Memorial Day

I was taught that it is an honorable thing to serve in the service. I was also taught not very many things are worth going to war for. When my Cherokee great-grandma told me if your livelihood is threatened, it is a reason to go to war. This is the same woman who cried when we went to war because she thought that her sons would soon die for a cause not their own.

My uncle was a cook in the service, and my brother was a Green Beret and worked in communications during the Vietnam War. He now has Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome and is an alcoholic. Why? The cause was not his own.

He also sings, plays his guitar, and laughs. He is supportive to me and others who struggle. He is supportive of our causes. He has learned to get help if he gets too down and tells us to do the same. This is his cause.

My brother was in the Korean War. He found good prices on goods in the foreign community, learned to eat with chopsticks, and has learned to make a mean stir fry and excellent rice. He showed me how to make the best of the worst situations.

I have yet to get with it and spread the word on supporting the veterans here and everywhere. I'm telling people now, and I am remembering them too. I would like to honor the veterans and the families with a song that I am co-writing. We need to spread the word and support.

Author: T

In the News

My feelings about the death of Bin Laden is not so much an American or patriotic issue but a human issue. It's always bad when human life is lost, but I also believe that justice should prevail and everyone should be accountable for their deeds. I'm not sad over Bin Laden's death and I am not rejoicing. I am satisfied that justice prevailed because he reaped what he sowed. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Author: "T"

About Me

Being in a shelter is not where I had meant to be. Most people talk about being in charge of one's life. I thought that I was in charge of my life. I pay my bills, I follow the rules, and I volunteer my time in my community. Yet, here I am in the shelter; this is not where I am meant to be.

My mother taught me what was right and wrong and to follow the golden rule. I did those things change for me? How am I here?

Why am I invisible? Why do people shy away from me on the street? Why do people sneer? This is not how I treat people, so why are they mean to me?

My voice is ignored in the justice system, ignored in my community, ignored in my family. My talents are squeezed away from me; I hate who I am and where I am. Yet, I go on. My plans have changed. My most important plan is to be a role model for future generations, but I can't when I am here. It is not where I am meant to be.

Author: Anonymous

About Me

Me? I don't really know where to start. My birthday is in December and I am 23 years of age. I don't have kids and never been married. I am a preachers daughter, I have a mom, and I have 2 older sisters and one older brother. Even though I don't have kids, I love them.

My favorite food is fish. "Tilapia" fish. Actually, I also like romantic movies, too. My favorite movies is Donnie Brasco and Never Too Big.

Being here is like a second chance to me. My goals in life is to finish school and get my GED. I want to be a meteorologist--science, and chemistry. I was cool at first. I went to school for a while and wanted to be in criminal justice. I really want to better myself and get me a nice apartment and do right by myself and others. I go to church every Sunday and bible school every Friday. I do believe in God. I believe that God wouldn't give me nothing that I can't handle...or even place me in a predicament that I can't get out of. I am a strong woman. I can't find a job but I want to get a job. Any kind of job is cool with me. I can adjust. I just need a job.

Author: Marie

About Me

My name is Pauline and my birthday is in February. I have a brown color shade of skin. I am short. I have dark eyes. I am in need of housing. I used to live in apt. housing for sick but now I am trying to get forms for homeless housing certificate before I can move in my own apt. and I will be living in the area soon after the form is finished. Then I can move out of here.

Author: Pauline

Change

Why does change have to be so hard? Is it because we worry about the consequences that will follow it? You never know until you try. I believe we as people rounded this land by taking a risk and that risk is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Overall, I think that change is good.

There is a new era of life where we want to do something but knows that it is not benefiting us one bit. Society today is leaning on technology to help us answer the problems that we started. We need to leave the unknown where it is at. The world today has issues far beyond our meaning. We made choices but we won't deal with the consequences.

Here is my big and great change called "eternal life." The son of God made it possible. I feel Bin Laden's death doesn't make a difference for me. I have to think about me and God. We are not God. We as a whole will soon come to a change or a conclusion. People here died for the belief in finding something maybe truth but nothing will change unless we do something...

Author: Tia

Engaged in Today

An Autumn Leaf

Red

Perfect

Earthbound

It is dizzily spinning

dropping in water

leaves in its wake a trace of tomorrow

Little leaflet, five points

it lies against the brown, still earth

fingers against the muddy water

it lies...

like an outstretched hand ready for an embrace

Within moments

it gets lost in the land

like an illusion

it disappears

Awake

Awake

Autumn is near

Revolution is here

Author: Anonymous

Spring & Community

Hello World!

Spring? I think nature...stuff starts growing. We can eat food that was grown locally and in Kentucky, spring is beautiful! The trees are in bloom and everyone's at the parks.

Community is a context and a psychological process. What does spring mean for the psych process? new beginnings, maybe...

Depending on your sense of community, spring time happiness may make you burrow deeper into self-satisfaction, etc. For others, and myself, I hope the content and inspired feelings of spring leads us to embrace a new sense of community. Love thy neighbor, even the ones in OTR! Who are your neighbors? I hope that beauty of spring can remind me that I have neighbors all around the world. Maybe spring can help us remember to love others as we love ourselves, extend helping hands, etc...

Spring means new things, especially newborn babies everywhere! I was listening to NPR once and they were talking about ladies who're complete strangers talk as though they known each other for years. Babies are the source of conversation. They inspire hope, love and the abandonment of the walls to which we typically cling--we're thrown walls around ourselves to stay tough, to stay uninvolved, to keep from feeling guilty. Maybe spring can remind us how arbitrary and artificial many of those walls are....

The community is in our bones...deep in KY, mountains sleep, opening an eye every so often to gaze at the hardworking and struggling coal miners...sleepy dew, bright greens, this is the spirituality of my ancestors. I hope that an instinctual desire to do something with it will be done.

Author: Jeanine

Don't Become Homeless

My name is Brenda and I am homeless. Right now, I am living at the shelter downtown Cincinnati. Life is more than being homeless. There is a whole life outside the shelter. I say to the public never do drugs, maintain a job, respect people around you, stay out of trouble, take care of your family, and enjoy life because it's too short and you never know what God may have in store for you.

Be the best you can be in the world. Be somebody. Live your dreams and never give up because we are all God's children and everyone deserves a second chance in life. So make your parents and your friends proud of you. Everyone makes mistakes in their life and they are to be corrected. God bless you always.

Author: Brenda

Woman to Woman: Advice on Being Homeless

Homelessness can happen to anyone. The test is how you deal with this unexpected life crisis. I am sure that there are books on how to survive this event, and that there are success stories to let you know that there is a rainbow at the end of the tunnel. Going through this tunnel, I need support. I am not through it yet, but I will be.

There are some rules that you should know when you are homeless:

1. Let it go! Don't worry, you are not the first homeless person
2. If you are shy, get over it. Learn to share your feelings with each other
3. Find an art teacher. Take your mind off of things
4. It is OK to cry
5. Keep a journal and write, write, write!

And seek your higher power and thank him for your situation and ask him for guidance. Celebrate life and the successes with your new friends.

Author: Edith