Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation.
---George Washington
(Well, George, I don't really give a rat's ass what people think of me and besides, if I limited myself to men of good quality here in Los Angeles, I would be a very lonely, isolated hermit)
by James Jarvis
excerpt from Westside (tales of life in a seaside veterans shelter)
Guess who just called me?
My recently ex-G.P. roommate Anthony, that's who, the roomie who bugged out to Mardi Gras in New Orleans a few weeks ago . . . just gave up all his worldly possessions except a knapsack full of underwear and socks and caught a Greyhound east.
Ant is alive and well and living in a veterans' shelter in Harvey, Louisiana, just across the river from The Big Easy! Anthony says the veteran's shelter there is much nicer than the one here (townhouses with individual kitchens and toilets---OH MY!!!) and that they ARE ACTUALLY HELPING HIM THERE! Imagine that. They're ACTUALLY HELPING HIM! They've got him on anti-depression medications for chronic depression which, by the way, I suggested to him a month ago.
Yes, I know I don't have a license to make diagnosis(es?), but if anyone can recognize chronic depression, it's me.
I'm very pleased that my old roomie has landed well from his hobo adventures. Maybe, someday soon, if I ever stop acting like a desperado . . . out riding fences, I will land well, too. Or I could move to Texas.
Tags: U.S. Vets, veterans initiative, homeless veterans shelter, homelessness, vets shelter, veterans shelter, Big Easy, shelter roommate
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