Umbrella #1: November 30, 2007

Andre, Nicole, Stoney and Crazy Eddie

Friday, November 30, 2007, was a very rainy day. I stepped outside to head down to 4^th Ave and do some interviews. I watch the rain pouring down and saw this old shoe soaked in the rain. I thought about all of the street performers that I had talked to and wondered if they were warm at this moment. It is fun to get wet in the rain as long as you have somewhere to be warm and change into dry clothes afterwards. I got this idea to go to a thrift store and buy an umbrella and try to give it away to someone that needed it just to see what would happen.

After buying the umbrella, I met my friend Gary on 4^th. We were walking in the rain under our umbrella and I warned him that if we found someone who needed an umbrella that we would be giving it away. We stopped at a crosswalk to wait for the light to change and there was this car that was going splash us as it drove by. In anticipation, Gary tried to shield us with the umbrella. He managed to shield our torsos, but we still got soaked from the knees down. So, in jest, I said, “Oh great, Gary. Good job.” And he replied, “at least it’s just our feet.” As soon as he finished saying the word ‘feet’, this car sped by us and created a wave above our heads that covered us from head to toe in dirty street water.

When we crossed the street, we saw this guy with a hiking backpack with palm leaves strapped to the top. He was standing with three other travelers under a 10ft by 10ft canopy by a North—a pool hall. I walked up to one of the travelers, Andre; asked him how the night was going and if he would like an umbrella. He said no. I asked his girlfriend, Nicole; she said no. The guy with the hiking backpack, Stoney, raised his hand. “I want it.” I gave him the umbrella and stuck around to talk to them.

Andre and Nicole

Andre is from Connecticut and has been traveling since he graduated high school. He is nineteen, but looks at least twenty-two. He plays acoustic guitar. Both he and his girlfriend, Nicole, sell jokes for money, food, cigarettes, etc. Nicole also sings on occasion, but mostly she sells jokes. Nicole is from Tempe, AZ.

Andre and Nicole had just spent Thanksgiving with Nicole’s family in Tempe. When I asked her why she decided to be a traveler, she turned to show me her fanny pack; it had a patch that she had sewn on that said “Explorer”. Andre and Nicole just wanted to have an adventure. She told she couldn’t just go to some regular job everyday; she wanted to just experiences while she’s young (20 years old).

Nicole had originally started traveling with her friend, Megan. Nicole travels mostly by hitchhiking or riding in between train cars. They traveled for a while together, but there was a misunderstanding one-day and they were split up. Megan had made arrangements to catch a ride in one of the town they were passing through, but there wasn’t enough room in the car for Nicole. That same day, Nicole met a guy named Rod and they started traveling together. Nicole called Rod her “road-dog” meaning that they were traveling companions. Nicole was Rod’s road-dog and he was hers. A while later, Nicole and Rod run into Megan and her boyfriend in another town. Rod and the boyfriend leave the two (supposedly just for a little while) and don’t come back. Megan and Nicole read in the paper that Rod and the boyfriend had gotten arrested. Apparently, the two of them had too much to drink the night before. The boys saw this police motorcycle sitting by itself. They decided to knock it over and steal the flares and some green paint that was on the bike. They went to the train yard, sprayed a train with the green paint and set a bail of hay on fire with the flares.

Megan and Nicole started traveling together again. Then Nicole decided to settle down in Ohio. She had an apartment for three weeks when she met Andre. Andre was a friend of some travelers that Nicole had originally met in Galveston. Her friends from Galveston introduced Andre to Nicole because he thought they would hit it off. They were right. In the hour that I spent talking to Andre and Nicole, they were very loving towards each other. Nicole talked a couple into sparing a couple of slices of pizza and shared with Andre. Andre talked another person out of his leftover salmon and pasta, which he shared with Nicole. When I left, they were holding each other, eyes closed, under the canopy.

Stoney

While I was talking to Andre and Nicole, I glanced over at my friend Gary and Stoney. Stoney was making roses, hearts and a cross out of the palm leaves. Stoney handed me the cross and I asked him if Gary had told him I was a Christian. Andre and Nicole stopped talking and turned to me. Andre asked me, “Would you pray for our dog?”

They were in Tucson waiting to pay off their dog’s surgery. The dog had lost a paw when it was run over by a train. Andre and Nicole had found a local foundation that helped them pay for $1700 worth of the $3600 veterinarian bill. Andre sent messages back home to old high school teachers and friends asking for money to help pay of the debt. A large amount of people responded including people that Nicole and Andre didn’t even know.

Stoney was wearing a knitted cap, a hooded sweatshirt, boots and overalls with a patch that said “Red, White and Blue. Even if you see these colors, it doesn’t mean you’re free.” Stoney seemed to be against organized government. He said he didn’t want “to be a number”. Stoney said he wants to travel and be invisible.

Stoney is from Georgia. A few years ago was arrested in New Orleans for sleeping in a public school. Because he didn’t have any tools on him, they were only able to pin him with civil robbery. Stoney did 74 days in New Orleans. The day before his release day, New Orleans was evacuated because Hurricane Katrina was about to hit. The prisoners were not evacuated. They were all placed in the lower level of the prison, which similarly designed to a dormitory. Water came up through the toilets and showers. Eventually the water level was up to Stoney’s nose. All of the inmates were on the top bunks of the bunk beds because that was still above water.

When the prisoners were finally evacuated, they were taken by boat to the middle of this bridge. Both ends of the bridge were under water. There were 7000 inmates on the middle of the bridge for a day and a half without food or water. Prisoners were jumping into the moving water to try and escape. If they could hold their breath long enough to get away, they weren’t caught. I would assume they probably didn’t survive since this isn’t still water.

Stoney picked up a weaving talent for money. He skins palm leaves and rips them in half to make flowers and designs. The large pieces he makes are sold for $10 and the smaller flowers are sold for $5. Stoney has been able to travel to 38 of the 50 states. He has been as far as Florida to California and back to Maine. His worst experience was in L.A. That is when he picked up his talent with palm leaves; we weaved for a day or so to make enough money ($53) to get out of L.A. His family was “a bunch of rednecks” that beat him; they had bad childhoods and took it out on him. He is on parole and has a warrant out for his arrest in California.

Through his troubles he has hitchhiker with people on vacation, religious people, crazy people. Once a guy in Phoenix picked him up. When they were 30 miles outside of Phoenix, the guy says that he had just “slashed his friend” the night before. The guy pulls down his shirt and he has a cut from his neck past his collarbone. Stoney really thought the guys was going to hurt him, but Stoney doesn’t carry weapons. Stoney pretended to have a weapon by putting his hand in his pocket and told the guy to pull over and let him out. He got away safely. If Stoney ever gets a bad feeling he will ask them to pull the car over or grab the wheel if he has to.

Stoney had a very kind and relaxed sense about him; he smokes weed. He believes in karma—that what he does will come back to him; he believes in a higher power. He believes in traveling. One of his goals is to get out of the United States. Stoney plans to head to Austin and then back north after the winter.

Crazy Eddie

Crazy Eddie was an older gentleman—probably in his late 50s. He had a Mohawk that, at one point, he was styling with a knife! He was wearing jeans, boots, a windbreaker, and two belts; one of the belts had a black and white checkered design. The few teeth that Crazy Eddie still had were black; he probably smoked hard drugs. Talking to him made me very nervous; he scared me. Fortunately, I was with my friend Gary and around Andre, Nicole and Stoney. I told him I went to Pima West Campus and he started yelling about how the dean of my college had charged him with verbal assault but failed to show at his hearing. He explained the story in great detail. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. From what I gathered, he may have been a student. I’m not sure what else happened. I think he might have cussed-out the dean?