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Lynn worked for a bank in New Orleans, and was displaced by the hurricane. She was staying in the Red Cross shelter with her family. Rather than sit around all day, she would run. She would run ten to fifteen miles a day in the area around the shelter. We would see her out on the road sometimes, this tiny vietnamese woman, running the streets of Baton Rouge.

Back home she was part of a running team, and they had been training for a marathon. She had no idea where anyone else had ended up, but she had faith that they would all be running the marathon together.

I was wandering around toronto taking pictures and came across an urban park where there were all sorts of people doing all sorts of things.
I watched this woman for a while as she sat at the fountain.
There was a certain vulnerability that attracted me to her.
Even though I never saw her face, I knew that there was something wrong.
She held her head in her hands.
I considered asking her if she was ok. But I didn't.

When I look at this picture, I wonder what it was that kept me from talking to her.

Current Music: rachael yamagata--live at xm

There was a two-day period where I simply went in the direction that the people I met told me to go. I was driving along a farm road in southeastern Alberta on the way to Saskatchewan, and came across the town of Cereal. Most of the businesses along the main street were boarded up, and the place looked deserted, except for a boy of about 10, riding around in circles on his bicycle. I was standing on the street with my camera and he rode over and told me his name was Joel Toth. He asked what I was taking pictures of, and then told me about the museum.

About the only thing that was still open in the town was a one-room museum in the old train station on the edge of town. By chance, it was Joel's sister Jaycea who ran the museum. He suggested I go see it, so I did.

Jaycea is 19 years old. She opens the museum for a few hours every day, and gives tours whenever someone like me wanders by. She goes to college.

The museum, though small, was fascinating. It offered a glimpse of rural life that is fast disappearing in Canada (and long-gone in the US). Jaycea gave a great tour, and was surprisingly knowledgeable about how the world she lived in was changing. I came away from the tour with an appreciation for the Canadian prairie that I had not expected.

Before I left, I asked Jaycea where she thought I should go next. It turned out that one of her friends had a grain elevator museum in another small town about 40 km away. She called her friend and told her I was coming.

I met eric on j street in sacramento, standing next to a subway sandwich shop. He asked me for some change--he told me he was stuck in sacramento, and was trying to make his way back to new orleans. I gave him a few bucks and asked if I could take his picture.

Just before I took this shot, I asked him how he happened to end up so far from home. "I don't know", he said.

Current Music: crowded house--into temptation

Arlina and I spent a few days in Portland Oregon on our first trip together back in 1990. One day our friends took us to the Saturday Market, a giant flea market at the edge of downtown. We came across a pianist tucked away in a corner, playing a beat-up old piano. His name was Paul Immanuel Owens. We liked his music and bought a cassette, which we listened to almost all the way down the coast.

When I was back in Portland at the beginning of my trip this summer, I headed back to the Saturday Market on my way out of town. Paul Owens was still there, tucked away in a corner, playing a beat-up old piano. There was something about him still being there, still playing after all these years, that moved me in a way I can't articulate.

"I'm back," I said.

I bought a CD of his music and listened to it as I crossed the prairie.

edit: i found this article about him after I posted this. The article was published yesterday!

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/113471070272940.xml&coll=7

Current Music: paul immanuel owens--winter's flight

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Entries tagged with people project

banker/long distance runner/evacuee, baton rouge, september 2005

the stranger, toronto canada, august 2005

museum guide, cereal, alberta, august 2005

traveler, sacramento (via new orleans), january 2005

pianist, portland, july 2005

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