Young girl drifter panhandling, San Francisco, November 2008
She’s Tuesday and she shines but she’s dirty. Looks like she’s dressed in her brother’s hand me downs. Or from 1950, like an after hour circus clown.
Her voice is dirty, too; gravelly.
“Shoutin’ too much?” I ask.
No smokin’ and drinking too much. She smiles.
She’s got three boys to look after her. They tower above her. She acts the mascot; but it’s not quite true.
The oldest shows me his wounded hand. Says its getting infected. Tuesday’s doing. Attacked him with a stick last night.
“I was pretty drunk” she explains; not sure if she quite remembers. She is still and will soon be more.
They’re just in town from Georgia, but she’s from Missouri. They keep together.
Been on the road for about a year and a half now. Calls her family now and then so they know she’s “not dead.”
And Tuesday?
“That’s the day I left. I had to get the fuck out of St. Louis.”
Thank-you very much Tom Stone, Amazing work you’re doing, Well Done!
Best Wishes To Everybody And Good Luck!
Haunting. It is difficult to look at these photos and not see your own humanity reflected back at you in the eyes, not knowing that luck, a few particular people, a few particular choices here and there are all that separate you. Strip away the clothes, the hair, the skin, the body and what you have is another human soul reminding you that we are, collectively, one and the same.
Carla- Exactly. EXACTLY.
Jack, Tom: this is a wonderful photo essay that I’m very proud to see here on GMP. Thanks for sharing the images and stories with us.
Thanks Todd. I am proud of this piece. Tom Stone is the embodiment of the GMP ethos, and troll bait or not a nerve gets struck, and my involvement gets called into question. I get the choice to do something or not. That is the highest call for an artist like Tom. Awareness is the first step. Then the discussion, and action, or not. GMP exists for those very reasons, and I can only hope to ask, discuss, and answer those questions in myself through that awareness. The world is not always beautiful, but there is beauty in the ugliest… Read more »
Thanks for this piece. “To my thinking, the original human trauma is our separation. We are too close not to need each other; and too far to trust each other. We rely on dubious senses and clever devices to interact; but we are alone in our thoughts. Lonely, insecure and uncertain; we pair, we group, we associate. We try to belong and we seek to exclude. We form bonds by geography, religion, economy and otherwise. But it is all precarious. We come together and we drive apart.” Love it.
It’s very sad that all of these homeless men are neglected by society and men make up the vast majority of homeless neglected by government programs.
What are good men doing about it besides taking pictures?
I hope I’m not feeding the trolls here, but on the off chance your question is genuine, Bad Man, I’ll tell you what I do:
I raise money for homeless NGOs and charities locally, participate in events like Cardboard Box City (see my article about that here on GMP), help host homeless families, and help steer homeless people into shelters and treatment programs, and teach my children to do the same, and I pray for homeless people everywhere.
Tell us about what you do.