Pamela Leavey

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Category: Women

Opinion: Seniors and Housing Insecurity

I ran across a story on Facebook this afternoon that I find very troubling on a very personal level: Homelessness Among the Elderly Expected to Triple in 10 Years .

The number of elderly individuals experiencing homelessness is rising. In the Annual Homeless Assessment Report, released by HUD, the number of elderly individuals experiencing sheltered homelessness nearly doubled from 4.1 percent in 2007 to 8 percent in 2017. It’s not slowing down, either. This population is expected to triple over the next decade.

new study out of UCSF showed that almost half of all elderly homeless people became homeless after age 50. These statistics tells us that whatever the problem is, it’s related to age. The question we need to ask ourselves is, why are the elderly falling through the cracks?

(more…)

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Women’s March on Washington: Watch Us Stand Strong

I didn’t go to Washington, D.C. today to the Women’s March, but my heart has been there and everywhere around the globe, as women, men and children all gathered together to march against Trump.

The myriad of social issues that intersect with women’s issues effect us all. We have come too far to be knocked back down by Trump and his administration. It is time for us to stand strong and heal the world.  (more…)

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Quote Of The Day: Anais Nin

When we are young girls we often dream of being a mermaid, as grown women we realize that shallow living holds nothing for us, it is the depths that drive us…

Mermaid Quote Anais Nin

From Anaïs Nin’s 1950 novel, The Four-Chambered Heart, based on her life: “I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”

The Eastport Mermaid: Photo by Pamela J. Leavey

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Quote of the Day: Terry Tempest Williams

Today’s Quote of the Day is from one of my favorite memoir and nature writers, Terry Tempest Williams:

“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” ― Terry Tempest Williams

“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” ― Terry Tempest Williams: When The Women Were Birds

 

*Lesser Goldfinches photo by Pamela J. Leavey

 

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Quote of the Day: Terry Tempest Williams

“I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen.” –  Terry Tempest Williams

immature red tail3

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Hot Running Tap

Delving through an unpublished manuscript of my poetry, I ran across this piece that hits home for me right now…


hot running tapHot Running Tap

Surely, had I looked
The other way,
I would have seen you coming;
The look in your eyes,
Your smile,
Your lines that flowed
Like a hot running tap.
But I, was too intrigued
By your fiery
Lingering glances.
And yet, somehow
I felt safe enough
To take my chances.
And now,
As the disenchantment sets in,
And I think to myself,
I will never
See you again;
I realize
Had I looked
The other way,
I would have seen
You coming,
And spared myself
Getting burned.

© Pamela J. Leavey (From my unpublished poetry manuscript: Rogue Lovers, Thieves Of My Heart, And Others)

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