Writer’s block is real, but what happens when your creative juices are flowing but your surroundings make it hard to focus? WNIJ’s Yvonne Boose has the story of two Rockford artists who are struggling to find a way to clear the mental —and physical — clutter.
“In the fall, we were living in our car,” said artist Wren Medina, "in a hotel, and friends' couches, wherever we could, and so, places don't want to rent to you when you don't have any income.”
He and his daughters, aged 9 and 6, were unhoused for a few months last year. Medina
is also a poet. One of his poems is featured in The Rockford Anthology, a collection of literary works by various local writers.
Medina said he went through a divorce and had to sell the home he shared with his wife.
“The day that I lost my home was the day that the anthology launched,” he said. “I went to a launch party mere hours after losing the home I had spent almost the last decade in.”
Medina and his current partner Matthew Clum used money from the sale to purchase a home in a Rockford mobile home park. They moved in in December.
The home is surrounded by random things. There are two toilets and a couple of large subwoofer speakers in the yard. A water heater is laying against the side of the house.
The detached garage just a few feet away is filled with layers of unassembled cardboard boxes. The mess is so big, you can’t even see the walls. Medina steps on a stack of cardboard as he enters the space.
“I'll just send you the picture of the possum that comes in and out of here," Media said, "because he is huge."
Medina carefully walked into the garage, that smelled like mildew. Medina went deeper into the garage. There’s a couch, chairs and even shopping carts. Medina said they fear they will get fined if they set furniture out, but he said so far, they haven’t received any fines.
The front porch is filled with bins, garbage bags and other totes, leaving just enough room to walk inside the front door.
Medina said he uses his art to supplement income when he can, but their living conditions interfere with that. The supplies are stored in bags and boxes that spread across the middle of the living room area. He has nowhere else to put them.
Medina said he sometimes goes to the library to create. At home he sits on the floor.
“I feel overwhelmed a lot, anxious a lot," Medina said, "and trying to, like, keep afloat of life, while trying to also, you know, build one here."
Clum said living here impacts his ability to create on all levels.
“So much of my energy and time goes into just trying to like function in this space,” He explained. “I just end up so exhausted that I don't have as much time as I'd like to have to spend on practicing and songwriting and stuff like that.”
Medina is disabled. He receives just under $800 a month from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, also known as TANF. It’s a cash payment to eligible families with children under 18. The rent for their spot in the mobile home park is about six hundred dollars, so finances are tight. Medina, who is dealing with an autoimmune disease, is waiting for a decision on disability benefits. Clum said he also has physical limitations
“I’m one of those people who got covid a couple times," he explained, "and I have never been the same since I got it. Like, my body just never came, like, snapped back.”
He is waiting for a long covid and other diagnoses from his doctor. Once that happens, he said he hopes to qualify for some type of assistance.
The mobile home needs a lot of work. They bought the house “As Is.” They replaced the floors with thrifted materials and are currently working on rebuilding the kitchen. But the main challenge is the mess left by the previous owners.
“We were expecting to have to, you know, do some of it,” Medina said, “but we were told it was going to be handled by the previous tenant.”
That didn’t happen. The things that were left behind take up space the family could use for their own stuff.
WNIJ reached out to Wren's mobile home park manager for comment. They confirmed that the park is responsible for maintaining what happens underground, like water pipes. They are not responsible for removing things that are left in or around the home.
Medina said he feels like he is in a rut sometimes.
“I can't make a dump truck appear," Medina said, "and I would have to be able to get it off the property, too, which, again, not something I am physically able to do."
Clum said they plan to use some of their tax refund to help clean out the junk, but for now they’ll keep chipping away until things are all cleared out enough that they can get back to creating art.
