Soup Kitchens and Shelters are not necessarily safe places. Circumstances I've encountered include attempts to blackmail, or extort damages, sexual harassment, physical assaults of various kinds, and confrontation about reporting crimes - or efforts to silence me. In order to survive these kinds of threat we need to be able and ready to move. Had I not been able to sleep lightly, and move my cardboard several times a night, I would not have survived in New York at all. A week long stay seemed like a month during a cold spring. I had to be able to get to my feet in seconds when woke by police in train stations, and able to move on at a moments notice. When I used shelters, comments such as: "they told me you were trouble", or folks that showed up with weapons would say: "I represent someone you owe", etc., encouraged me to stay on my own - not to avoid accountability, but to survive long enough to make amends to the people I know I owe, and be able to defend myself from their accomplices.
So returning to a defendable cliff 60 feet above the river, or a quite spot by a brook in the Mississippi river valley was a huge relief to me, and knowing your surroundings is almost essential. Its probably far better to take refuge where you live, than it is to try to survive in an unknown area. If you can, build a network of allies and support each other. Don't be shy, there are some really serious knights out there and radical charity can be found in the most sordid places on earth. Please see: Aspirations.
What good can we do under the dominion of the rulers that can travel through our space to take our children? The fortunes at play are so alluring that entire communities are moved by just one Despot. Even the military can be bought by the people we are dealing with. The problem cannot be solved by application of money, or even this kind of education. We need to be prepared function adeptly during crisis, suffer humiliation, tolerate conflict, and be ready to respond at a moments notice. If you have a well defined space that people are using for dubious reasons, find a way to keep the perimeter. Charge people passing through your space for the time they're in it. Charge them for passage through it. Don't allow predation to go unchecked. Tax every move, every violation, and every trespass. Gather and keep evidence, and make them pay! Please see: Self Advocacy for more information.
Don't be afraid! Pray to be rid of fear! Exploitation is accomplished by use of terror, disinformation, confusion, doubt and dismay. Some of the typical thoughts we have are: "This can't really be happening to me!" "Why isn't anybody doing anything about this?" "How can this be possible?" "You've got to be kidding?" I've provided tools for the management of anger and fear, and you'll find the majority of them here: The Core Teaching. Don't be afraid to use them. We have to leave when we can't tolerate the abuse, and at one point or another, you'll realize that what we're doing is creating a better place. If we were to stay, we would jeopardize the safety of the people involved. Many of us have no choice but to leave.
We're living in a kind of microwave soup. Surrounded by microwave radiation vibrating molecules within us. The friction and heat generated by those motions literally cook us where we lay, day in and day out. Some of us live in apartments literally a few feet away from microwave generators with a signal so intense you can taste the fillings in your teeth as the signal breaks out the metal from your fillings into your bodily fluids. If not for the modern adaptations we've described here: Nutrition we're not long for this world.
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Survival includes adapting to the environment whenever you've been compromised while trying to accomplish your essential work. The US Army has a strategy called SERE, which amounts to Survive, Evade, Resist and Escape, but what I'm referring to is persistant survival doing the work we do on-line, and making use of the Freedom of Expression on-line. A guide for how to mind your manors online is here at this link: Survival in the Digital Age, to play it safe when dealing with a persistent threat (such as a case that compromises the State, or Industry in general). We're likely to be marginalized not only by what we know, but also by our efforts to do something about it anyway, so sometimes, we just need to head out.
While I used to consider homelessness a disadvantage, today I am grateful for my mobility. I'm slow. It probably took me 15 years to realize that my story was so dangerous that for me to sit in one spot and continue to try to report the staggering circumstances I live with is just stupid. I'm followed to every new destination, and its only a matter of time before my rivals and/or combatants move in ether above, below or to the side of me to continue preying....and yes, even praying so loudly that I can't work, or rest at my new location without discomfort.
I also realized that the path we take away from harassment brings us back to what God created in the first place. The creatures and creation itself; an almost maintenance free environment we can use fairly easily on a budget with some experience.
Here are some suggestions for clean and efficient survival out and about in or near a city where food and basic resources can be obtained:
I've found that railways, freeways and river valleys are all functional, but there are advantages and disadvantages to each.
If you have wheels, using a park permit and a hookup is probably best, but for most of us on foot, a bike or backpack will have to do. If you can afford a tent, by all means use one. I found one with a warranty that I used for less than 30 dollars (I used the warranty once too), and I added a few mildew resistant mats to the system, a pillow and blanket, and that kept me safe and dry for 18 months in Minnesota. I found spots by the freeway, creek beds, railways, and cliffs by the river where I could pitch my tent, and whenever necessary I'd use cardboard in an alley or under a bridge to get some rest. Once I was situated, I added a rolling lockable plastic trunk that I could secure to a tree, or bike stand, and tow behind a bicycle. In it, I can keep everything I need locked up. Its waterproof and very strong, so I can keep my electronics in there safely enough too, but I prefer to travel light, and don't want to compromise my security by doing so. A camera and tools like a flashlight can be useful though if you don't have a phone that can do it all. Bluetooth headsets work well too for hands free operations while out and about.