Losing Tommie's

For me, personally, the world just got a little colder. But loss is not something new to me, and I'm sure not new to many of you.

Tommie's Café closed for the last time today (Sunday, October 27th) at 1pm. I arrived shortly after four to find Tommie and Kelly Van Fossen sitting inside with their youngest daughter Juliana chatting about this and that. Juliana, who is a precocious 13, was asking a lot of questions typical of hyper intelligent girls her age, demanding clarification on just about everything and which her parents patiently answered.

Tommie invited me in, and I sat with the three of them. Looking around, I couldn't help but notice the bare bones of what had been, simply put, the friendliest business I've ever run across.

“Whoever moves in here,” I told them. “They have mighty big shoes to fill.”

Kelly thanked me for that, but I said it with sincerity of someone who benefited from her kindness and generosity. I wasn't the only one.

Remembering that Tommie's Café was attached to the Livermore Library, there's a certain type of clientèle one must expect. Intensely intellectual people, people who work out of the library, and the bottom of the barrel. I fit into the latter category, of course. But Kelly welcomed all with open arms and a huge smile on her face. One of the things she demonstrated the most was empathy and one of the things she demonstrated the least was patience. She has the patience of Job. She'd never let on that she's being patient with you unless you knew her well enough to read her... and that takes time.

Tommie's Café had its cast of characters. I suppose I was one of them. The village idiot, as it were. But if we had to compare it to the popular sitcom Cheers, the cast of characters included the very popular Norm, the ever so eloquent Frasier when he was married to Diane, and the Bar-Know-It-All, Cliff Claven.

The three wonderful women behind the counter were Super Woman, Take No BS Ever and, of course, Mrs. Soft Hearted herself... that would be Kelly... oh, and lest I forget, the soon to be Lady Professor had recently returned...

When Steve Sweeney was still Chief of Police, he'd often show up early in the morning right as Tommie's opened and grab a quick breakfast and a cup of coffee. Since his retirement, he'd still pop in from time to time just to catch up with her and others there.

Tommie's was as social an atmosphere as anyone could imagine. Local Historian Anne Homan would frequent and sit with just about anyone who was interested in chatting. There were no shortage of those.

Kelly very often showed how much she cared for the people who were “Less Fortunate”. She'd always allow people to come in out of the cold, give hot water, sometimes a free cup of coffee or even a sandwich to someone who was hungry. There are those who took advantage of that generosity, of course.

Kelly very rarely found it necessary to turn anyone away. But like a lot of kind hearted people, she was sometimes punished for her tolerance and generosity. I won't sully this piece with details, but, suffice it to say, there are those with such a sense of entitlement that they actually became abusive when they didn't get a freebie from Tommie's.

For my part, Tommie's gave me an anchor. Kelly graciously allowed me to help her out most mornings. I wouldn't do very much. I'd pull down the chairs, do the ice if necessary. Take out the trash in the afternoons sometimes. I'd carry stuff in from her car and maybe fold rags if they needed folding. If I spent more than 15 minutes doing any of this any one day, it was a rare thing. It gave me a reason to get up in the morning and have a place to go and be motivated to face the rest of the day. And no, Kelly did not need my help, but I think she recognized I had a need, and she very graciously allowed that need to be filled. She'd reward me with a cup of Dutch Chocolate Coffee each morning and since I started my new job, it has been a fabulous start to my day.

Of Tommie's patrons, Pat, and Joe, and Tish, and Yvonne and all the rest of you... I'll miss all of you. All of you know what it is we just lost...

In that little corner hole in the wall, just to the right of the Livermore Public Library main entrance, someone will bring a new business at some future date... I've no idea when...

And yes, they do have some mighty big shoes to fill...

Hacking Away...

Homelessness for Stupid People

The foibles of the most pampered homeless population in the Bay Area...

I've been called an “untutored, undisciplined hack.” “You're the best writer on the Patch...” I've also been told. I take both with a grain of salt. I particularly love the first one, especially considering the source.

One responder to one of my blogs said the following, and I took it as a very sincere, if backhanded, compliment: “Christian, maybe you should consider working for Animal Control or maybe be a reporter and get paid for articles or even write a book. Seems like you have a lot of energy that can be harnessed to pull yourself out of homelessness. Unless of course, you want to be homeless - still figuring that one out.”

Want to be homeless... Haysus... does nobody pay attention?

Okay, I do have a casual friend who is a reporter. Not a Television Reporter, mind you, but a print reporter. He has a university education and is struggling financially. Print Media are not in the best of shape, and I highly doubt one of them is going to hire a non-college educated writer who's self taught and homeless. And becoming a Best Selling Author... wow... Jeopardy Answer: Pipe Dream... the question: What do you call the magic pill an idiot thinks he's going to swallow to make life better? Scroll down to the bit about The Messiah in This Piece.

I write because I truly enjoy writing. That's all there is to it. I find it a great way to communicate ideas to people. I don't get a dime for doing any of this. Sometimes I get paid with a death threat... which have become so numerous they're now passé... unfortunately. The adrenaline rush I experienced the first few times was exhilarating! I kinda miss that...

But, damnit! I can't believe there are still people who read this damn blog who think anyone wants to be homeless! On what planet would a sane person believe this? I truly don't want to do a repeat of the blog I posted about the Simple Joys of Being Homeless.

Being homeless is TOUGH! It's not an easy life!

I cannot ever sleep in, I can't work at night, because if I do, there's no place for me to sleep... and that's terribly difficult for me, because I the wee-hours was always something I truly enjoyed in the past. Having a job while being homeless makes it challenging to get a shower. I manage, but others have a very difficult time.

Off the top of my head I can name six friends who are employed and homeless in Livermore: Gary, Frank, Ricky, Rosemary, Pat and Jaime. Some of the unemployed homeless are also very energetically doing volunteer work.

What amazes me are unemployed people who shun the types of jobs held by those I just mentioned.

For instance: I've seen people who are facing homelessness who see that freight train coming down the tracks and can't seem to get out of its way. I spoke to a woman today about that. She's out of work, but shuns jobs paying near minimum wage because she couldn't support the house she has with it... Well, sweetie, when that unemployement runs out... being jobless isn't going to support that home either...

I know a nurse who was making six figures who is now homeless. A NURSE for crying out loud! Bet she loves being homeless... if anyone has the prospect of getting out of being homeless it should be her, right? You would think those great job benefits Nurses have are going to take care of her... right? Not in her case... When you're overextended, you're vulnerable.

Why don't you rent a room? I have been asked repeatedly. The answer is: because I'd be spending more than 80% of my income on renting the least expensive room for rent. That, and I'd be living with someone I do not know, and have no idea what kind of situation I'm walking into. And the backup plan is to go back to being homeless? I'll stay here, thank you very much, if that's the fallback... why bother?

Parleying a hobby into a career is something I did do in the past. I'll not get into it, but I was, at one point in my life, well paid for the freelance work I did in a field I entered as a hobbyist. That fell apart when the industry I worked in accelerated too fast for me to keep up and I had to change careers.

Now, I work as a maintenance man and a clerk for a local business. The hours are good, the pay is good for what it is, and I'm managing. It's a job I coveted for a very long time ever since my last job went away. I am more than grateful to my boss for it.

I am one of the working homeless. I chose not to feel sorry for myself. I chose to be happy with who I am and I choose to live in the real world.

The notion that somehow I could write a best selling book, or turn this supposed writing skill into some kind of magic solution to my own homelessness is... well, it's fantasy. For those of you who tell me I have this amazing talent as a writer, thank you, that's very kind.

But I still enjoy, very much, the notion that I'm an untutored, undisciplined hack...

Sometimes "NO" is the Best Mercy

Homelessness for Stupid People

The foibles of the most pampered homeless population in the Bay Area..

Sometimes the word “No” is the most merciful thing one can say.

This last week the Livermore Independent published a very interesting article this last week by Ron McNicoll titled Libraries Are Recourse for Homeless (Thursday, October 3, 2013)

From that article:

(Livermore Human Services Director) Prashure said that she also talks to (Livermore) Library workers about such things as how to deal with someone who is unruly , or has “not taken a bath in a significant amount of time,” which might draw complaints from other library users.

I'm not going to name any names today, but if you frequent the Livermore Public Library, you know exactly who Ms. Prashure is speaking of.

On this very morning, this man did, in fact, take a shower. He was given fresh clothing and politely asked to change his cloths... very politely... for about the 100th time this year. I can't count how many attempts there were last year. But, when he came out of the shower, he still wore the same things he wore going in... it was not pretty, though it was... fragrant!

While we're at it, why don't we politely ask alcoholics to stop drinking and meth addicts to stop doing meth...

I told one of the volunteers about it, and her response: Pray about it...

Okay: Lord God, you are the great teacher and the great provider of wisdom... please help these volunteers get a clue... in Jesus' Name, Amen!

I started this blog largely out of frustration for exactly this sort of thing. Everyone who's followed it knows it's about bad behaviour... is stinking to high heaven bad behaviour? If you're invading a small room with lots of people in it: YOU BET IT IS!

But this particular man has problems. He's very quiet, peaceful, and keeps to himself. He rarely speaks. When he does he usually utters one or two words at most. What caused him to become this way, I can only guess. Nobody seems to know for sure. Last season at the Warming Centre, Bob and Donna McKenzie called an ambulance for him, and he refused to get on it even thought he'd suffered some sort of seizure. The Ambulance Crew could not act. Nobody had any power to do anything.

Christians act out of compassion for the individual. It's their mission. What is usually left out of the equation is compassion for those around that individual. Everyone else can go to hell and suffer because we must all have compassion for that individual... and this is where the vast majority of Christians and I part company.

Compassion is counterproductive when you allow anyone to inflict harm upon themselves or others. Was it Christ's message to let this go on? Really? Someone show me where in Christ's message rest of us have to tolerate it at any level.

At what point will this man be told to change into clean clothing that doesn't reek to high heaven or leave?

The problem has made the front page of one of Livermore's most respected news outlets. I've seen post after post to this blog from people looking for a reason to complain about the homeless and bring the hammer down on the lot of us.

Well: here's an excuse!

Forgiveness and compassion are just dandy... but Christ said: Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (Book of John 8:11) How long before it's appropriate to tell someone “No More!”?

To all you people out there who have kept us alive and clean and clothed, thank you! Do not mistake me, you truly are doing the Lord's work.