subsequent legal loss of him in court on July 9. If you missed it on the news, findings of DA Case 894626, SPCA matter 20-6435, violation of P.C. 597.1 (a) Owner/Etc. Fail to Provide Animal Care, a misdemeanor, appeared July 14 in this excerpted report by Avery Johnson on KION TV.    (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 39 - Eulogizing Mayor Rubio Whose Kick-The-Can Boondoggle Worked!
HONORING all three political giants who died over the past two weeks isn’t possible in this limited space, so I’ll focus on the one I actually knew, Mayor Ralph Rubio of Seaside, who succumbed to cancer on July 19 at age 69. If I’m right, Mayor Rubio didn’t especially like me after my Homeless in Paradise column Number 22 appeared in Cedar Street Times on March 27, 2015. Its headline was: “Kick the Can Politics: Homelessness versus diplomacy on Seaside City Council.”  (CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 38 - Will The Peninsula's Next Boondoggle Busters Please Stand Up?
KNOWING the difference between a “Boondoggle” and “Goonboggle” is tricky. If a homeless shelter near you seems disturbing, can you identify with one or both of these definitions? Boondoggle: (as defined by Edgar Allan Philpott): A process of convoluted time-energy wasting that’s often so confusing it winds up unresolved back at the point where it began. This point of origin can be reached time after time, which is why it’s always called “Square One.” (Boondoggles prevent shelters from being built where needed.)  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 37 - Where Will The Homeless Lie After Their Final Curtain Calls?
COVERING last week’s Boondoggle Busters city council meeting was my original plan for this column. If my modem hadn’t died over the Fourth of July weekend, you’d be reading transcripts from Seaside City Council about the peninsula’s uneven hospitality toward homeless campers. Instead, the question arises: Have people who camp at places like Robert’s Lake or Laguna Grande made preparations for what happens after they die? It’s a question we should all confront during the Coronavirus-19 pandemic.
(CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 36 - Is America Heading Toward U.S. Civil War II?
FINDING relief from prolonged Sheltering in Place (SIP) might be forcing you to question the future. If so, romance in your life should help relieve stress from all the recent violence on TV. Amy Kitchener, hypothetical white 19th-century farm woman, who lived in Iowa before and after the Civil War, explores the power of romance in her Recipes and Reflections of a 19th -Century Ghost entitled There’s a Spirit in the Kitchen - Amy Kitchener Speaks to America (Galde Press, Inc., 2001).  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 35 - What Do You Think About When You Choose Freedom?
JUMPING back onto the political bandwagon just when the Fort Ord Reuse Authority was about to go down silently with the setting sun, freshman Seaside city councilmember Jon Wizard, 34, refocused the public spotlight on the Monterey Peninsula city where Campus Town is set to rise - hopefully sooner than later. If Jon’s announcement of his bid for mayor, made Thursday on the grounds of Seaside City Hall to a crowd of less than three dozen, seems premature, that’s good.
(CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 34 - How Homeless Black Women's Lives Have Changed
REACTING to the death of George Floyd last week, mobs of mostly peaceful protestors around the world marched in Black Lives Matter demonstrations despite the Covid-19 pandemic during the Trump White House term. If this were 60 years ago, when I was young, few white faces would have been among the protestors, (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...) 
Part 33 - Which Are You:  A Warrior Or A Guardian?
REACTING to the death of George Floyd this week, protestors dominated the news with marches demanding everything from ending racism to defunding the police. If black people hadn’t inspired me to write a poem almost sixty years ago, I might have retired as a Warrior rather than a Guardian.  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 32 - Would Restoring Skid Row's Cubicle Hotels Help Stem Homelessness?
EXPECTING to be on hiatus this week, I had a change of heart when a “Thinking of You” card from Nellie Jane Ryder, retired Carmel High School librarian, surprised me via snail mail. If homelessness haunts you, as it does me, read on! “I miss our Crazy Horse brunches,” Nellie writes about our Sunday after-church meals at Juan Salazar’s popular Crazy Horse salad bar on Soledad Drive, Monterey. It’s shuttered because of Covid-19.  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Guest Column - The Circle Of Suck - Shelter In What Place? by Vanja Thompson
On April 3, the county’s revised shelter in place directive was “continuing to exempt homeless individuals from the order but urging government agencies to provide them shelter.” I called five separate government funded agencies that day in search of shelter for my peninsula friend Nicole, and only one was able to locate one bed in South County. As I reported, recited, showed her screenshots of things I’d found and then realized weren’t options she said, “I told you it’s a crazy circle, right!?”  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 31 - How Do Homeless RV Dwellers Dump Their Waste Tanks When They're Full?
COUNTING public toilets and hand-washing stations that serve the homeless was Vanja Thompson’s idea. If I thought my part of the task would be easy, I was wrong! She took public places and did a fabulous job of listing the inadequate facilities on the Monterey Peninsula, while I ended up looking for, and failing to find, similar private sanitary amenities.  
(CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 30 - Are The FEMA Trailers Lost In Limbo?
ANSWERING last week’s headline question, “Where have all the homeless people gone?” Vanja Thompson, peninsula writer, emailed:  “Now that fast food places are closed except for drive throughs, Elena (real name, permission to use) told me it’s really hard to find a bathroom or get a cup of coffee or soda, (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 29 - Where Have All The Homeless People Gone?
Yelling, “Audie’s sick, and I think she’s dying,” my grandfather stumbled into the house with his eldest child draped in his arms. If one outstanding scene dominated Mother’s memory until her death at 87, that was it. 
She was 8 when Spanish Flu killed Audie as Mother watched helplessly.  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 28 - Do You Dare To Be A Butterfly?
SURVIVING the Covid-19 pandemic gave me lots of time for reflection while quarantined for the past few weeks after stroke-like symptoms. If okay with you, I'll share this inspiring memory that lifted my spirits and might have even saved my life... (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 27 - After 25 Years, Is Campus Town Really Coming To Seaside?
APPEARING more like an empty Easter tomb than city council chamber, the photo beneath Campus Town reveals the site of Seaside’s history-changing vote at Oldemeyer Center on March 19. If you could choose one of these titles, which would it be: “Covid-19 Meets Racism” or “The Seaside Resurrection”? Here’s the scoop: (CONTINUE READING...)
Part 26 - Where To Go When There's Nowhere To Go?
HOUSING the homeless set our Nextdoor social network abuzz with Passover/Easter Week questions after Governor Gavin Newsom announced 100 trailers to shelter homeless residents are being deployed to the Monterey County Fairgrounds.
If true, when will they arrive?
Who gets top priority? Homeless veterans? Men only? Single Women?   (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 25 - Can You Make Your Own Mask If None Is Available?
TRYING to keep tabs on the Monterey Peninsula’s homeless scene was almost impossible during President Trump’s mandatory two-week “Stay at Home” order that ended Monday; by then, mainstream America had shut down and started reinventing itself. If the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) hadn’t infused itself in our affairs by killing many of those infected by it, life might have struggled back to normal. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 24 - How Helpless And Hopeless Can A Homeless Child Feel?
REPORTING on homelessness is on hold. If the recent Major Disaster Declaration the President granted Governor Gavin Newsom works, Monterey County Fairgrounds will soon host homeless campers. As of Wednesday, the governor was in the process of procuring trailers for counties with the greatest need, and had secured hotel rooms in San Francisco and Los Angeles. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 23 - Monterey Veterans Resource Center Is Open
RESPONDING to the COVID-19 shutdowns that leave many homeless people on the Monterey Peninsula in limbo, not knowing where to go or to whom to turn, Stephen Corbett sent the following email. If you are a homeless veteran, or a veteran you know is homeless, his message could be a lifesaver during the COVID-19 virus outbreak and/or afterward.
(CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 22 - How Can Someone Without Shelter Self-Isolate By Staying Home?
PREDICTING the fate of our community’s unsheltered people is impossible, although my inner muse shared these guiding words from “Path of the Prophet” to encourage anyone terrified by the coronavirus, including myself: Fear, but fall not long in fearing. . . If I could, I’d reveal where our homeless neighbors will stay during the new 3-week Shelter-In-Place Order issued by Monterey County, but I don’t know how someone without shelter can stay home! (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 21 - What's In Store For The Homeless If Coronavirus Hits Monterey?
FOLLOWING last week’s Super Tuesday primary, peninsula residents awakened on Wednesday to the fact our next president will be another old white man. . . if the candidates survive the Coronavirus threat. Such news quashed the major story I’d planned to feature in this week’s column: on Thursday, March 5, Seaside City Council unanimously approved proceeding with Campus Town. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 20 - Would You Cast Your Vote For The Face On Mars?
ELECTIONEERING is over, but the complete results of California’s Super Tuesday aren’t in yet. If you’re game, take a post-election break and read this digest-sized science-fiction story that wrote me during the Clinton presidency in 1995. It may help you decide how to vote in November 2020’s presidential election. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 19 - What Would You Do If This Happened To You?
BEING a good neighbor isn’t always easy. If it were, I wouldn’t have sent this email to the candidates for the District 4 seat on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors:  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 18 - Who's Got Homeless Women's Backs After Michael Reid Retires?
“FOUNDING Father” Michael Reid is retiring and the local homeless community, its friends and advocates wonder: Will the Fund for Homeless Women survive without him? If you aren’t familiar with the former associate rector from Pacific Grove, his guest blog from the 2016 Community Foundation for Monterey County website will fill you in. He says:  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 17 - What Happens To Homeless Women After Rev. Michael Reid Retires?
REREADING Part 15 of this series raises the question: Was naming Rev. Michael Reid recipient of the first Earth Angel Award a coincidence or clairvoyance in action? If you recall, that headline asked: “What happens when earth angels’ wings start to drag?” (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 16 - Can Walking Save America From The Pied Piper Of Patriotism?
TRIPPING over politics this week? If you’ve fallen into recent campaign-trail potholes, do you agree with Florida writer Ron Libert, whose email came just before Tuesday’s State of the Union Address? He says: “We need to keep in mind that the two-party system is killing America and no one wants to believe it.” He also says:  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 15 - What Happens When Earth Angels' Wings Start To Droop?
QUESTIONING whether angels really exist isn’t the issue of this column. If you’d been at the Homeless Outreach meeting at the First Presbyterian Church of Monterey on Monday, you’d know they do! Why? Because waning interest in monthly meetings led Fr. Michael Reid, Kathy Whilden, and Marian Penn, founders of the Friends of Homeless Women (outreach arm of the Fund for Homeless Women) to call for a special Homeless Outreach forum last Monday at the First Presbyterian Church of Monterey to explore why interest in homeless women’s programs, especially volunteerism, is waning, and decide what to do next, if anything.  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 14 - Are Homeless Women Like Doggies That Have Been Muzzled Too Long?
KICKSTARTING volunteerism, topic the Fund for Homeless Women will discuss at Homeless Outreach’s meeting next Monday, reminds me of unmuzzling doggies that have been silenced too long; here’s why: If Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent Declaration of Housing for the Homeless truly has sharp teeth, there’s going to emerge new-style hypothetical barking and biting, as opposed to outmoded whimpering, tail-tucking and even boot-licking political tactics. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 13 - Who's Going To Scratch Your Hometown's Homeless Itch?
ITCHING? If yes, scratch it to relieve your discomfort! Right? Wrong. According to a neighbor named Bruce, “When a mosquito keeps buzzing around to bite you and you finally lose patience, what do you do? You swat it.” Homelessness and unaffordable housing have become such a social itch that California Governor Gavin Newsom swatted hard this week by touring the state, reporting that everywhere he goes,  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 12 - CeliaSue Hecht: Finally At Home After Five Years In Her Van!
LIVING in a van has ended for CeliaSue Hecht, 70-year-old professional writer who first appeared in this column August 19, 2016. If you’ve followed CeliaSue’s travels and travail, you’ll recall her introduction as a homeless “Wonder Worker” who shared her vehicle with a “Wonder Woofer” (pit bull-dalmatian mix named Cici) who’d just had her 10th birthday. The duo appeared periodically in this column since then, running the gamut from CeliaSue’s “farewell” poem of despair last February, which suicidal depression she survived, to her joyful email hosanna of New Year’s Eve proclaiming, “I have my own apartment!” undermined only by deep lingering grief over Cici’s death from cancer in September.  (CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 11 - How Are Human Starfish Saved? One By One, Of Course!
CELEBRATING New Year starts with this good news! If you assumed the One Starfish Safe Parking Program was in jeopardy because it wasn’t on the 2019 McGives fundraising list, relax. Tia and Michael Fechter simply missed the filing deadline. Last week’s column promised Program Director Michael Fechter’s response to conjectures and innuendoes I received about One Starfish.  (CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 10 - What's The Homeless Shelter Status As Yet Another year Dawns?
BEING curious is great. If you have questions you feel are important, email them and I’ll address them in order, starting with your current curiosity about shelter for area homeless people.  When One Starfish Safe Parking Program failed to appear on this year’s list of McGives recipients in the annual fundraising campaign co-sponsored by the Community Foundation for Monterey County and Monterey County Weekly, readers asked: (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 9 - What If All You Want For Christmas Are Some New False Teeth?
MAKING your own dentures is a cheap option for folks who want, but can’t afford, dental care. If you’ve experienced do-it-yourself dentistry, do you dare share it with me so I can tell others? According to “make your own teeth” online websites, do-it-yourself methods of home-style tooth-making are available for everyone, from kids who want their own legendary songs’ “two front teeth for Christmas” to homeless adults in serious need of chompers with which to chew. Costs range from under $10 for a single glue in cosmetic tooth to several hundred dollars for complete upper-and-lower denture-making kits. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...) 
Part 8 - Do Homeless People Qualify For Help From Denti-Cal?
“NEGLECTING your teeth can kill you,” the Hollywood dentist warned in 1960 when I was torn over becoming a performer, teacher or writer. “If your abscessed tooth goes untreated, its poison could enter your bloodstream and give you a heart attack. Would that kind of means justify your early end?” So began the June 14, 2019, edition of this column which introduced the dire need for dental care among Monterey’s dentally diseased homeless women, three of whom were:    (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 7 - Can Homeless Seniors Sleep On Turkey Sandwiches And Stuffing?
FOLLOWING last week’s Letter to the Editor from Utah resident Rick Hadlock about how to advise children about fending off homelessness, we received the following op-ed essay by a 70-year old reader from Marina who chose a free lifestyle while young and is homeless now. How CeliaSue Hecht’s youthful experiences as a member of the hippie/flower-child generation influenced her lifestyle today is unknown. Her comments neither reflect the opinions of Cedar Street Times nor mine. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...) 
Part 6 - What Can You Say To Keep Kids From Becoming Homeless?
“ERRING Is human,” the ancients declared, “but forgiving is divine.” If Rick Hadlock, reader from Utah, hadn’t pointed out my error in last week’s column, this column wouldn’t have evolved. He emailed:  Editor: Wanda Sue Parrott cited $1,055 as the average social security income.   (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

Part 5 - Whatever Happened To America's "Road Royals"?
ACCORDING to findings cited by California state controller Betty Yee, morning keynote speaker at the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership’s 5th annual State of the Region Conference on October 25, in California there are no more rooms to let for 50 cents, $50 or even 500 bucks since skyrocketing rents range from $1,500 to $3,500 per month while average monthly social security income is $1,055.00. If men like the King of the Road characterized by singer Roger Miller as recently as 1990 no longer exist, where and what are they? (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 4 - Is White- Or Blue-Collar Corporate Housing Coming To Your Neighborhood?
BREAKING down the hypothetical wall between utter homelessness and hope for affordable housing in California, the crisis now waving like an SOS flag attracted Apple to publicly pledge on Monday $2.5 billion for Affordable Housing; thus, Apple joined other Silicon Valley high techs pushing to keep employees in their own hypothetical backyards.
(CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...) 
Part 3 - Do You Remember When 'Ladies Go Last' Was Unwritten Law?
LISTENING to poetry recited by its author is, to me, like hearing a butterfly sing. If you’re a victim of the “ladies go last” syndrome, you’d have enjoyed the Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program for Women after-dinner poet’s voice last Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Monterey Peninsula. (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 2 - Is High Rent Forcing You Toward Homelessness?
ACCORDING to the 2019 Executive Summary of the Monterey County Homeless Census & Survey, 2,422 homeless persons were counted as living in Monterey County last January. If it’s true that 1/5 of them live in campers, trucks, vans and cars, as reported in last week’s column, where do the remaining 4/5 stay? Especially the seniors?
(CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)
Part 1 - Would You Hang Your Christmas Stocking In A Van?
MOVING is called one of the most traumatic experiences of life, ranking right along with divorce and death of a beloved partner, child, friend or way of life. If moving laterally, from one place to another, isn’t nerve-wracking enough, imagine total downsizing by moving into your car!  (CLICK TO CONTINUE READING...)

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