I can walk, but I have neuropathy

“I can walk, but I have neuropathy and my feet hurt really bad,” she told me. I glanced down at her feet and noticed they were swollen to the point where you could barely see her toenails.

As we talked I watched people pass her by. She looked me in the eye and said, “People ignore me, they try not to make eye contact.” Despite the fact that most refused to even look at her, she made an effort to tell everyone to have a nice day.

When I asked where she was from she laughed and said, “In the past eight years, I have lived in California, North Carolina, (pause) Tennessee and now here… Florida.” As the heat from the Orlando sun beat down on her it was obvious that she left something behind in Tennessee from the way she said “Tennessee” while glancing down. Without me even asking she remarked, “My children are in Tennessee – I gave them up so that they would have a better life than I could provide.”

At age 45 she lives on the streets. Her home is the entryway to an auto repair shop whenever they are closed at night.

“What a weary time those years were -- to have the desire and the need to live but not the ability.” ― Charles Bukowski, poet (1920-1994)

World is Beautiful, Crazy and Tragic

America is going from one tragedy to another, second after second. I don't think people know how to process everything.

This photo is from Orlando in the downtown area about one mile from the Pulse night club where the shooting took place around three weeks ago.

"The world is a crazy, beautiful, ugly complicated place, and it keeps moving on from crisis to strangeness to beauty to weirdness to tragedy." - David Remnick, American journalist

Superheroes in Disguise

Superheroes in disguise. They walk among us.

"Out the door
Just in time
Head down the 4-0-5
Gotta meet the new boss by 8 am
The phone rings in the car
The wife is working hard
She's running late tonight again
Well I know what I've been told
You gotta work to feed the soul
But I can't do this all on my own
No I'm
I'm no superman"

-Lazlo Bane

The Disney Monorail

As a kid I was always fascinated with the Walt Disney World monorail.

The Disney monorail opened in 1971 and as of 2013, it was calculated to be the second most heavily used monorail systems in the world. The three Disney routes transport up to 150,000 riders per day. Beating that number would be the Chongqing Rail Transit in Chongqing, China. The China monorail, which comes in at number one, has an average of 500,000 daily riders on Line 3 alone.

Monorail technology started in the 1950’s. As for Disney World in Orlando, FL… all of their current monorail cars (12 full fleets), are 1990 to 1991 models. The system in Disney has been in continuous operation since 1971. The electric system of 13 miles in length is powered by 600 volts of DC propulsion which includes eight DC motors with 112 horsepower each.

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney (1901-1966)

Alex at Disney

Alex, who is from New York, has only worked for Walt Disney World for two years. However, he remembers taking his kids to Disney in the 1990’s. 

"You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality." - Walt Disney (1901-1966)

Time to relax

"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer." - William S. Burroughs (1914-1997)

Orlando, FL with the Sony A7SII

Waiting on medication

He was sitting across the street from the hospital waiting for his medication to be filled in the pharmacy, he told me. “Do you need any help,” I asked? “No, no I don’t,” he replied. “How old are you,” I asked him. He looked down at his hands then across the street… “21.” 

Leave the property, now

They were quietly folding freshly cleaned towels in a vacant lot behind a large for sale sign in downtown Orlando, FL. Damion told me, “The police harass us something awful here – they told me that they would charge me with grand theft larceny because of the shopping carts. They treat us like we are stupid, I got the shopping carts from a dumpster.” I took a look at the rusted carts, it was more than obvious they had not been used by any store in years.

“I have PTSD,” he told me. I asked for more details and he said, “I was stationed in Italy and one of our own guys accidentally ran over me in a military truck – he hit a bump and I was the next bump. [sarcastic].”

“You may want to stick around, I’m sure the cops will be here just as they always are,” he told me with a slight chuckle. “We are nothing to them,” he sadly said.

Within 10-minutes of my conversation, five Orlando Police Officers rode up on their bikes surrounding the two. “We ordered you to move yesterday. You cannot be on this lot. This is private property,” one of the officers said in a deep tone. The property owner then showed up while taking photographs on his phone. The property owner would not make eye contact with the two homeless individuals and told the police he wants them gone, which is his right.

As an onlooker, I did not see the point in mandating the two leave. The property was totally vacant and was simply a concrete slab with two for sale signs that were put up in 2011.

"Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment." - Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – Assassinated in 1948, Civil Rights Leader)

You cannot obstruct the sidewalk

The homeless father and son were quietly minding their own business at the intersection of Orange and Pine Streets in downtown Orlando, FL. The father, sitting on an upside down milk crate and the son talking to several other homeless persons who were told to immediately leave a vacant lot that was for sale, were the next who were told to leave.

“You can’t obstruct a city sidewalk,” barked the officer. The elderly father stood to his feet without saying a word while his son came to his aid to explain they would be leaving Orlando in one week. The police officer continued to tell the duo they had to move on.

I had to inquire further and learned the father was waiting on his social security check to arrive and with that money, he aimed to buy a bus ticket so that they could venture back to their home state of Texas. The son told me, “People are nicer to us in Texas.”

“You can all go to hell; I will go to Texas” ― David Crocket (1786-1836)

196 Years Old and Homeless

I noticed she was sitting quietly under a bridge by herself next to a basket full of bags. I asked, “Where are you from?” I had to listen intently as she spoke very quietly, “I was born in New York, New York at General Hospital, but it’s not called General Hospital anymore.”

I asked where she currently lives in Orlando, Florida where I met her and she said, “I was living with my uncle who lives out there in um, a grave site in Odie land.” Later, she said that all of her “kin people are dead,” but she remembers them in Groveland, Florida which is near Orlando.

I asked if she has children and she replied, “I have a lot of kids, but they’re not what you call – uh, listed as mine.”

My next question was one you should never ask a woman, but I went for it... “How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?” She responded, “About a hundred and ninety six years old.”

“Old age is no place for sissies.” - Bette Davis (1908-1989)

Slayer on the Chest

The Slayer tattoo on his chest stood out to me, so I asked him about it. “Have you been to a lot of Slayer concerts,” I asked. “No, never been to one – I didn’t even know who they were until some woman told me about the band,” he responded as if he had never even heard their music. When I asked why he got the tattoo, he jumped back to telling me about the woman who told him about the band.

While talking to him he told me about his past apartments when he lived in Massachusetts, “I lost my last apartment in Massachusetts when I got my 4th DUI and went to jail.” He told me after spending some time behind bars, he decided to move to Florida. “I had an apartment here, but lost that one over a drug deal… It was only marijuana,” he said with a slight smile.

While conversation was something that seemed unnatural for him, he was a nice guy who expressed clearly that he is now homeless and has been for quite some time.

Even though he moved to Orlando to start over, he lacked the tools to clearly do so. He is back at the bottom.

Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL

What was once an active night scene is now a memorial for 49 victims. There was overwhelming sadness in Orlando outside the Pulse night club in Florida.

Tonight, I saw parents crying, brothers and sisters shaking almost uncontrollably, visitors walking quietly in disbelief and others unsure of how to act or react.

It appeared as if some visitors have been to the scene of the terrifying massacre every night for the past two weeks.

While mourners stopped to pray together, complete strangers would walk up to someone crying and place their arms around them in comfort. This was true of those who may have been gay, straight, white, black, Hispanic or other. Everyone was truly holding each other together.

Officers respectfully stood to the side carefully watching over the area, which is still an active crime scene.

A large chain link fence covered in black canvas surrounds the outside walls of the club that stands silent tonight and likely permanently.

"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less." - Vaclav Havel