Street Roots vendor profile: A poet, artist and dreamer

Vanjie enjoys Street Roots’ poetry and writing workshops

Street Roots photo.

Editor’s note: Street Roots has allowed the NW Examiner to share profiles of vendors who primarily work in our neighborhoods.

By Melissa Loveridge

Vanjie Caraveo has lived many lives.

Originally from Albuquerque, N.M., Caraveo and her family moved around quite a bit because her father was in the military. After the family settled in Portland, she learned accordion and piano, competed on a swim team and learned karate alongside her brother.

She also participated in Girl Scouts — somewhat reluctantly.

“I wanted to be a Boy Scout,” Caraveo said. “(Girls) couldn’t be a Boy Scout. Even though the girls were so much better than the boys at camping and hiking. I was just a sports girl, and a tomgirl.”

Being into sports and activities that were, at least at the time, often considered “for boys” sometimes meant that Caraveo’s peers didn’t quite understand her. Wanting to connect more with her classmates from around the world, Caraveo began learning languages. She learned basic Spanish from hearing her grandparents speak to each other, and then learned more in school. She also knows French and American Sign Language.

Caraveo believes that being able to communicate, and especially being able to do so peacefully, is important.

“America’s supposed to be a melting pot, and we’re starting to get to that point where we’re melting again,” she said. “No matter what nationality you are, you have things in common. Being different isn’t bad. Being different is good.”

Caraveo spent much of her childhood caring for her parents, who had various health issues. She was good at caring for people, and that led to her working in healthcare.

But nursing people back to health isn’t her only job — she likes to mix things up so every day brings something different.

“I don’t always just be a nurse,” she said. “I usually, every year, choose something different. So part time, I’m nursing, part time I’ll sell for Macy’s or work for Nordstrom or something. That way, I can pick something different. Otherwise it gets boring.”

Caraveo also dreams of going back to school to become a doctor, or of going to culinary school, as she loves to cook. She would like to someday open her own food truck, or even an entire food cart pod.

Caraveo has been selling Street Roots for a little under a year. She really enjoys participating in the organization’s creative writing and poetry workshops.

“I’m really good at the poetry part and the writing part,” she said. “I wrote up like nine different poems so far. I wrote some for the zine. And I like to draw, so I did some art pieces. I get that from my mom.”

Caraveo doesn’t have a set vendor location, but she likes to sell the paper in downtown Portland. You can support Caraveo through @StreetRoots Venmo by entering her name and badge number (#1246) in the memo.

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Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.