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A very nice Japanese woman, whom I met on FaceBook, right after the earthquake, is very concerned for my safety.
my reply:
Mieko, I don't need to live in some place where I'm "taken care of;" I just need adequate housing. The Weekly Alibi, an Albuquerque paper, just did a piece a month or so ago: there is NO affordable housing in New Mexico, ANYWHERE. And I am looking all over the state. I need a home. I need my independence. I'm better off out here, using a paint bucket as a toilet, than I would be if social workers knew about me. In fact, if the local "authorities" knew how bad my living conditions were, they'd condemn the property as unfit for human habitation, evict me IMMEDIATELY, kill all my animals and abandon everything I own out here for my neighbors to steal. THAT is how social "services" work in the USA. I am better off, keeping under their radar.
A very nice Japanese woman, whom I met on FaceBook, right after the earthquake, is very concerned for my safety.
my reply:
Mieko, I don't need to live in some place where I'm "taken care of;" I just need adequate housing. The Weekly Alibi, an Albuquerque paper, just did a piece a month or so ago: there is NO affordable housing in New Mexico, ANYWHERE. And I am looking all over the state. I need a home. I need my independence. I'm better off out here, using a paint bucket as a toilet, than I would be if social workers knew about me. In fact, if the local "authorities" knew how bad my living conditions were, they'd condemn the property as unfit for human habitation, evict me IMMEDIATELY, kill all my animals and abandon everything I own out here for my neighbors to steal. THAT is how social "services" work in the USA. I am better off, keeping under their radar.
The landlord tried to force me to move out, so he could sucker some other poor slob into paying rent for this dump. So, he phoned in an "anonymous" report to Adult Protective Services. He said I was "crazy." He told them I have no sewage, heat or running water. He told them I can't take care of myself and need to be "inspected." I've never told a soul out here, who knows where I live, that I don't have sewage or water. I'm not stupid. So, I know it was the landlord.
WITHOUT NOTICE OR A WARRANT, APS showed up at my house to "investigate" me. My constitutional rights to privacy were instantly stripped from me BECAUSE someone phoned in a RUMOR that I was "crazy." I HAD to allow them access to the property, the house, my refrigerator, my bathroom, everything! WITHOUT A WARRANT TO SEARCH!
I explained the circumstances, talked them down. They know I'm not "crazy." They also know they can't do a damn thing to help. They made a few luke warm promises and gave me a phone number. I called five times to follow up on those promises. I left voice mail. They never called back.
I won't go to food pantries or anything because they are run by fundamentalist babble thumpers and I am Queer. I will NOT set foot in their facilities! I use my food stamps, very carefully, and stock up enough food so that, by now, if I had to, I could probably live 2 months off the stuff I got when it was very cheap, and bought as much as I could afford. I even have a twenty pound turkey in my little freezer.
I don't want their false promises; that breaks my heart. I don't want their sarcasm, condesencion, snottiness. I don't want their prejudices. When you're poor, you're supposed to be stupid and I'm not. And I don't know how to ACT stupid, so they get pissed off at me, because I understand what's going on. This intimidates the hell out of them.
What I need is a cheap place to park my camper trailer, put up my fencing, grow my garden, milk my goats, eat my chickens' eggs, volunteer at the radio station in Gallup and be left the hell alone. Working on it every day.
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