Jackie Kolk – Stories From The Shadows
BY JACKIE KOLK; PHOTOGRAPHY BY RICK COOPER
What does it take to inspire you? Challenge you? Whatever it is, Stories from the Shadows has it!
Author James O’Connell is a Harvard-educated physician but he did not follow the usual path to medical school. After graduating from Notre Dame, apparently with no career path in mind, he went to Cambridge to read philosophy, then to Hawaii to coach high school sports, then back to graduate school, and then to work in a restaurant. After witnessing a horrible accident, he realized that all he could do to help was listen. He decided to go to medical school to acquire useful skills. He was accepted at Harvard but, after medical school graduation, he did not follow the usual path then either. A mentor recognized that he had a talent for listening and encouraged him to treat the homeless in Boston for a year. He agreed and stayed with the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program for 30 years. O’Connell recognized that each homeless patient had a story to tell and that the need for medical care for the homeless was great. Over the years, he wrote the stories he heard from those who lived on the streets. Abuse, mental illness, chronic illness (TB, HIV, etc.), and malnutrition are often a part of the story, but so, too, are military service, advanced education, and artistic talent. Loneliness and loss are recurring themes, but so are strength and devotion. If he received permission, he took pictures and found that they were often treasured, a validation of a life and an evidence of worth.
He listened and he recognized that some homeless people do not want to be seen and other homeless people know that society does not want to see them.
Appreciating his medical work with all its challenges, O’Connell does what he can to help the homeless he encounters by documenting their stories. He offers a glimpse into their lives as much as his own – whether it is taking pictures, washing feet, sharing coffee, offering food, or practicing medicine. Sometimes he just listens, recognizing the illness and suffering experienced by those living without homes. No one thing seems to lead to homelessness or to keep people homeless. The book made me very aware that society does not understand the phenomenon.
Certainly, Stories from the Shadows makes you think, but it is also just a “good read.”
About JACKIE KOLK
Jackie Kolk has a BA in history from Emory University and a law degree from UF. She practiced law for many years with Hilton, Hilton, Kolk & Roesch and now co-owns King’s Bay Construction. She is an avid volunteer with the Bay County Conservancy, a local nonprofit land trust that occasionally has to ask the homeless camps on its preserves to move on, without really knowing where they will go.