New Foundations
While Sherry and her twelve-year-old niece, Sobeyda, were living in shelters across Portland and Vancouver, Sherry’s car was broken into and hundreds of dollars of clothes and medication were stolen. Both she and her niece contracted influenza B and needed to be hospitalized. They were harassed by a man also staying at one of the shelters
Deep Roots
“Have you ever tried kohlrabi before?” the tall, lean man asked over his shoulder, excitement growing on his face. Arthur Shavers looked like a schoolboy as he pushed his half-rim glasses up and focused his attention on the row of leafy greens waving in the breeze. He bent over, his fraying straw hat almost grazing the tips of the shimmering plants, and swam his hands through the crunchy leaves. His partner, Shantae Johnson, was already elbow-deep in greens, on the hunt for the wild cabbage nearby. Moments later, Johnson, who has a constant twinkle in her eye, emerged victorious, yanking a fist-sized, lilac-purple bulb out of the soil, its purple offshoots radiating like the filaments of a plasma globe.