Bookmarks: Follow Me

One of my "commute" shots, at Cahuenga Blvd. and Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles

When I started using Twitter, I immediately followed writers because writers are known to be witty and entertaining. Thus my Twitter stream would be a cocktail party of constant twit-wit. But at least half the writers I've followed tweet nothing but advertisements for their books. My stream becomes more difficult to read (not to mention more dull) with each new link-laden pitch.

Will #Harry meet #Sally? find out at www.afghk;l
My friends love #an'orhw39i3 !
Nominated for two #SelfNom awards!...? http://nr[0hW
Click here! www. 1t09483t7
#FFpqt49ei Buy www.apgohw4g http://=50 this!

I unfollow these people. I'm sure they unfollow me, too, because they're on Twitter to collect followers, not to make contacts. They might think they're on Twitter to make sales, though I doubt that's going to happen. It's like they're hitting people over the head repeatedly with bus stop benches.

I'm on Twitter mostly so people can find me if that's where they happen to look. Do you use Twitter? What do you use it for? What does it take for you to buy a product from someone you meet on Twitter? I would imagine you would at least have to like them first, but I'm guessing.

I like Twitter, or at least my Utopian idea of it, but I rarely think of anything witty to say in 140 characters. (Ha! And I expected other writers to be witty.)

It's okay to advertise, just not every minute of every day. By the way, Camelot & Vine is nominated for five SelfNom awards! Wish me luck.

Glossy

If it hasn't been long enough since the last Boz pic, blame Shell Sherree's "London Kiss" for putting me in a romantic mood.

This, as if you couldn't tell, is Boz's "come hither and pet me" look. His star quality is hard to resist: his Bark Gable swagger, his Gary Pooper eyes, his Robert Pant prance, his Brad Pitt Bull grin, his... (you take it from here).

Some of Boz's other names are Gaseous Clay, Farty Arbuckle and Stink, so you see he needs all the star power he can get.

Walter Hoving Home, 3

 

The Prayer Garden was once the hotel's swimming pool.

Continuing from yesterday and the day before:

During most of my visit to the Walter Hoving Home I followed Associate Director Teresa Wolf from room to room while she described the program in detail. She also showed me her own apartment, which looks out over the Prayer Garden (though not from the spot shown above). Like many of the staffers, Teresa is a graduate of the program, who found her calling there and stayed.

Once a woman completes the program she can head out to find a job or continue her education. Or if she doesn't feel ready, she can stay for a while on the third floor, where rules are less strict and there's even a TV lounge. Many staffers live on the third floor as well.

I talked to some of the residents, without asking details of what had brought them there. But when Teresa and I got back to her office, her story came out. She says she has no qualms about sharing it.

It took her five attempts to complete the program. She wasn't getting it. Every time she'd leave she'd end up on the street, using drugs, drinking, and worse. Every time, she'd find her way back to the Home. The last time, she found her way instead to a downtrodden hotel on Pasadena's east side, drunk, beaten, raped and waiting to die.

That story, times 50.

Teresa says she was carried out of that hotel by Elsie Benton, co-founder with her husband, John Benton, of the Walter Hoving Homes. When Teresa was 19 days sober, the Walter Hoving Home offered her a job. She grabbed it like the lifeline it was.

Throughout my whole visit, I can't believe I didn't get a decent picture of Teresa! But I got a decent picture of Taylor Johnson, Colleen Peterson and Montonya Sauls, who invited me to share a cup of coffee with them in the dining room. Montonya was one of the women who invited me in the first place (Laurie had a "pass" that day and was not in the building). You could meet these women anywhere and never know they'd come up from hell.

Some of you have said you'd like to help. You can always donate money, of course. There's also going to be a WHH Walkathon Saturday, March 16th. You can walk or sponsor a walker. For more information, call (626) 405-0950.

If you need help, call toll free and find out if the program is right for you: 1 (888) 4-Hoving or (626) 405-0950

The Walter Hoving Home accepts collect calls from jails or the streets.

Walter Hoving Home, 2

Continuing from yesterday:

Many of the women at the Walter Hoving Home come there from jail. Others are literally found on the streets of neighborhoods I avoid, by founders John and Elsie Benton. John Benton's little red book, One Lady at a Time, recounts harrowing adventures of witnessing about Jesus in places where I might think he's a kook to go. But the man gets results: For the most part (85%), these women do not go back to the streets.

(The book is free and I have a few copies, so email me if you want one, or send for it by clicking the link.)

 

Some would say the heart of a home is the kitchen. At the Walter Hoving Home, the heart is the Learning Center. Here, residents focus on the teachings of Jesus, and pretty much nothing else. For the first year or so a woman lives in the Walter Hoving Home, she doesn't watch TV, surf the web, or even read library books. She learns about Jesus Christ.

Oh--and please note the chandeliers, ceiling fans and columns as we go.

As I mentioned yesterday, the women do all the chores in the Home. (Even though the heart of this home may not be the kitchen, apparently working there is a blast.)

Larissa, at left in red, is in charge of "Blessingdale's," the basement cache of clean clothing, where each woman can "shop" for what she needs. No money changes hands; these items are donated (hint hint), and what the Home can't use is donated in turn to the Acts Thrift Store, a popular Pasadena resale shop also associated with Christian causes.

Teresa Wolf, Associate Director of the Walter Hoving Home, shows me around

The second floor is like a dormitory. Over the door of each room is a plaque with a word like "cheerfulness" or "loveliness" on it. There's a separate room where a woman can stay with her children when they come to visit. While you live at the Walter Hoving Home, you will be in company almost all the time.

(Another way to donate is to "adopt" a room. An old building like this always wants renovation to keep it up.)

The women learn that it's okay to love themselves. There's also an awareness that they're vulnerable to missteps. Therefore, their lives are very structured. Everyone works and studies all day. Meals are at an exact time. Each woman must raise a minimum of $500 in monthly donations while she stays there (although Teresa told me no one will be kicked out if she can't make it). This is why you'll see them at tables outside stores from time to time, handing out Mr. Benson's little red book.

It's not a prison or a rehab center. It's a choice the women have made in order to get a handle on chaotic lives.

I asked Teresa what happens if a woman doesn't get, or doesn't want to get, the Jesus part? "We'll find them another place," she said. "We don't think we're right for everybody. We're right for us."


Part 3 tomorrow.

Walter Hoving Home, 1

Teresa Wolf embraced me when we first met. "We're huggers," she said. Truly, I received more than my share of hugs during my visit to the Walter Hoving Home in Pasadena.

I had long wondered about the place. Then recently I met Montonya Sauls and Laurie Reno outside Smart & Final, where they were collecting donations. We got to talking and they invited me to make an appointment to come by.

Quoting Wikipedia: "The Walter Hoving Home is a non-profit, faith-based rehabilitation center serving women 18 years and older who have been involved in drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution and other life-controlling problems."

But it's not a rehab facility, says Associate Director Teresa Wolf. "It's a home." The women who live there are her "sisters." Dad and Mom are John and Elsie Benton, who founded the home in 1967 and named it for Walter Hoving, the one-time Tiffany and Company chairman who funded their work. (Incidentally, a couple of Mr. Hoving's descendants are named Petrea.)

The Walter Hoving Home is actually three homes: the original in Garrison, New York, another in Las Vegas, and the Pasadena branch, housed in what was originally Pasadena's Mira Monte Hotel.

The tour Teresa gave me began at the front door where you approach the reception desk (personed by a resident). To the left of the photo frame is a sign that greets you with your name on it. "Most of the women who come here have never been important enough to have their name on a sign," said Teresa. My heart warmed at seeing my name there, but I didn't photograph it for the sake of the privacy of the others listed. I probably could have, though. Nobody seemed to mind my presence, nor that of my camera. They welcomed me.

Teresa watches over lunch set-up in the dining room. 

The residents do all the work, from cleaning to cooking to chores. It's a lovely house, and for a while, it's their home.



Part 2 tomorrow.

Zen Monday: #231

 

It's hard for me not to tell you what I think of this photo. But on Zen Monday, that job is yours.

photos by John Sandel 

(PS: I'm trying out new templates and styles to see what works. I'll appreciate your comments and suggestions.) 

Night Walk

I don't suppose I'd go out alone after midnight, but I'm glad Boz and I can walk in our neighborhood after dark. He likes the shadows, the sounds, the unexpected. I can do without the intrigue, but it's there.


(Don't mind me. I'm trying out new templates and styles to see what works.)