Women in Vans

(Sharon Renee Cole--AKA Erin Vans) Henry There's a female-to-male transperson in Philadelphia who was in the running to be a judge for the court of common please. Henry is his name. Earlier this year, it was a big deal around here in the fifth largest city in the U.S. Somewhere along the line, I found out he spent a short time living in a van. It was so long ago, some who might've crossed paths with him back then may not even recognize him today. He identified as a lesbian then. He had a partner. They both wanted to escape the Midwest and, in a dream-like fashion, take to the roads in their van, pull up on the West Coast with the sun rising and magically set roots down in The Bay Area.  They wanted San Francisco proper, but knew it would be too expensive. Here are a few responses to questions I asked: "So it's true, you lived in a van," I posited. "When was this and why?" I lived in a van for a couple of months in the Bay Area. I ...

Welcome to Women in Vans--a blog about women who've stayed in vans. Really lived in them, overnight and all, through breakfast, lunch and dinner, for a period of time ,whether by choice or not. They know where the public restrooms are at every hour. They've been to the train stations open all night. They've rushed into Starbucks, asked for the code (at Starbucks requiring codes for restrooms). And, they found out recently that, due to an amendment, homeless people can use Starbucks' restrooms  without actually purchasing anything. They might've stayed up all night crying, wondering how they wound up in a van, shaking, trembling, out in the cold. Fearful. My hope for all Women in Vans is that there is a beginning, a middle and an end to this kind of thing. I found myself living in a van with all of my belongings for a short period of time, a month-and-a-half to be exact. It wasn't a choice. A series of unfortunate events landed me there, sleeping upright i...