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 reflect on the pervasive culture of violence and the troubling reliance on firearms as a means of resolving conflicts.
Sage also delves into his personal code of self-defense, emphasizing his commitment to only using a gun if someone poses an imminent threat to him or his friends. The emotional toll of these encounters is palpable as Sage discusses the highs of helping others and the crushing lows of facing violence and societal indifference.
Throughout the episode, Sage critiques the failures of late-stage capitalism and systemic neglect that contribute to the desperation and violence in our communities. He expresses deep frustration with how basic necessities, like water and trash services, are often withheld from those who need them most due to bureaucratic red tape.
This episode is a raw and unfiltered exploration of the realities of advocacy work, underscored by Sage’s growing disillusionment with a society that often seems indifferent to the suffering of the most vulnerable.
Transcript:
Sage (00:00:00):
I had another run-in with a guy with a gun this weekend.
Sage (00:00:07):
Just briefly, if you don’t recall, I don’t know how long it was, a month or so ago, I was taking…
Sage (00:00:17):
uh water to three people living in the woods one was a senior citizen um and then
Sage (00:00:24):
her adult kids and i didn’t want to go i it was a saturday i was just sitting at
Sage (00:00:37):
home and um
Sage (00:00:41):
I didn’t want to do it.
Sage (00:00:42):
But they were like, please, we haven’t had water or food in like two days.
Sage (00:00:48):
And it was hot.
Sage (00:00:52):
And so I felt sorry for them.
Sage (00:00:56):
So I got off the couch and I went.
Sage (00:00:59):
And I bought a case or two of water, some peanut butter, jelly, and bread.
Sage (00:01:11):
And I went over to where they told me to meet them, and it was in Goodyear Heights.
Sage (00:01:16):
It doesn’t matter if you’re not familiar with Akron.
Sage (00:01:19):
If you are, whatever.
Sage (00:01:20):
I would call it a blue-collar, white neighborhood.
Sage (00:01:26):
I would say that’s, you know, if you can imagine that type of neighborhood.
Sage (00:01:33):
And they wanted me to meet them at the end of a dead-end street.
Sage (00:01:43):
And I got to the street, and I got to the end of the street, and there’s street parking.
Sage (00:01:49):
And I parked on the street, and you could see a path at the dead-end street.
Sage (00:01:55):
There’s a woods, and you could see a path that people clearly had walked into the woods.
Sage (00:02:02):
And I had been messaging the man who…
Sage (00:02:10):
is the senior citizen’s son um he had a phone and i said i’m here and he came out
Sage (00:02:19):
of the woods with a um like a like a sled like a snow sled i think it was yellow it
Sage (00:02:27):
was old um and he brought it to carry the supplies back
Sage (00:02:37):
And I know these people and they’re really great people.
Sage (00:02:41):
I mean, they’re genuinely good, kind people.
Sage (00:02:50):
And…
Sage (00:02:53):
I was talking to him because I hadn’t seen them in a while.
Sage (00:02:58):
And the mom is there and the son, not the son’s, I think they’re married, not the son’s wife.
Sage (00:03:08):
And the mom looks back over her shoulder and says, oh man, he’s watching us.
Sage (00:03:18):
And I look and the house that we’re sitting in front of
Sage (00:03:24):
You know, we’re on the tree lawn, on the sidewalk.
Sage (00:03:27):
There’s a sidewalk.
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There’s a tree lawn, and I am parked on the street legally.
Sage (00:03:35):
There were other cars parked on the street.
Sage (00:03:40):
And he walks out of the house,
Sage (00:03:44):
an older white man,
Sage (00:03:45):
like I would say,
Sage (00:03:46):
again,
Sage (00:03:46):
a blue-collar-looking type of white man in his 60s,
Sage (00:03:53):
I would say.
Sage (00:03:56):
with one hand behind his back and my friend says he’s got a gun now that might seem
Sage (00:04:12):
alarming and it is alarming but this is not the first time i have um
Sage (00:04:24):
been engaged with people with a gun.
Sage (00:04:27):
Now,
Sage (00:04:27):
it was the first time that a,
Sage (00:04:31):
I would say,
Sage (00:04:31):
classified as a middle-class person I encountered with a gun.
Sage (00:04:41):
And in full disclosure, I never saw the guns.
Sage (00:04:46):
But my friend kept saying it.
Sage (00:04:48):
He’s got a gun.
Sage (00:04:49):
He’s got a gun.
Sage (00:04:50):
And I kept saying, show me your hand.
Sage (00:04:52):
Show me your hand.
Sage (00:04:55):
And he would not… He had one arm down on his side and the other hand was behind his back.
Sage (00:05:05):
I could not see the hand.
Sage (00:05:11):
And…
Sage (00:05:14):
I would say roughly this is maybe the third or fourth time in my life that I’ve encountered,
Sage (00:05:22):
I’ve been engaged with somebody aggressively with a gun.
Sage (00:05:27):
And every time my first feeling is like, Jesus Christ, here we go again.
Sage (00:05:33):
Like it’s not fear.
Sage (00:05:35):
It’s just like, ugh.
Sage (00:05:38):
It’s so I’m just like, I really like I’m just put out.
Sage (00:05:44):
I’m put out that like we have become such whiny little fucking bitches that we have.
Sage (00:05:52):
Everything is going to get resolved with a gun.
Sage (00:05:56):
Haven’t you ever heard of throwing throwing hands?
Sage (00:06:00):
Haven’t you ever heard about yelling?
Sage (00:06:03):
No, no.
Sage (00:06:04):
Now everything is a gun.
Sage (00:06:05):
Everything is a gun.
Sage (00:06:08):
And I’m just sick of it.
Sage (00:06:10):
It’s pathetic and whiny and bitchy.
Sage (00:06:13):
You little fucking bitches.
Sage (00:06:16):
I’m so tired of you bitches.
Sage (00:06:19):
I’m talking to you men.
Sage (00:06:21):
You fucking bitches with guns.
Sage (00:06:24):
You’re little bitches.
Sage (00:06:25):
I can’t say it enough.
Sage (00:06:26):
I’m saying it because if you don’t know, that offends some men.
Sage (00:06:34):
So, men with little dicks that get offended by a word.
(00:06:44):
Jesus Christ.
Sage (00:06:46):
So yeah, can you hear how I’m just over it?
Sage (00:06:48):
I’m just like, this is so fucking ridiculous.
Sage (00:06:55):
But,
Sage (00:06:57):
The guy is getting closer to us and my friend is like,
Sage (00:07:01):
and then he starts,
Sage (00:07:02):
my friend is like,
Sage (00:07:03):
I don’t want to die.
Sage (00:07:04):
Please protect us, Sage.
Sage (00:07:06):
And I carry a gun.
Sage (00:07:08):
Now, I did not put my gun on that day because I was going to a middle class neighborhood.
Sage (00:07:19):
I was going to Goodyear Heights, a good neighborhood.
Sage (00:07:22):
I literally said to myself, I won’t need my gun.
Sage (00:07:27):
Because while I have been encountered with guns,
Sage (00:07:33):
I’ve been threatened with guns by insane people and gang people and drug people.
Sage (00:07:43):
It never dawned on me that a middle class white senior citizen was going to be my problem.
Sage (00:07:53):
But my gun was in my truck.
Sage (00:07:58):
in a box, in a storage box.
Sage (00:08:01):
A locked storage box.
Sage (00:08:04):
So, if you can imagine, there’s a house, a sidewalk, which I’m standing on, and then my truck.
Sage (00:08:12):
As this man is coming towards us,
Sage (00:08:14):
and my friend is like,
Sage (00:08:16):
I don’t want to die,
Sage (00:08:17):
he’s got a gun,
Sage (00:08:19):
I tell him to move around to the other side of the truck,
Sage (00:08:23):
because I’m like,
Sage (00:08:23):
I gotta get my gun.
Sage (00:08:26):
I…
Sage (00:08:27):
One of these days, somebody’s going to shoot.
Sage (00:08:32):
And I am not going to let somebody shoot me for free.
Sage (00:08:38):
That’s all.
Sage (00:08:39):
Now, this is my code, okay?
Sage (00:08:42):
I have a code.
Sage (00:08:47):
I will only shoot at you if you shoot at me first.
Sage (00:08:50):
Or maybe if you shoot at my friend.
Sage (00:08:53):
I think that also should be in my code because that’s going to be my second story.
Sage (00:09:01):
I would say that’s my… I’m modifying my code, people.
Sage (00:09:05):
If you shoot or shoot at me or my friend, I have given myself permission to shoot at you.
Sage (00:09:13):
Okay?
Sage (00:09:14):
Okay?
Sage (00:09:15):
That’s that’s the motto I live by.
Sage (00:09:17):
I will only engage unless engaged upon.
Sage (00:09:22):
OK, I saw that in a movie or something.
Sage (00:09:39):
So I’m like, fuck, I don’t have my gun.
Sage (00:09:44):
It’s in the truck.
Sage (00:09:45):
And I’m like, this is it.
Sage (00:09:48):
This is the time.
Sage (00:09:50):
And so we kept encountering.
Sage (00:09:53):
I keep telling this guy, show me your hand.
Sage (00:09:55):
Show me your hand.
Sage (00:09:56):
Show me your hand.
Sage (00:09:58):
And then he starts backing up.
Sage (00:10:04):
Again, with his hand behind his back.
Sage (00:10:07):
And walks into his house.
Sage (00:10:09):
And I never see the hand.
Sage (00:10:13):
I…
Sage (00:10:15):
want to make full disclosure, I never saw a gun.
Sage (00:10:20):
All I saw was an angry,
Sage (00:10:23):
and he was angry,
Sage (00:10:25):
old boomer white man confronting me with one arm behind his back.
Sage (00:10:37):
And as this is going on, I remember, I think it’s been this summer, these
Sage (00:10:45):
white men that are shooting people for driving down the wrong driveway.
Sage (00:10:49):
Right?
Sage (00:10:49):
I mean, do you know those stories?
Sage (00:10:51):
Like a group of teenagers drives down the wrong driveway and gets shot and killed
Sage (00:10:56):
by a boomer old white man.
Sage (00:10:58):
I’m like, here I go.
Sage (00:11:00):
I drove down the wrong street.
Sage (00:11:08):
And you just have to know that
Sage (00:11:16):
I just feel put out.
Sage (00:11:22):
I’m like, I’m not going to let you shoot me.
Sage (00:11:26):
There was a time in my life where I heard the Pope was like,
Sage (00:11:32):
I don’t need the Popemobile anymore because if I’m going to be killed,
Sage (00:11:36):
it was God’s way.
Sage (00:11:37):
And I lived that way for a while.
Sage (00:11:39):
And then after all this gun shit, I’m like, no, fuck that.
Sage (00:11:44):
Fuck that.
Sage (00:11:45):
If you shoot me or shoot at me,
Sage (00:11:51):
You’re going to get shot at.
Sage (00:11:53):
That’s the rule.
Sage (00:11:55):
That is the rule.
Sage (00:11:56):
That’s the sage rule.
Sage (00:11:58):
I’m just sick of it.
Sage (00:11:59):
I’m sick of it.
Sage (00:12:01):
You fucking pussies.
Sage (00:12:02):
I can’t say it enough.
Sage (00:12:09):
So he goes back in the house and then I get my gun out.
Sage (00:12:21):
While he’s going back in the house.
Sage (00:12:22):
And I do not put it on.
Sage (00:12:25):
I put it on the seat.
Sage (00:12:27):
The driver’s seat.
Sage (00:12:33):
I don’t know why I chose to do that.
Sage (00:12:35):
But I left the door open.
Sage (00:12:38):
And… Then they start videoing me.
Sage (00:12:44):
I Facebook live that…
Sage (00:12:50):
I don’t know if it’s available anywhere because Facebook banned me for talking
Sage (00:12:55):
about drug use in the homeless community because that’s also what we do.
Sage (00:13:01):
And I’m also sick of it.
Sage (00:13:02):
I’m just, you know, I’m kind of, I’m sick of humanity right at the moment.
Sage (00:13:09):
I’m sick of them.
Sage (00:13:12):
Um,
Sage (00:13:18):
So then neighbors start coming out.
Sage (00:13:21):
He’s like, I called the cops.
Sage (00:13:22):
I’m like, and I just kept saying, I’m just bringing water to a senior citizen.
Sage (00:13:28):
I’m just bringing water.
Sage (00:13:31):
And, like, that was it.
Sage (00:13:33):
I hadn’t brought cigarettes.
Sage (00:13:35):
I hadn’t brought anything.
Sage (00:13:36):
Like, all it was was peanut butter, bread.
Sage (00:13:41):
And water.
Sage (00:13:42):
That was it.
Sage (00:13:43):
I didn’t even splurge for the jelly.
Sage (00:13:45):
Okay?
Sage (00:13:46):
Because I was too cheap.
Sage (00:13:50):
It was peanut butter, the cheapest bread I could find, and not Jif either.
Sage (00:13:55):
It was cheap shit.
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Cheap bread, cheap peanut butter, and the cheapest bottles of water.
Sage (00:14:04):
I think I brought two cases of water.
Sage (00:14:06):
And that was it.
Sage (00:14:07):
It wasn’t a tent.
Sage (00:14:10):
It wasn’t…
Sage (00:14:13):
It wasn’t cigarettes.
Sage (00:14:15):
It was some water and peanut butter.
Sage (00:14:17):
And I’m getting accosted by these white fuckheads.
Sage (00:14:23):
These fucking boomers.
Sage (00:14:32):
And I’m mad.
Sage (00:14:35):
I’m not scared.
Sage (00:14:36):
But I will say this.
Sage (00:14:39):
Uh…
Sage (00:14:45):
In those situations, my body feels completely electrified.
Sage (00:14:50):
I feel like an electric eel.
Sage (00:14:53):
Every synapse and everything is lit up.
Sage (00:15:09):
It’s just, I just feel electric and not good electric.
Sage (00:15:13):
I mean, just like, like that.
Sage (00:15:17):
And it’s really bad.
Sage (00:15:18):
It’s like a manic feel that feels terrible.
Sage (00:15:22):
But I’m not scared.
Sage (00:15:24):
I’m not enraged.
Sage (00:15:25):
I’m just, I’m just, I’m sick of this shit.
Sage (00:15:29):
And I’m electrified.
Sage (00:15:31):
Like everything is lit up.
Sage (00:15:37):
And the cops come.
Sage (00:15:41):
And he’s like, will you leave?
Sage (00:15:47):
I’m like, yeah, I was just waiting for you.
Sage (00:15:51):
They called.
Sage (00:15:52):
I thought I would wait.
Sage (00:15:54):
So he’s like, and then he backs out of my way and I leave.
Sage (00:15:56):
And then as I get to the end of the street,
Sage (00:15:59):
another fucking asshole stops at the stop sign in front of me and gets out and
Sage (00:16:07):
comes to my door.
Sage (00:16:10):
Another old white man.
Sage (00:16:12):
And I’m like, motherfucker.
Sage (00:16:15):
And now my gun is on the console between the two seats.
Sage (00:16:22):
And I’m like, is this fuckhead going to shoot me?
Sage (00:16:26):
I’m just so tired of it.
Sage (00:16:29):
And then he just kept talking to me and talking to me.
Sage (00:16:32):
And I’m like, can I leave?
Sage (00:16:34):
Can I just leave now?
Sage (00:16:37):
And he just kept talking and talking, and I don’t even know what he said.
Sage (00:16:40):
And that was it.
Sage (00:16:46):
My friend ran off into the woods, terrified, just trying to get water and fucking peanut butter.
Sage (00:16:55):
And that was this summer.
Sage (00:16:58):
So yesterday, a friend of mine who has lived in my garage for years for free
Sage (00:17:10):
Rented a house with his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s mom.
(00:17:19):
$545.
Sage (00:17:19):
And all they have are two mattresses.
Sage (00:17:25):
They did not have nothing.
Sage (00:17:30):
Houses in the ghetto don’t come with refrigerators and stoves.
Sage (00:17:33):
You don’t get that.
Sage (00:17:34):
You don’t get that.
Sage (00:17:36):
It didn’t even come with a working toilet, honestly.
Sage (00:17:40):
So – but all the utilities are on.
Sage (00:17:47):
There’s no insides in the toilet.
Sage (00:17:49):
Like was that in the lease?
Sage (00:17:51):
Like you have to supply your own insides in the toilet?
Sage (00:17:56):
But at any rate, I said, hey, a friend of mine –
Sage (00:18:06):
had gotten what’s going to get an apartment and people donated a bunch of stuff but
Sage (00:18:11):
he ended up leaving the apartment and leaving his job and he’s back on the street
Sage (00:18:16):
and I said I’ve got a couple items and they were so happy a brand new microwave in
Sage (00:18:24):
a box a brand new toaster I got him a whole package of toilet paper some paper
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plates
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kerosene heater I just wanted to get that kerosene heater out of my life I don’t
Sage (00:18:39):
know why they would need it but they wanted it probably because they anticipate
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probably losing their utilities by winter I don’t know I mean I don’t know how
Sage (00:18:50):
they’re going to afford this but I was incredibly incredibly proud of them and it
Sage (00:18:57):
was a happy day it was a beautiful day it was so wonderful
Sage (00:19:04):
And so I pull up to this house, which is a nice house, and on a quiet, again, dead-end street.
Sage (00:19:11):
And I pull up in front of the house, and my truck was halfway over a driveway.
Sage (00:19:19):
And the reason I did that was because I thought it was their driveway.
Sage (00:19:23):
Okay.
Sage (00:19:24):
And they didn’t say anything.
Sage (00:19:26):
The house that I was looking at had no, there was no driveway on the right side.
Sage (00:19:30):
There was a driveway on the left side.
Sage (00:19:32):
I pulled in front of the driveway because I thought it was their driveway.
Sage (00:19:39):
And I go in and they show me around the house and it’s beautiful and I’m so happy for them.
Sage (00:19:44):
The mom,
Sage (00:19:45):
you know,
Sage (00:19:45):
was living outside and the kids were living in this garage and now they have a
Sage (00:19:50):
house and it’s so wonderful and they’re so happy.
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And I took a picture.
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We had this sweet picture on the front step.
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And the woman who lived next door, I went inside because they were like, we can’t figure out the toilet.
Sage (00:20:09):
And I’m like,
Sage (00:20:09):
and I went upstairs and I’m like,
Sage (00:20:11):
oh,
Sage (00:20:11):
that’s because there’s no,
Sage (00:20:12):
well,
Sage (00:20:12):
there was no feed line into the toilet.
Sage (00:20:16):
The shutoff valve was leaking.
Sage (00:20:18):
There was no feed line into the toilet and the toilet had no insides.
Sage (00:20:22):
I’m like, problem solved.
Sage (00:20:25):
And I walked down and my friend’s girlfriend says, oh man, she’s out there and she’s mad.
Sage (00:20:32):
And I’m like, what?
Sage (00:20:32):
She’s like, she says you’re in front of her driveway.
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And I’m like, oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.
Sage (00:20:37):
I’ll go move my truck.
Sage (00:20:39):
And I, I literally, I was not mad.
Sage (00:20:43):
I was not mad.
Sage (00:20:44):
I’m like, I, I was not mad.
Sage (00:20:46):
I can get mad, but I’m like, oh my bad.
Sage (00:20:49):
I’m sorry.
Sage (00:20:50):
I’m sorry.
Sage (00:20:52):
I came out and I’m like, hey, I’m sorry.
Sage (00:20:54):
I’ll move my truck.
Sage (00:20:55):
And she just kept coming at me and coming at me.
Sage (00:20:58):
And I’m like, I’m really sorry.
Sage (00:21:00):
I didn’t know it was your truck.
Sage (00:21:02):
I didn’t know.
Sage (00:21:02):
I mean, I didn’t know it was your driveway.
Sage (00:21:06):
And she just wouldn’t drop it.
Sage (00:21:07):
She wouldn’t take an apology.
Sage (00:21:09):
And I’m talking what I might have been in there for five minutes.
Sage (00:21:17):
And then she talks about how she heard yelling from the house the previous Thursday
Sage (00:21:26):
or something like that a week ago.
Sage (00:21:29):
And it just keeps escalating and escalating.
Sage (00:21:35):
And the husband comes out and he is a.
Sage (00:21:42):
He’s a bald guy, like maybe younger than me.
Sage (00:21:46):
I would say 30s or 40s.
Sage (00:21:50):
And he’s pissed and he does have a gun.
Sage (00:21:57):
It’s a smaller silver plated gun.
Sage (00:22:00):
You know, it’s like shiny silver.
Sage (00:22:02):
I’m not really.
Sage (00:22:04):
And I, this time because I’m in the hood, have my gun.
Sage (00:22:11):
And he comes over and points the gun directly at my friend.
Sage (00:22:22):
And I’m not sure at what point, but I do pull my gun.
Sage (00:22:27):
But nobody, I don’t think anybody saw it.
Sage (00:22:29):
I didn’t aim it at anybody.
Sage (00:22:30):
I just put it in my hand.
Sage (00:22:33):
Because again, the sage philosophy is,
Sage (00:22:37):
You shoot first.
Sage (00:22:39):
You get to shoot first.
Sage (00:22:42):
That’s the rule.
Sage (00:22:46):
There is also,
Sage (00:22:47):
I do have an addendum to that,
Sage (00:22:48):
that there are four people that if they draw on me,
Sage (00:22:51):
people I know,
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I will shoot them first.
Sage (00:22:55):
There are four people that, and then also I should say, I never will ever, ever draw on a police officer.
Sage (00:23:05):
They can just shoot me.
Sage (00:23:06):
Free of charge.
Sage (00:23:08):
No questions asked.
Sage (00:23:08):
Just shoot me.
Sage (00:23:11):
I would never draw on a police officer.
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That’s how I live, okay?
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And you would think, you know, you wouldn’t need to have these rules.
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But apparently…
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You should have them.
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And I’ve tested them multiple times and I’ve never shot my gun.
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I’ve never, you know, I would, I also don’t believe in, I don’t think I believe in warning shots.
Sage (00:23:46):
Nah, I don’t believe in warning shots.
Sage (00:23:48):
No, no, no, no.
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They say not to anyways.
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So yeah, you shoot and I will start shooting too.
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That’s the rule.
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So I’m like, shit, this guy is bald, a lot of tattoos.
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And later on, I do find out that he is part of some sort of motorcycle gang.
Sage (00:24:19):
And again, I have the same feeling of like, are you fucking kidding me right now?
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And I think I go in the house and shut the door.
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But I know this for a fact.
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I saw that guy.
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He did not draw on me.
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He did not point it at me.
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He was pointing it at my friend, who incidentally was badgering him.
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That’s a choice.
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He pulled and pointed that gun twice that I saw.
Sage (00:25:01):
I when I was outside, he pulled that gun and came on to the property of my friend.
Sage (00:25:08):
OK, he it was not that he stayed on his property.
Sage (00:25:12):
He he did not come in the house and I don’t think he came on the porch.
Sage (00:25:18):
But I’m just like, this is fucking ridiculous.
Sage (00:25:21):
I think I pulled my gun while I was in the house.
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I think that was it.
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I’m like, if you’re going to come in this house with that gun, I’m going to shoot you.
Sage (00:25:31):
I think that’s how I, if I recall, I don’t think I pulled the gun out on the street.
Sage (00:25:37):
I don’t think.
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I’m not trying to lie about it.
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I just can’t remember.
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I think that’s how it went.
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I do know I pulled it.
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And I think I pulled it in the house.
Sage (00:25:49):
I don’t know.
Sage (00:25:49):
There’s a lot going on in your mind, okay, when people are waving guns around, okay?
Sage (00:25:55):
Sooner or later, somebody’s going to pull a trigger around me.
Sage (00:26:01):
The odds are somebody’s going to pull a trigger.
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And if they pull a trigger, I’m pulling a trigger.
Sage (00:26:08):
That’s it.
Sage (00:26:10):
Mostly because I’m sick of it.
Sage (00:26:11):
I’m sick of this gun shit.
Sage (00:26:13):
I’m sick of it.
Sage (00:26:14):
Have I mentioned that?
Sage (00:26:24):
And.
Sage (00:26:33):
You know, I used to think that it was black people that pulled guns.
Sage (00:26:38):
But now it’s equal for me.
Sage (00:26:41):
I’ve had two black men pull guns on me and two white men pull guns on me.
Sage (00:26:46):
Now, statistically, that’s a higher than average.
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There’s less black people.
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But I would say I surround myself with equal black people and white people.
Sage (00:26:59):
I do not believe that black people pull guns more.
Sage (00:27:04):
Maybe they kill people more?
Sage (00:27:06):
Maybe they pull the trigger more?
Sage (00:27:07):
I don’t know.
Sage (00:27:08):
I don’t know.
Sage (00:27:12):
Racist tropes rarely work out.
Sage (00:27:15):
That’s all I know.
Sage (00:27:26):
There’s a…
Sage (00:27:28):
phenomenon that sometimes happens to me in this work and it happened to me that was
Sage (00:27:35):
yesterday yeah that was yesterday that was august 25th 2024 um i can feel the
Sage (00:27:52):
highest highs and the lowest lows almost
Sage (00:27:57):
simultaneously in this work because we were all feeling so good about being them
Sage (00:28:05):
being in this house the mom like makes these cool like she knits these really cool
Sage (00:28:15):
bags and stuff and i was going to sell those she was going to we were going inside
Sage (00:28:19):
to show them i had gone inside to see them because i was like oh we could sell
Sage (00:28:24):
those at the bad dog factory
Sage (00:28:27):
And then this whole gun thing happened.
Sage (00:28:30):
And this happens to me in this work,
Sage (00:28:35):
that I’m living almost simultaneously in the yin and the yang,
Sage (00:28:42):
like both black and white.
Sage (00:28:46):
It’s never 100% pure.
Sage (00:28:52):
They say you can’t multitask.
Sage (00:28:53):
I don’t know if you can be exactly high and low at the same time,
Sage (00:29:02):
but I can do them from one second to the next.
Sage (00:29:06):
And that happens in the homeless community constantly.
Sage (00:29:10):
Something good happens and then right behind it something terrible happens.
Sage (00:29:13):
It happens over and over and over again.
Sage (00:29:19):
It’s brutal.
Sage (00:29:21):
It’s just brutal.
Sage (00:29:29):
I don’t know what the point of this is.
Sage (00:29:36):
The world is a vampire, I guess they say.
Sage (00:29:39):
The horror that is…
Sage (00:29:46):
21st century america um this is what they you know they’re i’m reading more or
Sage (00:29:53):
hearing more and more about late stage capitalism it’s like the idea that the gdp
Sage (00:29:57):
and the stock market are doing great but yet there’s people murdering each other on
Sage (00:30:03):
the streets and freezing to death veterans freezing to death uh without shelter um
Sage (00:30:12):
I’m trying to figure out how to get a man’s water turned on because his mom died,
Sage (00:30:18):
and I don’t think he’s very competent.
Sage (00:30:21):
I don’t know how else to say that.
Sage (00:30:22):
Mentally disabled, I guess he is.
Sage (00:30:24):
I don’t know.
Sage (00:30:26):
So he doesn’t have his ID, and they will not turn the water on until they get proof from
Sage (00:30:44):
uh probate and i’m like is it could i just pay the water and they’re like no i need
Sage (00:30:53):
i we need uh she’s dead and we need proof from probate
Sage (00:30:59):
And then out of like kindness, I guess, I don’t know.
Sage (00:31:06):
It didn’t, it made me angry.
Sage (00:31:10):
She’s like, good luck.
Sage (00:31:13):
Like she was, it was from her heart, like good luck.
Sage (00:31:16):
And I’m like, fucking bitch.
Sage (00:31:22):
You could pull some strings here and get the water turned on.
Sage (00:31:25):
I’ll pay the bill.
Sage (00:31:27):
I’ll pay the bill.
Sage (00:31:28):
Because what’s happening is now the neighbors are complaining because there’s so
Sage (00:31:31):
much trash piling up in the garage.
Sage (00:31:34):
And now there’s a…
Sage (00:31:37):
The house is fine.
Sage (00:31:38):
All the other utilities are on.
Sage (00:31:40):
Electric and gas are on.
Sage (00:31:41):
Water comes with trash.
Sage (00:31:42):
You can’t buy trash service if you don’t have water service.
Sage (00:31:45):
So the trash is collecting in the garage, breeding disease, I’m sure.
Sage (00:31:50):
The neighbors are complaining,
Sage (00:31:52):
and now the housing inspector is involved,
Sage (00:31:55):
and that house is going to get condemned.
Sage (00:31:57):
Because I don’t know how to get this man through probate.
Sage (00:32:06):
And please don’t.
Sage (00:32:08):
tell me what to do I’m not doing it I know no I just I don’t need answers I I get
Sage (00:32:16):
it I’m not the house is gonna go it’s gonna get condemned okay because this isn’t
Sage (00:32:25):
like if this was the only problem in Akron sure but it’s endless it’s endless so I
Sage (00:32:33):
told you this story and you want to help that guy
Sage (00:32:36):
That’s endearing and sweet, but I’m not going to do it.
Sage (00:32:39):
I’m not going to spend hours trying to muddle through getting this guy a birth certificate,
Sage (00:32:45):
an ID,
Sage (00:32:46):
a lawyer,
Sage (00:32:47):
and probate only for the house to get condemned anyways.
Sage (00:32:52):
Because it’s endless.
Sage (00:32:57):
I’m not doing it.
Sage (00:33:01):
I’m not doing it.
Sage (00:33:02):
I might give them a tarp to cover up the garage.
Sage (00:33:07):
because it’s so disgusting in America today.
Sage (00:33:12):
How the hell is it even possible that we are allowed to withhold trash and water?
Sage (00:33:21):
They’re tied together.
Sage (00:33:25):
If you can’t afford water, you don’t get trash.
Sage (00:33:29):
What more basic fundamentals are there than water and trash?
Sage (00:33:36):
Because you don’t have the right paperwork.
Sage (00:33:40):
And then you wonder why people are killing each other out here in the streets.
Sage (00:33:46):
Why are they doing it?
Sage (00:33:47):
Why are they killing it?
Sage (00:33:48):
Because it fucking sucks out here, man.
Sage (00:33:52):
It fucking sucks.
Sage (00:33:58):
I’m telling you, if you lived out here, you’d want to kill people too.
Sage (00:34:07):
Because you’re just fucking sick of it.
Sage (00:34:09):
I think of this one black man.
Sage (00:34:12):
I don’t know when this was, this summer.
Sage (00:34:14):
He walked up to a, I don’t know, drive-thru type of place.
Sage (00:34:22):
One of these little, my homeless friends call them A-Rab stores.
Sage (00:34:26):
I know that’s racist, but that’s just what they call them.
Sage (00:34:28):
They call them A-Rab stores.
Sage (00:34:29):
They don’t mean it racist.
Sage (00:34:31):
They don’t hate the Arabs.
Sage (00:34:32):
They don’t hate anybody.
Sage (00:34:34):
They just call them Arab stores.
Sage (00:34:35):
That’s what they call them.
Sage (00:34:36):
I’m sorry.
Sage (00:34:38):
I don’t know what else to call them.
Sage (00:34:40):
That’s what they call it.
Sage (00:34:42):
This black guy, I don’t know this guy, goes up, wants to buy one of those black and tan cigarettes.
Sage (00:34:52):
He has the money.
Sage (00:34:56):
The guy who was Arab, because I saw his picture, a young Arab guy, refused the money.
Sage (00:35:04):
supposedly saying it had blood on it or it was too dirty.
Sage (00:35:09):
And the black guy left the window,
Sage (00:35:15):
went to his car,
Sage (00:35:16):
pulled out his shotgun,
Sage (00:35:18):
and came and shot that guy dead in the face.
Sage (00:35:21):
And I’m like, yep, sounds about right to me too.
Sage (00:35:25):
Because the pressure out here is so great.
Sage (00:35:29):
It is so terrible.
Sage (00:35:30):
They withhold water and trash and then blame you for it.
Sage (00:35:38):
You can’t.
Sage (00:35:39):
The pressure is so intense.
Sage (00:35:43):
So of course they’re killing each other out here.
Sage (00:35:47):
It makes perfect sense.
Sage (00:35:51):
Perfect sense.
Sage (00:35:53):
And what’s worse is…
Sage (00:35:55):
you people who are listening to this can’t understand it you’re like oh these
Sage (00:36:02):
savages these terrible people and that makes it worse because you don’t take the
Sage (00:36:09):
time to care and i’m not totally talking to you because you’re listening to this
Sage (00:36:16):
podcast
Sage (00:36:19):
I’m just talking to probably three-quarters of the people that live in this town and this country.
Sage (00:36:27):
Probably more in the country.
Sage (00:36:29):
I’d say about 75% of Akronites don’t give a fuck about these people and how hellish
Sage (00:36:37):
their fucking life is.
Sage (00:36:41):
And that makes it worse.
Sage (00:36:43):
It makes you angrier and more infuriating because your kids are living in a house with no fucking water.
Sage (00:36:52):
And you’re going to get them taken away because you can’t figure out the fucking paperwork situation.
Sage (00:37:05):
That’s the end.