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One Step Away vendor, aspiring chef, Panic! at the disco fanatic, and now my new friend. Caydence 23, Iowa native who now resides in Philadelphia has allowed me to get a view of the everyday life of being homeless.
"after so long of people ignoring you, you start to feel invisible yourself" My partner Jayden came to Iowa and got me to take me to Philadelphia. My parents kicked me out when I was 18 because I am trans. Since the nearest homeless shelter in Iowa is 45 minutes away from me, I didn't have any way to get there. Philadelphia has better resources than in Iowa. "The community as a whole tries to push people out of the public's eyes" Do you think there's a stigma amongst homeless people? I think there is, I know when I was living on the street and selling the papers, people said, "You can't be homeless, you look too clean" but just because I kept myself clean doesn't mean that I'm not homeless. I want people to know that I continuously make an effort to change the view of homeless people, I go out looking decent, I don't look dirty. Not everybody who's homeless has to look homeless. "Just acknowledge somebody, you don't have to buy a newspaper from me but just acknowledge that I'm a human being that's talking to you." After the interview questions were over, we continued to have a talk about ourselves. We bonded over Spongebob, Tattoos, the art of food, our love for art. I'm an artist, I draw the comic in One Step Away(Newspaper). I used to carry a backpack full of art stuff. Even though it was heavy and a lot to carry, I always made sure that I had stuff that keeps me calm.
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