Standing Guard in Murfreesboro, TN

Standing Guard in front of the Murfreesboro Police Department: Since the FBI warned of police killing ‘purges,’ local citizens are becoming more concerned about the safety of men and women in blue.

As of Monday (7/11/16), a direct threat against law enforcement in Tennessee has not been made. But, that is not stopping an armed Tennessee Army National Guard Specialist from standing guard in front of the Murfreesboro Police Station for the next 24 to 48 hours.

Specialist Will Ray told me that after talking to a Murfreesboro Police Officer who told him about the so called purge, he and several friends decided to start “Operation Blue Streak.”

Specialist Ray stood in front of the Murfreesboro Police Headquarters Monday to protect and look out for the men and women in blue.

I asked him what he was armed with and he told me, “Well, I’m a medic with the field artillery unit, so um, pretty much I’m just in my regular fatigues, my load bearing vest with my medical gear, I’ve got my medical bag in the car and my Ruger .40 with me.”

The Tennessee National Guard was not as enthusiastic about the idea as Specialist Ray was on Monday. They ordered him to stand down when they found out about it.

The Guard released a statement that read, "He was not called up by the Governor. He was acting out of his own accord and his unit has been notified. He has also been notified that he cannot do this as a representative of the Tennessee National Guard. If he still chooses to do so out of uniform, then that is up to him." 

Alone on a bike

By looking at someone, it is hard if not impossible to know their story.

One time, this 40 year old man jumped on his inexpensive Huffy bicycle and decided to ride it from Rhea County, Tennessee to Sturgis Michigan. The ride took him a total of three weeks to complete. I asked, “Did you ride alone?” He looked to the right and swallowed, “I did.” I inquired more, “Was it ever lonely?” He smiled, “Not at all.”

As for food, he simply asked others for money along the way. Amazingly, he never went without, sleeping on the roadside in a tent each night and staying in a motel if and when he had the funds to do so. The trip cost him a little over $500, but keep in mind he left with nothing. Only a bike, a tent and a change of clothes.

But, why the ride?

He rode the mountain bike to Michigan to visit his daughter on her third birthday after he broke up with his daughter’s mom the year prior. The mom then moved to Sturgis with their daughter.

After he stayed in Michigan for a full week, it was time to say goodbye. He got to peddling and headed for Ohio, a state he had never seen. From there, he decided it was time for a break and took a Greyhound from Ohio to Manchester, Tennessee where he worked for a moving company for two years.

One day, he plans to hike the Appalachian Trail with his younger brother who is 35. In case you are not familiar with the trail, it is about 2,200 miles long and yes – he plans to walk all of it. Someday.

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls.” – Anais Nin

You never know where the journey will lead you

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." -Martin Buber, Jewish philosopher (1878-1965)

Some journeys may lead you to a retail store parking lot to dry your jeans by hanging them from the side view mirror of your RV. 

A Black Lives Matter Rally

A Black Lives Matter rally was held on Saturday night in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The woman who organized the event told me something that for the first time, helped me to understand why they take offense when onlookers yell “All Lives Matter.” 

Kaymi Butler stated, “Right now everybody’s saying that all lives matter, and that is completely correct. But, you’re not gonna’ go to a breast cancer rally and say, What about skin cancer? You know why, because it’s disrespectful. So… When people are saying to us all lives matter we’re not ignorant to the fact that all lives matter, but right now black lives matter because our black people are getting killed. So that’s why we’re out here.”

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)

Grey Street

"Oh look at how she listens
She says nothing of what she thinks
She just goes stumbling through her memories
Staring out on to Grey Street

She thinks, “Hey,
How did I come to this?
I dream myself a thousand times around the world,
But I can’t get out of this place”

There’s an emptiness inside her
And she’d do anything to fill it in
But all the colors mix together - to grey
And it breaks her heart"

-Dave Matthews, Grey Street

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

Just Waiting

Waiting on a bus… The two traveled from Puerto Rico to Florida together.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo was known as Saint Augustine. He was a Christian theologian and philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy.

Interesting side note, part of Saint Augustine is actually in St Augustine, Florida. The Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine has a small relic of the 5th century bishop stored in an ornamental clear vase made of glass and precious metals. A relic is a part of a holy person's body, usually part of the bone, kept for the purpose of reverence.

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)

A gas station from the past

There is something romantic in a whimsical sense about an old 1960's gas station sitting empty on an old country road in the middle of nowhere Georgia.

This was once a full service shop with a single bay, unlike what you see today. Pay at the pump did not exist, you had to make human contact for a gas transaction. Needed to use the phone, it cost you 10-cents to utilize what hung on the side of a pole about 50 feet away from the pumps. Buying a single candy bar and a glass bottle of Coca-Cola while using a credit card... unheard of.

"Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days." - Doug Larson

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

Urban Decay Somewhere in Florida

They quietly sit empty in Florida on a small and shallow lake. Urban decay somewhere in Florida. 

"Without publicity there can be no public support, and without public support every nation must decay." - Benjamin Disraeli

Life is a complete journey

He was sitting on a street corner in Orlando, FL under a bridge. To his left was a book by Michael Connelly called “The Burning Room.”

In case you are curious like me, you probably want to know what the book is about. It is a fictional crime story that revolves around an LAPD open case where a man was shot and succumbed to the injuries from the gunshot wound ten years later. Police pick up the case that has political ties to it and then find out that the case is also tied to the deaths of several children after the gunshot victim dies.

As for Rick (pictured), he told me that a friend asked him if he would like to leave New York and travel to Key West for free. Rick said, “Hell yea!” In fact, he lived in Key West for ten years and eventually left for West Palm Beach, Florida.

Over the years Rick also spent time in San Francisco, California and even Ohio. However, his roots still hold true to NY. He told me, “New York will always be one of my favorite places.” As for now, he will remain in Orlando.

Rick, who is homeless, has a sister that he has not seen in about 30 years. When asked if he would like to talk to her again he replied, “Not really. She always had her hand out.”

“Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It's a journey of discovery - there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair.” - Pastor Rick Warren (not the same Rick pictured, of course)

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.