I only lasted five hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t think my adventure would be easy, but I wholeheartedly believed I would last throughout the night and into the morning. Technically, I did make it until morning \u2026 2:05 a.m. to be exact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the brisk evening of Feb. 28, at 9 p.m., I set up camp in my backyard with the intention of spending 12 hours outdoors. The effort was to bring attention to the plight of homelessness in America and in Minnesota. It wasn\u2019t a part of an organized event or movement, just one person\u2019s attempt to shed light on the subject. Off and on, I\u2019d been talking about doing it for years. For me, the issue is personal. Finally, I mustered up the grit to do it. I just didn\u2019t have the grit to complete the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t have the grit or the proper insulation on my feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had been checking the weather forecast for days and initially, I was going to spend the night outside on Saturday into Sunday morning, but the weather pattern was set to break and there was a significant warm-up starting Saturday. I didn\u2019t want to wait \u2018til it was \u201cwarm\u201d to spend the evening outdoors. For the 40,000-plus Minnesotans who experience homelessness within a year \u2013 up to 15,000 on a given night \u2013 they don\u2019t get to pick and choose what days are best to be out on the streets. Friday evening\u2019s forecast called for temps to dip into to mid-teens. With the windchill, it touched the single digits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love to grill and I\u2019m a cigar smoker and I don\u2019t smoke in the house. Often I\u2019m outside in less than desirable temperatures plying my craft on the grill or enjoying a cigar and whiskey. To stave off cold I layer up and stay stocked on wood to burn. At the start of this winter\u2019s season I added a propane heater to my arsenal. I figured I\u2019d hardened enough and had the accessories to brave a full 12 hours outside. In many ways I was right. In many, many ways I was dead wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2013 (the most recent year I could find such a statistic), according to a Star Tribune<\/em> article, there were 26 exposure related deaths in the state. I\u2019m sure most believed they could make it through the night. Unfortunately, many had been making it through the night for night upon night until the one night they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the day I was mentally readying myself for the adventure. When the time came I put on a pair of thermal underwear, a pair of winter socks with another pair over them. Over the socks and thermals, I put on sweatpants. For my upper body I had a shirt, hoodie, and a jacket. I took another heavier coat but didn\u2019t put it on until I felt necessary. On my head I had a do-rag and knit cap. I had two pairs of gloves; one knit and one of the more weatherproof material. I brought with me a blanket that had been plenty warm for previous outings and I set-up a hammock in which to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I packed a grocery bag of \u201cessentials\u201d \u2013 water, chips, Advil, eye drops, a Snickers bar, a couple of pouches of almonds, a lighter, three fire starters, a portable speaker to pair with my phone, a cigar, a Coke and a flask of Jack Daniel\u2019s. Like I said, the essentials. I knew I was in for a long night and I wanted to be as comfortable as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost immediately I was regretting my decision to choose the colder night. Though not overly windy, the wind was enough to bring a different type chill to the air and the fire I started was constantly blowing smoke in my face and eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I placed my coat and blanket in the hammock to keep \u201cwarm\u201d and to save for when I could no longer bear the temperatures. For the first hour I was doing OK. The warmth of the fire and the Jack provided temporary relief, but I couldn\u2019t find a way to get my feet to warm. I tried putting them under the firepit; on the firepit, but it wasn\u2019t helping. I was going to go walking in an attempt to bring warmth, but I got an alert on my Citizen app that cops were in the area looking for a suspect who had just assaulted someone so I thought better of venturing out in my hoodie and do-rag and cap. Instead I sat near the fire and listened to music. I knew I needed to stay hydrated so I was drinking water intermittently between Jack and Coke, but with hydration came another problem. I had to relieve myself \u2026 often. I found one of my dog\u2019s favorite trees and, well \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n To offer an idea as to how cold it was, within an hour my water and Coke had both begun to freeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By midnight my girlfriend came outside to check on me and brought me a cup of hot tea. That was the best tea I had ever had. The warmth from the mug and the gesture itself provided enough comfort to continue on. But, of course with the tea came, once again, the need for relief. I wore a serious path from the fire to the tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While my feet were freezing, I was doing OK otherwise. I had pulled up the hood on my hoodie and put on the extra coat, which by the way, was ice cold. I figured if I got in the hammock I could take my feet off the ground and that would provide a bit of relief. It didn\u2019t. My girlfriend had brought another blanket out and I decided it was best used as a hammock liner because the hammock itself was cold. So I\u2019m wrapped in the hammock \u2013 a blanket on bottom, a blanket on top \u2013 with two coats, a hoodie, sweats thermal underwear, two pairs of socks, shoes, a firepit burning and an outdoor heater lit and I am freezing \u2026 literally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Homelessness is something for which no one plans. The contributing factors can be many. The lack of affordable housing is one. According to Rent Caf\u00e9, the average rent in Minneapolis is $1,594 a month and $1,301 a month in St. Paul. In Minneapolis only 1 percent of units rent for less than $700 a month and 16 percent between $701 \u2013 $1,000. In St. Paul \u201caffordable\u201d housing in a bit more abundant with 2 percent of units at $700 a month or less and 28 percent between $701 \u2013 $1,000. But what\u2019s affordable to some is far from for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the median yearly household income in the state was an admirable $70,315 in 2018, for Black households in Minnesota the median income in was $38,000 according to the U.S. Census. Certainly, poverty is not ethnically exclusive, but it is disproportionate. It is also shameful considering we call ourselves a so-called civilized society. Ask the 355,000-plus whites Minnesotans if poverty discriminates and they will tell you no. But ask the 100,400-plus Black Minnesotans living in poverty and they will almost certainly tell you discrimination is a contributing factor to their economic condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is 1:30 a.m. and am trying to get warm. I\u2019m in the hammock but I don\u2019t want to go to sleep. I\u2019m afraid if I go to sleep I\u2019ll freeze to death. Besides, sleep is hard to come by when there\u2019s rustling in the alley and the occasional siren going off. I tried to position my sleeping quarters as close to the fire as possible without coming in contact with the flames. By this time my feet are numb and I can\u2019t take it anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defeated, at 2:05 a.m. I gathered my belongings and hurried inside. I plopped on the couch and almost immediately fell asleep. I was sleep for two hours when my dog woke me up. He was sleeping on the couch with me and I appreciated the body heat. When I awakened my feet were still freezing. Fearing mild frostbite, I decided to take a shower to warm my body. My feet remained slightly numb throughout the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I only lasted five hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine five days. Imagine five weeks or five months. Imagine five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I only lasted five hours. I didn\u2019t think my adventure would be easy, but I wholeheartedly believed I would last throughout the night and into the morning. Technically, I did make it until morning \u2026 2:05 a.m. to be exact. On the brisk evening of Feb. 28, at 9 p.m., I set up camp in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2212,2896,29],"class_list":["post-4719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-black-households","tag-discrimination","tag-minnesota","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-18-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4721,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4719\/revisions\/4721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}