You Know Me Now

There were 310 homeless deaths in 2022 in the Seattle area. A 65% increase over the previous year. Fentanyl-related overdoses accounted for more than half of those deaths. Thirty-five people died from natural causes, ten people died from hypothermia or exposure, and seven died from suicide. The average age of death was 48. Those are all tragically horrible numbers. It’s hard to get your head aroun...

When I was a kid growing up, nobody talked about mental illness. At least openly that is. There were the hushed talks about so-and-so’s mom losing it and having to be committed to a psych-ward. Being taken away, put in a hospital somewhere. Or a friend’s Uncle who ‘went off the deep end’, now getting help with his break-down, whatever that meant. As a kid, it was all a mystery. Back then, if you o...

On this episode we have a conversation about people and their pets living homeless. I want to begin with what I think is a truism. And that is, “We all have issues.” For some, the issues are small and containable, while for others, the issues are big and overwhelming. Truth is though, we all struggle with something, or, somethings. The problem with the bigger personal issues, is tha...

We have the sincere pleasure of sharing with you a conversation I had with my dear friend Sinan Demirel. We talked about the issue of homelessness, first from a historical perspective, to better understand how we got to this crisis point, and then a bit about solutions needed from the community and our government.  Join in on the conversation on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/g...

We want to begin this episode by asking a big question.  With all the suffering, all the helplessness and fear felt, as expressed by Dene and others living on our streets, why have we not ended homelessness?   Beyond what the solution needs to be, whatever combination of more housing, more mental health, more drug rehab, more job training, and whatever else ‘more’ is needed, why haven’t...

In this episode of You Know Me Now we’ll be discussing the controversial government policy of sweeps.  If you are not familiar with the term, a sweep is the forced disbanding of a homeless encampment on public property.  The act of sweeping is typically performed by a combination of police, tow trucks, dumpster trucks, and any other needed government agency to accomplish the task. For ex...

In this episode we meet Auntie who poses a question. A question really for all of us, which is, “If you are judging my life, tell me what you have done with yours?” She goes on to say, there are probably a lot of your actions that you don’t think are wrong, but to her and to others, maybe they are. I don’t think Auntie is just saying defensively, “Judging her is like the tea kettle calling the pot...

Drug addiction.  As vast and complex as this topic is, chances are you already have strong opinions based on past experiences. Perhaps you’ve had a bicycle stolen and you’re sure it was taken by someone addicted, looking to sell it for their next fix. You negatively refer to that unknown person as a “junkie”. It becomes your opinion of the drug issue.  Perhaps your sister overdosed...

What does becoming a friend with someone experiencing homelessness look like? Getting to know and becoming friends with anyone, you begin to care about that person, about their well being. When your friend is struggling it pulls at you, you want to help. That’s what friends do. Often in these moments, the problem isn’t the ‘wanting to help’, it is in the ‘how to help’. That’s the very moment it ge...

Meet Courtney. A mother of three who has survived homelessness on Seattle streets. “When we first came to Seattle it was so freeing, so comfortable. It all felt right. I remember closing my eyes and breathing in the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, feeling happy. A sense of belonging filled me. Best of all we didn’t feel judged. People were saying, “No worries”. - Courtney We hope you join in on t...

You Know Me Now is a Seattle based podcast, storytelling and journalism project giving voice to those marginalized in our community. From these life stories we hope to spark conversation and connection. We are doing this with the sole purpose of bringing us all closer together so that we can better address the issues that divide us. When we listen to those living different lives or views from our...