Om nom nom.

…Ish muh 25th berfday!!!!!  Exclamation Point Central!!!!!

Plans include frolicking in the rain with best friend Brandon Quan, formerly aka Dwight on this blog (will we go to Disneyland again for their “get in free birthday club”?  See “Alice in Wonderland” in 3-D?  Grab a Subway sandwich and a boba tea and sit around his apartment watching “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” for the 18th time?  Who knows?!  The mind boggles to think of the possibilities! It’s so great to have a best friend you can count on!) and also German Chocolate Cake with candles from Sage (my first birthday cake!  Yay!)

* * * * *

There is also a special little quarter-century crisis gift to myself…I’ve traded in my mechanically unstable, inherited piece-o-crap truck for something older, cuter, cheaper, longer-running, easier to fix, and much more uniquely “me”…

I have named him Kermit. Kermit Kafka. If you don't know why Kafka (Come on, I assume you must know Kermit!!!), read more classic literature! Or, you know, just Google Kafka. We live in the information age, right?

Old cars make me happy.  And I’ve wanted a Bug for about a decade.  So now I have a little 1968 coupe. Just need to learn to drive stick, which Sage (proud owner of a Miata) has generously offered to teach me. Several years ago I drove a motorcycle as my sole means of transportation for two years, so I imagine it’s much the same principle…just using completely different appendages to operate everything.  Should pick it up in no time.  (Right?  Right???? – Gaaaaah! Terror!!!)  Plus, the engine on it has just been rebuilt, so yay!  No worrying about that for a while.  Whew.

Thanks to Sage and her mechanic friend Charlie for checking the car out for me yesterday!  It feels good to have somewhat reliable transport again, and something that doesn’t guzzle gas or pour clouds of black smoke when started.  Thanks also to the very kind sellers Marvin and Marjorie, who even knocked a few hundred dollars off the price for my birthday!  You guys rock, and also have the most lovely house ever (they built it themselves, and it’s chock full of antiques and much other loveliness).

Waking up to the California Sunrise...is not too shabby.

Well, I’m back in California this morning!  After sleeping off all my jet lag last night, I seem to be right back on PST time – albeit an early riser at 7:30 a.m., which I actually consider a great thing!  The lovely, one-and-only Sage picked me up from Ontario airport last night (thanks, Sage!)  She says I look like I’ve lost weight since she saw me 2 1/2 months ago, but I think she’s just being sweet.  Still, it’s definitely on the agenda, perhaps inevitable when you look at how hard I expect to be working in the very near future.

Very much missing Vicki Day and her daughter Alice Smith (along with tiny Mr. Biggie Fudgecakes the Chihuahua), who put me up in London, as well as Keith and Christine Best, the owners of Dunedin Guest House in Huntly, Scotland, who put me up there.  All of them did me so many kindnesses that I do not take lightly and will not forget.

While gone, I had let another homeless gentleman stay in my trailer (don’t worry, he’s since found another place to stay) and I gotta tell you, he’s awesome!  He rearranged everything in the trailer so that it feels much more spacious and open (flipped the bed around so that it seems like I have an extra room instead of just a platform with a big bed on it, etc.)  Man, I’ve got to take some interior decorating tips from this guy!

Something else I also need to do is get my butt in gear.  I’ve already started constructing briannakarp.com, which I’m hoping will launch soon-ish, and can be the central hub for several other sites I’m interested in opening.  Going into business for myself is also going to be possibly even more work than a full-time job, which is great for me – I love to work and keep busy.  Just have to figure out all the intricacies, keep my steam up, and not allow myself to get burned out.  Should be helped a fair bit by the fact that I’ll be (hopefully) making decent money to do things that I love, so you can’t really put a price on that, can you?

Weather here in CA is just as crisp and cold as in London.  I love this because it means I can snuggle up in some of my vintage coats, which I rarely get a chance to wear here.  I am SUCH a cold weather girl.  I love layered, winter looks.  Old coats are probably my favorite fashion item besides bright 1940s-1960s sundresses.  This is one of the main reasons I don’t know if I’m meant to be a California girl forever.  As much as I love my home state, I would rather be too cold than too hot.  You can only strip off so much in public before it becomes indecent exposure.  But you can continue layering clothing ad infinitum until you’re warm, or at least until you run out of clothes.  Believe me, I know.  At one point in Scotland, I was wearing every item in my suitcase – about 12 layers of clothing (including several pairs of jeans and pajama pants one on top of the other) and looked like a butterball or an oompa loompa.

Ooh, there’s another thing.  My mother texted a couple of days ago.  No greeting or anything else, as is her wont, just “The Memorial is on March 30, 2010″.  The Memorial, in case you were wondering, is the only ‘holiday’ type event that Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrate.  It’s considered the most important date of the year to them, and even many inactive and disfellowshipped JWs show up for it.  If you don’t show up to the Memorial, then you’re really a lost person.

So here we get to the crux of it:  My mom was happy to abuse me, happy to lie to me, happy to attempt to steal from me, happy to chuck me out homeless, and happy to tsk tsk about me being lost to Satan, but like all JWs, she feels that dropping a line once a year to try and entice me back into the flock is her duty (not sure how enticing that’s supposed to be though…usually people like it when you at least say ‘hi’ to them first and chat about your lives before putting on the pressure of emotional blackmail).  So at least she can wash her hands of it and think “there.  I did my part.  My conscience is clean.”

Mom, I know you read this.  Or rather, I know Brittany reads all of this and sends it to you.  I won’t discourage you in your pursuit of  voyeuristic thrills – indeed, I suppose a small part of me is proud that you’ll still read an “apostate” website or book when it suits you – it shows that you’re not yet completely under the mind control yet, despite the threat of disfellowshipping, you still have some personality and choice of your own.  To me, that is commendable, that’s the first part of the battle.  And I do love you, despite it all.  You’re my mother.  That’s life.  I am bound to love you in some way, whether that’s healthy or not.

You know I’m apostate (which by the way, is simply defined as “a person who leaves his or her religion”, no more, no less.  Certainly without all the perjorative associations that Jehovah’s Witnesses ascribe to it).  I can only say this so many times before realizing you’re too in denial or too brainwashed to get it, but I left because I don’t believe in it.  Let me repeat that:  I don’t believe in it.  I don’t believe in it.  I.  Don’t.  Believe.  In.  It.  IIIIII DOOOOOON’T BELIEEEEEEEEEVE INNNNNN IIIIIIIITTTTTT.  I never will.  Knowing what I know, I can’t.  You do.  Therefore, we are at an impasse, aren’t we?  If and when you ever admit that you need professional help as many have advised you, and if and when you realize that you’ve been raised in a cult which has admittedly played a mind fuck on you and 7 million other people and decide to actually get said professional help…then perhaps we can talk.  Until then, there’s nothing to say, is there?  I will never attend another “Memorial”, another “Assembly”, another “Meeting”, another bout of “Field Service”…ever again.  So I respectfully request that you cease asking, if indeed you consider a seven-word text “asking”.

Whew.  Rambling over.  And now, I think it’s time for me to get outdoors, get some sunshine, see everything there possibly is to see, work hard, and enjoy life.  Who knows how much longer we all have to live?  As the old cliché puts it, this is the first day of the rest of my life.  Don’t know about you, but I want to get out there and make the most of it.  Keep up with me if you can, world!

One year ago today, a very scared girl with a lot of bravado opened a plain little no-frills blog and tapped out the following:

“In three days, I will be homeless.”

As they say, what a long strange ride it’s been.

I could never have foreseen the interest tGGtH would generate, the places it would take me, the doors it would open, the opportunities it would provide, and most importantly, the wonderful people I would meet and friendships that would be developed in the process.  I truly believe with all my heart that I have by far the best readers and friends a woman could ever ask for.

It’s a year later, and I’m more excited than ever about all the work yet to be done advocating for homeless people and against homelessness.  As you may know, I’m currently in London on business, and one of the projects I’m working on with the inimitable Jon (BeatOnTheStreet), whom I’m proud to call a friend, is World Homeless Day, coming to a city near you on 10/10/10.  I’ll blog more about it in an upcoming post, but it was such a pleasure and an honor to meet Jon in person finally, as he’s been a constant supportive presence in my life almost from the very beginning, a year ago.

More projects I’m working on include expanding and creating other sites along the full range of my interests (though of course homelessness remains my pet project and I’ll be maintaining this blog as well for all of my activism/advocacy stuff), finishing the upcoming book, as well as consulting on the movie rights currently in talks, and taking better care of myself and my health.

And of course, my ultimate goal (the apotheosis of my ambition, so to speak, as it’s difficult to imagine anything more glorious to which to aspire) is to own my own home…free and clear.  Eep.  Better get started on that one.

So please feel free to stop by in the comments and wish a very Happy Birthaversary to the Girl’s Guide to Homelessness!  It is my most fervent wish that there be many, many more and that the site will continue to inspire hope, understanding of, and assistance for ALL homeless individuals.  Thank you again to all of my friends, readers, and especially the fellow activists with whom I work in tandem – I can only dream of reaching the bar of super-powered awesomeness you have set!

* * * * *

(Stunning) photo credit all goes to: Alice Smith, http://www.puresauce.co.uk/; Amy Norris, http://eightsixty9.com/ – Thank you, ladies!

Sigh.

So, I’ve just been notified that an article in News of the World was published yesterday, ostensibly about my personal life (the title of which contained an incredibly volatile and insensitive slur against homeless individuals).

I was contacted by the writer, Siobhan McFadyen, quite some time ago and declined an interview with her.  Looks like she just went ahead and wrote one regardless.

The article is laughable at best, containing numerous inaccuracies and flat-out lies.  Interestingly, whomever was named as “a source close to Brianna” clearly has never spoken to me before in my life, as this anonymous (and, I assume, nonexistent) person got just about every fact under the sun wrong.

Only a small handful of my closest (and most loyal) friends know the true circumstances of my trip and my breakup, and that is the way I would like to keep it for now.  As I said in my past blog, please no questions about it.  I won’t answer.

Nice to see that Mr. Barnes isn’t above shelling out a few quip quotes to a trashy tabloid for pay, though!

Meanwhile, I’m having a fabulous time, taking care of both business and pleasure in London.  Will have lots to tell you guys about that later!

Image credit: annie b., annieb-art.co.uk

…It’s real, and sometimes it fuckin’ hurts, but it’s sort of all we have.

~Garden State

Hello, loyal readers!  First a little Homeless News for you, then a brief glimpse into my personal life, as if anybody’s salivating over that, haha.

One story from each coast:

Rosa Bracero, a homeless high school student in New York, has finished all required credits a semester early and has been accepted to college.  However, the NY Department of Homeless Services required every member of the family to attend an hours-long shelter application process on the same day as her Regents exams.  The DHS would not allow the application to be rescheduled, nor for the family to attend without Rosa.  Rosa’s school allowed her to take a makeup exam, but the Board of Regents has now refused to validate the results even in the presence of clear extenuating circumstances, which means that Rosa will not be allowed to graduate.  Readers who would like to write to Mayor Bloomberg petitioning for Rosa Bracero to graduate can do so here.

An advocate for the homeless in Sacramento, Mark Merin, is suing the capital of California over a camping law he says is only enforced towards the homeless, depriving them of their rights to due process and equal protection.  Followers of the Sacramento saga may already be aware of the various tent cities, such as Safe Ground (featured on Oprah), which have sprung up in the city and been hastily disbanded or moved by law enforcement officers.

* * * * *

And now to take things in a little more personal direction:  I’m single again.

I suppose if there’s one thing in life every girl should have, it’s at least one “broken engagement” notch in her belt.  At some point, we all learn that not everyone is who they hold themselves out to be, and there’s nothing like observing a person in his natural habitat to make you realize that love doesn’t necessarily transcend all.  Not everything translates well across the ocean, life has never been and will never be a fairytale, and there are some people you can’t help.  That’s when it’s time to take a deep breath and save yourself.

No questions about it, please, although comfort dates with stunning hotties are always welcome (take a number, guys – I’m partial to intellectual types!)  What’s done is done, onward and upward.  Life is waiting and it’s going to be amazing!!!  I’m bursting with ideas and there’s so much more to think about than that person.  That’s all I have to say on the matter.

…At least until the book comes out  ;-)

Image Credit: Tony Piro, Calamities Of Nature

Image credit: icanhascheezburger.com

1)  I received the first half of my book advance (yay!) which is taking me a good ways towards stabilizing myself financially, if I budget right.  Hopefully, I should be re-housed in no time!

2)  I met Jon (Beat On The Street) yesterday for the first time.  We’ve been online friends for nearly a year, but it was great to finally meet him face-to-face!  He’s as crazy, funny and Irish as I would expect!  We met with another group of homeless activists, Camden Calling, to discuss a project that Jon is putting together for this year.  More news on that to come soon, hopefully!

Other than that, I think I’m going to lay low for a week or so.  Some personal matters have come up and I need to take a bit of a sabbatical to deal with that, and also to work more on the book.  So don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from me for a brief bit.

Agh, things are about to get hectic!  I’m allegedly being paid today (yes, I know I’ve been saying this for about 4 months now… but this time it’s true!), sometime in the next couple days I’m going to get to meet another homeless activist who’s been my friend since the very beginning (Jon, aka BeatOnTheStreet, who’s going to be in London organizing some work of his own), I’ve got to re-color my hair (damn my blonde roots, DAMN THEM!!!!!), I’ve got some bureaucratic hurdles to research and jump, some bills to pay, and then I’ve got to arrange for my travel back to Scotland.

(Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I’ve got my country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it… I’m swamped.)

But, I’m still swinging into give you the Homeless News of the day:

New York City is rehousing homeless citizens… in foreclosed homes and illegally converted apartments.  These New Yorkers then find themselves re-evicted and homeless again soon after being placed, or shaken down by landlords for illegal “under the table” rent.

23-year-old former Newark Bears mascot is now homeless.  Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo is quoted in the article as saying “the face of the homeless is getting younger and younger”…

…a point noted by Irving School District in Texas, who reports 524 (and growing) homeless students, and by Rancho High School in Las Vegas, who has hired a homeless activist to deal with its 200 homeless students (a 400% increase over the previous year).

Finally, a very positive and encouraging story about a formerly homeless woman, Becki Wyer, who overcame abuse and mental illness, and is now sharing her story to help others in similar circumstances.

Here’s an interesting article that has me in a quandry:

City Hounds the Homeless for Dog Licenses

(First of all, I’m going to try and ignore author Matt Smith’s passing reference to “surly bums” and focus on the greater picture here – the “homeless with pets” issue.  BUT just for the record, I equate the word “bum” with a derogatory slur.)

I’ve blogged before about being homeless with a dog because, well, I was… and even with a job and income, I couldn’t keep it up long-term.  My Neo Mastiff, Fezzik, is currently cared for by the wonderful Sage, who has been boarding him for several months.  Even being in a better position than many homeless individuals, I was still only able to keep up care of a dog for two months while living at Wal-Mart.  It is simply very, very difficult to maintain an animal when you’re homeless.  Animals are expensive and time-consuming, and (surprise!) they will get sick at some point, even with the best of care.  It’s just what animals do.

I do understand why many homeless people keep animals, however.  Companionship and protection are two huge motivating factors.  I occasionally had run-ins with some creepy people during the Wal-Mart days, and I felt a hell of a lot safer with 160 lbs. of muscle and teeth snoozing between my bed and the trailer door.  Plus, as we all know – your dog is always happy to see you.  Rarely a day goes by for a homeless individual in which he or she is not looked down upon as a second-class citizen.  A dog doesn’t care about all that caste system crap, though.  A dog just wants to be fed, watered, and petted… in exchange he’ll devote his last dying breath to you.

So yes, I see the attraction.  And I even pulled it off for a while – Fezzik was licensed, had all his shots, was fed/watered/walked, and was the picture of health.  However, I’ve also seen well-meaning homeless people with animals that were clearly suffering.  Probably the worst case was a homeless regular that Matt and I saw outside of a local Starbucks, a few months ago.  His Chow was matted and mangy, covered in scabs, losing hair in clumps, and could barely walk.  I stooped to pet the dog and it gave my hand a few feeble licks, but you could tell that there wasn’t much energy left to speak of; it couldn’t have been too far from death.  Matt had to console me because I wanted to just scoop the dog up and run away with it.  It may be a hard life, but homeless people should not, as a general rule, drag their pets down that road with them.  I won’t say there aren’t exceptions and extenuating circumstances, but they are rare.

However, there’s also a bigger implication to the San Francisco article.  Slapping homeless individuals with tickets and fines for unlicensed dogs won’t solve the problem.  It just adds another unmanageable financial burden on a human being who often doesn’t even know where his or her next meal will be coming from – how is such a person capable of purchasing a dog license, or paying accruing fines?  If San Francisco wants to crack down, then they should look into having these animals adopted and rehomed, but nobody is helped by giving a homeless person just another nuisance citation.  As the author points out, when tickets pile up, they can result in an arrest warrant, which can cause a homeless man or woman to lose all possessions and social services benefits.  It simply accomplishes nothing.

So, my thoughts on this article are twofold:

1)  Homeless people – don’t have pets.  Really.  Don’t.  You’re probably not among the 1% of the dehoused population that can handle it.

2)  San Francisco – quit looking for picky reasons to ticket homeless individuals.  They need help, not another fine to mire them down.

Hi all,

As I mentioned, I’m in London right now, visiting with a friend and taking care of some business stuff before I head back north to Scotland.  I may be in the UK for a few more weeks, haven’t really decided yet.  But here’s a couple photos for you, of me in Trefalga Square, in front of the Victoria and Albert Museum, in front of the Buckingham Palace gates, and a very solemn-looking member of the Royal Guard, whom I unfortunately was not allowed to get close to and heckle like in the movies (thank you so much for dragging me all over London, Vicki Day!!!)

I also wanted to get a few quick links in to today’s Homeless News:

Here in England, four men aged 20 to 25 were arrested for a brutal assault on a 32-year-old homeless man on a train.  The man was treated at the hospital for multiple facial fractures.

In Santa Barbara, at least three homeless people died this weekend in the severe cold temperatures. This brings the (very new) year’s current total of homeless deaths in Santa Barbara to five (six in the past six weeks).

Teens in Lakewood, Ohio “showed solidarity” with homeless individuals by sleeping out in the cold for a night.  However, the article also points out the hypocrisy inherent in these “homeless sleepouts” (which I like, because that’s something most articles on the subject don’t touch on).

Riverside, which is where I currently stay in California, is opening a new one-stop homeless center that will provide counseling, legal advice, housing help, veterans services and other assistance.  It will also host an annual event, Project Homeless Connect, in which attending homeless individuals will be offered immediate medical and dental care, haircuts, food and clothing.

…Any thoughts, comments, etc. on any of these articles?  You know I love hearing my readers’ opinions!

Image credit: Wung, Flickr

Just yesterday I posted about the fresh and welcome feeling of seeing homeless individuals roundly and unanimously defended in the comments section of a news article, for a change.  Then I read this news item from Augusta, Georgia.

…Aaaaaaaaaand we’re back to square one.

Early Thursday morning, a 37-year-old homeless woman in Augusta was raped, sodomized, and robbed of $120 by an armed assailant pressing a gun to her head.  The woman was finally able to pull a knife from her pants and cut the rapist on the face, upon which he fled and the victim went to the hospital.  The article also mentioned briefly (I can’t imagine why though, as it seems completely unrelated to the crime committed) that the woman had consumed an unknown amount of alcohol prior to the rape.

And then the comments started rolling in.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

“Hmmmm, A Drunk Homeless Woman with $120. Yeeah Right”  ~spdermn78

“Just because she is homeless doesn’t mean that she can’t turn tricks…..or dealing……”  ~fishman960

“And here silly ole me was sitting here trying to figure out if it was rape or theft of services.”  ~MarshCroaked

“Does seem kind of odd for a “homeless” person to be carrying that kind of cash on them.”  ~Emerydan

“Emerydan, a woman with that kind of cash in that neighborhood at that time of night who had a sip or three doesn’t surprise me at all. Did she perhaps escape from Harrisburg?”  ~MarshCroaked

“Sounds like prostitution was involved in this somehow.”  ~Emerydan

“Somehow the thought of sodomy on a homeless woman seems, how should I put it, nasty.”  ~Jake

“YUCK. Jake, you got it right, buddy.”  ~ustabe

“Yep, the the incident likely involved prostitution. Did it involve rape, etc????”  ~KSL

Wow.  Just… wow.  This woman was VICTIMIZED.  She was fucking raped and sodomized, and had what was likely all the money she has in the world taken from her. And these MONSTERS who probably call themselves fine, upstanding Augusta citizens are re-victimizing her all over again – public flogging by humiliation.  They jump to some huge conclusions and arrogantly generalize and stereotype this poor VICTIM by immediately drudging up prostitution, drug use, and implications of that good old standby chestnut, “she deserved it, she was asking for it”.

1)  You have NO idea how that woman EARNED her $120.  It is not unusual for a homeless person to have some money on them – many have jobs, or panhandle, or collect benefits – so what?!  (It’s not as if she can afford housing with $120, at any rate.)  It is none of your business HOW she earned that money, and it has absolutely no bearing on the fact that she was RAPED and ROBBED.

2)  The article does not say whether or not the woman was drunk.  Again, even if she were, if has absolutely no bearing on the fact that she was RAPED and ROBBED.

3)  Where the FUCK do you get off, implying that this woman is dirty and nasty, rather than the ANIMAL who violated her?!

To be perfectly frank, I don’t care if this woman was drunk as a skunk, fucking every man in sight for cash, and passing out cocaine like it was candy (and for the record, the article states nothing of the sort – these sick citizens just imposed their own twisted, warped conclusions/fantasies stemming from their own disgusting prejudices onto this poor woman).  Her occupation, state of sobriety, etc. are all complete nonissues here.

I don’t care if she was walking down a back alley at 3 a.m. stark naked.  NOBODY asks to be raped.  NOBODY deserves to be raped.  This woman is a VICTIM.  I am completely horrified at the mob mentality of these bastards ripping a victim to shreds.  As a society, we’re supposed to be beyond this “the woman is asking for it” bullshit.  We’re supposed to have evolved to the point where we empathize with victims of heinous crimes, treat them with respect and dignity.  Clearly, at least in Augusta, some of the rabble is still stuck in the Dark Ages.

I noticed a minority of commenters echoing my sentiments of disgust, and that gives me a small amount of hope.  To the rest, whom I have quoted above:  shame on you!  How DARE you insult this poor woman you don’t even know?  How DARE you cast aspersions on her character; insinuate that she somehow deserved, invited, or played any role whatsoever in the crime, the terrible violation that was committed upon her?  You know absolutely nothing about what it means to be not just a homeless person, but a homeless woman.  You know absolutely nothing about what it means to be vulnerable and brutalized beyond belief.  If there is such a thing as karma in this world, one day you will, and you’ll look back on this moment and weep for the injustice you have perpetuated.

Bastards.