Kevin writes in his blog lately about being sick and how challenging it can be to spend time with others while you're coughing. If you've been around me in the last two weeks, you know that I can relate to this.
He also writes about what it's like to live a life with limited choices... or maybe finding the path to choice again.
Here's a exceprt from a piece about Kevin from USAToday.com (from 2003). I do hope you'll take a few moments to visit his blog, and maybe consider donating a few dollars to his cough medicine fund via PayPal. :-)
It's just after 9 a.m., and most of the computers at the Nashville Public Library downtown are occupied, as usual, by the homeless. They're a ragged group in knit caps and ratty coats, hunched over their keyboards. Most spent the night at the shelter a mile down the road, or shivering in camps just outside of town. Now they're pointing and clicking their way through cyberspace.
Kevin Barbieux, 41, a mild-mannered veteran of the streets, slides into his seat and pecks out the address to his Web site.
Five months ago, Barbieux, started a Web log about his life. His goals for the "blog" were modest. Mainly, he wanted to show people a different side to homelessness.
But a strange thing happened. Barbieux's site took off. What started as a few dozen hits a day grew to a few hundred a day, then a few thousand. At last count, more than 195,000 people from around the world have visited, and the number continues to grow.
Barbieux is now trying to get his life together. He wants to get off the streets for good.
Trouble is, he's not sure if he can leave that life behind.Shy and professorial, Barbieux doesn't look homeless. He dresses neatly — usually in jeans, an oversize golf shirt and a heavy coat — and keeps his graying beard trimmed. He ambles around town in a new pair of $10 boots from Wal-Mart. He almost never drinks.
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