I rode the southbound Coast Starlight from Portland to Eugene a week ago last Wednesday. While waiting at the train station I had begun to work on an incident or two in I’KOSMAE, the conclusion to my SALTARAE novel series, so I had stuff to do. But the guy sitting across from me wanted to chat...His name is changed, and the conversation is as I currently recall it. More or less...
He said: “Hi, I’m Jim. You goin’ to Eugene?”
I said: “Yeah.” >Handshake< “I’m Ambrose.”
“What were you doing in Portland?’
I wanted to get my laptop going, but he was being polite and all, so...
Me: I came up this morning on business. Drove a van up for someone.” (I didn’t really want to tell the whole story...)
Jim: Oh. I came up for a job interview.
Me: Ah. You gonna get the job?
Jim: >shrug< Probably not.
(Silence)
Jim: So, what’s with all these homeless people in Portland? We got a lot of them in Eugene, too. I mean, just all over the place, on streets downtown, everywhere that...people, y’know...?
(I waited with amusement for him to say ‘everywhere normal people want to go’; I could read that in his tone, but he paused, then didn’t say it.)
Me: Whattaya mean, what’s with them? Everybody’s gotta be somewhere, right?
Jim: Well, why doesn’t the City move ‘em or...something?
Me : Something?
Jim: Well...
Me: You really want to discuss this with me?
Jim: Um...why not?
Me: I’ll be out of your comfort zone pretty quick here. I expect.
Jim: Oh. What do you mean?
Me: Okay, so I read repeatedly in multiple sources that there are more empty houses and apartments in the US than there are homeless people. I read that in so many places that I think it’s true. Maybe. Likely anway.
Jim: Oh, I can believe that. There are a lot of empty warehouses and stores, too, right? They could put in showers...
Me: Yep. So that means that the ‘Powers That Be’, the Gov’t and the super rich, could solve the homeless problem pretty much overnight, right? If they wanted to...
Jim: I guess.
Me: But they don’t. So...
Jim: I guess they don’t want to.
Me: BINGO!
Jim: But why don’t they...?
Me (interrupting) You should ask them.
(Silence)
Jim: Never thought of it like that.
Me: I did.
Jim: But how did you get there, I mean...?
Me: You wanna know my politics? My opinions on economics and culture?
Jim: (Somewhat uncertainly) ...Sure.
Me: I’m an Anarchist/Syndicalist with a lot of Situationist influence.
(This usually shuts people up, since they don’t know what to make of it. It’s a “shortcut signifier”, but one they’ve never heard before.)
To give Jim props, he asked: What’s that mean? I mean, I’m kind of an anarchist myself...
Me: Really?
Jim: Well, yeah...I mean anarchists are kinda far right, right?
Me: (laughing out loud): That’s not historical. Anarchists are usually seen as a weirdly far-left movement.
Jim: Well, but...I mean the left wants more government and the right wants less, so...anarchists are conserv...
(He trailed off there; I think he saw that he was painting himself into a corner. So I helped paint him in.)
Me: How do you account for George W Bush, then? Gov’t got bigger while he was in. He spent your money like a drunken sailor.
Jim, grinning a bit sheepishly: I guess that’s true. I never thought of it like that.
Me, twisting the knife: But anyway, I reject the whole bipolar left-right version of reality. I don’t think you can squeeze an anarchist into that imagined reality, nor a real “little c” communist...and where would you put an American Libertarian? I saw a square thing, with two axes, Authoritarian at the top and ‘little l’ libertarian at the bottom, with “economic right” and “economic left” as the horizontal axis...
Jim: Yeah, I saw that, too.”
Me: I still didn’t find a place for me on that square. You’d have to go to the lower left corner and take off ‘downleft’ at a tangent to the plane...
Jim: Huh.
Me: I did warn you, right?
Jim: Oh yeah, oh yeah. You got me thinking...
I rummaged in my briefcase and got out a copy of my short story collection Small Mercies. I stuck one of my calling cards in it and gave it to him.
Me: Here’s a gift for you.
Jim: Really? Hey thanks! (pause, riffle through the book.) Wow, y’know, I think I better enjoy this tomorrow, after I get some sleep. Does this book have a way for me to get hold of you?
Me: I put a card in there...
Jim: Oh, yeah...thanks!
Me You’re welcome.
Jim: I didn’t get much sleep last night...I came up yesterday for that interview, like I said, but I was...unhoused...last night.
Me: Really?
Jim: Didn’t have anywhere to stay, y’know? So I walked around until about 2, then I found this car that was unlocked, so I climbed in there and got out of the cold. The worst of the cold, anyway.
Me: eyebrows raised
Jim: Yeah, I left at about 4 because I didn’t want to get caught. My buddy said I coulda been arrested for “Joyriding” but I didn’t drive the car away or anything. Maybe trespassing?”
Me: Or burglary. Breaking and Entering...
Jim: >Jawdrop< Really? I didn’t do any damage!
Me: Yeah, that’s in your favor. It’d be up to the DA whether to charge you with a felony. Probably depend on the state of his quota...
Jim: Wow.
Me, quoting Jon Minard: “You can’t be too cynical.”
Jim: What do you mean by cynical? What’s a Cynic, in your world?
Me: (thinking on the fly) I’d say a Cynic is one who has seen the consensus narrative turn out to be a lie so many times that the s/he no longer believes it without evidence.
Jim: Huh. That sounds right. How does that compare to a Nihilist?
Me, laughing out loud again: See that building? A Nihilist would not leave one brick attached to another.
Jim, also laughing: Not one, huh?
Me: I have a Nihilist streak in me. Nihilism is when you say: “There’s nothing worth saving in this world. Burn it down and start over.”
Jim, nodding: Yeah.
Silence. Then:
Jim: Y’know...I started this conversation out complaining about homeless folks, but...I kinda got a taste of that last night, didn’t I?
Me: Yeah, I’d say you did. How’d that feel?
Jim: Not good.
Me: nodding.
And Jim took another quick look through the book I gave him, then curled up and fell asleep.
I spent the next 1.5 hours finishing the chapter I’d worked on at the station, and left the train in a thoughtful mood. Jim was sitting up, looking sleepy, when I left; I hope he got off the train and didn’t accidently hitch a ride to Chemult.
Anyway...Gotta go. See ya!