Anitra Freeman is a force of nature with an infectious laugh and a sense of humor. Freeman is a wise elder, a Raging Granny, a founding member of the Women in Black in Seattle, a housing/homelessness activist, a wife, and a computer wiz. Freeman also lives with a form of bipolar disorder and experienced homelessness in Seattle. She is now stably housed and continuously giving back to our community and working to make our city a safer, healthier place for everyone, including people without homes.

Her story is an inspiration. I have included my oral history interview here. I wrote a chapter of my Way Home book on Anitra Freeman. Freeman says, "I have often said that people have personal problems, of course, but personal problems don't cause homelessness. Personal problems don't dig the hole in the sidewalk; they just influence who is going to fall into it. It's systemic factors that create the hole."