Tag Archives: The Homeless Blogger

* Counting my blessings

December 24, 2014Get on your feet, Homelessness, MotivationsAttitude of gratitude, Choosing feelings, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

Here is a short list of things I can be grateful for.

✓	A clean sheet every night*
✓	A clean pillow case every night*
✓	A blanket every night*
✓	A pillow every night*
✓	A hot shower every night
✓	Clean clothes available every day
✓	A good supper every night
✓	Financial resources: At this time, anything I want, I can get. (Anything I can’t get, I don’t want.)
✓	Moral support from my family, my friends and my church. A ton of people are pulling for me, hoping for my prosperity.
✓	The best problems in the world. (See next Wednesday’s post.)

*(To my knowledge, no other shelter in Baltimore City provides these things. If you don’t bring your own, you sleep on a bare mat. A change in that situation is something to earnestly hope for.)

Reblogged 2020-09-10.

* The inevitability of evil

December 23, 2014Get on your feet, Justice, The Way of PeaceCharlie Sheen, Choosing feelings, Contrast theodicy, Cosmology, Denise Richards, McDonald's #2763, Prayer, Schizophrenia, Sublimation, Take things in stride, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

Sooner or later, it had to happen.

Sunday, about 14:00, I had just bought my second coffee at McDonald’s. I put it on my table and, as they require me to do, took all my things with me to go out and smoke.

Outside, I took one more shot at trying to understand how evil — negativity, conflict — happens.

There are those who say that evil is necessary because without it, humans would never be able to appreciate joy. I have never found this believable.
Continue reading * The inevitability of evil →

* Status report: A snapshot of my life right now

December 20, 2014Get on your feet, Justice, UncategorizedAttribution, Here - Now - Can, Hope, Keep the focus on you, Presence, Race, The Homeless Blogger, Upward mobilityWilliam Tell

On Tuesday 12/02, my therapist asked for a thumbnail summary of my overall situation.

I said, “I have goals, I’m taking concrete steps toward those goals, and I have a ton of hope.”

I know no way to account for this but the exact scenario I set forth in “Chaos overwhelms the poor:” I pay attention only to the concrete here-and-how, and to what I myself can do. (Related: Here – Now – Can.) From the farthest reach of my right fingertip to my right, to the farthest reach of my left fingertip to my left: within that range lies all my responsibility, everything that I can control. Here, the world appears orderly. Here, I can order and manage my affairs. Here I have power. I can act effectively. I can easily find hope.

A ton of hope.
Continue reading * Status report: A snapshot of my life right now →

* Cosmology

December 17, 2014BibleCosmology, Hell, Jesus, The Homeless Blogger, What IsWilliam Tell

I originally wrote this as an introductory passage for “What the New Testament means to me.” I wound up leaving it out as I didn’t think Ezekah would care for a whole lot of abstraction.

As I view the world right now, I see three elements: (1) What Is, including the material (seen) world, the spiritual (unseen) world, and all possibilities of events that can possibly occur. I may as well call this “God.” (2) A single set of principles that govern existence and all events that can occur. What we call the laws of physics are an example of these principles. I may as well call this “God’s will.”

(3) Human activity. It may be that there are no commandments, and no such thing as sin. Rather, God’s will is inviolable; and it is how we interact with What Is, inevitably in accordance with those principles, that brings weal or woe. If we act this way, we can have a world of harmony, beauty and joy. If we act that way, we’ll have a world of poverty, violence and bloodshed.

So far, there is neither need nor room for teachings of John and Paul that deviate from Jesus’ teachings in the Synoptics: no need nor room for a Son of God, perfect sacrifice, “belief in” Jesus, or heaven or hell — aside from the heaven or hell we create for ourselves in this life, here and now.

“What the New Testament means to me” points to ways to create, in effect, heaven on earth. The opposite path is described in “A living hell.”

Reblogged 2020-08-13.

* Change Begins Here

December 15, 2014Get on your feet, Justice, The Way of PeacePresence, Random Words, The Homeless Blogger, Tracey SeekinsWilliam Tell

This is square-on with a forthcoming post of my own, “A place to begin.”

Reblogged 2020-08-06.

Random Words

I woke up this morning thinking about change. Thinking about how we begin to change our world, one person at a time. That’s exactly it. We create change one person at a time, one action at a time, one THOUGHT at a time.

Change begins with us and within us. The world will not become a better place by leaving it up to someone else. Change will not happen as long as we believe things are not our problem or that we don’t make a difference.

Change begins within us. By changing how we see ourselves and treat ourselves, we begin to change the way we see others and treat others. By changing how we see others and treat others, we begin a ripple effect that reaches out over the miles changing how others see and treat each other.

Change does not and will not happen overnight, but over time…

View original post 139 more words

* My white friends are upset about Eric Garner

December 6, 2014Clippings, Homelessness, Justice, National newsCharles Krauthammer, Crime, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, O. J. Simpson, Police, Preponderance of the evidence, Probable cause, Race, Reasonable doubt, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

Garner grand jury case reaction unifies left and right
Krauthammer: Decision not to indict NYPD officer ‘totally incomprehensible’

Garner was middle-aged, as we are. He had not just robbed a cigar store, rough-handling the clerk; he was selling “loose ones,” as we all do. We all buy and sell them all the time. There’s some risk to it, as in Baltimore this activity in public can get you a $150 ticket (and you must appear for trial).

Death, however, isn’t normally in the scenario.
Continue reading * My white friends are upset about Eric Garner →

o Job search update, 12/01/14

December 1, 2014Get on your feet, Job search/Job prospectsStewardship, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED IN NOVEMBER 2014:

Sr. Administrative Assistant — Transamerica

SEE ALSO:
Announcement: I’m working!
Announcement: I’m not working after all.

POSTSCRIPT, 2014-12-06:

Several weeks ago, I decided to become pro-active in the specific search for work as “William Tell.” As this blog required some enhancements in order to serve its role as a tool for marketing myself under that name, I updated the Playlist to include audio copies of all the items listed. My next project on the blog is to upload Stuart Chase’s Guides to Straight Thinking, which is mentioned on my Resume.

An interesting twist occurred when I began the latter work: I couldn’t find the copy I had made of that text anywhere. Not on my flash drive; not in my e-mail archives; except one, an attachment to an e-mail I sent DLD in 2006. Who ever would have guessed that that e-mail, which probably seemed so trivial at the time, could prove to be so important to me now? It has all the material. The source files in Word date from 2004-2005, which indicates how long I have held these ambitions for William Tell.

I invested $110 in a digital recorder, which is crucial to my being able to make my demo tapes. In other words, I spent that money on a tool to advance my own career. At this point, it may be well to note some things on which I did not spend that $110:

• liquor
• weed
• lottery tickets
• clubs
• cooch
• grillz
• bling
• swag
• bail bonds
• crap games

I anticipate devoting one day a week to my job search in radio. Initially, that one day will go principally to creating my demo tapes. After that, I’ll have to find other pertinent ways to use that time. In the meantime, my posts on this blog may be shorter and-or less frequent.

* Manners a cure for racism, sexism?

November 24, 2014Clippings, National news, National politicsAlyssa Rosenberg, Charles Krauthammer, Conservativism, Emotional intelligence, Glenn Kessler, Keystone XL pipeline, Misogyny, Race, Rich Lowry, Sexism, The Homeless Blogger, WisdomWilliam Tell

Bookmarks:
What conservatives get right about stopping racism and sexism • 7 Habits of Chronically Unhappy People • About the Keystone XL pipeline

Continue reading * Manners a cure for racism, sexism? →

* Jeanette

November 8, 2014Homelessness, OUR BEST POSTSKarma, Prayer, Schizophrenia, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

Jeanette is a pleasant, demented homeless woman who frequents St. Paul Plaza and the library.

She’s always immaculately dressed. I don’t know how she manages that.

One day, I think in May, walking through St. Paul Plaza, on impulse I approached her and asked if she’d sell me a cigarette. (At that time, I was buying “loose ones.”) Instead, she gave me three Newports.

And she’s done the same thing again almost every day since.

She’ll cross the street in the rain to bring me three Newports.

On the one hand, I’ve pondered whether I’m taking advantage of her. It seems instead that it’s a blessing to her to be able to do this for me.

On the other hand, you don’t want to have a conversation with her. She has a long, long list of public figures whose scandals and deaths she says have been blamed on her.

I am tempted to wish I knew the karmic basis of schizophrenia, that I might pray for her more effectively. But I need to use the tools I have.

God bless Jeanette, and heal her; in this life, or the next.

(Reblogged 2020-04-30.)

* Injustice at the shelter

November 5, 2014Get on your feet, Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, JusticeTake things in stride, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

Saturday 2014-11-01

I was very nearly turned away tonight.

I arrived at 15:45, and the gate was closed. I’ll explain why that did not disturb me. As I’m a “regular,” they’re supposed to hold my bunk for me until 16:00. Leo, another “regular,” arrived minutes later.

A closed gate at this hour as often as not means they’re doing a “count,” a comparison of the checkin logs (plural) to pin down exactly how many beds are left. Depending on who’s at the desk, this can take ten minutes — or 45.
Continue reading * Injustice at the shelter →