August 17, 2011
1. Newblog2011: 08/17/11 The New York Times Newspaper
The abuse of me in Lynn, MA got worse as, unbeknownst to me, it was getting better in Boston and Cambridge. There’s more to the story than my ceasing to be stranded in Lynn last night, but I’m leaving that for now.
I noticed when I got back to Boston last night that something had happened in the 24 hours since I’d been here. There were dramatically fewer orange “Caution” road cones and similar signs once I got onto the main streets going toward Copley Square. It was the same in Cambridge, although I noticed that the highway still had a long line of unnecessary road cones all along the center of it, that the government buildings still had bunches of them on their corners, and that some of the corporate businesses that have been most persistent in the harassment and other issues, such as some of the Dunkin’ Donuts stores, still have cones outside their stores and also have Wet Floor signs in their businesses.
That was one of the things that I told the New York Times on the phone last night; I told them that some of what I’d been saying for the past few days on my blogs must have impacted people in Boston, finally.
I had left my first message at the New York Times last night from the shelter in Lynn, where the abuse of me was, by then, unbearable. The coughing and comments had increased daily, and some residents of the shelter, especially men, had started yelling "Fishing" whenever they saw me. There had also been a group of residents who had stood near me and talked about fishing for an hour earlier in the day.
One of the things I said in my voicemail was that, although I was told yesterday afternoon in the office of the resource center above the shelter that I couldn’t have another T and bus pass to get into Boston to a day shelter that I already knew of and where I thought there was a good chance I could get professional shoes for work, the dayroom of the resource center was full of residents of the shelter coloring, eating, watching the movie “Inception,” and harassing me. I was told at the resource center “We have a lot of clients and we can’t give out transportation passes every day.”
The point was for me to be able to start working so that I could buy my own pass and everything else that a person needs to live. That’s the point of helping someone out at the times when he or she needs it; the point is so that he or she can move on as quickly as possible.
I told the New York Times that I could get free transportation all over Boston if I were willing to say that I have a disability. I told them “It’s fine for people to sit and color, watch movies, take a break; however, there’s no reason that I should be getting abused by them and also be trapped here.”
I'll add here that I saw "Inception" in the theater last year, didn't find it relaxing, and wouldn't choose to make it part of my or anyone else's therapeutic schedule.
The resource center sent me somewhere else to try to find clothes and shoes; I found some clothes, but no shoes. Then they said that I had to go to the Salvation Army this morning to get shoes. The Salvation Army, which has nationally harassed me, possibly before I applied to work there in April of 2011, thinking that all I wanted was a job, that it might be an ok place to work, and not even thinking to look them up online first; that’s where I would have had to go to get shoes to apply for jobs.
One of the things that I said to the New York Times on the phone last night was this:
“President Obama hasn’t done anything for people such as those in the shelter who have harassed me. He hasn’t helped them get jobs or housing, or encouraged them to improve their life, work or school skills. What he and his cohorts have done is to tell those people that all they have to do is f---around with me and to f--- children, that those things are g-ddamn’ patriotic.”
I occasionally swear when I'm really angry. It's not the best habit.
Copyright L. Kochman August 17, 2011 @ 12:07 p.m./addition @ 1:46 p.m.
1. Newblog2011: 08/17/11 The New York Times Newspaper
The abuse of me in Lynn, MA got worse as, unbeknownst to me, it was getting better in Boston and Cambridge. There’s more to the story than my ceasing to be stranded in Lynn last night, but I’m leaving that for now.
I noticed when I got back to Boston last night that something had happened in the 24 hours since I’d been here. There were dramatically fewer orange “Caution” road cones and similar signs once I got onto the main streets going toward Copley Square. It was the same in Cambridge, although I noticed that the highway still had a long line of unnecessary road cones all along the center of it, that the government buildings still had bunches of them on their corners, and that some of the corporate businesses that have been most persistent in the harassment and other issues, such as some of the Dunkin’ Donuts stores, still have cones outside their stores and also have Wet Floor signs in their businesses.
That was one of the things that I told the New York Times on the phone last night; I told them that some of what I’d been saying for the past few days on my blogs must have impacted people in Boston, finally.
I had left my first message at the New York Times last night from the shelter in Lynn, where the abuse of me was, by then, unbearable. The coughing and comments had increased daily, and some residents of the shelter, especially men, had started yelling "Fishing" whenever they saw me. There had also been a group of residents who had stood near me and talked about fishing for an hour earlier in the day.
One of the things I said in my voicemail was that, although I was told yesterday afternoon in the office of the resource center above the shelter that I couldn’t have another T and bus pass to get into Boston to a day shelter that I already knew of and where I thought there was a good chance I could get professional shoes for work, the dayroom of the resource center was full of residents of the shelter coloring, eating, watching the movie “Inception,” and harassing me. I was told at the resource center “We have a lot of clients and we can’t give out transportation passes every day.”
The point was for me to be able to start working so that I could buy my own pass and everything else that a person needs to live. That’s the point of helping someone out at the times when he or she needs it; the point is so that he or she can move on as quickly as possible.
I told the New York Times that I could get free transportation all over Boston if I were willing to say that I have a disability. I told them “It’s fine for people to sit and color, watch movies, take a break; however, there’s no reason that I should be getting abused by them and also be trapped here.”
I'll add here that I saw "Inception" in the theater last year, didn't find it relaxing, and wouldn't choose to make it part of my or anyone else's therapeutic schedule.
The resource center sent me somewhere else to try to find clothes and shoes; I found some clothes, but no shoes. Then they said that I had to go to the Salvation Army this morning to get shoes. The Salvation Army, which has nationally harassed me, possibly before I applied to work there in April of 2011, thinking that all I wanted was a job, that it might be an ok place to work, and not even thinking to look them up online first; that’s where I would have had to go to get shoes to apply for jobs.
One of the things that I said to the New York Times on the phone last night was this:
“President Obama hasn’t done anything for people such as those in the shelter who have harassed me. He hasn’t helped them get jobs or housing, or encouraged them to improve their life, work or school skills. What he and his cohorts have done is to tell those people that all they have to do is f---around with me and to f--- children, that those things are g-ddamn’ patriotic.”
I occasionally swear when I'm really angry. It's not the best habit.
Copyright L. Kochman August 17, 2011 @ 12:07 p.m./addition @ 1:46 p.m.