IN THE HOUSE
The latest happenings at Hospitality House - February 2020 Issue
A New Year of Possibilities
A message from Hospitality House Executive Director Joe Wilson
On behalf of all of us at Hospitality House, thank you to all our friends, colleagues and supporters for your continued generosity, and your uplifting belief in the power of community.
Because of you, our recent Annual Holiday Appeal was our most successful ever – we raised nearly $100,000 to support our six community programs, reaching thousands of San Franciscans every year, preserving our commitment to rebuilding lives, celebrating creativity and strengthening community. Each day, we rediscover that which binds us together, in what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called that “inescapable network of mutuality,” – the connection which binds us together. In so many ways, humanity is being tested, the very essence of what we are, and aspire to be, and dare to dream of. |
Ultimately, our shared challenge may be whether we can summon the strength of purpose, the belief in ourselves, to call upon the best of what we can be, for and with one another. Imagining possibilities. We take pride in the vibrant, culturally rich and ethnically diverse neighborhoods that have nurtured our Hospitality House family for more than 50 years. Our gratitude can never fully be expressed.
We’ve been enriched beyond measure by the tens of thousands of community residents who’ve entrusted Hospitality House with their volunteerism, their generosity, and their commitment to positive change. Above all, their belief in the power of ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.
Join us as we continue to build a brighter future for all – where homelessness and poverty no longer define a human being’s worth, where community leaders inspire still more leaders, and where artists and dreamers thrive. Incubating hopefulness in everything we do.
Our journey together continues with renewed resolve, as we strive to remain deserving of your trust and belief in Hospitality House, we continue to build a community where all are valued and every voice counts, and we harness the power of the people fighting for the soul of the City.
Possibilities...
We’ve been enriched beyond measure by the tens of thousands of community residents who’ve entrusted Hospitality House with their volunteerism, their generosity, and their commitment to positive change. Above all, their belief in the power of ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.
Join us as we continue to build a brighter future for all – where homelessness and poverty no longer define a human being’s worth, where community leaders inspire still more leaders, and where artists and dreamers thrive. Incubating hopefulness in everything we do.
Our journey together continues with renewed resolve, as we strive to remain deserving of your trust and belief in Hospitality House, we continue to build a community where all are valued and every voice counts, and we harness the power of the people fighting for the soul of the City.
Possibilities...
SMART Project Helps Tenderloin Residents Harness the Power of Film
By Sara Colm
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The struggles and triumphs of Tenderloin residents are often under-reported, distorted, or sensationalized by mainstream media. A new Hospitality House project hopes to provide Tenderloin residents the tools to tell their own stories through film.
The Social Mapping and Activism for Residents using Technology (SMART) project trains community residents to use mobile phone technology to design, shoot and edit short documentary films. The project started in August with a series of workshops led by journalist and rights activist Sara Colm, whose history in the Tenderloin goes back to her work in the 1980s as a community organizer and then editor of the Tenderloin Times newspaper. "Our goal was for Tenderloin residents to learn how to harness the power of film to tell their own stories,” Colm said. “By exploring pressing social issues through film, they are also building their capacity as community activists.” |
During hands-on workshops and practice sessions, Colm walked students through the filmmaking process. They learned interview techniques and how to find story ideas and cultivate sources. They also learned about obtaining informed consent from people they film, as well as ethical and privacy issues that may arise in filmmaking.
One of the workshop participants is Eddy Street resident David Bercutt. "The class was very instructive and opens doors for me," he said. "I was surprised to learn that I could make a professional video with a good cell phone and a tripod." In his film, Bercutt hopes to better understand why some homeless people stay on the street by choice. He is focusing on a homeless man who lives in a tent on Jones Street. "The person I interviewed was full of information about the very phenomenon I wanted to explore," he said. "He helped me understand the thoughts and attitudes of homeless people who refuse services." Another participant, Lynn Tribble, is profiling Tenderloin artist Caroline Poyaoan in her film. Tribble plans to incorporate a Filipino folk story recounted by Payaoan, as well as Filipino music, into her film, which touches on the role of art in healing and recovery. Like other participants, Tribble hopes Hospitality House will offer more film classes in the future. |
ATTENTION ARTISTS: Call for Artwork Submissions is now open!
Hospitality House is currently accepting artwork for consideration in THHE AUCTION, our annual art auction taking place on May 14th at the legendary Phoenix Hotel in the Tenderloin. If you are interested in submitting artwork to be considered for this one-of-a-kind celebration of community artists, please complete the submission form here by Friday, March 13, 2020.
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Eddie the Giant
By A. Samson Manalo
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“Where’s your hat, Eddie?” I asked. It was the first time I ever saw the top of his head, a crown of salt and pepper parted down the middle. His hair looked freshly shampooed, still damp with the tips of his tangled curls bouncing off his craning neck. I almost didn’t recognize him. Beside the absence of his signature hat, a faded topper made of black felt covered with sloganed buttons and a banner that read "San Francisco Chronicle", Eddie was not wearing his patched up denim vest or his paint covered black motorcycle jacket. Instead, he had on a stark white sweatshirt hoodie with a black design in front. He was also sitting on a wheelchair.
When you saw Little Eddie as he was called (a fitting nickname given his five foot two frame), he looked as if time grabbed him from the pages of Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test then as an impish joke, dropped him into the center of a 21st century Market Street. He was a true neighborhood artist, neighborhood legend who frequented Hospitality House’s Community Arts Program studio. On any given day, you would find him lugging an armful of his artwork — laminated poster boards depicting fantastical scenes of Betty Boop riding on a chopper through the streets of a colorful cityscape as diamonds sparkled in the sky. His illustrations were social and political commentaries that would easily rival any political cartoonist. Eddie was more than eager to explain the lively compositions of his ink drawing. He would take over an entire table at the art studio, his colored markers and pens sprawled on the surface like a kaleidoscopic logjam. If he spotted me entering the studio, he would wave and point to his poster board then start to explain his creation. I have to admit, at first this made me nervous. Listening to Eddie could be an awkward exercise in deciphering. When Eddie spoke, his words would push through his nasal passages in rhythmic spurts. I would try my best to follow by repeating the words and nodding in agreement at something I thought I understood. Eventually I learned how to slow down my listening and piece together his ideas. Eddie also loved to write poems. He would recite his verses of unreciprocated love or revenge on corrupt politicians or hope that still exist in life. He’d write about his rough days when his art would get stolen or when he couldn’t catch a break. “You’re looking good, Eddie, but did you lose your hat?” I asked again. He shook his head then pulled out a tattered, ink-stained folder of his writings. He was excited to share with me one of his poems that was recently recorded by a music group in Nashville. He held up a tiny speaker and played the song. “Wow, Eddie! Very, very cool.” I said. After the tune, he thumbed through his folder and selected another poem, this one written in gold ink. He read it out loud as I followed his finger tracing each handwritten line. When he was done, he sold me the poem. I taped Eddie’s poem on a wall space above my dresser at home. I must confess, I didn’t read the poem again until I received a text a little over a month later. Little Eddie had died alone in his room. As you walk down a Market Street rampantly transforming into a metropolis of cold, glass towers hovering over the self-absorbed smartphone walkers, the memory Eddie Sanchez, Eddie the giant will reverberate a San Francisco of peace and love. Read more about Little Eddie's incredible life in this KQED Arts article by Sarah Burke and op-ed piece by community warrior Sam Lew. |
Community Organizing Peer Advocate Monika Mean has only voted once before. It was during the 2008 presidential election. She knew she had to then but didn't understand the significance of voting until she started working at Hospitality House.
"Before coming to Hospitality House, I didn’t know anything about the democratic [process], nothing like that, so being with Hospitality House I have more info about the voting situations. That’s how I know more about voting." Monika participated in Walk with Windy last November and was so inspired, she voted again for the first time in more than a decade. "To me Walk with Windy was special because there are a lot of people that have been incarcerated and have backgrounds so [they believe] they are not able to vote, so the fact that Windy made the special day for people to walk with her so we can vote together--that’s a very good thing to me, very special," she explained. She is looking forward to voting again this coming March 3rd. "I feel very grateful for it [voting], because every vote counts. So just like a lot of people that didn’t vote, but for our votes, cause we voted, it counts. And it can make a difference. It can definitely make a difference." Don't forget to vote on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. Deadline to register is Tuesday, February 18, 2020. For more information, contact the SF Department of Elections at (415) 554-4375 or check out the SF Department of Elections website here. For other Bay Area residents, visit the CA Secretary of State website at www.sos.ca.gov. If you'd like to Walk with Windy, please join us at 290 Turk Street on Friday, February 28th at noon. For more information, call (415) 749-2109. |