Homeless Man Speaks: Meet Tony

Filed under: Themes, Bum Deal 

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Selected writings from http://homelessmanspeaks.wordpress.com.

Tony has lived on the streets of Toronto for a long time.

Tony loves to talk and has so much to say.

One day Tony met Philip, and they talked and talked and talked.

Philip Stern is a Montreal-born entrepreneur who now lives in Toronto.

Philip had an idea, and asked Tony to “do a blog” together. And Tony accepted.

The words all come from Tony. Philip just posts them online, and adds a few explanations when they’re needed.

“Me, I’m still trying to think what the hell a blog is,” says Tony.

“He’s laugh-your-ass-off funny sometimes,” says Philip.

An unlikely friendship.

An extraordinary blog.

A Homeless Man to write home about.

3 essays after the jump…

Introducing Tony
*Written on October 23, 2006

Welcome to Tony’s new blog. Tony is homeless.

This blog is—as much as possible—Tony’s, as transcribed by me (Philip). Tony lives in Toronto. Today and in the future, I will annotate (but not change) his words and add my voice when context (narrow or broad) seems to be needed.

I’ve known Tony for about 5 years. I estimate that he’s about 55 yrs old. Tony spends most days coaxing a dime or a quarter or a dollar or a fiver from folks walking by, familiar and not.

From what I can tell, Tony finances his life one meal at a time, plus the cost of a bed for the evening when he can collect enough money. Most mornings, I find him perched on a stack of milk crates, near my favourite coffee shop. Tony’s cap acts as a nest for loose change, and his small cardboard signs attempt to catch your eye and your heart. I see him most days at around 8am when he’s generally “working on” breakfast.

I hadn’t seen Tony for several days. I discover that he was in jail last week. After finding him this morning, I proposed to Tony that we start a blog with him as the prime author. Tony has full editorial control and he can review any posting beforehand if he wishes. Even though Tony had never “set eyes” on the Internet, he proposed that we should “just go ahead.”

Thus, a Homeless Man Speaks.

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TONY:
“I got locked up last Monday [Oct 16] because I punched the boyfriend of a woman in July [2006] but I forgot my court date [earlier in October] when I had to defend what I did protecting that woman.

“Monday afternoon I was sitting here as usual [near the coffee shop], minding my business and there were a bunch of cops’ cars driving down the street. It was like a motorcade. The cops went to an apartment up the street and carried out a baby. The mother [not the woman that Tony had protected in July] had been beaten up by her boyfriend and the cops came and took away their baby. Then one of the cops walked down the street towards me and asked if I was “Tony.” He was just double-checking because he already kind of knew me. The cop gave me a bench warrant since I had forgot my court date and told me to come with him to the police station. I asked the cop if I could lock up my bike first and that was no problem.

“They all know me in the police station and the jail, so they treated me fine and I got food and everything. But I didn’t make bail on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday. I got out on Friday [Oct 20]. I still got my orange jumpsuit [Tony pulled back his coat to display his eye-catchingly orange jumpsuit underneath]. I can’t pick up my clothes from the jail until tomorrow. But they’re dirty so I’ve got to wash them anyway. I’ve been sleeping behind a bush near [an intersection in the neighbourhood]. I’ve got plastic sheets as a sort of a roof but it’s got a few holes. There’s mud and you can’t keep clean.”

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PS: Your comments will get to Tony, so feel free to ask questions (by posting comments after blog postings), etc.

Job troubles, bone troubles and crack troubles
*Written on December 29, 2006

PHILIP: “Tony, why don’t you look for a job? One guy even put a question on the blog asking why you don’t look for a job every day. Lots of people genuinely don’t understand why you don’t. I even bet quite a few people who are sympathetic to the homeless issue have problems with the job thing.”

TONY: “OK, well, first of all, you don’t get paid for looking for a job because you’re not at your panhandling station. So how am I supposed to get food when I’m looking for a job?

“And how are folks supposed to call me when I don’t even have a phone? Well, if anyone ever finds out that I went and got a cell phone, I bet most of ’em wouldn’t give me money again. A homeless guy with his own cell phone?! You got to be kidding me. Even if someone gave it to me I’m dead in the water.

“Then there’s that I don’t even have an address. You can’t even take a shower except in a shelter or sometimes when you rent a room.

“Look at the bags under my eyes. How’s someone going to hire you if you got bags under your eyes since you don’t get enough sleep?

“I’ve got a bad back, my knees are killing me and there’s my collar bone. So I can’t do stuff with lots of walking or lifting things like I used to. I used to deliver those big phone books. You should try carrying eight phone books on your shoulder going straight uphill.

“Plus my feet are real bad. I’ve got a [deep skin] crack in both of ’em now.

“Anyway, just have those folks walk in my shoes for one day. Then you’ll understand what it’s all about.”

Cough-22
*Written on November 28, 2007

PHILIP:
“You’re coughing again.”

TONY:
“You’re telling me! It’s pushing my gut through my stomach muscles now.”

PHILIP:
“Why don’t you go down to St. Joe’s and see a doctor?”

TONY:
“No point.”

PHILIP:
“What?”

TONY:
“They’ll just write me up a prescription, but how’m I going to pay for it?”

PHILIP:
“Come on, Tony, there’s got to be a government drug payment scheme for people in your situation.”

TONY:
“Yeah, I’m working on that.”

Tony outside in the cold

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