The Bishop’s Dinner has been a thirty-four year tradition in the Worcester Diocese. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, an army of volunteers descend on St. Paul Cathedral’s spacious and well-appointed basement and put on a huge feed, serving hundreds of the poor, the indigent, the homeless… Read full post »

Part 2 - The Zoo

Homelessness means different things to different people and even to different social services. When you say “The Homeless”, you are being no more specific than if you were to refer to “Christians” or “People living in Michigan”.

The image the publ… Read full post »

WHY ISN'T HE WORKING? 

In the process of shopping this series around, the city editor for the local paper sent me a gracious email. Though she declined my proposal for having the series published in the paper, she made an observation that only an editor can make. It served to remind… Read full post »

Hey you there, yeah you, the well-dressed one, the guy weighed down with money and plastic and bills and a family. No, you don’t know me, although you may think you do. Certainly you’ve seen me, even stepped over me with disgust on the sidewalk. No no no, don’t get defensive,… Read full post »

This is the first in a series of articles about my experiences as a homeless person living in the U.S Northeast. I write this knowing full well the appeal of such a series will be limited.

There are many people that operate on the assumption that if one is homeless, that… Read full post »

I think of the veterans and I want to cry. The burden they are asked to shoulder should not be asked of anyone. And so it is amazing that so many volunteer for it, and that so many of those are fully cognizant of the sacrifices required of them in times… Read full post »

It’s early evening and I’m in my favorite window. The sun is on the other side of the house now and the yard is in shadow. I’m listening to her puttering around in the kitchen and setting the table, singing and humming to herself. She’s wearing a dress… Read full post »

“It’s going to be all right, Ralph, hold on!” she says, leaving the room. I hear her clattering in the closet and she comes back with rubber boots on and a mop in her hands. She splashes through the puddle to the broken light, snags the cord with… Read full post »

Later, I wake up from my nap and make my mid-day rounds, and discover I’m alone in the house. Checking the parlor I discover the lid on the fish tank has been left open. Ah hah! 

Not a very big tank, it rests on a… Read full post »

Sitting in the window, I’m just getting into the dreamy, soothing feeling of the sunlight warming my coat, listening to the sound of Sandy’s voice on the phone when I notice something moving in the bushes right beneath the window. It’s the little birdies again, come to… Read full post »

 I wake up and open my eyes. Curled up on the couch in the parlor, I can see it’s just about that time. The windows glow with the gray light of dawn. All the same, I don’t want to get up, not just yet. It’s nice and warm/… Read full post »

Today, here in the Northeast, it was a bright, beautiful, glorious autumn day, much like that day nine years ago. Nine years. That's quite a while ago. Many marriages don't last that long. Newborn babes then are now little people with concerns of their own walking around.… Read full post »

I have a complicated viewpoint when it comes to the armed forces and law enforcement. Liberal folk often think me hawkish and conservative folk think me a bleeding heart, evincing the human mania for easy answers and pigeon-holing. 

It would be foolish to suggest the… Read full post »

You can’t tell just by looking. There’s nothing about us that will tip you off. We could be anyone, someone you may come in contact with every day. It could be the trash guy, the office manager, the boss, or the cop who pulls you over, or your… Read full post »

 I’m not much for white guilt, and I’m kinda queasy about affirmative action, even though it is sometimes needed. No, I’m not a champion of special treatment for anyone by any means, preferring instead to treat everyone on a case by case basis. 

 … Read full post »

     Twenty seconds. 

High in the North Tower, Mary’s morning begins. Smells of coffee, soap, and cigarettes waft past with her office mates as they file in. Calls of “Good Morning” softly bump against each other in the hush of plush carpet and the… Read full post »

The following occurred in the wee hours on a morning in early September, 1992, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  The events are described exactly as they happened. 

I was camped high up on the Eastern flank of Mt. Washington at Hermit Lake campground,… Read full post »

 This post is largely in response to Dave Rickert’s post, “Have We Lost Our Passion for Peace?”, but includes ideas that have been fermenting in my brain for quite some time. 

I would agree that there is a loss of passion for peace. But… Read full post »

Clutching earthen dampness

breathless warmth inviting

sucking little primitive gasps

that celebrate our joining.

 I wake up and open my eyes. Curled up on the couch in the parlor, I can see it’s just about that time. The gray light of dawn is just starting to fill the windows. All the same, I don’t want to get up, not… Read full post »

The dark gray twigs don’t point,

but scratch at the leaden sky.

Here and there, a few errant flakes, hesitant,

trace the outlines of an uncertain breath,

gather, multiply, and move as one,

certain… Read full post »

Coffee. The world drinks buckets of the stuff, guzzling what can best be described as a necessary drug that helps us get on with the business of life. Drinking it is an activity that is engaged in with little thought or appreciation, a rushed daily routine… Read full post »

I never realized how much I relied on the internet until I fell behind on my bills and got the dreaded “could not locate server” message. Because it’s DSL, the phone was kaput-ski also. I have no communication with the outside world whatsoever, except for actual face to… Read full post »

I know, I know, Memorial Day is over, but I think the following is still valuable, and I didn't feel like waiting for another Memorial Day to roll around.

____________________________________________________

 Memorial Day Forgotten

Total U.S.… Read full post »

A guy I work with had lent me a copy of ‘Be Kind Rewind’ with the admonition that “This really sucks. I think it’s the worst movie I’ve ever seen. It’s worse than ‘The Garbage Pail Kids Movie’.” Liking the premise, I borrowed it anyway and gave… Read full post »