Guest Blog- J. Segal-Stormont- Watering the Cactus and more

by | Nov 28, 2025 | Writing

GUEST BLOGGER

I am pleased to have Jana Segal-Stormont as a guest blogger this Thanksgiving holiday. Her work and passionate caring about our earth and the people who inhabit this magnificent planet is inspiring. This particular story is about the connections made with unhoused campers in doing what we can- one person, one day at a time, The days add up. It can work. 

EXCERPTS FROM “STORIES IN THE WASH”

With link to the full story below 


“We live an a little midtown, middle class neighborhood with cute brick houses that were built in the late forties. It boasts a small park that closes at 8:00 pm. The Arcadia Wash runs through the heart of the neighborhood. If you walk along the arroyo you will get glimpses of the stories of people who have lived there: clothes, bedding, and trash. Like many Tucson neighborhoods, we have our share of unhoused people. I’ve lived here for 30 years. Raised my boys here. Never really saw a problem with the unhoused until I became president of our new neighborhood association and listened to neighbors’ concerns.
One concern was the trash build up from the campers in the wash. We responded by adopting the stretch from Fairmount to Speedway. At our first wash clean up 35 people picked up 80 bags of trash. My husband took load after load of trash to the pick up spot with the help of a young man living by the wash.
Our community officers met to draft a response to the city’s new wash camping ordinance. Each participant was given a chance to share their stories about the unhoused. Two hadn’t had much contact, but expressed that they wouldn’t feel safe with them near their own homes.
Zoraida, the administrator of Desert Sky Community School, shared some personal stories about dealing with unhoused loved ones. Her stories really hit home. On my walks, I’d met people who lost their homes and were still living in their old stomping grounds. They are our neighbors.
Then I shared my story… One morning I discovered a young man sleeping just outside my garden with his coat over his head. Feeling pressure from my next-door neighbor (who had planted prickly pear to block the unhoused from the easement), I asked the young man if he was planning to camp there. He replied, “No. I’ll be moving along.” He refused the water I offered and left. Later, a Facebook friend suggested that he may have just aged out of the foster care program and had no place to go. I still feel bad about not offering him more help. What if it was my child? “

FOUR MEETINGS

Jana’s story continues – 4 meetings with some of the unhoused campers.
Excerpt- 4th Meeting

Fourth meeting

 

“Tuesday morning I went back to make sure that they (unhoused campers) were treated Ok while being evicted. There was no sign of the police yet. …Brennan’s wife Elizabeth gave me a tour of their area.

 

I took in the little details that made it a home – a dog dish, water bottles, a bird house hanging near the tree that shaded their tent, a scavenged teapot lamp that Brennan had brought her for a gift. Brennan was busy planting seeds along an area that he had raked up and lined with rocks. I asked him why he was doing that when he was being removed that day. He said he likes to leave an area better than when he came. Yes, it was their home.”

 

Reflecting on all the stories I have mixed feelings. I want the criminal activity out of our neighborhood. But it’s complicated. Not all unhoused are criminals. They all have their own stories. My husband and I started the neighborhood association to build community and to look out for each other. But what constitutes a community? What if we tried to form a real relationship with the campers? Could we find a way to live safely together?

MOVED TO ACTION

Jana’s story is honest, unsettling, and yet holds strong hope for the future of people helping each other in spite of fear, mistrust, and apathy. It’s a long haul journey. I applaud her perservance and moving crafting of her experience. Her words echo in my mind as I make my list of holidays gifts and add names of resources to help the unhoused and “invisible.” 

READ FULL STORY HERE:  Sustainable Living Tucson 
Resources
Please share any viable resources that help our communities in the Contact/comments.

Ethel Lee-Miller blogs regularly about people, the power of words, and her writing life. She retired after 30 years of teaching, and semi-retired from coaching, and professional editing. Founder of the Eastside Tucson Writing Room based in Tucson AZ, she’s posted 100s of blogs, and is the author of Thinking of Miller Place, and Seedlings, Stories of Relationships. These days she writes to inspire, to connect with folks, teaching about the power of words, gather writers together, and for the pure enjoyment of it. Ethel enjoys teaching, speaking, and storytelling at Odyssey Storytelling, Artists Standing Strong Together, Tucson Tellers of  Tales Center for Spiritual Living Tucson, her latest endeavor New Story Pod, and anywhere there’s a mic or a Zoom room.