Artsy Fartsy Alan

[nevver]

[fdsalan]

Conversations with the homeless

passes the time

Interacting with homeless people and babies and everyone in between is one of the greatest things about my job.

Many people come in with an established purpose. They want to get in and get out, and perhaps share a smile or a conversation along the way. Others are happy to look around, satisfied with the company or solitude that surrounds them.

When it comes to the homeless, attitudes and intentions are equally diverse. Some are angry and bitter, because the world has been unfair to them. Many come in knowing exactly what they want, what they need to sustain them for another while. Some have dreams - goals and visions of things they can call their own and places they can call home. It’s not uncommon for them to come in simply to pass the time. To avoid the cold or the rain or the harshness and judgement from the outside world.

The first person who stood out to me was particularly pungent and dirty. I was tired at the end of a long day and I didn’t want to deal with him trying on everything just to leave. I was completely absorbed in how he was an inconvenience to me. Luckily my manager was there to step in and offer support, and later a cigarette to him. We set him up with a decent jacket and shoes and eventually sent him on his way.  I was so surprised when he pulled out close to $200 to spend at our store. My prejudice against him prevented me from showing him compassion and kindness that he needed and deserved.  I was short with him because my patience was running thin. I wasn’t actively making his life worse, but i could have done a lot more to make his life better - to ease his suffering and give light to his life and my own.

Luckily he came back a few weeks later and i was happy to see him. He still brought with him some of the unfairness and negativity from the outside world, but this time was different. this time i was open to what he had to contribute. We ended up talking about god and self improvement and we even shared some music. Amazing grace, a duet between my melodica and his gravely homeless voice.

[nevver]

Lost in space, Mariano Peccinetti

[icanread]

[fdsalan]

[fdsalan]

[humansofnewyork]

“I started failing all my classes when I was twenty, dropped out of college, hitchhiked around a little bit, and ended up at a Buddhist monastery for six years. My relationship with my teacher was very worshipful at first. He taught me so much: how to meditate, how to wok, how to teach. He seemed to know everything. And he seemed to know more about me than I knew myself. So I completely depended upon him. Then he had a sex scandal. And when that happened, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t lean on him anymore. So I moved to the city and got my bachelor’s degree at City College. I’m glad for my time at the monastery. I’m a better person because of it, and it taught me discipline. But I don’t think I’ll ever be idolizing anyone again.”

[nevver]

Rupert Fawcett

[fdsalan]

This movie is strangely amazing.

[nevver]

[nevver]

Best coast, Jorey Hurley

[humansofnewyork]

“We walked all around this big museum. A museum is a place where you can see art or animals. This museum has stuff like Jesus and I saw a statue of somebody cutting a head. I’ve been drawing the statues but I’m not good at drawing lips, and the hands have three fingers instead of five because that’s easier. I probably shouldn’t show you this one because… I don’t want to say it. You can see their… their… their…. BUTTS.”

[humansofnewyork]

“I knew a girl in high school that always complained about having anxiety. I used to make fun of her a little bit. It looked like nothing to me. So I assumed it was nothing. And I dealt with it by trying to convince her that it was nothing. I called her recently to apologize. I’ve had really bad anxiety ever since my father died. And it’s definitely not nothing. It’s the indescribable fear of nothing.”

[fdsalan]

[nevver]

[humansofnewyork]

(3/3) “We stopped playing for ten years after our father’s death. We lost all direction. All of us hit the streets and started selling drugs. Our lives fell apart for a long time. Recently we all got home from prison and we had a meeting. We said: ‘This is not us,’ and we decided to start playing again. We bought some old instruments and tried to practice but it was hard at first. We’d forgotten so much, and it was the first time we’d ever played without Dad counting out the beats. But it started to come back to us, like riding a bike. Now we use the music to support each other. If one of us needs something, all of us come out and play. If one of us is behind on rent, we come out and play. If one of us needs to buy Christmas presents for his kids, we come out and play.”

[nevver]

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