Jerome Shaw
As seen in:
San José Spotlight,
Go World Travel Magazine
#Writer #Photographer #Blogger WH Top100 #Travel #Influencer. Publ. TravelBoldly.com @TravelBoldly #Craftbeer @TheBeerWhore
Articles by Jerome Shaw
Shaw: The elephant in the room
I have written about many experiences with HomeFirst. Most of the time it concerned the nonprofit’s rules and policies, and the negative effects these have had on its clients. Many unhoused advocates knew of these effects long before I did, and they tried to get people to listen and give the unhoused a voice. I witnessed some of the impacts first hand as a resident and tried to be a voice for the unhoused since we often don’t have one.
Shaw: Santa Clara County should be proactive about treating drug addiction
I am an individual who, like many other people, has a convoluted history of mental health and physical medical conditions, and utilize medications to offset the complications associated with these conditions. In addition to being neurodivergent, I also have attention deficit disorder or ADD. This isn’t attention hyperactivity deficit disorder or ADHD, because I don’t have hyperactivity. I just have the inattentiveness, aloofness and distractibility.
Shaw: Don't reallocate affordable housing funds for homeless services
Like so many others, I am against San Jose’s current Measure E budget proposal to reallocate affordable housing funds for homeless services. The reasons being: 1. Tiny homes do not offer permanent housing and are not a solution to homelessness. They are tiny shelters in a communal environment, with gates and security guards. Any place where you don’t have a refrigerator, kitchen or bathroom under the same roof as your dwelling isn’t a home. These locations would also be run by nonprofits. 2.
Shaw: The homelessness problem needs more than a temporary solution
It still feels like we’re kicking the can down the road when it comes to the homelessness problem. Or at least it feels like we’re trying to place bandages over a gaping wound. There has been progress toward acknowledging the problem and presenting solutions over the past several years, which is a huge improvement. The tiny home trend continues, along with Project Homekey programs. But these are quick-build and renovation solutions for interim housing, when permanent housing is needed.
Shaw: What's next for homeless people after the storms?
The atmospheric rivers that slammed California for the past few weeks once again show how vulnerable homeless people are to the weather. High winds, flooding, rain and an evacuation order forced people to seek out safety from the elements, quickly filling Red Cross evacuation sites in San Jose. The storms highlight the type of services that aren’t being provided to homeless individuals when it comes to their mental health.
Shaw: The season of reflection
It’s that time of year again where we begin to gather with family and friends, put on extra pounds and spend way too much money. Its hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week, because the year has gone by so fast. But nevertheless, the holiday season is here, and it’s often when people take time to reflect and remember. Within the past year I’ve seen my son grow as a person. Having to accept the painful challenges of transitioning from a boy to a young Black man. A young Black man in America.
Shaw: The value of sleep
How much value can you put on a restful night’s sleep? If you feel more tired today than yesterday, there are ways to remedy that. You can take a nap or go to sleep earlier to get your body to adjust itself. But what happens when this tiredness continues day after day? How do you get adequate rest when you have an unpredictable, inconsistent pattern of sleep? Sleep is critical to my well-being.
Shaw: Timing out—where do we go from here? - San José Spotlight
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, it exposed the flaws in the methods used to address the homelessness crisis. It left communities—local, state and national—scrambling to find food, shelter and safety for the most overlooked and most critiqued members of society. Organizations who specialize in the business of homelessness tout the metrics of how many unhoused families, men, women, young adults and elderly they help get housed, without including the policies hindering people who need housing.
Shaw: Stand up to racism, lose shelter
I will no longer be writing articles as a client of the Sunnyvale shelter. Unfortunately, I was removed from the facility for fighting. I got into an altercation with another client after I asked him to wear a mask while sitting beside my bed. Harsh words were exchanged, and it escalated after I was called the n-word. Although I didn’t throw the first punch, the word sent me to fury. To me, the n-word is a slave word. There’s no other slur used to degrade an ethnicity that is more racist than that.
Shaw: Sunnyvale shelter donation policy makes no sense
Columns The Sunnyvale homeless shelter is open year-round and serves up to 140 people. File photo. Pasta. It’s what’s for dinner, and lunch and would be for breakfast, if hot breakfast was ever served at the Sunnyvale shelter. Eating pasta 45 times within a 30-day period has to eventually cause some negative health effects. It’s cheap, easy to prepare and serves a lot of people. Understood.
Shaw: Homeless people need more care than shelters provide
Entrance to the Sunnyvale homeless shelter on Hamlin Court. Photo by Tran Nguyen. How is a homeless shelter expected to maintain the health and well-being of individuals with a mental illness or emotional issues, when no doctors are on staff? How is a homeless shelter expected to ensure the safety and comfort of individuals who require respite care, when no nurses are on staff?
Shaw: One person can make a difference when you're homeless
In Your Backyard In Your Backyard columnist Jerome Shaw is pictured in this file photo. Holidays became meaningless to me some time ago when I became homeless—especially the heavily commercialized ones. I saw them as glorified weekends that unrelentingly remind the homeless of what they’ve lost or what they don’t have. Thanksgiving to remind you of not having family or friends to break bread with.
Shaw: South Bay homeless shelter ignores COVID mask mandates
The Sunnyvale Emergency Shelter is open year-round and serves up to 140 people. Photo courtesy of HomeFirst. The best ways to protect people from contracting COVID is through vaccination and mask wearing. Getting vaccinated is your personal choice and no one can make you get it, but not getting vaccinated will severely affect your life if you plan to work and live around other people.
Shaw: Words are powerful
About a dozen unhoused people reside in the encampment established on the corner of Branham Lane and Monterey Road in San Jose. Photo by Vicente Vera. Words are powerful. They transform everything about us, through us. I remember hearing the phrase “keeping your word” when I was a kid, and that used to really mean something. If you agreed to do something, then you did it, no matter the circumstances.
Shaw: Legal encampments could help homeless transition into housing
A homeless encampment along a Highway 101 on-ramp at Story Road is pictured in this file photo. File photo. The number homeless residents is rapidly growing, so much so, that it is out pacing all solutions put forth to end it. It is well known that, within Santa Clara County, for every homeless person housed, three more become homeless. I’m afraid that number is likely increasing due to the aftereffects of the pandemic.
Shaw: No one chooses to be homeless in Silicon Valley
A homeless encampment in downtown San Jose is pictured in this file photo. There’s nothing good about being homeless. It’s a hard and exhausting way to live. Most people aren’t able to imagine what living on the streets is like. Lately there’s been an uptick in the number of clients residing at the Sunnyvale shelter, as solutions to the pandemic increase. I’ve seen individuals come in from hospitals, from vehicles, and literally right off the streets.
Shaw: Santa Clara County needs sober shelters
Jerome Shaw says homeless shelters are not one size fits all. Photo courtesy of Jerome Shaw. This summer, I was fortunate to be chosen to be on the Unhoused Task Force, whose purpose is to formulate emergency solutions to aid with the homeless crisis Santa Clara County is facing. Improving the quality of life for individuals who are living unsheltered — those in encampments, on the street, in parks, under freeways, by creeks, in RV’s or safe parking in their vehicles — is critically necessary.
Shaw: What it feels like to be a Black man in America
San Jose Police officers are pictured in this file photo. Photo by Ramona Giwargis. When I was asked to share what I call my Black Lives Matter experience, I was divided within myself. It is difficult to write about an experience in your past when it brings back so many different emotions. Feelings of helplessness, shame, regret, fear and hopelessness. It took me back to a time when I cut off everyone and everything in my life, and I repeated the same cycle while dwelling on this experience again.
Shaw: Homeless shelter clients shouldn't be pushed out after 120 days
I like to book a hotel room some weekends to rest up and get a quick break from life at the Sunnyvale Shelter. It’s not that the shelter is not well run or that I don’t like the people I live with — it is and I do. Anyone who’s ever lived in any kind of communal arrangement, whether at a camp or with roommates, knows that it’s good for the soul to get away every now and then. I work as much as I can during the week and earn my keep so as to be able to afford this small privilege.
In Your Backyard
Meet the columnists Cecilia Martin Cecilia Martin grew up not knowing her place in life, or what her purpose was. Not even the direction she should go. She says she has struggled her entire life with just about every decision she’s had to make, including becoming an alcoholic as a child and continuing down the road of addiction for decades. Cecilia has faced many dangerous and unsafe situations that ultimately led to homelessness.
Beer Fest - Après-GABF at Katie Mullen’s on the 16th Street Mall
Are you looking for something to do after the GABF? Katie Mullen’s Irish Pub on the 16th Street Mall is just a short walk from the convention center. It is great place to gather after an evening of beer drinking for what else? More BEER! Katie’s has a nice selection of domestic and import beers and hearty Irish pub food.
Las Vegas redux - part one- the Golden Nugget
Travel writer and photographer Jerome Shaw sets out on a mission to discover what downtown Las Vegas is all about these days. Las Vegas is not my kind of place ... or so I had long thought. But within moments of my recent trip to downtown Las Vegas, I realized that we've both changed a great deal since my last visit. It seems Las Vegas has become much more my kind of place: artsy, funky, friendly, pedestrian and even a bit historic. Las Vegas has a central pulse now and it flows along Fremont Street.
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