A Field Trip for the ‘90s Preschooler
They see them near their school, panhandling in front of the market, sleeping in Griffith Park.
But to children of the middle class, the homeless and those who help them tend to exist in the abstract.
Abstraction and reality met this week when 21 youngsters from Los Angeles Family School, a private preschool and kindergarten in Silver Lake, visited Union Station, a homeless shelter in Pasadena.
The idea, said school director Susan North, was to make the issue of homelessness more personal to the 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds and to show them that “there are good, kind people who help them--and those good, kind people can be us.”
Starting this month, the children will be in the school kitchen one day a month, cooking soups and stews for their parents to take to the shelter.
It’s in keeping with North’s philosophy: “Trying to get away from ‘Oh, it’s Christmastime. Let’s make a basket for the needy.’ ”
The visit began in Union Station’s kitchen, where the kids watched volunteer cooks making gallons of tamale pie and peered into pots big enough for a 4-year-old to sit in.
Upstairs, in the co-ed dorm, they sat on the floor, listening to Frank Clark, director of volunteer services, explain that each of the 36 beds, neatly made with pink spreads, belongs to someone who has nowhere else to sleep.
Did they have any questions? They did.
“What do they wear to bed?’ ‘ (Pajamas.)
“Do they have their very own bed?’ ‘ (Yes, while they’re at the emergency shelter, a maximum of six weeks.)
“Do you sleep here? “ (No, said Clark, “but sometimes it feels like it.”)
“Do they share beds? “ (No.)
The shelter, Clark was saying, is a bit like a classroom--it has its rules.
The kids got that right away.
“No fighting.” “No jumping over the walls.’ ‘
Well, yes, said Clark.
“No going pee-pee under the bed.”
“I don’t know if that’s a rule.”
They learned that five children now live at the shelter. When they asked to see the baby, Clark explained, “This is not a zoo,” a place to come and gawk. “This is a home.”
After the visitors vented some energy by tramping through the shower room, Clark asked, “How do you think somebody becomes homeless?”
“ ‘ Cause they don’t have any money .”
“Because they don’t have a job .”
“They don’t have a real house like other people .”
“They don’t have a credit card. “
It had been a field trip for the ‘90s. Said kindergarten teacher Maryam Rostami, “Two plus two or ABC are not enough now.”
Near their school, “At every intersection, there’s somebody asking for money,” said teacher Vicki Perkinson. “They can talk to their parents now about places that people can go.”
Later, in nearby Garfield Park, the children ate lunch and soon were romping and playing. Without a care in the world.
Anatoli Ilyashov, a parent volunteer, had been thinking about the shelter visit. He asked teacher Vicki Rank good-naturedly, “Vicki, are you turning our kids into revolutionaries?”
Rank grinned and said, “Absolutely--I’m proud to say.”
Ilyashov was ambivalent. He wondered, will this generation think that homelessness is normal in a civilized society?
“I have a fear that when they grow up, they’ll accept it in a compassionate way--and not change things.”
Driving some of the children to the park, he’d encouraged them to write to President Clinton, to tell him that homelessness is wrong and needs fixing.
Seeking Law and Order
One woman stopped by just to ask, “Is O.J. Simpson going to walk?”
A man couldn’t resist the chance to ask, “Do I have to tell a lawyer joke first?”
And a few lonely folks came seeking company.
But, for the most part, it was people with real problems who dropped by Farmers Market for free 10-minute consultations with members of the Beverly Hills Bar Assn. on “Ask A Lawyer” day.
Not surprisingly--in an area with a lot of renters--landlord-tenant problems abounded. “Rarely do we see the landlords,” noted attorney Carolyn Thorp.
Some of the other drop-bys:
A septuagenarian who’d hit his head after being tripped up by a tyke at a Kentucky Fried Chicken wondered if he could hold the child’s parents responsible. Quite possibly.
A woman in her 60s whose husband wants a divorce poured out her heart. She still loves him. As attorney Gail Higgins said later, “There isn’t anything in law that’s going to fix that.”
Could a store legally bar her, a woman asked, because it suspects her (wrongly, natch) of shoplifting? Attorney Keith Cooper, having suggested she might be happier shopping elsewhere, said, “People think there is a legal remedy to every problem. There isn’t.”
One woman wanted to sue her attorney for malpractice. (She, and a number of others, were directed either to public counsel or to the bar association’s referral service).
Pulling up a chair, a young woman asked, “How does palimony work?” Her father’s romance has soured and she fears the woman scorned will try to get his house.
“Palimony,” suggested attorney Christopher Bradford, “is extremely difficult to prove.”
A woman with $16,000 in credit card debts, and an income of $32,000, was advised to negotiate with her creditors rather than declare bankruptcy. As for any card that charges 20% interest, said Cooper, “Tear it up, burn it, give it to your dog to chew.”
A man laid a sheaf of papers before Higgins. Seems he’s suing the U.S. government, California and the State Bar for conspiring to help a major film studio hide money in Switzerland. Next case, please.
For one very elderly man, the news was disappointing: There’s no legal alternative to passing the driving test.
All advice was pro bono, but the attorneys considered it a win-win situation. Said Bradford, “We’re trying to improve the image of lawyers.”
* This weekly column chronicles the people and small moments that define life in Southern California. Reader suggestions are welcome.
