A Guide to The Homeless Experience

Charlotte, NC skyline

Seeing homelessness and experiencing homelessness are two different things.  It is ridiculous to work 70 and 80 hours a week trying to maintain housing that you work so much that you are not even able to appreciate it. As a result, more and more people are becoming transitional.

Things to know about sleeping on the street:

You will feel Restlessness.

1) Constant worry about safety affects sleep.

2) Constant change in weather alters body temperature and affects sleep.

3) Constant foul smells can affect sleep.

4) Sleeping sitting up (versus laying down) can affect sleep.

You will feel a challenge associated with Restroom Needs.

1) With or without a vehicle, finding a nearby public restroom in a hurry is a huge obstacle.

2) Food, liquids, fluctuations in body temperature can affect the body's urges for erratic restroom needs.
3) Disposable briefs become a good backup plan in case the  public restroom is too far.

Some Suggested Grooming Supplies for the Homeless

1) Cleansing wipes

2) Fresh clothes
3) Fitness Center membership for showers

4) Concentrated room sprays
5) Bladder Control Briefs (Disposable undergarments)

Be Mindful of your risk of Sexual Assault and/or Pregnancy
1) A homeless woman is probably at least 51% likely to be sexually assaulted or possibly abducted.

2) If the woman is still in childbearing age, then pregnancy is very likely.

3 ) Most advocacy agencies for homelessness ask if the female is pregnant in a condescending tone of voice which is a sign of ignorance. This ignorance is the basis of writing this article.

Extended Stay Hotels may be a solution for some people in transition.  One fee is all inclusive of utilities.

Some cooking layouts vary.

Coin operated laundry room.

Dishes and eating utensils are usually provided.

Cozy home-like feel.

Choose to sleep near 24/7 Locations for Parking and Public Restrooms (Between midnight and 6am - most businesses are closed. Restroom access is limited.)

Find areas where you have multiple businesses that are open 24/7 like

1) Drugstores
2) Fitness Centers
3) Laundromats
4) Hospitals
5) Superstores
6) Restaurants
7) Gas stations

Many people are feeling forced to live in a roommate situation because shelter has become expensive. One can only hope that everyone maintains their part of the bills.

May God Bless you.

My Regional Frankfurt Germany 2019 Adventure

The CineStar movie theater had a separate listing for movies showing in English.  I was able to watch the Mule (English version, no subtitles) in Germany.  They also had the brilliant idea to put their movie popcorn in a box to carry instead of a bag.  Loved the popcorn, the box, and the movie.  Nice architecture of the building too!

Movie Popcorn!

Alot of German buildings are definitely not "cookie-cutter."  They have their own unique flavor. Mountainside.

More and more Architecture the farther I got away from the Frankfurt City Limits.

Windmill energy was also a part of the recycling efforts in the villages in the Frankfurt Germany region.  The villages get more snow.  The snow accumulation pictured is from before I arrived in Germany.  It did NOT snow while I was there.

Germany's electrical outlets are very distinguished.  Thank God that the USB ports are built-in for charging cellular phones.  For any other potential electrical devices that were not already provided in the hotel room, you are probably out of luck.  Thank God I have natural, locked hair. I stayed on the move.

Look close at the sign.  I saw Frankenstein. LOL I passed through on the "long distance" train ride to Kaiserslautern to see a German friend in one of the villages.  The villages do not have homeowner associations either.  Everyone mines their own business.

Elevators had negative numbered floors.

Affordable regional buses are also available.  I took the FlixBus on my return back to Frankfurt City.

Public transportation is definitely built into this city.  Plenty of pedestrians.  Foot traffic drives success of businesses.  This is something that certain cities don't understand.  You need sidewalks.  All cities should force foot traffic for shopping and exercise.  I didn't see any traffic jams in Germany.

Nothing wrong with a little window shopping in Frankfurt City. (Did you smile?)

I watched the Superbowl through the middle of the night because of the time zone.  Frankfurt Germany is six hours ahead.  So I started watching the SuperBowl at 11pm with German commentators.  I didn't understand what they were saying, but singing is singing, and football is football.

Old and new buildings co-exist in Frankfurt City.

Mixed used buildings with residential living and commercial businesses are also popular in Frankfurt City.  As far as people being helpful with directions and assistance,  I found the Germans (in passing) to definitely be more rude and not even wanting to be bothered with the English speaking. Hotel staff was wonderful.  Most tourist attractions are going to be bilingual and friendly.

Common areas/courtyards allow more art showcases. Homelessness was very visible from inside the Frankfurt airport to the Frankfurt city street corners.  Sleeping bags and beggars.  No one was rude.  No one ran them off.  Mine your own business.  Help or don't help. Human beings gave respect to each other.  As far as public water closets or toilets go, they are only in restaurants.  I even had to pay a Euro to use the "water closet" in the train stations in the villages.  Yeah, I was in shock, but with so much homelessness, I suppose they don't need everybody taking a wash in the public water closets.

My hotel room was modern.  The comforter/sheets were "all in one." This was a cool concept.  It has to save on laundry time.  It was the thickness of a sleeping bag, but no zipping.  You just cover up with it.

Yeah, the see-through shower was a cool design.  It is still just a shower for the independent traveller. LOL

I enjoyed the sauna at the hotel too!  My locs loved that dry heat!

As far as hair goes, Germans were NOT wearing any wigs nor rainbow colored hair.  Both my Japanese hotel room and my German hotel room had electric water kettles.  Drinking Tea is built into both Japanese and German cultures.  They also have heads full of hair.  I bought me a electric tea kettle upon my return to the United States.  Notice the electrical outlet. These countries got their own thing going on.  The American dollar is weaker than the Euro currency at this time.  Most businesses are also closed on Sundays in Germany except the restaurants.

The grass is not necessarily greener abroad, but it certainly gives you a better world perspective.

Blessed are the Homeless For They are Free

photo credit:  www.thestreetspirit.org

The first time that I saw a homeless man was in Grand Central Station in New York City, NY.  The gentleman was passed out on the stairway.  People were walking right by him getting on and off the trains.  In my mind,  I saw a man in need of help.  My first instinct was natural.  I was "concerned" for another human being.  I wondered if this man was dead or alive.  There were no mobile phones back then. I appeared to be the only one making such a fuss about a man being passed out.  Then a kind stranger said to me that the man was probably homeless and sleeping, and that it would be safer to leave him alone. I took this stranger's advice.  From that point on, I learned to ignore the homeless population.  It was the safe thing to do.

Now, twenty years later, I, like many of you, have also ignored the prison system because I felt only bad people were trapped in it.  It was the safe thing to do.

Now, it is the time of awakening. 

Ignoring mass incarceration is no longer the safe thing to do. 

People are being railroaded into mass incarceration for crimes that they did not commit on a regular basis regardless of educational background. The traps are constantly being reset.  Now, I have a cousin trapped in the system with a life sentence for crime(s) that he did not commit.  I am being told that it happens all the time.  How can modern day slavery be commonplace in 2016?  How can people turn a deaf ear to allow this injustice to continue?  Surely, people must see that this "organized criminal injustice system" becomes stronger every single time someone gets railroaded without any contest.  The court systems are out of control in towns such as Augusta, Georgia, USA with erroneous arrest dates on file, missing trial transcripts, and other corrupt malpractices.

Mass incarceration makes homelessness look like a "walk in the park" for at least, the homeless are

FREE.

#exonerateMichael

Release 

Michael C. Blocker.

It is the right thing to do.