James Abro

How Caucasian Became My Preferred Pronoun I felt inspired to write this while residing at one of NYC’s most exclusive addresses. I'm wondering if any one ​who feel​s​ they know NYC will recognize it. It's called Delta Manor, and its located at on…

THE NIGHT I FELL IN LOVE WTH MY AMBULANCE DRIVER Well, it’s difficult to know where to start a story with a title like that. It takes an entire lifetime of random events in order to culminate in something so farcical, but I don’t think I can tell my…

. No Shit – An Artist May Have Saved My Life. Nearly a half-dozen years ago, I found myself without a place to live and no money. But when I went to Social Services, I was told that not having a home or any financial resources does not make you…

Book Launch Event At Ivy House Studio, Bushwick, New York 8/25/324

In August, Ivy House Studio hosted a book launch for my just published memoir. Writing My American Life: From Uprisings to Civil War. When asked, I tell people that I believe we are now on the verge of another Civil War in America because we didn’t…

Question 1 - Tell us about YOUR New York Times Square and the Theater District have been home to me since the 1980s. At that time, the district’s economy was dominated by adult entertainment People my age who were being lured into this fast money…

Before the beginning of the pandemicI found myself living outside the norms of regular society. Partly by choice and partly from a feeling of being overwhelmed by bullshit -- my own and that of others. To many of my friends, and what was left of my…

On Memorial Day weekend, I am reminded that four years ago I was living in a hotel\shelter in Brooklyn. It was a two-person room with it’s own bathroom. a luxury compared to the usual congregate housing with a dozen or more beds, sharing one…

Don't get so overwhelmed by the enormity of your situation that you fail to pay attention to the small ways that Life or God is trying to help you out. It seemed... to me that being homeless was now a part of the American experience. The question to…

Because I have experienced homelessness and also work with others who have, as well as with private and public agencies that offer services to the poor and homeless, I would like to offer a broad and general perspective on what I think are the…

In December 2018 Common Dreams published an article by me called: Bergan County Ended Homelessness, So Can Every Other Community. I covered the story while staying in a homeless shelter in Newark, N.J.Two days later I took a train into NYC to meet…

Two quotations come to mind immediately when I ponder this topic:“There is a Divinity that shapes our ends; roughhew them as we will.” William Shakespeare, Hamlet. “The Universe is made up of Stories, not Atoms.” Muriel Rukeyser, poet. Why? Because…

Editor’s note: CHN guest blogger James Abro is the author of six novels and three books including, most recently, Facing Homelessness. A lifelong social activist, Abro started Advocate for Economic Fairness! in order to give voice to those working…

This guest post is written by James Abro. James is the author of six novels and three books including, most recently, Facing Homelessness. A lifelong social activist, Abro started Advocate for Economic Fairness! in order to give voice to those…