This from the Pampa News, the newspaper 12 miles from where we live. Those who know me know I'm quite possibly one of the biggest Woody Guthrie fans on the planet. Guthrie's granddaughter gives deeper insight into folksinger Posted: Saturday, Oct 02, 2004 - 11:37:05 am CDT By David Bowser Staff writer (Pampa News photo by David Bowser) Anna Laura Batson, left, with Anna Canoni, Woody Guthrie's granddaughter, in Amarillo Thursday afternoon. Batson knew Wood...

For those who read my blog regularly, you know what we've been through over the last month. For those who don't, basically, I had a job this summer that I liked, and that I thought liked me. Then, just short of 2 weeks after the youngest of our five children was born (after two weeks of holding off labor with my wife having to remain 80 miles away from the family due to fears of inadequate medical care here), I was unceremoniously fired from that job. Since then, I have received exactly $44.32 i...

I was challenged on another thread by someone who claims Christianity, and yet harbors an outward animosity to the poor. Having studied the subject for many years, I am well aware of many of the Bible's teachings on poverty and on how we are to treat the poor. These teachings are NOT popular in the conservative church in America today, but rather have been supplanted by a me-first mentality that I consider to be downright apostate. To that end, I have compiled some verses on the bible's teaching...

This will hopefully be my last "down and out" series article. Thanks to JoeUsers, things are looking up (we still have to get rent current, but I am honestly say I'm optimistic for the first time in awhile that we can do it!) I did, however, want to include my notes from today, as part of my archives, because, even when we are on our feet, the battle has only just begun. Ours is one story among many, and the stories are likely as diverse as the people themselves. I truly feel I can use the va...

Down and Out in America 9/15/04 I’m sitting around waiting for the phone to ring from the “day labor”, which, as noted in my last two entries, has so far been a bust; however, I stayed in town to see what today’s paper had to offer in the way of jobs. There are plenty of jobs listed, so I intend to head out at noon if I don’t get called out on day labor. I got $20 off of the DVD player, so between that and the cans, I have enough money to get by. Our four year old still has $3 and chang...

Down and Out in America 9/14/04 – entry 2 This is my first entry from a word document to my blog; my internet cancelled out about 9 pm. I decided not to go into Vegas tomorrow, I’m giving the day labor in town another chance. It’s $20 worth of gas for the trip, and the perils of sleeping at the truck stop potentially outweigh the benefits, and most importantly, it’s 10 pm and I still can’t sleep (I would need to be up at 3). I can’t go to the homeless shelter either, as the car (borrowed) ...

The phone will be shut off on Friday. The internet's due to be shut off whenever the ISP gets around to it. The "day labor" around here is a joke, only one that is becoming less and less funny as time progresses. I had to sit around all day waiting for a phone call that never came instead of trying to hustle a job or collect cans. This means I wasted another day at a time when I don't have a day to waste. Still no unemployment check. I think it's safe to assume at this point that there ...

I have often heard people with chronic illness refer to having "good days and bad days". Well, our current situation is somewhat like that, only it's good MINUTES and bad minutes. I honestly would rather be suddenly displaced than the protracted inevitability we're watching unfold before our eyes. 3 weeks of watching the mail, hoping for an unemployment check. Three weeks of application after application -- at this point I'm willing to be the designated grease trap cleaner at McDonald's. T...

With any ongoing crisis, you tend to have up days and down days. Yesterday was a down day, in part, I think, because there was nothing I could do (besides scope out places where we'll be able to camp out if we're left homeless, which is far more depressing than doing something to avoid BECOMING homeless). Bad news on the donut shop. The manager hired someone already. Which ticks me off. I went in on Wednesday, when the posting came out and was told to come back the following day because th...

Well, LW has the solution for everything, as listed in her article on how to butcher people. But before I meet the axe, being unemployed, likely soon to be homeless, and receiving public benefits: *I did not ask for public assistance. For 16 years, although i have switched jobs, I have shown up to work, done my job and received a paycheck -- WITHOUT receiving the public dime. *I did not ask to be on the brink of homelessness -- safety nets such as TANF and unemployment, which are suppos...

OK... The centennial bulb webcam is not working. I hope it does not mean the bulb has burned out. At any rate, here's a slightly more interesting webcam (for those with the ability, feel free to add it to the response thread), and I think you'll all enjoy it. Link

So much discussion revolves around hatred, and many people question when it's justified to hate. In my opinion, it never is. Why I Refuse to Hate In 1974, when I was far too little to comprehend, I saw my family torn apart by hate. Neither my siblings or I would ever have a stable life from then on to adulthood (for those of use who reached adulthood). In 1978, I looked into the face of pure hate as my father told me at 8 years old that he never wanted to see me again. In 1984,...

Well, as it's becoming obvious that our every attempt to generate enough income to pay the rent is coming up short, we're making alternative plans. We're scraping up enough money to get a P.O. Box, an old minivan and a storage shed. We've decided that living out of the minivan on BLM land will be preferable to Vegas; we can eke out a living off of cans until I can get something better...and once I scrape up enough, the scrapyard does eventually have camping trailers for sale. It sounds quite ...

OK, most of you have already heard this about this song, but here goes. After 9/11, the radio stations played songs that they felt captured the mood. One man was travelling in his car, and the Five for Fighting song "Superman (It's Not Easy)" came on the air. He felt it was an appropriate theme for the firefighters and the policeman, and he was instrumental in getting Five for Fighting to play the song at the Concert for New York. So, in the spirit of 9/11, I thought I'd post the lyrics: ...

Well, as I detailed yesterday, still no unemployment verification. And for some reason, we were turned down for TANF money, which got me to thinking. When voters asked for welfare reform, this wasn't what they were asking for. Even the most conservative among us acknowledged the need for SOME kind of "safety net" for families when they are truly in need. And yet, I remember when I started at joeuser, the numerous articles that popped up that decried all these welfare families getting somet...