Paul in Doorway on Church Street

Doorway

Told him I called his sister and received a loving caring call back. He mustered up a positive face. Said he slept in the doorway, if you could call it sleep. I guess. Hard floor. Immobilized. Alcohol probably inhibits movement so he stays on the area he warmed. May also lower his temperature. Cold last night, not winter VT cold, but cold-30s. “I had a heated grate for a while. It blew up warm air and then cold air.”

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Paul on Cherry Street II

Pants Jeans Sweater

Yesterday I went looking for Paul to bring him jeans and sweater/jacket that Sharon bought for him at the Shuk. Paul said someone had promised to get him jeans, but he couldn’t trust anyone. He didn’t know his size, “maybe 30/30.” Larry, a street guy, said that he had seen Paul earlier in the day drinking with Ty, the guy with the eye tatooed in the center of his forehead. I walked around the area behind the buildings at the North End of Church and didn’t find him. No more time to kill, I went to do my JUMP duty.

DT or Worse

Today, I found him after an early morning walk down by the Lake. I gave him the clothes. We talked. Then I walked him to City Hall to change. He shook and staggered the whole way there. “Can I get you anything, like coffee or food?””I could use a beer. I got DTs bad.” I shrugged. Not on my menu. He had talked with the supervisor of wet drop in center who told him to come back after dark. “I don’t need you after dark. I need you now.” Someone let him sleep in their van last night. It had some blankets. “Its the first night I have been warm in a month.”

Belated Birthday CardHe showed me a card given to him by the social worker which his sister sent for his birthday. It arrived in his possession late, he said. “I have some decisions to make. I have to be out of here next week. I just don’t know what to do. I have to make arrangements for my stuff in Middlebury.” I urged him not to make bigger  problems and promised to take care of the pictures and equipment he parked at someone’s home. “I trust you,” he said.

Rummaging

He rummaged through his bag, looking for something. Then he pulled out a piece of paper with his sister’s number on it. “Will you call her.” I didn’t ask what he wanted me to say.

Jeans

He was back at his spot after noon. He looked better. He had changed into the pants. “They fit perfectly. How did you know my size? I only wear jeans. I wouldn’t wear anything else. And the LL Bean Sweater and jacket look great also. I feel a lot better.” He was going to make something out of some wire he found, but someone had taken his combination tool.

Better

John on Church Street

John

“Just because we be homeless, doesn’t mean we are not human…. A place to stay is a good thing. Warm. You get a room. And then a second room.”

“Yeh, man,” I said, “and then you start collecting shit.”

leg brace

“You know, you walk a lot when you are homeless. One day, for no reason my tendon burst…. I don’t use my crutches anymore, because I got to get around.”

“Didn’t this scene happen in Midnight Cowboy?”

Jesse May Not Vote

I had not seen Jesse for a while, which always makes me nervous that something has happened to him or some of my other friends. He said he had stuff to do and needed to deal with the elements. He has located a brother with some help from a woman-friend who has access to the internet. The brother lives in Phoenix and has a family and a business. Jesse also said that he has a kid who lives in Boca whom he has not seen for fourteen years. “It causes me a lot of pain and sorrow.” No doubt.

“Jesse, you going to vote?”

“I don’t know if I am registered. Besides. I wouldn’t know who to vote for. None of those guys would do anything to help me would they?”

Sarah In City Hall Park

I have been trolling around the outskirts, trying to find the people who appear in my SEABA work that hangs in the Hall Gallery at 180 Flynn Avenue. I didn’t want her or any of them to hear that they had a featured spot in my exhibit from someone and be surprised or angry. I generally tell people whom I shoot why I shoot and what I will do with the shots. Its a difficult strategy. The more you say, the less intuitive the images. People become self conscious and less reactive to the camera. Their increased control diminishes the honesty of the interaction. Posing intensifies. Men, more than women, will ape-out. All I seek is their humanity and a slight bit of emotional honesty, assuming that is possible.

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Edward H. Campbell On Church Street

Corrected after e-mail from Mr. Campbell and a phone call. I try to be as accurate as possible, so I apologize for any misunderstandings.

Yesterday he asked me to e-mail him a photo I shot on Church St with his begging sign. Don’t usually include words with my images. Jay Maisel says that people will read the words before looking at the images. This is not to be confused with putting an image on a printed page which, according to my graphic design professors, is the first thing people will look at. Anyway, the images should speak for themselves. Not sure in Mr. Campbell’s case.

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Woodstock Maine’s Disgrace

Like Kristof in the NYT News of the Week in Review this Sunday, I have to wonder, or rather rethink my views on the First Amendment. Let’s edit that. I have to rethink my views on a lot of things. My experiences from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and the first decade of the 21st Century have gotten so confusing that I don’t know what I really believe about a wide number of issues. Consider that a liberal rag, The New Republic, one which guided my ideology in my more formative years recognizes that Islam may be at odds with the Constitution. How about that, sports fans?

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Jesse #2

Very upset, I am, as I leave for a week at Maine Media Photocamp after reading today’s article on the upsurge in killings of street people in the New York Times. The paper of record called them homeless. I don’t know exactly what that means, so I will leave it for another time. And, I don’t necessarily think that the rise in killings has at its genesis hatred, but the fact that people kill these people because they can for whatever reasons or no reasons at all disturbed me more than the Pew report that the number of people who believe President Obama is a muslim has risen.

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