Life in the Loin

My second week in the Tenderloin was a big one. It mainly culminated on Friday, when I went to serve breakfast in the Tenderloin at Glide Memorial Church. I am grateful to have this blog as an outlet for my personal feelings, because this week there were many.

The first thing that struck me was the demeanor of all the people. Most of the people were quite cheerful and many wanted to start up conversations or ask about my status in school. I was surprised how many times I was asked if I was in college, and the nods of approval that followed.

I got a lot of really good information from the staff, and volunteers that worked there. Glide provides jobs for many rehabilitated addicts and ex-convicts who know the programs inside and out.

It has also changed my perception entirely on the “types” of people that come to get free meal services, and the way many (myself included) would phrase, “going to feed the homeless.” It appeared that while many of the people there were indeed homeless there was a large majority who seemed quite the contrary and at the minimum have a place to store their things, shower, and get dressed.

One of the volunteers pointed out an interesting aspect of the breakfast service that I hadn’t really thought of before. He told me that for some of these people breakfast is the last meal of their day. They stay up at night, come to Glide for breakfast in the morning and sleep during the early part of the day. This made sense, and cleared up my thoughts about all the people I saw who were presumably high, nodding off at tables or in the depths of meth psychosis.

I saw and met some very interesting people. One woman stared at everyone surrounding her, including myself as if they were the devil reincarnate. Another man spit on my leg. Accidental, but none-the-less, it provided a moment where I truly had to calm my inner-self and realize there are worse ways to be, and they were gathered all around me. One man wanted to talk to me forever about his time studying the Divine Principle at UC Berkeley.

The service is run somewhat like a prison, the whole event being monitored by security guards that quell fights and sweep through when breakfast is over banging on tables and alerting the sleeping stragglers.

I took a friend with me, an international relations major, and international student from Belgium. She was really intrigued and I suspect a little overwhelmed by the experience. When we left she said she’d have to express herself the next time we saw each other because she wasn’t able to put her experience into words.

It was an unforgettable experience that I will return to take part in very soon. It was an invaluable resource for my reporting, and a great way to get to know the people on the street. The people were nicer than those I pass on my walk to work on Embarcadero. One man stopped me to tell me, "we truly appreciate you. You're working hard." Most of my preconceived notions and misconceptions were shattered.

Never in my life have so many people said, “Thank you” to me and meant it.

After my volunteer work, my boyfriend met me and we walked the streets of the Loin, looking for good food and stumbled upon a gallery we often see featured in Juxtapozed Magazine.

If you get a chance, go by The Shooting Gallery and White Walls on Larkin and Geary. The woman that worked there saw us staring in the window and opened up the big metal grates so we could have a private viewing. Awesome! The gallery was just being set up for many of the paintings were sitting on the floor, with their clear plastic wrappings fallen at their feet. It was such an eclectic mix of photography, paintings and mixed media that it fit in perfectly with the atmosphere of the neighborhood.

I have posted these fliers with permission from the gallery.