Hello Bluelight and Prospective Publishers of this Blog. Here´s looking at you Penguin!
Last we blogged, our anti-hero/straight-up villain Keif' Richards had just arrived in Vegas to begin what I have come to call, ¨The Shittiest Residency¨. I have now been in Vegas for approximately two weeks. I am working for one of the major non-profits here in the city assisting with the major social issues arising from the endemic homelessness and poverty in the city. Las Vegas is not a ¨friendly¨ city when it comes to the issue of homelessness and extreme poverty. This should not come as a big surprise. This is a town built almost entirely on tourism. Essentially, it can be said that the economy is dependent upon the attractiveness of the locale to potential customers. Las Vegas has largely shed its ¨Sin City¨ image (this happened decades ago apparently). Families are now a large part of their tourism industry. For comparison, I am coming from Burlington, VT. Burlington and the state in general would be considered ¨friendliest¨ on this scale that we are using.
If Burlington already resembled a Mad-Max-esque vibe even with its ¨friendly¨ qualities, then I guess I wasn´t prepared for what I would see here in Vegas. Homelessness has been made illegal here. One such law that rules the town is the concept that ¨a person may not sleep on public property if there are ANY beds available in ANY shelter in the city¨. I am paraphrasing, but you get the idea. In Burlington, the sidewalks of the main shopping district are lined with tents and makeshift hovels. I walk the strip a couple days a week with my boss and coworkers while we do outreach. People continue to sleep outside, though they essentially have to do so in a stealthy manner. This means, in the morning, you see the homeless people waking up and coming out of every random unseen corner with nothing but maybe a blanket. The issue here is that Vegas is a desert. It can be quite warm during the day, but can approach freezing on any given night after the sun goes down.
What does all of this mean for the population? Well, I can tell you that the shelter that I work at is in a state of what I can only call disrepair. Bed bug blooms are a common occurrence, as are cockroaches and other vermin, which are an especially bad problem here in Vegas. People are forced with two decisions, either sleep in a potentially rancid and unsafe shelter or they can risk being arrested for vagrancy. I´m sure anyone with experience in this kind of work already knows where I´m going with this. The centralization of the homeless population makes them easily accounted for. Yes, we have a comprehensive list of homeless persons that we use in the industry, but I´m talking more about the political/law enforcement lists. We are on a precipice in this country regarding political partisanship and the failing of the economy. These individuals are constantly in danger of injury, death and victimization.
When I speak to individuals in the course of my work or when I´m just hanging outside of work on the strip, they have a disposition that is entirely different than the disposition of most in Vermont. ¨Fear¨ is how I would describe it, as opposed to the ¨misery/loneliness¨ of Vermont. There are rumors of homeless persons being murdered and disappearing that are frankly, more believable to me every single day. People are hesitant to talk to anyone. I deal a lot with the ¨are you a cop?¨ shit when I´m talking to people. I had one client who I had seen on 3 straight shifts. I had talked to him about everything as he was clearly on Meth and feeling like conversation. Even after 3 days of talking, I asked the wrong question, I asked a pretty normal question ¨who handles the end of the supply chain regarding drugs in this city¨. This dude became extremely threatening and chased me off, literally. That was a learning experience.
I am continuing to learn about this city. I talk to everyone that I´m able to strike up a conversation with. Meanwhile, I now have a twin bed in my office that I´m sleeping in. I have my eyes on an apartment just off the strip. Myself and a coworker are looking to go in on a place together to share expenses. Meanwhile, I´m getting to practice my Spanish every day. I came here with a very basic understanding of the language. Luckily, most Spanish speakers seem genuinely excited to teach me about the wrong and right of my lingo. The hardest part has been learning the slang as that is not featured in language learning apps.
One of the residents started calling me ¨Hollywood¨ and he refuses to explain exactly what that means, but I´m going with it. I just hope that down the road I don´t find this nickname to be some kind of horrible insult. I´m having flashbacks from my time teaching High Schoolers. Just when you think you´re ¨cool¨, that´s when they spring the trap and steal your self-esteem. It´s definitely not my beauty. Is it the air of class that I bring with me to everything in my life? Only time will tell.
Methamphetamine is big here. It is clearly the drug of choice for a lot of the people in our care. With the 24 hour nature of this city and the constant need for hustling, Methamphetamine seems to be a rational choice (price is also a factor). I can´t discuss prices here in-depth. I will say that, compared to either Vermont or Boston, the cost of Methamphetamine around here is 80% cheaper in general and this is for relatively small, street amounts. Who knows what happens when you throw 100$ down on the table, a briefcase full?
I´ll continue this tale next time. Until then, I have an appointment to get my picture taken with the showgirls who hang out down the street. Look for that shit soon dear readers!
-Keif
Last we blogged, our anti-hero/straight-up villain Keif' Richards had just arrived in Vegas to begin what I have come to call, ¨The Shittiest Residency¨. I have now been in Vegas for approximately two weeks. I am working for one of the major non-profits here in the city assisting with the major social issues arising from the endemic homelessness and poverty in the city. Las Vegas is not a ¨friendly¨ city when it comes to the issue of homelessness and extreme poverty. This should not come as a big surprise. This is a town built almost entirely on tourism. Essentially, it can be said that the economy is dependent upon the attractiveness of the locale to potential customers. Las Vegas has largely shed its ¨Sin City¨ image (this happened decades ago apparently). Families are now a large part of their tourism industry. For comparison, I am coming from Burlington, VT. Burlington and the state in general would be considered ¨friendliest¨ on this scale that we are using.
If Burlington already resembled a Mad-Max-esque vibe even with its ¨friendly¨ qualities, then I guess I wasn´t prepared for what I would see here in Vegas. Homelessness has been made illegal here. One such law that rules the town is the concept that ¨a person may not sleep on public property if there are ANY beds available in ANY shelter in the city¨. I am paraphrasing, but you get the idea. In Burlington, the sidewalks of the main shopping district are lined with tents and makeshift hovels. I walk the strip a couple days a week with my boss and coworkers while we do outreach. People continue to sleep outside, though they essentially have to do so in a stealthy manner. This means, in the morning, you see the homeless people waking up and coming out of every random unseen corner with nothing but maybe a blanket. The issue here is that Vegas is a desert. It can be quite warm during the day, but can approach freezing on any given night after the sun goes down.
What does all of this mean for the population? Well, I can tell you that the shelter that I work at is in a state of what I can only call disrepair. Bed bug blooms are a common occurrence, as are cockroaches and other vermin, which are an especially bad problem here in Vegas. People are forced with two decisions, either sleep in a potentially rancid and unsafe shelter or they can risk being arrested for vagrancy. I´m sure anyone with experience in this kind of work already knows where I´m going with this. The centralization of the homeless population makes them easily accounted for. Yes, we have a comprehensive list of homeless persons that we use in the industry, but I´m talking more about the political/law enforcement lists. We are on a precipice in this country regarding political partisanship and the failing of the economy. These individuals are constantly in danger of injury, death and victimization.
When I speak to individuals in the course of my work or when I´m just hanging outside of work on the strip, they have a disposition that is entirely different than the disposition of most in Vermont. ¨Fear¨ is how I would describe it, as opposed to the ¨misery/loneliness¨ of Vermont. There are rumors of homeless persons being murdered and disappearing that are frankly, more believable to me every single day. People are hesitant to talk to anyone. I deal a lot with the ¨are you a cop?¨ shit when I´m talking to people. I had one client who I had seen on 3 straight shifts. I had talked to him about everything as he was clearly on Meth and feeling like conversation. Even after 3 days of talking, I asked the wrong question, I asked a pretty normal question ¨who handles the end of the supply chain regarding drugs in this city¨. This dude became extremely threatening and chased me off, literally. That was a learning experience.
I am continuing to learn about this city. I talk to everyone that I´m able to strike up a conversation with. Meanwhile, I now have a twin bed in my office that I´m sleeping in. I have my eyes on an apartment just off the strip. Myself and a coworker are looking to go in on a place together to share expenses. Meanwhile, I´m getting to practice my Spanish every day. I came here with a very basic understanding of the language. Luckily, most Spanish speakers seem genuinely excited to teach me about the wrong and right of my lingo. The hardest part has been learning the slang as that is not featured in language learning apps.
One of the residents started calling me ¨Hollywood¨ and he refuses to explain exactly what that means, but I´m going with it. I just hope that down the road I don´t find this nickname to be some kind of horrible insult. I´m having flashbacks from my time teaching High Schoolers. Just when you think you´re ¨cool¨, that´s when they spring the trap and steal your self-esteem. It´s definitely not my beauty. Is it the air of class that I bring with me to everything in my life? Only time will tell.
Methamphetamine is big here. It is clearly the drug of choice for a lot of the people in our care. With the 24 hour nature of this city and the constant need for hustling, Methamphetamine seems to be a rational choice (price is also a factor). I can´t discuss prices here in-depth. I will say that, compared to either Vermont or Boston, the cost of Methamphetamine around here is 80% cheaper in general and this is for relatively small, street amounts. Who knows what happens when you throw 100$ down on the table, a briefcase full?
I´ll continue this tale next time. Until then, I have an appointment to get my picture taken with the showgirls who hang out down the street. Look for that shit soon dear readers!
-Keif
