8:30 a.m. I wake up with my friend. We spend some time together talking and I have some breakfast, a leftover wrap that she had gotten the day before, it’s honey barbecue chicken. She has to leave at 10:00 a.m. so both her and I leave the house right around 10:00. I have an interview with a woman named Laura who experienced homelessness for a good period of time on methadone mile in Boston.
I drive to Laura’s she lives in Lynn. My little car is low on fuel so I stop at a gas station in downtown Lynn. There’s a woman standing outside and she has sores on her face. She approaches my vehicle as I’m getting out of the car to pump my gas she says to me, “do you want anything?” I say, “what do you mean?” And she whispers to me, “sex?” I say to her, “hold on I have something to say to you,” as I’m trying to figure out the gas pump. She walks back over and she says, “what did you have to say?” I say to her, “I just have to say please take good care of yourself.” She says, “I plan on going to treatment,” I say, “I could get you into treatment today if you’d like.” She says, “oh no, but I do plan on going.” I say to her, “well please take good care of yourself and be careful.”
10:50 a.m. I arrive at Laura’s building, I text Laura and she buzzes me in. She has a nice place. The inside of the building is beautiful and the room is neat and orderly. Laura makes me coffee and I set up for an interview.
11:30 a.m. Laura takes her time to tell me her story about trauma, loss, ending up homeless, and her journey to rebuilding her life. It’s a powerful and amazing story and I’m happy that she has spent the time with me and I hope that the story could help others.
1:00 p.m. I take Laura to a couple stores, to pick up some items she needs and I bring her back to her house. I drive back out to Salem and park my car next to the library again. I Go to the library and upload videos and charge my phones. I hang out at the library until dinner time at LifeBridge down the street.
5:00 p.m. I walk over to Lifebridge and get my dinner. I see your friend that I’ve been talking to Vicky. There’s been a lot of struggles going on at the Tent City in Salem. Some unknown people destroyed a storage tent. It seems that although a lot of people have tents close to each other sometimes they bicker and fight. I let Vicky know that I’ll continue to come down and try to help when I can.
5:45 p.m. I take a walk with Vicky over to the tents next to Wendy’s in Salem. Ashley is outside and there’s another fellow that I don’t know well. Ashley said she’s been cleaning up for a while and is exhausted and doesn’t want to do any more work. Another girl named Skyler shows up and offers help and supplies. I asked Skyler what organization she’s from and she tells me that she’s from Witch City Action, I looked them up and they are a newer non-profit that helps people that are living in the street.
6:30 p.m. Since there isn’t any work to do and it’s getting cold I let my friends at the Tent City know that I’m just going to head back to my tent and go to sleep. I walk back to the library and I drive to the location where my camp is set up. As usual, I trek through dark woods to my camp and then I do a video explaining the importance of using your night vision to find your way in the darkness when you live outside in the woods. I settle into my tent and just get ready to go to bed.