Laughter beats the pain at times

He sits in a wheelchair because of diabetes and he suffers from neuropathy of the legs and feet. He told me, “Doctors describe walking with neuropathy as walking on pins and needles, well they know nothing, it’s nothing like that and it’s pure pain!” As the 65 year old man continued, “I wasn’t always in a wheelchair, I used to work in the automotive industry.”

Gary Rupp is from Detroit, Michigan, but moved away about three months ago because the dying city got too expensive to call home. After a little research, Gary found one of the cheapest places to live was Chattanooga, Tennessee – so he made the move.

The costs of Living for Gary (Detroit Vs. Chattanooga):

Gary currently calls the ChattCity Motel on East 20th Street in Chattanooga his home. He has a room that he rents for about $300 monthly, which is cheaper than some of the dirtiest motels in Nashville, Memphis and even Murfreesboro.

In Detroit, utilities average about $115 per month in a small apartment and that small apartment in a middle class neighborhood costs about $530 per month. The small apartment is only 480 square feet in size, which is a studio apartment.

In Chattanooga, you can get the same apartment for $483 per month and utilities will cost you $94 per month or less.

While saving $68 monthly would not convince most people to move, when you start factoring in the cost of food in Tennessee verses Detroit, transportation costs, etc. – it actually makes sense for someone on a fixed income to make that move.

What happens with neuropathy of the legs?

Some of the things that neuropathy causes in the legs include: burning pain, freezing pain, jabbing feelings as if you are being stabbed, extreme sensitivity to touch, lack of coordination and muscle weakness or paralysis.

Laughter beats pain: 

I feel it is important to say that Gary laughed three times as we talked. The first time when I handed him an ice cold bottle of water, the second when I handed him a package of Oreo cookies and the third as we joked at nothingness.

"Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain." - Charlie Chaplin, English comic actor, filmmaker, composer (1889-1977)

Sarah needs a new kidney

Life can throw us curve balls at times that we often don’t know how to cope with. At other times, life throws us fast pitches that are altogether too fast to catch and we feel as if everything is out of control. But not Sarah Baker, even though she is going through a lot, she seems to be taking it all in stride and with a smile.

Sarah, who lives in Smyrna, Tennessee, undergoes about four hours of dialysis three times per week. She has held onto that schedule for the past two years or longer. She needs a new kidney and she is on the list to receive one, but it takes time – a lot of it.

Listen to this 8 minute and 15 second interview of what it’s like to undergo dialysis treatment three times weekly as she waits for good news.

Of course, you could help her with that good news by calling the Vanderbilt Kidney Donation Center and volunteering to donate your kidney.

If you would like to learn how you can donate or to see if you are a match, CLICK HERE today. You can also call the Vanderbilt Kidney Transplant Center at 615-936-0695.

By the way, the costs for the donor are fully covered.

Removing the past

ABOVE: Click to enlarge photos

Lee, who is homeless, once had a large tattoo on his forearm that read, “Member – KKK.” However, that is now covered by a cross representing Jesus and a rose representing Lee’s mother who passed away about 8 years ago.

What is even more intriguing about the KKK tattoo being covered up by a cross is that the tattoo artist is black. Dewayne, who owns Beast Mode Ink in Murfreesboro, TN said he would be proud to cover up such a tattoo for Lee. In fact, the two hit it off great. It was likely a site that would not have been seen just a few years back.

“I can’t live like this anymore,” he said while looking at the rose. He then talked about how the rose would remind him that his mother wanted him to lead a better life and the cross would re-enforce that in a major way. He went on to say, “I made my mind up being homeless, that I’ve got to change, my mother don’t want me living like this and I decided to get this hatred off of me and live for God.”

Lee said that prior to the cross being tattooed onto his arm today, “My body had hate on it.”

Lee elaborated, “The old tattoo that I had on there was hatred and this tattoo that I’ve got on here is love for my mother and the man upstairs – that’s what I wanted right there.”

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

He lost his leg in a shark attack... not really

He was quietly sitting on the ground beneath the shadow of a closed business in Chattanooga, TN. Looking down, he refused to make eye contact with those passing by on a busy, but humid Saturday. The heat index was over 100 degrees. He wasn’t asking for money or help of any kind, just sitting in thought.

His name is William, “But my close friends call me peg leg,” he said with a laugh while holding up the prosthetic leg sitting by his right. He then said, “I was born with a clubfoot and they went ahead and removed it in 1966.” The foot was malformed from the start, so it was removed at birth.

“I usually have a good story for people when they ask what happened to my leg,” he told me with a smile. “Someday's I lost it in a shark attack, other times it was a ski boat accident,” he explained.

Today William is 51 years old. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, but later moved to Memphis where he lived a few years before heading to Chattanooga.

“I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's only me, and I walk alone
I walk this empty street
On the boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one, and I walk alone”
-Green Day, “I Walk Alone”

I met with a Keeper of Time

In year 1900 the Coleman Company was first introduced to the world after they incorporated, but not as a camping and sporting goods manufacture. Instead, the company opened under the name of the Hydro-Carbon Light Company, manufacturing lanterns that were later named after W.C. Coleman.

It wasn’t until 1909 that the first and famous Coleman Lantern was introduced. The company went on to manufacture everything from cooking stoves to canoes, like the one you see on this Jeep belonging to Brian Burgess.

Burgess, who is an archaeologist, totes his 1958 Coleman canoe with him on a regular basis. The day I ran into him, he was about to load it into the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.

Such canoes made out of aluminum were manufactured for the first time directly after World War II. Many outdoor enthusiast switched over from wood canoes to aluminum during that time period because they were so low maintenance and quite durable.

While digging for gold may sound more glorious, Burgess prefers to dig for history. He has searched the country far and wide for interesting finds. “Anywhere that there is high ground and walking distance to water, there has been man,” he told me while basically suggesting that history can be nearly anywhere.

Originally from the Lone Star State Burgess said that his grandfather, who is 100 years old today, sparked his search for treasures. He said that his grandfather took him exploring as a kid when he was only 4 or 5 years old. “We’re keepers of time,” he stated while talking about the importance of archaeologist.

“I also collect dinosaur bones,” he said while talking about how the bones will wash up along the banks of the Brazos River in Texas. The Brazos is the 11th longest river in the United States, which means it passes through lots of history. The Brazos was also where a scene from the battle between the Texas Navy and Mexican Navy during the Texas Revolution took place. It was also an important navigational voyage during the American Civil War. So, depending on where you are on the river, you may just be lucky enough to come across something interesting.

Not everything Burgess comes across is for keeps. In fact, he has given valuable artifacts to multiple museums. He suggested that history sometimes finds him, so he passes it along to allow others to share in the find.

“We’re keepers of time.” – Brian Burgess, Chattanooga, Tennessee

To the beat of a different drum

Being different while being yourself is sometimes the best thing you can do, especially in times like this when heroin is growing in popularity and crime seems to be turning to gang activity. Rap artist around the country continue to hit a great bass note, but the messages in their songs are still similar to the messages that were first made popular by the likes of NWA and the Ghetto Boys in the 1980’s and early 90’s. However, two rap artist who live in Murfreesboro want to change that with their music.

David Manning and Humble Me perform as a rap duo called “Change Musik.” Their songs may sometimes mention gang violence, but not in the sense you are likely thinking. Instead of glorifying criminal activity, they choose to rap about the negative lifestyle that goes along with such enterprise.

Manning stated in an interview, “Hip hop is very big on being real and true,” which of course is why you may hear songs discussing drive by shootings, drug deals gone bad and mistreating women – because the writer of the songs has lived just that – a life surrounded by crime or violence. Manning, who grew up living with a family that ran carnivals, traveled from state to state seeing all sorts of lifestyles with negative outcomes. Despite his surroundings, he picked positive things in his life to hold onto and value as opposed to negative sites or situations.

“I began to write music as my life began to change,” Manning said. He became a gospel rapper when he turned to Christianity. “Really, I want people to experience freedom man – and anything apart from truth will lead you to bondage,” he suggested.

Humble Me attended Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, TN and stated, “I scored really high in socialization.” After his short stint at Oakland, he was transferred to Riverdale High School. “When I got thrown out of Riverdale that’s when I got saved,” he recalled. Humble Me went on to state, “When people start graduating and getting out of school and you went to school and started when they went, it starts making you really look at your life.”

His next school was Holloway High School, which would be the third high school that Humble Me attended in Rutherford County. While there, he started to understand the value of good people and education. Of course, he was older than most students at age 19.

While at Holloway, he spoke to past principal Ivan Duggin who told him that the school would once again start a basketball team if he could find at least 14 people to sign onto the team roster, which he did. After helping to start the team he decided he wanted to play for the NBA. Amazingly, college representatives visited the school and watched Humble Me play and some colleges even contacted him at home asking if he would play for their school, but he turned the offers down when he felt that God told him to “Speak to his people.” It was then that he decided that he would speak to the masses through music.

It was during those high school years that Humble Me and David Manning teamed up to start a Gospel Rap duo. Together, the two focused on a solution to problems that their generation failed to see through the eyes of rap artist in their time like Tupac Shakur, Biggie, Jay Z, Eminem and Master P. Humble Me said, “All of those guys were not painting a picture of negativity, some of them were just expressing their environment.” He said there is also a solution to the problem of what those rappers sing about, but many of the rappers in his time did not see that solution.  

The question of what the solution was in order to live a better life was clear to both Humble Me and Manning. For them, their solution was giving their life to God. Manning said, “If I’m really going to make an impact in my community and I’m gonna’ really reach back then this is the best means to do it by,” talking about living a positive lifestyle and rapping about the good that God can do in someone’s life. The duo wholeheartedly believe that music can be used to change lives in Murfreesboro, Nashville and far beyond.

It is not always easy to be a Gospel Rap Artist and Manning said, “People look at us like – Man ya’ll are gospel rap artist?” He followed that by stating, “Man God wants to use whatever you got to bring people to him and bring glory to him.”  He said, “God has changed my life.”

In one of their songs they rap, “They say if you have faith just the size of a mustard seed, run into a forest blind probably wouldn’t hit a tree, David beat Goliath with a sling and a stone then we’ll sell a million records just singing these songs.” The goal of Change Musik is to change people by focusing on God and making sure that the Bible is intertwined with their songs.

In addition to making music, Manning and Humble Me preach to others on their television show called Change TV. The show is currently featured nationwide on CTN, Legacy TV and Walk TV.

To learn more about their music or to contact them, visit ChangeMusik.com

This Nashville man had a paralyzing stroke in 2015, but is walking today

Terrence Heeney had a paralyzing stroke exactly three years ago in July of 2015 and thought he would never walk again or be able to properly sort his words. However, he has fought the negative thoughts and battled through rehabilitation and is now walking and talking as he did before.

Heeney is a man after my own heart. He has traveled all over the world visiting just about every country you can name while working for Ingram Content Group / Ingram International. “I’ve seen most of the world, it is really beautiful,” he told me with a smile.

Mr. Heeney told me, “I will not get depressed – no matter how this turns out, I will not allow myself to get depressed.” He went on to say, “When I wake up I say – The potential for another day.”

Doctors told him while in the hospital that he would need to re-learn all the basics like walking, chewing food, swallowing food, etc. After being released from the medical center, he underwent six solid months of rehabilitation at the Life Care Center of Hickory Woods on Murfreesboro Road. He eventually gained the strength to once again live and he decided to give back to those who helped him while encouraging others that the road to recovery does indeed get easier.

Today, Heeney visits the rehab center on a regular basis to share his story of hope with others. He smiled and told me about a 55 year old patient who recently had an intensive surgery to his lower legs. Heeney talked about how the man was not recovering at the speed he had aimed for and was in a lot of pain. I asked Heeney what he said to the man to ease his anxiety and he laughed a little while stating, “I said, you know, you’re a young man and this is only a piece of your life, not your whole life, so knock it off.” With a chuckle Heeney told me that the next day he visited the rehab center and the man’s wife told him that she now has a brand new husband. The 55-year old man walked out of the facility on his own a month later.

Heeney continues to help others with a new outlook on life. One of the many things that he enjoys includes teaching. “I teach English three times a week to elderly seniors who are from war-torn countries and I help them get their citizenship – so I step outside myself,” he stated.

In closing I asked the simple question, “What would you tell someone who maybe having a hard time or who is going through a struggle right now?” Again I saw his face light up, “You’ve got to train your mind to be positive and not allow yourself to get depressed. If you do, set the clock on your stove for 10 minutes and when that buzzer goes off – it’s over, stop thinking about yourself.” He also told me that after his time at the rehab center was over and he returned home, he knew the road to recovery was not yet over. So, he would deliberately buy only a small amount of groceries so that he would be forced to make a return trip to the store up to three times per week – in other words he forced himself to get out of the house.

“You know, you’re a young man and this is only a piece of your life, not your whole life, so knock it off.” - Terrence Heeney of Nashville, TN

Farm life in the 2000's

Life on the outskirts: In Conyers, Georgia, a family lives on a small farm that looks like farms once looked to me in the movies. Quaint, with a cluttered front porch full of their treasurer's that others fail to value. This happened to be one such farm that I was able to capture.

Conyers, Georgia is near Covington, GA, where most episodes of the Dukes of Hazard were filmed many years ago. Sometimes those episodes would spill over into Conyers, which is only a stone's throw away.

Today, much of Covington and Conyers still look the same, when compared to that first episode of The Dukes of Hazard in 1979.

"There's trouble and then theres trouble and the trouble with some trouble is at first...it dont look like trouble." -Waylon Jennings

So long Calvin

So long Calvin Spalding… He was one of the nicest humans I have met in recent years. Always talkative and kind to others. But, he had struggles with health and addiction over the years and I witnessed some of those ups and downs.

At one point, he was living under a bridge and later he lived in a storage unit. He eventually got kicked out of the rental unit because he wasn’t supposed to make his bed there. He then went to a motel, but that got too expensive to remain in. Then, positive things happened and he moved to Christiana.

Just past the City Limits of Murfreesboro he lived in a small home in tranquil Christiana. He would ride his bike from that home to Murfreesboro almost daily to run what he called his errands, or to see friends in several homeless camps offering encouragement at times and on other trips, those friends listening to him talk about his life.

It wasn’t too long ago that Calvin sat by the bedside of Ms. Margarita as she recovered from back surgery after she was released from the hospital. Some of you reading this helped pay for that motel room for Margarita and never knew that Calvin was the friend who helped nurse her back to health. He stayed with her in that dark and quiet room serving her every need.

From time to time I would receive a phone call from Calvin who would tell me he was greatly confused on how to pack up unneeded items to put in his storage unit. He would say, “Scott, I just don’t know what I will need and not need, but I have too much stuff…. Could you help me sort it out?” At times, my wife and I would visit him and help him decide what would be needed for the summer and what could be stored away for the winter. The confusion he often felt about small things was at times, overwhelming.

In 2015 I took a photo of Calvin when he lived under a bridge and he was so proud of that picture. Another person who was homeless told Calvin that she saw his photo online and it was as if he became a celebrity. He smiled so big when he told me that story.

I always called Calvin by the nickname of Mick Jagger, as he told me himself that he resembled the infamous Rolling Stone. He would always chuckle when I called him that.

Calvin turned 56 on June 3rd.

In the end, Calvin was back to living in a tent and at times a motel in Murfreesboro. In the end, Calvin was still Calvin, aiming to make others smile despite his pains of mental illness and heart problems.

“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP”― Leonard Nimoy

Suicide in Tennessee

I met Charles in 2015 while out with my friend Jerry in downtown Nashville, TN.

“My father committed suicide in 2007, several months later… my mom committed suicide, I wish I knew why – I want to figure it out, it would help me – I wish I were there, I could have helped her,” he told me as if he were desperate to find answers.

As I continued to speak with Charles he said that he too thinks about suicide. He then rolled up his sleeve to show me a large scar on his wrist where he attempted to kill himself.

“When people kill themselves, they think they're ending the pain, but all they're doing is passing it on to those they leave behind.” ― Jeannette Walls

According to the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network, suicide numbers have climbed since 2006, of course our population has also increased, so to get a true idea of the statistics, you would have to look at the percentages, which do indeed show a slight increase.

In 2006, there were 866 suicides in the Volunteer State, which is 14.4% of the population per every 100,000 residents. In 2010, there were 932 suicides or 14.7% per 100,000 residents. In 2015, the Health Department recorded 1,065 suicides or a rate of 16.1% per every 100,000 residents.

People don’t commit suicide because they want to die, they commit suicide because they want to stop the pain, stop the voices they may hear, stop the brokenness in their life… this first has to be understood to simply prevent someone taking their own life.

“Did you really want to die?"
"No one commits suicide because they want to die."
"Then why do they do it?"
"Because they want to stop the pain.” 
― Tiffanie DeBartolo, How to Kill a Rock Star

Charles is from Knoxville, Tennessee but moved to Nashville after the death of his parents. He told me, “Someone stole all of my medication, they even took my blood pressure medicine.” He said they also took his medication for his Bi-Polar Disorder, “I have been off of it for 3-weeks,” he said.

Suicide and mental health or mental illness are closely tied together, as realized by medical experts.

In 2016, the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network announced the idea of “Tennessee’s Zero Suicide Initiative.” While the idea of zero suicides sounds great, it is an unrealistic goal to strive for – being realistic and understanding the depths of mental illness could be a better idea? Could be.

To be honest, such an idea of ending suicide may give way to less news stories about suicide and less information on the suicide aftermath that families suffer. It concerns me that looking at stopping the rates will possibly give some residents the false idea that suicide numbers are on the decrease, which will possibly allow a family member in the direct line of helping a loved one to have the thought that “It” won’t happen.

Despite my views on “Ending suicide,” the organization is moving forward with their efforts and in fairness, they are putting out more brochures. But are brochures going to cause an impact? My thought is an overwhelming “No.” Education is needed, but so is more accessible help in the field of mental health. We need experts to hit campsites of those suffering, we need home visits for those too depressed to get out of bed, we need more help and we need more volunteers.

As for Charles, I have not seen him since 2015. I do not know how his current mental state is today, nor do I know where he may be living. I just hope he is… living.

The stress of life

He was sitting alone in a dark alley with only the light from a nearby road creeping onto his right side and the left barely lit by an open restaurant door that lead to the busy kitchen. He was crouched down on a milk crate eating a tray of noodles, likely from a cook inside the restaurant.

I could not understand much of what he had to say, but he was very talkative so I simply listened to what sounded like meaningless chatter. But, it made me wonder what has caused him to become this way? Did it start before he became homeless while working as a diesel mechanic or did it happen due to one extreme stressor in life or multiple stressful situations with negative outcomes?

Have you ever thought about how unnerving our world is today? So many people fall into emotional and physical disrepair because of an inability to handle the things around us. Politics, natural disasters, physical ailments, declining health due to age or bad habits, addiction, loss of employment, false ideas of how religion should be verses how it is viewed in our churches, fear of relationships – I could continue typing for hours naming things that bog us down. But, why do we let these things get under our skin?

The simple answer is that not all of us do – some are better equipped with handling today’s times.

A Yale University study found that some people had brains that were able to process stressors better than others. What was interesting is that the study allowed researchers to see which three areas of the brain responded to stress during a functional MRI (fMRI).

The Yale study saw a decrease in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) area of the brain at first and then a huge increase in that same area by most of their study participants. That huge increase could be seen on scans that were overseen by doctors and scientist. For those that had the hyper increase of activity, it meant that their brains were blocking the stressors or protecting the person from stress.

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex area is involved in brain management, in a way. It is utilized when dealing with self-related processing or figuring out when to feel stress or not to feel stress. This area of the brain also causes disruptions in individuals with autism and those who function poorly in social settings. In other words, the vmPFC is not building that wall to block the stress as it does in some people.

Basically, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex either goes into overdrive to protect the brain from extreme emotional response, or fails to go into overdrive (fails to build that wall), which equals a flood of stress and emotional reactions to the stressor.

The Yale study found that those whose brain failed to guard against the stressor, they likely had an increased risk of binge drinking, binge eating or other self-destructive behavior after being stressed.

So if you react poorly to stress and find yourself acting out in self-destructive behaviors after a hard day, your ventromedial prefrontal cortex area is not guarding your brain. A quick fix for this problem is not available, but it is now the spotlight of more research.

For those who experience one extreme stressors daily, weekly or even monthly – these stressors add up and cause serious health issues. Those health issues can include high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease which can lead to more stress. More stress then leads to depression, anxiety or the onset of an underlying mental illness that did not make itself known until that stress in life continued to build up. So, if not tackled in the beginning, it can quickly become uncontrollable for an individual.

The end result of accumulated stress that is not handled properly… we break.

“Stress is the trash of modern life-we all generate it but if you don't dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.” ― Danzae Pace

Depression strikes the homeless and others - What about medication?

Sadness is something that others may be able to see in someone’s face, but what is behind the eyes only the sufferer knows. However, sadness and depression are quite different.

For example: “Shorty,” who is pictured, was likely sad when he and his girlfriend had a falling out. However, he may or may not have been depressed at the time, but sadness was definitely an emotion he felt. The good news is that sadness passes fairly quickly while depression can stick around for months or even years.

So many of those who live on the street experience deep and often dark depression. While it may start out as something mild in their younger years, it lingers into age and grows deeper into severe depression.

People often confuse mild depression with severe depression, only because they have not experienced such agony themselves. Others suggest that those who are sad simply pull themselves up by their bootstraps, which can’t be done if severe depression is involved. Those who make such suggestions fail to understand or even try to understand the underlying darkness.

Sadness can trigger depression and your chances are also higher if you have family members who have fought depression in the past. Severe illnesses can also lead to depression. Other items that can lead to depression in adult life include being abused as a child (any nature of abuse). In fact, child abuse greatly increases the chances of becoming depressed as an adult.

To help cure depression, doctors often encourage a healthier lifestyle along with medication. But, if you are homeless it is hard to eat right and hit the gym. It is also hard to afford a doctor’s visit, much less pay for medication. But, studies show that medication is important.

The brain is extremely complex, as most realize. Some areas of the brain regulate mood while other areas focus on daily tasks like extending your arm to turn off the alarm clock.

According to a Harvard Health article from 2009, “Areas that play a significant role in depression are the amygdala, the thalamus, and the hippocampus.” A recent study demonstrated how the hippocampus is 9% to 13% smaller in those who are depressed or who have dealt with bouts of depression.

To increase positive moods and decrease depression, the production of new neurons are needed. Doctors will prescribe antidepressants to help boost the number of neurotransmitters, but the medication takes four to six weeks to start working. The extended period of time between the depression and a good mood have to do with neurons growing and forming new connections.

Antidepressants promote the growth of nerve cells in the hippocampus. It takes weeks for that growth to occur, which explains why it takes so long for antidepressants to work. This growth process is called neurogenesis, meaning neuron growth or formation.

As for Shorty… he told me that he came to Tennessee because of a girl. He later said that he went to jail for 7 months because of that same girl. "I caught her with another man," he told me. The woman is now in California.

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We judge

Why do we judge what we see? Take this photo as an example… I snapped this several years ago in downtown Nashville. It was a Saturday night and this man was going from person to person asking for a mere fifty cents. Did anyone offer him the two quarters he wanted? The answer would be no. But, because I am slightly curious about everyone, I not only moved towards him while others moved away, I gave him fifty cents.

When we see people that we don’t know we intertwine their appearance with our own circumstances, our own past, our hurts and faults. After we take a look at that person, our perception becomes our reality, thanks to our minds creativity.

There was a lawyer who represented the United States in the infamous Iran hostage situation during the 1980’s whom I have always thought of as an interesting, powerful and extremely smart individual. If you saw him, you would assume he was an ambulance chaser.

Herb Cohen wears cheap brown or dark brown suits. His hair looks as if he gets it cut at the least expensive barber shop in the mall. His jokes are bad and he has a thick New Yorker accent. But, he is smart and he knows that his outward appearance is deceiving, which he likes.

Cohen is the prime negotiator who helped to get 52 American hostages out of Iran and to safety. For those who are curious about history, the hostage crisis arose during the Jimmy Carter administration and ended with the Ronald Regan administration, thanks to Cohen.

So what makes Cohen so different? I think for one it is his understanding of people and how he aims to treat everyone nice. He listens, he respects the opinion of others and he keeps his demeanor calm. He actually calls his demeanor “Calculated incompetence.” Sounds pretty simple actually.

Cohen has it figured out, not judging is not only good for everyday life, but also in business.

“You and I do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.” ― Herb Cohen

Bonnaroo: Chilling

Despite massive crowds of 65,000... Some knew the ultimate definition of "Chilling" among the masses.

Bonnaroo and the crowds

He stood in silence as the stage set was changed while the commotion before and around him continued at Bonnaroo.

He has been to Bonnaroo nearly every year

He has been to Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN every year, but 2016. “I saw the Grateful Dead here,” he told me with a smile. Anxious to tell me more he continued, “I remember the first time I saw them in California, they were nothing like they are now.”

While the original group never performed as a whole at Bonnaroo, a band known as “The Dead” did in 2003. The '03 year marked year number 2 for Bonnaroo.

The group known as The Dead was made up of several former members of the Grateful Dead. The group was formed after Garcia’s death.  

The original Grateful Dead group formed in 1965. They lost their lead singer who was a founding member in 1995. Jerry Garcia (Jerome John Garcia) was a lead guitarist and vocalist for the group that came to be known in the counterculture era of the 1960’s.

Drug use was far from hidden in the Grateful Dead. In 1970, the band was known to heavily use cocaine and later heroin. Garcia even had a $700 a day habit, which became widely known in the late 1970’s.  The band actually held a heroin intervention for Garcia in 1985.

Garcia died at age 53 in 1995 at a rehabilitation clinic. He died of a heart attack. Approximately 25,000 people attended a memorial for Garcia in California 5 days after his death.

So, who is the guy pictured? Just a dude who loves music and once followed the Grateful Dead. 

Bonnaroo: It is a Yoshi Flower kind of a day

Is that a leash or are you sharing a camel back water hose? Never mind, just keep walking – nothing to see here.  

Barefoot and Burned at Bonnaroo

The sun can do some amazing things, one of which is make you appear to be wearing a tank top when you are not wearing a shirt of any kind.

"You don't know my mind You don't know my kind" - Dark Necessities by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Bonnaroo love

Did you know that scientist have done studies to prove that when two people gaze into one another’s eyes, their heart rates synchronize?

"If I know what love is, it is because of you." — Herman Hesse (German born Swiss poet, 1877-1962)

Bonnaroo: Sitting in the dimming sun

A 1980’s band shirt that read “Suicidal Tendencies” adorned his body as he sat in the dimming sun while people walked by. He would sometimes kick his half leg into the air to draw the attention of females who passed by, some stopping to talk others walked the other way.