primal drumming: strong medicine for · 11/4/2013 · tites. we are not men in dresses, or dykes....

Primal Drumming:Strong medicine for the mind, body and soul

— page 7

Groundcover gets a home —p. 2

Let’s Talk Transsexual —p. 3

A Safe PORT in a storm —p. 4

Toledo’s Tent City is “triage” forhomeless in winter —p. 5

My Corner - Meet Vendor James—p. 6

What ’s i t l i ke to be homeless?D iscover through new ar t exh ib i t —p . 7

That Ann Arbor Ga l lery —p . 9

The( Large)beat goes on —p. 10

V ineyard Homeless Min is t r ies—p . 10

Coordinated funding mightshortchange small nonprofits

—p . 1 1

What People are Saying —p. 12

Don’t talk QUERTY to me —p. 12

INSIDE

w w w . g ro u n d c o v e r n e w s . c o m

NOVEMBER 2010 VOLUME ONE • ISSUE FOUR

$1Your donat ion d i rect ly benefi ts the

vendors . P lease buy on ly f rom badged vendors .

OPINION

Stop by and visit us inour new office space,located in room F1 ofBethlehem Church,432 S. Fourth Ave.The office is staffedfrom 10:00 am – 2:00

pm M, W, Th , F so vendors can stop infor more newspapers. Training for newvendors is at 10:15 a.m. Thursday. Ournext volunteer meeting will be there inmid-January and on Thursday eveningsvendors will gather there to share and so-cialize.

Eventually we hope to own editing soft-ware and a high quality computer and layout the newspaper at the office, too. We

are seeking a variety of computers withbasic word processing and internet capa-bilities so we can offer computer literacytraining for our vendors and some of ourvolunteers, and so that vendors and otherscan prepare and submit material for publi-cation right there in our office.

Parishioners and staff at Bethlehem havewarmly welcomed us and we look forwardto pursuing our various missions side byside and together. We are currently sellingnewspapers on the property of six faithcommunities and we are reaching out tothe rest of Washtenaw County places ofworship to ask permission to sell on theirproperty, too.

One of our greatest challenges has beenreaching the large percentage of thecounty population that does not spendmuch time downtown. Our vending per-mit only grants us access to public side-walks and unfortunately, there is notmuch pedestrian traffic outside of down-town. Selling to the faith community fol-lowing their services and events is one waywe are able to penetrate deeper into thecommunity.

We would like to find others, especiallyfor the winter, when pedestrian trafficeverywhere slows considerably. We wel-come invitations from shopping areas, en-tertainment venues and other places wheremembers of the public gather.

2

www.groundcovernews .com

Susan BeckettPublisher

by Martha Brunell

A number of us remember when milkwas delivered to our back steps andthe folks who brought our newspaperrang the doorbell and collected sub-scription amounts at our front doorson a weekly or monthly basis.

There was a time when there were nodrive-up windows at the bank, andsomeone came out to the pump atthe service station to fill our tank,wash our windows, and check underthe hood, if we asked.

In all of those scenarios, the peoplewho were providing the service or theproduct and the people who were re-

ceiving it had a periodic face-to-faceencounter. We saw one another andeven spoke directly to each other.And on occasion, we may havelearned something from one other.

These are just a few examples of howmuch personal contact has been re-placed by developments in technol-ogy. There are many, manyimprovements and possibilities thatcontemporary technology opens upfor us. But, for me, there are mo-ments when I am very aware of whatwe have given up in technologicaltrade-offs.

We are all wise to be deliberate andintentional now in offsetting the

losses of personal contact that are allaround us. Groundcover extends oneway for us to do that.

There are numerous aspects ofGroundcover that I support with en-thusiasm and joy. One of the mostbasic of these is that a paper sellerand a paper buyer meet one anotherin the transaction. We can look oneanother in the eye, greet each other,and perhaps speak our names.

Even briefly, we can give a face to theother’s reality that replaces the broadgeneralities with which we often tendto quickly consider people we regardas different from ourselves.

In whatever small fashion, Ground-cover contributes to community, con-versation, and a sense of sharedwelfare. And that contribution isworth celebrating.

As busy as our lives may be and asmany things as we have on our dailyto-do list, I want to invite all of us topause as we sell or buy the paper andsee, really see and acknowledge, theperson at the other end of the trans-action. We have the chance to coverthe ground of Ann Arbor with nu-merous face-to-face meetings. Achance like that is precious indeed.

Rev. Dr. Martha Brunell Pastor Bethlehem United Church of Christ

G R O U N D C O V E R N E W SM I S S I O N :

Groundcover News ex is ts to create opportun i ty and a vo ice for low- income peop le whi le tak ing act ion to end homelessness and

pover ty .

Susan Beckett , Publ [email protected]

Laurie Lounsbury, [email protected]

Contributors:David KE Dodge

Karen L. Totten

Christopher Alexander

Marquise Williams

Danielle Mack

Le�ers to the Editor:

[email protected]

Story or Photo Submissions:

[email protected]

Ads and Classified Ads

[email protected]

www.groundcovernews.com

Washtenaw County, Michigan

Fa c e t o Fa c e M e e t i n g s

G r o u n d c o v e r g e t s a h o m e

OOPS!CORRECTIONS: In last month’s article “Harvesting the Grapes of Rights,” we failed to mention that both Ramiro Martinez and Melanie Harner were founding partners in the coaltion, along with Margaret Harner and Laura Sanders. Ramiro is Laura Sanders’ partner and Melanie is Margaret's daughter. Our apologies.

by Susan Beckett

The U.S. Senate recentlypassed a bill that bolsterschildhood nutritionprograms. Unfortunately, theyelected to pay for the improve-ments by taking money fromthe Supplemental NutritionAssistance Program (SNAP),the safety net once known asFood Stamps.

While we applaud improvingand extending school feedingprograms through the summer,having the child get a freebreakfast and lunch only tocome home and find the fam-ily cannot afford dinner, ishardly helpful. As it is, themaximum daily SNAP benefitis only $4.50 for a single per-son. Further, where does thatleave the preschoolers and

childless adults who have beenlaid off, seen their unemploy-ment run out and have notbeen able to land new jobs?

Fortunately, the House of Rep-resentatives has not yet actedon this legislation. They couldidentify a different source offunding for the Child Nutri-tion Reauthorization bill andthe Senate could agree to it

when the bill goes to a confer-ence committee. Our arearepresentatives have yet tospeak out in opposition toraiding SNAP funds.

You can share your opinion onthe issue by calling the Con-gressional Switchboard, tollfree, at 1-866-220-0044 andasking for your member ofCongress by name.

U . S . S e n a t e R o b s P e t e r t o P a y P a u l

FEATURE

D ’s T i m e - L e t ’s t a l k t r a n s s e x u a lby Danielle Mack

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I wish Ihad room for more of a Thanksgivingthemed article, but I promise more of aholiday theme next month.

This next section will strive to cover themore “severe” side of the T spectrum.Those of us that fall on this side of thingsmay seem a bit odd. Please, the worst pos-sible thing you could do is to stop thinkingof us as human beings. The minute youstart thinking of any of us as an “it,” youstrip us of our humanity and make crimesagainst us – at least in your mind – moreeasily justifiable. People, especially fromthis side of the T spectrum, are at a statisti-cally much higher risk of suicide, feelingsof abandonment, and loneliness. Pleaseshow these people some love and respectout of human decency; crossdressers/tomboys, transvestites, and trans-sexuals are humans, too.

TransvestitesOur next stop on the transgender spectrumis the transvestite. Transvestites can be gayor straight. The most basic definition of atransvestite would be someone who in asense lives part of their day to day lives asthe opposite gender. These people haveabsolutely no interest in a complete transi-tion to the opposite gender. They arerather happy with their bodies just the waythey are. These people just enjoy having amuch more varied wardrobe; most are gay,some are straight. One great example ofthis type of person is a pen pal of mine,Nicci Tristram (stage name). Nicci lives apublic life as a female fetish model, and fe-male impersonator. In his private life he isa gay male. When traveling the world vis-iting various shows, doing videos, even on-line, for all intents and purposes he isreferred to as a she. In fact I have onlyknown Nicci as a she. I have never seenher out of character, so it is difficult for meto even refer to her as a him. There are fe-male transvestites as well. I have person-ally talked to a few, but don't know their

life styles as well as I know Nicci's.

The pronoun rule in reference to their ap-pearance is the same as the earlier portionof the T spectrum. Refer to them accord-ing to how they are presenting at the time.If the person is a guy, and you know them

as a guy but they are dressed as a woman,refer to them as “her”, or “she”. In veryrare cases the person may want you to stillrefer to them as a guy, but like I said that israre. You are much better off for yourselfand those around you to refer the person asa “she”, especially if she presents herselfvery convincingly as a female.

TranssexualsTranssexuals are not by definition gay, les-bians, cross dressers/tomboys, or transves-tites. We are not men in dresses, or dykes.We are a very unique group of individualswith a very specific birth defect. Whilestill in the womb the sex hormones for thebrain and body get a little mixed up andbaby boys are born with the brain of a girl,and baby girls are born with the brain of aboy. As we grow and develop many of usstruggle with difficulty assimilating intosociety within the physical gender of our

birth. Some of us are lucky enough tohave a little help on at least attempting tofake our mannerisms to reflect those of ourphysical birth sex, some are not so lucky.For some the difficulty with assimilation isjust too difficult and they eventually com-mit suicide. To put this in perspective for

all my non transsexual readers imag-ine for a moment if you were trappedin the body of the other gender.Men, imagine being forever trappedin the body of a woman and beingtold all your life that you are awoman and that it is wrong for youto want to be a guy. Women, imaginebeing stuck in the body of a man andbeing told that your desires to fix thismistake are sinful and evil. Imaginethe pain of being ridiculed and ostra-cized from family, friends and a ma-jority of society. With all this inmind you now have a decent idea ofwhat it is like to be a transsexual.

All transsexuals would like to at somepoint have a surgery to make theirbody match the gender of their brain,and correct this birth defect. Unfor-tunately the Sexual Reassignment

Surgery (SRS – aka, Gender ReassignmentSurgery or GRS) only mimics the appear-ance of the sexual organ. This is a majorshort coming to some transsexuals and adecision breaker. Some of us want the realthing or nothing, others of us will settle forwhat is available right now just so we canmove on and more easily assimilate our

own bodies into the life roles we know wewere meant to fill.

If a friend of yours or someone you knowis going through this process and you findthem to be rather confusing or hard to un-derstand, step back for a second. Are youtrying to relate to them as a man or awoman? You may be, at least subcon-sciously thinking of them in their birthgender role and expecting them to act ac-cording to that preconceived thought pat-tern. Try thinking of them as the genderthey are transitioning into, then thingsshould begin to make a lot more sense toyou. Some things just may naturally notmake sense either way; that is their person-ality, and part of who they are.

You also need to bear in mind that trans-sexuals fall into two main categories basedon birth sex, each with their own difficul-ties and hardships; male-to-female (MTF)and female-to-male (FTM). The sexual ori-entation of a transsexual is based upon thesex they are becoming, not what they arenow. A transsexual woman (MTF) that isattracted to men is straight, not gay. Atranssexual man (FTM) that is attracted towomen is not a lesbian, he is straight.

Next month I will cover Female to Maleand Male to Female transsexuals, both top-ics are very close and dear to my heart.Please be sure to pick up the next issue ofGroundcover next month to see this finaldefinition covered, and have a HappyThanksgiving.

3


“Nicci lives a public life

as a female fetish

model, and female

impersonator. In his

private life he is a gay

male.”

— D, an Ann Arbor Transsexual

Coming soon to corners near your favorite stores, restaurants andchurches are local people working toestablish themselves economically, selling Groundcover – News and Solutions from the Ground Up.

This street newspaper, publishedmonthly, contains an eclectic mix ofmaterial with a broad range of appeal.It is sold exclusively by members of thegreater homeless community.

The newspaper costs $1 and the sellerreaps a net profit of 75 cents on eachpaper. Certified vendors will be wear-ing nametags with their name andGroundcover ID number.

When you see a Groundcover vendor, please stop, ask about thepaper and its content, and buy one.The paper is about establishing commerce in social interaction as wellas route to self-sufficiency.

GETTING TO KNOW GROUNDCOVER

G r o u n d c o v e r V e n d o r s C o d e o f C o n d u c t

I f y o u s e e a n y G r o u n d c o v e r N e w s v e n d o r s n o t a b i d i n g b y t h e c o d e o f c o n d u c t , p l e a s e r e p o r t t h e a c t i v i t y t o : c o n t a c t @ g r o u n d c o v e r n e w s . c o m

While Groundcover News is anonprofit organization, andnewspaper vendors are consid-ered contracted self-employers,we still have expectations of howvendors should conduct them-selves while selling and repre-senting the paper.

Every vendor reads and signsthe code of conduct before re-ceiving a badge and papers.We request that if you dis-cover a vendor violating anytenets of the Code, please con-tact us and provide as manydetails as possible. Our paperand our vendors should bepositively impacting ourCounty.

All vendors must agree to thefollowing code of conduct:

• Groundcover News will bedistributed for a voluntary do-nation of $1. I agree not toask for more than a dollar orsolicit donations by any othermeans.

• I will only sell current issues

of Groundcover News.

• I agree not to sell additionalgoods or products when sell-ing the paper or to panhandle,including panhandling withonly one paper.

• I will wear and display mybadge when selling papers.

• I will only purchase thepaper from GroundcoverNews Staff and will not sell toor buy papers from otherGroundcover News vendors,especially vendors who havebeen suspended or terminated.

• I agree to treat all customers,staff, and other vendors, respectfully. I will not “hardsell,” threaten, harass or pres-sure customers, staff, or othervendors verbally or physically.

• I will not sell GroundcoverNews under the influence ofdrugs or alcohol.

• I understand that I am not alegal employee of Ground-

cover News but a contractedworker responsible for myown well-being and income.

• I understand that my badgeis property of GroundcoverNews and will not deface it. Iwill present my badge whenpurchasing the papers.

• I agree to stay off privateproperty when sellingGroundcover News.

• I understand to refrain fromselling on public buses, federalproperty or stores unless thereis permission from the owner.

• I agree to stay at least oneblock away from another ven-dor. I will also abide by theVendor corner policy.

• I understand that Ground-cover strives to be a paper thatcovers topics of homelessnessand poverty while providingsources of income for thehomeless. I will try to help inthis effort and spread theword.

V i n e y a r d H o m e l e s s M i n i s t r y s e n d s o u t t e n d r i l s o ff r i e n d s h i p a n d c a m a r a d e r i e"Who are those people with the pizza inLiberty Plaza Park?" That’s a question thatcrosses the minds of many passersby asthey stroll the streets around the park onFriday evenings. If they stick around longenough, they find that those people are thevolunteers of the Ann Arbor VineyardHomeless Ministry, whose mission is"showing God's loveto people in practi-cal ways; being ablessing to people,"according to min-istry co-leader LisaAunins. Servingpizza to the home-less community isone way they carryout that mission.

It began more thanfour years ago at thebehest of VineyardChurch pastor KenWilson as a way tobuild relationshipsand bring a bit ofnormalcy into thelives of those strug-gling to make inthrough the day.Hanging out with friends and eating pizzaon a Friday night is about as normal as itcomes. Ministry volunteers scouting thearea for a place to hold their gatheringfound that their intended guests fre-quented Liberty Plaza Park. With its cen-tral location and ample yet cozy size, itserved well as a place for all to mingle andshare pizza and a prayer.

During those years, the number of peopleserved has grown from the initial 20 or 30to the hundred or so who now show up.Vineyard Church carpools about 10-15volunteers to the park — with more join-ing them at Liberty Plaza — who servepizza, give out bags of food for the week-end, and supply camping gear and cloth-ing, when available through donations.Just as important, volunteers mingle andchat with their park friends, catching upon what’s happened since the previous Fri-day visit.

With so many people in close proximity,tempers occasionally flare but warning thatsuch activity could jeopardize the future ofthe Friday evening ministry is usuallyenough to initiate a cool down. It is gener-ally a very congenial group that self-regu-lates its members. The ministry has servedevery Friday evening of those four-plusyears, in rain, sleet, snow, and heat wave,even with tornado warnings and torrentialdownpours during Art Fair when they relo-

cated to Island Park.

Respect is shown for the sensibilities of the"church people" as park friends work tokeep language clean and participate in agroup prayer of thanks. Often, a guest ac-cepts the invitation to lead the group inprayer.

The park is alsocleaner than it hasever been. Volun-teers, includingthose from the gen-eral community andother churches, pickup the trash left be-hind from anevening meal andtake it, along withthe empty pizzaboxes, back to Vine-yard for disposal tominimize the impacton local businessesand the city. Neigh-boring businesseshave noticed whatgoes on at the parkand sometimes con-tribute excess food

they ordered for meetings or parties.Other concerned people bring fruit andhot food. Mr. Pizza is quick to donate piz-zas from cancelled orders.

Aunins got started in the ministry fouryears ago. Her niece approached her tobuy some books to support her schoolfunding drive and she selected and read“Same Kind of Different as Me,” a nonfic-tion book about a wealthy art dealer andan ex-cotton picker who meet at a soupkitchen. So moved was she by the storythat she felt she needed to work with themarginalized members of society. The nextSunday's church announcements includeda request for more volunteers to serve withthe newly-created homeless ministry."Could God be calling any louder?"Aunins mused.

She started by helping cook and serve acommunity meal, also sponsored by Vine-yard Church, which is served at First Bap-tist Church on alternate Tuesdays. Shethen signed on to organize Vineyard ashost for one week of the rotating men'sshelter in the winter. She and other volun-teers were so overwhelmed by the experi-ence that they arranged to host a weekeach subsequent winter at Vineyard.Church members send in a light repast tobe enjoyed during the evening along withfruit, granola bars, and muffins for them totake with them when they leave in the

morning. Aunins learned that normalcy isoften represented by little things like cot-tage cheese, something often found athome but never at community meals.

During rotating shelter, the men are gener-ally required to leave a facility by 6:00 am.While at Vineyard, the volunteers allowedthem to sleep in on Saturday and thenserved them a home-cooked breakfast inthe morning. During the Olympics, a TVwas brought in for viewing and when theyhosted during Easter, volunteers decoratedeggs and made Easter baskets that wereplaced by the side of each of the sleepingmen.

The ministry also hosts a traditionalThanksgiving dinner. A State Farm agentdonates turkeys that are taken home byparishioners for cooking. They are re-turned on Wednesday evening, along withhomemade pies to join the side dishes pre-

pared at the church. The 100 - 150 guests,including families who usually don’t showup for pizza in the Park, come and gothroughout the day, with many lingeringto watch the entire football game andenjoy leftovers. A clothing store of sorts isset up for guests. Coats, jackets, sweaters,shoes, hats, scarves, gloves, and outdoorgear are donated by parishioners and a coat

check service is provided so guests knowtheir possessions will be safe.

Aunins was originally conflicted aboutmissing Thanksgiving with her own tight-knit family, but as guests jumped up topitch in with the cleanup, she reflected, “Imay not be with MY family, but I'm withMY OTHER family.” Many more volun-teers seem to feel the same way sincedozens of them keep showing up eachThanksgiving to make certain those inchallenging circumstances have a tradi-tional meal.

The Super Bowl viewing party is anotherfavorite, replete with homemade chili, sal-ads, snacks and beverages. In 2009, whencommercials shown in 3D were all therage, volunteers amassed a hundred sets of3D glasses so everyone could fully enjoythe experience.

Aunins and others used to visit some of the

encampments around town, bringing sup-plies and companionship. She sadly recallsHomer and Reggae who lived behind thewest side Kroger’s. Both finally got apart-ments but passed away soon after. "I reallydon't know how old they were," she said."Living on the street ages you fast." Thefriendship of the ministry volunteersmakes those years a little softer.

“ I r e a l l y d o n 't

k n o w h o w o l d

t h e y w e r e .

L i v i n g o n t h e

s t r e e t a g e s

y o u f a s t . ”

— Lisa Aunins

Ministry Co-leader

Above: Vineyard visitors enjoy the Superbowl commercials with their3D glasses, donated byparishioners.

Left: A Thanksgivingmeal and a caring handserved by the Vineyard Homeless Min-istry

MAKING CHANGE4


Triage for the winter is how some vol-unteers describe Toledo’s Tent City, aweekend long event replete with hotmeals, medical and dental services,haircuts, entertainment and winterwear. A thousand volunteers help pre-pare and run the event and most ofToledo’s thousand currently unhousedpeople take advantage of at least someof the services offered.

While some 300 volunteers are a fewblocks away participating in the “Walkto Make 1 Mile Matter” fundraisingwalk, other volunteers manage thelarge numbers of guests registering forthe day and lining up for appoint-ments with various clinics. The mobileDental Clinic is in the highest de-mand, in part because they will only beable to see about 20 people over thecourse of the day. Another vehicle of-fers prostate exams while in a thirdthere are draws blood and diseasescreening. A prostate exam last yearsaved the life of 47-year-old DavidSmith. He found out he had cancerthat was still in the early stages, caughtjust in the nick of time.

In one of the tents guests can get thepaperwork and advice they need tostart the process of getting birth certifi-cates and official ID’s, instrumental togetting their lives in order. Withoutproper identification people cannot se-cure jobs or benefits.

Clothing, shoes, blankets and towelsdonated by city and suburban residentsmore than fills an enormous tentwhose 40 long tables display foldeditems and form aisles that, those luckyenough to be admitted, follow pastracks of hanging clothes. Anxious peo-ple await their turn, watching as thepeople ahead of them emerge from theexit carrying large, full plastic bags andthe long line snakes forward.

Despite their fears, the tables and racksremain well stocked as new donationsare unloaded from trucks and preparedfor dispensing. The tent closes for theday at 5pm but remains guarded allnight.

Each guest is paired with a volunteerguide who helps them register and se-cure the goods and services they seek.High school sophomore LindsayWilliams and junior Tyler Frederick aretwo volunteers who learned about TentCity through the community servicenetwork. Others are regular weeklyvolunteers with Food for Thought,

1Matters (an official eventsponsor) or other serviceproviders; many get con-nected through their place ofworship’s outreach ministry;and some are former guestswho are pleased to now bevolunteers.

“So many people have such astereotype about the un-housed and that has tochange,” according to Lind-say. She’s noticed it’s the littlethings that make the biggestdifference to people. Oneman she hugged told her in ahusky voice that it was thefirst hug he’d had in threeyears. She and Tyler arrivedafter school on Friday andhelped until 11:00 when theirparents insisted they comehome, returned at 7:00 am forthe full day and night Saturdayand will return early Sunday tocook the pancake breakfastand clean up.

One woman they met got her firsthaircut in two years. She looked at her-self in the mirror and her eyes welledup. She’s managed to enroll at the Uni-versity of Toledo so she can get a de-cent job to support herself and herbaby, and she just got housing, but shehas no heat, insulation or blankets.The clothing tent yielded a blanket forher baby and Tyler found anotherblanket for her.

Though their friends don’t understandwhy Tyler and Lindsay forego the foot-ball playoff and Halloween parties tobe at Tent City, Tyler says, “I’d ratherbe here. It’s something I love. Hope –we like to give people hope. A guestand I played chess for an hour and ahalf. He taught me more than anyteacher, about chess and life. Peopledon’t open up until they’re given a rea-son.”

Lindsay chimes in with, “Seeing theirreaction when you give them the sim-plest thing, even someone to talk to, isthe most wonderful feeling! I just dropFacebook and texting while I’m here.I’d rather focus on this. This level ofcommunity is missing in life. Some-times I don’t even know my neigh-bors.”

Tyler recalls a woman mentioned shehad cold hands and a man wearing avoluminous coat with many pockets

and carrying a small backpack held outa thick pair of gloves to the woman.“I’m homeless so I’ve always got some-thing to give away,” he stated.

Tent City is held in the city park hold-ing the war memorials, which is veryfitting since about 20% of the 6,000people without housing in Toledo atsome time each year are vets. The cityappreciates the way 1Matters, CherryStreet Mission, Mildred Bayer Clinicfor the Homeless, Mercy Health Part-ners and Toledo Area Ministries worktogether and with other non-profits,places of worship and governmentagencies to meet the needs of the mostvulnerable. Every Saturday many ofthese groups offer services on thegrounds of the County Libraryand people gather for breakfastand stay through lunch, talking,playing and dancing together.Guests leave with full hearts andbags of groceries.

After dinner at Tent City comesthe entertainment – poetry read-ings and music. One poem writtenand read by Tent City Mayor GaryBond concluded, “When the power oflove overtakes the love of power, we’lllight up the darkness and take back thenight.” The power of love in Tent Cityis evident in everyone from the gueststo the city police who blend in andparticipate more than patrol while theyvisit Tent City.

‘ T r i a g e f o r t h e w i n t e r ’ — T o l e d o ’s T e n t C i t y

THINK ABOUT IT 5


Above: The mobile dental center has crowds waiting to getin, since this is the only affordable way guests can receive

dental care. Other mobile services provide prostate exams and blood screening for

diseases.Right: Tent City guests are eager to get into the enormous

tent filled with donations from city and urban residents.

“Circularity”by David K.E. Dodge

6


ON MY CORNER

V e n d o r J a m e s i s e a r n i n g h i s w a y t o a b e t t e r l i f eWhen you first see James, he will likely beat the corner of Main and Ann hunchedover a sketch pad inking Japanese anime ormanga drawings. As he notices foot trafficpick up, he’ll carefully put away his sup-plies and start actively selling GroundcoverNews. It is fellow artists and people whohave had their own hard times in life whomost often stop to buy from him, espe-cially once they’ve talked with him and re-alize he hasn’t yet thrown his life away.

He got started selling Groundcover soonafter he arrived in Ann Arbor in mid-July.Prior to that he was searching for jobs inLansing but got discouraged whenprospective employers seemed offendedthat he was asking for an application. Withno alternative, he panhandled to survive.

He finds people are less suspicious when heis selling papers than when he is panhan-dling.

“Some people treat me like just another

bum begging, some like a vendor doing hisjob. It makes me feel really wonderfulwhen people acknowledge I’m doing realwork. It may not be the best job in theworld, but I’m working and I’m proud ofthat.”

“I so enjoy working with James,” saidGroundcover distributor Sandy. “He’sstuck with it and steadily increased hissales. He should be proud!”

“I have this thought when I’m panhan-dling or selling the paper that people are allthinking, ‘Just get a job,’ as if they were outthere for the taking,” James mused. “I havesome anxiety issues so I don’t interviewwell, which makes it even more difficult. Ibasically shoot myself in the foot.”

On his own since 17, James noted his jobhistory and the country’s economic situa-tion are perfectly in sync, which is notgood at the moment. He was raised inpoverty with a mother who worked in abakery and a dad who did carpentry andpainting jobs as they came along in rural

New Hampshire. They never had much ofanything and James received no allowanceso he learned early to work hard, shovelingdriveways, raking and mowing.

“Fortunately, we lived in a trailer park backthen so there was always plenty of workavailable for me.” When he turned 16 heworked at Arby’s and at 17 at breakfastrestaurants.

Life got harderas his parents’marriage disin-tegrated intofrequent fightsand ultimatelydivorce whenJames was nineor ten. Hisschoolwork be-came erraticwith honor rollperformancesinterspersed

with periods of making C’s and D’s. At 13he caught a break and got a job with alocal farmer watering the greenhouseplants for $10 a day. But he had troublegetting along with people, especially hisfamily.

His mom remarried and James joined hermove to Lansing. Disagreements with hisstepfather soon followed and James shut-tled back and forth between parents untilneither could tolerate him any longer. Hisinterests in anime, techno music and dress-ing in black led them to believe he was in-volved in devil worship and on top of thathe was rebellious. Tossed from his father’shouse in New Hampshire, James skippedschool for a couple of weeks while he triedto find a place to sleep. The school discov-ered he was homeless and expelled him.

He then got the best job of his life, work-ing in the kitchen at the Exeter Inn, a fourstar restaurant and hotel. He started wash-ing dishes but was soon promoted to prep

work then allowed toprepare salads anddesserts. With the eco-nomic downturn came alayoff and a move toMichigan looking forbetter opportunity.

He said that his parentssubscribed to the ‘throwyour cubs off the moun-tain and raise the onesthat manage to get backup’ philosophy. With ahistory of dependencyfor the men on his fa-ther’s side of the family,he thinks the extendedfamily decided on toughlove with him to forcehim to stand on hisown.

His parents helped himout occasionally, enoughto keep him alive and hismother offered him a jobonce, but it was not on a bus route so hecouldn’t get there. Due to his family prob-lems, James never learned to drive.

With no job prospects in Lansing, Jamesturned to partying. Having watched thedownward spiral of plenty of others, hewas careful to avoid addictive substances.Still, his poverty took a toll on him. A ge-netic predisposition to weak teeth was ex-acerbated by sugary drinks and a lack ofprofessional dental care, and his teeth dete-riorated to the point where they are nowtoo fragile to chew with or brush withoutcrumbling.

As his joblessness continued, he realized heneeded an education and profession butdid not know how to apply to college. Thethought of going to college when he hadn’tattended classes in so many years and hadnever completed high school was intimi-dating, but he did look into applying whilehe was in Lansing.

When he arrived in Ann Arbor, James triedto find shelter and advice at the DelonisCenter but was denied because he was nota county resident. His girlfriend has beenhelping him get his life together and offer-ing an occasional alternative to nights in atent and quick showers at the shelter.

James loves art and is starting a new artportfolio. He’s working hard to hold ontoit. He has been experimenting with draw-ing on his own since he was 14 when his

interest in Japanese anime and manga ledto drawing. He’s getting better all the time.He also likes reading and listening tomusic and he is fascinated by nature andnatural systems like weather and geology.

As interested as he is in art, he assesses hisodds of a financially successful career as anartist to be roughly equivalent to those ofwinning the lottery.

“Right now I’m looking for a job as a dish-washer. It’s a job I can keep because I’m afast paced worker and that’s what theyneed,” he said.

He reasons potential employers do not hirehim to work with food because of the un-hygienic appearance of his teeth.

“I want some kind of sensible job, onewith job security. That’s why I’m going tocollege,” James said. To that end, he’s plan-ning to start with basic courses, includingone in career planning, and he’ll completehis GED during that time.

The next chapter of James’ life starts soonwhen he registers for winter term classes atWashtenaw Community College (WCC).

“Financial aid isn’t going to take care ofeverything. I’m going to need a part-timejob so I can afford a place to live. It’s goingto be hard, and there are some peoplewho’d rather see me fail, but I have to keepgoing. And I can’t get upset if I’m treatedunfairly. There are some people who willcheer me on.”

“ Throw your cubs of f

the mounta in and ra ise

the ones that manage to

get back up . ”

— Vendor James, describing

his parent’s philosophy on

rearing children

Vendor James, with some of his art work.

Art work by James

by Rissa Haynes

You’ll hear his soothing beats on the streetsof Ann Arbor. While taking a walk towardthe Farmer’s Market passing The People’sFood Coop, many get a little pep in theirstep from the unique beats of the handdrums of Hassan El-Amin, the instructor,hand drum artist and head facilitator ofPrimal I Drum Studio. Both young andyoung-at-heart are inspired and encour-aged to share their own rhythms on the setof congos and bongos provided so gener-ously on the streets by Hassan.

Hand drumming is “strong medicine forthe mind, body and soul,” according toHassan. He citeshand drummingas having severalgreat benefits forstudents, healingeffects forAlzheimer pa-tients, and stressbusting advan-tages for corpo-rate staff as well as an avenue for familybonding. His personal testimony is thathand drumming “contributed greatly” tothe cure of his prostate cancer. To sharethese benefits, Hassan takes his 25+ yearsof experience as a studio musician, stage

musician, hand drumming teacher, com-munity wellness drum circle facilitator andhis own hand drum instruments to thepassersby on “Conga Corner” -- 4th streetin front of the People's Food Coop in AnnArbor.

“There’s absolutely no musical experiencerequired to participate,” says Hassan ofthese beneficial sessions provided by Pri-mal 1. ”Children as young as 20 monthshave enjoyed Primal 1’s EdutainmentRhythmusic programs... Elders up to 103years old have enjoyed the Senior drum-ming circles.” After all, “The beat of thedrum has been used by every culturearound the world...” Even before we were

born, “the steadylub-dub,lub-dub” of ourmother’s heartbeat lulled us tosleep and accom-panied our everywaking hour. It’sno wonder Has-

san’s hand drumming isa welcome therapy on the streets of AnnArbor.

Hassan is a family man. Married with twogrown children and the proud grandfatherof two young boys, he dreams of inspiring

his teenage family members into forming amusical group. Hassan’s most memorableand exciting times come while hand drum-ming with groups. For him, the experiencewith Poncho Sanchez stands out most.Formal musical training came to him byway of the coronet and violin. Althoughbeats and drumming were his passion evenin his earlier days, he was never allowed tolearn the drums during his school-ageyears. Hassan prides himself in learningthe hand drum art on his own -- his great-est accomplishment.

Learning the art by soaking up methods ofmany great drummers is a great accom-plishment indeed! His freelance skillsearned him studio time, stage presence andperformances with groups and artiststhroughout the Ypsilanti and Ann Arborarea at fairs, night clubs, exhibits, corpo-rate offices, schools and libraries. Cur-rently, Hassan El-Amin is a member ofAnn Arbor’s Classic Rock/R & B Salma-gundi band. His passion is to share witheveryone the harmony that the handdrums inspire.

COMMUNITY 7


“ T h e r e ’s a b s o l u t e l y n o m u s i c a l e x p e r i e n c er e q u i r e d t o p a r t i c i p a t e . ”

— H a s s a n E l - A m i n P r i m a l 1 D r u m S t u d i o

P r i m a l D r u m m i n g s t r i k e s a c o m m u n a l c h o r d

Hassan El-Amin, teaching children the joy of hand drumming.

H o m e l e s s I n s p i r e d A r t o n E x h i b i tL e t t e r s H o m e : A n A r t I n s t a l l a t i o n

N o v . 2 6 t o D e c . 2 0 9 a . m . t o 6 p . m . M o n d a y - S u n d a y

S t . F r a n c i s o f A s s i s i P a r i s h 2 2 7 0 E a s t S t a d i u m B l v d . , A n n A r b o r

T h e e x h i b i t i s o p e n t o t h e p u b l i c

Get a sense of what it’s like to be homeless with this exhibit, which features pieces depicting the state of being homeless in America. Aspectsof the exhibit have been gathered, with permission, from homeless persons across the country. The installation is part of a slate of activitieswhich explore the Advent theme “A Journey To Bethlehem.”

A reception honoring artists Susan Clinthorne and Sally Thielen will takeplace 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30 in the St. Francis PAC.

Artists Susan Clinthorne and Sally Thielen, whosework will be on display at the art exhibit held at St.Francis of Assisi in Ann Arbor

PUZZLES

solu�ons on page 11

8


"JO XQO EDCRYCTXVVL WXEOA JYRP X NOQYON DW SQOXR

DMMDQRTCYRYON KQYVVYXCRVL AYNSTYNOA XN YCNDVTKVO

MQDKVOBN."

— IDPC J. SXQACOQ

C r y p t o q u o t e sFigure out the encrypt ion code to so lve the puzz le

G r o u n d c o v e r W i s h L i s t

Locking storage cabinet

4-drawer file cabinet

Computers and equipment

Software like Office Professional and Indesign

Handcarts, rolling coolers or rolling suitcases for newspaper transport

Waterproof bags

Office supplies like receipt books, paper and laminating pouches

Digital cameras, or cell phones with cameras

Volunteer writers, office staff, and social workers

Jobs for hard workers

If you have something to donate, please let us know. [email protected]

ARTS

On a recent Saturday evening,the Hutzel Building at Libertyand Main featured an exhibitionby 30 area artists. All who submitted a work were accepted.

The organizer Thomas WilliamUlch II, is an instructor at EMU,and many of the pieces weredone by Thomas's students, butothers were by artists working indiverse areas.

One demanding oil painting of acityscape imbued with sensualhuman aspects was done by aman working in the steel indus-try.

Thomas is a photographer ofbeautiful places (Florence,Mayan

sacred places, natural beauty,such as Ataco, El Salvador).

He will have a show openingDec. 4.

The whole effort requires sub-mission of works as well as vol-unteers to keep the gallery open.

To do either or both, [email protected] call 734-276-3549.

That Ann Arbor Gallery is acommunity arts space. All artistsand lovers of art are welcome.

That Ann Arbor Gallery can alsobe found on Facebook.

9


That Ann Arbor Ga l lery featuresThe Go od, The Bad , and The Ugly

by Karen L. Totten

Woody Allen famously said“It is impossible to experienceone’s own death objectivelyand still carry a tune.” Yes,it’s easy to see how deathmight make your voice a littleflat.

And then there is the old joke about fruit-cake, told by Johnny Carson: “There’s ac-tually only one fruitcake in the U.S. and itis passed around year after year, from fam-ily to family.” Hmmm. Perhaps fruitcakesare immortal?

Oodles of funny jokes like these two aboveand all the good philosophical discussionabout death and its related subjects thatyou might desire are waiting for you inThomas Cathcart and David Klein’s bookHeidegger and a Hippo Walk Through ThosePearly Gates.(www.heideggerandahippo.com)

The tome, dedicated to our blithe Mr.Allen and rife with laughs, throws outsome of the Big Questions. What is themeaning of life? (is there just one?) Doesheaven exist? Do we have souls? Possibleanswers are presented from philosophersand thinkers as diverse as Shopenhauer toGroucho Marx, Plato to Brenda Lee.

The authors’ premise is that philosophy

need not be mind-numb-ingly obscure. It can, infact, be derived from and illustrated by some of our

favorite laughs. Consider the story ofOle, recently deceased. His wifewent to the papers toplace an obituary andshe kept it brief.“Just put, ‘Ole died,’” she said. The news-paper representative

was aghast—this was her husband, fatherof her children and grandchildren! Didshe not want to say more? He remindedher that the first five words of the obituarywere free. The wife considered a momentthen replied. “Okay. Put down, ‘Ole died.Boat for sale.’ ”

These humorous forays into the philoso-phy of death are not simply a laughingmatter. Instead, the authors hope toenlighten readers about what they call theBig Delusion, our daily pretense that deathis not just around the corner and our manyattempts to fend off anxiety about whatlies beyond. Death is unknown. Death isfinal. That scares us, the authors posit.Many Americans like to place it outsidethe life continuum, even though it is in-evitable.

And no subject related to our handling ofdeath is off limits. Take religion. Youmight have been advised to avoid dis-cussing politics or religion with the familyat Great Aunt Mary’s house on Thanksgiv-

ing Day, but Cathcart and Klein dive rightin. According to the authors, zealous behavior regarding faith has at least one explanation – it is one method we humansuse to explain to ourselves our mortality.These explanations quell our anxiety aboutdeath and our not knowing when deathmight occur and where it might lead.

Cathcart and Klein are not by any meansadvocating dismissing God, heaven or reli-gious belief. In fact, their thoughtful dis-cussions of religion remind me of myfavorite Simpsons episode— the one whereBart decides to become a Catholic. Hismother and the diehard Presby-Lutheranneighbor, Ned Flanders, spend most of theshow trying to convince Bart to chooseotherwise, fearing that if Bart goes toCatholic Heaven after death while they goto Lutheran Heaven, they will not see eachother in the everafter.

The final scene of this episode depicts atime some thousand years hence when twoEarth armies meet in battle over whetherBart, who has become the Last Prophet,was really about tolerance and love, or un-derstanding and peace. A war of peace ver-sus love – what’s up with that?

Both the Simpson piece and the recentMuslim community center controversy inNYC encapsulate the ridiculousness of pit-ting one faith system against another in anattempt to establish one as superior. Yethumans sometimes do this in while tryingto find the “correct” stairway to heaven,Cathcart and Klein point out.

Both men studied at Harvard, where theymet, then went out to explore the philo-sophical world. For Cathcart, this meantworking with street gangs and physiciansfrom insurance houses, while Klein wrotefor comedians like Flip Wilson and LilyTomlin. Cathcart, the son of a minister,tried out divinity school while Klein au-thored several fiction and nonfictionworks.

The men are very good friends who de-cided that jokes have the ability to make agood point while simultaneously defusingtension. And the authors had a personalstake in the subject of this particular book,both having reached as they say, their Bib-lically allotted threescore and ten. Theirown death angst was showing.

Their previous books together includePlato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar, whichincludes almost everything you want toknow about logic and its fallacies, and Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington,a hilarious look at political machinations.

Buy or borrow a copy of Heidegger and aHippo. You’ll laugh. You’ll think. Besides,you’ll want to know how this title jokeends: So, Heidegger and a hippo stroll upto the Pearly Gates and Saint Peter says“Listen, we’ve only got room for one moretoday. So whoever of the two of you givesme the best answer to the question ‘Whatis the meaning of life?’ gets to come in…Who do you think makes it?

Enjoy!

B o o k R e v i e wH e i d e g g e r a n d a H i p p o W a l kT h r o u g h t h o s e P e a r l y G a t e s .

Art exhibit organizer Thomas William Ulch II, with an acrylic titled "Soar" and an oil titled "Estrella Sees Red" inthe background. (Photo by Phil Hannuksela)

AROUND TOWN

A safe PORT in a s torm

10

www. groundcovernews .com

Ten Thousand Villages provides vital, fair income to Third World people bymarketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America.

Ten Thousand Villages works with artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. This income helps pay for food,

education, health care and housing.303 S. Main Street Ann Arbor, MI 48104

734-332-1270annarbor.tenthousandvillages.com

Join us in supporting local organizations that are vital to those in need

• 8:00 pm, Saturday, Nov. 13th — PBS radio show, The Story, and a�erglow at the amphitheater at Rackham Auditorium, UM campus. $50 to benefit Avalon Housing. Call 663-5858 or visit Avalonhousing.org

• 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18— Wine Tas�ngs, hors d'oeuvres, Schakolod chocolate fountain and live jazz to support the HIV/AIDS Resource Center, Kensington Court Hotel, 610 Hilton Blvd. (off S. State just past Briarwood). $50 per person in advance or $60 at the door. Buy �ckets by e-mailing: [email protected], or by contac�ng Laura Zain at 734-572-9355

• Dec. 1 - 5 — Rockin for the Hungry, Volunteers and radio personali�es from Ann Arbor’s 107.1 will be “freezin’ for a reason” at Food Gatherers' largest annual outdoor food and fund drive. Broadcast live from new event loca�on Kroger on South Maple Road, you can par�cipate by dropping off food drive or cash dona�ons, purchasing a ready-made bag of food to donate, or by making a dona�on at the register.

by Phil Hannuksela

Mr. Largebeat (a.k.a. Jim Gertz) isin the workshop he made in thebasement of Arbor Brewing Com-pany (ABC)for repairingbroken fix-tures, butalso for get-ting ABCready forspecialevents, suchas lastmonth’s Halloweenparty. TheRockasaurusband playedcover rock dancemusic and alsosome of Large-beat’s, with Jim playing theTheremin. I heard from peoplewho had been rockin’ through thewhole party that they all hadsounded great.

This would be no surprise to anyonewho had been downtown on a Fri-day night in September when Mr.Largebeat’s band had the crowd in a

raucous boogie thatbrought the 15thanniversary cele-bration of ABC’scraft beer brewingto its conclusion.

Jim also is animated aboutgetting placesfaster, and thatmeans trains.About a year and ahalf ago I found

that out after I haddisturbed a railroad tiehere in town just bystepping on it. The

spikes lay there in the gypsum, re-leased by nature unaided. I got ontothe topic of rail service, and Jim

A n d t h e ( L a r g e ) b e a t g o e s o n

Largebeat prepares Halloween decorations for Arbor Brewing in hisbasement workshop.

see Largebeat, pg. 11

by Susan BeckettPublisher

"How about a ride to the Delonis Center soyou can get some dinner?" an outreachperson from Project Outreach Team(PORT) might offer someone struggling tofind shelter or food on the streets of Washt-enaw County. PORT is the branch ofWashtenaw County that focuses on thehighest need members of the homeless com-munity, whose circumstance are often com-pounded by a disability.

Positive engagement is the key to PORT'sapproach. They commit to meeting theclient where he or she is, physically, psycho-logically and socially. PORT staff frequentunderpasses and freeway exit ramps in addi-tion to more formal gathering places likeaddiction meetings and community meals.At places like the Delonis Center or St. An-drews, they offer addiction and copingmeetings along with psychological serviceson a regularly scheduled basis.

Several years ago PORT organized a soccerteam (SSPORT) as a way to engage and em-power the homeless in our community.PORT Street Soccer's vision is to use socceras a tool to provide a healthy social activityfor people in the homeless community, withthe goal of providing a positive and empow-ering experience. They went on to competefor the U.S. Cup in June of 2008 andplaced fourth out of 12 teams.

"The skills required to survive on the streetdo not necessarily translate to living in acommunity with thin walls. Homeless peo-ple have had a lot of things done to themand for them. At PORT, we are doingthings with people," says John Loring, asenior social worker. "Putting people inhousing is not the end of the problem, it isthe start. That is why we need affordablesupportive housing," Loring continues.

PORT is an intensive community outreachteam that consists of two distinct but inte-grated teams. The Homeless Project Out-reach Team (HPORT) serves the homelessmentally ill population in WashtenawCounty. Its mission is to engage treat, andstabilize qualifying people who are not in-volved with the mental health system andthen transition them to standard Commu-nity Mental Health Services programs.Their vision is to support the highest qual-ity of life achievable for individuals who are

homeless in our community.

The Justice Project Outreach Team(JPORT) is a diversionary program for indi-viduals who are involved with the justicesystem and need mental health assistance.The Street Outreach Court works to get in-dividuals with warrants for repeated minoroffenses into appropriate treatment pro-grams in lieu of trials with fines, court costsand possible jail time.

The PORT office is on Fourth Ave., not farfrom the courthouse. About 45-75 peopledrop in each day for help ranging fromfinding housing to getting dry clothes.There is a pressing need for sleeping bags,tarps, tents, dry socks and clean underwear.

Staff and volunteers at PORT

AGENCY

SPOTLIGHT

gave me a DVD of various systems ofhigh-speed in use around the world.

He had assembled moving models ofthem, even of maglev, which is wheelessand is magnetically lifted above the track.He made presentations to Granholm’s of-fice, Representative Dingell, and even senta whole set of high-speed models toObama. Dingell at least listened even

though his staff tried to rush him away.Jim never heard anything from the gover-nor’s office. From the White House he gotnot even the routine written acknowledg-ment of receipt.

Largebeat’s efforts don’t end with rebuffs,though. He has shown neighbors his run-ning models in a setting called “Future-ville.” There he has not only models of

highs- speeds in service now, but a systemserving a city that has landing accommo-dations for vehicles of visitors who havebeen a lot farther than trains can take any-body.

This touches on another topic that Jim hasfollowed in detail his whole adult life: thevarious claims of sightings around theworld of extra-terrestrial vehicles, and the

controversies these spawned.

For next year, Jim plans a model maglev.He says he will likely be helping certainneighbors and some of their children as-semble their own running models of oneor another of these gorgeous machines.

Whether it’s music, trains, UFO’s, or any-thing else, Mr. Largebeat is very person-able, and welcoming of conversation.

by Christopher Alexander

The economic downturn that began morethan two years ago has hit WashtenawCounty particularly hard. Sharp drops inhousing prices translate into lower tax rev-enues for local government and fewer do-nations for local nonprofits. Shrinkingbudgets are causing public and privatehuman services providers to look for inno-vative approaches to delivering services.Unfortunately, the need for human servicesfunding is increasing at a time when re-sources are decreasing.

Earlier this year a partnership to fund localnonprofits was formed between the City ofAnn Arbor, Washtenaw County and theUrban County Board. Urban County is anadministrative board that manages federalgrant money mainly to fund low incomehousing. Now, the local United Way andthe Ann Arbor Area Community Founda-tion will likely join this partnership. Afterapproval, the new organization will man-age roughly $5.2 million. Once accepted,the two year program would be imple-mented starting next July.

The new program is being called “Coordi-nated Funding of Nonprofits” and themost obvious change will be a narrowingof focused services. The organizers haveoutlined six target areas.:

• Housing and Homelessness• Food and Nutrition• Seniors • Health and Medicine• Young Children (birth to age 6)• School Aged Children

In the case of homelessness, for example,the Washtenaw Housing Alliance will re-view funding guidelines for nonprofits and

make recommendations to the five boards.Food and nutrition programs will be simi-larly reviewed by Food Gatherers. FoodGatherers and WHA are both local non-profits themselves. The other four targetareas will have comparable oversightboards that will craft recommendations tofunding providers.

Another big change will be that participat-ing organizations will have a single applica-tion process and a single applicationdeadline. This, it’s hoped, will create asharp drop inadministrativecosts associ-ated withfundingprocesses,both for serv-ice fundersand serviceproviders.Recommen-dations fromreview boardsare nonbind-ing and the fiveboards will all retain their former authorityto approve and maintain funding deci-sions.

The primary advantage to the boards is afocused, cooperative process with less over-lap of services. Before funding boardsmake final decisions, another combinedboard will review applications and decide ifproposals fall in line with targeted out-comes.

Day-to day-administration of CoordinatedFunding will be handled by the Office ofCommunity Development. OCD DirectorMary Jo Callan has been one of the chief

architects outlining the details of the pro-gram. Callan said she believes that involv-ing nonprofits, like WHA and FoodGatherers, is an essential part of their plan.

“The reality is I’m not an expert in allthese areas,” Callan said. “I’m not the oneproviding services and I’m not the serviceconsumer. What we’re trying to do is say,hey look, before we put on paper what wewant from nonprofits, like what we’regoing to fund, these are the outlines ofwhat we want to achieve. We’ve gotten a

lot of good feed-back from thenonprofits overthis approach.”

Some area non-profits are con-cerned, though,that services out-side of the six tar-get areas aregoing to continueto get overlooked.Chuck Warpe-

hoski, a director at theInterfaith Council for Peace and Justice(ICPJ), drafted and submitted a letterdrawing attention to their concerns overgaps in the plan.

The group’s number one worry is that tar-geting just six narrow areas will constrainfunding of other important work not out-lined in the coordinated funding plan.

“While the six priority areas identified forfunding cover a broad range of initiatives,they are not exhaustive,” Warpehoski’s let-ter read. “Where is the funding for literacy,domestic violence treatment and preven-tion, and services for the disabled? We are

concerned that the proposed consolidated funding mechanism could institutionalizegaps in coverage and exclude needed serv-ices from the funding process.”

Vivienne Armentrout is a former CountyBoard member who shares concerns aboutthe mechanics of the new program. Ar-mentrout stresses that she thinks that effi-ciency and effectiveness aren’t always thesame and measuring how well a programworks can’t be done with numbers thatmeasure only quantity and ignores qualityof services provided. She also says that shewonders how all of the competing interestswill resolve disagreements about fundingdecisions with less money to spreadaround.

“Under old guidelines that were grandfa-thered in for the City of Ann Arbor, we re-ceived human services funding separatefrom the housing and other funds that theUrban County Board now receives,” Ar-mentrout said. “So there was a net loss ofhuman services money to the area. Thislast year Ann Arbor City Council madethat up with a special allocation, but Iwonder how long they can do that. I sus-pect that the United Way money is beingsought to fill in the gaps.”

Many of the details of coordinated fundingare still being worked out. We feel themost significant effort lies ahead. Our mis-sion focuses on homelessness, so we’re con-cerned how this vulnerable population willbe impacted by the forthcoming model.

The community Groundcover works toserve may be strongly impacted by fundingrestructuring. We’ll continue to try to un-derstand this complicated issue and explainits significance in future articles.

P u z z l e s o l u t i o n sf r o m p a g e 8

C o o r d i n a t i n g r e s o u r c e s m a y c r e a t e f u n d i n g g a p s

11


Cryptoquotes

Solu�on: "We are con�nually faced with a series ofgreat opportuni�es brilliantly disguised as insolubleproblems."

— John W. Gardner

Nonprofits may find themselves fighting over pooledresources

L a r g e b e a t ’s o n b o a r d w i t h m u s i ca n d h i g h s p e e d t r a i n s

continued from pg. 10

Although I embrace many formsof technology, the cell phone is another matter. An underpoweredcomputer, camera, television andvideo recorder all crammed intoone piece of hardware the size of afolded floppy disc is not a phone.

It is the Mason-Dixon Line between the Y Generation andGranny Clampett.

I like to use a phone for phoning,not writing letters. Texting on aphone is my downfall. I did okaywith the early versions when yousimply typed a message letter byletter, not unlike using a Selectrictypewriter. My next cell phone had“predictive” texting, which involved the phone predicting thewords I was typing and spittingthem out before I finished. It re-minded me of having my kids fin-ish my sentences when they thinkI’ve lost my train of thought.

Texting on that phone was partic-ularly frustrating because thepunctuation marks were hidden inthe phone memory equivalent ofthe storage closet under the base-ment stairs where special Christ-mas ornaments go and are neverseen or heard from again.

I therefore decided I simply wouldavoid texting until better technol-ogy came along, just like I ignoredthat silly cassette tape craze and in-stead went straight from eight-tracks to CDs. My plan wouldhave worked, but I got a great invitation to a cocktail cruise forMichigan media people. The onlycatch was that we were asked totext our RSVP.

I asked a friend who is a very competent texter to help me.

“How do I insert a period at theend of a sentence?” I asked. Shecouldn’t figure it out on myphone, since she had long sincemoved onto a fancy phone madeby those clever crisp fruit people.

“Forget about the period, it’s texting, it doesn’t have to be grammatically correct,” she said.

Was she kidding? The one strengthI had was the ability to diagramsentences and identify a danglingparticiple or split infinitive from30 paces. Sloppy text grammar wasunacceptable.

“How do I capitalize a letter otherthan the first one in a sentence?”

“Capital letters are not necessary,”she assured me.

“How do I insert an apostrophe?”She didn’t have the answer to thiseither.

“I HAVE to insert an apostrophe –I’m using the possessive where I’msaying, ‘Gil’s boat.’”

“Oh for God’s sakes, just figureout a way to write the responsewithout using the possessive.”

My first stab at the RSVP said,‘Hello fred I look forward to join-ing you on the boat of gil at moclock thanks for inviting me bestregards lauric acid.’

“How can Imake the six a numeral? Ipush the sixbutton and Iget an m.”

“Keep push-ing the button untilit switches to numbers.”

I tried this and got the word Nooninstead of the number 6. Predic-tive texting apparently thoughtlunch time was a perfectly finetime to start a cocktail cruise. Andwho was I to argue with that logic?

Rather than embarrass myself witha poorly written text message, Iskipped the cocktail cruise and lostout on a terrific networking opportunity. But I figured it wasbetter to miss the boat than haveFred and his buddies laughingtheir heads off at my message:“from which dock will the boat ofGil be departing seen you there atmnoclock thank you landsend”

I’ve now moved on to an Androidphone. It comes with a QUERTYkeyboard, which is cool-speak for anormal keyboard. I hope somedaytechnology improves enough thatthey can make a QUERTY key-board the size of my old Princessphone so I can actually use thekeys.

Street Buzz12


A n n A r b o r C i t y M a p

W h a t P e o p l e A r e S a y i n g b y P h i l H a n n u k s e l a

“It's frustrating to think of it. Iworked in IT for ten yearsand then I was out of a job. Idon't think politicians knowwhat they're doing.”

— Chris

“Today’s employers aren'thiring, so workers such as myson are going 60 hrs a week,while others are unemployed.If we could have people working 30 to 40 hours aweek, others could get hired.Maybe older people couldwork part-time.”

— Ruth

“Government should increasespending to stimulate innovation, since the privatesector is not investing. Infrastructure must be builtand education must be betterfunded and improved.”

— John

“The one thing they could dois talk to the heads of theauto industry and find a wayto get the plants back up andrunning.”

— Ryann

Now that the election insanity is over, what is the one thing you think elected officials should do to create jobs in Michigan?

Laurie LounsburyEditor

D o n ’t t a l k Q U E R T Y t o m e

primal drumming: strong medicine for · 11/4/2013 · tites. we are not men in dresses, or dykes....

Documents