He is currently living on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee in search of work.
Sheila will turn 55 on Christmas Eve
My friend Joel Vernon and I handed Ms. Sheila a new sleeping bag in downtown Nashville and her response was nothing less than joyful. She held the bag in front of her and said, “A new sleeping bag for me? I got a new sleeping bag? This is for me?!?!”
She spoke as if she had to really concentrate on the words that came from her mouth. She spoke as if she had a disability from the past that tied her to the streets. However, she spoke with a happiness that can't be put into words.
After talking more with Sheila, she said that her birthday falls on Christmas Eve and she will turn 55 this year. I asked what she would like for her birthday or for Christmas and she said, “Some money so I can get a new outfit.” She smiled and pointed at her throw, “I got this for $4!” As she pointed, I could hear the sound of bells. Tied around her wrist were Christmas Jingle Bells that she told me she bought at the nearby Dollar General Store.
Perhaps instead of money, someone would like to stop by and give her a new outfit. I am not certain of her size, but I am positive she will tell you.
She sits at the intersection of Dederick Street and 5th Avenue North on the edge of the St. Mary’s Catholic Church parking lot. She said that she plans to be there on Christmas Eve too.
"Seven out of 10 Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless." - Pras Michel, record producer, songwriter and actor
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
The Old City Dam in Shelbyville, TN
The Old City Dam in Shelbyville, TN along the Duck River has seen its share of floods over the years. The question now is, will the old power house remain or will it be torn down?
The Tennessee Preservation Trust continues to call the old red brick building on the edge of the waterway an endangered historic site, yet little has been done to preserve it.
The building was constructed in 1915 to generate electricity for the community of about 2,800 residents. Today, closer to 21,000 residents from a variety of backgrounds call Shelbyville home.
The power generating facility was sold to the Tennessee Electric Power Company in 1929 and later to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1939. The TVA stopped using the site in 1948 and sold it to the City of Shelbyville in 1950. It has now been unused for 68 years.
As for the Duck River, it is the longest river in Tennessee. The 284 mile stretch of water is also home to more than 50 freshwater mussels and 151 different species of fish. While it may be hard to believe, the Duck River is the most biologically diverse river in all of North America.
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.
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
Morning Sun at Percy Priest Lake
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.”
―Robert Frost, Nothing Gold Can Stay
Photographing Supercars
When I am not photographing people, I find myself shooting cars.
Mr. Enzo Ferrari, who was born in Modena, Italy in 1898, left the Alfa Romeo Company in 1939 and agreed not to use his last name with any races or race cars for at least four years after his departure. So, he founded “Auto Avio Costruzionoi.” The new company produced the 815 Spider, but production ended during World War II in 1943.
In 1947 the company we call Ferrari today was officially birthed with the “Ferrari 125 S.”
As for the famous horse used in the Ferrari logo, it was tied to a highly decorated World War I pilot named Francesco Baraca. The horse was painted on the side of his plane. At the close of the war, Baracca’s parents offered Enzo Ferrari the opportunity to use the prancing horse symbol, so he did.
In this picture is a Ferrari 458 Italia. I snapped this on Tiger Hill in Murfreesboro, TN. The mid-engine car replaced the older Ferrari F430.
The 458 was produced between 2009 and 2015. While Ferrari is tight-lipped about their cars, it is rumored that a little over 15,000 458 Italia's were produced between '09 and '15. While that may sound like a lot, it is far from a high number. If you look towards a company like Ford, they made 160,412 Mustangs in 2005 alone.
As for handling, the 458 feels like a go-cart around the curves and reaches 62 miles per hour in 2.9 to 3 seconds, depending on track conditions. Top speed is 202 mph.
The Ferrari 458 is somewhat famous in the automotive world as the transmission is only available as a dual clutch 7 speed Getrag gearbox. In other words, it is not offered in the form of a traditional manual transmission car like other Italian cars are. The Ferrari company see’s it as the perfect automobile. It does however have paddle shifters on the column.
As for the interior, it looks like a fighter jet and every control needed is located on the steering wheel, even the button to start the engine, suspension controls and the turn signals.
- Horsepower: 570
- Engine: 4.5 L Ferrari F136 F V8
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.