Not just another pedicure

Last night I went to the Suitcase Clinic, a 10-year-old "clinic" run by UC Berkeley students for local homeless and low-income patrons. I'll be writing about it later in the week. There's about 45 students running 3 weekly clinics -- a general one, one for women, and one for teens -- that serve about 50 people each, helping them write resumes and find jobs, as well as getting them haircuts, free chiropractice sessions, medical evaluations, eye exams, and washing their feet. Yep, the students wash their feet. It's not a Christ thing, but a way to relax the clients and get them to talk; also, they spend a lot of time on their feet and don't have access to showers very often, so this is a real health issue. The students wash their feet and trim their toenails, then put on lotion and give them clean socks to wear.

It was a really powerful thing to watch these 20-something men and women on their knees carefully trimming the gnarliest toenails while cheerfully chatting with people. I felt like a big chicken, actually. Despite living in the 'hood and having spent time in psychiatric hospitals (just visiting), I still felt pretty anxious surrounded by homeless men, many of whom were mentally ill. Eventually, I started talking to people, and realized how much prejudice I have. In one of the discussion groups run by the students, I met several homeless people who were incredibly articulate and insightful into the nature of homelessness and what could be done about it. One of them, who was wearing white shorts over black sweatpants, used the word "milieu" completely unselfconsciously in a sentence.

After I'd been there a few hours and chatted with enough people, I felt brave enough to bring the camera out. Nobody wanted to have their picture taken, which I can understand, but they did understand that I needed photos of the students for the story, so a few let me take pictures of their backs or, in this case, feet. The sweatshirt the girl is wearing with Gandhi's famous "Be the change you want to see in the world" quote on it is official Suitcase Clinic garb I'd say they're doing a pretty good job of putting good intentions into action. It was balm for my cynical eyes.