For so many of the guests featured in this series, Street Sense Media has become its own kind of home. Regardless of the conditions or circumstances that led someone to homelessness, Street Sense makes space for community connection and creative expression. In this bonus episode, Director of Vendor Employment Thomas Ratliff shares how Street Sense vendor-artists “become their own boss” and how you can support their great work.

People say “time and tide wait for none” and nudge us to make the most of our time and the trials or treasures we experience on our way. Jet Flegette keeps perspective, even when facing trauma: valuing people (and pets) over things, staying joyous and curious in the world, and remaining compassionate in sight of struggle. She talks about navigating grief, exploring trust, and exercising empathy – all of which help her tell stories that prompt people to better see and support each other. Given the chance to relive the toughest times, Jet says she’d do it all again and challenges us to ask ourselves what it means to fully feel and deeply participate in our lives.

People are naturally wired to evolve: to remain agile, adaptable, and ambitious even when facing serious life challenges. Queenie Featherstone and Morgan Jones explore the process of “rebuilding yourself” and describe what they strive for and how they thrive, despite housing insecurity. They discuss how – through health, humor, hard work, and helping others – they’ve grown. They also share their goal-setting and go-getting mindsets for working, studying, creating, and giving back.

For some, housing insecurity might seem a distant or unfamiliar threat. But scenarios that can thrust someone into homelessness take many forms, and they may not be as impossible or implausible as is convenient to believe. Street Sense vendor James Davis talks about how his journey of moving from a “normal” life – complete with a house, career, travel, and family – into the uncharted territory of homelessness. He shares how he used his skills to support those he now found himself in community with, and how he helped cultivate the valuable “home” that Street Sense Media represents for so many people.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be? How would you balance reveling in your strengths and leveraging them for the greater good? And what does it look like to be both superhuman and super humble? This special episode, a series highlight, captures a spontaneous conversation between several Street Sense vendors about the role models that mold us – and the roles or responsibilities we carry in trying to be the best humans we have the power to be.

While “community” can connect us, it can also mean different things to different people. Even in shared space, there can be tensions over who has the legacy or leverage to live and work there — who has the right to make it “home.” Responding to recent “not in my community” refrains, area natives Reggie Black and Robert Warren provide a different perspective, commenting on the history (and embedded inequities) of Washington D.C. housing policy.

When life leaves people feeling uprooted, sometimes places and spaces that feel like “home” can be especially grounding. For Frederic John, creative communities have helped him hone his craft, express his voice, and find a sense of purpose. As a D.C. native who also lived and worked in New York, he shares his unique take on this city’s historical and cultural evolutions — and on leaving a legacy through art.

As humans, naturally driven to connect but also to categorize, we sometimes make false assumptions about each other (especially across lines of difference). What does it take to challenge misconceptions about who you are? Or to consciously “break the cycle” and avoid becoming who you don’t want to be? Nikila Smith and Angie Whitehurst share their experiences as learners, lovers, daughters, and mothers – smart, strong, savvy women whose worlds misread them and their experiences of homelessness.

Street Sense Media artist/vendor and homelessness advocate, Wendell Williams, shares his experiences as a fifth-generation African American Washingtonian and his insights about the changes the city has seen, his personal experience with chronic homelessness, and his involvement with the street newspaper movement as a means to not only sell or distribute newspapers but as a way to address homelessness on a systemic level. Williams shares his unique perspective on a whole host of related issues from racism to federal funding to the role gentrification has played in exacerbating the homelessness crisis. Williams was interviewed September 16, 2022 fellow Artist/Vendor Aida Peery as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

Street Sense Media artist/vendor, Amina Washington, reflects on her experience becoming homeless at the age of 14 and the ensuing years she spent being unhoused. She details her younger years, prior to becoming unhoused after a neighbor reported her father and she was sent to school in Florida. Upon finding Street Sense Media in 2022, she’s been able to utilize their various resources in order to find permanent housing and more financial stability. Additionally, through Steet Sense Media’s class offerings, Amina has been able to develop her skills as a poet. Amina Washington was interviewed October 14, 2022 fellow Artist/Vendor Aida Peery as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

Rochelle Walker, a Street Sense Media artist/vendor, shares her story about growing up in Washington, DC, going to Morgan State University and University of the District of Columbia for her associate’s degree in Early Childhood Development. She discusses how she worked in early childhood care for over 20 years, before becoming unemployed due to the pandemic. She lost her longtime housing, after her building was condemned. She found out about Street Sense Media through another vendor and has been working with the organization steadily since then. She also shares how So Others May Eat (SOME) helped her secure housing, once her building was condemned. You can watch Walker at Artshow 2022 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MytjSSeZhFE. She's on at 6:13. Walker was  interviewed September 15, 2022 by fellow Artist/Vendor Jacqueline Turner as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

Street Sense Media artist/vendor Martin Walker shares his history, growing up in Washington, DC and Landover, MD. He details how he learned about Street Sense Media when he was living in a men’s shelter, as well as his increasing involvement with the organization over the last 17 years. Walker has not only worked as a vendor, but has been both a vendor trainer, as well as the vendor manager. He also was the first vendor to serve on the Street Sense Media Board of Directors. Walker also details the precarious economic situations felt by many that lead to homelessness, as was the case in his situation. Walker was interviewed October 13, 2022 fellow Artist/Vendor Aida Peery as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

Born in Leesburg, VA, into a religious family, Jacqueline Turner, a Street Sense Media artist/vendor, reflects on her experience growing up in and around Washington, DC. She details what it was like to live in DC during the 60s and 70s, especially her time attending go-go dances. Turner’s experience with homelessness began shortly after she joined the Street Sense Media team, once she left her husband. She recounts how Street Sense Media and other organizations in DC helped her leave an abusive relationship and rebuild her life. Aida Peery was interviewed May 6, 2022 by fellow Artist/Vendor Aida Perry as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

Street Sense Media artist/vendor and reporter, Eric Thompson-Bey chronicles his experiences growing up in Anacostia, as well as other parts of DC. He recounts how his mother was murdered when he was only two years old, as well as how his father died when he was only nine. After that, he was raised by one of his sisters. Thompson-Bey shares his experiences with homelessness, as well as how he discovered Street Sense and how the organization has helped him over the last 14 years to find housing, as well as develop his skills as a writer. Additionally, Thompson-Bey details how the case managers at Street Sense Media have helped him navigate struggles with mental illness. He also shares how selling Street Sense papers helped keep him out of prison, as it provided away for him to be financially independent without having to resort to anything against the law. Thompson-Bey discusses an investigation into the violent conditions at his apartment building, though ultimately he had to quite the investigation due to threats against his housing situation. Finally, Thompson-Bey talks about his aspirations for the future, which include getting a college degree, and the ways in which the staff at Street Sense Media have and continue to support him in achieving those goals. Thompson-Bey was interviewed October 7, 2022 fellow Artist/Vendor Jacqueline Turner as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Street Sense Media artist/vendor Aida Peery grew-up in Chicago, IL and Washington, DC. She studied networking and information systems at Strayer University, after which she worked for the Department of Defense for five years. She is now an artist/vendor and vendor program associate at Street Sense Media. She started working with Street Sense Media ten years ago and has continued her work both selling papers and advancing to the role of vendor program associate, as well. Her work with Street Sense Media was integral to journey out of being unhoused. Peery was interviewed May 5, 2022 by fellow Artist/Vendor Jacqueline Turner as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

Former biomedical engineer and graduate of George Washington University, Conrad Cheek has been an artist/vendor for Street Sense Media since its first issue in 2003. Cheek reflects on his experiences as a biomedical engineer at Arlington Hospital, as well as being the first African-American to work at the UCLA Medical Center’s Biomedical Engineering Department. He discusses his experiences with being homeless off and on over the years, after struggling with discrimination in the workplace, particularly at UCLA. His article on his father is at https://www.streetsensemedia.org/article/an-unsung-african-american-hero-my-father/#.Y_z2-R_MIdU. He also chronicles his experience living in his car, being kidnapped, carjacked, and stealing his own car back. His article on that is at https://www.streetsensemedia.org/article/kidnapped-carjacked-and-i-stole-my-car-back/#.Y_z_PB_MIdU. He discusses how he found out about Street Sense during its founding. Cheek was interviewed October 21, 2022 fellow Artist/Vendor Aida Peery as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

Street Sense Media artist/vendor, Phillip Black shares his experiences growing up in Washington, DC. When Black was in high school, he was an All-Metropolitan basketball player. He details how that led to a lot of attention, which was at times distracting. Black was the youngest of a family of nine, and after the death of his parents and a divorce, he became homeless. He discusses how he found out about Street Sense Media from a pastor at St. Alban’s Church. Black recounts how eventually he started selling Street Sense papers dressed in a Cat in the Hat costume, which set him apart from other vendors and helped him gain a following of regulars, some of whom are prominent Washingtonians. Throughout his tenure at SSM, Black has brought in over 45 other vendors, including his own son. Black was interviewed August 4, 2022 by fellow Artist/Vendor Jacqueline Turner as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

Street Sense Media artist/vendor Daniel Ball shares his story about growing up in and around Washington, DC, as well as his work with Street Sense Media over the last ten years. He recounts details about his childhood, as well as his experience with chronic homelessness. He has struggled with homelessness at various points in his life, dating back to the 1990s. He is currently unhoused. A former fast-food and carwash employee, Ball has been able to sell the paper for Street Sense, as well as become a regular contributor, for the last ten years. He has also partaken in many of the classes offered by Street Sense Media, including their writing classes and drawing class. Ball was interviewed August 18, 2022 by fellow Artist/Vendor Jacqueline Turner as part of Street Sense Media’s Oral History Project, “In Our Own Voices: Artist/Vendors 2003-2023.”

For many of the homeless men and women who sell the Street Sense newspaper in Washington, D.C., the COVID-19 pandemic was just another obstacle they had to deal with in their day-to-day lives. The restrictions caused by the pandemic had a significant impact on Street Sense vendor Queenie Featherstone's ability to communicate with others. As a woman with a hearing disability, she relied on reading lips to understand what people said. The mask mandate made that nearly impossible and don't get her started on social distancing. "That part kind of hurts my heart, because I've always been a people person of hugging or greeting or kissing, in a friendly manner," she said, with a chuckle. "But now because of this pandemic, I air hug.” Featherstone demonstrated by crossing her arms across her chest and gesturing for the person she was talking to to do the same. "We air hug each other, but it's not like the physical greeting of your fellow man," she said. "This is different.” This week's episode of the "Look at This" podcast examines the big and small ways the COVID-19 pandemic affected the daily lives of the District's homeless population.

Saul Aroha Nui Tea, who goes by "Salty," has chosen to walk a different path than many of the other vendors of the Street Sense newspaper in Washington, D.C. "The life I have chosen is a preparation in the Gospel of Peace and a full commitment to being willing to lay my life on the line as a pilgrim diplomat," he said. Salty expresses his peaceful activism through the stories he writes for Street Sense, his puppets, and music. In this week's episode of the "Look at This" podcast, Salty talks about his recent trip to California, how he learned to play guitar, and what inspired him to walk a path of peaceful activism. He also plays a new song written especially for the Street Sense podcast. Photo of Saul Tea by Rodney Choice.