Parman Branch Library is finished. I made some small changes this morning but basically it’s how I left it Monday. I added a street lamp that I had originally decided to take out. I felt the lawn needed something, needed to be broken up a bit. I also added the sign and some shadows.
I also started a larger painting of Brook Hollow Branch Library. The parking lot is graded so when I was there painting it I was almost looking down on the building. It was less obvious when I was on location, but in the photo it’s kind of stark. I decided to go with it. I think the most photogenic aspect of the image is the way the light filters through the trees above the building. It looks kind of majestic. Hopefully I can capture that in my painting.
I went to get some blood work this morning so I stopped and took some photos of the Fredericksburg I-10 intersection on my way back. I want to use some of the photos for bigger paintings. My plan is to get a roll of canvas and stretch some larger canvases for a series of Fred and I-10, but for now I started a smaller painting of the view East from under the overpass. In the background is the homeless shelter. I often wonder how long it will last. There haven’t been a lot of developers in this part of town, but if they do come, I’m sure that shelter will disappear pretty quickly.
I don’t always know how I feel about politics, about who matters, who should be treated certain ways and who shouldn’t. I certainly don’t think that a homeless shelter should be treated with indifference or cruelty. But I also think one would have a hard time selling a condo with a homeless shelter next door.
Before the pandemic I used to spend a lot of time at the Starbucks on Fredericksburg and Hildebrand. There was a homeless guy who would sit in the corner with sunglasses on and every once in a while yell at the top of his lungs. When I first started hearing it I thought someone was fighting. I would turn around to look but I could never tell who it was. And no one else in the store seemed to notice. What I realized over the course of a few months was that the guy in the sunglasses was yelling and everyone in there was used to it. He never moved or acted threatening, so after a while I got used to it too.
There were a lot of homeless people who would order water and sit in the store for hours. They would put all their bags of stuff on the chairs and take up space. One time someone asked to use my phone and it upset me, but for the most part, other than the yelling, the homeless people didn’t really bother me. I always wondered though what the people working there felt. What was it like to have to manage the patrons that didn’t behave like the rest?
I was sitting outside once when a woman came up and asked to use my phone so she could call her boyfriend in Afghanistan. When I said no she was incredulous. She seemed to think that I was stingy and cruel. “But I need to call my boyfriend,” she pleaded, as if that would make me change my mind. Unfortunately, she wasn’t someone I trusted to use my phone, in Texas, to call her boyfriend in Afghanistan. Plus, I had a hard time believing she even had a boyfriend in Afghanistan.
I would see management outside telling people that they needed to leave, which never seemed like an enjoyable or safe task. One time there was a guy passed out on the grass. The manager working that day had to come out, wake him up, and ask him to move on. And I couldn’t help noticing how sensitive the non-homeless people were to the homeless. We were walking on eggshells. Telling someone she couldn’t use my phone felt risky, even though I said it nicely.
When the pandemic hit, Starbucks closed the dining room and became a drive-though only store. Every time I drove by the line was through the parking lot. It made me wonder if they lost any business. Was it easier to work there without having to deal with the homeless and (possibly) drug addicted that were always hanging out? If they sold as much as a drive-through only store, would they go back to opening the dining room and patio?
These are tough issues to figure out. I like my neighborhood. I like all the diversity here. And I like the idea that I’m able to share space with all kinds of people. There’s a house on my street with a very nice Porsche parked out front. There’s also a house a few blocks away with a front porch that has caved in and junk in the yard, but people still live there. There are the cozy cottages, like mine, and then there are the large 2500 and 3000 square foot homes too. Is it possible to live together? If someone builds a condo next to the homeless shelter, would people who could afford to buy it.