Fidel has been working on a writing project for the past year, something like an exposé about Portland’s fentanyl market. His vision: to follow five people who have been buying, using, selling, overdosing, and most importantly, trying to get sober.
He’s well-equipped for this mission. He was once a drug user himself and experienced the harrowing devastation of its effects.
Having turned his life around with the help of several Portland resources, he’s drawing on his love of writing to share an insider’s perspective on what he believes is a very important story: the fentanyl crisis in Portland.
Fidel moved to Portland from Walla Walla, Washington, in 2017, quite literally, he said, to “change my life.” At 45 years old, he’d been homeless and in trouble since his early teens.
These days, Fidel is working with a Portland detox center to remain off drugs.
“I’m 360 degrees away from the man I used to be,” he said. “I’m trying to become a better person. I’m trying to lead with love.
“Street Roots is the way for me to get on the right path. I love the way the people at Street Roots treat us vendors. I love their compassion. They equal the playing field.”
Enjoying the camaraderie at Street Roots, he is learning to make use of Street Roots’ resources and believes so much in the Street Roots’ mission that maybe 10 years from now, he says he’ll still be working with Street Roots, but, in the future, he’ll be working as a volunteer.
“Street Roots has given me a place where I belong,” Fidel said.
Having had to learn how to structure his life as a teen on the streets of Walla Walla, he’s worked a wide variety of jobs: in construction, in the restaurant business as a sous chef, a dishwasher, and throughout the neighborhoods of Walla Walla as a handyman.
He’s proud of his Mexican heritage. Bilingual since childhood, he weaves Spanish into his conversations. Fidel’s grandparents moved to Walla Walla as migrant farmworkers in 1947 and began working with Union Pacific Railroad. His grandmother owned a Mexican restaurant in downtown Walla Walla.
These days, Fidel said, “In Walla Walla, if you’re a Coronado, we’re related. You cannot leave your house without seeing a family member.”
His writing project is something that sustains him. He inherited a love of writing from his mother.
“My mom, she was always writing,” he said. “I love writing just like my mom. My writing is my medicine.”
Along with the notes Fidel has been taking for the past year, notes that are difficult to protect as a homeless person, Fidel keeps a lot of the ideas for his writing project in his head.
“I have a crazy, beautiful mind,” he said. “And an elephant memory. My friends say, ‘Here comes Coronado with his elephant memory.’”
Fidel’s sales post is in and around Chinatown as well as in Pioneer Square. He wants to thank his customers. He said that he truly appreciates the support and conversation.
“Thank you to anyone who has stopped to buy a paper from me,” he said.
Asked if there were anything else he’d like to say to his customers, he said,
“Just make sure to give me a smile.” Then, smiling himself, he added, “Just kill me with kindness.”
You can support Fidel via @StreetRoots Venmo by entering his name and badge number (974) in the notes.
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