Fishing is relaxation for some

I saw him out of the corner of my eye as I drove over a bridge and decided to stop. I quietly walked up behind his secret fishing spot and captured him doing what he does best on a warm Thanksgiving afternoon. "How long have you come here to fish," I asked. He looked towards the water, "Oh, five or six years." I was curious what his catches were like and he told me, "I usually get little fish, more so then big ones." 

There is a certain relaxation to fishing that can not be matched. 

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." - Henry David Thoreau 

He mixes his daily food in a blender

My friend and I went to some of the dirtiest and darkest motels in Nashville and randomly knocked on doors. While doing so we met Mr. Jerry. He is 60-years old and has cancer in his mouth. 
About three years ago his teeth were removed along with part of his jawbone during treatment. Doctors used a bone from his leg to make a new jaw, but it left him unable to chew which required a feeding tube. I asked him where they got the bone from and he replied, “[Pulling up a pant leg] This is where they cut a section of the bone to use for my jaw [Pointing at a 6-inch scar just above his ankle]”. 

In late 2013 his feeding tube came out of his stomach, but Jerry did not want to go back to the hospital in fear of having another MRI. The Nashville native is claustrophobic and won’t have another MRI, but is open to other cancer treatment options, but has no one to turn to nor can he afford taxi trips to and from Vanderbilt Medical Center. The cancer is still active and his mouth is badly swollen and painful. 

After the feeding tube came out in 2013, he started blending his food in a blender to drink. As he talked he pulled up his shirt to show us where the feeding tube went in, “It healed and it now looks like I have two belly buttons [laughing].” He told me that he would prefer to drink Ensure instead of blending food, but does not have the money to pay for it. I told him not to worry, we would find folks to donate it. 

Jerry has not always been disabled. In his younger days he was married and worked for Ford Manufacturing in Georgia. However, he fell while working on machinery and broke his back. He still receives a small check from Ford for his injury, but it does not even cover the cost to rent a motel room. His state disability check helps to pay for the room. His marriage fell apart somewhere between Ford and cancer.

Despite his sadness of being all alone and ill, he still holds true to a love of cars. While he cannot drive and is wheelchair bound, he collects remote control cars. He often races them through his motel parking lot. He crashed one about a week ago and had to order a new part for it. “This car will do 100 actual miles per hour,” he said while holding up the instruction manual for it. 

The late president Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945) once stated, “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” Roosevelt new pain well. He suffered from Polio and despite becoming paralyzed at age 39 from the waist down, he refused to look at himself as being disabled. 

You sometimes see sadness in their eyes

You can see sadness in the eyes of so many.

I first met Jimmy in 2013 when a friend and I randomly knocked on the doors of a rundown motel. He was one of the many who invited us inside. At the time, his room was filled with Bibles and Christian study guides. That room was later broken into and his girlfriend had money and other valuables stolen. The two later moved out at the start of 2015.

Today they live in their very own apartment. The apartment is far nicer than the dingy motel room that they once called home. The Bibles still line the room along with Kathy’s collection of stuffed animals. But, I still see the sadness in their eyes upon each visit.

Jimmy will turn 46 in June of 2016.

American actress and singer Taraji P. Henson stated, “Every human walks around with a certain kind of sadness. They may not wear it on their sleeves, but it's there if you look deep.”

Would you like for me to tell your sister you are okay?

He was standing by himself in front of a closed business when I saw him, kind of walking in circles. “Do you need a sleeping bag?” I asked. “Well, I probably do,” he told me.

We talked for a while as we sat on the front of the business under a light that illuminated the front parking lot. “Do you have any family,” I asked with curiosity. He got a little glimmer in his eyes as he stated, “I have a sister named Sandra that I have not seen in 15-years, she’s in Chicago.” He told me he did not have a phone nor did he know how to contact her. I asked, “Would you like for me to try to find her and tell her you’re okay?” He smiled and responded, “Sure that would be great – if you can find her, she may have a different last name now.”

Dwayne told me that he is 49 years old and once called Chicago home. However, he told me that he has been all over the place and has lots of past areas in our nation that he called home at one point or another.

I wondered what made Dwayne tick, why was he homeless and what his past looked like. “Do you have any issues with schizophrenia or other mental illnesses,” I questioned. He chuckled, “Not that I have been diagnosed with,” he replied with a smile.

American journalist Lisa Ling once stated, “There's so much grey to every story - nothing is so black and white.”

Brother and a "Sister" Mom

A sister holding her little brother in Haiti (Jan. 2015).

It is amazing to watch how sibling sisters become mothers in third world countries as the mom is busy washing clothes by hand, cooking dinner from scratch over an open fire or helping around the village with a sick friend.

One woman told us that her chest was hurting, pointing to her breast. I can only imagine it was the first stages of un-diagnosed breast cancer as medical care is scarce in some of the remote areas of the country. She described the pain accompanied by fatigue through an interpreter.

Airline service workers want 5-cent fee added to tickets to cover insurance costs

Commercial aviation helps to create some 11-million jobs in America. If that is not enough to get your attention, I don’t know what will?

While in Washington D.C., I stumbled upon a major protest on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House. The wind was blistering cold and I struggled to take photos without my gloves on, but I wanted to make sure I captured the emotion that was stirred up by the workers who were asking for help to cover the cost of their personal medical insurance.

The group of airline industry service workers were asking for the airline companies they work for to add a nickel to the cost of every ticket sold in hopes of acquiring better health insurance for their families. The group suggested that an additional 5-cents added to every ticket would cover the cost of their family medical insurance plan, which right now is unaffordable for many. Their website stated, “We will be forced to pay the Obama Care Income Tax Fine for declining to purchase this un-affordable insurance.” That 5-cents per ticket, according to the protestors, would cover their expense.  

I walked in close for these shots as I was using my small 23mm fixed lens Fuji X100s. Those who were protesting seemed to be too busy shouting what they felt was needed for their family to even notice my encroachment into their personal space. Several police officers asked me to step back as they began making arrests while the crowd deliberately blocked the flow of traffic in the area of Pennsylvania Avenue.

After 15 or more protestors were arrested, the chants continued. The big question that lingers, will that additional 5-cents be added to the cost of an airline ticket and if so, will it be noticed by the traveling public? Only time will tell.

Couch surfing and okay with it

Clean, sober and polite. I would be happy if someone described me like that. This gentleman told me that he is homeless, but on the right track. During the summer months he lives on the street or with friends. When he earns enough money selling a local homeless newspaper, he treats himself to a hotel room. When November rolls around, he stays at the Room in the Inn of Nashville.

He was a very nice man to speak with as I cruised an old school 1985 Skyway freestyle bike through the downtown streets of Nashville shooting street photography. In fact, you can see the bike through his glass lenses. For this shot I used my small Fuji X100s. It is an excellent camera for bike rides. 

I'm so tired friends...

“I’ve dreamed a lot. I’m tired now from dreaming but not tired of dreaming. No one tires of dreaming, because to dream is to forget, and forgetting does not weigh on us, it is a dreamless sleep throughout which we remain awake. In dreams I have achieved everything.” ― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet