Real Mainahs

Real Mainahs being Mainahs

[realmainahs]

“What’s something you’re afraid of?” “I’m not afraid of anything- I’m afraid of God, that’s what I’m afraid of; excuse me I said I wasn’t afraid of anything, I’m afraid of God. It says, ‘To fear God is the beginning of wisdom.’ But people say, ‘well why should you fear God?’ Because it’s like, like your parents, if you do something wrong when you’re a child, you fear getting in trouble by your parents. God is my parent. So therefor I fear him. I look to God for wisdom, correction, for guidance; and if I do something wrong I fear it, you know what I’m sayin’? That he’s going to correct me, but I know it’s for my good.” “What do you like about New Orleans?” “Just the spirits of it, the energy.” “How would you describe the spirits and the energy?” “You can’t describe it. It just is.” “Is there anything you’d like people to know?” “To love; and love wholeheartedly and endlessly. People in society, we love halfheartedly, we look for love outside of ourselves, and then we’re afraid to love wholeheartedly someone else because we’re afraid of getting hurt. But if we find that love within ourselves and we continue to love ourselves, we can love the reflections of ourselves, because that’s all the people are, are just reflections of ourselves.” New Orleans, LA

[realmainahs]

(2 of 2) “So what do you like most about New Orleans so far?” “The people. And the music. But, the people.” “What about the people?” “Just gorgeous people everywhere. It’s amazing; it never happens. I never meet gorgeous people like every single day.” “Like gorgeous as in?” “In every single sense, like creative, intelligent, smart, like, cool, powerful, um, focused you know? Like... like lots of projects... Everybody here has something to offer, you know?” “What do you like least about it?” “Um, I miss the trees; the mountains perhaps. And the drunken people on Bourbon street; those I don’t like.” “What kind of music do you like?” “I like blues, very much, jazz, Billie Holiday. I like the music from the end of the 60s, beginning of the he 70s, very much. The 90s too. It reminds me of my childhood. And of course electronic music.” “What’s the weirdest poem you’ve written?” “Nuclear medicine. That was pretty weird.” “That was a subject someone gave you?” “Yeah.” “How many poems do you think you’ve written?” “Well I did more or less an average, because I started counting the poems in November, like numbering them. And, I think, I don’t have the book with me today, but, it’s like more than 400. So in two years, more than 1500 I guess. At least. So, that’s a lot of poems. Which is, it’s a good exercise for a writer. It’s always a challenge, I mean, you have to write about things that you would never even think about writing, so that’s good.” -New Orleans, LA

[realmainahs]

(1 of 2) This is a street poet named Tania who I met on Royal street. She was visiting New Orleans for the first time from Spain. “When did you start doing poetry?” “Um, on the street?” “Both, when did you first get into poetry, and when did you start doing street poetry.” “Well I started writing poetry not that young, I mean I’ve always written like diaries, like things for myself, but I started like seriously writing when I was like 22, like more seriously, in the sense of like, not every day but, kind of, very often, and also as a project as a challenge to myself. But the street poetry it’s been two years now, I met this other street poet in France and I was so amazed by the project I said, “Wow, I want to do that.” So, yeah that was three years ago but I started like two years ago doing it.” “What is it that amazed you?” “I thought it was so creative and so challenging and such an, I don’t know, a connection with people.” “So you’ve been doing this for two years you said?” “Yeah, two years. Mainly Madrid and I’ve been like, for like half a year now traveling with it, more or less, a little bit more.” “Is there a lot of people that do it in Madrid?” “My brother, me, and another friend who joined the project.” “Did he start it with you, like at the same time?” “In Madrid- Yeah, we started together, my brother and I. Our project is called Momento Verso.” (see momentoverso.com and find on FB) New Orleans, LA

[realmainahs]

(2 of 2) Seen at the 5th annual Sacred Music Festival at the Healing Center in New Orleans.

[realmainahs]

(1 of 2) “What’s the hardest part of doing this sand mandala?” “The center is the hardest part to make.” “What’s your favorite part of it?” “The one I’m working on right now.” -New Orleans, LA

[realmainahs]

“What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened since you started traveling?” “Uh, I, ooo, you really wanna know?” “Mhmm.” “In St. Louis, me and my friend went and did some dope at this random house and I fell asleep and woke up to like, all these like crazy black guys, like, and all of a sudden I didn’t have clothes on and neither did she, and we weren’t allowed to leave the house that night. Like gunpoint and shit, it was pretty fuckin’ scary.” “That sucks.” “It happens man.” “You made it out alive so that’s something.” “Actually right before that, I split up with my friend Bumpkin, and he got held at gunpoint and all of his shit got robbed as well, like, the same date.” “What’s the best thing that’s happened?” “Hawaii Rainbow Gathering.” “What’s that?” “Rainbow Gathering?” “Yeah.” “It’s like... You don’t know what Rainbow Gathering is?- It’s um, a gathering of peaceful people, and there’s an annual every year. And this year actually, the annual’s gonna be in like Maine, or Vermont, or New Hampshire. And it’s like two weeks long, everybody goes and builds a community in the woods completely like, out of like, the woods- there’s no power tools allowed. Everybody prays for peace basically, and we build like, kitchens, and like, kid villages, and playgrounds, and stages, and all sorts of shit. There’s no currency allowed, and there’s no alcohol past front gate, so everything is trading and bartering, and basically we just live out there for two weeks. You should go.” “I’ll try to. What made you want to start traveling?” “I moved to Colorado and saw these kids with backpacks and I’d never seen dirty kids before because I lived in Oklahoma and nobody fuckin’ travels through Oklahoma. So, I like got there, and within a week of living in Colorado I broke up with the guy that I moved there with and bought a backpack. Basically. I’ve been traveling my whole life, so, but, with like my family. So it was kinda like, I was always meant to happen upon this way of life.” “What do you like most about your current way of life?” “I do what I want.” “What’s one of the hardest challenges about it?” “Making my mom worry.” “How often do you talk to her?” “Like every three or four days. I call her every time I’m around a phone I can call on. Or places like this when I fuckin’ have had boot rot for a week and I can’t make enough money to get a new pair of shoes and new socks.” “Boot rot... Is that like trench foot?” “Yeah, it’s kinda like that. It’s like a bacteria that starts eating the flesh on the bottom of your feet.” “What’s something you’d say you’ve learned or realized after you started traveling that you didn’t know or weren’t really aware of before. Is there something you’ve been able to take from it, specifically?” “I guess that there’s just like, a way of life where there’s a way to survive off of the waste of everybody else.” -New Orleans, LA 2 of 2

[realmainahs]

"When did you start traveling?" "In May (2015). I started road tramping and then my car broke down in Maryland. Made it to New Jersey hitchhiking, and then got arrested in New Jersey. When I got out of jail I went straight to Hawaii. And then I flew here from Hawaii three weeks ago to Flroida and went to Ocala Rainbow Gathering." "What'd you get arrested for?" "I was walking down the street with a hunting knife on my belt, and their knife laws there are like super crazy, so they arrested me for- felony deadly weapon. But they dropped it, 'cause I was like, 'I'm a female, traveling through huge ass cities, like, by myself... I'm not from here I don't know the knife laws." "Other than your pack, like, what do you usually have on you at all times?" “A sharpie, my phone, dental floss, sewing needles- for patches, caribiners. I always have like, multiple bandanas. That's really it. Change... I usually tend to like, try to have weed; that's why I have this little patch, so it looks like I always have weed in my pocket (she had a small patch of a bag of weed sewn to her pocket). I usually have a knife on me... food stamps... ID.” -New Orleans, LA

[realmainahs]

I found a nice spot to stay that’s close to the French Quarter and one of my neighbors is this really cool guy from Philly named Erik. I’ve actually been learning to play the trumpet, and I just happened to park next to a guy that’s played for 25 years. Lately he’s been focusing on his youtube channel which features a variety of videos. He made the trip to NOLA to get out of the cold weather and plans to stay until it’s warm enough to go back home. -New Orleans, LA

[realmainahs]

“Do you live here?” “No, I’m just visiting for a while.” “What brings you to New Orleans?” “Adventure.” ”Do you bring your cat everywhere?” ”Pretty much.” -New Orleans, LA

[realmainahs]

Why is there an ad for you guys on the back of a vehicle's tiny house =)?

The blog is mine, and so is the house. I'm traveling to California so I figured I'd get some added exposure.

[realmainahs]

While staying in Northern Virginia, or "NOVA," as they call it here, I've met some very wonderful and genuine people, some of whom I've quickly become best friends with. One of them is a very talented young musician named Franco Juliani, from Ecuador. "What brought you to the states?" "There's civil war going on right now in my country. And there's a volcano that's active. So we came here to be safe." -Fairfax, VA

[realmainahs]

These two green clad rangers started working together at the same time in 1990. Now, I talked to Jason for a bit and asked him what's one of the weirdest things he's seen on the job. And while he could definitely confirm he's seen a lot of weird things, he unfortunately couldn't recall any on the spot. However, he did have this to say:

"I'll tell you somethin' weird... When you work here, you see, probably millions of people in your career, one on one. So, sometimes when I go home at night, and lay down and go to sleep, I just see face, after face, in my mind. It's like my brain is replaying all the people of the world, you know, coming through." -Washington, DC

[realmainahs]

While I was playing trumpet at the Federal Triangle in DC, a young couple from NY was passing by and stopped to take my picture... Not with a phone or digital camera, but with an old Polaroid. I was pretty impressed and excited to see that. I don’t know how many years it’s been since I last saw one in use. The best part was that they gave me one of the shots. Best tip I made all day, and from two wonderful people. -Washington, DC

[realmainahs]

”Are you here for the holiday?” “Yeah. I’m visiting friends for Thanksgiving.” “Are you a student?’ “Yeah.” “What are you studying?” “Engineering.” “Any particular reason?” “Well, I know they make a lot of money.” “What do you do when you’re not visiting friends or in school.” “Not much really, I sleep a lot. School takes up a lot of my time.” -Fairfax, VA

[realmainahs]

I found this woman on the National Mall practicing what I learned to be Falun Gong. She had a table and signs setup giving general information about Falun Gong. The display also served to protest organ harvesting in China, with a petition against it for people to sign (I signed it of course). I’d like to encourage anyone else to learn more and think about signing it as well. http://www.stoporganharvesting.org/ -Washington, DC

[realmainahs]

Nancy works at the National Air & Space museum and rightly so. This woman has an immense passion for the skies. She lit up like a child in a candy store once we got onto the topic of space.  While Voyager was going around the world, she was glued to any TV that was broadcasting it's images. She even went to Maine once with some colleagues from Goddard to document a lunar eclipse and apparently is was clouded over. But, just before totality it cleared and they saw the whole eclipse through a hole in the clouds. "When it was finished, I got a picture of the diamond ring effect, and then it clouded over again. I was standing there thinking, 'I wonder what prehistoric cave men would have thought with something like that.'  It's interesting to think... at least the Greeks, predicted eclipses, so they could use that for war; and say, 'If you don't do such and such I'll make the sun go away.' It scared the hell out of them." She initially started out at Goddard Space Flight Center with NASA, and after only a couple years there, married her boss who was an astrophysicist. Throughout her life she's been to every continent except Antarctica. Her father-in-law even worked on the Manhatten project. There was certainly no lack of stories for her to tell and experiences to share. "Which one did you like the best, out of all the places you've visited?""Australia. Actually New Zealand. New Zealand is the best kept secret in this world. People are so nice. Lots of sheep." -Washington, DC

[realmainahs]

I met this young man with his father; they were visiting from southern California. The shirt reminded me of Maine... Red flannel is our unofficial state flag, you know.

"What's your favorite thing about your dad?" "He's smart." "What's something he does that annoys you?" "He throws balls at my head."

-Fairfax, VA