By Daria Sokolova
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| Carlos Marcado counts the remaining magazines |
Every morning, a man with the deep brown
eyes and a stack of magazines in his hands stands on the corner of Adams and
Wells Street. His deep, husky voice greets the rushing office-goers and floats
above the financial district of Chicago where he sells StreetWise magazine
every day. Carlos Marcado is one of 200 active StreetWise vendors
predominantly scattered around downtown and North Side of Chicago who sell the
magazine daily. Like most of his co-workers, Marcado used to be at risk of homelessness
and struggled to make enough money to cover the necessities but found help at
StreetWise, a social service organization that provides its vendors with
employment, housing stability and financial assistance.
Born in Bronx, N.Y., Marcado
is now 56. He wears a big clock on his chest and a warm smile on his
face. "I'm a hustler," says he referring to his long history of
street gigs. Marcado says he used to work as a
delivery driver for the Chicago Tribune before he took on odd jobs and
then started selling the Chicago Sun-Times in 1998. After
quitting the job at Sun-Times he says he ended up in Wilson Men's Hotel in the
city's North Side Uptown where he learned about StreetWise from one of the
tenants.
Marcado's career at StreetWise started in May 2013, says Gregory
Pritchett, director of distribution at StreetWise who gave Marcado the first
bunch of free StreetWise magazines to sell on his first day.
Marcado says he now has to
"present himself as a salesman". A clean shaven man in new Nike
shoes, he carries a backpack full of latest StreetWise issues and a light snack
that he eats on his 9 a.m. break after the foot traffic around the congested
corner slows down. "A lot of people ask me: 'Are you homeless?'"
I say 'no'. And they wonder: ' I thought you have to be homeless to sell the
paper [StreetWise].''
He compares StreetWise to the
movie "The Natural" that is based on Bernard Malamud's novel about
Roy Hobbs, a farm boy who aspired to become a prominent baseball player.
"This is something like this," Marcado says. "As soon as you
touch it -- it changes your life.”
According to the Executive
Director James LoBianco, StreetWise is a social service organization that
focuses on three main areas of service provision that include workforce
development, housing stability and financial literacy. LoBianco says the
average length of time for a participant in StreetWise magazine vendor program
is between nine months and three years. But for Marcado StreetWise is a whole
new career.
"This is it for me,” he
says. "I get tired when I get on a bus. I just want to go to sleep and go
to work in the morning. I can do this for the rest of my life as long as
I can stay here."
With StreetWise, Marcado sees
another chance in life. He proudly displays his badge number 9551 - a legal
proof of employment every StreetWise vendor gets after they go through an
orientation. "He is a very hard worker,"
says Pritchett, who also used to be homeless and started at StreetWise as a
vendor. "I've been very impressed by how he has been consistent with
this."
"We have active sellers,
good standing [sellers] and superstars," he explains. "Where I put
Carlos is good standing. And that's pretty good being his first year."
Marcado says he has already
built a stable clientele for the last three months he has been working for
StreetWise, the oldest operating street paper in North America, according to
LoBianco.
A few blocks away, Susan
Fisher, another StreetWise vendor, sells the magazine in front of the Union
Station. "StreetWise, StreetWise! Have a nice day and a safe trip
home guys!" she screams her selling slogan every 10 seconds, hoping to
sell the publication to one of the commuters.
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| Carlos Marcado interacts with a customer |
"It's all about
patience," says Fisher who has been selling StreetWise for the last 20
years. "You've got to build up your little corner and start having regular
customers and it will pay off in the end."
Among them is Susan Lersch, a
Chicago resident who has been buying StreetWise since it was a black-and-white
newspaper. "I buy StreetWise because it's a good vehicle to keep
Chicagoans informed about the challenges of homelessness in our city," she
says. "It's a great alternative to begging in the street that allows the
vendor and the customer to feel that there is respect given and value
offered."
But StreetWise vendors can
also aggravate some. Marcado says, his loud voice has already annoyed people on
the upper floors of the nearby office building. "I was told that I'm
so loud, even up to the 10th floor they can hear [me]," he says laughing.
"They told me to pipe down and be quiet. I got an email from them on the
third floor."
Marcado says his voice
sometimes gets stucky and harsh from being on the street and yelling out one
single word for 12 hours a day. He calls his unfurnished South Chicago
apartment a "nice shack" and says he wants to move to Lakeview, away
from the cruddy old place, as the job at StreetWise made him more hopeful for
his future. Brand-new clothes, furniture and a new apartment are some of
his main aspirations.
Marcado's shift starts at 6
a.m., when he gets to the corner of Walgreens and Starbucks -- a golden-type
location that has high foot traffic according to Pritchett who monitors on-duty
StreetWise vendors as a part of his job. As Marcado stands on the corner
in the middle of a recent afternoon, a slouchy man in a worn-out leather jacket
stops by and starts leaning toward Marcado.
"You have got 50
cents?" he asks in a hoarse voice.
"No," Marcado says.
"Just 50 cents!"
begs the man, protruding the dry hand.
"Just 50 cents? That's
what we have got to do for living. We have got to spend 50 cents," murmurs
Marcado, as he starts fishing for change in his pocket.
"Here," he gives a
man a bunch of coins.
"Thank you, I will see
you later!"
"You have got to deal
with it all the time," he says as the man's silhouette dissolves in a
mosaic-like mass of passers-by.
"StreetWise helps guys
out, but those who are really sick like him -- you can't help him out. It takes
wanting to change," Marcado says.
"I get people who tell
me how much they are going to do and how well they are going to do," says
Pritchett. "I listen to them, but I'm more about the actions and Marcado
has definitely excelled."
"We are own boss, we buy
the paper for 90 cents and sell it for $2. We make a $1.10 out of it,"
Marcado explains.
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| Carlos Marcado waits for new customers |
A high-risk asthmatic,
Marcado says he has been receiving disability checks since 1995. And while the
government checks he says he receives provide some support, he says they still
don't cover his clothing and food. Although the job at StreetWise allowed
him to buy much-needed basics and put some money aside, Marcado still lives in
fear of becoming homeless as he heavily relies on the disability money that
covers most of his rent, he says.
"I can become homeless
any time but I've got the experience," he says. When I was 21 in '79, I
started taking care of horses and it was good. I was just partying all the
time, just drinking. Trying to win races and that was it.
"When you go through it
[homelessness] the first time -- you are scared. It's like the whole world
ended on you," he recalls.
But after being on the
streets a few times, Marcado says he gave up drinking and smoking marijuana.
And his StreetWise badge helps to keep the police away.
"I've been arrested
twice because I was in the middle of street," says Marcado, recalling the
times when he says he was charged for disorderly conduct while selling the
Chicago Sun-Times. Marcado says the progress at work has already
allowed him to start making some investments.
"I bought insurance for
myself for burial," he says. "I'm paying $50 a month. My asthma is
under control when I'm on medication but I've been in a coma many times and it
can happen again. I can go out and may not wake up.”
Recently, as it nears 6
o'clock, Marcado starts wrapping up. He puts his backpack on, counts the
profits and casts a last glance on the street. It’s now more quiet but still
bursting with intermittent sounds of the rattling CTA train and panhandlers
shaking up change in plastic cups.
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| Carlos Marcado, StreetWise vendor |
Like many of StreetWise
vendors, Marcado has been through the hardships and homelessness but was able
to pull himself by the bootstraps and start a new chapter in his life with the
help of StreetWise. As Pritchett says Marcado is now developing a weekend
location in Greek Town and Wicker Park.
"Today is Friday, I've
got to watch my "Shark Tank", Marcado says. "I love that show
because they are self-men -- I'm a self-man. They want to make money -- I'm
like that too. I learn from them."