Day: -7 The Dixon Years

The 30 St. Lawrence Street shelter was located at, well, 30 St. Lawrence Street. A little tidbit of information that would have made all the difference in my mad search for the place.

In its day, the shelter was like no other place I have known - before or since. It was, to paraphrase Dickens, "The best of places, and the worst of places". In retrospect though, it was an advanced degree in social work that I could not have received at any University.

After a most eventful first day, I would go on to spend 6 years with Dixon Hall, 4 years of that at the shelter.

The cast of 1000's who came through the double front doors would inspire me and terrify me, laugh with me and cry with me. It truly was a place where...

"We the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible.

We have done so much, for so long,with so little,

we are now fully qualified to do anything with nothing at all"

19 years have passed, and I doubt very much my ability to do a linear narrative of my time at 30 St. Lawrence. So, I am going to do a story a day of the place, jumping forward and back through time, until I have finished all the stories of that time and place.