An interesting, featured image, created by Ms. Emily LaBranche inspires today's News Brief!
The artwork portrays a moon and the sun, plus two words. On the moon side it reads “clueless” and on the sun side it reads “sacrifice,” which made little sense until Doc’s daughter explained.
This month’s theme looks at the complexity of “how“
• Housing costs and wage gaps
• Mental health, addiction, and trauma
• Domestic violence and family breakdown
• Other systemic failures (foster care, incarceration, healthcare)
Thank you, Mr. Tell!
Peter Currier (28 Jan 2026) quotes congresswoman: “By securing federal funding so Community Teamwork could purchase this property, we ensured that this shelter remains a permanent, reliable resource for families with children who need a safe place to land while they work toward permanent housing,” said Trahan. “Community Teamwork’s efforts here are a model of how compassionate, community-based solutions can change lives.”
* Doc: “I will always remember climbing those marble stairs some fifty plus years ago!” They led to the top floor of Lowell’s Pollard Library. “CTI (Community Teamwork Inc.) introduced us!" I washed and they shined, for the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Earl Sharfman. He climbed them to work his creative ingenuity at the top level. He role-modeled creative educational paradigms and was an influencer for how the ARMOR Program came into existence. It contains a design that instills hope and inspiration while administering top level education for addiction remission. It's another novel strategy, similar to innovations Dr. Sharfman was renowned for implementing. Who is your role model?
* Time warps the Doc fast forward now, from age fifteen to age forty-one. He becomes a friend Bill W's, and a new social fabric is found in the Halls. It was time to put the plug in the jug, as they say. Well, it was also a time when efforts to close our then homeless shelter on Jackson St. were thwarted, by a different good friend from the Halls, Dennis Cunningham. He volunteered to help keep the facility running, as funding dried up. No money seems like an excellent excuse for closure, right? I think this is where the Sun's Sacrifice plays its role in my daughter's painting.
It was a tough fight for Mr. C., especially in the political arena those days, or the fighting ring of the late 90s. The atmosphere over our HADs was gloomy, similar to current-day views too. Stigma and disenfranchisement plaguing them remains the same. Now, she's still standing though; and our downtown shelter continues lifting souls. Thank you, my dear departed friend! Dennis, it seems your spirit still hovers about.
* A recent article noted by William Tell, our editor in chief, sparked the above marbled memories. After graduating from academia, in 2012, we encountered another set of marble stairs. These led up to our ARMOR Program's office, downtown Central St. New to the addiction remission socialites and political terrain, Diane C. invited us to delve in deeper. She offered us a table at her Methuen event. It spotlighted overdoses, hope, and those recovered. Most impressive was the sound of integrity in Ms. Lori Trehan’s words, a guest speaker during Diane's gathering. They inspired empathy, an inciteful rally cry around the then sprouting opioid crisis. Now, today, it's in full bloom and strangely producing zombie fruit. They are not hopeless as they band together though, I assure you! Thank you, Ms. Lori, for being you! It is those individuals without their children, that we focus on most here. We believe children require parental affirmation for healthy growth, let's pool resources and let the Moon guide our lost souls.
“The story of the sun and moon represents a tragic, selfless love where the sun sacrifices itself nightly, dying to let the moon breathe and rule the night sky. They are destined never to be together, with the sun bringing joy by day and the moon guiding lost souls at night.” (my daughter’s quoted text message).
How people end up unhoused
Let’s dialogue about it, brainstorming in search of resolve. The four areas of interest are listed above, as Bill is coaching us to get moving along, more content, like weekly even. And like Ms. Lori mentioned, “permanent, reliable resource,” and guess what, it’s not money. Doc believes it’s Sacrifice, like the sun, your presence in their lives is our resolve, Affirmation. Of course, the congresswoman was referring to housing family systems, which steps in the right direction, from our outreach perspective anyway. Her presence in our community is powerful medicine.
More words of integrity:
I knew a man who cast a very large shadow,
and yet it never blocked the light from within him.
He did not hide from the sun, or from anyone.
When he shared his time, he was totally present.
Don’t let the shadows of your past cripple you.
Let the light shine on your new day.
Resist the temptation to crawl back in a hole.
You have the power to be in control.
Stay sober but not somber.
I want so, to call up my friend.
I want to call him on this, his birthday day.
To call him on his birthday, as I had done for so many years.
I want to hear his warm, welcoming voice again.
When younger, in our twenties, we had meets twice a week.
As time went on, he moved beyond our weekly greets.
A year could pass without a word between us.
And then his voice on the phone, as if he’d never left my home.
We’d speak of things that, that year we had witnessed.
Conversations about religion and politics were fair game.
He hung to the starboard side; I floated in the hippie port.
Passionate about our differing views, but never contentious.
This friend of mine taught me many things.
He saw the good in hostile souls, that I couldn’t see.
Always in good humor and always good at humor.
This friend taught me to be humbler and kinder.
I am wondering now, how was all of this possible?
My answer is a simple one.
It was a gift, the gift of Glenn.
I miss you, my friend.
Gone too soon, but not to be forgotten.
thank you, Author Ebner!