An artist, gamer, and movie lover, Curtis McLaughlin (above) has been part of the Health Care for the Homeless Art Group for more than five years. 

Art is one of my coping skills. I can be anywhere and create art wherever I go.

Several years ago, that was stripped from me. I had a TIA, a small stroke. I couldn’t use my whole left side. It made it hard to draw, or thread a needle. But I worked in physical therapy to bring myself back from that.

Right now I’m working on a sculpture of Jason Voorhees, from Friday the 13th: Part IV, specifically. One of the greatest horror characters of all time. I am inspired a lot by the movies and characters I love: Jaws, Assassin’s Creed, Alien.

People will say I live in a fantasy world; I know that. But I see something and I want to go make it. In the first Art Show I ever participated in at Health Care for the Homeless, we were making art about leaders who inspire us. I couldn’t think of anything more inspiring than Batman. Now, I have him at home, in paper mâché, and he sits in my front window, watching the street corner—the one that says “No shoot zone.”

I was raised in a foster home after age eight. I was very restricted; I felt like everything I did was reported back to someone. So I walked on eggshells my whole life, treading carefully, like David Carradine in Kung Fu.

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be out of the house as much as possible. I was happiest performing. I danced, I sang in choir, I played cymbals in the marching band. I could do impressions so good, people thought the radio was on—I could sound just like Optimus Prime.

At a Black History Month performance in high school, I got up there with the Black Awareness Club and did a reading in this deep baritone voice as John Henry—the man who beat the machine to make the railroad but died trying. Somebody even asked me to autograph their program.

But growing up in the system, I wasn’t encouraged to pursue that. They didn’t think I would finish the 12th grade. They didn’t want to put me in independent living; they didn’t think I should be in charge of my own money. But I said, “Nope. I must have faith that I can get through this.” And I graduated on time—darn, I’m good!

People were always trying to close doors in my face…I’d say, “Open that door back up!”

I’ll be 50 next year. Living through everything I’ve lived through, homelessness, living in shelters—people have put me through a lot of stuff. But I realized a few things in all that time: I was at peace with myself. People are going to do whatever they choose to do towards me and my character. I stay positive through all of that. Once you start going negative, your mental health goes out the window.

My brother, he’s having some of the same health issues I’ve had: dysautonomia, tremors. He said he was going to sell his video games since it was harder to play; I said, don’t sell your games! Your hand shakes, you have to use that to your advantage—that makes you better at button mashers. I’m great at Fruit Ninja. In Mortal Kombat, no one survives when they battle me!

I’ve lived my life. Now I just want to chill out and not break anything worse than it already is. I’m an uncle; my sister’s children are the most important people in my life. I come to Art Group to refill my social battery, to get some quiet and peacefulness. When I’m in stress mode, I can start drawing, and it’s a release. And maybe when I’m done with Jason, I’ll hang him in the window and scare all the neighbors.

“Pass the Mic” is a storytelling space featuring the voices and stories of people with a lived experience of homelessness.

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