On Jan 22, 2009, at 17:17 , John Sessoms wrote:
On Jan 22, 2009, at 1:49 PM, [email protected] wrote:
> > http://www.mapphotography.com/Paranoia/pages/anything.htm
There's a story there, but I wonder what it is.
The guy looks pretty clean and not beat down enough to have been
homeless for long ... and a little bewildered perhaps?
He looks my age, and I think this is not his "normal" station in life.
Reminiscent of Walker Evans' or Dorothea Lange's depression era work.
I am afraid that we will be seeing a lot of comparable works before
things get better.
For 15 of the last twenty years here in the Seattle area, there have
been many dozens of places that are staked out by beggars. When I was
driving the bus for 6 years, I had ample opportunity to observe the
show. I observed:
A group of 4 beggars who took turns working the same intersection,
swapping corners and signs from time to time to mix up the visual.
A gentleman park his fairly new BMW under the freeway, pull on a pair
of filthy coveralls and pick a sign from the several he kept in his
car's trunk.
Recognizable people who I would see at traffic lights all over the
place, within a 25 mile radius, with the same sign that the person who
was there the day before was displaying.
A Ford Camper Van driving around picking up and delivering these folks
to various corners so they could beg.
Garbage bags of unwanted non-cash 'donations' piling up behind the
guardrails, being fed by the beggar working that site. They
accumulated for weeks until someone kicked them down the embankment
into the ravine. The good stuff goes in the backpack sitting on the
ground next to them.
A woman with new magic markers pressing them into the roadside dirt
and printing out signs for a group of men standing around her. Then
they walked on them and bent them up before handing them around.
An unshaven but nicely dressed gentleman in Starbucks who I recognized
from street-corner begging earlier in the week. I spoke with him and
asked him how things were going in the indigent beggar game. He
complained at how boring it was and how much his feet hurt, but if he
stuck it out for a full day, he could clear $250 - $400. He had his
own home.
A local TV station did an investigative report several years ago that
confirmed my own observations. 9 out of 10 panhandlers were not
homeless, did not sleep in shelters, were not starving, and when
offered work (as so many signs proclaim) very few would actually
accept the offers.
So now, thanks to my regular visits to the dentist, I hand stoplight
beggars a toothbrush, or toothpaste, or dental floss, or a can of
stewed tomatoes I buy by the case at Costco. If they are truly needy,
I've helped them. If they are BS artists, I've not encouraged them.
Joseph McAllister
[email protected]
http://gallery.me.com/jomac
http://web.me.com/jomac/show.me/Blog/Blog.html
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