Anthony & Me | A man trying to get off the streets and a writer trying to finish his book

Feb 26 2013

And the Oscar goes to…

The hardest part about writing, is writing.

This quote was one of the only things I took away from the Oscars on Sunday evening. It was attributed to the late Nora Ephron who died last June after losing her battle with leukemia. Although I can’t find any source attributing this to the great author and director, I did find it attributed to the author Gabe Rotter. Regardless of who said it, I agree!

That being said, maybe the secret is just making time for it. So far today is off to a good start. I’ve taken some time off of my job to focus on writing this week. I got five pages written this morning and have more time planned this afternoon.

I spoke to Anthony yesterday. He has two Continue reading →

Tagged authors, books, homeless, homelessness, job fairs, jobs, nora ephron, oscars, quotes, writing

Feb 21 2013

Leave a comment

Updates on Reed

Being Creative

I’m taking the rest of the day to work on my book proposal. My brother Ryan recently shared with me an interesting video of the English actor John Cleese talking about how to unlock your creative juices. It’s about 5 minutes too long in my opinion but the core content is quite good. In a nutshell he claims that creativity is not a talent, rather it’s a way of operating. He focuses on five factors to help us be creative.

Space – You have to create some space for yourself away from your everyday demands. That means sealing yourself off. You must make a quiet space for yourself where you will be undisturbed.
Time – It’s not enough to create space. You have to create your space for yourself for a specific period of time. Keep in mind that it’s much easier to do
rivial things that are urgent, than it is to do important things that are not urgent – like thinking. And, it’s also easier to do little things that we know we can do rather than starting big things that we are not so sure about. Your mind will start thinking about all of the other things that you could be doing instead of working on your project. He says to just sit there for a little bit recognizing the potential interruptions but just letting them come and go. Your mind will eventually calm Continue reading →

Tagged "John Cleese", creative, creativity, helpful, lessons, strategies, thinking, thought, tips, wisdom, writing

Feb 19 2013

Leave a comment

Biweekly Meetings, Updates on Anthony, Updates on Reed

Week 10 Update

Before I get started today, just a note to let you know that I have added some ad banners on the blog. Yep, there’s one just above where you’re reading now and another one over on the menu to the right. All proceeds go to help support the Anthony&Me project. If you see an ad that interests you, I encourage you to click on it as each click results in micro-revenue for the project. Thank you for your support!!

Anthony and me at Starbucks this morning

Anthony and I met up this morning for our bi-weekly meeting. First we went over to a doctor’s visit that he had. It seems that his blood pressure is getting more stable although it is still considerably higher than what the doctor would like.

We then headed across the street to the Whole Foods for lunch. We circled the hot and cold food bars surveying the various offerings until we both honed in on our prey. I made Continue reading →

Tagged ads, anniversaries, blood pressure, books, coffee, doctors, friendship, gifts, health, homeless, homelessness, housing, lunch, Starbucks, writing

Feb 15 2013

Leave a comment

Updates on Anthony, Updates on Reed

Reed meets Reid

So yesterday I stopped by to see Anthony at his corner of 19^th and M. There was something different about him this time though. He was wearing a sharp looking black three-quarter length wool coat. “A friend was nice enough to buy this for me,” he told me. Handing me the receipt that was still in the pocket he looked me in the eye. “You’re not going to believe how much they paid for it…I’d be happy with something from the thrift shop.” I explained to Anthony that giving is often times just as much about the giver as it is the recipient. He nodded and said how thankful he was for the generous gift.

Anthony introduced me to the “other Reid” – I don’t meet a lot of people with my name, not even spelled differently. Leave it to Anthony to scout out another Reed!

While we were talking, Anthony said he wanted to introduce me to somebody. You got to understand that talking with Anthony at his corner is not usually a simple bi-directional conversation – nope, not with Anthony. You see that’s Continue reading →

Feb 13 2013

Leave a comment

Biweekly Meetings

Week 8 Update

It seems I got behind on my blog updates, but last week I met up with Anthony for our regular biweekly meeting. He was in pretty good spirits-in fact he told me he had encountered a bit of luck. Apparently a few days earlier he had found $205 (two $100 bills and a five) on the street. “I’ve never found anything like that,” he told me. Anthony used the money to pay for a hotel room for the weekend so that he could get warm and shower.

We walked over to the New Orleans Po’ Boy shop on 19th Street to grab some lunch and catch up on our progress. I went with the Cajun barbecue which I somewhat regretted later – after I saw they had a muffaletta sandwich. Oh well….Anthony didn’t Continue reading →

Tagged health, homelessness, housing, lunch, money, squirrels, writing

Feb 04 2013

2 Comments

Updates on Anthony

Cold Encounter

In the little more than two months that Anthony and I have been working to help one another – I have gotten to know him much better. I’ve seen his ups and downs, I’ve sat in doctor’s offices with him as he is told devastating news about his health and I have heard some of the pain from his past. But nothing has affected me more than my encounter with him last night.

Like many Americans, I spent Sunday evening watching the 47^th contest of the Superbowl. It delivered an exciting game and although I didn’t really have a dog in the fight, I was happy to see Baltimore win. I’m more of a Continue reading →

Tagged cold, Connecticut Ave., football, homeless, homelessness, Ravens, sleeping, streets, Superbowl, Washington DC, winter, Year of Giving

Jan 29 2013

Leave a comment

Updates on Anthony, Updates on Reed

Health Matters

Greetings from sunny Miami! I’m here for work for a few days. After the frigid week we had in DC last week this is a welcomed change. You’d be surprised how just the sight of sunglasses, flip flops and swaying palm trees can unfreeze you from winter’s grasp.

I was struck by how many people there were begging around my hotel last night. I tend to think that DC has a large population of panhandlers, but this was at San Francisco or New Orleans levels. I’m not sure if they were homeless, but if they were I can understand that as surviving outdoors in South Florida does seem like a brighter option than Washington and places north.

Photo: Mike Chaput

Friday I met up with Anthony and accompanied him on his visit to the Continue reading →

Tagged blood pressure, diet, health, heart disease, homeless, homelessness, hospitals, sad, Washington DC

Jan 23 2013

4 Comments

Biweekly Meetings

Week 6 Update

Anthony strolls down Connecticut Avenue chatting with a city worker. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

It’s freezing outside. Literally! It’s only 18 degrees Celsius right now and with the wind-chill it feels like 2 degrees! The high is only supposed to get to 27 today. I am so thankful for the roof over my head.

I met with Anthony yesterday. We had lunch and went over our progress. I urged him to go to a shelter last night, but he refused. He’s stubborn as hell when it comes to the topic of shelters. “They’re no good,” he always says. You’d think his tolerance for shelters would increase as the temperatures outside decrease, but it doesn’t.

Progress with his housing are a bit stalled right now. We have reached out to Georgetown Continue reading →

Tagged cold, homeless, homelessness, housing, shelters, winter, writing

Jan 21 2013

Leave a comment

Updates on Anthony, Updates on Reed

Service & Volunteerism

We’ve heard a lot about service and volunteering this weekend with the MLK Service Weekend. I volunteered with a great local DC group called Yachad – they help rebuild low-income housing in our nation’s capital. As I write up my blog I regret not having invited Anthony to come along with me to volunteer. I think he would have enjoyed it.

Me doing some painting with Yachad this weekend. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

Anthony volunteers a lot of his time. Not in the conventional sense of volunteering once a week with a hospital or signing up for a national day of service, rather Anthony takes time every day to help people on the streets of DC. From providing directions to tourists who he encounters staring blankly at a DC map to new Street Sense Continue reading →

Tagged Anthony, inauguration, Martin Luther King, MLK, Obama, painting, Reed, service, volunteering, volunteers, Yachad

Jan 18 2013

Leave a comment

Uncategorized, Updates on Reed

New York City

Me working on the train. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

I’m sitting on an Amtrak train coming back from NYC. There is no other city like it in the world. I’m not sure I would want to live full time there, but I do love this city. It is so chock full of interesting people, stores, restaurants, buildings, etc. I don’t know how it doesn’t just collapse as it seems that the entire city is built on top of an enormous subway network carved out of Swiss cheese. And it seems to all work. Most trains seem to come by every 3-5 minutes. In DC it’s not uncommon to wait 15 minutes for your train.

Fog rolls into Manhattan. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

Anyway, I had some meetings up in the Big Apple…so I didn’t spend any time working on the book or helping Anthony since I arrived yesterday. I had five meetings which kept me quite busy – but I did have a little downtime. Here’s what I filled my day with:

Visited the Marble Collegiate Church where nearly 7,000 yellow ribbons hang in honor of the fallen US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are also green ribbons for the Iraqis and Afghans who have died in conflict.

Walked 60 blocks of Broadway – I did a lot of walking there yesterday. My FitBit recorded 23,059 steps – or nearly 11 miles!

Took a few minutes to take in the skyline from the 48^th floor where one of my meetings was.

Discovered PAX Wholesome Foods – thumbs up!

Stopped by the Spice Corner – my favorite store for Indian ingredients.

Photo: Reed Sandridge

Got on the Brooklyn bound subway when I was trying to go uptown.

Met up with a friend I hadn’t seen in a year and a half.

And made it to the train station in time to catch an earlier train home. Life is good!

Fallen soldiers at Marble Collegiate Church. (Photo: Reed Sandridge)

The obligatory Times Square photo. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

View from my friend Amy’s apartment overlooking Central Park. (Photo: Reed Sandridge)

Tagged Amtrak, New York City, photographs, sightseeing, travel, walking, working