I wish everyone the kind of home I have right now:
Where I sleep well because the conditions allow it
Where I experience sanctuary from human domination & hostility
Where I feel joy because I’m close to the ground, & am strengthened & healed by that
Where I breathe air instead of radon, CO2 & unvented outgassed chemicals
Where I can pray whenever I want
Where my neighbors scurry, dust bathe & fly
Where I’m not obstructed by a rich property owner’s selfish & oppressive preferences
Where I look forward to coming, & feel sad when I leave.
May all have a real home in the equitable world we work to manifest. I’m so thankful for every minute I have mine.
By Monica Tmartella, a Petaluma, CA based worker and homeless rights and animal rights activist who has been resisting having her independent housing, her tent, confiscated by the city and the police, as is constantly threatened. She writes eloquently about autonomy, self-reliance and mutual support in the houseless community, and the responsibility of the government to provide all with real housing, demanding that they stop criminalizing those they have failed, as she writes, “trying to drive poor people out of their homes, out of the city, and/or into a cage they call a ‘shelter.’”
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