| My work also attracted the attention of another set of people: those who create the small-press "zines." This is a genre quite different from the homeless-advocacy streetpapers; the contributors are cartoonists, artists and writers who are not necessarily "political" in their thinking, and who tend to view my stories from more of a human-interest angle. Jeff Zenick was the artist who introduced me into this crowd. When he began editing a zine called the White Buffalo Gazette, he encouraged me to write for it about my homeless experiences. So I wrote a few articles that were geared toward this bunch outside of my accustomed streetpaper circuit. This is my first offering to them, which appeared in the March 1999 issue: |
| NOTES OF A "HOMELESS CAMPER" |
| I don't think of myself as a pathetic little victim, but rather a survivor of domestic violence who is trying to recover and heal from the effects of past abuse, and who needs a of of privacy and safe space in which to do so. My current "homeless" lifestyle is not so horrible as compared to all the other modes of homelessness in which I have also lived in the past, on both the east and west coasts. I have slept in the bushes with only a few blankets. I have tried the shelters, but only very briefly, as I found the lack of privacy and the Mickey-Mouse rules too oppressive and dehumanizing. I have camped in tents in public parks. I have slept in cars parked on public streets. I have lived in motel rooms for a few weeks at a time. And now I live in a Road Ranger camper on the back of a pickup truck, the same home I used to share with my last abusive partner (who is now deceased.) I have lived alone in this thing ever since he ran off and left me stranded on the streets of Eugene in October 1994. Compared to all of my previous makeshift shelters, this camper is a palace. It is a mini-home in which I can (usually) have all the quiet and privacy I need. My basic survival needs are minimal: a water supply and a place to dump trash and waste water. An electrical hookup is nice when I can get it, but I have learned to make do with only candles for light and batteries for the radio. And the propane tanks must be continually filled to privide fuel for cooking. My bed has plenty of blankets, and there is always propane and water to make my coffee in the morning. Besides being a home where I eat, sleep, cook and wash, this camper is also a workspace. I am a journalist who uses her home as an office and study. As I said, this lifestyle is not so horrible; the only thing wrong with it is that it's illegal. Eugene has had an anti-camping ordinance in place since 1971, which means that people who live the way I do are subject to continual harassment by the police and citations for "illegal camping". There have been minor modifications to this law from time to time, such as the one I'm benefitting from now which provides a few legal spaces for campers. But before this change was enacted I did get one citation in September 1997. I went through several unpleasant months anticipating a ridiculous courtroom scenario in which I would have to defend myself against criminal charges for "camping" on the street. One thing the cops are supposed to do when they roust someone for this "crime" is to ascertain whether or not the person was aware of the anti-camping law. I told this cop that certainly I am aware of it, seeing as how I had been working with the Homeless Action Coalition for about four years trying to get it overturned. And to this he responded, "And you're continuing to violate the law all the time you're doing this?" He was clearly one of those who believe that homelessness is always voluntary, as if a person would choose it out of a range of ten different options, and that people bring the consequences of poverty on themselves out of laziness or some other attitude problem. That's why he was so smug when he said, "You do have other options," as he handed me the $90 ticket. He obviously was not the least bit impressed by my efforts to fight the camping ban, or by the fact that I have been a homeless-advocacy journalist for about a decade. Everything I'd said was, in his mind, merely evidence that could be used against me in the courtroom, as proof that I did "knowingly" violate the law. I managed to hunt down a lawyer who was willing to take my case on a pro bono basis because he is passionately committed to overturning such unconstitutional laws as camping bans. He got several trial postponements to give himself more time to do research for the case. Then he eventually produced a 17-page brief ( I don't know why they call them "Briefs" when they're always so long!) with numerous impressive arguments that showed the unconstitutionality of the ban, according to both the Oregon and U.S. Constitutions. This was instrumental in getting my case thrown right out of court! He had the brief delivered to the city prosecutor well in advance of the pre-trial hearing. This no doubt convinced said prosecutor that we were dead serious about challenging that insane law, and were willing to go the distance with a trial in which we would have tried to get it overturned, appealing as far as necessary. So he must have decided it wasn't worth the hassle and expense of prosecuting this relatively weak case against me--a single indigent homeless woman with no previous criminal record. Better to drop the case and leave the law untouched-thereby giving the cops free rein to continue harassing other homeless people for the "crime" of survival and charging them fines for their poverty. So that was the end of the "City of Eugene v. Bridget Reilly" case. And since then I have compiled more legal information that could help other homeless advocates who are trying to fight anti-camping laws in their own localities... (click here for next page) |