Photography Thinks
Went to an all day arts program. Talking to a woman with a tatoo on her back about a portrait shootshoot. She became animated and knocked her wine off the table, hitting me, before it hit the floor. Clean up time. I left to wash my jeans before they stained.
“Not with the same girl you saw me with at JUMP.”
Texting, knitting, sitting and staring. Boys boxed. “It it fake or real,” I asked. “Fake,” said Kaitlyn.
Larry relaxes after picking up bottles. Rolls a cigarette. Kicks back.
He said his brother died last spring. He took over the bottle business. “You should see me with a full load.”
He does what he has to do to survive.
So, I have been learning from the people of Burlington about life in the Queen City, making friends on the street. Ever meet a poet? Came upon him one day in the park.
He’s writing a book of poetry. Needs photos for his social media and for the book jacket. We be working with each other’s lives.
I know a lot of these people, but I had not met Mike or Richard North until this week. According to Mike, they control the ramp leading off I89. I had meant to visit out there where a whole different crew hangs out to find out what their needs were and whether they were on the social services chart or not. One of the Cots people introduced me to Richard. He agreed to let me take his picture. Mike introduced himself, beseeching me to take his and put it on America’s Most Wanted.
I found the two of them sitting on the shady side of Cherry Street on a cold, cold, cold day. “We slept on the street,” said Richard. “Mike tried to get himself arrested, but he was too drunk.” No wonder he wanted to be on the show.
He stands tall, despite the cold. Undervalued, underused, and under appreciated. But he doesn’t give up.
I saw her on a milk crate near Ben and Jerry’s. She looked young, cold, and sad. “Need some food,” I asked? “I need cat food,” she replied. I gasped, immediately thinking she would eat cat food as a tuna substitute. “Do you have enough money for food?” “Yeh, my boyfriend gets SSI and we do a little work, but its barely enough to cover rent and food. I don’t usually come out her to sit. I just need some money to feed my three cats.”
Governor Shumlin attended the opening of the Under the Big Top: The Fine Art of Circus in America at the Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont in Burlington. Toni Lee and Anne Marie, my artist friends, attended. Toni Lee does circus art. Anne Marie does textiles and textures. I do portraits. The Governor wants to be the next Art Governor, a title that had to be suspended during the reign of Douglas.
How cool. Not only attending a classical, but novel show, he actually wants to promote arts. My friend and fellow photographer Ida Gatewood came. She and I be old. We work very hard on our art. She audits Allison Redlich’s photojournalism course at Champlain College, she takes a photo course at CCV and has a Burlington College mentor. I expect great images from her.
The Governor had me for a while, until he said that he wanted all kids to have access to art. I sidled up to him after his remarks and suggested that older people would also appreciate some support. After all, why should the money for arts, as meagre as it may be go to kids and not older people, especially since we have less time to create our works and develop our skills.
President Fogel talked, too, promoting art in general and the circus art of Toni Lee Sangastiano, a Champlain College Professor who has taught me type and illustration. A gifted artist, she love paper, in addition to color.
Janie Cohn, the museum’s director, seemed please with the turnout and the show. After all, who doesn’t like a circus?
stuff left on the street
Sometimes you just cannot figure out how stuff ends up where you see it. Take this wheelchair, for example, slumped along the bike path. Someone brought it here and left it. Doesn’t look sick. Not a usual candidate for abandonment, eh.
