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Good deed
Re: "Homeless Person of the Week." I live in Hillcrest and go to college, so money is tight. I am sympathetic to homelessness in general but find it hard to develop individual sympathies, at least partially because my location means I get asked for change several times a day. Though, another reason is because of the occasional run-in with a transient who's mentally ill.
A number of homeless people I only see around my area for a short time, but there are also several regulars. It was at 3 a.m. that I saw one of those regulars do something so incredible that I had to write this.
It was Friday night, and a few friends were over drinking, and we noticed some drunken yahoo out on the street knock over half a dozen of the giant potted plants outside of the restaurant Saigon on Fifth. The restaurant was closed at the time--it was probably around 11 p.m. or midnight, so the pots remained on their sides. At 3 a.m., sitting at my computer after my friends had left, I looked out my window to see this homeless man pick up and put back every single one of the knocked-over plants.
This event proved two things:
1. He was not crazy. A crazy person knocks plants over; he doesn't pick them up.
2. He was responsible. I didn't go pick up those plants. The hundred people who walked by didn't pick up those plants.
To pick the plants up at 3 a.m., without the faintest hope of reward? To me, this simple act said that this was an individual who had a run of bad luck and is not on the streets because he is lazy or crazy or any of the other reasons Republicans give for homelessness.
So, now, every time I have any money at all and I see him on the street, he gets it--doesn't even have to ask.
I'm sad to say I don't know his name or much else about him, really. He's 6-foot-2 or so, graying brown hair to the top of his neck and has been wearing a long-sleeve, beige button-up shirt and blue bandana and light blue jeans for awhile now. I wanted to do more for him, but even the $5 to $10 a week I give him can put a strain on me. Hopefully, this will be able to help.
Danny Gardner,
Hillcrest
A ticket to cruelty
Thanks for your article about our protesting animal cruelty at Ringling Bros. I'm the director of the San Diego chapter of Last Chance for Animals, and we were there, too. I was the one wearing the body-screen TV, and several of the people who saw it turned around and left rather than buy tickets. They included a group of children, who told their parents they didn't want to go anymore, and some teenagers and adults. These people were understandably upset as they watched the undercover video of elephant beating/training and news footage showing the risk to public safety when elephants go berserk in response to their treatment.
I think it's a little weird that you referred to my wearing the TV in "martyr fashion." I'm just a concerned citizen who wants animals to be treated humanely, and I'm using this great tool to help people see what's really going on. If anyone wants to watch the video, it's at www.circuses.com.
Thanks again. I hope you'll do more research on the conditions under which circus animals are trained and live, so that you can continue to help educate people about how their entertainment choices impact animals. In circuses, animals are routinely abused and deprived of their natural behaviors. Whether people want to or not, when they buy tickets to circuses with animals, they are supporting animal cruelty.
Joy Zakarian,
Cardiff
Important voice
I just read your Aug. 15 "Editor's Note" about your fifth anniversary and wanted to thank you and your staff for all your hard work, great writing and keeping a voice in San Diego that is much needed.
Augusto Sandroni,
Downtown
'We are not hippies'
The article by Eric Wolff on the KLSD event ["The Front Lines," Aug. 29] is absurdly offensive to hundreds of mainstream Democrats bearing their Democratic Club signs and wearing mainstream casual clothing. It was offensive to progressive Democrats like me, clad in red, white and blue. It is evident that Wolff was there. It is also evident that he saw not what was there, but what he wanted to see.
We are extremely offended with this article. The many, labeled "hippies," had never been such, had not even demonstrated during the Viet Nam era, not gone to Woodstock, etc. We are not hippies. While we find no fault with them, we resent the label. Many of us consider ourselves Eisenhower Republicans, now labeled "left wing" with the hard right turn America has taken.
This is just one more example of media's attempt to marginalize anyone who is not in lock step with the administration and who has a sincere interest in the public airwaves being used for the public interest.
Silencing the voice of a million San Diegans is neither patriotic nor American. Shame on you for trying to help accomplish that.
Judy Hess,
Eastlake Greens
Offensive lesbian fellatio
I am writing to complain about the insensitive and exploitative advertisement that the San Diego Sports club recently placed in CityBeat [Aug. 29]. The image of two women lying on top of each other on a pool table is offensive. Not only does it co-opt lesbian sexuality to attract men, it further offends with its suggestion of violent fellatio represented by the large gun pointed at one of the model's mouths. What are you advertising? Whatever it is, I'm not buying it.
Marcia Wall,
Tierrasanta
Published: 09/01/2007
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