HeyJaredThe New American Diaspora
Observations from Oregon on homelessness and checking out of American life
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 15
- Latest publication
- Sep 28, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest issues
Fried Chicken at Dawn (opens the original)
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A homeless man eats convenience store fried chicken at dawn from a bench overlooking Coos Bay.A homeless man discovers a container of convenience store fried chicken at dawn on a sidewalk,examines it,sits down on a curb, eats.A homeless woman carries a drumstick of convenience store fried chicken at dawn in her right hand.Another drumstick protrudes from a back pocket like a colored comb from the 70s.Remember when men and women wore them in the back pockets of their flared jeans and never used t
Requiem for a Little League Ball Park (opens the original)
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Along Libby Lane past the oyster farms,before the massacre of trees,adjacent to the dried-up cranberry bog,a Little League ball park rests in peace,abandoned a decade or two ago,now dead, not interred,just delaminating, decomposing in wind and rain.No trespassing signs on property no one ownsbut used to belong to the community.Everything still there.A derelict museum ofbleachers, lights, covered dugouts, bullpens, home run fence,foul poles, 220 feet down the lines, 250 feet to center,PA booth, e
Corduroy Compliment (opens the original)
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I’d just scored a $1 Western at the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Coos Bay. I was heading toward the natural foods co-op’s free street library to peruse the offerings. I had two of my published books to donate. Why do I derive such joy giving them away to perfect strangers?The cupboard was bare. I began walking to the car when a bearded homeless man in his 40s or 50s clad in red rapper clothing from the 90s, replete with a big gold chain, came up to me. He had a nice smile. No sign of being add
Two Consecutive Mornings (opens the original)
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Fog. A Sherlock Holmes pea souper.5:53 in the morning,homeless woman with shaved head,wearing striped pajamas, barefooted,pirouettes in the parking lot of a grocery storedancing in gray, suffused by a cloud,lit up by blunted spotlights,She’s singing while pirouetting,some unintelligible tune,perhaps a nursery rhymeor “All Star” by Smashmouth.She took a ballet class, clearly.Someone taught her ballet long ago,or maybe she learned on YouTube a week ago in her tent.Next morning at 5:59she rings an
Kelly the Boat Ramp Park Host (opens the original)
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“If I can establish relationships with homeless people, they might respond to the work I’m doing and help keep it clean.”So said Kelly, the new park host at the Empire Boat Ramp, who lives on site in her RV with a dog and three cats. We met not too long ago and I was struck by her attitude and efforts in connection to homelessness in Coos Bay.Kelly has served as park host for several months. Her predecessor did practically nothing that I ever observed except for wandering around drunk or hungove
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