Category: Homelessness
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Finding Humanity in Loss: Reflections on Community, Pain, and Resilience in the Houseless World
Being banned from Facebook is a little bit like losing my community. Yes. It’s toxic,. It’s frustrating. But it was also beautiful, supportive and inspirational. But I am always thankful to lose things in that it helps me connect in a small way with others who have lost everything. The death of a child, the…
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And Now I’ve Been Banned From Nextdoor
I’m not going to lie. Getting banned from all these social media channels has done wonders for my mental health. I think I had an unhealthy relationship with all of them. Sage’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Now I’ve been…
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From Bench to Breakthrough: Crystal’s Journey of Resilience and Hope
I hardly know where to start with this story. Each of these leads are so powerful I don’t know which is the best hook to start this story off. I guess it’s a story of triumph over tragedy. Subscribe now Let’s go back to last summer… Crystal was pregnant and sleeping on a bench in…
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BAD DOG FACTORY IS OFFICIALLY OPEN!
Donate $35 or more in the next two weeks and get a free Bad Dog Factory t-shirt made by the Bad Dog Factory crew. (offer ends Tuesday, September 10, 2024). With a tremendous amount of help and resilience, I am thrilled to announce that we have officially opened the Bad Dog Factory, a makerspace dedicated to…
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Podcast: They Pulled Another Gun On Me
In this episode, Sage shares two intense and deeply personal encounters that highlight the challenges and dangers of working with houseless communities. Sage recounts recent incidents where he was threatened by individuals with guns while simply trying to provide basic necessities, such as water and supplies, to those in need. These experiences lead him to…
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Burning Rage: The Heartbreaking Cycle of Arson and Despair in Our Community
This is a photo of Randy’s shed raging in flames. This happened yesterday, I believe: It was located on the Church of the Nomadic Spirit land (probably 20 feet from where Hermaine was shot and killed). He used it to store bicycles. I wasn’t there when the fire happened. In fact, no one even mentioned…
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Boarding Up Our House
Yesterday we boarded up all the windows on our house that shelters homeless people. Today I will be finishing that work on boarding up the doors. I will also be signing a no trespassing document so the police can arrest anyone at the house from this point forward. In all the years I’ve done this…
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This is what burning wire looks like.
Here’s what the smoke looks like when you burn wire. It’s dense, dark and smells like cancer. I took this picture just now. Our neighbors were yelling out their windows about the smoke. I was yelling about burning wire on my property. This is one of the reasons we are boarding up this house next…
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Suzanne Thomas was found dead in a scrapyard in Canton April 26 2023.
Suzanne Thomas was found dead in a scrapyard in Canton April 26 2023. I’ve been meaning to talk about this for some time. But it’s a bit of a difficult subject for me. Suzanne was a close friend of our homeless community. She lived at our tent village for quite some time. She also was…
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5 People Have Already Moved Into This Church
We’ve been starting to clean out this church. It has sat completely empty for years. Random people come and go. But nothing really significant was happening there. Within a couple weeks of us working in the church we now have no less than 5 people living in this church. How could it go from having…
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Jordan Neely, Homelessness and Mental Illness
I hope you have had a chance to read about Jordan Neely. He was the mentally ill, Black, homeless man that was choked to death on a New York subway by a blond Marine man. Every one of those details matter to the story. Race, mental illness, inner city, homelessness, gender. All these things matter.…
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I React To Jordan Neely, a New York City Homeless Man, Being Choked To Death on the Subway
This is the original video: https://fb.watch/kjoDdWC4Fi/
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SATM Podcast 120: Insanity In Akron
Sage Against The Machine Podcast Episode 120 We are going to look at the forced mental health treatment courts in Akron Ohio.
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I respond to Trump’s Homeless Relocation Plan
The main video was published here: https://youtu.be/FRp6la-A6e4
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Will You Play Well With Others?
I was out talking to voters yesterday and a woman asked me this question: “Will you play well with others?” That’s a really good question. It represents a deep understanding of who I am. I really appreciated the question. She is wondering if I will be able to work with other members of city council…
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MY SECOND EXPERIENCE WITH DE-ESCALATION WITH A GUN
I was sitting inside my building yesterday when a homeless friend came to me and said there was a man with a gun who was extremely agitated at our house. I went to see what was going on. As I slowly walked towards the scene I watched as this man ranted and paced around aggressively…
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WHY DO YOU PUT PICTURES OF THESE PEOPLE ONLINE?
This is a friend of mine passed out after taking a really good hit of fentanyl. The needle is still in her arm. In our circle we all know who this is. She’s embarrassed by this picture. But she didn’t tell me to take it down. That’s the one rule I’ve given myself. If a…
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To Each Their Own
This is my friend Aubrey, with her dog Harley. She is pregnant, due in May, and lives in hiding in the woods hoping that the police and society don’t find her and take all her belongings. Some of us are learning acceptance of others. Some of us aren’t. All of us need to be better…
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Why Do I Want To Put Myself Through This?
I read this article: Akron, Ohio, police condemn councilwoman’s comment on Jayland Walker and my first thought was: “Why am I doing this to myself?” I could sell a couple assets and retire. I’m 51 years old and I could just move to an island or California or someplace where there is less racism and…
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We Lost
For about 5 years now we have gone to every court possible asking for the permission to let me somehow help any homeless people that can’t find their way into a shelter or a house. We have been denied at every turn. Our property rights litigation journey is now over. Consider it lost. Consider it…