National "Feed The Homeless" Day!

A Rescue-fest.
It is Wednesday morning. I woke up with $2.41.

Last night, I practised on a spot where people might have come by and thrown me a couple bucks. Of course, they would have had to have been there, in order to do so. That didn't materialise. I will have to do a better job of squirrelling away money after having one of my huge "30 dollar" Friday and/or Saturday nights.

I wound up directing a lady to where she could buy cigarettes, who reciprocated by buying me a pack of them.

I then struck up a conversation with a musician, who was playing at the pizza place, where we were treated rudely (see Sunday's post,) about music in general. He gave me a couple of bucks, before he went in to play "the same three chords, over and over," as he described his art form.

Then, it was off to bed with me; alarm set for The Coffee Club.

Blessings And A Nice Breakfast With Pleasant Company

There was a special event going on at the Presbyterian Church, where The Coffee Club usually takes place. I learned that today is National "Feed The Homeless" Day, or something.

There were kiosks set up, representing various groups, offering free prescription medicine, health care in general, etc. The Waterfront Rescue Mission had a table set up, as well as the Catholic Social Services, for example. It was a rescue-fest.They were spooning out heaping servings of bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, grits, biscuits, jelly and butter and a multivitamin, along one wall.

Along the adjacent wall was set up a row of tables laden with doughnuts, pastries, and at last, the coffee, at the very end.

I've never seen so many in attendance at The Coffee Club. Word must have gotten out on the street to everyone except myself. Of course, there was pushing and shoving and bumping and dirty looks being thrown around, and the words "excuse me," were seldom heard.

The blessing, offered by a Pastor, was gradually drowned out with less than 20 seconds elapsed on it. There were verbal altercations, and a man spewing forth curses at another man, and threatening to kill him, while the blessing was still reverberating in the room.

The theme of the sermon was "I am somebody!" You might not have money or nice clothes and you live on the street, but I want you to look in the mirror and say 'You are somebody; God made you just as good as anyone else and loves you just as much'

I couldn't make out much past that, because he was drowned out by loud voices saying things like "Yo, can't you see I'm sitting there, that why I left my cup there! You better get your stupid m%*^$ a#% up on out of there, before I knock your @%^ out, for real! I'm not playing!; Tell your sorry-ass, crack whore bitch to move, too, nigga! I aint want her sittin' next to me an' I'm tryin' to eat! -Yeah, dat right, dat what I called her!; every nigga know 'bout her!"

Breakfast conversation, in other words...
Come See MeI filled up on food, adding my own hot sauce, which I've been toting around.

I was approached by a lady from one of the myriad health care operations, who asked me about the guitar which she often sees me carrying around town. We talked about music. Her husband plays guitar, her one son plays the bass, and her other son plays the drums.

The subject eventually worked its way around to health care, while impatient sorts jostled around us in a beeline for the eggs and grits.

The lady said that I would be able to get my eyeglasses replaced through her organization. I would be sent for an eye exam at one place, and then to an optometrist for a replacement pair. Mine have been broken about a year now. She told me the hours and location of her clinic and said: "Come see me." (about my blindness??)

I might get something out of Mobile, yet.

Another well dressed black lady was at a table, offering free prescription medication for "those without insurance," and seemed to look down her nose at me, while seeming more accommodating to the African-Americans.

Just for amusement, I asked her if she thought President Obama was doing "a good job."

A Marxist Nation

She gushed forth that, yes, she thought he was.

She explained that he was "a people person," and that he wanted to help the "lower" people, and that he wanted to see everyone get an education. She added that no other president ever cared about everyone getting an education.


I told her that, since I get all my information from a cheap AM radio, the only thing I hear is Conservative Talk Radio, from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and their ilk, so I only get "one side of the story."


She didn't seem familiar with Conservative Talk Radio, where they call Obama "evil," and say that we are teetering on the brink of becoming a Marxist nation.


But, I'll take a pair of free eyeglasses, if the people person is offering...