A Clean Slate.

A major perk of working in the men’s center is that I’m allowed to wear jeans most every day. However, last Friday morning I woke up bright and early and pressed a nice pair of khakis and a white dress shirt and even threw a tie in my backpack—that afternoon I was hopping on the Bart and heading over to Berkeley for the October Homeless Court date.

But first, I had to spend the morning in the men’s center. Things were going smoothly, I finished up a bit of paperwork and checked my e-mail and decided to get a cup of coffee when a couple of guys got into a bit of an argument. I walked over and told them to break things up, that they couldn’t fight in the men’s center. The arguing quickly stopped and one of the men decided to leave the center. I was feeling good, thinking maybe I should dress nicer more often, that it gave me an added amount of authority.

My arms were beginning to tire from patting myself on the back for the way I handled the situation. And then it happened, the guy who decided to leave the men’s center decided that maybe he should come back into the men’s center and continue the argument. I will spare the details and jump to the climax of the story—it ends with me covered in coffee.

I’m pretty certain part of the story also involves me shrieking like a little girl, but that’s not really important. After things settled down and I cleaned up, the rest of the morning turned into the “roast of Ryan Want,” albeit not a very good one. “So, are you drinking your coffee or wearing it?!?!?!?!” was the joke I heard about ten times from ten different guys.

After biking home and changing, I finally arrived at the Berkeley Food and Housing and took a seat in the back as I waited for the session to start. In August I was able to catch the very tail-end of a court session, but this was my first chance to see the process with clients I had worked with and helped through the process. The sessions are held outside of an actual courtroom to create a more relaxed environment for the clients, though the process is very official, complete with a judge, district attorney, public defender and two clerks.

Judge Gordon Baranco addressed those in attendance and thanked them for participating in the program, reassured them that nobody would be arrested and emphasized that it was a one-time opportunity to clear their records and fines and that they really needed to learn from the experience.

It was an intriguing process to witness, listening to the public defender read the clients’ stories of addiction and recovery and personal growth. After each of my clients had their cases heard, all with positive outcomes, I spent a few minutes outside talking with them individually. One woman was in tears and gave me a big hug. Another guy who had fines in excess of $5,000 cleared kept insisting that he really had taken care of the fine from his 1987 D.U.I.
The emotional reactions varied from client to client, but on each one of their faces you could see the undeniable sense of relief that comes with a clean slate.

On a less important note, the coffee stains on my white dress shirt weren’t completely expunged after the first washing, but I'll give it another shot in about two weeks when I can once again afford to do laundry.