It is with a heavy heart that I share the sad news that former homeless person turned homeless advocate and editor of Street Vibes, the Cincinnati newspaper written by homeless people, Jimmy Heath died on Thursday after a fight with liver disease.I am not exactly sure when I met Jimmy for the first time - I believe it was about four years ago - but I know that he and his amazing photographs left an indelible mark on my life. His story was a remarkable one of overcoming incredible odds, going from rabid alcoholic who wanted no more than to die in his sleep and thought drinking and drinking would help achieve that to accomplished photographer who showed his work around the globe.
He was also my neighbor, having lived near 14th & Republic streets, just literally two blocks from my home along Washington Park. We did not learn until two years ago - while I was interviewing him on Cincinnati Advance Radio, a show I hosted briefly on WAIF-FM - that we actually lived that close (that interview is still available online).
Jimmy, though he was not a close friend, was somebody I always admired. Besides just being a nice guy, his photography and passion about ending homelessness for an estimated 25,000 people annually in Cincinnati was so inspiring that he helped frame much of my thinking on both subjects. His photography alone, mostly of subjects in and around Over-the-Rhine, is just simply amazing.
Jimmy, in the Cincinnati Advance Radio interview, said of his Literacy through Photography project, directed out of his studio in the Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Over-the-Rhine, that he was surprised that kids in the urban Cincinnati neighborhoods were essentially no different than the kids he knew from the suburbs.
"There is no difference. They have the same hopes and aspirations. They want the same things," he said. "That's one of those things I still learn, just how similar they are."
Even though some of those kids learning photography lived in abject poverty often coupled with rough home lives, they would write about their photography and touch on issues on the ordinariness of their lives and the things that made them happy.
"They always talk about the flowers and the pets and their moms and their dads," he said in the interview.
That day we spoke on the radio, almost exactly two years ago to now, he also taught me about panhandling, easily one of the bigger issues about living in the inner city. It can be frustrating always being asked for money, often presumably lied to about what the money would be used for - a bus ride, getting food, fixing a flat tire so a baby can get home and eat - and then feeling bad that I was probably damned if I did and damned that I didn't give that person money. In other words, not wanting to contribute to a person's cycle of poverty and likely chemical addiction, but also not wanting them to be hungry or suffer alone from withdraw symptoms because, for whatever reason, they continued to abuse drugs and/or alcohol - or whatever their situation might be.
He simply told me to give if I wanted to and not if I did not want to. But either way know that it is a gift, one that leaves my hands with no strings attached. If I was worried that the person asking might spend the money I gave on drugs or alcohol or something else, I might as well give up. I had no control over that - I might even be correct in my assumption, but to instead give if I wanted out of the willingness to just give to a fellow human being. I could also maybe couple that with a conversation, if I had time, that might even lead to the person deciding to get help. I love that discussion and it helped me dramatically deal with the dilemma I am faced with regularly here in Over-the-Rhine. It actually helped me love this place even more than I already do.
There are also so many other reasons that cause homelessness, he said. It's not just chemical addiction, but the lack of a living wage in this country that also contributed to this problem, among other issues. He was a great advocate for the homeless and a tremendous spokesman for clearing up so much misinformation about their collective situations.
Check out Jimmy's work. It is still up on his Web site. It well no doubt help, if you did not know already, what an amazing person Jimmy Heath really was. We'll miss you, Jimmy.
Funeral arrangements have been finalized. Visitation will be 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 18) at Linneman Funeral Home, 40 W. 6th Street in Covington. Call (859) 727-1250 for more information. A Mass of Christian Burial is at noon Wednesday at Mother of God Church, 119 W. 6th Street in Covington. Call (859) 291-2288 for more information.