Vol 6 No 16 The Contributor

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The newest edition of The Contributor was distributed to the vendors this afternoon. The meeting started at 2pm. It was 4:15pm before I was able to collect my copies of the paper.

Usually I just wait until the morning to start selling, but today I went out for an hour - straight from the meeting to my vending spot. I sold 4 papers and made 16 dollars. If only that rate maintained itself through the week, I'd be making a real living. The truth is, some hours, well, many hours, I sell two papers and make 2 dollars. If there is any rhyme or reason for why people buy when they do, and tip as they do, I don't know it. I would certainly be able to maximize my profits if I did.

Jesse Call is a name that should be familiar to fans of The Contributor.  He writes many of the featured articles in the paper.   I don't know if he's experienced homelessness before, but he has been working with homelessness related causes since graduating college 5 years ago.   His articles are always well written and well researched.  He writes the way I wish I did.

Jesse authored both of the articles on the front page of the new issue.   The first one deals with the difficulty of leaving poverty, even with a full time job - being that so many jobs, especially entry level jobs pay little more than minimum wage.   He backs up this article with information from MIT.  And you just can't argue with what MIT says.    The second article is about a local church that has been allowing some homeless people to camp on their property.  It looks like  the city is trying to shut down this ministry to the homeless.   Why is it that the only methods that city governments allow for such ministries are the most difficult and most expensive to maintain.   Being that everyone wants homelessness to end, one would think that people, especially government officials, would bend over backwards to help facilitate such services to the homeless.  Oh well.

In the News Briefs we find that the Nashville Metropolitan Homelessness Commission  is looking for a new director.  If you have experience with such programs, you should look into it.    The founder of Room In The Inn, father Charlie Strobel, will be honored at the ACLU of Tennessee's annual fundraiser.  And, in San Luis Obispo, California, a judge recently ruled that a law banning sleeping in cars is unconstitutional.   Still, I  don't expect cops will leave people in peace as they snooze.

Also in the paper, Edwin Learnard's NFL Preview gives us a rundown of the coming season.  Jeremy Blankenship gives his top 10 list of homeless rules to live by.  Ray Ponce de Leon ruminates on the history of America and the "Old Country".

Also included in this issue are the center page poems by homeless people, the sudoku puzzle (that I make), and chess puzzle (courtesy of Chess.com), the ever popular Hoboscope.  And much more.

The Contributor is worth reading.  Pick up a copy or two.