Hammocks, Hoboes, and Experiencing Homelessness

After all, hope is form of planning.

Gloria Steinem, maybe

While I have been blessed to have a home, loving (and tolerant) wife, two charming sons, and a great situation in retirement, I have not always been so blessed. As a rowdy young lad, I was homeless (by choice) for a stretch, mostly around Gainesville, Florida. That stretch lasted over a year.

While the weather was generally fine, I had a small tent and lived with the knowledge that at any moment I could be chased off the property or risk having all of my possessions, such as they were, swiped by someone more desperate than I was. I was fortunate to have parents back home that were willing to help, and eventually I headed back to their house, college in Morgantown, and on with my life.

Blessedly, my parents welcomed me back, even though my “entourage” at that point included a wee pup, Gypsy, a small endearing shepherd mix with a big heart. She did not endear herself to the neighbors by insisting on sorting their garbage in the street.
I was lucky to have a path out of homelessness. Too many people struggle to find a path, and what we need to give them is a place to live, to grow and get healthy, to be happy, a place to call home.

In many parts of South America, hammocks are ubiquitous. I have heard that many folks were conceived, born, slept in, made love in, and finally passed away in a hammock. I believe they can be part of the solution.

One of the nicest nylon hammocks I have seen comes from Hobo Hammocks. For every hammock they sell, they provide a meal for the homeless, and also run a program to provide lightly used hammocks to the homeless. As they say on their web site, “We figure everybody loves portable hammocks, so why wouldn’t the homeless? And they do love them! In our humble opinion, Hobo Hammocks are not only the best double hammocks, they’re the top camping hammock money can buy, and we want to share them with EVERYBODY!”

I’d like to see hammock hostels established, where the homeless could go, find a restroom and shower, laundry, a few meals, minor medical care, and maybe even an internet connected device/Wifi/television or more, all built around sheltered hammocks in a grove with social distancing – maybe radiating from a few trees or central columns. I could see a row of light posts working.  Nylon partitions could provide some privacy. We will all need to beat the heat.

In desperate circumstances, hammocks provide a way to rest and sleep. Here is an image of those moving through Central America, many hoping for asylum in the U.S.

At the very least, I think hammocks should be permitted in more public spaces. I understand that hammocks were so popular at U.C. Davis that a section of the campus was established for students seeking to “sling” between classes. It was probably instituted to quell rogue hammockites.

Quad Hammocks

Feeling stressed and overwhelmed due to the hectic nature of the quarter system? Take a break and relax in one of the twelve hammocks that line the East and West Quad. It’s been shown that 20-30 minute naps can be beneficial and boost your alertness, productivity, and concentration. The hammocks are a very popular spot on campus to relax and take a break. If the hammocks are full, Health Education and Promotion has a map of the campus with the best nap spots. The original set of hammocks were purchased by ASUCD through a grant from The California Endowment, however, the Memorial Union now provides and takes care of the hammocks. As a promotion of emotional wellness, hammocks are hung up daily around 7:30 am by the Memorial Union Information Desk staff and taken down between 3:30 and 4:00 pm during the fall and winter seasons, and between 6:00 and 6:30 pm during the spring and summer seasons. If you don’t see the hammocks out, it is likely due to rain, mud, extreme weather conditions (below 60 °F or above 110 °F), or bad air quality.

University of California at Davis, Web Site

One student’s comment:

“The most comfortable place on campus to lie down! Sometimes leaves fall onto your face though.”

Too true! Spreader bars, but still a magnificent contribution to student mental health and stress reduction! And a more enlightened approach than that employed on the U.C. Berkeley Campus, although don’t tell them I said so!

As we look around at all of the resources this country has, and the need for housing that can be so dispiriting, maybe the hammock is one tool to provide at least some swift semblance of home for those that have so little. The global pandemic has certainly taught us that while significant homelessness exists, those folks remaining outside the health care system, wandering the streets and squatting by freeways, pose a continued and substantial health risk to the entire population. We have to find humane ways to help them improve their current circumstances.

I was pleased to hear that California has been securing hotels and providing the homeless with a roof, a bathroom/shower, and a lock on the door. While something like that, done on a permanent basis, would be much better, hammock hostels might be a quick way to “pop-up” accommodations for those in need; a halfway house. Hopefully we can continue all these programs after the fear of this virus has passed.

If medical staff at hospitals were concerned about going home to their family for a while, they too might appreciate a place to go and clean up, grab a bite, stretch out, and get ready to head back into the ICU. Hammocks might be an easy way to make that happen.

In California, firefighters frequently find themselves exhausted and in need of some rest. While I have seen the photos of weary firefighters zonked out in rows on the ground, sleeping from pure bone weariness, how much more comfortable they would be with a hammock! And they could snooze without brushing off too many ants.

Travelers, too, may enjoy something like that. I have seen the rows of rocking chairs some airports have set up, and wonder what a row of hammocks might do to relax stressed travelers.

I know, you just need one person to spin or rotate and fall out – and sue. I’ve wondered whether you could set up padded bowls for the hammock to hover above so that any chance of injury could be VIRTUALLY eliminated. More restful than a rocking chair, I do believe!

What We (All) Need (or the view from my hammock)

I do not want to leave the impression that my thoughts are limited to hammocks and beer.

I have a firm belief that humans need, and should have a right, in this nation, to:

• Food
• Clothing
• Shelter
• Medical Care – and a Safe Environment including Clean Water
• Public Education

Income disparity

Some of this could be provided by a basic minimum income, championed by Mr. Yang in the Democratic Primary. I’m convinced this nation is wealthy enough to make this happen. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Mathew 25:40).

I really like the idea of giving every kid an income fund at birth. It can grow while they do. This is a long-term solution, though, and now we just have to figure out how to help their older brothers and sisters.

The wealth inequality in this nation is appalling, and a Capital Gains Tax at a minimum should be used to resolve at least some of this disparity. Taxation should be a lot more progressive, not flattened. The lessons offered up by Warren Buffet should be a guide!

Citizenship

We need to recognize that if you are standing in these United States, you should be included, and at least have a way to become a citizen. None of us benefit when folks have no Driver’s License, no health care, limited employment prospects, and live in fear of deportation. The tragic plight of our “DACA Dreamers” is disgraceful.

Food

We need to feed folks around the world, and Food Banks go a long way but have been stretched far beyond their limits during the pandemic. Food stamps can be an important tool, and should be expanded, not contracted. No person should go hungry in this country, or anywhere else, and farmers should be payed a living and substantial wage to grow lots of healthy food. We could all do with less meat. Finally, to frighten folks about being a “public charge” is disgraceful.

Shelter

No person should be without shelter either, unless they do not want it. We need to provide a way to get folks into safe housing, with toilets, showers, kitchen, and a lock on the door.

Oakland, California has been working on a program to provide small sheds to those experiencing homelessness, coupled with toilet and shower facilities and a way to move off the sidewalks and out of “tent rows.”

I’d rather see something a bit larger; a small electric mobile home with solar panels on the roof,  mobile so folks can go where jobs are, and capable of housing their family. They’ll also need a place to park, and definitely driving instruction. Yes, this would cost a bit, but we pay already when many have nowhere to live, no toilets, no showers, no opportunity and no hope. They still remain humanity.

The number of homeless veterans in this country speaks to too many wars and not enough help. What if every major military base hired a team of veterans, perhaps with first hand experience, to run a camping area on or near the base with food, clothing, shelter, sanitary needs, medical care, mental health services? Apparently in Tucson just such a shelter existed for veterans, run by private donations, Camp Bravo. Until it was shut down. If it had been sponsored, and hosted by or on a military base, with full support and funding? We have some simple solutions to make a huge difference.

Health Care

What good is an employee-based health care system when a pandemic strikes and the jobs disappear, the coverage dries up, and no one can afford to get sick? Or even get tested? Or stay home from work? How many years will we spend trying to figure out who should pay for each of the lengthy hospital stays in ICU caused by COVID?

The U.S. health insurance system is, to borrow the word of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, “shambolic.” We need health care for all, however it must come together. And increased access to paid sick leave, so that those who are ill can afford to stay out of workplaces, and keep us all a bit safer. We need free mental health care, too, as it tends to drive so much of the homelessness and drug addiction.

Climate Change

There are few more urgent tasks, and we need to do all we can to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Better solutions are out there, and falling in price. Our government should further incentivize solar, wind, and other systems or we will face perils we can’t envision, even on a bad day. Greta is right! Listen to the scientists!

The atmosphere is angry. I don’t blame her.

Plants and animals around the world are showing signs of distress. We should all acknowledge that as they suffer, humanity will not be left behind. Clean air and water, reusing, reducing, recycling – we know the words, but must now fit our actions to the task.

I was active in the first Earth Day protests – and it boggles my mind that forty years later, we still have so much work to do!  Earth Day – Every Day!

Remote Work

For seven years, I was fortunate enough to work at least part-time from home. Yes, some of this was even in a hammock. My teleconferences would occasionally feature a Mockingbird or Jay, but I was able to get work done. The people I supervised were typically in Washington, D.C. so this frankly made a lot of sense.

I found it ludicrous to work for an institution that (eventually) insisted that “all hands (be) on deck” while at the same time trying to sell the notion that training we offered could take place “anywhere” – typically online.

The cost to our economy of air pollution and traffic, time in transit, spread of disease, and a host of other challenges stemming from insisting that work is an “office function” is absurd. There are many jobs that cannot be done remotely, but if we freed up resources for those situations and used the tools and creativity offered by the Internet for collaboration and “work” to their fullest, we will have learned a lot. Perhaps that is the silver lining in a pandemic.

Education

I support the idea that public education at levels from Pre-Kindergarten to college should be free. Our youth and young adults will build our future, and we need them to be very smart about it. In my belief, the resources for public schools should not come from local taxes, which create enclaves of financial privilege for some while leaving too many students behind. Schools should receive a fixed minimum of funding for each student, regardless of where they live. Transportation costs in rural areas are higher and should be differentiated, but it is wrong to perpetuate poverty with underfunded schools!

Policing

I hesitate to wade into this thicket, but we need, at a minimum, for body cameras to be operational the ENTIRE time an officer is on duty, and send the images to a cloud-based system that is secure and incapable of being manipulated by those police departments or anyone else. We need policing to rely less on tear gas and military grade hardware and more on community relationships. Police forces regarded as adversaries in the communities they attempt to protect are set up for failure.

Choke holds should never be the right tactic! And badge numbers should never be obscured!

With cell phones on almost every hip, we have far too often seen the results of this adversarial relationship. Even so, we should not depend on these citizen-reporters.
Racism is wrong, and needs to be scrubbed from the tapestry of this nation. Black lives matter. Each and every life matters, but far too often the pain and grieving has fallen on darker skins. That is beyond wrong. We need to do so much better. We are far from a just society, and white folks, like me, need to do so much more. Our privilege comes at a price, and we need to recognize that fact.

My family roots come from West Virginia. The Civil War split that state in half, and “brother against brother” was a tragic reality. It’s important to remember that while a large part of this nation had an economy that was based on the abomination of slavery, many thousands of Americans fought and died to end that abomination. We must all do whatever we can to seek a fairer, healthier, safer and prosperous nation for all. It starts in our community, and it begins with love and respect. In the words of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, we must teach our children well.

The World

As we face all of these challenges, we will need many many innovative solutions, far more than I could dream of in all of the hours I lie awake at night considering these things. And we need to help the rest of our planet achieve these things as well. We must work together as a nation, and as a planet, to improve the human condition. America should be again a shining beacon, and not the humiliating example we now seem intent on setting.

Perhaps most important,

VOTE!

“Can’t we all just get along?”

Rodney King

Yes, I believe we can, and must.

Next Chapter: It’s ALL Got to Sling Out!

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