Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Homeless In San Diego ( A Taste)

It's been almost four months since making my move from Colonel Libertad, Mexico. And not a moment too soon, considering all the killings going on down there. I am now living in sunny Escondido, at Interfaith Community Services, which is a transitional housing program for veteran's. And a bit closer to getting back on my feet and believe me when I tell ya, its a far better fit than St. V's, but without the view. I guess I,m not a big city kind of guy, because now I don't feel the intensity or pressure that comes with living downtown. Its impossible to compare the two places and again I thank the people of California and the Veteran's Administration and all the staff at these places for being there for people that have unexpected emergency's or just simply need a helping hand .

Ok having said that, let's shed some of that candy coating, communal living "sucks" and living downtown on the level that I was on, which is the bottom rung "really sucks" . But hey what can I say, "you get what you pay for". But while spending time at St. V's I caught pure "hell" and yes ( I know torture ), probably the most unexpected part of the ordeal was the constant advances made toward me by the gay residents. When I use the term "gay" I mean male homosexuals. These dudes were non-stop even though I told tem on numerous occaisons that "I,m not the one", they kept flirting and making smart ass remarks all the time.

I never was really thought of as gay until I arrived in California back in 04, since then I,ve been harassed and threatened and even discriminated against. In tons of situations, for example I may walk up on some dudes on the street and in passing " I might say some something like "whats up? " and someone will reply "I,m straight" and i,m like ( what does that have to do with the price of condoms in Egypt). At first I just tried to ignore these people but after a few years I figured I ought to run a "self check" program. I am a single middleaged black male ( Afro American sounds too generic) that's a divorced father of three adult kids. I have more college credits than most college seniors, I like to work-out, love watching movies, singing Karaoke and dancing. I normally can be found hanging out in college computer labs. I am a bit of a loner, "but not by choice". Since I have been taking classes for the past four years I have been mostly shopping at Walmart and Thrift stores. I also never wear pink or purple and I'm not feminine in any way, I even have a gravelly voice, so what's up with the all the gay stuff?

I am not homophobic and I like to think of myself as straight but not narrow, meaning to each his "or her" own. But what's really a trip for a guy like me from Denver, is that the gays here in Cali which is suppose to be the most liberal state in the union has more what I call " Broke Back Boys" than anything else. They appear and act like regular guys but only get with other dudes and will not admit openly that they are gay, some even have wives and kids. Well there are a lot of these kinda guys living in all male communal living situations and it makes sense, it's like one big happy hunting ground for them.

Because of my treatment these past four years and being called all the derogatory words (BB,CS,F,P,S,Q) to descibe gays and some times with the N-word added by more phobic and sometime racist people. I had become more sympathetic to gays and there causes, for instance'I feel they should be allowed to marry, but I think they should call it something other than "Marriage". It should have all the legal rights of a Hetero marriage. Then they will get what they want, it's all about the wording. The straight moral majority do not want same sex people to be defined the same way as a straight couple and in all fairness, they got the word first. The word gay came about in the sixties and has become more popular than the word homosexual and is used in legal jargon so just call it a "legal partnership" in other words, they should stop trying to piggyback a straight institution and create there own type of legal and spirtual bonding ceremony. As long as everybody is eighteen or over everybody is happy . I do have one beef, and that's public schools teaching little 8 year old Jimmy that its cool to get with little Johnny. This is definitely not cool.

So back to the gist, its been a hard four months for me and this gay thing ain't making it any better, along with all the other trials and tribulations. My new companions are all veterans and some of them are still in the war and have multiple battle scars, physically and mentally. Most are Vietnam and Gulf War Vets that are clean and sober trying to get repaired so that they can get back in the game.

Then there are some like myself that have a very unique situation that the staffers are not equipped to handle or deal with(that's another story). So in the mean time i,m going to try and remain cool and with a little luck and a look from the man above, I hope to be moving into my own place soon.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Wild Wild Wets, Todo Mundo, Creepy Creeps, Laura Cantrell, Graham Nancarrow

Rock, Latin reggae, and country music in Little Italy, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Harbor Island

It's been almost four months since making my move from Colonel Libertad, Mexico. And not a moment too soon, considering all the killings going on down there. I am now living in sunny Escondido, at Interfaith Community Services, which is a transitional housing program for veteran's. And a bit closer to getting back on my feet and believe me when I tell ya, its a far better fit than St. V's, but without the view. I guess I,m not a big city kind of guy, because now I don't feel the intensity or pressure that comes with living downtown. Its impossible to compare the two places and again I thank the people of California and the Veteran's Administration and all the staff at these places for being there for people that have unexpected emergency's or just simply need a helping hand .

Ok having said that, let's shed some of that candy coating, communal living "sucks" and living downtown on the level that I was on, which is the bottom rung "really sucks" . But hey what can I say, "you get what you pay for". But while spending time at St. V's I caught pure "hell" and yes ( I know torture ), probably the most unexpected part of the ordeal was the constant advances made toward me by the gay residents. When I use the term "gay" I mean male homosexuals. These dudes were non-stop even though I told tem on numerous occaisons that "I,m not the one", they kept flirting and making smart ass remarks all the time.

I never was really thought of as gay until I arrived in California back in 04, since then I,ve been harassed and threatened and even discriminated against. In tons of situations, for example I may walk up on some dudes on the street and in passing " I might say some something like "whats up? " and someone will reply "I,m straight" and i,m like ( what does that have to do with the price of condoms in Egypt). At first I just tried to ignore these people but after a few years I figured I ought to run a "self check" program. I am a single middleaged black male ( Afro American sounds too generic) that's a divorced father of three adult kids. I have more college credits than most college seniors, I like to work-out, love watching movies, singing Karaoke and dancing. I normally can be found hanging out in college computer labs. I am a bit of a loner, "but not by choice". Since I have been taking classes for the past four years I have been mostly shopping at Walmart and Thrift stores. I also never wear pink or purple and I'm not feminine in any way, I even have a gravelly voice, so what's up with the all the gay stuff?

I am not homophobic and I like to think of myself as straight but not narrow, meaning to each his "or her" own. But what's really a trip for a guy like me from Denver, is that the gays here in Cali which is suppose to be the most liberal state in the union has more what I call " Broke Back Boys" than anything else. They appear and act like regular guys but only get with other dudes and will not admit openly that they are gay, some even have wives and kids. Well there are a lot of these kinda guys living in all male communal living situations and it makes sense, it's like one big happy hunting ground for them.

Because of my treatment these past four years and being called all the derogatory words (BB,CS,F,P,S,Q) to descibe gays and some times with the N-word added by more phobic and sometime racist people. I had become more sympathetic to gays and there causes, for instance'I feel they should be allowed to marry, but I think they should call it something other than "Marriage". It should have all the legal rights of a Hetero marriage. Then they will get what they want, it's all about the wording. The straight moral majority do not want same sex people to be defined the same way as a straight couple and in all fairness, they got the word first. The word gay came about in the sixties and has become more popular than the word homosexual and is used in legal jargon so just call it a "legal partnership" in other words, they should stop trying to piggyback a straight institution and create there own type of legal and spirtual bonding ceremony. As long as everybody is eighteen or over everybody is happy . I do have one beef, and that's public schools teaching little 8 year old Jimmy that its cool to get with little Johnny. This is definitely not cool.

So back to the gist, its been a hard four months for me and this gay thing ain't making it any better, along with all the other trials and tribulations. My new companions are all veterans and some of them are still in the war and have multiple battle scars, physically and mentally. Most are Vietnam and Gulf War Vets that are clean and sober trying to get repaired so that they can get back in the game.

Then there are some like myself that have a very unique situation that the staffers are not equipped to handle or deal with(that's another story). So in the mean time i,m going to try and remain cool and with a little luck and a look from the man above, I hope to be moving into my own place soon.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

I'm So Glaad

Next Article

Ting Tong Ping

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader