Yes, it has been 6 weeks since my last post… in my
defense I have posted 2 more sections to the Research Findings page of the
website. I want to say welcome back to Drakakis, after almost a year away the
LowLives Blog is posting once again. Hope life is treating you well.
Now, for my rant “de jour”. On the news this past week it said that India
(you heard right) is planning to have a launch to MARS in 2013… What is this
sudden obsession with Mars? Haven’t we
done enough damage on this plant?… Now we want to spread that around the rest
of the milky-way. Jeeezzz people... does anyone besides me think this is messed
up.
I was complaining a few blogs ago that people
(governments) should clean up the problems in their own countries before
sending resources and/or criticism out to other countries; but now I have to
say that even taking a one world “global economy” view…let’s at least keep our mess on our own frickin planet. Maybe someday when we have repaired the
damage we have done here, it will be time to spread ourselves into the rest of
the galaxy.
For those of you not up to date on my plans, I will
take this time to share. The Angels of the Road journey is over and I have been
publishing my findings on the website…. There are still a few entries to come
but all should be there by the end of September. My job as a nanny ended in July…
and I am looking to get back into the shelter industry (addiction, recovery,
rehab, reintegration, etc). I am especially interested in working with urban
Native populations struggling with addiction and recidivism (in and out of
corrections). So if anyone knows of a position…. feel free to give me a
heads-up. Thanks.
It was always my intention to publish an account of
my life (two years) living homeless in Canada, but I am going to be putting
that off for a while. First, I am going to write a handbook for human services
professionals about how we can best serve this client population. I am calling
it… OUT REACHING: A Streetwise Guide to Social Work. The 100ish page manual will be a staple for
the industry… student and professional alike will find the information very
enlightening. I have started looking for a literary agent and expect to have
the book ready by year end.
I don’t do these personal updates too often so it is
hard to know what is of interest to all-ya-all. The Blepharospasm treatments
work well and I’m hoping I’ll be able to get another one done soon. The
treatments last 3-4 months but are quite expensive ($400) by my standards LOL. Other
than that, I am enjoying good health and just have a couple of appointments to
wrap things up before I leave Hamilton. The time I spent on the road took a
toll on my health, as it does with anyone who is in that environment of more than
a few weeks. But with the help of Dr
Walser-Jebb and a program of supplements, I am as healthy as anyone else ;-)
The cost of health care to homeless people is in
addition to the $100 per day per person this country spends on shelter services
(sleep, food, monitoring, laundry, counseling etc, etc, etc). This is why
housing first programs make so very much sense from a taxpayer/budget
perspective. With a comprehensive program to create affordable home ownership
and supportive housing we could reduce homelessness by 70%... saving 50% of the
$1.4 million dollars we spend daily; a whopping $255,000,000 per year. Go Habitat for Humanity ....yeh!
That is my 600+ words for today I’ll be adding more
on the research findings soon. Have a joyous day my friends.
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