Behind the Signs–Storyline Location

Many folks wonder, and some even outright ask, where did you and your friends stand or sit and fly your signs? The Behind the Signs storyline location is somewhat unique in the fact that it’s located at a major interchange at one of the main passages from Eastern to Western Oregon. The intersection also conveniently locates two busy shopping centers, including two supermarkets, fast food restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses.

Once we were disallowed on The Rock, (Behind the Signs—chapter 1), we began flying sign between the four lanes of the freeway as it ended at the intersection, joining Main Street and a major roadway to another well-traveled mountain pass. The interchange is pictured here:

 

 

Many days were spent standing or sitting at this location. Some of which were during sudden downpours or even snow which resulted in us becoming quite wet and cold, due to the fact that the closest shelter was three pedestrian signals and a parking lot away.

This is from Behind the Signs, Chapter 17, Flying the Freeway–introducing the location of a new era in flying sign:

 

As you can see, we always immediatly respected Johnny Law's requests, no matter how much we disagreed with them.

Until Next Time,
Kirk Toncray
WEBSITE



Unacceptable Acts

Why do some people feel that if they need something, they must take it without asking? I pondered this Thursday when someone burglarized the offices used by a local charity and other operations here in Springfield, Oregon—Soaring Hope Compassionate Ministries. Somehow, I just don’t get why a person would go to the extreme of stealing from a charity organization when giving is what-they-do.

A little about Soaring Hope (This is from their Facebook page): Soaring Hope is an outreach ministry offering hot meals, laundry facilities, a day room, and our support to those in need. More than all of that, we offer the Love of Jesus to all who come to us for assistance.

The thing that gets me the most is why target a charity, if for some asinine reason you are going to steal at all? These places give out donated food and other items on top of providing services for laundry and other things as well. If someone has a problem, I’m sure they have someone available to help that person through that problem, free of charge, no strings attached.

When I saw what had happened as it became visible on Facebook, I was outraged and so should you be. This action is not only unacceptable, it’s just downright wrong.

In conclusion, Kudos to the Springfield Police Department for doing such a fine job in finding the suspect(s) in such short time. Let it be known that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

Click HERE to visit Soaring Hope on Facebook and click 'Like' to show your support.

Until Next Time,
Kirk Toncray
WEBSITE

About Homelessness

Since I wrote Behind the Signs with the full intent to open 'closed' minds on the complicated issue of homeless persons - what put them there and what their previous lives were like - I have decided to not only include posts on this blog that pertain to the book, but to the title as well. Now that I am deeply involved in the emergency warming shelter for the homeless, I am learning even more in-depth information that pertains to these individuals. During two recent activations of the shelter, there was one individual that seemed to be a trouble-maker of sorts. The last activation became violent and needed to be de-fused before something really bad happened. I decided to go deeper into the issue of mental illness among homeless persons and I have found some interesting data:

Most homeless persons are men, but about 10 to 25% are women, of whom about half string children along with them. Significant mental illness pertains to about 30 to 35% of the homeless which includes, but not limited to: Functional Psychoses, Acute Distress, Personality Dysfunction, and Co-morbidity.

Co-morbidity - Smaller conditions that exist primarily due to a larger condition that sometimes results in self-medication. (This co-morbidity is what I was explaining in my book):

Behind the Signs - Chapter 42, A Way Out

There is much, much more to the old stereotypical view of the homeless than meets the eye. Those stereotypes only touch the surface - not reaching to the very root of the existing problem(s).

Until Next Time,
Kirk Toncray
WEBSITE

Another Small Excerpt.

Do you ever hear a song that puts you into some sort of a trance? Every now and then, I hear this song and it always reminds me of a man who I had met one day in front of McDonalds. He was sitting on 'The Rock' and I remember him speaking to me and what he said. To this day, everytime I hear Paint Me a Birmingham by Tray Lawrence, my mind drifts to John and that day on the rock. It's a touching song and it relates so  much to that man that it hits me quite hard. This picture is an excerpt from Behind the Signs, Chapter 16 (Book of John) page 120.

Until Next Time,

Kirk Toncray
PAINT ME A BIRMINGHAM

WEBSITE

Do you want to read a diary?

Have you ever wanted to read someone else’s diary? Here’s your chance. When I wrote Behind the Signs, I set out to write a book that is as much like a diary as possible and still keep the literary style in place. Only the dialog is mentioned word-for-word and that’s just the way it has to be. Parts of the story are quite redundant and this I do know. But please keep in mind that in order to draw you into the actual lifestyle of homeless individuals, I had to keep it that way. The editor agrees. If you want a fairytale, read Mary Poppins because Behind the Signs is not for you. If you want a real-life story, a diary of sorts, take the time, and place yourself far into the real world of homelessness and read deeply, not just the surface. You’ll not regret it. This is the type of feedback I am receiving regularly. People are saying they must stop reading and reflect for a moment before continuing. I guess maybe I should take my telephone number off my website but I’ll keep it there until it gets to be too much.

Until next time,
Kirk Toncray
WEBSITE

You Get What You Pay For

I have come to the conclusion that there are some things that just aren't worth skimping on. Well, I kinda knew that already; anyone who has read Behind the Signs knows that, but I always figured that if I paid the bare minimum for a website, who would know the better? Well, after having a 'freebie' website for neary four years, then finally evolving it into a paid site, purchasing my own domain name, I found it to be far more attractive. I didn't have that pesky website creator's name hanging onto the shirt tail of my site. Then, with a little help from Google Analytics, I discovered that I wasn't generating the traffic that I would like. I knew very little about how different search engines use different techniques. I thought that the more the site was visited, the higher the ranking, subsequently the higher up on the search engine the site would be. I also found out that recently, Google changed the way they rate websites and which order puts then towards the top on the search results. Knowing this, and still hesitant, I did some more research and found that if I want my site to be competetive with others, I'm just going to need to shell out some bucks and get the package one step above the one that I already had. That turned out to be the Gold package, which is also on the top of the list that the company I use has. It does make a difference, now my site's key words are more focused and will hit a broader audience than just my name or the name of my book.

Until next time,
Kirk Toncray
Click here for WEBSITE

Everything is Realitive

Some scientist, somewhere, sometime, somehow came  up with the term that everything is realitive. I'm not really sure what that person was talking about, (Science was never my forte'), but I think I can fill in some of the blanks on this one. Here's what I'm going to do. After I explain that for the last two nights, I have met and worked side-by-side with some of the most caring, giving, and intelligent individuals that anyone could ever work with. I'm talking about the awsome volunteers at the local shelter, which is provided for homeless persons when the temperatures dip into a dangerous level. It's called, The Egan Warming Center(s), here locally and it's not only necessary, it's heartwarming. So, I've decided to post an excerpt from my memoir, Behind the Signs, that has a portion of the actual warming center that Beth and I used during our days spent without a roof over our heads.

Here goes:

After taking the first morning yeller piss, I walked back and zipped the tent flap down before we walked over to get a cup of hot coffee. It was definitely a coffee morning, the steaming hot liquid felt excellent when it hit the back of my throat. After we sipped some coffee we grabbed the sign and headed out to the freeway. There wasn’t much traffic that morning; I figured most people stayed up late for the New Year celebration and then slept in. It didn’t matter much; within the first five cars that went by we got a “Happy New Year! Here you go!” yell from some guy who looked like he was still about half sloshed from the night before or he never quit all night long. Either way, he gave us a ten dollar bill. That put a smile on Beth’s face. We walked over to the mini-mart as usual but I stopped at the bus station and got a newspaper to read.

It was the Thursday paper and on the front page said something to the effect of Warming center open through weekend for the homeless. That caught my attention so I turned to section that contained the article and read it while walking through the parking lot.

The warming center was to take place at the Armory across town. The bus ride would be free to anyone in need and bus tokens would be given out upon exit for a return trip.

After Beth came out of the mini-mart, I filled here in on the details. She was a bit leery about the whole idea but I told her, “We might as well try it out; it’s worth a shot.”

We discussed it for a while and decided to give it a try. It had to be more comfortable than a tent, and it couldn’t be any worse than the mission. The newspaper said the center would be open form seven pm to seven am. Everyone must be ready to leave by seven o’clock. They were to have some kind of small meal during the evening for those who wanted it and a pastry and coffee or orange juice in the morning. Showers were provided although numbers were limited on how many would be able to use that benefit.

We flew sign for the rest of the day taking an occasional break then went over to camp to check things out before we left. Then we hopped on the bus at about five thirty and headed for the Armory. When we arrived we could not believe the turnout. Beth and I managed to acquire folding cots to sleep on but some were not so fortunate. Some people were forced to sleep in different rooms on the floor with nothing but a blanket. It was warm though, the temperature was supposed to drop into the low teens the next four nights. When a person is exposed to that kind of cold, it can lead to death very rapidly. In fact, one homeless person did lose his life that year from hypothermia because he couldn’t make it to the only warming center that was in operation.

I hope you enjoyed that little excerpt.
Until next time,
Kirk Toncray
Click here for my WEBSITE