David knows first-hand the impacts of mass incarceration, after receiving a life sentence at the age 16. In his words, “being thrown away at 16 years old wasn’t the event. It was an exclamation point” on the consistent messaging he’s been receiving his whole life from systems that failed to see his humanity.

He was released after serving 24 years, following legislative reform of juvenile sentencing standards due to a new understanding of youth brain science.

Today David is 46 years old. He is the Director of Vision and Values at The Black Rose Collective. He works to develop community partnerships with individuals, groups and movements who share an alignment with and affinity for dismantling systems of oppression.

David was in the second cohort of Unlocked Futures’ social entrepreneurs impacted by the criminal injustice system, formed through a partnership with New Profit and John Legend's nonprofit organization FREEAMERICA.

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David knows first-hand the impacts of mass incarceration, after receiving a life sentence at the age 16. In his words, “being thrown away at 16 years old wasn’t the event. It was an exclamation point” on the consistent messaging he’s been receiving his whole life from systems that failed to see his humanity.

He was released after serving 24 years, following legislative reform of juvenile sentencing standards due to a new understanding of youth brain science.

Today David is 46 years old. He is the Director of Vision and Values at The Black Rose Collective. He works to develop community partnerships with individuals, groups and movements who share an alignment with and affinity for dismantling systems of oppression.

David was in the second cohort of Unlocked Futures’ social entrepreneurs impacted by the criminal injustice system, formed through a partnership with New Profit and John Legend's nonprofit organization FREEAMERICA.

Join in on the conversation on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/goodoldlistening/

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This is the 3rd and last part of an episode called The Skipping Rock.

In this 3rd part of Casey’s story, we cover some of the most traumatic events of her life. She admits openly that due to the heavy drug use, trauma, and instability during this time, she has gaps in her memory, making it difficult to connect everything together.

Rather than tell this chapter of Casey's life in a chronological order, as we usually try to do, we’ve decided to bring forward events, or moments, that best express what Casey was going through. As a young woman living homeless, heavily addicted and working in the sex trade, she was just trying to survive. Through these events we will continue to explore the idea of choice.

When we left Casey in the last episode, in Part Two, she was heavily addicted to street drugs, so much so that she was no longer able to dance at the strip clubs. This not only robbed her income, it took away her sense of being in community. Now that that was gone, she was trapped in an increasingly vicious cycle of doing drugs to be able to do the sex work, so she could make the money to pay for the drugs, that she was taking to do the sex work.

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This is Part 2 of a 3 part episode called The Skipping Rock - We recommend you listen to Part 1 first, which will undoubtedly give greater meaning to the following Parts two and three.

When we left Casey in the last episode, in Part One, she was making some big decisions in her life, wanting to not only leave the trauma and dysfunction of her childhood behind, but also coming to grips with having to earn a living. She decided to take a waitressing job at a strip club, which led to dancing, and the fast money of the sex industry.

Casey was 18 years old.

Suddenly she had a nice house, a car she loved, and plenty of money, all part of the fast paced life she was now living. For her, at that moment, it was working, she had arrived, and was going to enjoy it. There were lots of friends, lots of alcohol, and plenty of the attention she was seeking.

As we enter back into Caseys world, one that was accelerating fast, she met someone that slowed things down, for a moment, someone that would mean a great deal to her.

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While it is not always apparent in the moment, our life choices, all of them, the big complicated ones down to the little daily decisions, create the direction and opportunities of our life, our future, for better or worse.

When someone is successful we often admire them for their smarts, for having made all the right choices. And conversely, when people are struggling, we pass judgment, thinking, “They should have made better choices.”

But is it really that simple, to credit failure to bad choices being made?

What if everyone IS trying to make the best choice possible at every opportunity, and that the issue is not simply one of bad choices, but rather a lack of available good options.

In this episode we hear from Casey, a woman who will explore with us the idea of choice. What it means to fit in and find a way in life when choice is limited, or, removed altogether. When all you have in front of you are bad options.

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In this episode we are talking with Benny. He has lived homeless in the Fremont neighborhood, artfully stacking stones on the parking strip, in the same place, for the last 30 plus years.

It seems, in every family there is a person who is living a bit differently from the rest of the family. You could say, zigging when the others are zagging. Their lifestyle or life-choices are thought provoking in one moment, perplexing and challenging in the next.

And yet, these differences are often what makes a family vibrant, positive forces in the dynamic. The varying views are appreciated for what they bring to the family mix.

And while it is not always the case, in general, with family, we work to find ways to be inclusive and supportive of those differences. In other words, we try our best to make room for each other. For example, Uncle Maynard, who’s marching to a completely different drummer, who gets eye rolls around the table at Thanksgiving, is appreciated rather than pushed away for his nonconformity.

How far beyond the family does this acceptance extend. How do we react when somebody in our community is marching to a different drummer? Do we make room for them? Do we work to be inclusive and supportive in the way we do for Uncle Maynard?

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Immediate need: About a year ago Benny was diagnosed with lung cancer. With chemo-therapy his cancer went into remission but In March 2023 the doctors determined the cancer was back. Benny has been given about 6 months to live. 

With rent and medical bills he is in desperate need of financial support. If you are moved by Benny’s life story, please consider donating to the Venmo account - @bennytherockman. All funds will go to Benny. 

When responding to complex societal issues, we are all familiar with the shortcomings of treating symptoms rather than causes. 

Even so, despite knowing this, we also all know how easy it is to go down that path. When an issue is screaming at us, any issue, our knee-jerk reaction is to just make it go away, make it stop.  

When the city of Seattle puts up chain link fencing to keep the homeless out from under freeways and bridges, it is addressing a symptom, the unsightliness of encampments. The fences are meant to make it go away. We, as a community, passively allow it to happen because, in the moment, it feels better to not see what is unsightly. It is literally, out of sight, out of mind for us. However, for the homeless, they are still homeless. 

So how do we shift our focus to successfully addressing root issues rather than symptoms? How do we get past giving in to knee-jerk responses?

We begin by understanding that, for the most part, the symptoms of homelessness are what the housed community feels and are impacted by and the root causes are what the unhoused community feels and are impacted by. When we respond to symptoms, we need to know that we are responding to our needs, rather than the needs of those struggling. 

It is an important distinction, an important and necessary shift.

When we act compassionately, and intentionally, with this knowledge, we open ourselves to the uncertainty, to the uncomfortableness, of homelessness, and beautifully begin our own journey of addressing the root causes of others’ struggles. 

In this episode, we have the sincere pleasure of talking with Sparrow Etter Arlson. Sparrow has been living with intention toward her unhoused neighbors for the last 21 years. She is a co-founder of the Green Bean Coffeeshop, co-founder of Aurora Commons and its (SHE) Clinic, the acronym SHE standing for Safe, Healthy, and Empowered, and the Founder of Sacred Streets. Sparrow is now the Seattle Planning Specialist at King County Regional Homelessness Authority.

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Blair helped James get into housing and have basic needs met, she helped reconnect him with family, and maybe, most of all, feel loved in the last few years of his life. And James, what he did for Blair was to change her life. He helped her take an off-ramp from the path she was on and in the process she found her voice and her purpose in life.

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