Brenda Karyl Lee-Wilson, 51, was born in San Antonio, Texas. With a father in the military she moved around all of her life, going to different schools each year. She said all of the moving “is why I am such a friendly gal. My parents taught me to be outgoing.” She went to the University of Texas at Austin when she was 16 but dropped out after two years because she wanted to party. After getting all of the partying out of her system, Brenda moved to Los Angeles and worked in the airline and restaurant industries for several years. She then moved back to Texas and lived with her grandmother. She came to D.C. in February 2004 – accompanied by her chow/lab mix named Rowdy Dawg – after troubles stemming from a court decision. Rowdy, who was 12-and-a-half years old at the time, had to be put down on Nov. 23, 2005, due to kidney failure. “I miss him with every breath I take,” she says. Brenda has been selling Street Sense since March 2005, and is now staying at Cavalry Women’s Shelter.

How did you become homeless?

I first became homeless in September 1994, when my sister and brother denied me access to my grandmother’s home where I lived with her for nine years. This was related to a trust account at Merrill Lynch, which is still being made inaccessible to me, involving railroad commission, AT&T stock, and land in Alabama leased to the government until 2058.

My second bout of homelessness began in September 2002 when the fifth judge in my divorce took my home in Texas from me.

Why do you sell Street Sense?

I began because it enabled me and Rowdy to get income that I could not acquire any other way. And I would not panhandle. I still sell it because I think it’s necessary to educate the public about homelessness because it could happen to anyone at any moment.

What advice would you give someone that is homeless?

Hold onto God and not the way of the world.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Only God knows that. But God’s plans are not the same as mine. If they were, I wouldn’t be homeless.

Favorite Music?

The blues.

Favorite Food?

Catfish.

Favorite Movie?

Moonstruck.

Favorite Book?

To Kill A Mockingbird