Street Spirit

Volume 16, No. 07 July 2010 $1.00 A publication of the American Friends Service Committee

JUSTICE NEWS & HOMELESS BLUES IN THE B AY A REA Artists Respond to Homelessness from the Depression to the Present

ARTISTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE This special art issue of Street Spirit displays an anthology of artworks on the issues of homelessness, poverty and social justice. This issue compiles the best articles on art and justice to appear in Street Spirit from 2006 to 2010.

“The Hand That Takes” Artwork by Eric Drooker by Carol Harvey It’s so real. All this is so true.” I invited four formerly or presently erry “Tresa” Chandler stood in “GI Homecoming” Sandow Birk, Oil on Canvas the vaulted art gallery. Her tiny unhoused San Franciscans to The California 4-foot-11-inch figure was Historical Society at 678 Mission Street in dwarfed by the colorful painting San Francisco. They viewed a collection of T paintings, prints, photographs, and mixed of a Latino child walking to school past a rotten tomato splashed against graffiti on media pieces by more than 40 artists in an a wall, ordering “Homeless Go Home.” exhibition entitled “Hobos to Street People: The child is protected by four adults as Artists’ Responses to Homelessness from he walks to a school for homeless chil- the New Deal to the Present.” dren. Artist Nili Yosha crafted the work The show was on display from February after Norman Rockwell’s illustration of 19 to August 15, 2009. It was organized by guards escorting a small black girl into a curator Art Hazelwood, a San Francisco newly integrated Little Rock school in the artist whose artworks on homelessness and civil rights era. social justice are often published by Street Chandler tilted her head, peering at me Spirit, and the Western Regional Advocacy with a shy, sardonic smile. “When people Project (WRAP). say this,” she observed, “they are doing it Charming, well-spoken Chandler, 27, to be mean. It’s good that homeless people once slept in nearby Annie Alley next to a get to see (this show) too. Then we can tell dumpster pictured in an exhibit photo. After you if it’s real or not. The best thing about one night on the street restlessly avoiding this show is it makes people think.” dangerous biting rats, Eric Robinson, 54, Chandler’s voice echoed slightly, “I live it. See Hobos to Street People page 10 “Homeless Go Home” [Segregation, After Norman Rockwell] Art by Nili Yosha 2 S TREET S PIRIT July 2010 The Prophetic Art of Art Hazelwood

Art Hazelwood’s riveting artworks expose the cruel mistreatment of poor people in our society, and the destructive greed of big business. His paintings and woodcuts depict the inhumanity of an unjust empire, and unmask the hidden reality of corporate abuse and governmental violence.

“The Beast” Screenprint by Art Hazelwood

“Service Economy” Woodcut by Art Hazelwood

“Market Street” Painting by Art Hazelwood (oil on canvas)

“Trickle Down” Linocut by Art Hazelwood “America—A Prophecy” Painting by Art Hazelwood (oil on canvas) July 2010 S TREET S PIRIT 3 The Off-Beat Artistry of an ‘Archetypal Weirdo’ The alienated life and weird times of legendary street artist B.N. Duncan

B.N. Duncan looked like your weird uncle that you kept in the basement, out of sight. He was the archetypal weirdo artist and an anthro- pologist of the gutter. by Ace Backwords elegraph Avenue legend B.N. Duncan died in Berkeley on Saturday, June 27, 2009. He was T65. I first met Duncan at Krishna Copy on the corner of Telegraph and Dwight way back in 1979. He was xerox- ing off copies of Tele Times, a little home- made magazine he published. And I was xeroxing copies of Ass Backwards Comix #1. So we were on the same page, literal- ly, from the word go. Geez, I must have been 23, so Duncan was 36. He looked like a weird old man with his disheveled hair and thick horn- rimmed glasses and ratty old clothes. He looked like your weird uncle that you kept in the basement, out of sight. He was the Berkeley street artists Ace Backwords (left) and B.N. Duncan (right) were friends and artistic collaborators for three decades. archetypal weirdo artist. At the time, he lived in a dusty little hotel room on the 4th floor of the Berkeley HOMELESS & Inn. His room was just beginning to clutter FEELING BLUE up with his boxes of artwork. He had one or two friends who were just as weird and by B.N. Duncan alienated as him. Aside from that, he had A man can be weakened by almost no social life. blows to his spirit, Duncan spent his whole life on the Both imposed from without fringe of society, a life-long SSI recipient. and self-imposed. I figured we were both a couple of losers We travel through life who would spend our lives xeroxing off in much darkness, 20 copies of our latest cartoons and mail- Now and then receiving ing them out to an indifferent world. sparks and glows of our “Outsider art,” he called his work. In richness within welling up. fact, Duncan had a strong identification A perverse part of the mind with Van Gogh, and figured his work seeks a “solution” to conflict, a would never be fully appreciated in his wrapping up of it all, by courting lifetime. He was an artistic genius, in my downfall, courting disaster — opinion. often leaving more of a mess. In the late 1960s, Duncan had gone The light in us remains completely nuts. He was completely alien- all the more precious ated and couldn’t find any place to fit into for often being covered up. society He’d hear voices — six distinct A man can forget his pride, characters who would carry on private letting himself be like dead ashes, conversations in his head. He ended up neglecting his inner glossy essence, getting locked up in a mental institution. himself being a creation in process. The head psychiatrists told him he was a A man can be weary while he hopeless case and would probably have to bears the embers of bright light. spend the rest of his life in the nut house. B.N. Duncan’s unforgettable image of a panhandler asking the Statue of Liberty for a He should not give up So that shows you how far he came to light suggests that those living on the street must beg even for the light of freedom. before his time. have the magnificent life he had. Duncan published the first 20 issues of famed underground cartoonist R. Crumb. Maybe with guys like Duncan, who are so Tele Times — “Telegraph’s Tight Little They immediately clicked. Crumb recog- weird and unique, it just takes time for the Street Spirit Monthly” — in relative obscurity, with nized a fellow traveler, calling Duncan world at large to catch up with them. But print runs of about 100 copes. In truth, he “the quintessential underground cartoon- other artists usually know. Street Spirit is published by American probably lost money on every single pub- ist.” And Crumb should know. In 1989, on a whim, I got the crazy Friends Service Committee. The ven- lication he ever put out by himself. Duncan published an interview with idea to publish a photo calendar of dor program is run by BOSS (Building He was one of the first publishers to Crumb and his wife Aline in Tele Times, Berkeley street people. I wanted to take Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency). focus on homeless street people and so- and that opened up whole new worlds for the raw and quirky work Duncan was pro- Editor, Layout: Terry Messman called ordinary people — this was the Duncan. For Duncan was an “artist’s ducing with Tele Times and put a bit of a mid-1970s after all — treating them the artist.” Though his work was vastly under- commercial sheen on it. It was an immedi- Contributors: Ace Backwords, Claire J. same way that most mainstream publish- appreciated by the general public, he was ate local hit. And for the next 15 years, Baker, Sandow Birk, Joan Clair, Eric ers treated celebrities. As usual, Duncan revered by many of the greats in the car- from 1990 to 2004, we would annually Drooker, B.N. Duncan, Lydia Gans, was ahead of his times. tooning field; people like Kim Dietch, Dan Christine Hanlon, Carol Harvey, Art Then he began corresponding with Clowes, Peter Bagge, and Harvey Pekar. See Archetypal Weirdo Artist page 9 Hazelwood, Sally Hindman, Rockwell Kent, Dorothea Lange, Charles McElroy, Doug Minkler, Iver Rose, Mary Rudge, Donate or Subscribe to Street Spirit! Anthony Ryan, Jos Sances, Nili Yosha Street Spirit is published by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Homeless vendors receive 50 papers a day, earn All works copyrighted by the authors. income and find a job providing a positive alternative to panhandling, and educate the community about social justice issues. Please Street Spirit welcomes submissions of donate or subscribe to Street Spirit ! Help us remain an independent voice for justice! articles, poems, photos and art, but can- ❒ I enclose $25 for one year's subscription. not guarantee they will be published. ❒ I enclose a donation of ❒ $100 ❒ $50 ❒ $ 25 July 2010 Contact: Terry Messman Street Spirit’s New Address: Send Donations to: Name: ______Street Spirit AFSC Address: ______65 Ninth Street, 65 Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 San Francisco, CA 94103 City: ______State:______Zip: ______E-mail: [email protected] 4 S TREET S PIRIT July 2010 A Gentle Homeless Artist Loved by Many A remembrance of Charles McElroy’s lifetime of kindness and joy

Charles McElroy sells Street Spirit and displays his colorful art. Lydia Gans photo

To all appearances, Charlie was the homeless one, the one in need. In reality, it was the reverse. Those who met him felt more loved, more at home. They received “Tender Concern.” Self-portrait of the artist with a lost lamb. Art by Charles McElroy something ineffable from him, a Christ-like type of love. others. He especially liked to frequent a Having shared my life with my dog for dollar store on University Avenue where 14 years, I know when strangers come up by Joan Clair still homeless, but he was surrounded by a he would pick up stuffed animals for chil- to us assuming that since she’s a dog, she group of friends who cared deeply for dren. In this respect, he was a living has a need to be petted and craves atten- “Those who know me are few; him. Sadly enough, on the eve of his example of what Jesus meant in saying tion; it is their hardness, not her needs, Those that abuse me are honored. death, they succeeded in finding a housing that we will enter heaven only if we that is being melted down. Therefore the sage wears rough clothing subsidy that would have made his dream become like little children. Same with Charlie. To all appearances, And holds the jewel in his heart.” of a permanent, stable home a reality. Lao Tsu in the Tao Te Ching also talks he was the homeless one, the one in need, — Lao Tsu In his last years, Charlie found and was about the sage being like a child: “The the “taker.” In reality, it was the reverse. sage is shy and humble — to the world he Those who interacted with Charlie felt “But when you give a feast, invite the able to create some community on the seems confusing.... He behaves like a lit- more loved, more at home, more fulfilled. poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, corner of Solano Avenue and Colusa in tle child.” And also, “Being the stream of They received something ineffable from and you will be blessed, Berkeley outside of Starbucks. He would the universe, ever true and unswerving, him, a Christ-like type of love. because they cannot repay you. stand or sit in a little chair on that corner become as a little child once more.” In astrology, the planet Venus rules You will be repaid at the selling Street Spirit, sharing his wonderful In the last few weeks of Charlie love, but it is love of a personal nature. resurrection of the just.” art, talking with people who became his McElroy’s life, I drove him to the dollar Another planet, Neptune, is often called — Luke 14:13 friends, and giving away stuffed animals to children. store on University Avenue, as he said he the higher octave of Venus. Neptune sym- n the children’s story, “Stone Soup,” Many people stopped by just to be able needed a pair of pants. Walking for even a bolizes the kind of Christ-like love which some hungry soldiers ask villagers in a to talk with him. If someone was feeling few blocks was difficult for him at this goes beyond families, nationalities, eth- Ismall French village for food and a lonely or bad, they would come away point. As I sat outside the store in my car nicities. Neptune is the ruler of Pisces, a place of rest. The villagers refuse, saying feeling better. He was loved and appreci- waiting, his shopping seemed to be taking water sign in which the “water element” they have only enough for themselves. The ated by a lot of people. a very long time. I went inside the store to wears down stones and creates oneness soldiers tell the villagers they will make Once, when I was at the street corner see what was going on. and union: “The highest good is like soup from stones and ask for a large pot. with him, I personally witnessed the hard- Charlie was at the counter with stuffed water,” Lao Tsu said. “Water gives life to The intrigued villagers bring a large pot, as ness melt in one of the people who animals, and pants — not his size — for a the ten thousand things and does not well as some large stones and water. dropped by. The man asked Charlie a lot friend, and various other items. And he strive.... It flows in places men reject.” Musing, the soldiers say how much of questions, almost as if he was question- was going back for more. This is the kind of love Charlie shared better the soup would taste with a little ing his veracity. Charlie answered the “He’s never in here for just a few min- with others, through his self and through salt and pepper. Fascinated by the idea of questions without any pretensions, and utes,” the storekeeper said. his beautiful art — although he never had a soup made from stones, the villagers with the sweetness and humbleness that “Like he told me he would be,” I an art lesson in his life. bring salt and pepper, and then one by often emanated from him. thought to myself, as I went back outside But prior to his finding a place on one, they bring more ingredients, until The man finally dropped a few coins in to sit in my car, feeling a bit put out. My Solano Avenue in Berkeley where his finally, they have brought all the ingredi- Charlie’s cup, even though Charlie never dog was in the back seat waiting patiently qualities were appreciated, he, himself, ents needed to make a real soup. The soup verbally solicited. I could feel a wall com- without any sign of disturbance, and sud- was often rejected. is happily shared by all. ing down in the man, who needed to give denly I joined her in spirit. A feeling of In the years from 1999 to 2003, Charlie Charles McElroy shared in the holy more than Charlie needed to receive the peace came over me, and I began to medi- experienced constant harassment as he process of making soup from stones, the coins. The interaction reminded me of tate and pray. stood outside Wild Oats store (later stones being the hardened part of our- these words of the Taoist sage Lao Tsu: The surroundings at this location on named Picadilly Circus) in Berkeley. He selves, the part that doesn’t want to share, University Avenue were dull, consisting was given citations by the police. He was “Nothing in the world is as soft and give or even receive. He was homeless for mostly of office buildings and businesses prevented from purchasing food and vita- yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the more than ten years in Berkeley, and dur- with little vegetation and trees. The sun mins in the store and using the restroom, hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass ing that period, he was hospitalized fre- shone on the dullness of the scene. simply because he was a homeless man. it. The soft overcomes the hard; the gen- quently for illnesses of the kidneys and However, the hardness of feeling “put out” The store management admitted to tle overcomes the rigid.” liver. He passed away one month ago, on left me. And in its place, I felt grateful for Street Spirit reporters that Charlie had March 25, 2009, at the age of 74. Charlie had a childlike joy in finding the experience, including the humdrum sur- roundings, and even a bit transformed. At the time of his death, Charlie was things he could give away and share with See A Homeless Artist page 5 July 2010 S TREET S PIRIT 5

A mother provides comfort and security for her three babies. Art by Charles McElroy

“Two doves.” Art by Charles McElroy A Homeless Artist Loved by Many from page 4 tacted him or someone in a similar posi- tion in social services for the homeless to “Flowers.” Art by Charles McElroy “Contemplation.” Art by Charles McElroy help Charlie find permanent housing. ful, peaceful location, near tall trees with never once caused any trouble and was At the end of his life, a housing voucher Editor’s note: One would never know well liked by many store customers. Yet, was finally obtained for him through the a view of the smooth, green grass of a nearby golf course. In addition to this, it from reading Joan Clair’s story, but she since the store was determined to drive Shelter Plus Care program. Within a cou- was a true friend to Charles McElroy for away all homeless people, Charlie’s gen- ple of months, possibly less, it looked like Charlie McElroy is now buried near the grave of Father Bill O’Donnell, a well- years. She is a dedicated advocate who tleness and good will counted for noth- Charlie would finally have the kind of worked tirelessly to organize support and ing, and he became an innocent victim of home he wanted. There was grief on the known peace activist and advocate for the poor, and the longtime pastor of St. find housing for Charlie. She visited him a cruelly inhumane store policy. part of those who had tried to help him at in the hospital, helped him and prayed for He was criminalized and cited by the suddenness of his passing. Joseph the Worker Church. The El Sobrante Methodist Church, him in his final days, and then found a Berkeley police officers, simply for being Even an electric wheelchair that burial plot for free. Street Spirit dedicates poor near a store. A new restaurant that worked well had been obtained for him, under the guidance of the Reverend Gaye C. Benson, not only allowed a memorial this poem by Whittier to Joan Clair, in opened up the street from Wild Oats also at no cost. It looked like once he got an thanks for the works of mercy. denied Charlie admission. [These incidents apartment, he would be eligible for in- service to be held for Charlie in the were reported in “Wild Oats Market Bans home care and would be able to maintain church, but donated beautiful flowers, a Ailing Homeless Artist,” in the December the independence he treasured. guestbook, and assumed the cost of creat- “I Was a Stranger, and 1999 issue of Street Spirit by Terry One more quote from Lao Tsu seems ing programs for participants. The church, under the direction of Rev. Ye Took Me In" Messman and “Exodus of the Poor from an to apply to Charlie here: “Retire when the by John Greenleaf Whittier Oasis” in the February 2000 and July 2003 work is done. This is the way of heaven.” Benson, has a history of selflessly reach- issues of Street Spirit by Joan Clair.] None of us really know when that ing out into the community and helping 'Neath skies that winter never knew No one could provide any evidence moment is. However, I truly believe that others. Charlie had been baptized in the The air was full of light and balm, that Charlie had ever disturbed anyone in when Charlie left, his work had largely Gospel Hall Methodist Church in St. And warm and soft the Gulf wind blew the course of his selling Street Spirit and been completed here on Earth. Louis, Missouri, where he was raised. Through orange bloom and groves of palm. Charles McElroy had great powers of his art outside the store. The citations Lynn Farley, a friend of Charlie’s for A stranger from the frozen North, regeneration and transformation. From were eventually dropped. many years, saw him as a deeply spiritual Who sought the fount of health in vain, the ashes of his own life in his younger The Reverend Pondurenga Das, a person. We both intuitively felt, a few Sank homeless on the alien earth, years of drug abuse and incarceration, he Berkeley yoga teacher, who remembers days before he passed on, that the “doors And breathed the languid air with pain. Charlie from the Wild Oats days, was sur- of heaven” were opening up for him and rose like a phoenix and found his calling. prised to find out Charlie was still alive great joy and welcome were awaiting It might have seemed like a tragic God's angel came! The tender shade shortly before his passing. He remembered him when he made his transition. calling to some, his selling Street Spirit Of pity made her blue eye dim; that even in those days, 10 years ago, A Carmelite religious sister had this to and sharing his artwork on the street Against her woman's breast she laid Charlie was in a lot of pain from illnesses. say on hearing of Charlie’s passing: “Life when he was homeless, often ill and in The drooping, fainting head of him. pain. But to those who knew him, there “I loved the guy,” he said. As was the is very, very short. That he lived out his She bore him to a pleasant room, was a joy that triumphed in his life. He case with many who got to know the own without bitterness bespeaks a true, Flower-sweet and cool with salt sea air, shared that joy with others, and they were homeless artist on Solano Avenue, many living and deep personal relationship And watched beside his bed, for whom uplifted by it. who shopped at Wild Oats felt the same with his God, a fact he may not have His far-off sisters might not care. affection for Charlie that Das did. been aware of — until now. Each indi- John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem, “The At the very end of his life, things began vidual is so unique, so really unknown to Robin,” speaks to the beauty and the She fanned his feverish brow and smoothed to come together for Charlie in a way that anyone except God who created him or love, as well as the suffering endured by Its lines of pain with tenderest touch. he did not live quite long enough to enjoy. her, because He wanted that unique per- Charles McElroy in the life he shared With holy hymn and prayer she soothed Although he had a brief stay in a board- son. Let us unite in thanking God for with us. Whittier’s poem concludes with The trembling soul that feared so much. and-care home during the years he was Charlie, for God’s love for him and for a beautiful verse that calls to mind the Through her the peace that passeth sight homeless, Charlie was never able to find a the completion of his lifework — that of way Charles McElroy lived his life. Came to him, as he lapsed away “real home” where he could cook for him- manifesting in his own beautiful and “Prayers of love like rain-drops fall, As one whose troubled dreams of night self. He spent most of those years sleeping unrepeatable way our God.” Tears of pity are cooling dew, Slide slowly into tranquil day. in his van, even though he said an apart- Some unexpected miracles occurred And dear to the heart of Our Lord are all, The sweetness of the Land of Flowers ment is what he wanted. after his death. Charlie had told his niece, Who suffer like Him in the good they do!” Upon his lonely grave she laid Why Charlie was never able to find an Zarinah Francois, that he did not want to The jasmine dropped its golden showers, apartment, or get a voucher for one he be cremated. To honor his wishes, she was Charles McElroy offered those The orange lent its bloom and shade. could afford, during all his years of preparing to take out an exorbitant loan to “prayers of love” for others, and he often homelessness, is still a mystery. One purchase a burial plot, when we got the suffered for the good works he did. The And something whispered in her thought, Berkeley case worker for the homeless news that a burial plot had been donated by central insight of Whittier’s poem is that More sweet than mortal voices be believes that with such frequent hospital- St. Mary’s Cemetery in Oakland. those who offer mercy and compassion "The service thou for him hast wrought izations, the hospital should have con- As it turned out, the plot is in a beauti- are especially dear to the heart of God. O daughter! hath been done for me." 6 S TREET S PIRIT July 2010

At Youth Spirit Artworks Young Artists Learn to Let Their Light Shine

Molly Gaspar paints a beautiful new design on her art chair, “Mexica New Year.” Shanice Kiel’s art chair has a message: “Live forever, fear never, always prosper.”

Precious Gordon with her “Princess Precious” chair. Charles Hutson paints a huge golden lion on a table. Sally Hindman shows an artistic chair created by YSA.

Story and photos by Lydia Gans artistic work, community arts activities VISIONS OF THE SOUL YSA carries out its work through two and jobs programs with homeless and at- Just last month, Youth Spirit Artworks program training areas: Community Art, ne way to fight juvenile crime risk youth, ages 16 to 25. completed its beautiful “Visions Of The engaging youth as leaders in neighbor- and gang violence is to provide One of YSA’s initial areas of activity, Soul” art exhibit, a series of brightly hood revitalization through painting some positive alternatives. Hindman said, was “taking old, recycled painted banners displayed in storefront murals, carrying out tile projects, and OBack in the 1960s, during furniture, chairs that people have thrown windows in South Berkeley. other public art works; and Studio Art, President Lyndon Johnson’s War On out, tables that people have donated, and The YSA art exhibit has provided an involving youth in creating commercial Poverty, we had Teen Posts, community having youth turning them into art.” outlet for the creativity of low-income and art to sell. centers in low-income areas where kids The youth involved with YSA have homeless youth, and now the colorful, Youth play an important role in the could hang out, learn skills, be involved in produced scores of artistically creative imaginative visions of young artists are on leadership of the organization, and set its activities and make connections beyond chairs and tables, and the young artists get public display in a campaign to beautify direction through a weekly YSA Youth their immediate neighborhood. 50 percent of everything that is sold. “Let South Berkeley neighborhoods. Council. Youth Spirit is a green organiza- With a few notable exceptions, there’s me just say that art furniture is pricey,” Young artists trained by Youth Spirit tion, deeply committed to creating art not much of that available for poor city Hindman added. Artworks painted 40 canvas art banners from recycled and reused materials. The kids these days. The creation of artistically redesigned which are now hanging in store windows mission of YSA is to empower and trans- One exciting program for homeless and beautified furniture by Youth Spirit in South Berkeley on Adeline Street form the lives of young people by giving and low-income young people, aged 16 to Artworks was originally modeled after between 63rd Street and Woolsey Street, them the experience, skills and self-confi- 25, is Youth Spirit Artworks (YSA), YaYa (Young Aspirations, Young and Alcatraz Avenue between Dover dence to meet their full potential. based in Berkeley. Operating out of the Artists), a New Orleans furniture-painting Street and Ellis Street. The exhibit starts A MURAL FOR MUSICIANS Youth Spirit Artworks studio at 1769 program for low-income youth that was one block south of Ashby BART and cov- Recently, in South Berkeley, the young Alcatraz Avenue, the program provides a founded in 1988. That program has ers six blocks of vacant and under-beauti- artists involved with Youth Spirit place where young people can learn about changed the lives of thousands of young fied buildings. Artworks painted a marvelous mural of art and create their own art works. people, as well as being a hugely success- Hindman said, “We gets kids from musicians, in order to artistically trans- Sally Hindman, founder and director of ful business enterprise. Recently, six teens everywhere — foster care kids, street form a symbol of urban blight. Youth Spirit Artworks, described the mul- were chosen — based on the outstanding kids, kids in transitional housing — all The Loren neighborhood around tifaceted program where low-income work they did with YSA — to travel to below poverty level.” Alcatraz Avenue and Adeline Street in youth can use art to bring about social New Orleans, accompanied by YSA pro- Youth Spirit Artworks provides an South Berkeley has long been known as change, earn money and have fun! gram staff, to meet with artists and opportunity for the youth to be creative an arts district. Home to musicians and YSA is an interfaith youth arts jobs activists involved with YaYa (Young and to explore new ideas, and at the same and job-training organization involved in Aspirations, Young Artists). time, it is a serious learning experience. See Youth Spirit Artworks page 7 July 2010 S TREET S PIRIT 7

Youth Spirit Artworks “The wall was begging to have something on it. I’m just tickled pink. I think they did an exceptional job.” — Michael Cogan, Bay Records from page 6 writers and artists, it now boasts a new attraction. A magnificent mural, two sto- ries high and almost 70 feet long, was cre- ated recently by a group of young Berkeley students from low-income fami- lies, working with Youth Spiair Artworks. Many of the Berkeley High School and City College students have had little exposure to art. They worked together to create the design, as well as doing the actual painting of the mural, located on Ellis Street just off Alcatraz. Hindman described why they chose to create a mural. “We decided that we wanted to respond to the need in our neighborhood,” she said. The neighbor- hood has many vacant buildings with blank walls that are constant targets for The new mural in South Berkeley portrays community activist Richie Smith holding a drum, representing the Lydia Gans graffiti. community’s heartbeat. From left, are Sareena Johnson, a YSA team leader, and Jessica and Jamie Perkins. photo “This wall was recommended to us by one of the neighbors who said the wall neighborhood and city groups and com- was driving them crazy,” Hindman said. missions. “It was constantly being tagged and “I love my community and look out for repainted. (It had) became a real eyesore.” it and try to keep things going smoothly,” Youth Spirit Art Works creatively Smith said. “As seniors, we need to be transformed this symbol of urban blight more involved with our young people. into a colorful splash of artistic vision that They get so many bad credits for being helps to beautify the neighborhood. teenagers.” The building belongs to Michael Asked how she feels about being por- Cogan, owner of Bay Records, a record- trayed on the mural, she said, “It’s heart- ing studio that has been there for 50 years. warming, it leaves me speechless. Usually He is delighted with the mural. “The wall this happens to people once they’ve was begging to have something on it,” passed on, and it’s happened to me while Cogan said. “I’m just tickled pink. I think I’m alive and can realize it.” they did an exceptional job.” She talked about the pleasure she got It is particularly appropriate since watching the mural take shape, and she Cogan’s Bay Records is mostly engaged expressed great admiration for the way in recording music, and music is the Edie Boone guided the project. theme of the mural. Hindman suggested In the mural, Miss Richie is pictured that creating the mural in that area also holding a drum. “It’s really symbolic,” addresses issues of gentrification and cel- Hindman suggested. “I think it has to do ebrates the history of the neighborhood. with the universal symbolism of the drum Edythe (Edie) Boone, a well-known as the human heartbeat, the never-ending Artists Bizz Boyd and Jasmain Johnson measure Ciera Richards’ banner. muralist, artist and teacher, was the lead heartbeat of humanity.... The neighbor- artist and director of the project. In an hood is going through a lot of changes, interview, she said that the process but the drum is still beating.” involved “getting the kids to believe that More than just a mural project, this we could paint that big wall, which was was a job-training program for the partici- 69 feet long and two stories high.” pants. Boone explained, “The program Such a massive project might seem was a training program, training young overwhelming to young students who had people how to be on a job, come on time, never before designed a giant mural, but how to act on a job. There was a lot of to compound the difficulty, Boone was training going on because a lot of the stu- working with many students who had lit- dents just didn’t know — so we had to tle or no artistic experience at all. really be strict with them and tell them if Boone said, “A lot of the students you were on another job this could not didn’t have art (experience), didn’t know happen (if they’re late). You have to come how to draw or paint. So in the beginning, on time. This was a regular job and we it was having them draw, draw, draw for want them to feel like they were actually about three weeks, just making them working and they had a job to do. They believe that we could do this and it was weren’t here to socialize.” going to be a beautiful mural.” This article was compiled from four sto- The artists had decided that the theme ries that first appeared in the February 2008, of the mural would be music, so they March 2008, November 2009, and June chose the musicians whose images they 2010 issues of Street Spirit. wanted to paint on the mural, and then began working out other design features. The musicians pictured reflect a wide Youth Spirit Artworks diversity of musical styles and cultures. Among them are Billie Holliday, Selena, Visit Youth Spirit’s website at: Tupac, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, www.youthspiritartworks.org or Michael Jackson, and popular local musi- become a fan of our Facebook Page: cian Johnny Talbot. Youth Spirit Artworks. Another prominent figure in the mural The YSA studio is located at: 1769 is Miss Richie Smith, who has been active Alcatraz Avenue, Berkeley, CA in the community for 50 years. A retired 94703. Phone: 510-282-0396. Email: school teacher, she serves on various [email protected] Apprentice Program Leader Sahara Simon holds up her "Goddess #1" banner. 8 S TREET S PIRIT July 2010 Spirit-Filled Book of Poetry Arises from the Streets by Lydia Gans One Nation Under God special feature of Street Spirit that our readers highly value by Mary Rudge and that makes the paper unique With broken eyeglasses and broken veins Ais an abundance of poetry — she stands on the corner showing things poetry written by people who are homeless have a kaleidoscopic other view. or housed, who have compassion for their When she asks spare change fellow humans struggling to survive, and but you pass by the gift of being able to find artistic and her only response is “God bless you” heartfelt words to express it. It is what gives and a broken-toothed smile. spirit to the Street Spirit. She shows you how hearts really break, Claire J. Baker and Mary Rudge, two can you feel your own? poets who have often been published in She lets you see a whole country with the paper, have produced a book titled a government full of broken promises. Poems from Street Spirit. Their book of poetry is dedicated to the paper, to its edi- tor Terry Messman, and to all the people who help make it happen each month. IN THE DARK Both of these women have received by Claire J. Baker numerous honors and published many col- I wish you lections of their poetry. This little book small invisible wings contains poems that speak of poverty and to uplift you just in time. homelessness, of peace and love and social justice. Its subtitle, “Justice News I wish you the stars’ and Homeless Blues,” echoes the sub- healing story heading of the Street Spirit newspaper. when you are broken, Suffering from abuse and neglect as a fallen from glory. child, Claire Baker began writing poetry I wish you the moon’s when she was in her teens. “I sort of luminous cloak latched onto poetry,” she recalls. “I didn’t that you may shine know what I was doing but I kept writ- in the dark, like God. ing.” She found that her poetry elicited some of the attention she craved. “My mother said, ‘That’s nice, honey,’ and I A Classic For All Ages thought, ‘’Wow, that’s different!’” Claire was soon left on her own and at by Mary Rudge one point found herself homeless. A cre- Seven-year-old Diana and I ative writing class in night school provid- cry over Gogol’s The Overcoat ed a positive experience she remembers on channel 9 now with pleasure. The teacher was very cold Russia old poor man encouraging and her fellow students, even without subtitles mostly older people, “saw me like a little Poets Mary Rudge (left) and Claire Baker strike a militant pose while Lydia Gans his face we both know. orphan, and would ask me out to dinners.” displaying their new book of poetry entitled Poems from Street Spirit. photo It was cold in our house last winter Claire has worked at all sorts of jobs we had coats from the thrift shop but she identifies herself as a poet. “I’ve her father would be so stressed out strug- quality to them. They often seem to be at night we slept in one bed made my life work as being a poet,” she gling to make a living that he would beat reflections on her own experiences. The we piled on all the coats. says. She always loved the outdoors, hik- her if she made noise. Nor was there any following two stanzas are part of a The cold old man is going to die ing and mountain climbing, and much of intellectual stimulation in her childhood. longer poem by Mary Rudge entitled, “A we saw that face once in our mirror, her poetry has been about nature. She “We had a dictionary and a Bible,” she Child’s View of Winter.” and cry. describes her poems as “philosophical and recalls. “I was a voracious reader. I felt I (1) The sun in through my window kind of lyrical.” They are carefully crafted knew all the words. I felt they were my when I wake up and reflect deep thought. friends. I began writing poetry as if it was makes me feel warm Found Among the Claire’s own experience of homeless- a life force within me.” and loved. I like to ness motivates her to write the kind of Unlike Claire, who grew up in the Bay wake up and see the sky. Homeless poetry she submits to Street Spirit. “These Area, Mary spent the first years of her life But the old, old window broke, we could by Claire J. Baker in Texas in an environment of violence and poems are easy for me to write,” she not afford glass or someone to fix it. There are many explains. When she thinks about people bigotry and fear. It was not just racism, she We have found board and cardboard, explains, “basically it was control issues.” so magnanimous on the street, she says, “It’s easy for me to and sealed the window hole they can give any part empathize. I put myself in their position Anyone who challenged the power struc- because it is winter and we will be cold. ture suffered. “I knew teenage boys that of themselves away (and) it helps me to write.” All the poems When I wake in the morning and see and still remain in this little book are short, none is over a were taken out in the woods and beaten — darkness, still I know just to straighten them out.” angels page in length, and most leave the reader to feel warm in my heart, to feel loved flowers with a pang of sadness or compassion or It was only when her family moved to because my mother and brother Oklahoma when she was a teenager that star stuff an angry desire for justice. found cardboard and board. grain. In Claire’s poem, “Books,” she writes: Mary encountered people of different cul- If we find enough cans extra to pay, tures, primarily the various Indian tribes. It we can have a glass window again. While too many dastardly CEOs was her first exposure to new ideas, tradi- because they are dead, and then the govern- fudge books to show amazing profits tions, music and art, and she reveled in the (2) In winter we only heat one room. ment names its weapons peacekeepers...” live the “high life” on twisted backs experience. Although her parents didn’t see We hang blankets over the doors Mary went on to talk about how a truly of duped employees and investors, much value in poetry, she “wrote compul- and put all our bedding on the floor peaceful world has to be based on social the homeless try to reassemble sively,” she says. “Writing poetry is part of and sleep there, and economic justice, respect for people the torn-out pages of their lives, my nature. I’m born to write.” together in one warm room. and building healthy communities. straighten sore backs to regain Soon after the family moved back to I like to hear our breath In recognition of her work, she is often some balance toward the rich reward Texas she got married “just to get away.” in the dark, one family invited to participate in events here and in known as a roof over one’s head. Her first husband died in an accident. Her helping each other keep warm. other countries. In describing an invitation Now retired, Claire volunteers in com- second husband was in the Navy and Recently, Mary Rudge was named the to Germany right after the Berlin Wall munity work. About 12 years ago, she would be at sea for long periods of time. poet laureate of Alameda. She has won came down, Mary mused, “It’s quite became a member of the Unitarian Finally he didn’t return at all. She was awards and honorary doctorate degrees in remarkable to think that a person with no Universalist church, the only church she pregnant at the time with her seventh the United States and abroad. Her main assets and no money, just because people was ever interested in, she declares. As a child, living in the projects in Alameda. focus now is writing and research on respond to what you’re saying and it gets result of that involvement, she became When the projects were torn down, she teaching knowledge and skills to bring out to the world, they start inviting you to interested in social justice and peace issues, and the children were left homeless. about a more peaceful world. Mary told places and sometimes paying you to come.” interests she shares with Mary Rudge. Mary got help, she recalls, from people me about working with children, finding The little book of Street Spirit poems Claire and Mary have known each who owned a dilapidated old Victorian out what the word “peace” means to them. by Claire Baker and Mary Rudge is a other for over 30 years, having first met house that should have been torn down but It often has negative connotations, she rewarding read; it touches the mind and through the Alameda poets’ group. Their was rescued by the local preservation soci- pointed out. “It was frightening to children the heart. It can be ordered by contacting common concerns and, at the same time, ety. That was about 35 years ago and she’s (knowing that those) who stood for peace either author: [email protected] their differences in style, motivated them still in that house, never very far from the got killed, like King and Gandhi and Christ. or [email protected]. to collaborate on this book. edge of homelessness and poverty. And when they heard from their parents, This article first appeared in the March Mary Rudge also experienced poverty In contrast to Claire’s poems, Mary’s ‘Go away and leave me alone so I can have 2006 issue of Street Spirit. and abuse as a child. She describes how are longer and have more of a melodic some peace,’ and people are at peace now July 2010 S TREET S PIRIT 9

The Archetypal Weirdo Artist An incredible rainbow arched all the way across the far end of People’s Park. I figured this was Duncan’s way of saying goodbye to the Telegraph scene he so loved before he headed off to the cosmos. from page 3 artistic chemistry. I supplied the emotion- al and Duncan supplied the intellectual, publish the Telegraph Avenue Street though in truth, we both had plenty of Calendar. We got written up in all the both sides. Duncan was no cold-blooded local newspapers and the Dan Rather CBS intellectual; he had plenty of heart. And I News did a national feature on it. So could talk a line of intellectual b.s. with Duncan began getting some long-overdue the best of them, in between my emotion- recognition. al tantrums. But we were both strong “When I was the manager of Comic where the other was weak. Relief in Berkeley, I used to see Duncan a Duncan was like an anthropologist of lot,” said Kristine. “Frankly, initially he the gutter. He studied the Berkeley street gave me the creeps. A half-dozen conver- people, and all of life, like a scientist would sations later and I was looking forward to study an exotic tribe in New Guinea. He his next visit. He was the first person to would place his latest artistic specimen show me Dick Briefer Frankenstein and under his microscope and study it, as if that alone puts him in the pantheon. looking for clues. He’d hold the slide up to “Later, when he asked to borrow some the light and say to himself: “Hmmm. Now money, I thought, ‘Well, there’s $10 I’ll what does this tell me about this cock-eyed never see again,’ and mainly was con- human life of ours?” cerned that he wouldn’t come by the store Everything Duncan did was weird and any more. He repaid me within a week. I unique. For years he carried his stuff regularly lent him money and always got around with him everywhere he went in it back, usually with a nice note on a this big, bulky cardboard box. For years I xeroxed page of awesome cartoon art. tried to get him to switch over to the more What a sweetheart. He taught me not to practical backpack. To which he said: “I judge people by their crusty tan corduroy don’t want to learn how to use a back- jackets, and I’m grateful.” (Watch out for pack.” I said: “Duncan, backpacks don’t most of those guys in crusty corduroy come with instructionals.” jackets. Duncan was the one-in-a-thou- But that was Duncan. Finally in his last sand exception to the rule.) years, he got too weak to carry his box, so In a way, I thought that was the secret of he did switch over to a backpack. Which he B.N. Duncan created hundreds of drawings of the natural world. Art by B.N. Duncan why Duncan struck a chord with so many carried around with him everywhere, cra- people. Duncan was so obviously weird. dled in his arms, just like he used to carry life’s work. Then the Ohio State tain of possessions for three days non-stop The rest of us are probably just as weird, his box. “Duncan logic,” I called it. University Cartoon Museum was paying and hadn’t even reached the far wall of the we just try and hide it. And by the end of He was such a unique and oddball to have it all shipped back to Ohio. After storage locker. We were standing outside his life, Duncan’s social circle included character, everybody on the scene imitat- a lifetime of being vaguely bitter about in the courtyard of the storage place when people from all walks of society, from suc- ed Duncan and repeated his many catch- being ignored by the academic world, Duncan’s sister — who’s kind of psychic cessful lawyers and famed artists to bums phrases: “Feel free to look at anything you Duncan was finally finding a place in a — said: “We’d better pack up for the day on the street, and everyone in between. like!”... “Uh, you couldn’t loan me a few prestigious university. because I think its going to rain.” Our working relationship was akin to bucks until the first?”... “What she needs It was a mind-boggling trip to wade I remember thinking: “That’s ridicu- Laurel & Hardy. Duncan was the skinny is a damn good spanking!” And my through the Duncan archives. This moun- lous! It’s not going to rain in July!” And guy and he’d always screw up (“Gee, favorite: “Life is basically good.” tain of creativity. Forty years of cartoons yet, a couple hours later, I was walking up Ollie...”). I was the fat guy and I’d always For Duncan was a guy who had every and writing and photos and sculptures and Dwight Way towards People’s Park and it rage and bluster at Duncan (“This is another good reason to turn into a bitter cynic and correspondences and publications (as well did in fact start raining. And I looked up fine mess you got us into, Stanley!”) and yet, in spite of it all, in spite of all the as thousands of spanking mags, but that’s in the sky and there was an incredible screw things up even worse. But we always hardships, sufferings and disappointments another story). Some of his work struck me rainbow that arched all the way across the forgave each other afterwards. he endured, he still believed that life was, as mundane and pedantic. But the best of it far end of People’s Park. I used to say about our friendship: if not great, at least a darn good thing in (in my opinion) was touched by pure So I figured this was Duncan’s way of “Duncan, you’re one of the few people its essence. genius. Pure originality. And face it, a lot saying goodbye to the Telegraph scene he strong enough to withstand me.” After Duncan was one of the most relentless- of real life is mundane and pedantic. And so loved before he headed off to the cos- every joint success, no matter how great ly creative people I’ve ever met. For the Duncan rarely went for the sensational. He mos. As I stood there in People’s Park star- or small — whether it was producing yet 30 years that I knew him, he was con- always went for the real. Which is why his ing up at the rainbow, I looked behind me, another artistic masterpiece or merely stantly working on a new artistic project. work had legs and will live on. and on the bulletin board at exactly the scrounging up enough dough to buy the And unlike so many artists, when he got I couldn’t resist going through all of middle of the rainbow was a copy of the next pack of cigarettes — we’d always an idea, he almost always saw it through his photos one last time. There were 10 Oakland Tribune article about Duncan’s high-five and say: “Yet another successful from beginning to completion. big boxes of them, and I spent 12 hours, memorial, with a big photo of Duncan Backwords and Duncan collaboration!” Even on his death-bed, when he could non-stop, going through every one. One seemingly staring up at the rainbow. His last few years were spent in failing barely speak, gasping and hacking for air, last trip down memory lane. It was like If you wrote up something like that in a health. Forty years of smoking and drink- Duncan talked excitedly about three dif- watching a movie of my life in fast-speed, novel, nobody would believe it. But real ing had finally caught up to him (Basic ferent publications that would be publish- as 30 years of my life rushed by my eyes. life is weirder than any novel, ain’t it? 100s and Old English malt liquor, natch). ing his work: “I’m gonna get a review in Watching myself go from a young man to I went back to Telegraph where Moe’s In his last week they had him in the can- the next issue of Mineshaft. Claire Burch an old man. I realized Duncan had not Books was celebrating its 50th anniversary, cer ward at Alta Bates hospital. So I knew is putting out a book of my writing from only documented his own life, but he had and there was a band playing inside and it was trouble. Street Spirit. And Terri Compost is going documented my life as well. free coffee and cake. There was a festive, I visited him for the last time a few to publish some of my photos and draw- And he had documented the life of the party atmosphere everywhere on the Ave. weeks ago. As soon as I saw him, I knew ings in a book about People’s Park!” whole Telegraph Avenue scene over the Then I staggered up to my homeless it was just about over. I sat there in his And his last words to me before he last 30 years. Such was the breadth of his campsite in the Berkeley hills, and there hospital room and cried and cried. For 30 drifted off into a fog of morphine were: artistic vision. I couldn’t help thinking: was a band playing at the Greek Theatre. years, Duncan had always been out there “Every day is a triumph!” “Thirty years. How did it go by so fast? In This celestial music wafted out into the on Telegraph Avenue whenever I was a blink of an eye.” And, of course, in the night air, some pop song I recognized there. But now it hit me for the first time UNEARTHING DUNCAN’S ARCHIVES very last batch of photos, there was a shot from the radio about dissolving into the that he would never be out there again. B.N. Duncan’s sister Elaine and I of Duncan waving goodbye. atmosphere. I went from giving him pep-talks about were stuck with the monumental task of Now, I’ve always believed that when a This cute young chick rushed up to me “Hang in there! Hang in there!” to “Let it wading through his storage locker of pos- person dies, their soul lingers very strong- and asked if I knew where the parking lot go! Let it go!” You know? “God loves you, sessions. Hundreds and hundreds of boxes ly for two weeks in the area where they was, she was looking for her car. I was no and you’re going to heaven.” And all that haphazardly stacked to the ceiling in this lived. And for two weeks, the soul has the help, but I asked her who the band was. crap. But while I sobbed and wept, Duncan 8-foot-by-8-foot locker. Duncan was so power to manipulate the action a bit, to “Death Cab for Cuties,” she said. And it laid there on his hospital bed and he was nuts, he saved everything. Bank state- bless their friends and tweak their ene- was perfect. For that cute old guy B.N. stoic the whole time. He always admired ments and rent receipts from 1978, and mies, before the soul finally disperses into Duncan was saying goodbye before he tough guys. I always thought he was doing old coffee cups, crammed in amongst the universal. Its a concept that’s often took his death cab to the heavens. Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney in his priceless original artwork and original R. mentioned in Hindu scripture. This article first appeared in the August head. (“I never met a dame who didn’t Crumb letters. Anyways, it was Saturday, exactly two 2009 issue of Street Spirit. understand a good slap in the face!”) The plan was to whittle the stuff down weeks after Duncan had died, and Elaine In a way, that was the secret of our to about 50 boxes of treasures. Duncan’s and I had been hacking away at his moun- 10 S TREET S PIRIT July 2010

“Homeless Giant” Art by Eric Drooker “And Now Where?” Lithograph by Rockwell Kent 4. Struggle and hope “that we can ing for help, I guess I’m that invisible Hobos to Street People change things.” when I tell you what I think of you.’” Understanding this human need for from page 1 Hazelwood chose Minkler’s painting DAILY REALITIES respect and dignity, Hanlon stated that she for the show because it satirizes the per- The show contrasts today’s homeless- constructed the space so vanishing points stays in shelters or with friends. David petual poverty “Cycle,” the studded tires ness with the Depression era and chal- lead to the homeless woman’s heart. The Suttles, 56, camped in the street with his of a motorcycle gunned toward us by a lenges our narrow range of homeless viewer looks up — not down — at her. wife after being evicted by a corrupt hotel vicious boar. For its very existence, our stereotypes. Homeless people are many management. Travis, 28, read John capitalist republic seems to require, at and varied. People may live in cars, or in DISPLACED, ROOTLESS, VULNERABLE Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath just before he varying levels of intensity, poverty’s per- the country. Many hold down jobs, or Poor, precariously housed, or unhoused was forced to leave home. petual presence, cycling endlessly round. work hard at recycling. They may live in San Franciscans like my invitees Terry Curator Art Hazelwood reported many Out of the motorcycle pours poisonous dangerous shelters — or refuse to live in Chandler, Eric Robinson, David Suttles, positive reactions to the show, and favor- exhaust — welfare cuts, layoffs, unemploy- them, in preference for the street. and Travis, lose homes for various reasons able media coverage. The occasional neg- ment, homelessness. “Who drives this In Christine Hanlon’s contemporary oil — renter or homeowner evictions, loss of ative responses reflect a “demonization” cycle?” Minkler asks. “Welfare Queens? painting, “Third Street Corridor,” and Isaac paychecks and work, or serious illness. of homeless people by the press and social Illegal Aliens? Bleeding heart liberals?” Friedlander’s “Gold digger,” from 1932, Robinson couch-surfs with a friend while stereotyping, Hazelwood said. Then he gives the answer: “Capitalist Pigs.” people struggle just to survive, working saving up rent. Chandler sleeps in daylight, “People want to turn homeless people “Crash the Cycle of Poverty!” or it will hard for little reward. In Hanlon’s and walks during the nights for safety. into a kind of Other that they can dis- drive on and on, carrying the hog to hell. “Corridor,” the shopping cart is, on the one Suttles sells Street Sheet for rent for his miss,” he said. “It’s easier to dismiss peo- Hazelwood himself is a San Francisco hand, an overflowing garbage collection wife and himself. Travis was displaced ple if you categorize them and accuse artist whose etching-style linocuts have device and, conversely, the Horn of Plenty, from a hotel during a hospitalization but is them of being morally lax.” enlivened the pages of San Francisco’s the ironic symbol of rampant consumerism. temporarily housed again. Chandler agreed. Her brown bangs Street Sheet and the East Bay’s Street Then, in “Gold digger,” trash becomes Hazelwood believes the vulnerability of swung adamantly. “The newspaper tells Spirit newspapers since 1994. pure gold to a ragged scavenger. displacement and rootlessness is a U.S. people things that aren’t true, and people A year and a half before the economy Most people don’t consider tented peo- social norm. Our emphasis on money and believe it.” plunged and the banking crisis caused ple working in fields as homeless. Dorothea “moving up” tears us from our safety nets. This false stereotype “is not something home foreclosures, mass evictions, and a Lange photographed a young mother with Giacomo Patri’s illustrated novel, new,” Hazelwood said. “One answer to surge in homelessness, Hazelwood her two babies, one holding a nippled Coke “White Collar” (1938), tells of a middle- almost any complaint is to point to identi- planned a commemoration of the New bottle, seated in a Ford near Tulelake, class working stiff on the “advancement” cal patterns of condemnation throughout Deal’s 75th anniversary. California, in 1939. Near her photo in the treadmill until the stock market crashes. our history.” The cheap fix of Mayor During talks with WRAP Director Paul exhibit hangs East Bay photographer David With repeated firings, Patri’s character Gavin Newsom’s Care Not Cash program Boden and Berkeley professor Dr. Gray Bacon’s image of a Mexican mother and converts, as Hazelwood tells it, from that slashed lifeline benefits to homeless Brechin, an expert on the New Deal, about child camped out on a hillside in Del Mar, “sneering disinterest in revolutionary people and Rudy Giuliani’s attempt to parallels between the Depression era and California, in the present. speakers and blue-collar organizers he sweep away New York’s homeless like today, it struck Hazelwood that a show “They are still the same,” said passes on the street,” to being blacklisted broken glass are paralleled by 19th centu- comparing homelessness in the 1930s with Chandler of the two photos. “The only for unionizing white-collar workers. He ry social workers who concluded poor contemporary homelessness was a brilliant difference is nowadays they would take and his wife become homeless. people were lazy, defective degenerates way to make it all clear to people. “We’ve your kids from you.” Chandler was Catholicism and the backlash against who needed rehabilitation by learning the been through this before,” Hazelwood said. brought up housed in Seattle. She knew war and capitalism in the 1960s and 1970s value of work, and sent them to forced “We can get through it again. If we try, we nothing of homelessness until she lost her sensitized Jos Sances to the twin cruelties labor workhouses “breaking rocks.” can do something to (solve) this problem.” home and state agencies gave her three of privilege and poverty. Sances’ symbol- Doug Minkler, an artist who sells his The show’s sections focus on four children to relatives. She found personal ism thrusts the viewer into the reality and art on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, has aspects of homelessness: strength in street survival. heart of homelessness. A Boston-born, a close connection with street life. Eric 1. The daily realities of life on the road The homeless woman seated among Irish-Sicilian, altar boy, Sances changed Robinson was drawn by its color and or on the street, without housing. the feet of busy downtown pedestrians in from his “devout” Catholicism to become dynamism to Minkler’s painting, “Who 2. The displacement, rootlessness and Christine Hanlon’s painting, “Faux Street an atheist, but preserved in his art the frag- Drives The Cycle of Poverty.” When Bill vulnerability that are part of the homeless Revisited,” depressed her. Being “invisi- ile beauty of Jesus’ humanity. Clinton dismantled welfare in 1996, calling condition, and also, the deeper underlying ble” to passers-by on the street is hard. Robinson warmed to Sances’ ceramic it “reform,” he did “a lot more damage than sense of disconnectedness endemic to Chandler humanizes herself by drawing image of Jesus’ “Sacred Heart” surround- any Republican,” Minkler said. “The American culture, housed or homeless. people into conversation. ing, then evicting, a mother, father, and National Lawyer’s Guild, seeing this as a 3. A look at urban vs. rural poverty, “I get smart with them sometimes,” she two babies from its loving embrace. real attack on women, and the poor, hired realizing that homelessness in the country said with a smile. “I say, ‘Close your Robinson, his parents and twin siblings me to do a piece on the concept.” is often unseen and unrecognized. eyes. I’m not here. If I’m so invisible ask- See Hobos to Street People page 11 July 2010 S TREET S PIRIT 11

“Bread Line, 1935” Courtesy of M. Lee Stone Fine Prints Lithograph by Iver Rose

“Mother And Two Children On The Road, Tulelake, Dorothea Lange photo Siskiyou County, California, 1939.” Library of Congress photograph, collection of de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University Hobos to Street People from page 10 Both the attitudes of the uprooted and contemporary imagery mirror the often suffered such an eviction. hopeless struggle of today’s homeless- For Sances, “the symbol of the Sacred ness. After Travis’ father lost his carpen- Heart is profound — Christ’s compassion try business and his mother her nursing for us, the flawed ones.” The piece came job, their Detroit home was foreclosed. from Sances’ “wish that people exhibited Travis left so he wouldn’t burden them. more compassion for people in need. There He saw the noble couple in “And Now are wonderful Catholics committed to Where?” through a contemporary lens. social action and helping people in distress, The illustration reminded him that, working hard to change the system so peo- despite their love, his parents could not ple aren’t victimized” by a cruel eviction. verbalize their mutual pain. However, the piece is “meant to be a In Kiki Smith’s drawing, “Home,” betrayal, too. This sacred heart that is hold- sleeping boots stick from a cardboard box. ing them is also evicting them. The heart is This image reminded Travis of his grati- the container of love,” yet “the darker side tude at being protected by a lowly card- of the piece” is that, “because they don’t board box during sub-zero winter nights have the money to pay their rent, they are in Manhattan. being evicted from this vessel of love — JaneInVain Winkelman compares her expelled from the community.” colorful “New Drop Dead Welfare “Sacred Heart” symbolizes “the cal- Center” to Auschwitz-like ovens. She lousness that people allowed that to hap- paints about her eviction, wishing for “Four Freedoms” [Freedom of Assembly] Linocut by Art Hazelwood pen,” Sances said. “The price of the cal- “free lethal injections. Why couldn’t they lousness for those poor people, and the just kill all of us then, and end our horren- Francisco. Is that enough?” A black silhou- entitled, “Why Must We Always Have pain they suffer, is enormous.” dous suffering? Wouldn’t that be more etted figure holding a gun poses before an This? Why Not Housing?” URBAN VS. RURAL humane?” Her “Greedy Landlords I Can’t orange shopping cart. “When that came The New Deal government, said Boden, Pay Your Rent,” seems a stress response out,” Hazelwood observed, “it was vilified supported artists portraying a “broken sys- Post-Ronald Reagan, Hazelwood to living perpetually on the edge. and mocked by The Chronicle.” tem” which must be made new. observed, we have seen the destruction of Norman Rockwell’s bygone illustrations “Poor people’s rebellions are not Conversely, modern government and media the social safety net and a progressive are several times satirized in this show. His unheard of,” asserted Hazelwood. As the promote images of poor and homeless peo- downward slide into the devastating “Freedom from Want” is a homey Depression began, dispossessed World War ple as “broken people” to be “fixed.” defunding of federal money for public Thanksgiving dinner. His “Freedom from I veterans, the “Bonus Marchers,” were Boden said that the exhibit encourages housing in U.S. cities. Hazelwood’s Fear” depicts a couple putting their son to denied promised government benefits. our reassessment of the ways we see and “Spirit of Abandon” and Claude Moller’s bed as the husband holds a paper with a “When they protested in Washington,” he talk about homelessness and poverty. “If “Housing Crisis: Condition Critical,” ren- World War II headline. The image sug- said, “President Hoover ordered General we can bomb and rebuild Iraq,” he said, der pictorially accessible the harsh statis- gests, “We’re safe here in America.” MacArthur to clear the Mall, and he led the “we can rebuild the Bayview.” Massive tics that show the shocking extent of the By contrast, in Hazelwood’s series, last cavalry charge in U.S. history against war funding and bank bailouts tell us how defunding of urban affordable housing. “Four Freedoms,” “Freedom from Want” U.S. military veterans.” quickly the country’s sociopolitical will Most people think of homelessness as displays a homeless man’s sign saying, In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King’s makes money available. urban. Ed Gould’s artwork, “America’s “Beaten, robbed, help please.” “Freedom Poor People’s Campaign marched down Curator Hazelwood said, “We’ve been Forgotten Homeless People,” charts the of Assembly” is the right to line up for that same Washington Mall. “It happens,” through this before. We can rise to the disappearance of rural affordable housing. food outside a church like Glide. muttered David Suttles, as he slid past the occasion again. The government did some- Chandler said she worries about people in Hazelwood satirizes Rockwell’s evocation poster toward Eric Drooker’s “Sleeping thing about the Depression. The govern- the country. “They couldn’t survive like of FDR’s vision of a hopeful future and the Giant,” slumped over a street light, ment could do something about our current we can here (in the cities) because there is failed dreams of 1950s America. unaware of its powerful size. economic crisis, poverty, and homeless- nothing for them out there.” The words, “Everyone has a right,” Paul Boden, WRAP director, calls for ness. We don’t have to live with this terri- STRUGGLE AND HOPE march across Robert Terrell’s Market a serious re-evaluation of federal response ble situation. We can get through it.” Hazelwood compared today’s poverty Street photographs brutally portraying an to homelessness. San Francisco officials This article first appeared in the May imagery with Depression-era art which elderly homeless woman and an AIDS created the “Care Not Cash” program, a 2009 issue of Street Spirit. refused to divest the poor of nobility or sufferer accompanied by a quote from the backlash against the poor born from our hope. He believes hope was stronger in Universal Declaration of Human Rights, government’s addressing poverty by Depression artists than today. to which the United States is a signatory, putting the blame on the poor and home- Hobos to Street People Rockwell Kent’s skillful lithograph, guaranteeing housing for all. The bitter less as if something is wrong with them. “And Now Where?” etches an uprooted reality mocks the Rockwell-like promise. In the New Deal era, the government Artists’ Responses to Homelessness couple as in stone or steel, statue-like, Jesus Barraza’s San Francisco Print humanized, supported, and funded images from the New Deal to the Present peering lovingly together into their future. Collective poster bears the words: “How of the poor. New York Mayor Fiorello La ******* Richard Correll’s “Drought” displays a many Homeless people does it take to start Guardia and the city public housing direc- See more paintings from this proud farm woman, “strong, independent a revolution?” Across it is written, “There tor paid an artist to create the 1936 poster and able to deal with life’s difficulties.” are 15,000 homeless people in San about Manhattan’s rundown tenements exhibit on page 12 of this issue. 12 S TREET S PIRIT July 2010 Hobos to Street People: Artists’ Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present

“Sacred Heart” Jos Sances, ceramic tile

“RHONDA’S PLACE.” Painting by Christine Hanlon, oil on canvas, 29 1/8” by 18”

Art by Doug Minkler

Who Drives the Cycle of Poverty? A. Welfare Queens B. Illegal Aliens C. Bleeding Heart Liberals D. Capitalist Pigs Answer: D

“Homeless Park; Green” Art by Anthony Ryan, woodcut print “Under Bridges” Painting by Eric Drooker