University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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by; Lara Vinnard Beulah stood alone by a street sign on the corner of Haste and Telegraph. It was about three in the afternoon on a cool mid-February day, so Beulah had her black wool cap pulled down over her ears and had rolled down the sleeves of her red-and-white polka-dotted shirt. I noticed her beige pants as I walked by, and thought to myself that her clothes looked almost new, as she asked me, Can you spare a quarter? Beulah is .36, and has lived in California for ten years. For a while now she has been living in a woman ' s garage on Shattuck. In [),iyment Beulah gives the woman a bouquet of flowers every week — poppies — because Beulah works for a florist on S.iturdays. For ten dollars, Beulah spends that day picking flowers in the Berkeley hills, and always manages to sneak a few fiome. Other than that, Beulah gets $630 a month from the government, which she spends on medication and food. Beulah has six children. Three live in Virginia, where Beulah lived before she came to California, two live in a foster home in Kk hmond, California, and one is up for adoption in Richmond. Would you like to adopt onef she asked me while we were t.ilkmg. They ' re beautiful children. They need someone to teach them what ' s right and what ' s wrong. Do you know what it ' s like to have a real mom and a real dad? I told her that I did, but that I wouldn ' t be able to adopt any of her children, at least not right now. Beulah ' s parents were divorced when she was very young. Her mother remarried several times, so Beulah, her four brothers, and two sisters were raised by their grandparents — |ohn Bulldog and Grandma Beauty. ' They were bootleggers, she laughed as she told me about the vice cops searching their home for the liquor. They couldn ' t ever find it because we ' d hide it in the bed covers and curl up around the bottles and play possum. When Beulah first came out to California she met a man who liked to call himself King Musa and who called her Queen Nommo. We lived together on University and sold African crafts from Sudan. He used to grow marijuana on the roof. We were young and black and it was love. We called it love on the rooftop. She tipped her head to one side and put on a pair of yellow-framed sun glasses. Then I gave him a baby. Then we had a fight over a white girl. She stole my boyfriend, and he gave her a baby. After that I lost my head and they took my daughter away. Soon after King Musa left her, Beulah moved in with a 6S-year-old white man and lived with him for five years, sharing the house with his dog. Lady. Beulah knew things had to change when she heard a voice which told her, ' The dog is Lucifer. I ' m tired of her sleeping in the bed with you. So, Beulah told me, I killed her. I asked how. She said, I bought an ax. After that he asked me to leave. I ' ve been here ever since. Holding a regular job is hard for Beulah because, 1 get nervous. The longest job she ' s held was three weeks at a motel, but she quit one day because she just couldn ' t go anymore. Since then she ' s been picking flowers and panhandling. March 10 is going to be a very special day because Beulah is getting married. The time is set for 1 o ' clock in People ' s Park. Her fiance is Joseph, whom she met on Telegraph. They plan to live in a van for eight months until Joseph gets a job; then they ' ll get an apartment. Joseph walked by while we were talking, introduced himself, and checked to make sure Beulah was feeling well. Anther man stopped by soon after with two friends by his side and said, Hey Beulah, if this marriage don ' t work out, I want you to marry me. You are a fine woman. Beulah giggled and whispered to me that he had already proposed to her once, but of course she was in love with Joseph. Beulah was fascinated with my long blond hair. She first asked if she could have a lock of it, then said she would name her next child after me, then stroking my hair, asked me, If I were to worship you, would you like that? I told her 1 didn ' t think it would be a good idea. Still touching my hair, Beulah told me that she has a split personality, and every Halloween she turns into Lily Brown. Lily Brown is a black lady with a long blond wig. She ' s a hooker. Last Halloween 1 was Lily Brown, and I hitchhiked to Los Angeles and made $375 hooking. But I was too sexy and got pregnant. Joseph said he doesn ' t want her to do this anymore, now that they ' re getting married, and that ' s okay with Beulah. I love him, she smiled. Beulah has been taking medication for five years to calm her down. I still hear voices, she said, It made me hear voices. What do the voices say? I asked They tell me about the flaming sworn word. Any time I look at the sun I can hear from God. 1 worship the flaming sworn word. At this point, Beulah stood up and began dancing and singing, I am a witch doctor. I am a good witch doctor. I sing ) the gods of the flaming sworn word. Sometimes she can feel the flaming sworn word in her heart, like an an-ow going around and around. Beulah usually gets one meal a day in People ' s Park and sometimes buys somthing extra if she makes enough money panhandling. She often finds clothes in the free box in the Park. That ' s where I got these pants! She tugged at the knee of her pant leg and continued, I got ' em there last night and put ' em on this morning. One of Beulah ' s brothers is serving in the Persian Gulf. She said she hopes for a day when all the boys come home from the war. The proud, the brave, and the few. I realized Beulah was losing interest in our talk when she stood up to dance again and moved several feet away from me. First she sang a few spontaneously composed bits about my flaxen hair, then she began clapping and switched to one of her preferred songs, I have a voice that will break away the burning flame, that will let it be like the peace in the sky. I gave Beulah what change I had, hugged her, and promised I ' d try to make it to the wedding. As I walked away, I realized that I had originally set out to interview a destitute, homeless person. That was hardly what I found. What I found instead was a woman whose only complaint, except for missing her children, was not being able to afford lotion when the weather got cold, Beulah wants only to be spiritually secure, and in Joseph, she has I that security. 14 PEOPLE •Beulah