cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15197917
this post was submitted on 13 May 2024
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I'm sorry my lived experience conflicts with your preconceved notions of reality. Both of those stories are 100% true. I could go on, but it's clear you aren't interested.
No, I'm not interested in what you have to say.
Sure, so the first homeless guy I talked to was when I was in college at the University of Oregon. This would have been, oh, 1990? 1991? Something like that.
He stopped me because he had a DEEP Southern accent and I gave him some change, but I wanted to know...
"Clearly, you're not from around here... What's your deal?"
Most honest response I've had...
"I'm addicted to heroin, my sister's a lawyer and got sick of dealing with me and told me she'd buy me a bus ticket to anywhere provided it was one way."
"And you picked..." (gestures) "Here? I mean, I'm biased, I love Eugene, I grew up here, but I can't wait to leave."
He just kind of shrugged. Eugene is kind of special in that the clock stopped there somewhere around 1972. If you're scrounging for drugs, Oregon is a general destination, but Eugene SPECIFICALLY. At least, back in the day. It's Portland now.
Down the street from this guy was the U of O's resident "Homeless" guy, Frog. Frog was a character and wasn't TECHNICALLY homeless. He made a "living", if you could call it that, selling home made joke books to the student population. Wow, he's still alive...
https://www.hereisoregon.com/people/2022/10/street-vendor-frog-and-his-joke-books-have-become-a-university-of-oregon-institution.html
The polar opposite of Frog was this guy everyone called "Zeus". I don't think anyone knew his real name. There was lots of urban legends about Zeus... scary looking dude who walked around in a pink house coat with a string of Barbie doll heads tied around his waist.
You did not talk to Zeus. Had all the earmarks of a paranoid schizophrenic. I never heard of him actually hurting anyone, but he sure looked the part.
Looks like he died in 1998, tuberculosis, he was 39.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19981125&id=5E9WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s-sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1736,6680996&hl=en
If only you had offered Frog your friend's wheelbarrow. Maybe things could have been different.
Oh, that was years later...
Okay... Well, I wish you the best.