You Know Me Now

When responding to complex societal issues, we are all familiar with the shortcomings of treating symptoms rather than causes. 

Even so, despite knowing this, we also all know how easy it is to go down that path. When an issue is screaming at us, any issue, our knee-jerk reaction is to just make it go away, make it stop.  

When the city of Seattle puts up chain link fencing to keep the homeless out from under freeways and bridges, it is addressing a symptom, the unsightliness of encampments. The fences are meant to make it go away. We, as a community, passively allow it to happen because, in the moment, it feels better to not see what is unsightly. It is literally, out of sight, out of mind for us. However, for the homeless, they are still homeless. 

So how do we shift our focus to successfully addressing root issues rather than symptoms? How do we get past giving in to knee-jerk responses?

We begin by understanding that, for the most part, the symptoms of homelessness are what the housed community feels and are impacted by and the root causes are what the unhoused community feels and are impacted by. When we respond to symptoms, we need to know that we are responding to our needs, rather than the needs of those struggling. 

It is an important distinction, an important and necessary shift.

When we act compassionately, and intentionally, with this knowledge, we open ourselves to the uncertainty, to the uncomfortableness, of homelessness, and beautifully begin our own journey of addressing the root causes of others’ struggles. 

In this episode, we have the sincere pleasure of talking with Sparrow Etter Arlson. Sparrow has been living with intention toward her unhoused neighbors for the last 21 years. She is a co-founder of the Green Bean Coffeeshop, co-founder of Aurora Commons and its (SHE) Clinic, the acronym SHE standing for Safe, Healthy, and Empowered, and the Founder of Sacred Streets. Sparrow is now the Seattle Planning Specialist at King County Regional Homelessness Authority.

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Blair helped James get into housing and have basic needs met, she helped reconnect him with family, and maybe, most of all, feel loved in the last few years of his life. And James, what he did for Blair was to change her life. He helped her take an off-ramp from the path she was on and in the process she found her voice and her purpose in life.

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Personal relationships can be thought of as the foundational supports of a healthy community. By simply getting to know each other, being exposed to different life experiences and views, we broaden ourselves and deepen our ability to empathize within the community. 

While we know this to be true, society appears to be increasingly slipping into polarized camps. We find ourselves in echo chambers, ones where there is little room for opposing views. This is happening at all political levels and around nearly every important issue. And while echo chambers are a form of immediate gratification, which is of course an instant feel good, they are an unhealthy environment for all of us. 

The good news is, we can easily do something about this! Starting today, right now, we can work to be more open with each other. To courageously be willing to hear and respect different views, lifestyles, beliefs, and choices, especially from people outside our circle. 

It begins when we Just Say Hello.

When I first met Preacher he was living in a tent with his partner along the Ship Canal in the Fremont neighborhood. He had just been released from jail, several hours earlier, and his smile was still a mile wide because of it!

Being invited into their tent, one of the first things I noticed was how meticulously organized and beautiful everything was, including the tapestries and little battery operated string lights hanging from the ceiling. It was not at all what I expected! 

While sitting there, taking in how they had made this tent a home, Preacher picked up his guitar and began singing a song he had written while in jail. It stopped me with how beautiful his voice was. I remember having a moment of really looking at him closer. As a gay black man, just out of jail, living homeless with nothing, I couldn’t imagine how he had been able to move through so many barriers. 

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On this episode we are talking with Rev. Rick Reynolds. He has spent most of his life stepping closer, getting to know those struggling. For nearly 40 years he worked at the nonprofit Operation Nightwatch, most of that time as the Executive Director, engaging in direct action for those in need.

For those of you that don’t know Rick, he is one of those cornerstones in Seattle around advocacy for the homeless. In short, he’s a big deal, although he wouldn’t tell you that, or probably even own up to it.

Sitting with Rick, I was hoping to extract some large pearl of wisdom in this constant search for solutions Seattle finds itself in. To hopefully hear some aha moment.

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You Know Me Now would like to raise funds for hotel stay while housing can be found. You can Venmo funds to @YouKnowMeNow. Please list Daniel in your donation. No funds will be used by YKMN. If for whatever reason Daniel does not use all of the funds they will go to someone else struggling with homelessness and in need. If you have any questions you can call Rex 206-330-1142.

The ‘WE NEED YOU NOW’ episodes are a quick call-out for all of us to step forward when direct and immediate action is needed for someone struggling in our community.

The episodes are typically less than 15 minutes, being short and to the point, just enough to let us all know the situation and what is needed.

We hope to build a network of like minded folks who want to get involved and help their neighbors in times of need. We believe this is what a healthy community looks like.

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The idea, or act, of Mutual Aid has been around for a long time, for a very long time. Perhaps, in the simplest form, from the beginning of time.

Mutual Aid is nothing more than people coming together, in community, to take care of each other, often addressing basic needs and human rights that are not being met.

The barriers, or, the reason for needs not being met and/or rights not being afforded, are often systemic and political. The people who get involved in Mutual Aid are motivated by the injustices and want to take part in direct action. Which includes, providing services, advocating for needed systems change, and connections through friendship.

In this episode, you will be hearing from Kaitlyn, a young woman struggling through addiction, homelessness, and loss.

When we first met Kaitlyn, she was in her tent suffering from a great deal of physical and emotional pain. She had an abscess located at her lower butt cheek, which was swollen and badly infected. In fact, she was burning up with a high fever. Even worse, for her, she was emotionally distraught over a stranger having taken Prince, her dog, her best friend.

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For folks who don't know Tent City 3 is operated by the 501C(3) non profit called SHARE / WHEEL which stands for Seattle Housing and Resource Effort and its partner organization Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League. Both organizations have deep roots in Seattle with their birth during the 1990 Goodwill games.

The self managed community model that SHARE/WHEEL developed in the 1990’s is one of the first in the country. From the beginning, Tent City 3 has moved quarterly to different host locations throughout the city, mostly to church parking lots.

In early January, for this episode, I spent two days and one night at Tent City 3. They were located on a small parking lot between the Husky stadium and lake Washington on the UW campus.

While I got to know a number of residents during the time there, such as Kendra, Osh, Andrew, Ryan, Sebastian, Rebekah, and others, most of my time was spent hanging out with Sean Smith.

Sean is one of the camp leaders who has years of experience operating tent cities and his time with SHARE goes back really to the beginning of the organization. We started our conversation with his childhood memories.

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On February 19 2023 Rex delivered a sermon during morning worship at the University Unitarian Church in Seattle. He focused on homelessness in Seattle and building relationships between people who sleep outside and people who are housed. Full video version is available on the episode page on https://www.youknowmenow.com/

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There were 310 homeless deaths in 2022 in the Seattle area. A 65% increase over the previous year. Fentanyl-related overdoses accounted for more than half of those deaths. Thirty-five people died from natural causes, ten people died from hypothermia or exposure, and seven died from suicide.

The average age of death was 48.

Those are all tragically horrible numbers. It’s hard to get your head around them, to even know how to feel. 

In this episode we want to share about one person who lived chronically homeless in Seattle. Just one of the 310 that passed away in 2022.

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When I was a kid growing up, nobody talked about mental illness. At least openly that is. There were the hushed talks about so-and-so’s mom losing it and having to be committed to a psych-ward. Being taken away, put in a hospital somewhere. Or a friend’s Uncle who ‘went off the deep end’, now getting help with his break-down, whatever that meant. As a kid, it was all a mystery.

Back then, if you or someone in your family was getting mental health help, of any kind, nobody talked about it. It was purposefully kept quiet in a tight circle of family and close friends. There was a big stigma around saying you needed help.

Today, thankfully, that is changing. Not only are there an increasing number of people seeking various forms of mental health help, the idea of it is becoming comfortable and accepted. People are more open, want to share and talk about it. It’s commonplace to hear someone say, “Hey, I gotta run, I’ve gotta get to my therapy session.” It feels like we are living through a time where the stigma around mental illness is being dismantled.

However, there is still a big hurdle in front of us. For those suffering with mental health issues, the available help is severely lacking. This is particularly and painfully true for those struggling through homelessness.

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