Kat has moved around a lot. She was born in California and traveled from there to New York, Medford, New Orleans and back again to Portland.
She’s always loved doing hair and makeup professionally.
“I used to own a shop with a friend of mine in Medford,” she said. “After I first came here to Portland, I did hair for five or six years, then I moved to New York and lived in Queens. I worked in a place called the Beehive. It was fantastic, a great place to work.”
But New York was a hard place for Kat.
“The people all seemed really sad to me. Everybody worked so hard to keep a roof over their heads, and they were miserable, tired, worn out and scared. Portland is getting like that,” she said.
Kat moved to New Orleans and fell in love with the vibrant culture.
“It has the best people, the best food,” she said. “I ended up bartending and waitressing and cutting hair at a place that was $5 a haircut. It was a fun job.”
Kat moved back to Oregon because she thought she’d found the love of her life. The relationship didn’t work out, but she did come away with a treasure, her 6-year old daughter, Olive.
“Once I had Olive, I stopped moving around so much. She lives with my parents right now in Oregon City. I want her with me, but I greatly appreciate that she is safe and happy and goes to a good school and is loved by everyone,” she said.
Kat recently lost her job at Fred Meyer; she worked the graveyard shift, stocking shelves. It turned out to be a seasonal hiring, which she hadn’t realized.
“One day I walked in and I just wasn’t on the schedule; I had no hours,” she said. “They just kept hiring new people. They would only give people eight hours a week. I told them I would lose my apartment if I couldn’t have more hours.”
Kat did lose her apartment. Now, she lives in a tent on the southeast side.
“It sucks,” she said. “I don’t think anybody who is outside really wants to be outside, and if it’s raining out, you are wet. I hate being constantly wet. There’s no release and no comfort.”
Kat knows she has burned bridges and created difficult situations in her past.
“I put my parents through a lot. I went through a treatment program for six months, and I signed guardianship over to them; I didn’t know I was doing that,” she said. Kat went to court to get visitation. “My mom lets me see her on Sundays. I was calling Olive every single night, but my phone got stolen. My mom is my ally, but she can only do so much.”
Relations are strained between Kat and her family, but she has a message for them.
“No, you will never forget the things I’ve done and you don’t have to necessarily forgive me either. I take responsibility for what I’ve done. I caused a mess, but I don’t hold onto it. When people are ready to move forward, I’d love to communicate again,” she said.
Kat is working on saving money to renew her hair license.
“My path to getting an apartment and getting my daughter back is getting my hair license back. It’s what I have to do,” she said. “It’s hard sometimes, though. The other day after selling papers at Whole Foods, I felt a lot on me and didn’t have my bearings straight, and I went into the bathroom and started crying, and a lady heard me and asked me if I was OK. She was like, ‘Can I pray for you?’ And she sat next to me and prayed for me, and it was really nice. There are people who care and will help out. That’s what makes it worth it.”
Kat loves selling Street Roots.
“It reminds me of cutting hair. I enjoy bonding with people and communicating. One of the worst things about being homeless is being lonely,” she said. “Street Roots is the only thing keeping me alive right now. If I can sell 10 to 15 papers, I feel like I’m doing well. It’s the only way I have to make money right now, and it’s a plain fact that you need money to survive.”
Kat sells at Whole Foods on Northwest Couch Street and sometimes outside the Safeway on Southwest 10th Avenue and Jefferson Street.
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