[applause] >> we have a person from huckleberry house, patrick. i want to tell you, huckleberry house save my family, so i really want you to speak. >> my name is patrick. i am a case manager at huckleberry house, in the fifth district. i am a resident of the first district, so this works out nicely. i want to talk about the cost of living adjustments that we were hearing about. i do not think either one of you were in that committee. to talk about why there are important, i first need to talk about huckleberry house itself. we are an emergency shelter for a 11to 17-year olds in the city. we are open 24 hours a day. we are open 365 days a year. we work with children and families in crisis. if there is violence in the home, if there is a kid running away -- we get kids from all of the country and the world running away from different situations. we work with kids who are having drug abuse issues, alcohol abuse issues, we work with kids who are suicidal, any kind of crisis that the youth might be going through in the city. because of the work that w

a, uh, signed second edition copy of "huckleberry finn." i was studying abroad in florence, and we were visiting the estate of this count. and he was showing us around the place, and he reaches into a drawer and pulls out this book and just hands it to us, and-- no gloves or anything. we just--just got to look at it and read it and look at the signature. yeah. it was pretty-- it's my favorite book, so it was pretty fascinating. oh, really? mm-hmm. okay. he's my--one of my favorite authors. stu weaver is a singer/songwriter from florida who complained about the music at a minor league baseball park. now we don't usually expect great music at a ballpark, so happened? oh, but you should. you should. oh, we should? okay. no, i wasn't happy with what i perceived as the music being played by the organist, and i complained about it, and without knowing that the person i complained to was the daughter of the owner. and... (laughter) after that, she said, "you know somebody better?" and at the time, i was much younger and braver, and i said, "yeah,

shelters, job training, huckleberry youth program, violence against women -- you have heard numerous nonprofits all day that are hurting and need funding for important programs. we urge you to please work with the mayor to find the funds. child care is important, with state cuts. overall, back of the envelope, about $18 million. we hope you can find that. that is in line with past years. chairperson chu: thank you. are there other members of the public who wish to speak on this item or the budget overall? seeing none, public comment is closed. i want to thank all members of the public for attending. thank you to the clerk, mr. young, and of course derek and andrea, the sheriff's department, the deputies, my aides, especially katie, who has been in here as long as we have, helping to shepherd the crowd, and has not eaten lunch yet. we want to thank them for our work making -- for their work making this process go as smoothly as it might go. and thank you to the budget office for sticking to public, and with us. we appreciate it. we have a couple of items to move. in terms of the items

i am the director of huckleberry house, the only 24 our place for at risk youth. the for the first time in our history, we are considering closing on a weekend due to sustained budget cuts. the program received $600,000 annually to operate a shelter. our funding was hot out because of state funds were cut to a juvenile probation. through a series of add-backs, a little more than half of our funding was restored. the intent was for the city to find additional $275,000 to restore our allocated amounts. our agency has had to exhaust some of its critical operating reserves, reducing staff coverage, and institute pay cuts that were supposed to be temporary measures. it is an integral partner who charged with maintaining the safety, health, and well being of youth. over the past three years, 250 youth have received crisis services at our shelter. the police department relies on our shoulder for a safe haven. additional use are referred by teachers, social service providers, and friends. we have to coordinate for their safety. we offer a crisis hot line for teachers, law

she's an old german owl but huckleberry and boysenberry the two lesi pigeons are very open-minded andey? >> flannel shirts. >> stephanie: they make their nest really fast with little power tools. they make great foster parents and are a joy to watch together. no bullying or driving to the nest, no demanding sex. see, i used to think there was nothing more useless than a queer pigeon. i've become much more open-minded since your show and thank you and don't let the fart jokes go by the wayside. they're the reason i listen. [farting sounds] >> there are some happy lesbian pigeons. >> huckleberry and boysenberry. >> stephanie: i love you. you were born this way. mama loves you. [ applause ] >> all right. >> stephanie: we have a lot of wildlife watching our show. have you noticed that? all kinds of pictures of finches and babies and -- >> dinosaurs. >> you consider babies wildlife? >> stephanie: yes. they're uncontrollable and unpredictable. >> sometimes they're predators. >> stephanie: yes! right? totally. kids sexyliberal.com, tickets are going crazy after the big boston show this past

i think huckleberry finn is a wonderful novel and its impulse is antiracist. antislavery, obviously over the years there have been many people who wanted the book banned or wanted to erase the word. i'm not for that. you have a white author, but he is using the term "nigger" for purposes that are clearly antiracist purposes. there are others. lenny bruce. lenny bruce was a great social sat -- satirist. he had a number of times when he used the word nigger, not to insult black people, but to turn the table on people who were antiblack in their feeling and he used the word nigger to laugh at them. using the word nigger as a mirror on race simple in order to combat racism. adore used the word anythinger in some of her short stories. she wasn't using it to be a racist. rather, she was using is as an artist to de-legitimate race simple. that's what i meant. obviously there are black people, too who have used the term nigger in ways that in my view, are completely unobjectionable. dick gregory titled his first autobiography, "nigger "an autobiography." and richard p