Homeless Voices: A Literary Magazine for the Forgotten

The homeless community in my city of Hollywood, FL is thriving in the filth of the complacent and ignoble. Panhandlers litter the street with rattling tears, populate shopping centers with uncomfortable sympathies, resulting in avoided gazes. The government officials of Florida are striving to purge the community of the homeless, restricting where “vendors” may operate, morphing park benches into rigid segregated stools, bawdy policemen rouse the weary from stoops and hallowed corners. Masquerading in the guise of benevolence, these discriminatory policies color the film glazing the eyes of the populace, and not one shields, nor protects, those whose voices who have been pilfered merit- merely based upon a state of residential destitute.

The homeless community is treated as if a blight, demonized, dehumanized, and silenced; their singular offence: existence. The grievance lurks in our community’s state of being, in that they have been allowed to denigrate in crowded streets, surrounded by fellow “humans.”

Who stands for the homeless? The shelters? The unfortunate truth, of Florida shelters, is that shelters serve as government sanctified cesspools; residents are not given the means to achieve beyond their plights; instead they enter an institution that perpetuates their social denigration, with meager resources to succeed.

Combating institutional discrimination effectively may only be successful in changing societal perspectives.

I am a frustrated freelance writer & editor with the intent to catalyze change by culminating first hand accounts of homelessness in a literary magazine; a primary source to shed light on demonized people. In Fort Lauderdale (FL) it is now a criminal offence to feed the homeless; there is a ban of public feeding with the possibility of spending 60 days in jail for refusing to relent. This is inherently wrong. Arnold Abbott, a 90 year old Veteran in Fort Lauderdale, along with two priests, have been charged with feeding the homeless, facing possible jail time and a $500 fine.

Homeless Voices, the tentative name for the homeless literary magazine, is an attempt to serve as a means to drudge the grimed film of the bureaucrats off of the people’s eyes, elucidating the real problem of homelessness: the permitted existence of our fellow man reduced to rags, hunger, and dirt floors. Homeless Voices seeks to humanize those who need us most. The publication will be an aggregate of the homeless perspective, featuring literature, poetry, firsthand accounts, fiction, art, and photography, all submissions will be by the homeless, and each submission shall be compensated for.

Those needing the loudest voices will not be writing poetry, but digging through garbage to lick empty cans; the homeless teens we so desperately, as a community, need to hear from, won’t have digital cameras to document their lives; the men languishing on the streets aren’t creating fine art. But what would it look like if they did? What if they had the tools to have a voice?

Homeless Voices will be more than a literary magazine, the publication will arm the homeless with cameras, sketchbooks, notebooks, and supplies in which to create. I want to know their stories. I want to show the world who they are, beyond what the media projects them to be. Homeless Voices seeks to uncover the events barring the homeless’ re-acclimatization into society.

Present homeless publications are aimed at informing the public of homelessness, but they are for the public- they do not serve the homeless. Homeless Voices will serve as a resource of (paid) expression, a job aggregate, and programs for help. Each submission will be accompanied with a contact page, a list of skills, aspirations, and thoughts; in the hopes of soliciting honest work from eager hearts ready to help- lancing the fear surrounding this group of demonized people. Additionally, the publication will serve as a resource for the homeless to find honest work that will pay respectable wages.

Challenges for Publication

Foremost, funding for this initiative is the principal obstacle. I am considering crowd funding for this venture, i.e. IndieGogo and Kickstarter. In the weeks to come I will add a section in my Etsy store entitle “Crafts with a Cause” wherein all proceeds will be used to fund Homeless Voices. 

Secondly, immersion may prove difficult, will the homeless be amenable in sharing their experiences? Would they find value in submitting their work, or creating art?

Lastly, staffing this endeavor will require relentless searching. If you are interested in getting involved with Homeless Voices, please contact me.

Online petitions have swayed laws; first hand testimony to a staggering number of the populace ought to hold tangible weight.

What say you to the Homeless Voices initiative? Have you used any crowd funding platforms, what was your experience? Do you have any crowd funding advice to share?

For updates on the Homeless Voices initiative, Etsy Tips, DIY Crafts, and New Age quips follow Fae Gems’ Blog & Like Facebook for updates.
You can also check out Fae Gems on Etsy!

   

Etsy Photography: Pros & Cos of the Nikon Coolpix L4, Macro Photography

When I first began my Etsy adventure in June this year I thought photographing my products would be a cinch; I’ve worked on a literary magazine after all, so I’d be a natural right? Wrong. So wrong. Dead wrong. I couldn’t have been more woefully incorrect. My photography has come a long way from when I started, but I am nowhere near the Etsy pros. Before I started photographing Fae Gems & Bauble’s line of products I did a lot of research on what specifications I should look for in a camera, on a budget.

I began my research close to home, on Etsy, and found a wonderful article that compared three cameras across three price ranges ($15-$300). It just so happened that my wonderful, intelligent, and thrifty Dad already had the Nikon Coolpix L4 secreted amid his digital camera collection.

You can get the Nikon Coolpix L4 here for ~$20, and there are other versions available of this camera on Amazon too.

I’ve taken some wonderfully crisp photos with this camera, and some really awful, blurry, flash-filled, poor-excuses-of-photos with the same lens. Every photograph in this post has been taken with Coolpix. There are a few things I would have really liked to have known about the Nikon Coolpix L4 before moving forward with it:

Pros: 

1. Inexpensive: easily attainable for the beginning Etsy seller on a budget! (My starting budget was $250 for initial stock, shipping supplies, props, etc..)

2. Compact: You can take this camera anywhere without much hassle!

3. Takes great pictures in natural light: Seriously, some of my photos are comparable to expensive cameras, under the right circumstances (ah, there’s the rub).

4. Macro mode: is present and is wonderful for taking up close pictures. (Read about Macro Mode Tips!)

5. Video: capabilities for future projects, like IndeGogo funding or Kickstarter.

Cons:

1. The Flash: is ALWAYS on. ALWAYS. It doesn’t care what you want. If you’re outside and the camera deems it to be too dim, it shall flash, relentlessly. Ugh. You have to really struggle to prove to the camera that you do, in fact, have enough light.

2. Flash off button: Is nonexistent.

3. Flashing delay: When the camera flashes (against your will!) the screen needs recovery time, and will blank itself out to do so, for about 3-5 seconds. I thought I was breaking the camera at first, but it’s designed to do that. It’s super annoying during a shoot.

4. Eats through batteries: maybe it’s because the first few sets were cheapos, but since I’ve switched, I’ve noticed that it is draining the better ones after only three shoots. (But maybe this is just an accepted camera trait I’m not aware of.)

In the end, the Nikon Coolpix L4 is a great camera for beginners. It has the capabilities to produce great photos, but you still get to experience annoyance while you struggle to get your Etsy shop up and running, as all neophytes should be forced to do.

Do you have any questions about the Nikon Coolpix L4? Ask below!

For more Etsy Tips, DIY Crafts, and New Age quips follow Fae Gems’ Blog & Like Facebook for updates.
You can also check out Fae Gems on Etsy!