Righteous Dopefiends

"There is health care for the wealthy in this country, and then there is health care for the poor in this country" - Dr Tucker

One of the Psychiatrists at PTH said this in one of our medical meetings a couple months back, and it's stuck with me.

Did you know that we can predict how long people with certain illnesses will live compared to other people with that very same illness and prognosis based upon the zip code that they live in?

I'd say it's about time that the commodification of health in the form of decent services and pills be debased, and our methods and way of thinking about health be expanded to acknowledge the social and economic structures that are the true pathology of our largely preventable health care crises.

When profit over people becomes the norm, it should at least be recognized as such.

People do not become dopefiends because they are bad people; they are a part of a complex system (biological and social), and they do what they do because they are basically trying to feel human. You would do the same thing. I would, too. People are not homeless by their own fault, and if you think so then YOU are homeless, just in a different way.

"Man in nature listens to the first voice; in society he listens to the second"

Be mindful of the stances of the people with whom you are aligned.

Links to my life found here!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/03/hightech_street_show_aims_to_m.html

http://www.veterans.senate.gov/hearings.cfm?action=release.display&release_id=bab2c127-95d9-4b58-b4d6-ccfc8cc2e0f6

These two links tell a little about pathways

And i've told some of you about my friends in "da hood" of east harlem, who happen to run a medicaid scam out of the first floor of our office. The good buds of mine can be read about in this article below. Obviously after so much notoriety, I may not be seeing these guys around much, in fact, the main guy's name is "Peaceful", and he said today "you not gonna see me around anymore after today. Dead-ass (that means seriously)". Who knew that it was illegal to pay people cash for dental exams and then bill medicaid for full services?



Spring is here in NYC, finally. Don't be surprised if you don't here from me in a while. I will be outside.

A convienient way to lose your soul

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/83729/sustainable-food-delivery-in-new-york-city

take deep breath, forget it

I have mentioned this before, but I have days where I see things that are tough.amazing.hilarious.devastating, and I have to admit that these things mess with my head/gut a little. But the thing that is most difficult for me is the transition from these environments:

A crack *home*- where people are laying across broken kitchen chairs and staring through you--where your client (dopefiend/ sex offender, but beautiful and sweet) needs help with his diabetes medications (and everything else!!) and their friends begin crying "I know I'm smart, but I think I'm going crazy...can you help me?" They are vulnerable and share their lives with you, and you try to help...

Driving to find a "safe" check cashing location with a client to avoid drug dealers who are on the lookout

Yoga class, where the woman next to you is passing gas and whispering to herself and to you she says, "I'm not gonna let you kill them" (haha this one was funny)

Hugging the sober-for-4-months-wants-to-be-a-mother-and-not-a-crackhead/prostitute client because she has been sober for 4 months and she has hardly people to tell

--It messes with my head to go from this to:

downtown NYC. Hippster, fashionista, marketing bullshit. Where status wafts around like a required sensibility. I can do it somedays, but other days, I just can't handle it. Maybe I will get used to it, but I'm not really sure if I want to.

That's all on that.

You 5-6 people reading this should check out the funniest guy on earth, ricky gervais at his website

His podcasts are also really funny


My sister Tracy was also in town last week. She like NYC and wants to move here, which would be cool. She gave me ideas for decorating my house so it doesn't look so poopy.

The End

Arsenal sucks. LOST predictions

Can I just humbly suggest that Arsenal FC are a bunch of tickwomping, hooligans who can't win a decisive match to save their own jobs.

LOST final season prediction: final epsiode morphs into a Survivor finale with the mysterious guy who never ages as the host. Locke gives up so he can eat peanut butter. Jack faints into a fire. Kate actually kills someone-- that person being Walt--she shoots him while he is dunking a basketball as he become mega-athletic and muscular. JJ Abrams makes a cameo as a native in war paint with star trek designs. I can't wait.

I'm able to post such nonsense because I have internet at my apartment now.

and looking forward

"Six feet of land was all that he needed"
-Tolstoy


Before I am put to watch over my 6 ft of ground, i have a few ambitions

and in no particular order:

-dance on all 7 continents
-learn to play the piano
-have a piece of writing published
-hang glide over a jungleous-mountain wilderness while screaming at the top of my lungs and not holding back the tears
-laugh so hard i have to get rid of the clothes i was wearing
-make my own clothes
-be a farmer
-take a good picture
-keep talking to myself, people, animals and other inanimate objects
-read a book to my kids or someone's kids
-with nothing on my mind, in a rocking chair, on a porch, i would like to just sit

feel free to share your own ideas

Yeaer in Rearview

Looking over my 2010 shoulder, last year was a fairly interesting one. Let me give you a summary:

Dec 31-Jan 1- New Years in Seattle with friends

Two words: Family Game

Jan 4 through March 7- Lived in Urubamba, Peru

I learned a little Spanish, met a some great people, lived at 10,000ft, worked at 11,900ft. Stood out (like always) on bus rides full of Quechuan people--whose lives have been the object of my thoughts lately, and I haven't yet decided whether they should be helped by us, or if we are the ones who need help.

March 11- June 26- Spokane, WA

Living with Parents. Sleeping on couch in basement. Using hot tub often, if not more.

June 27-29- Interview in Queens, NY

(parked my truck in Queen Anne, Seattle) to JFK, NY on red eye interviewed for a job in Jamaica, Queens, slept at Motel 8 took bus to Boston, MA stayed with friends, walked the freedom trail and back to Seattle slept on bench in airport, woke up found truck and drove back to Spokane in time to watch Hoopfest

June 29-Aug 12- Spokane, WA

Relaxation. Red Lion Hotel. Looked for jobs. Parents couch. Accepted job with Pathways to Housing in East Harlem. Preparation, etc.

Aug 12-15- Spokane, Bismark, Chicago, somewhere in Connecticut, NYC

Took this route with friend, Evan who was kind enough to detour on his way to NC

Aug 15^th- Sept 20^th- Upper east side Manhattan- started job in East Harlem—a quick subway ride up to 125^th street station- steep learning curve, crappy, small room and weird roommate offset by starting my own life, 5 blocks from central park, exploring NYC, getting lost, finding myself far from everything that I knew, but finding myself loved. Stress, stress, stress.

Sept 20- Dec 22- Astoria, Queens

moved into my own apt. Work, work, work. Fun and lots of learning. Getting to know Harlem and the Bronx. Also spent Thanksgiving in Durham, NC with friends.

Dec 23-29 Spokane, XMAS

Back to Spokane for Holidays

Dec 29- Present- NYC

As a bit of a bonus, here are some of my top memories from 2009:

#3 re-using my own toilet paper Urubamba, Peru

(I’m almost positive it was my own)

3a- Macchu Piccu with two old friends Peru

3b- Cuzco with my Peruvian brothers

#2 my interview trip to NYC…can’t believe I did that, it’s long story, but I’m giving myself a pat on the back for that one

2a after sleeping in the seattle airport, taking the train to my truck and making it halfway back to Spokane, I decided to brush my teeth because my mouth needed it. Spitting out the toothpaste at 75mph is the same as drooling down your neck, arm and seatbelt

#1 This isn’t so much a memory as a reality—the reality is that no imagination is more interesting than real life. Come work in my job and you will find out why…

1a- taking ____ to the doctor and then to a local Cuban restaurant to eat and watch america’s funniest home videos

1b the cross-dresssing, drug peddling, scam artist/dental hygenist on the first floor of my office. Get paid to get your teeth cleaned. Figure that one out!

1c- the smells, the people, the history—they are all good memories being made