Methadone Clinic

“I go to the Methadone clinic every morning [pointing down the street],” he stated. “But, I’m clean now – I’ll probably have to be on it forever though.”

He then told me about the dealers down the street near the clinic selling drugs outside of McDonald's. As I walked through the alleged drug sellers to reach my next destination, it was more than obvious what they were doing. They would sit in groups of two or three and after an order was placed, another man would walk around the corner with the goods in pocket. 

Methadone: Treats moderate to severe pain. Also used together with medical supervision and counseling for treatment of narcotic drug addiction. This medicine is a narcotic pain reliever.

Chicago Nights

“I sleep over there [pointing towards a church],” he told me. “But man, when it gets cold it gets down to negative 10 or lower,” talking about Chicago nights in the winter.

Out of curiosity, I asked a few people walking past him for money to help with a hotel. People ignored me, walked past me, bumped shoulders with me while shaking their head, rolled their eyes, I could go on and on. It was quite interesting. During this the man in the photo just looked up an chuckled, “See how hard it is to get a few bucks.”  

Divorce

I only caught a small glimpse of his past, but he told me one of the many reasons he was homeless was because his wife left him. I simply smiled. 

This was in Indianapolis, Indiana on Monday. 

"Divorce is expensive. I used to joke they were going to call it 'all the money,' but they changed it to 'alimony.' It's ripping your heart out through your wallet." - Robin Williams

The Bean in Chicago

It is called Cloud Gate, but many refer to it as the Bean. It was sculpted with 168 stainless steel plates in 2004 and was not complete until 2006. Despite the multiple plates, it is seamless. You can rub your fingers across the surface and it feels as if it is a piece of glass.

An artist from Britain built the sculpture in downtown Chicago. His name is Anish Kapoor.

In case you are curious, it is 66-feet long, 33-feet wide and 42-feet tall.

"No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist." - Oscar Wilde

Has not eaten

She was sitting by herself at 6 in the evening in the shadows of Chicago near the lake. She had a hospital bracelet on her right wrist and a walker sitting behind her. 

I asked, “When was the last time you ate?” She looked up and said, “Yesterday morning.” 
Without skipping a beat I quickly got her some hot beef stew, a yogurt, sandwich and more. 

Needless to say she never had to say the words thank you, I saw it in her face. 

“Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.” -  Maya Angelou

Those Gang Bangers

She was sitting by herself in front of a closed Macy’s store on a Sunday in downtown Chicago. “The cops don’t do anything around here [pointing down the street], some gang banger hit me in the shoulder right there,” she told me. As she talked another homeless man who appeared to be in his own state of mind came up asking for money, she yelled for him to leave.

“I’ll make it,” she told me, “But I hate it here.”

“Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.” - Joseph Campbell

The Grumpy Musician

I thought to myself, “How can you play beautiful music on the saxophone and be so miserable?” As I walked past him I thought to myself, “I only have a $20 and I need to get some change to give him.” I was on my way to a small eatery to buy a homeless man something to eat as I snapped the photo of the saxophone player in Chicago.

After I took the picture my intent was to come back and give him a few bucks. However, he changed those intentions quickly as he put the saxophone to the side and yelled while pointing at his case, “Hey, you better put some money in here – I’m not shittin’ ya, you better pay!” I smiled and continued to the eatery.

As I walked back by with food in my hand I smiled thinking, “I would have given you a few bucks if you did not have the outburst.”

I wonder what he is going through? I will never know. Sometimes, stories are not meant to be told. 

"You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger." Buddha

Over the Rainbow

He knew the words by heart as he sang by himself in a tunnel that led to the Navy Pier in Chicago. His song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. 

The tunnel went under the roadway and was a safe haven from rain or snow in winter months. It was well lit and fairly clean.

His hair was dyed purple, matching his shirt and his fingernails. After I snapped the photo he wanted to know if I could record him singing.

“I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain; What a wonderful feeling, I'm happy again.”  - Arthur Freed

Sober today

He was sitting in the shadows of a large Chicago building on the concrete windowsill. His face looked as if it were carved, almost unreal. As I stood and watched people walked by I noticed he would talk to everyone as if he were digging for conversation. “Hello, beautiful evening,” he would say never discouraged by a lack of dialogue.

As I kneeled down in front of him he enthusiastically told me that he has been sober since October 25, 1998. He told me he got sober the day after he was arrested for burglary on October 24, 1998. I could tell he was proud.

When he introduced himself, he pulled out his ID card to show me his full name. He then showed me his debit card, I think he was proud to be clean and on his own.

54-Year old Alen Kilbert Jr. is doing great today. That’s the story that he gave me. He was all smiles as he talked about his past being just that, his past

“Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either.” - Henry Ward Beecher. 

It was his birthday

“No one believes it is my birthday,” he told me with a slight frown. I smiled, “I believe ya’, I’ll find you a birthday cake.”

I searched the block he was sitting on in Chicago, Illinois but the only place open on a Sunday that had anything remotely similar to a cake was a Starbucks. Remembering that he lacked teeth and was scheduled to get new dentures on Monday, I also got him a yogurt, a banana and an orange juice. Of course, I also got him what looked to be some type of a pound cake with white frosting on the top.

When I gave him the cake he smiled and shook my hand while saying, “Thank you.” I then gave him a few bucks so that he can sleep in a bed as opposed to the dirty city streets on his birthday.

“Happiness... consists in giving, and in serving others.” - Henry Drummond, a Scottish evangelist, writer and lecturer.

He laughed

He would walk about 10 steps and then stop to catch his breath. Ten more steps and a local resident stopped to ask if he was okay. He responded and then continued is his journey a mere three blocks to get a free bagged lunch. I ran across him in Indianapolis, Indiana.

He told me that his lungs were bad and it was his fault. A few years back he inhaled Freon while working on an old refrigerator. He said that it ruined his lungs.

I snapped the photo and he asked, “Did you get a picture of my one good tooth [laughing]?” I smiled, “Got it.” He then went into detail about how bad teeth run in his family, “That one is holding on,” he said with a grin.

“I’m homeless, but I will soon get an apartment - I’m gonna’ get that all decorated and then check into the hospital,” he said. He then told me that he can’t get a lung transplant because that is for millionaires and he wants to hold onto his millions, again laughing.

As crazy as it may sound, he seemed happy and in good spirits. Charlie Chaplin once stated, “A day without laughter is a day wasted.”

Haircuts for those who cannot afford one

What a great day. We hit the streets, the woods and even under the bridges to give free haircuts to those without a home in Nashville.

I asked one fella if he wanted a haircut and he responded, "I don't have any money." I smiled and said, "It's free, we are here for you." He was so excited.

We value little things like haircuts that some of us get weekly. However, some of the folks we met have not had a haircut in 8-months or longer.

One of the most common things stated after the cuts, "Man, I feel so much better."

In this photo Brittney Pelham is cutting Joe's hair. Joe weights less than 110 pounds as he is currently battling liver and pancreas problems. His body is literally wasting away. His only medication includes Zantac and Phenergan to control stomach pain and to help keep his food down.

Just a conversation, please?

He was sitting in a wheelchair outside of a local eatery in Chicago. Most people walked past him without making eye contact as he said, “Hello – how are you?” to passerby’s. So, I stopped. 

He told me with a smile that he lives in a nursing home down the street. “Do you like it,” I asked? He looked up as he told me how great it is to live there. 

He was starving for conversation and friendship while enjoying the outdoors in the Windy City. 

Franklin D. Roosevelt stated, “If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.”

Popeye Club

He was sitting on the steps next to the Municipal Auditorium shortly after sunset waiting on a bus to Madison. As he spoke he told me he once had cancer in his arm. Part of his elbow was removed due to the cancer. He then took a smoke and looked into the distance as if he could see himself as a child. That is when his best memorable moment as a child unfolded, smoke after smoke. 

“My best memory ever was when I was on TV, I was 8 and Nashville had the Popeye Club,” he said. I later learned the Popeye Club met in the old Paramount Theater. A man named Bob Luck played an organ in the theater and the organ raised from the ground to stage level. “I remember Bob Lobertini was called Captain Bob,” he said with a smile. Lobertini worked at WLAC – TV in Nashville at the time. He then stated, “Lobertini was the weather guy on the TV station.” 

Channel 5 in Nashville first came on the air in 1954 as WLAC – TV. The station was owned by the Life and Casualty Insurance Company which is where the L&C tower is today in Nashville. In 1975 the television station was sold and it went on to become WTVF, News Channel 5. 

“The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.”
-Cesare Pavese

Wicked Clowns

He was homeless, but now living in a small home with about four other people. He told me, “I’m part of the Wicked Clowns… We are like a bunch of hippies, but we are violent. We are not afraid to use weapons.”

As we talked more he told me, “I did the tattoo myself [referring to his face].” He told me he used a mirror to do the ink on his face that is "War Paint." He then pulled up his shirt and showed me a tattoo of a clown holding a bloody butcher knife. Under the clown were the words, “NEVER DIE ALONE.” “I did all my tattoos myself except for the one on my back,” he said. Across his stomach was the word “PSYCHO.” 

Hippie Hill in Tennessee

I shot this at Hippie Hill in 2013. Still one of my favorite photos. Reminds me of something in 1970's. Love it.

"Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil." 
- Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead

Food for thought

Food for thought: Some would drive by and simply throw food or a bottle of water at his feet, sometimes hitting his leg. He was sound asleep when I saw him. I wondered how he felt that no one had the courage to stop and hand him food like a human being?

Perhaps his misspelled sign gives a glimpse into his life? The word "Work" was spelled "Werk" and the word "Dollars" was spelled "Dollors." I could only imagine that he never received the help he needed as a child in school and likely grew up with an undiagnosed learning disability and possibly a mental illness. 

I did not wake him in fear this was the only sleep he received all day, with his head on the curb of a parking lot near a busy intersection. 

George Orwell once wrote in Down and Out in Paris and London, “It is fatal to look hungry. It makes people want to kick you.” I think this photo rings true to that statement based on the fact that no one gave this man any respect. 

Starving for food

After he finished begging for money while sitting next to a McDonald’s exit it started to rain. So, he walked across the street and sat under a gas pump awning at a small convenient store. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, he was almost curled up in a ball. People dressed in their Sunday best walked past him without ever glancing down, even stepping around him as if he were a piece of trash they wanted to avoid to keep their neatly polished shoes clean.

I approached him and asked, “Are you hungry, would you like a doughnut from Dunkin Donuts [in the gas station] or would you like real food?” He carefully looked up almost startled, “Real food please.” I went inside and ordered a chicken salad sandwich on a croissant. I then grabbed a large bottle of water, a bag of chips and a Little Debbie snack for desert. I placed it by his side and he thanked me while putting the bag of chips inside the brown paper bag that the sandwich came in. He then scurried across the street to find a quiet and out of the way spot to eat.

I hate to compare a man to an animal, but have you ever noticed what happens when you give a dog a piece of meat or a bone? The dog quickly carries the item to a distant location to begin its feast. The animal moves away from the pack in order to protect and hide its food. That is exactly what occurred in this situation. It was sad to watch him quickly move away as if he was afraid someone would take his meal.  

Before I left I asked, “How old are you?” He told me, “54.”

“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” ― Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery