Stupid Tickets

It’s always getting those stupid tickets that are so annoying cuz if you don’t pay you’ll get thrown into the holding cells for god knows how long. The best thing to do is pay them on time and stay away from doing stupid things.

The Power of A Smile

The power of fire can burn.
The power of life without
U knowing it can
Turn.
The power of wind can chill.
The power of the soul can
Go to heaven or hell
And the power or anger can rage
Inside of u until it tears u apart
But the power of a smile
Especially urs can heal a frozen
HEART

Secret

I am struggling with rent $ but I have made it. My struggle is with not spending any money. What I’ve done to help myself is take ¾ of my money that I make everyday and put it away. It works if you stay dedicated. It’s hard because of my habits but it’s worth it in the end.

Bike Ride

Keep Truckin'

What I want to talk about today is trying to keep my house. I’m having a very difficult time trying to make it work. The guy we pay our rent to took off with the money. Now we’re screwed. What I don’t understand is why things always fall apart when you need them to happen the most? What are you supposed to do when you’re stuck in a corner? Pray? Give up? Keep truckin’ it? I wish someone could answer those questions. I’m a strong person but even the strong person needs a break.

Sunrise

Right now I am at a point in my life of what should I do now, what am I going to do, who am I? The first step is going to Sunrise for me and for my family.

Keep Your Head Up

Stay strong
If you’re willing to change
Although you may have ups and down
Twists and turns
Keep your head up.

Making Change

I am currently battling an ongoing crystal meth addiction and it sucks. I am changing friends and perspectives on life. I am constantly thinking about how I can avoid it that day. All my friends know and they are great to me. I know I’ll get through it, and just knowing this makes me stronger.

How has my thinking changes?

It’s changed in a way that I can’t even say how. Now I think of going and seeing a movie instead of drinking or smoking weed. I have changed from trying to rip people off to trying to help people find what they are looking for.

I guess I have changed for the better.

What Should I Do?

I caught my best friend’s girlfriend cheating on him. I do not know what to do. Should I tell him? I went to the bar last night. She was all over some dud,. Completely sober, too!!!

I could not believe it. She is an awesome girl and she is just perfect for my friend. When he finds out he will be heart-broken. I don’t know, I’m stuck. I don’t want to hurt either one of them so should I just let it go and let him find out for himself? I am super confused. Maybe I just will tell him. Isn’t that what a true friend does?

Making Change

I moved in with my aunt two days ago. I phoned my cousin in Yorkton and he told me my aunt moved here a month ago and he gave me her number. I called her and told her my situation. She told me to come over and talk to her in person. I went to her house and she laid down the rules and told me that I can stay there for $100 a month. I gave her 40 already and now I really respect her. I feel like I’m making changes.

Struggling With Weed

I smoke weed everyday. I’ve tried to quit but every time I do I get so stressed I just need to smoke a joint to calm me down. I’ve quit all other drugs but this one is tough. I’ve been struggling with it for years. I wish I could quit but it keeps me from being stressed. One day I hope I can quit and not need it but it is tough. I might be struggling with this all my life. I hope not. If so, at least it doesn’t affect my work or life like hard drugs.

Calgary = Money $$$

Calgary is one of the only places I have ever been where there are so many homeless people and no one wanting to help. It seems like everyone here is just here for money. To get anything here or to do anything you need money. It’s like if you don’t have you shouldn’t live here. Why not? We are all people. We may not have lots of money or a house but it’s the rich people here that we have to blame for it. They tear down all these houses that people could live in so they can build million dollar high rises. Why is there a need for more high rises or a need to get the homeless people off the streets. Be smart not greedy.

Finances "What I'm Struggling With"

Having people come up to you asking for money is hard because if you’re living on the streets you need that money for yourself to depend on. Right? It’s even harder when you know that the other person who is asking is also living on the streets. Sometimes, when you’re trying hard to save money to get off the streets, it’s actually quite hard because others who live on the streets too ask for money. It is really hard to say No. There are reasons why they need money to survive, too. Supporting their needs in a good way helps. I know people would or maybe would spend the money on drugs or alcohol. It is hard to say No to a street person. Some are really pushy and forceful. When someone does that sometimes, I get scared to say No, depending on who the person is. I know that I need to save a lot of money in order to survive.

Changes I Have Made

The changes I have made to go forward in life is quitting drugs and crime. I feel life on the streets has made me tougher as a person. As I try to succeed in life, I will know what it was once like to be homeless, to be that person on the street and I will not treat anyone like poop. What I want to do is to move to New Brunswick and see my Mom and by brothers, timothy, Nicholas and Jamie and to start anew.

What Is Useful *** What Is Not***

• It’s useful to set goals for oneself.

Without goals one has nothing to strive for or be rewarded for.

** It is not useful, however, to set unrealistic goals or goals that are unimportant to oneself. Unimportant goals tend to be neglected and left on a back burner until it is often too late to accomplish. We have to remember, no matter how hard we are, that non-completion of goals hurts our drive and discourages us from wanting to do anything with ourselves.

How Has My Thinking Changed

Well, I would have to say that in my past I always hung out and stayed around the people and things that were holding me back and taking my life( living the streets, doing drugs and crime).

But after awhile (with help and support from others) I started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It took many years but I know that I have gone from a zero to a hero. Everyday is a war but I always think of how far I have come to be a positive and not a negative and that’s where I’ll be with my positive thinking!

A Change of Scene

I’ve said it enough
Now is the time,
I’m done with these people,
I’m done with these lies,
I can’t help the helpless,
I can help myself,
I will stay focused on my own precious self,
This scene is so negative,
The path with no end,
I need a new buddy,
A dog for my friend.

What I Have Overcome

I have overcome many obstacles so far. I have overcome drug addictions and many other obstacles in my life. I was a bad cocaine user as well as a crystal meth freak. I no longer use either of those drugs. I may have robbed, cheated and stole to pay for my addictions but I am no longer like that. My thinking has changed and so has my whole way of life. I do honest work for a living now. I would not even think of ripping someone off. I think that things maybe have been easier to deal with when I was always high but life means so much more to me now. I have been on the bottom without a thing besides the clothes on my back. I am glad that my life is no longer like that.

Something I'd Change

If I could change how shelters were run, the first thing I would change would be to let everyone come in and eat at the same time because then it wouldn’t make the image of favoritism or something like that.

What it Takes

What I think it takes to get off the streets is just get your butt in gear and work and save money. Don’t do drugs or drink cause it just slows your mind down and slows you down.

Be Good to Yourself

Be good to yourself because the better you feel, the better you’ll do. Work so you can have fun but don’t let the fun and games get out of hand or else you will start to drop in your effort towards work and your devotion to it. Take care of yourself.

Getting My Life Together

I have made some changes in my thinking lately. After I lost my job at the Mountain Aire Lodge I was all depressed, but in the past week or two I have realized that I can’t change what happened. I also realized that even if I am unjustly accused of something I just have to get on with my life. Since then I have found a new and better job and I see that I can and will succeed without the Mustard Seed. I think, maybe, I am better off without it because I was using the place like a crutch to fall back on instead of focusing on getting my life together.

What it Takes

I was thinking about what it takes to get off the streets.
I think it takes sacrifice and dedication. I think I need to look at the reasons that got me on the street and the work out ways to stop making the same mistakes over and over.
I don’t think there is any other way.

A Part of Me that Died so I Could be Born

Life was good, life was sweet
You don’t know me and never will
I won’t take this! Watch my world unfurl
So alone, alone am I
Rocking back and forth all I know is how to die
Take another point, shove it in my vein
The only thing that could reach me
Take away the pain
Straight to the brain climbing walls
Your insane, put me down it means nothing at all
Regret remorse, guilt and shame
I know these things but only by name
To feel anything I wouldn’t know
To smoke this OZ in an hour is my only goal
Killing brain cells and my life
Using, abusing that seducing knife
Screaming, screaming silent I am
The only person who suffers the one I condemn
Finally, one day I ran out
Was forced to take a look about
My friends were scared, as wrecked as I
My mom was really dead, still I couldn’t cry
The pain still there no relief at all
No more drugs, no one to call
Truly lonely, what as cost
All I really wanted I lost
The chance to be in school and have a career by now
I let it slip through preoccupied by stupidity somehow
Never got to know my mom better through all the pain
Ten years after a liver transplant wasted in vain
The rest of my family a mess
How with them was I supposed to find happiness?
Hit the street right on the only things I knew
I considered gone
Eventually met someone like me
To help me move on
It’s been a struggle, it’s been hard
I’ve been dealt shitty hands and had to examine each card
I made it back at the later still far from the top
You’ll never know how far you’ll make it if you give up
I’m back in school, got my family back that I’ve never known
My love inside is full blown
That someone I met is my fiancé
Who’s to say where someone will take you one day
I’ve been clean off meth close to three years today
If I didn’t quit I’d have nothing to say
I’d be dead, no one would know
The wonderful things I have to share
For this world to contribute is my goal.
Life isn’t always pretty that’s true
To kill yourself with drugs isn’t fair.
Let go of resentments
Forget the past
You have a future
Put down that shit at last
Life is waiting so come along
You misplaced it, it isn’t all gone
For the things that are, are going to be alright
To build anew is why you fight
Don’t let life’s glory escape you
Because you feel bad
Everything you want is in front of your hand
You can do anything, it’s in your state of mind.

Big City

If you want to be a bum and stick out your thumb don’t be dumb and run when there is no 711 and no people to help. You’re fucked! You can’t be a bum when you’re not in a big city and that’s a shitty, damn pity.

Work Hard and Live Long

You can live and live but you have to work hard to live a long time. You push your feet and your heart to get to that safe spot and then you sit but you know that you can’t quit.

Suck it Up Buttercup

When you find what you are looking for and you can’t grab it, you get frustrated. You can be mad but you fight on. When you have what you want you have to keep it and move on to the future and suck it up Buttercup.

How to get it Together

To enable myself to get what I want out of life, I’m going to have to invest time into myself. This will include time spent on work, hobbies and school. This positive affirmation of self will allow me to productively move forward in life. Retire, get rich and understand why it is I am here…

Dumb Roomates

My cousin, Jessica, decided she would throw a hissy fit over childish things. It all started when her boyfriend mooched off of us for a month. Me being dumb kept all my anger inside and, eventually, I exploded.

Today she came into my room while I was sleeping wanting me to babysit her child while she had a nap. I told her, “No”, and she got mad and slammed my room door.

I snapped and came out of my room yelling, “If you slam my door again I’ll slam you”. She then decided to knock over everything on the coffee table. Childish, eh?

I am childish in a way but not like that. I left the house to cool down and when I returned she had begun to pack her things telling me she was moving out. I looked at her and told her, “I don’t care, do what you want.”

I know my actions were childish but I kept my anger buried inside for way too long and it was itching to come out over the dumbest things. I have dragged this on long enough. It is time to say my goodbyes.

What I'm Struggling With

I’m a recovering meth addict so I have very little seratonin in my brain which makes it very difficult to feel happy ever. So when people in society powertrip on me or make things harder for me makes me snap. Which makes me burn a lot of bridges and makes it hard to get by as a normal productive member of society and makes it extremely difficult to stay off the streets nor to have hope.

Making changes

I went 2 Vancouver 2 get away from some of the more negative influences in my life. I got involved in some recovery programs 4 awhile, then worked on staying clean and strengthening my willpower. I returned 2 Calgary 2 support my soon 2 be born son. We are living with my mother. I am starting work and I’m doing my best 2 avoid the downtown scene altogether.

Rent Too High!!

I am struggling to find a place to live right now. It’s hard in Calgary. Rent is too high so I can’t afford it. I have to find roommates now to split the cost. That sucks!

What it Takes to Get Off the Streets

• Set yourself a reasonable goal that you know you have the ability to reach.
• Work as hard as you can.
• Don’t depend on anybody.
• Do it for yourself.
• All it takes is sheer determination and will power.
• You can do it.
• Push yourself to your limits.
• Anything is possible.
• All you have to do is want it badly enough.
• You can get out of the bottomless hole.
• You can do it. I have.

Struggle!

Right now I am struggling, no money, sick, sore and no energy but I gotta force myself passed it. Sleeping on a hard floor and working. What a struggle!

Life

In my opinion life is a never ending dream of our own creation. Everything that happens to the world around you does in fact happen for a reason. You may not know why, but whether good or bad, there is a reason. You may not ever find out why it happened but it happened and there is no way to find it out. If we knew where or when everything is going to happen, there wouldn’t be life.

Just think, if the dream all of a sudden ended, what would happen to us?

A Lesson

What I’ve learned about life so far is this: You can’t control other people. You can only control yourself. Which pretty much means, don’t try to tell somebody, “No, don’t do that”. Remove yourself from what’s going to happen and you won’t get involved.

Awakening

I sometimes look back at what I once was and the life I had been living. It was not a pretty sight. It was filled with lies and deception and I was actually proud of my drugs and the way I acquired them, not to mention the women who sometimes accompanied that life style. But what changed all of that was the day my fiancée announced the fact that I was going to be a father. Well let me tell you it was a major kick to the family jewels because at that moment I suddenly realized that so many things had to change and ASAP. I could no longer be so irresponsible about myself and my life. Since then I’ve been clean and sober for a total of about 61/2 months and it has brought me closer to my fiancée and I felt good about myself knowing that now I don’t have to steal, cheat or lie. Any money that I have was legitimately earned and with that comes a lot of respect not only from my peers but from myself as well. In three months I will have a beautiful baby boy to devote all my love and attention to the there is no better feeling in the world than the feeling of love and success.

Control

People always need some sort of control in their life. Control can be unhealthy or healthy. When people try or succeed in controlling something in your life. Control can be unhealthy or healthy. When people try or succeed in controlling someone else that lasts for so long and is mean and selfish. Controlling what someone does or says isn’t right the same with controlling who they associate with. This control is not right or healthy for anyone some people choose to be controlled by someone else and that’s not healthy either unless it’s related to ‘behind closed door activities’. That’s called low self-esteem. The ones that want to be controlled by someone else mean they choose not to or don’t know how to make decisions for themselves. They don’t know or choose not to speak for themselves so they get someone else to speak for them. When it comes to someone that enjoys controlling other lives in some way or another usually are insecure within them and cover it up by focusing and putting it on someone else. Both of these unhealthy ways of control can be changed.

Taking control or allowing someone to control your life usually happens when they feel they have no other form of control in their lives. People that have been instutionalized, abused, abandoned, stepped on and so on usually end up becoming one of the two. The fact that they had limited control in their lives some people turn to eating disorders addictions, using and manipulating others (mostly the opposite sex). Some people play head games, run away from people that mean something special to them so they don’t hurt first, so they hurt others first. This happens because somewhere in their past life, they were hurt by people that they may have gotten close to. Now they stay alert when they are getting close to someone and they leave first. People who grew up in unhealthy situations, environments learn and create unhealthy control behaviours.

You choose who you want to be in life. What you say and do are forms of control

Who Knows

When I see someone freakin out all over the streets I see someone lost and confused. I see someone afraid. They could be afraid of many things. As for you I don’t know, don’t care what you see.

When I see a victim played in an abusive relationship I see someone confused, afraid, hurt, a lost soul Why I see this is that I was once there. I don’t know what you see. I see me.

When I see someone selling themselves on the corner, I see that, maybe that is all they may know in regard to themselves. That is the way they know how to survive. They may be trapped and can’t escape from the fantasy they live in. Once again I see me. I once was there.

When I see someone slicing their body up with razors or whatever, I see someone that may believe “hey, I’m scared inside so why not match it on the outside too.” Perhaps pain is all they know> who knows-who cares? I do cause I once was there.

When I see someone taking advantage of someone…I see. a power trip at someone else’s expense. That person may hurt inside and they are expressing their hurt they’ve learned over the years. What you see, who knows and who cares.

When I see someone that has an eating disorder, I see someone who worries what people may think or say about them. So they do all they can to watch their weight.
What you see, who knows, who cares.

Self Control

It’s okay to have a few drinks here and there but when you start getting like hammered everyday there’s something wrong because you need self control for everything that’s like booze. Keep it down to a minimal use, then you should stay on top of your game.

A Glass of Water

It was a hot day and a young man was selling books to raise money for his college fund. He went to a house and knocked on the door. An older lady answered the door. The young man told her that he was raising money for a college fund. Then he asked her if she would like to buy some books. The older lady replied by saying that she wasn’t very good at reading and she didn’t want to buy any books. He said, “That’s okay.”

The young man asked if he could trouble her for a glass of water. She said, “No problem, come inside and sit down.” She went into the kitchen and came back out with some milk and cookies. She said, “Rest for a bit. It looks like you’ve been working hard all day.”

He sat there and talked a awhile and then he had to get back to work sell some books. He asked for her name and she told it was Mary Brothwell. He thanked her for her generosity and he left.

Twenty years went by and Mary Brothwell was very sick and ended up in the hospital with cancer. She had to go through a complicated surgery. The had to bring in a special surgeon from Florida to do the surgery. The surgery went very well. Mary and her husband got an envelope from the surgeon and they did not have enough money to pay for the surgery. They were devastated and thought that they would have to sell the farm. Mary’s husband opened the envelope and saw that it was the bill and they saw page after page of hospital expenses. Thirteen pages later they finally saw the total and saw that it was going to cost them everything they would have to sell the farm. Then they both started crying. They looked a little bit further and there was a note that said paid in full buy a glass of milk and some cookies.

The moral of this story is this. Be generous and kind because you never know when you are going to need help. Generosity will always pay you back in a much bigger way.

Anonymous

Untitled

concrete
row by row
quite contrary how a flower can still grow
as we reap the weeds that we won’t admit having sewn
amidst the dirt and grime
fields paved to lay way
for a path to tomorrow
structurized by today
a barren field
of unfertile land
streets of undesired
falling though the cracks
seeds black as hearts
losing their fight
sidewalk lay broken
cracking away
but a green bud is sprouting
from the decay
as a blossom of some other day
lets the sun shine where shadows of a bad seed
are harvested and tossed away
by the hands of what may

Somebody

Struggles

There are struggles within every person.
Some people choose to hide it and try to move on with their lives whereas some people choose to make it into the biggest thing- focusing their whole lives on it and either living in a shithole or being homeless doing drugs trying to avoid it instead of dealing with it and moving on and making a better life for themselves.

☺

Family are the people that would back you up one hundred percent no matter what. They’re the ones that would give up everything for you.

☺

Mom

The one who’s always there
The one who will always care
Haven’t always don you right
No I know and won’t fight
I need you now more that ever
You’re my best friend forever
I hope my kids see me
As I’ve always seen you
Caring, forgiving, beautiful
My best friend
Thank you for the life you’ve given.

Alcohol

Booze is a disease
It will keep you on the street
You’ll be sick every day
You’ll vomit on your feet
When it gets cold in the winter
You’ll drink to keep warm
You’ll steal from your friends
Steal right from their hearts
When you get the shakes
It’s time to think
Drop the bottle
Or your ship will sink

Serious Steps

Making serious steps towards some positive change
The format of my life that I reed to rearrange
At first it could be scary and maybe feel strange

It’s something I must do in order to help myself
To move on and be strong for the betterment of my health
Also for me to have mental wealth

Things will get better this I swear
It’s best for myself and it’s only fair
So long as I put in effort, I need to care

We’ll see where this takes me this time around
Not letting my doubt beat me to the ground
Look inside myself, that’s where answers are found.

From Vancouver to Ottawa

For the past eight years I have lived on the streets form Vancouver to Ottawa and everywhere in between. The fact is that it is a lot easier to become homeless then it is to get off the streets and away from the lifestyle.

When I finally had enough of the whole scene I took a look at what factors were keeping me on the streets – addiction, unemployment and scars from the past. No problem, I was fully and completely willing to change and work on recovery. Now six months later, I’m sober, employable, going to counseling but, still on the streets.

I am not losing faith that someday I will have a life that I want. I do realize that every big step I took opened a new door to plenty of other steps I had to do that I was not prepared for. If you do decide to change, don’t let setbacks or new challenges stop you. It is a lot harder than you could have imagined.

Good Luck!

Taken For Granted

Don’t take things for granted because you never know what you’ve got until you lose it no matter what it is. Once you take it for granted you can already say goodbye. I guess what I am saying is, be grateful for everything and anything you have whether it’s family, friends, possessions, girlfriend. Just be grateful and things shouldn’t screw up.

Friend or Foe

I have been through a lot lately with my “friends”. I’ve been lied to, stolen from, and used. So just make sure that you have friends you can trust.


L1K3W1Z3

Friends are there to Help

Friends are there to help. A friend will help you when you need it. I have realized that within the last few weeks. I was in a tight spot and if it wasn’t for friends, it could have gotten worse. If you have friends make sure that they are loyal!

L1K3W1Z3

Trial and Error

This piece is about what I’ve overcome and what I still have yet to overcome. It took me roughly three years of trial and error to get off my downward spiral. It’s something I reflect on as a very serious accomplishment. It came with much struggle, effort and time that I had invested. I finally succeeded with rehab. Everyday since I have put an end to that problem, I wake up wanting to throw it all away and continue my consumption habits. Constantly, I have to justify to myself all the sacrifices and efforts I have made on behalf of fixing this thing. Yet again and again, that is al I find myself thinking about most days. There’s no logic to it.

Peace, D.B.

What can You Do When You Live in a Shoe

My thinking has changed so much ever since I have turned eighteen. All I can think about is how important it is not to get into trouble with the law. I notice myself being way more cautious about what I do and how much I think about everything that people tried to tell me about how much I am going to regret the actions that I was making at the time. I am starting to realize that they were right.

If I would have listened to what people who have been there and done it had to say, maybe I wouldn’t have such a long record and maybe I wouldn’t have to pay lawyers fees and maybe I wouldn’t have found myself on the streets so young.

I also think about how much I laughed in my older brother’s face when he was homeless and he told me that I was going to be there too because of everything I was doing at the time. I told him, no, that would never happen to me.

Now here I am five years later and regretting a lot of things but I am trying to dig my way out.

But what can you do when you live in a shoe, but go to the store and get laced!

LOL (Laugh Out Loud)

Crystal

Friends

Friends are those people you meet along the way. They understand when things go wrong. They are always around when you need them to be there. Friends are those people who don’t stab you in the back when you’re not looking. Friends are the ones who come running when you hurt or are in the hospital, who care about you, who understand you when you’re under a lot of pressure with work and school or if you have problems with someone or something. They understand everything that goes on and they always want to lend a hand when times get hard.

C.D.

A Few Ideas

From personal experience with shelters I have a few IDEAS that might improve things:

1. Being more compassionate to those who really are trying to better their lives.

2. Never deny food.

3. For staff not to think that they are better than the people who stay there.

4. Stop offering outdated/moldy snacks

5. Better security

6. Earlier bedtime

Drugs or disease: Based on the Book (Addiction)

An addiction brings us to this topic today. What is an addiction?
Is it a brain illness or is it a state of mind that we do not want to grasp. To some people it is some thing that can be fixed with a different addiction and some treatment. However, do we think that we need to do this to assimilate a healthy lively hood? Safer places for us to be or to be in control of ones self.
Do we need to medicate an already medicated person? How do we now that we are doing the write thing? You do not, you can only hope that you are helping us and bettering ourselves. it is why we do drugs, in our mind we are reliving our stress and we are reducing our out look on our intake of the shit that life throes at us. we can not be expected to live a serton way just because someone said it is the way to live happily ever after. It is what makes us who we are to do the things that we do. it makes us who we are weather we like it or not. You can take the drug away but you cannot take them way. It is hard for some who likes what they do to just imagine a new life style. To think of it as a disease and treat it like a disease would be wrong. It is some thing that we chose to do, on our own free will. I smoke weed, I do not feel that me doing so I jeopardize the life or wellbeing of any one, but I realize I have side affects to every thing I put into my body. I am not saying drug are good but they our in the hands of the beholder. To think that it is treatable thing and then it is over is incorrect. You should understand that it is a choice and is made by the person, not a disease. it can be compared to a fat or obsess child, to take away the food is not taking way the problem, but to strengthen the ego of the child and showing the appropriate way to eat. it will not be cured with pills and a steady pace. a good ego functioning person is a functioning person.

- C.S.

The Change That I Made

The change that I made was trying to show just how bad I wanted it.
To move from one life to another to want more of life than what I was getting.
To be able to live as two people instead of one person with lots of names or personalities.
I changed how I get along with and choose to be more available to myself.

And I love being free.

- C. S.

Doing Well

Life is getting a whole lot better every day. This is not the first time I have done this well. I have to be sure not to relapse this time. I do feel good about it this time.

-Unsigned

New Friends

I am just starting to make some better friends and I am already wanting to go party. I think I should try to stay sober for at least a full year. Who knows, maybe I’ll like it. I think I’ll give it a try.

-Unsigned

Bigger and Better

I met up with an old drug buddy today. We don’t have much in common anymore. When I told him I didn’t want to get high, he just left. Hmm…I guess he wasn’t that good of a friend after all. I think it’s time to move on to bigger and better things.

-Unsigned

MAKING CHANGE Shelters 2

Okay, so I just recently wrote my thoughts on shelters here in Calgary. Well, I think it is worse than what I had thought. I had mentioned last time that I had not been around in about twenty four months and the “protocol” was pretty retarded. Just give them a mat and whatever is no real help. Over the long weekend (I won’t mention any names) a couple had no choice but to spend one night in a shelter. The woman is pregnant. The two of them decided to sign up as a couple in the only shelter that allows couples to be together. After a long wait the names were called. They were the first to arrive and they completely understood that families come first. When the names were read, they were completely shocked to hear two couples including them were not chosen and one single man. This list had beds for families first, then women, then men and last but not least, couples. Think about it. How many places were available at the early evening for a single man? He was chosen over the pregnant couple. How #*@!* retarded is that? Then the couple had to face the last safe resource for her which was all full by the time they got there. The point is that she had to risk her safety and was turned away from a family based shelter. They knew of her condition and still they gave the bed away to some single guy. Holy cow, I see why so many people are hating their home city. We all know where the single guy can go, but whoever is in charge should snap out of it! We are all placed in uncomfortable situations at some point against our will, but the City of Calgary needs to help to meet everyone’s needs pregnant or not. Was that really fair?

Brandi

If I Can Help

I think we all have opportunities in life; I am waiting for mine, like we all are. I have this dream, this big idea this hope and what it is is to start my own… foundation? or organization to help our youth. I kind of see it like a boys and girls club but not really. I have so many ideas . What are we doing (society) to help our youth at risk? I want more interaction more hands on more involvement more of a connection, and follow up. what our youth needs is for us to reach out to them, they are at such high risk today, So many cant ask for help them selves or even recognize that they need help, and I want to be there to assist in there change. For any child who feels lost or not wanted loved thrown away I want to help. Looking back at my experience, I had no help. The social workers I had did not know what I needed because, well, they did not show an interest. I had things written down and said about me and what kind of person I was but that was all false. They did not know anything; I had such low self-esteem I could reach out to them. Therefore, I felt I was ganged up on and when children feel that, way they act out. So we need to wake up and smell the coffee because our children wont change if we make assumptions and neglect what’s really wrong Calgary!- not just one city but all the provinces I think we can only blame our selves! Think about all the homeless, drunk, or just how many ” high risk” youths we have on our streets and why. We pretty much allow them there. Its time to snap out of it people how many of these places really make a difference? How many of these people said they were going to make a difference in our child lives. Change your outlook, and stop assuming and do it. Just read our newspapers people, start working together and get some ideas to REALLY help save our youth at risk

Brandi

Me and My Mom

Me and my mom went on vacation and it was pretty cool. We went to Vancouver and stopped on the way back through the small towns in the mountains. We got some awesome pictures. I’m so glad me and my mom can share these moments in life because most mothers and daughters cannot have that bond. I’m also thankful that as she’s getting older I appreciate her so much more. My best friend…

B

Making Change

What I have overcome in the last two years
I have overcome an unhealthy relationship and a drug addiction.
Where I want to go in the next two years
I want to have my own place and a car and be at the same job.
In twenty years
I want to have a farm, horses, dogs and dog kennels.

Ashley

Home VS The Streets

Comfortable, quiet and inviting
vs
Loud, drugs, alcohol, fear

Belongings, tears and special memories
vs
Backpack, violence, mean people

Family, friends, visiting, relaxing
vs
Broken relationships, looking for shelter, outside all day

Home always feels better especially when there is love.

Off the Streets

It takes a lot to get off the streets. Every time you feel like you’ve succeeded, like you’re so close, and everything turns around on you. Opportunities pass, plans change. It seems like whatever you do, you just won’t make it. You’ll never be in the place you want. But you can’t give up. No matter what gets I your way, you can’t let it stop you. Keep trying, never doubt yourself, be positive, and one of these days, you’ll make it. Just believe you can make it.

Tempest Beast
There is a raging beast
inside my selfish mind.
Tearing through my thoughts
destroying all that’s kind.

There is no stopping this Tempest Beast
for what it is, is sad.
My own creation lashing
driving me blindly mad.

-Zander