As Juli Morser and I bring “On the Verge” to a close, I want to share some impressions about our experience. It all started one day at Kelly Chevalier’s spin class, when a fellow cyclist told me about a book I had to read, a riches-to-rags memoir by a homeless man in Bremerton. She handed me her copy before I could fabricate a reason to refuse.
Carlos Hernandez and his wife Maritza welcome me into their home and introduce their daughters. Only their son, Carlos Jr., 11, is not there. The conversation jumps back and forth between English and Spanish, with Cindi, 18, and Daisy, 16, speaking both languages flawlessly.
I first met Michele and Johnnie Pratt at Vashon Thriftway, when we were all volunteering for a food drive, then again at the “O” Space where they now work part-time as the Space Genies. We reconnected at the Vashon Maury Community Food Bank, where they shop to make ends meet, and again at Welcome Vashon’s We All Belong event, where Michele offered to spearhead an alternative currency exchange.
Janet Welt and I met at the Red Bike, on a rare sunny afternoon, and talked about how living on the verge has played out in her life. At 49, she considers herself a bridge builder and self-starter as well as “a doer and a mover.” Yet, as she describes it, “Once you get that Scarlet H on your chest, all your credibility is gone.”
