The End of My Rope
Hi Scott
We regret to inform you but we have decided not to move forward with your application. We have a base line threshold for our rental requirements and are reluctant to make any exceptions as we must be fair to all tenants who apply. Our decision was due to the lack of credit history. We appreciate your interest in renting from us, we hope you are able to land somewhere soon.
Regards,
* * *
That note, yesterday, from a downtown Madison landlord evaporated my last hope for finding a place to live in Madison.
As of September 1, 2012 I will be officially homeless - - not for the first time in my life, but definitely it is the worst time. I couch surfed 20 years ago. Now I just turned 40, and a 40 year old guy does not tolerate couch surfing well.
My landlady of two years and former friend kicked me out for reasons which are totally unjust and off-the-meds nuts. To be fair, she gave me til October 1 to leave, but I would sooner be homeless than give her another cent or continue to live here. You can cut the tension with a knife.
I have had to lay aside my whole life and my worker co-op project to go into emergency survival mode. The one thing that I am not doing is cancelling my vacation this week - - a camping trip with Ricky D and some of his friends. We've planned this all summer. I could use some friends and some non-Madison time this weekend. Plus, I've never made it up to the western Superior shore; I am hoping it will do me some good. I will leave here Friday morning, at which point all my crap will be in storage and I will not have a clue as to where I am going to stay when I get back to Madison next Tuesday. The thing I will miss most is my privacy.
Ironically, I will also miss my internet connection - - a thing which has allowed me to do work from home for a long time. Without it, I will have to suspend a lot of my political correspondence and much of my ongoing worker co-op stuff - - I will simply not have the creative space or the means to communicate effectively any more.
The whole thing is a sort of personal disaster brought on by globalism, austerity, and my own decades-long and stupid focus on everyone's security except my own. I'm super bitter and angry this morning, though I know well that holding on to these those emotions leads right up to the dark side of the Force. My anger will probably pass, leaving me just with that deer-in-headlights expression one gets sometimes when things seem to be falling apart out of control.
This is not the same shining leftist city on a hill I moved to on January 20, 1993. Since this awful regime seized power, Madison has become a dark shadow if it's former self. People here are at each others' throats. Walker and the plutocracy have mounted a very effective direct attack against everything that is Madison. Killing the train; making public workers poor, causing the rest of us to suffer mightily from their reduced buying power; cuts to public welfare programs (like cab rides for poor pregnant ladies). The sub prime mortgage situation and subsequent housing collapse have pushed people out of houses (I bet), thus clogging up the rental market. The fascisti have repealed all 50 years of Madison's tenant rights laws by legislative fiat; so now a person with rent money and a 20 year history in Madison cannot find a home. And the truly sad and telling part is that instead of pulling together to fight this and get through it, the working poor people have turned against each other over the scraps left-over from this massive theft. Very discouraging.
There have been plenty of couches offered up to surf on, and a few rooms on a temporary basis here and there. I'll be fine in the short term; but I'm holding out for even a tiny efficiency--because I'm just done living with other people. It never ends well. Best to be by myself--even if it's in a box.
The sad thing is, I am not the only homeless Union Cab driver. Isn't that something? I have a date with one of the other homeless Unions when I get back to town to maybe split a camp site in late September or early October.
I have often mused about leaving town, but I have never felt so deliberately pointed away from Madison by the Universe as I do now. The signals are omnipresent. Honestly, if I could find a better gig elsewhere, I would think about blowing this pop-stand; and that's sad, because I love this town - - even when I hate it.
We regret to inform you but we have decided not to move forward with your application. We have a base line threshold for our rental requirements and are reluctant to make any exceptions as we must be fair to all tenants who apply. Our decision was due to the lack of credit history. We appreciate your interest in renting from us, we hope you are able to land somewhere soon.
Regards,
* * *
That note, yesterday, from a downtown Madison landlord evaporated my last hope for finding a place to live in Madison.
As of September 1, 2012 I will be officially homeless - - not for the first time in my life, but definitely it is the worst time. I couch surfed 20 years ago. Now I just turned 40, and a 40 year old guy does not tolerate couch surfing well.
My landlady of two years and former friend kicked me out for reasons which are totally unjust and off-the-meds nuts. To be fair, she gave me til October 1 to leave, but I would sooner be homeless than give her another cent or continue to live here. You can cut the tension with a knife.
I have had to lay aside my whole life and my worker co-op project to go into emergency survival mode. The one thing that I am not doing is cancelling my vacation this week - - a camping trip with Ricky D and some of his friends. We've planned this all summer. I could use some friends and some non-Madison time this weekend. Plus, I've never made it up to the western Superior shore; I am hoping it will do me some good. I will leave here Friday morning, at which point all my crap will be in storage and I will not have a clue as to where I am going to stay when I get back to Madison next Tuesday. The thing I will miss most is my privacy.
Ironically, I will also miss my internet connection - - a thing which has allowed me to do work from home for a long time. Without it, I will have to suspend a lot of my political correspondence and much of my ongoing worker co-op stuff - - I will simply not have the creative space or the means to communicate effectively any more.
The whole thing is a sort of personal disaster brought on by globalism, austerity, and my own decades-long and stupid focus on everyone's security except my own. I'm super bitter and angry this morning, though I know well that holding on to these those emotions leads right up to the dark side of the Force. My anger will probably pass, leaving me just with that deer-in-headlights expression one gets sometimes when things seem to be falling apart out of control.
This is not the same shining leftist city on a hill I moved to on January 20, 1993. Since this awful regime seized power, Madison has become a dark shadow if it's former self. People here are at each others' throats. Walker and the plutocracy have mounted a very effective direct attack against everything that is Madison. Killing the train; making public workers poor, causing the rest of us to suffer mightily from their reduced buying power; cuts to public welfare programs (like cab rides for poor pregnant ladies). The sub prime mortgage situation and subsequent housing collapse have pushed people out of houses (I bet), thus clogging up the rental market. The fascisti have repealed all 50 years of Madison's tenant rights laws by legislative fiat; so now a person with rent money and a 20 year history in Madison cannot find a home. And the truly sad and telling part is that instead of pulling together to fight this and get through it, the working poor people have turned against each other over the scraps left-over from this massive theft. Very discouraging.
There have been plenty of couches offered up to surf on, and a few rooms on a temporary basis here and there. I'll be fine in the short term; but I'm holding out for even a tiny efficiency--because I'm just done living with other people. It never ends well. Best to be by myself--even if it's in a box.
The sad thing is, I am not the only homeless Union Cab driver. Isn't that something? I have a date with one of the other homeless Unions when I get back to town to maybe split a camp site in late September or early October.
I have often mused about leaving town, but I have never felt so deliberately pointed away from Madison by the Universe as I do now. The signals are omnipresent. Honestly, if I could find a better gig elsewhere, I would think about blowing this pop-stand; and that's sad, because I love this town - - even when I hate it.