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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose.

It's fixin' to get cold here in Oswego. The cold weather that's been freezing the mid-west is due to arrive here late today or early tomorrow. I'm doing what I can to keep my incoming water supply from freezing (I'm building a 5 x 10 room in that corner of the cellar) and stuffing more skwerls into any gaps I can still see daylight through. I had dinner with friends last evening who offered me a place to sleep if things got too frigid here. I'll be okay. I was listening to NPR a bit ago and there was a piece on "Tell Me More" about the jailing and deportation of undocumented immigrants. It focused on Central Falls, R.I. It becomes apparent, listening to the reporter speaking, that the major issue in jailing and deporting these folks is that it provides federal monies to the state of R.I. which in turn gives the monies to the folks who run the facilities. It's disgusting that this is happening. We have a big ICE presence here in Oswego, but they don't seem to do a hell of a lot. All of this stuff got me to thinking about the homeless. I've spent several years of my life living in some pretty strange situations, but I've never been on the street. I CAN imagine not having someplace to call "home", but I've never experienced that situation where there is, literally, no place to lay down that is at least out of the weather. Surely we can do better than this.

1 comment:

Nomi said...

I just added this title to the post on the Grace Paley Blog.

Thanks.

On a happier note: Central Falls is home town to actress, Viola Davis, nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in DOUBT...

I've never met Ms. Davis, but she visits a few times a year, and credits RI theaters for her beginnings...