The Bollard Bulletin: December 25, 2024
A present for you: "Transience: Book 1"
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED
Merry Christmas to all our readers who celebrate! Before we present you with your gift, please allow me to share a couple noteworthy Maine news stories with you.
From our friends at the local Fox News affiliate comes word that there’s a petition urging Portland officials to make warming shelters available when the weather poses a health risk to homeless people. Granted, Fox’s very brief report contained the fake news that petitioners are also demanding the city “decriminalize camping,” but half-right ain’t too bad for that network.
“The city sponsored overnight Warming Shelter will only open when the temperature drops to 15° or we receive 10 inches or more of snow. We know that hypothermia, frostbite, and other adverse heath effects can occur in much less extreme weather, and we fear for those we serve,” the petitioners, who work with unhoused Portlanders, wrote. “This is not OUR Maine. Those of us who've grown up here remember times when our community was strong and lifted each other up. It saddens us to see so many of our friends and neighbors suffering, with no recourse.”
The organizers ask city leaders to seek funding from the state and federal government to pay for expanded manger … er, I mean shelter hours. There’s no indication city officials have even bothered to read the petition. And why would they? It’s not like the feds have billions of extra bucks available to help Americans in dire need of warmth. National security threats must be addressed first, according to this morning’s report in the Brunswick Times Record.
“Defense bill authorizes $5.4 billion in discretionary funding for BIW,” reads the headline. Reporter Paul Bagnall does an admirable job rewording the press release from Sen. Susan Collins’ office announcing the boon to the warship builder in Bath and other death merchants. But as a work of journalism, this one gets an F. There’s zero context about these supposed “threats” and zero comment from any of the many pro-peace groups that regularly protest war spending at BIW and other Maine slaughter factories. Bagnall did contact Bath Iron Works for comment, but they declined, apparently citing the fact President Biden hasn’t yet signed the nearly $900 billion war-spending measure, which passed by wide margins in both houses of Congress.
OK, present time! That first item about Portland’s government neglecting the neediest brought to mind Kenny Wayne Beek’s epic account of his years on our streets (and in our jails), Transience. We published Kenny’s memoir in serialized form over the course of several years in The Bollard (and in Mainer during the couple years we renamed this publication and operated as a worker cooperative; thus those references in my editor’s preface). Here’s Book 1 of the six books that comprise the story. We’ll be making all six books available to our paid subscribers next year.
Thank you all so much for reading and supporting our work this year! Next year’s our 20th anniversary, and we couldn’t have made it without you. Peace & Solidarity!
