Pass the Mic: Larrice Harris

Larrice is a mother, grandmother, teacher, cook and storyteller who was recently featured in our original documentary, “Taking Care: Portraits from Baltimore.”

My name is Larrice, after my father Larry. I’m very proud to be named after my dad. But when people can’t say my name, I tell them my nickname from growing up: Pebbles.

My pronouns are she and her. I identify as a lesbian. I am a proud mother and grandmother.

I was very close to my mom. She meant the world to me. She was the matriarch of the family, and with her being gone, she passed that torch over to me.

I love people, I love children; that’s my passion. I started out working with Baltimore City Public Schools, in the cafeteria. I still like to cook—I can have some BBQ chicken and a salad any day, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

At the school, I could control the cafeteria and had kids singing and playing and dancing. Nobody else could do that.

The principal that I had, she saw some great things in me that I didn’t see in myself. I went to Coppin State and got a couple credits in special education because of her.

She told me that to go in a classroom and stay in a classroom, I had to take the test to be a paraeducator. I did and I passed.

That’s how I got out of the cafeteria, into the classroom, and then to the office.

It was nice while I was there, at the school system. I wish I was still there. But unfortunately, my health didn’t allow it.

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 19 years old. I didn’t know what diabetes was, then; back in the day they called it “The Sugar.” But I lost my sight; I fell into a diabetic coma. When I woke up—praise God—the doctor said, “You are a miracle. We thought you’d be in a vegetable state for the rest of your life.”

In 2016 I was really sick again. I kept getting put in intensive care. As the years went on, I wasn’t able to work because of my health. I didn’t know how I was gonna make it.

I had to stay in my car. Nobody knew what was going on with me. I would go to somebody’s house in the morning, acting like I worked overnight, to get a shower and hang out with them.

So one of my friends said, “I think you need to go down to Health Care for the Homeless.”

When I first went there, I wouldn’t open up, I wouldn’t say a thing. I was mad because I lost my job. I was mad because I could not go and let anybody know what I was doing nightly. So I just put all my trust in them, all my faith in them as well. And I’ve been receiving care there to date.

I think my legacy here is just for people to know, when I’m gone, that she was a loving, caring woman. I know I don’t look like my story, because I fight hard every day not to look like it.

I’m here for a purpose. I don’t know what it is, but I’m willing to do God’s will.

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

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