Travel by Train

He was sitting in the Sunday drizzle on a street side bench in Nashville.

He said to me, “My friend hopped trains and he taught me how to do it… One time I rode a train from Florida to California.” He smiled and talked about how the trip was a once in a lifetime experience.

Looking up towards the sky as if he were remembering the later leg of his journey from Los Angeles to Tennessee he said, “When I got to Nashville, I almost hit a phone poll while jumping off - I will never ride again.”

Today he is homeless, but has a new sleeping bag to stay warm thanks to the donations received to purchase bags.

“Nobody has a perfect past, but everyone has a clear future. It is up to us to take control and become pioneers of tomorrow. Its never too late to jump off your train and head down a different track.” – Kemmy Nola, blogger in the United Kingdom

Lonely in the Big City

So many standing before us are filled with loneliness even though they stand on busy streets surrounded by people pretending not to see them...

"Hey you, out there on the road
Always doing what you're told
Can you help me?
Hey you, out there beyond the wall
Breaking bottles in the hall
Can you help me?
Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall"

- Pink Floyd, Written by Roger Waters

Pink Hair and Positive Goals

You can never judge a book by its cover or a man with pink hair and horns tattooed to his forehead for that matter, until you learn where he has been and the goals in life he has ahead of him.

Meet Robert who is currently homeless in Tennessee:

“I was born in Springfield, Tennessee,” he told me as we started to talk. Robert has been clean from Heroin and Meth since November 2, 2016.

I asked how expensive of a habit drugs were and he replied, “Meth is about $10 for a tenth of a gram – so $100 a gram - and Heroin, you’re looking at about $25 for a tenth.”

He then talked about the amount of heroin he used, “I spent about $60 to $80 a day on it and that won’t even keep me high all day.” You can shoot both heroin and meth into your veins with a needle or snort the drugs.

I asked if people on the street use dirty needles when shooting heroin or meth and he said, “I’ve seen it happen – them just rinse it out with water or even peroxide… Peroxide is not going to clean any disease out of a needle.”

Regardless of his past, he has big dreams of helping others in front of him… “I eventually want to go back to school,” he told me. “I want to be a social worker to help kids – like do a mobile crisis for children,” Robert explained. Helping children before their problems get too big to handle, is what he wants to do. Robert said that he has attempted suicide at least six times and stated, “I want to help children before they get to where I’ve been.”

He has a few tattoos that he no longer wants. One of those tattoos are the horns on either side of his forehead. “I got those this last year in the Coffee County Jail,” he said with a laugh. Someday, he would like to remove those along with the ink on his right and left fingers that read, “ZOOM ZOOM.” He got the nickname of ZOOM ZOOM from other drug users he called friends. “I got it whenever I was using meth a lot – I plan on getting this covered up one day,” he said with a smile.

A tattoo that he wants to get that will be a constant reminder of the need to stay sober is the date of 11-02-2016. “I’m gonna’ put it on my left wrist because I am left handed and every time I do something I’ll look down and be able to see it. I use to shoot up left handed.”

“How would your life be different if…You stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter? Let today be the day…You look for the good in everyone you meet and respect their journey.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

On a side note, I took the photo in front of a police car after he told me he has been in about half of the Murfreesboro Police cars in our city. :)

Anime hits Tennessee

Anime is a style of Japanese film and TV animation that is mainly aimed at adults. It was created in the 1980’s and is short for “Animeshon.” In English, that would be “Animation.”

An Anime convention is in Murfreesboro today and I thought it would be interesting to capture a few shots. This is one of the many characters I saw. Different.

Many of the characters in Japanese animation are quite flamboyant and strange. It is often described as being visually striking, which is one reason it stands out and has so many artistic followers today. 

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A bachelors degree in Women's Studies, but homeless

He has his bachelors degree in Women's Studies. Which sounds odd until you dive into the reason why.

He got his degree in Women's Studies after watching his mother suffer from drug addiction his entire life. His mother was sexually abused, which is likely what led to her addiction. He wanted to focus his life on helping battered, addicted or sexually abused women.

He is currently homeless, but has traveled to 49 of the 50 states. He is in his early twenties, but has yet to fully decide where he wants to start his "Real" life.

Living through cancer without treatment

She was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, but lacked the funds or the stable environment to seek treatment. She told me that she was given a grave diagnosis with about 12 months of life in front of her.

While still homeless, four years later she is alive and able to walk wherever her feet will take her.

"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have” – Cayla Mills, a cancer survivor who sought treatment

Korea to America

Up until the age of three, he was living in South Korea. He was then adopted by an American family that lived in a small town called Lebanon, Missouri. The town had about 8,000 residents living there when he first arrived. “They were Mormons and they were strict,” he said in describing the family that adopted him.

The 47 year old man told me that he lived in Lebanon up until his 18th birthday, when he was kicked out of the home. “I never graduated,” he told me when talking about high school.

Today, he lives on the streets of Nashville collecting aluminum cans for cash. He makes about .44-cents per pound, which is enough for food to eat. He is currently living on the covered sidewalk of a closed down business.

Wrong Bus Stop

"I got off at the wrong stop," he told me. "I was trying to get off in Chattanooga, but I got off the bus in Nashville by accident," he explained. I told him that Chattanooga was only about an hour or so away. He then pointed at his shoes, "Not in these."

Change needed

Sitting on a bucket with his hat in his lap, passerby's stopped and gave him their loose change.

He is originally from Galveston, Texas, but moved to Nashville about two weeks ago in search of work. “I lived through hurricane’s there,” he told me. So far, he has found a two day job doing construction clean-up, but needs something more long term. Not to worry, his eyes are open.

“Do you like Nashville,” I asked. He smiled and responded, “I love it here.”

“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse.” - Henry David Thoreau

It is about the music

His name is Terry Johnson and he's from Memphis, Tennessee. When asked why he ended up in Nashville, “To become an entertainer,” he told me. “I’m a song writer and musician,” he said with a smile and a tip of his cap.

Terry, like many of the people who call the streets of Nashville home, has dreams and sees himself as being bigger than the alleys he sleeps in.

“I’ve been told I look like Tim McGraw and I’ve also been told I look like Dwight Yoakam,” he said as I was walking away.

French-German theologian, organist, philosopher, and physician Albert Schweitzer once stated, “There are two means of refuge from the misery of life — music and cats.”

Well, the music I agree with. The cats? Oh well.

The mind is a palace

Homeless in Nashville, Tennessee

"You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.” ― Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes (1930-2009)

Paper's to be sold today

He sells papers in downtown Nashville and makes enough to afford a place to stay. He is well organized and determined to live a better life.

"I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time." - Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Heroin

He was sitting on a discarded Pepsi crate behind a gas station in downtown Nashville smoking a Pall Mall Cigarette and drinking a Bud Ice tall boy.

“I was clean for 22 months,” he told me while looking to the side as if he were afraid he would disappoint me. “I lost it though, lost my job and lost my truck that I worked for,” he said after telling me that he was addicted to heroin. As for a place to live, he lost that too because he was living with his sponsor who couldn’t risk his sobriety.

He told me that he overdosed on heroin one month ago and literally died. He was later revived after being transported to the hospital and given a second chance at this thing we call life.

Former CBS Reporter Dan Rather once did heroin for a story. He later stated, “I had someone at the Houston police station shoot me with heroin so I could do a story about it. The experience was a special kind of hell. I came out understanding full well how one could be addicted to 'smack,' and quickly.” 

The Music Maker

Todd Willard writes music and lives on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee. He told me the song he is working on now is titled, “My Old Friend.”

Todd’s home is a park bench on Music Row, across the street from a recording studio where he recorded his song, thanks to the help of a friend in the business.

“They hit me over the head and I don’t remember much else,” he told me when describing a recent attack that he was the victim of.

He pulled his hair back after removing his cap, “See right here, that is where they busted my head open – I was lucky to live through it,” he told me while describing what occurred.

They never caught the person or persons who jumped Todd, but he survived and I bet a new song is in there somewhere.

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.” ― Arthur O'Shaughnessy, Poems of Arthur O'Shaughnessy

Only One Eye

He told me that he was originally from Chicago, but came to Nashville for a job and never had the means to leave after losing the employment. His long stay started over ten years ago.

“Nashville’s a rough place,” he told me while describing a robbery that occurred in downtown Nashville. “They jumped me,” he said with an irritating look on his face.

As we talked more he pointed to his empty eye socket, “I lost my eye last year. It started out as an infection and when I went to the hospital they gave me eye drops and then sent me on my way. It turned out to be a staph infection and by the time I returned to the hospital a second time, the pain was unbearable. So, I lost my eye.”

His goal is to someday return to Chicago to be with his son and grandchild. “My son looks and talks just like me,” he said with a laugh. “He’s a carbon copy of me,” he suggested.

Carded for alcohol

The sun beats down on his leathery face as he keeps his hands in his pockets to keep his jeans in place while he walks slightly hunched. It is clear to see that he walks with pain in every step as if the soles of his feet are raw. His hair is gray and wiry and when he talks he keeps one eye slightly clinched.

His meals sometimes come from trashcans in downtown Nashville on a Friday night. Tourist are quick to throw away a half-eaten sandwich, which becomes his dinner at times.

“The government passed that law so they card ya’ up until you're 105 years old now,” he told me. I laughed and responded, “Well, you don’t look anywhere close to 105.” He shook his head and said, “But, I can’t buy a drink cause I don’t have ID.”

“My life was a wandering; I never had a homeland. It was a matter of being constantly tossed about, without rest; nowhere and never did I find a home.” - Jan Amos Komenský, a Czech philosopher (1592-6170)

Dogs and Homeless

“Dogs don’t rationalize. They don’t hold anything against a person. They don’t see the outside of a human but the inside of a human.” — Cesar Millan (dog trainer)

From the Vietnam War to America

He escaped Vietnam as the war came to a close in 1975 with the help of a CBS News Chief Correspondent named Brian Ellis. 58 year old Liu Khai Trac remembers the exact date he left, even though he was only 17 at the time. Lou, as he is called by friends told me, “I think it was March 27th that I left Vietnam as a refugee.”

During the war, Lou remembers being scared. He said to me on Wednesday, “At one time I recall that the bomb shell was so heavy we had to hide under a bunk bed.” He then talked about seeing a U.S. tank heading down one of the roads in front of his house, “I saw a military tank supplied by the US – they was running on the street – now tanks don’t usually run in the city, but that’s how severe inside the city – and then bomb shell I heard.”

I asked, “Did you like the U.S. Troops?” He smiled and laughed… “As for the American Troops, I thought they were good – They good guy – and especially - they give us a little pack of cigarettes to smoke, a dollar for a soda – they was friendly to us and we was friendly to them.”

Today, Lou is homeless in Murfreesboro, TN.

Wisdom: You Know Nothing

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." - Socrates, Greek Philosopher (469/470-399 BCE)

A Mix of Scottish and Indian Music

Arvel Bird is his name and he comes to get down with his mixture of Scottish and Indian heritage. He calls himself a “Celtic Indian.”

Notice the Scottish plaid hanging from his waist?

While on stage, he performs by switching between a traditional Indian flute and then playing the fiddle in a fashion that would make Charlie Daniels proud.

The diversity within his performance is quite fascinating, and enjoyable to listen to.

Arvel has a background for music. When he was younger, he attended Arizona State University on a music scholarship. He later went to Champagne/ Urbana, IL studying classical violin. His teacher was Hungarian violinist Paul Rolland, who is quite famous in the music world.

Before making Nashville his home, he actually toured with the original Rhinestone Cowboy - Glen Campbell for seven years, starting in 1986. Once in Nashville, he toured with Loretta Lynn, Tom T. Hall, Ray Price, Louise Mandrell, and Clay Walker.