Jennifer Gale

this is something i had wanted to post almost a month ago when i heard the news that jennifer gale passed away. she died in the cold on december 16th. i just read a quote from austin mayor will wynn that `jennifer, we believe, is the 136th person who has died sleeping on the streets (of austin) over the last 12 months.´ thats more than ten per month- around three per week, just in austin.
i met jennifer when i was canvassing in downtown austin for greenpeace, a very fun time in my life. downtown in the middle of the day you see a bunch of business guys running around in their suits and ties, the jesus freaks, the canvassers, and the homeless. 

it was our job to speak with people who might have money and try to get some of it from them for greenpeace and ourselves. i had a great time talking to the homeless population, though. there were so many characters- there was leslie and a cross dressing knockoff you would usually see stumbling around on methadone with his eyes rolled back into his head, who i called 'leslie 2'. he had a fantastic wardrobe, though- black vinyl, the tallest platforms, garters. i was always mystified about how he was ever together enough to pull off these amazing and detailed style feats. i hope he didn't just have some kind of disease that made him look drugged out all the time and now i'm being a jerk.

a lot of the people down there had some really interesting points. i remember one time in the spring i saw a woman with one of those red clown noses and some antlers on. she was smiling at everyone and, even sans antlers, she seemed like she might not be all there. i asked her if she had a minute for greenpeace. we started talking and she said she would like their address in case she ever had an extra dollar she could send in. she told me why she had the nose and antlers on- she got cold, she said, and the wind really bothered her. at first she had tried to wear a ski mask but she received angry or scared stares and people would walk away feeling worse. so then she found the clown nose and people started laughing when they saw her and they left with a smile on their faces. and the antlers? they just went with the nose.

jennifer was one of my favorite people to talk to. she always had something interesting to say. it might come off as a little wacky at first but then you'd be like, hey- they really should have a place where the homeless can stay in shape or, hydrogenated oils should be banned from all school campuses. 

our conversations would almost always come around to hydrogenated oils. she really schooled me on that subject. this was before the europeans banned them and before cheetos and lays and almost all junk chips (except fritos, which have always been the hippy staple of convenient stores) and cookies had 'partially hydrogenated oil' in the first three ingredients. i had a vague notion they were bad for me but didnt know why. she said that after she had cut them out of her diet for a while and then tried to eat them again she could feel her mind spacing out and having trouble concentrating, her heart rate quickening, and eventually a crash- like the experience to eating too much white sugar, which she was also lobbying against.

well, i stopped eating hydrogenated oils and when i tried them again i found that she was totally right. from that conversation i ended up developing a theory on my own high school depression- i think it was all the dang cheese nips and hot pockets and whoppers i ate.

jennifer believed all these things and she acted on them. she was at city council meetings voicing her opinions every week. she ran for mayor multiple times and she came close to being elected to the school board. and she was a freakin' transgendered person living on the street! 

what i liked the most about her, other than her willingness to speak her mind, was her wide- openness. she kept her sensitive heart open to the world and to everyone i saw her come into contact with. we can all learn from that.