"I have only one son. But one was enough for me because I am very, very proud of him.

Our family grew up in Serbia with very little money. My son was always very driven though and, when he was young, he told me and my husband that he wanted to go to college. Deep down though, he knew we'd never be able to afford it.

I figured that was that but then one day, he sat me and my husband down and told us he had enlisted in the military, without our permission and to our surprise. He told us that this is how he would be able to save up the money to be able to go to college in the United States.

He ended up serving as a Marine in Afghanistan and did a lot of good with his time. He saved over 400 people's lives when he helped repair a US tank by hand with his driver, allowing the villages behind them to escape.

While he served, he saved every penny he made. And as soon as he got out, he used that money to get to the United States, where he was accepted into Baylor University and got the degree he wanted to have ever since he was a kid."

"I grew up in a small town on the Oregon coast and was completely insulated from the big city life.

Because of this, when my mom and then my brother both got addicted to drugs, I just didn't know how to help. I had no experience being around them and just didn't know how to talk with them. We were speaking different languages- and I had no clue how to speak their language well enough to try and save them.

I knew I needed more experience around drugs so I applied for this job (in Portland), where I handle security for an AIDS clinic. And, as you can see, this is a pretty tough part of the city.

I am around drugs every day now but, because I'm not here to arrest anyone, people aren't afraid of me. So they talk to me. I get to know all of them every day and make relationships with them, so I can learn how to speak their language.

I'm happy to say that my mother is clean now. My brother is still a work in progress but each day, I learn how to help him even more.”

"I am always open to learning everything that I can. When I first got to America, I started working in a kitchen and said I would wash the dishes if they needed me to. Then, they asked if I wanted to learn how to be a cashier and I said yes. Then, I took a job at McDonalds to learn how to work on the machines.

When I finally got the job at The Jupiter, I started as a housekeeper and only did it for two months. They looked at me and asked if I wanted to learn how to do laundry and I said yes! I wanted to learn everything I could. I stayed there for two years and they finally asked me if I wanted to be a houseman to clean the public areas, working in events and parties. I said yes again. Then, because I learned how to do all these things, they gave me a chance to be a supervisor.

I am always telling the housekeepers that they have all my respect because I know how hard the work is. I've worked 9am to 5:30pm every day since I've been here and usually do 11 rooms a day, 5-6 days a week, for the last 16 years.

When I talk with my team now, I say ‘If you want to learn, I know how to teach you.’ I tell them ‘You don’t need to be a houseman to get paid well.'

From here, I am hoping to be a director so I can learn even more.

All I want people to know is how much hard work there is in keeping your rooms clean and together. I’m almost 50 years old but I still feel like I’m 30. Most my friends are from this place that I work because we spend so much time together.

We’re not just friends, we’re a family.

My parents passed away before they were able to come and visit Portland but I know they’re seeing the snow from where they’re at now."

Dhorma, from the Jupiter Hotel in Portland

'In 1978, I was just starting out in retail.

My first Christmas at Casual corner, there was one thing that we literally could not keep in stock - An Oxford cloth shirt. I was trying to get the best sales in my district and it was a really competitive time in our company so, as a new associate, I really wanted to prove myself. Everyone else was in a rush to prove their numbers but felt they were at the mercy of what inventory they had.

Since the Oxford shirts were so popular, every single store was out of them. So, when the holidays came up, I knew that if I could find some, it was a guarantee for us to make our numbers.

I first started out by calling allocation and distribution and they said ‘It’s impossible. There are none. We just ship the merchandise and we already sold everything we have. Every other district wants them too so stand in line. You have to talk to the buyers.’

Now, remember, district managers rarely talked to buyers, if ever.

But, when I heard that, I picked up the phone and called them to try and build a relationship with the buyer so they could help.

I said ‘Listen, we have GOT to get more Oxford cloth.’

They said ‘Ernie, we can’t. They’re sold overseas. They’re a phenomenon and every single person wants these. And, even if I could get them, they wouldn’t arrive until at least 2 months from now. By then, the window would be closed.'

I said ‘I just can’t accept that. You have too many resources for that to be the only case.’

He had enough of me and finally said ‘Ernie, I have to move on. I’m a busy guy. If it matters that much to you, you can try and call my boss and see what he’ll do.’

That cracked the door.

His boss was the VP of merchandising and, when I called him, he was very taken back. If you never called buyers, you CERTAINLY never called their bosses. Remember, I’m calling him to put his buyer on the spot so I said ‘Hey, what can we do about purchasing Oxford shirts in time for the holidays?’

He said ‘Do you think we’re asleep at the wheel? We have made every call and contacted every vendor there is and there’s none available. And, you do know that Christmas merchandise is bought in May/June and shipped in September right? You’re way too late. There are no Oxford shirts.’

For some reason, I just didn’t buy it.

I said ‘I have a thought - I just came from children’s merchandising in a department store and boys, in the 8-20 size range, are a really close fit to girls juniors. The only difference is that the buttons are on the opposite side. What if we got those instead?’

This really pissed him off and he said ‘Look, if you’re better than us at this, you go and buy them yourself.’

And that was my green light.

I picked up the phone and called some past vendors that worked in boys clothing and told them I needed boys Oxford shirts. They said ‘Look, we have some but they are all going to be different sizes and they’re all in different colors. You might get half of one color, half of another.’

I said 'I’ll take all that you have but you have to ship them in the next 2 days. You can send them straight to the airport and I’ll pick them up myself.’

To my surprise, he agreed to do so.

The only problem was, I really had no way to pay this guy. I was in the field and I had no way to make the tickets we needed to sell the product. And you can’t sell the shirts without the tickets.

So I called the VP of allocation and he screamed at me saying ‘What the hell are you talking about? There’s no way you can ship product directly to St. Louis! It has to go through our distribution office and I WILL be the one that makes the tickets. We now have to come up with the SKU’s and we can’t do it. Cancel the deal now.’

I said ‘Jeff, it’s a moot point. It’s already been sold and shipped. It’s happening either way., if you give me the tickets or not.’

He said ‘FINE. I will make you blank tickets with a SKU that says 999 on them. I will next-day air it to you in an envelope but it’s your responsibility to pick up the product and get them to every store in your district.’

And I did.

I picked them up at the airport and hand delivered them to every store I had, in a snow storm (Even sliding off the interstate once while doing so). I took each of them out and personally presented them on a table. Put the tickets on. Made the display. And then would go to the next door and do the same.

I delivered every single Oxford shirt personally and, that year, I was only 1 of 2 district managers (out of around 100) that made the December numbers we needed to hit. And it was only the Oxford shirts that allowed us to hit that number.

I got a call that day from the senior VP of stores and he said ‘Hey Ernie, your name is really being talked about right now. And not in a pleasant way, I would add. But I heard what you did, and I saw the sales, so I’ll say two things: 1. Congratulations for making the month and 2. Don’t ever do that again.'

I stopped for a moment to fly my drone in a small Mexican town called Ajijic. As I started the motor, kids ran out of the forest and were enthralled to see it. They all crowded around my remote and watched it fly - And told me places they would like it to go next. We sat there for as long as I could keep the batteries going and flew everywhere around their town so they could see it from a perspective they never had.

When the batteries started dying and I told them I had to land, they asked me to try to land it on a concrete stoop. I did and the whole group burst out into applause.

When I was leaving, one of the locals stopped me and said ‘Those children have never seen anything like that in their lives. They'll never forget it.’

As I was coming to the end of my social meter, I went to the Pearl District to sit in the park and recharge. As I was sitting on a bench, Ralph came flying down the sidewalk in his motorized wheelchair and, when he got to me, he slowed down, looked at me and said 'I'm really sorry but would you mind if I just stopped and danced here for a moment? This is my favorite part of this song.' as 'Riders on the Storm' by The Doors was playing on his phone.

I said 'Of course. Make yourself at home.'

He sat and danced for a moment in his chair. After about a minute though, his energy slowed down and he said 'Ahhh, this isn't the best dance song. Do you have an idea for a better song to dance to?'

I thought about it and finally said 'Put on 'Calle Ocho' by Pitbull - I think you'll be able to dance to that.' He Youtubed it and, as soon as it started playing, he started dancing again. As the song played and he danced (and I was dancing on the bench), people from the park began to walk over to the music and started to dance also.

Ralph started an all out dance party in the park, with a bunch of strangers just following the energy.

When the song ended, everyone laughed and went back to their picnics and the energy slowed down.

Ralph looked at me and said 'I don't know if I told you but, the doctor told me this last week that I have dementia.'

I said 'No way Ralph. I'm really sorry to hear that. But you seem crystal clear and, even though you seem like a crazy guy, I'm crazy too and you seem all there.'

He said 'Yeah, I know. But I think the doctors right. I think I do have it. But that's why I'm out here dancing today... Just trying to shake off the news and enjoy life a little bit.'

I smiled and said 'Well Ralph, thanks for spending that moment with me. It lightened up my day and reminded me to enjoy the moment too.'

Ralph looked at me and said 'Sure thing kid. Alright, I gotta go. But before I leave, don't tell ANYONE I'm telling you this but... I love ya. Have a good day.

I said 'Love ya too Ralph. Come back anytime.'

He started 'Calle Ocho' over again and rode off into the distance, dancing as he drove away.

"Before I had a child, I was always that guy. Always out clubbing on weekends, getting into a whole bunch of mess chasing girls. You'd never find me on a weekend.

But, after having my son (Ezra), I gave up all that craziness to just spend that time with him. I'd rather sit in a park with him doing nothing than do all of that.

I tried everything I could to make my relationship work so that my son could have a real family to grow up in. I had that where I grew up in western Africa and I know how important it is. But his mom kept getting into drama and I just didn't want him to grow up around that. It's not good for a kid to see. I finally told her 'Look, take care of that drama on your own. But don't bring it around Ezra and don't bring it around me.'

Now, this is how I spend my weekends. Just enjoying the simple things with him. And, most of the time, we're not doing anything at all but it's things like that where there's a lot of peace. Where all that matters is that we're together.'

"The day after my 20th birthday, I had set everything up to take my own life. I was extremely suicidal, I was failing out of university and everything seemed hopeless. Then, my cousin died in an accident. I was losing everyone in my life around me and life just didn’t feel like it was worth living anymore.

On top of this, I grew up Southern Baptist and I felt like, you know what, God hates me anyways… I’m gay so, why should I even live? Whats the point?

Right as I was putting the plans together for how I was going to do it, I was invited to a little worship night from a professor at my university.

I had not told a single person that I was suicidal. Only my girlfriend at the time knew.

I went... but I was very hesitant at first because they were so charismatic and I have always been afraid of that because of being raised Southern Baptist. Still, I figured I had nothing to lose and went anyways even though I was really uncomfortable to be there by myself.

After I was there for a few minutes, a man looked at me and said ‘Can I pray for you?’

He put his hand on my shoulder and said ‘I can see, God has told me that you are planning to take your own life. And he is not done with your story yet… You have so much left to do. He wants to use you to advocate for people in your situation. Your story is not over yet.’

It seriously felt crazy but I have never felt a better feeling in my entire life. I hadn’t laughed in months. But I just started giggling so much that I couldn't even control it. It was like I felt the presence of the divine and a weight was lifted off of me.

I walked out of that church having a very different perspective and chose to do exactly that. To use my pain to advocate for people in the same situation. For anyone that is going through a tough time that and to tell them that, even if it’s not God reassuring them, that I will.

I am now getting my masters degree in social work and am a full time mental health technician. Everyday, my patients tell me that they’re thankful for me and I am so thankful for them. At the end of this month, I am speaking in LA as a keynote speaker to queer youth of faith and advocating to them.

All because I’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel and I honestly never thought I would.

It feels so weird to say that I have an impact on people. I just really never thought I would. But, now, I know deep down that I do and that, if I had lost my battle, then so many others would have lost theirs too."

"My mom was the one that taught me how to live. How to survive in this world.

Growing up, it was always just us and I always wanted to be as close to her as I could because she was my best friend. So, when she told me she was moving to Las Vegas, I told her I was coming too.

The first few years here were really good but she ended up getting sick and, 2 years ago, I lost her to cancer. And, even though we both knew it was coming, I really fell apart. I was strong but I really had never had to figure it out without her so it was easy to want to give up.

But I just knew I had to carry on in her memory. It was like she was telling me that she raised me to be too strong to just lay down and give up.

So I knew that if I was going to keep going, it was going to be for her.

She always loved the Raiders too. That was her favorite team and we watched every game together. So, when I bought this bike, I decided to paint it black and grey for her so that, every single day I'm out here, I can ride for her. In her honor."

"On the streets, I'm known as Priest.

Everyone calls me that because, after being raised on the streets myself, I decided to get ordained as a minister to help the people that were really hurting the most. I figured it should come from someone who was on the streets with them... Not outside of it.

I got the nickname because, a few years back because, there was a war veteran on the streets who was really in bad shape. Everyone was worried he was going to OD so they brought him to me and I took him into an alley way, gave him communion and said a prayer with him for the war he was still fighting. It ended up being his turning point in life and, last I heard, he's still clean two years later.

I started a non-profit called Rain too where we work as hard as we can to get people out of human trafficking. People don't have any clue how much human trafficking there is on these streets and most of them pass right in front of you in broad daylight. There's entire tunnels and mazes that run under this city where they run people through.

Because I'm on the streets, I see it and so I do something about it."

At the World Series this past year, I had a really special moment that I never shared. I write this to remind you of the power we all have to crush walls of discrimination and racism.

I was playing one of my favorite events at the World Series of Poker this past year - A $1,500 limit tournament. It’s an old style of poker and most of the players are badass old school players that have been around a long time. They’re crusty but, if you can break through them, they have some of the best stories you’ll ever hear.

I was sitting at my table for a few hours and had gotten most people to crack a bit (An important part of poker also - This helps with reading people) and we were all telling stories in between hands. It came out that one of the players across the table was from Minneapolis and we started talking about the protests and everything I had seen in the city while I was covering them. This brought a mixed response from the table, as most of them were older, and one guy was yelling some borderline racist stuff about his thoughts. Now, next to me, I had a really cool yet quiet older black gentleman. In his 70’s, grey beard, just sitting there in silence and not saying a word, whose name was AL. The other guy in the middle was word vomiting stuff he had seen on Fox News and it got the guy next to me to start doing the same thing. I listened. I didn’t say a word. When they calmed down, I said a few things that I had seen while on the ground that I had never seen covered on the news, that painted a bit of a different story. The racist guy in the middle just stopped talking but the guy on my right was able to have a quieter conversation with me and we kept sharing thoughts together, trying to hear the other out. It turns out he was from Minneapolis also and his name was Dan.

Now, I have no desire to get into a heated debate with someone else and dump my thoughts on them. But I will happily get in a balanced conversation with someone who has a desire to listen also, so maybe we can both get each other to see the world in a different light. But his views seemed very skewed and biased and overtly discriminatory so the conversation was difficult and then, he said ‘All of the problems we have in our city is solely because of black people’ and I just stared at him.

Now remember, I have a big, heavyset black gentleman on my left who has not said one single word through this entire hour long conversation. 

When Dan said this, I was already struggling with any kind of balanced conversation with him so I just stopped talking. But just a few minutes after, Al quietly whispers to me and said ‘Did he just say that all the problems that happen in his city are only because of black people?’ I said ‘Yes, but I’m still trying to talk to him. Give me a minute.’

Al was pissed but not looking for a lot of drama so he just sat there fuming.

I let the emotions calm down for a while and no one said a word. I sat in-between these two gentleman that you could tell was quite a bit of resentment, harbored from years of preconceptions of the other, with minimal actual experience in conversations together. The tension was ridiculously palpable.

We needed an ice breaker. 

I looked at Al and asked him where he was from. Then we started talking about why he left and it turned out he left because he was drafted in baseball. He was an all-star catcher and I didn’t know much about baseball so we started talking about his favorite teams, where he ended up playing, some of the proudest moments of his career, etc. He was still crusty but once we started talking about baseball, he was a whole different person and loved to share stories about his favorite pastime. 

We kept talking and I finally asked him some of his favorite catchers to ever play (While we were talking, the entire table was still completely silent). He brought up a couple players names proudly and then, for the first time since, Dan next to me said ‘Oh man, that guy USED to be the best but then remember when they he messed up at…’ Al got all riled up and said ‘MAN, that wasn’t even his fault! It was the pitchers fault!’ And Dan said ‘No, no, no… You know damn well he messed up.’

And Al just smiled. 

Then Dan said ‘What do you think about X’ (I’m terrible at remembering the baseball players names since I don’t know sports well) and Al said ‘Oh man, he was a star. He should’ve gotten drafted to so and so team and he would have killed it.’ And then the two of them just kept going back and forth, now smiling and laughing when they were bringing up plays, iconic players, coaches, mistakes, everything about baseball. I just sat back and let them talk across me, now completely lighthearted and having fun.

After about an hour of this, the dealer told us we were all going on a 15-minute break and I ran out to go to the bathroom in the short amount of time. When I came back, Al and Dan were both sitting on a bench outside together, now 6 inches apart, laughing and still going back and forth about baseball. I walked past them both and just smiled and went back to the table. 

When they both got back to the table, Dan said to me ‘Adam, can you come here for a minute?’ And me and him walked outside of the room for a moment, away from the rest of the players. Dan looked at me and said, ‘Adam, I don’t know if I would call myself a racist but I very well might be. But I grew up in Minneapolis with a father that was definitely racist and then I watched my city burn down with all the protests and everything else. Then the carjackings, the crime, everything. And it made me really, really angry. I just didn’t know what to do about it so I just kept it inside and kept getting more and more angry.’

‘But Adam, you got me and Al to start talking to one another. And Al is the first black person I’ve had a civil conversation with in years. In many years Adam. And for that entire break, we didn’t stop laughing and telling stories about baseball for even a minute. We just exchanged numbers too and we’re going to get dinner this evening together.’

Then he said ‘Adam, you did that. I would have never in a million years talked to another black person and I really do hate to even say that. I’m just angry. But Adam, you got us to start talking to each other and through the whole time we did, neither of us ever saw white or black. We didn’t even think about our differences. And it’s been a very long time since I’ve been able to think like that. Thank you Adam. Thank you for doing that.’

"I am from Southern California originally. When I was in high school, I was engaged to a man named Abe but, while we were, I was accepted into dental school and had to move to Portland for a few years to graduate.

While I was in dental school, I had some friends going out to a party one night and they told me I had to go. I told them no at first but they told me I had just been sitting by myself for too long so they made me go with them. Once there, a man named Jim introduced himself and asked if we could dance - I told him no. We talked for a little bit though and then, after the party, everyone ended up going dancing anyways. Once I danced with Jim, I felt different and I just couldn’t shake it.

I went back home to visit Abe but I knew something was different in me. When I saw him, he could tell something was off and kept asking me but I just couldn’t tell him because I didn’t want to hurt him. Then, when I went back to Portland, I wrote him a letter and in it, I included the engagement ring he had given me.

Jim wanted to propose to me from the very beginning but I said no every time he would ask me. I just didn’t want to get back into the same situation I was in with Abe right away. But he didn’t give up and, after this went on for a long time, his mother and father finally decided to drive down to California to meet my mother and try to win her blessing. My mother absolutely adored his father and, when they left, my mom told me I would crazy if I didn’t marry that man.

We were supposed to get married in December but, when I looked at the calendar, I saw school went too late and it was going to overlap over the date we had chosen. I told him this, thinking we would just postpone it until Spring, but he quickly said ‘We’ll just get married before school starts then!’

My family had very little money. My moms boyfriend was in the Air Force so, when he heard this, he sent back some fabric from overseas that we could use to make a wedding dress and my grandmother made the dress for me. For our honeymoon, we just got in the car and drove up and down the Pacific Coast Highway. I think we spent about $1.25 total on gas - Gas was about $0.10 a gallon then.

We ended up being married for 64 years together and spending our lives together, raising a wonderful family during it.

During our life together, we only had one real argument. I’ll never forget that, when the argument got intense, Jim stopped everything and told me ‘I heard a song. Let me sing it to you.’ And he started singing ‘If you don’t know me by now’ by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. As he sang the words, I knew what he meant by that and we stopped arguing right there. And I honestly think that was the last bad argument we ever had.

Unfortunately, Jim got Alzheimers later in life. I remember going to see his doctor and, when we walked in the room, the doctor said ‘Hey Jim! How did you get here today?’ And Jim would always look at me for the answer. The doctor said ‘No, Jim… I want you to answer the question.’ And Jim said ‘I drove.’ But Jim hadn’t driven in years. So the doctor looked at him and said, ‘Jim, I know beyond a doubt that you have Alzheimers.’ He was that black and white about it.

We would always sit together and he would go in and out of memory lapses. But I spent every minute of every day that I could with him so he would never be alone.

Just a few days before he died, we were sitting there like normal, and he was in his wheelchair. I was just smiling, holding his hand and kneeling to be close to him, and I said ‘We really had a wonderful life together, didn’t we Jim?’ And I told him how dearly I loved him. He looked at me and, not speaking any words but with a smile on his face, he pulled his mask down and leaned down to kiss me.

They took him upstairs and that was the last time I saw him. He had a stroke and died just a couple days later. But, I know after that kiss, he finally let go and decided it was time to let go."

"To me, the richest people has never been the bankers, the politicians, the lawyers. It's always been the musicians, the painters, the writers... Those with real experience in this life."

“I’m 72 years old and, if I’ve come to learn anything in my life, it’s that - Home is wherever my wife is.”

“I always told my children to write. You just never know what might be important later in life or just to give you a clearer picture of what you want to do with yourself.

But most people don’t do it because they just can’t be honest with themselves. I always try write exactly how I feel. The nasty, the ugly, all of that. But I do that so I can go back and look at it and say ‘Oh, I could have done that differently.’

I wouldn’t change a single thing about my life. All of my steps were learning experiences and, above all, I like me.

I’m my best friend.”

The other day, I headed to the Tenderloin district in San Francisco with just my camera and my skateboard, looking for some inspiration. I heard a guy yelling on a megaphone, and lots of shouting going on around him, so I headed that direction to see what was going on.

When I got a little closer, I passed this gentleman here and noticed he was quietly crying, just sitting on a concrete ledge by himself.

I walked up to him to ask if he was okay and, with tears in his eyes, he looked at me and said "Do you hear these people yelling? Don't they know? Don't they know? Don't they know that is not how you get people to love. If you want people to love, you can't yell at them. You have to listen to them first."

“My girlfriend just broke up with me.”

"This last spring, I was released from prison after spending 29 years behind bars. I went in when I was was 20 years old.

Growing up, I made the wrong choices but they were not for the wrong reasons. I was always just searching for a big brother. A father figure. I was really looking for a family. Just searching for attention. And I found all of that in a gang.

But one of the biggest misconceptions that people have about prison is that we do not rehabilitate.

To get out of prison after such a long time, I don't think people realize what you have to go through. You go through hell internally for them to know you're ready to go. You literally have to break yourself all the way down, fall on every sword, every crime you've ever done, every heart you've ever broke... You have to go through every bit of that and tell them why. Why did it feel good for you to do that? What made you carry that? We learn where our trauma comes from. And that helped me so much.

When I got released, I needed a job so I applied for this one because they told me I could work with people in the streets. I felt like every single thing in my life had been sacrificed to be taught what I had been and I wanted to use those lessons to help others. That's the only way to make sense of it.

When they first hired me, at the very first interview, I told them I wanted to first work in the parks, where the children played.

They said 'Don't you think that would be a problem? You just got out of prison.'

And I said 'No man, I want to be around children because I want to remember how to be a human again. Only kids can teach me that.'

Since then, I've cleaned up four of the biggest blocks in the Tenderloin District here. I went from a new hire to a supervisor and next time you see me, I'll be a director with even more of this city cleaned up."

"I got this butterfly tattooed on me for a very personal reason.

Not too long ago, two of my close friends were murdered on the Appalachian Trail. Their killer was copycatting the serial killer Randall Lee Smith and they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I was completely torn apart to hear the news and had no clue how to cope with it. All I could think to do was to go to the campsite where it happened so I could be in the place that they spent their last moments. So I went.

And I'll never forget walking into the campsite.

The moment I did, butterflies came out of nowhere and began to fly all around me. Encircling me as I sat there.

I just sat down and cried - Knowing that was them. Knowing that they were there with me, telling me it was going to be okay."

"I got this tattoo because of my grandmother.

When she was on her death bed and nearing her final moments, she looked at me and asked if there was room in heaven for her.

I smiled and said "There's always room for you."

(From Hugh, the gentleman on the right)

"We were married 63 years ago. I was a youth director at a little church in Northern California and she lived in a small town next to it. One day, when she was 18, she walked in to church and, as they say, the rest is history. I was 21 at the time.

But, just one month after we got married, I got drafted into the war. For 2 years, they sent me across the sea to Korea and I wasn't able to write much at all. All I could do was look at a picture of her that I had."

I then asked her: "What were those times like for you?"

"I really am not sure what I did for those 2 years. I honestly don't remember much of them. But I can tell you that, for at least the first year, I know cried every single day. I just didn't know if he was going to come back and I missed him dearly."

I then asked her for a piece of advice on how you stay married for 63 years.

"Above everything else, look for someone that treats you with respect. From the very first day when I met Hugh, he has always treated me like a lady and that has never changed, even today. Even in our 80's. I can still remember my parents meeting him and them telling me they liked him, just based on how he treated me.

We had three children, nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren... All from how safe he has always made me feel."

"I have worked on farms ever since I made it here. From Riverside to Oakland to Clearlake and now here, Napa Valley.

I first came to the wine valley when I was 15 years old and was hired by a ranch who became a part of my family. I remember coming for the first harvest season and knowing that this is where I wanted to be. Even though I was a worker, the family took care of me as if I was one of their own and I took care of their land like it was my own. But, when the owner passed away, things changed and I knew it was time to go.

I am now 66 years old and have one more year of working in this beautiful place. For all of our years working, my wife and I have saved so we could be ready for this time in our lives.

I traded in my last car for one that is very good at gas mileage when the prices went up. When rent was too expensive in Napa Valley, we moved to a town 45 minutes away, where we bought a house. We paid $110,000 for it and now, it is worth almost $300,000. And, many years ago, I went to visit my family in Mexico and found a half a hectare property that I bought for us to build our new home on.

All these years of farming have also taught me how to grow every vegetable we'll need to live on too. So I picked out a property close to the ocean in Mexico where we'll have the sunshine we need to grow all of our own food.

For all of my years, I have worked hard for other people's farms. But now, the best part comes, when I get to do all of that for just me and my wife.”

“Me and my husband were married for 65 years. A lifetime together without a single bad memory.

We had 14 children together and, from that, 24 grandchildren came into this world. It's really something to see that most of our family makes the small town we live in today. The one that me and my husband grew up in.

When I met him, we lived in the same building and, even though each home was separated, the walls on our bedrooms were connected to each other. So we used to stay up all night talking to each other through the walls when everyone else went to sleep. He would always tell me stories to help me fall asleep and it was so easy to fall in love right from the beginning.

One thing that also made it easy was that there was no electricity in the village at that time. So it was a lot easier to get away with certain things when all the lights went out."

(And then she just gave a big grin and started laughing)

"When I was in Vietnam, we knew that there was Agent Orange on the bushes around us but we didn't know how bad it would affect us when it got on our skin. It sure did take a long time but slowly but surely, it got me and I lost all the feeling in my legs. My fingers have started to tingle too and I worry that that is next.

When I lost my mobility 6 years ago, I wasn't sure what to do next. One day, my wife asked me if I had ever thought about playing tennis.

I laughed and said 'That's impossible. How would you even do that when you're in a wheelchair?" She told me that there was a group of people who did it and encouraged me to just give it a chance. I went that first day and never looked back.

Today, she is my coach and I am ranked 26th in the United States. And still going."

"The secret to always being surrounded by beauty. Fill yourself with love, until the light shines on everything around you"

"Say yes when you mean yes."
-
Me: 'How did you learn that?'
-
"Therapy."

"You have to be at least bilingual to get what you want in this world.

Just one example... My wife is Mexican and speaks all Spanish. When I met her, I was going through a divorce and was in the middle of moving all my things into a new apartment. As I was holding a bunch of boxes and waiting for the elevator, she walked up in a formal dress and look absolutely stunning. Because I am bilingual, I was able to talk to her. -
I asked her where she was going and she told me she was on her way to a wedding. I asked her where her date was and she said she didn't have one so I told her to give me less than an hour and I would go with her. She laughed and shook it off and I didn't end up going with her that night but, over the next few months, I talked to her every chance I could to try to get her to go on a date with me.

I annoyed her enough that she finally said yes and, as of next month, we'll be celebrating 8 years of being married and in love."

"My kids grow up in a world that is so different than what I grew up with. Right here, in America, they have everything. They have all of the opportunities but they don't know it. I only went to school for 2 years in my whole life and I never had the chance to go to more because, in Mexico, you have to go to work as soon as you can.
-
So I always tell them now, 'Don't leave school. If I had the same chances that you have when I was growing up, I would really be something today.' "

"An apprentice only becomes a goldsmith when he is able to fix his own mistakes."

"We had no money when we moved here from Armenia to the states. We all live in Los Angeles now and we have no time to do anything but work every day. Every day, work. We work hard every day and we still have no money"
-
'What did you do in Armenia when you lived there?'
-
"We did the same thing. All work. All the time."

"Do better today, for yourself, than you did yesterday. And on days that's impossible, rest."

"From my point of view, you need to find someone that you really like and that you really want to spend the rest of your life with. Someone you will do everything you can to make her happy. Because, if you work hard to keep her happy, you will be happy and everything else will fall into place. That's what I have done with the last 67 years of my life."

Him: “Stay close and love your family."

Me: Did you have an event that taught you to do that?

"The event was the way that I was raised. My mother and father divorced twice when we were all young. My two sisters and brother then grew up and ended up having 12 marriages between the three of them. But me and my wife have a family and we're going to be celebrating 68 years of marriage in November. Our six children and their spouses are all still together, ranging from 25 to 40 years of marriage in each case. And we have six grandchildren that are married now and all of them are still married. There hasn't been one single separation."

"Live a life with no regrets so you can look back and be proud."

Me: “Did you have an event that taught you that before it was too late?”

"When I was 15, my friend and I lied to our parents and went somewhere we weren’t supposed to go. We told our parents that we were going to the beach with a friend and their parents but, instead, met up and hitchhiked to the mountains. We went to a cabin where a bunch of hippies were. On the second day, I ran into some friends of my parents. I was a bit worried but, after all, why would they even talk to my parents?
However, that night (in the middle of the night), there was a pounding on the front door and the guy that owned the house came out with a gun. I quickly looked out the window and saw that my dad was sitting in the car. I yelled at the owner and said that everything was okay, it was our fathers that had come to get us.
There was lots of yelling and, before we knew it, we were in the back seat of the car driving home. After about 5 miles into the trip, my friends dad started yelling at her, turned around and started hitting her. He did it several times during the next hour. Under her breath, she just kept saying I hate you, I hate you. When we got to their house, they got out and went inside. My dad looked at me and asked me to get in the front seat. I did so very slowly and, when I got into the front seat, my dad reached out and pulled me to him.
He said, 'Honey, please never worry me like this again. I love you so much and if something had happened to you, I don’t know how I could go on.' We just drove home quietly after that. I was grounded for a month and then life went on.

But, from that day on, I gauged my decisions on if I could tell my parents what I was doing. If I couldn’t, it was probably something that I would not be proud of when I looked back. Did I under age drink? You bet... but I told my parents. Did I do others things that they wouldn’t like? You bet. Were they always happy with me? Nope! Did I get grounded more? Absolutely. But life was good. I was loved and trusted and and I loved and trusted them back."

"I am 76 years old and have been traveling the world for over 50 years. As you do the same, please remember what I am going to tell you: As you travel, you are going to see many wonderful places. Beautiful mountains and rivers. Oceans and beaches so beautiful, they hardly feel like a real place. Beautiful cities, beautiful towns. The world will keep showing you beauty in most every place you go. At the end of it all, though, you won't remember any of that.

The only thing you will remember is the people you meet along the way."

"As my kids grew up, they would join something and, after two times, they would say 'Oh, I didn't like it' or 'It's too hard' and it really ruined it for everyone else that started it with them because there's now less people to be a part of it. So, I would describe it the best way I knew how and describe it as a play.

A play typically takes 10 weeks to plan for (your typical production in a school). You get your parts, they teach you the staging and then you start putting things together: You make groups and then practice. Then you get to the part where you have rehearsals. Full on, beginning to end, rehearsals. You have costumes you get fitted for and all that. And it takes about ten weeks and, half way through, you are so sick of going and 'Johnny over here isn't learning his lines' and 'It's boring' and 'I just want to quit.' And I always told my children that, if they quit half way through, you never get to enjoy the final cheers of the crowd. Holding the hands of your cast for the final bow. You don't get that amazing finish and, to yourself, that is really huge. What is coming in the end will always outweigh all of the bad stuff in between and you will always be glad that you finished."

“Be mindful of how you spend your time. It's the only real currency you have."

“Seek criticism, never praise.”

I stopped for a moment to fly my drone in a small Mexican town called Ajijic. As I started the motor, kids ran out of the forest and were enthralled to see it. They all crowded around my remote and watched it fly - And told me places they would like it to go next. We sat there for as long as I could keep the batteries going and flew everywhere around their town so they could see it from a perspective they never had.

When the batteries started dying and I told them I had to land, they asked me to try to land it on a concrete step. I did and the whole group burst out into applause.

When I was leaving, one of the locals stopped me and said ‘Those children have never seen anything like that in their entire lives. They will never forget this moment.’

On top of sharing quotes, I am also going to be a lot of the behind-the-scenes stories that make these trips so rewarding.

As you know, I am relentlessly walking through new places and looking for humanity in any place I can find it. But sometimes, they are moments that just unfold and don't always involve me approaching someone to hear their story.

In Guadalajara, these moments are extra special because we have a language disconnect. So more than just sharing words, we are also sharing expressions and hand movements to convey what we're trying to say in any way possible.

This is was one of my favorite moments like that.

While walking through Guadalajara, I stopped to have a beer. There was only one seat at this bar and the waitress (Maria) pointed to it for me to sit at. When I did, I ordered a Corona but she didn't understand so the bartender told her in sign language. I quickly knew she was deaf so I watched how he signed the word 'beer' to her and learned it so I can order directly through her next time.

When I did, it meant so much that she came out to stand with me the whole time. She kept bringing me snacks to have with my beer until I had to finally wave her off before I ate too much! While she stood there, we both started to communicate in any way we could so I could hear her story.

Remember, here is a lady who not only speaks ZERO english but also is deaf. So we're learning this as we go.

It turned into one of the most rewarding moments of this trip. Me and Maria spent over an hour talking together - Finding a way to convey our points in any way possible. A lot of this was through sign language which she was teaching me as I went - But sometimes, I would write down things in Spanish for her to read.

She told me that her and her husband had opened this bar in a very crowded part of town. They offered drinks to go so they were constantly full of people ordering Cantaritos and Micheladas - They had more people coming there than they could even serve. They thought they hit a gold mine.

Then, Covid hit. And when Covid hit, she explained how this town square went from thousands of people to what it is now - Just a few people walking by. From hundreds of people coming to this bar to now, just me, ordering a beer.

The times got very tough on them and she went from running the bar to becoming a waitress to then now, where she walks through the square to hand out flyers and trying to get people to come have a drink.

I told her about where I am from - In the Northwest where we still have snow - And she was jumping up and down when I told her about the snow. She had never seen snow and kept showing me how cold she would be to be in it by shivering her arms. Then she asked if we had boats there by acting out her paddling a canoe.

It was absolutely beautiful and I laughed through every moment, as we did our best to keep talking. When I left, she asked if it would be okay to give me a hug and I said of course. I tipped her as much as I could and vowed to come back.

-Grateful to save someones life with this project-

The other day, I got a very random email that was sent through my 'Hello From A Stranger' website. It shook me than anything else from this entire project. I never realized the impact this would make and that, one day, it would actually save lives from suicide itself.

-

All it said was "Share music!!! Music saves souls. "

No name or anything with it. I emailed them back and said

"Thank you! I love this message. Who is this or how did you find this project? Have a wonderful day!"

-

I got an email a few days later saying "My name is Rick. I don’t think I found your project, I think it found me.

Almost every time I feel like I can’t move forward, the Universe sends me subtle signs. Sometimes it slaps me in the face with something I need to pay attention to.

I think that’s what happened. So thank you."

-

So the next day, I responded with:

"Rick, this is just awesome to read - I can't tell you how encouraging it is, especially from a random stranger.

I couldn't agree more about the universe slapping us in the face sometimes - Thankfully, you had the wisdom to listen to it and let it lead you where it was trying to.

What part of the country/world are you in? Tell me more about your story!"

-

And Rick emailed me this morning and said "Ok. So , this is the story...

I have had a significant amount of trauma in my life. More than I could handle. I made choices early on in my own mind as to how I would deal with it. And for many years it worked out.

And I kept doing it. I kept compromising myself and my emotions until I was comfortable with ending it.

I sorted all my stuff out. I made peace with it.

And on the day I was supposed to leave, your project found me.... and I said Hello.

I made some different decisions.

I’m 51, and I live in Vancouver, Canada.

Thank you!!!"

"We're Italian. That means we're not going to say our names but we know we're beautiful so yes... You can take a photograph."

"I was a military brat from a family of 8 brothers and sisters. My mom was a professional at having babies by the time she had me.

We had been living in Pennsylvania at the time but were driving across the country to move somewhere new. While we were driving through North Dakota, my mom said she had to go to the bathroom so my dad pulled over. When she came out, she told my dad she was in labor and he said 'You just peed!' She said 'Yeah, that's how I know.'

So they pulled over in Fargo, North Dakota to have me and, after I came out, they were so exhausted that they just decided to move there. We spent over a year there."

"Growing up, I was always teased. Your clothes are dirty. You need to change your clothes. All of that. I was mocked.

But as I got older, I got wiser. I got smarter.

And I said 'I'm going to create my own style.'

In doing that, I learned that... The best thing you can do is to not let the words become you. Do not let society make you feel like you're less of a person because you're not like them.

These days, I see everyone wearing the same things, looking like everyone else. I see everyone with the same short jackets. The same pea coats.

And, that's okay but, in time, I learned how to not listen to the title others give me - and to give myself the title I wanted.

And when you're not like everyone else, everyone else will just come into place in your life."

"When I was 26 years old, I had no direction. I was a writer but had never been able to find a way to make money at it.

One day, I watched an old 1950's movie called The Magician and came up with a ludicrous idea to make some of the costumes from that movie. My plan was then to photograph people that came into the store with the costumes and process them into old looking photographs to sell to them.

I thought I'd mess around with the idea and then move on to something else.

I told the idea to a friend and he mentioned that he had a tax-exempt number that I could use for the store to help get started.

I did but, shortly after, I found out that you have to actually profit to use a tax-exempt number or you would be penalized - And I wasn't making any money at all. I didn't want to screw that friend over so I knew I had to figure it out.

I rented a place on a very popular boardwalk that has about 250,000 people that walk by the storefront each month. I didn't have much money, only enough for the down payment, so I got a loan for the rest.

The very first weekend I was open, I made enough to repay the whole down payment and I never looked back. That business ended up becoming my entire life and I ran it proudly for 42 years.

3 years ago, I finally retired from it and gave the business to the two employees who had been with me the longest."

"I've been playing Santa Claus for 45 years now - And it all started by complete accident.

I was a security guard at Antioch Center in Kansas City and was helping them with a shoplifting case. The guy who was playing Santa at that time was a retired police sergeant and, when he came in that day, he had alcohol on his breath so they fired him on the spot.

But they didn't have anyone to replace him.

I was standing right there when they did so they turned to me and said 'Are you working all day?'

I said 'No, just this morning.'

He said 'Well, our Santa was supposed to go to the area hospitals today and we don't have anyone now. So we need you do it.'

I didn't know what to say.

I said 'I've never done it before Ed.'

He said 'Gary, there's only two things you have to remember - Don't promise a child anything and always be jolly.'

I went that day and never looked back.

I ended up being Santa Claus at Antioch Center for 16 years. I then went to Metro North and was Santa there for 14 years. 9 years at Independent Center. East Hill Shopping Center at St. Joe for 5 years. And then I've been down here for 5 years.”

"My name is Sisily and I'm from the French Guiana.

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be an artist but I didn't know where I should go to foster that. But I knew I couldn't stay there.

I studied film in Paris but I just didn't feel home there. I went to New York City to study dance and photography but wanted to experience more. And then I came to Los Angeles now to see what going to school for art here could do to my imagination. But this town doesn't have much of a culture.

Now that I've seen all these places - New York City has my heart and is the place I'll return.”

"My mom named me Violet.

When I was younger, I was always so embarrassed by my name. I didn't know why my mom chose that and I always remember wanting to change it as soon as I could.

As I got older, I decided I didn't have a choice so I would have to find a way to embrace it. I went to the hair salon and asked them to dye my hair this color... Having no clue how it would turn out.

I will never forget looking in the mirror for the first time after. I finally loved how I looked.

I felt beautiful. I felt like myself.

And now, I couldn't imagine living any other way."

"I live in Missouri so being black and gay is already extremely difficult. It can really feel like I'm being judged everywhere I go.

It really was getting to me so I finally made a commitment to myself - Rather than hide behind who I knew I really was - I would just put my full force out there into the world. I didn't have any other choice.

I truly believe that whatever you put out there, you get right back. If you do good, life will be good.

That's all you can control."

How does a non-Mormon (in a T-Shirt with a mask, purple gloves and carrying a skateboard) get to the top floor of the main LDS church in Salt Lake City?

Well, I had this idea in my mind for a week or so of a mormon, wearing the shirt and tie, standing in the middle of his temple with a mask on. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Like many of these pictures that are stuck in my imagination, I realized I had to try my hardest to get it out.

I went to two temples, one in Brigham and another one randomly around Utah (don’t remember the town) and quickly saw how much of fortresses they were. I knew this but didn’t realize they are pretty much impenetrable and it will take a lot more than a smile to get in the door. Especially during a global pandemic.

Striking out twice, I headed to Salt Lake City - The epicenter of the LDS church. I didn’t have any plans in mind and decided to go to Temple Square and see what I could do.

I walked around Temple Square and just enjoyed the sights. It really is a beautiful place with gorgeous landscaping.

But it was also a ghost town and I figured I would have to get lucky for this picture to ever happen. 

With my full mask and gloves on, I tried many of the doors and they were all locked and lifeless inside. But finally, I walked across the courtyard and tried the doors at a tall, tower like building and it opened. I walked in and quickly glanced around the lobby and thought ‘This is it.’ The lighting was perfect, the setting was perfect… I just had to find someone wearing a mask with the mormon uniform on.

After a minute or two, security called out to me and said ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’

I walked up to the gentleman and told him what I was doing, and the picture I was hoping to get, and he quickly said ‘Well, I can’t allow you to do that. You have to get authorization to get any pictures inside Temple Square.’

So I said ‘Well, I am only here today so how do I get the authorization as soon as possible so I can get the picture?’

He looked at me, a bit perplexed by my jovial nature, and said ‘Okay. If you go to this building over here, you have to go to the entrance under the 2nd awning. Go to that door, go inside and there will be a bank of elevators. Go to the 2nd floor and that will be public relations. Tell them what you’re doing and, if they give you authorization, bring it back to me and I’ll let you take the pictures.’

I thanked him for his time and walked across the courtyard to the entrance he told me to. The door opened and I walked inside and IMMEDIATELY thought ‘There is no way I am supposed to be in this building.’

I walked around the lobby and took a few pictures. It was completely silent except for one guy, standing in a black suit and tie, talking in Spanish on his cell phone. I didn’t look at him - he didn’t look at me.

Finally, I went to go to the elevators and he got on the elevator with me, still talking in Spanish on his phone. We both went to the 2nd floor and, when I walked out, he hung up his phone and said ‘Sir, are you supposed to be here?’

I confidently told him about the other security guards instructions and the gentleman in the black suit interrupted me and, looking at a room of empty desks, said ‘Sir, this is public relations;. As you can see, there is no one here. Everything is remote right now so you have to call them or set this up somewhere else. You cannot be in this building - You have to leave now.’

I told him no problems at all, and I would show my way out. But first, I had to know where his accent was from and he told me Venezuela, and I couldn’t help but talk to him about Venezuela stories for a while. We talked back and forth for 15 minutes at least before he snapped back into it and said ‘Sir, I’m sorry but you have to leave the building now.’

I thanked him for his time and stepped on the elevator. On the ride down, I smiled and thought it was a good experience until I thought ‘He didn’t walk me out… And I am still inside this building, with pseudo permission from another security guard… So I have a little back story.’

So I got out of the elevator and walked around the lobby more. This time, I had the place completely to myself. It was silent and eerie, with the feeling I was being watched but I didn’t see any cameras or anything to prove that. There were statues and flowers everywhere. It was decadent and polished. And somehow, me in my skateboard shoes and t-shirt, felt like I stood out a little bit.

I took a few pictures and then I heard a chime go off on the elevator, meaning the door was about to open. I ran and hid in the stairwell for just a moment and they passed by, not seeing me or thinking anything of it. But, while I was in the stairwell, my curiosity took over and I had to know what would be in the basement of a building like this. So I walked down white marble stairs to a lifeless basement, past gold signs and fluorescent lights. 

When I got in the building, it was relatively unassuming, except for one room with a piano and some vending machines. Nothing too special and not worth the amount of risk it felt like I was taking. I took a single picture and then decided to actually leave that time but, on my way out, I walked past a bathroom and decided to go before I left. After I peed, I washed my hands and then walked out of the door. 

And right outside the entrance, was a man in a suit with an ear-piece in. As soon as I walked out, he said into his ear-piece ‘800234, I’ve made contact with the subject now.’

My heart stopped for a millisecond before I decided my smile might be my only saving grace here. But deep down, I knew this was bad, and I decided there was almost no chance they were not going to call the police on me. What a bad time to go to jail but my curiosity takes over me and I am far too often left contemplating the moment in a strange place. Such is the life.

The security said ‘Sir, what are you doing here?’

Still feeling a little comfort with the other security guard telling me to come into this building, I said ‘Hey, the security guard in the other building told me to come here, go to the 2nd floor and talk to public relations. Can you call him and double-check?’

He quickly said ‘Sir… You’re in the basement. Why would you be in the basement if you’re trying to go to the 2nd floor?’

I said ‘I got a little lost.’

He kept talking into his earpiece. He said a lot of numbers and then kept bringing them up to speed that we were talking. I quickly tried to detract from my obvious guilt and said ‘Could you ask him and I am sure he’ll vouch for the story.’ 

He said ‘I don’t even know who you’re talking about. Or what building you went in.’

So I gave up on my story and decided to just try to get out. I said ‘It’s okay. It’s really not that big of a deal. He told me to come here and I just thought I would try but it’s not worth the hassle. I’ll just show my way out.’

He looked at me for a moment, while I could hear some words inaudibly coming over his ear piece. 

He said ‘I’ll take you to the 2nd floor.’

I had to go with it and happily did - As it got us out of the very tense situation we had sank into. We got in the elevator and all I could think was ‘I REALLY hope the Venezuelan guy is not here or he’s likely going to say ‘I told him to leave the building!’

The elevator doors opened and the empty public relations desks showed again. We walked out onto the floor, looked at the empty desks in silence and I said ‘Hey, it’s not a big deal. There’s clearly no one here so I will just email them and set it up remotely.’

The security guard looked all around the floor and then said ‘Sit in these chairs for a minute. I’ll be right back.’ 

So I did.

I sat in the chairs, with my headphones poking out of my shirt, holding my skateboard and camera. The security guard went to two glass doors and swiped his key card, then opened the doors and disappeared behind the corner. I just sat there in a deafening silence, having no idea what was coming next.

About a minute later, he came back with another gentleman in the suit and tie. The guy he was with was very charismatic and quickly handed me his card and said ‘I’m David. I’m the director of media relations for the LDS church. What can I help you with?’

WE WERE GOOD AGAIN.

I quickly said ‘David, thank you for the time. I came to Salt Lake City to get a photograph of someone standing in the Mormon church, wearing a suit and tie, with a mask on… To help cover an iconic moment of the Covid-19 crisis. The lobby in those towers would be perfect though - If I’m not able to go in the church.’

David quickly said ‘I can’t give you authorization to take pictures over there.’

So I said ‘That’s okay! We can do it right here also. This hallway is beautiful with the painting at the end.’

David said ‘I cannot allow you to get my photograph.’

There was a very long moment of looking at each other, trying to figure out where the hell we even go from here. I said ‘So, what do you want to do?’

I could see the wheels turning in his head and he said ‘Come with me.’

We left the security guard there and David walked me to the gold elevators. We stepped onto the elevators and he pressed the highest button on the bank of floors. He was very lively and curious, and you could tell he was definitely the right guy for media relations. He was inquisitive, asking me lots of questions about photography and telling me about his roommate in college, who became a very well known photographer later in his life.

After a little less than a minute, the elevator door opened. 

And my jaw dropped.

We walked out onto the floor and I silently followed David to where he was leading me. This floor was on the top of the building and was almost all glass, situated in the middle of the square, overlooking the entire Mormon compound there. At a birds eye view, we looked above the Mormon church there, the tabernacle and their newly completely stadium… Which is the largest religious auditorium in the world now, seating 21,500 members. And the only building in the world that the preacher can speak completely unobstructed to the entire audience.

I was numb for a moment. Realizing I very well could be the only non-mormon to ever stand foot on this floor. To see this view. And there I was, in a T-Shirt with a skateboard and a camera, in one of the most difficult situations I had ever found myself in. 

(Oh yeah, and don’t forget I am also covered by a mask and wearing purple gloves.)

I exploded in enthusiasm and told David, ‘YES! This will work perfect. What a gorgeous place. You can stand right there and I’ll get all of this behind you.’

And his enthusiasm subsided for a minute and he said again, ‘Remember, you cannot get my photograph.’

I looked at him again, deflated and confused, and said ‘Well, what do you want to do?’

He said ‘I’ll get your photograph here.’

I didn’t really care about my photograph there. I told him that. But I would take that over no photograph there, if that’s the best we could do. So I handed him my camera and showed him what to do, and where to stand. He stood and took the picture and looked at it for a long moment before giving me the camera back. When he did, I could see the wheels turning in his head again.

He said ‘Is there a way you could get my photograph where it doesn’t show my face at all?’ 

I quickly said ‘Yes, absolutely. You would stand right here and I would expose for the background, so you would be a silhouette.’

To my surprise, he went and stood where I told him to. And looked out at his kingdom.

I took the photograph and he quickly walked back to me to look at the picture on the back of the camera. I showed it to him and he said ‘Yes, that picture is okay with me.’

I was beside myself. Even though it was different than what I came there for, this picture was significantly more special and difficult. Reminding me again that art is such a fluid, strange process, especially when you don’t try to plan it out.

David said ‘Is there anything else I can do for you?’

I said ‘Well, to be honest, this is centered around people and I am very happy with that shot. So no, I can’t think of anything else and will show my way out now.’ 

He smiled and started telling stories again. We both got on the elevator and rode down to the 2nd floor again, where we awkwardly looked at each other because we couldn’t shake hands. We tapped elbows. I thanked him sincerely for the opportunity. Then he stepped out and walked back to his office.

I went back down to the lobby and this time, I showed myself out.

“My parents had six children. My father was with us when we were young but one day, when I was 12, he took a trip to the United States. He said he was going for some business. He left, and never returned, leaving my mother to have to make money while trying to raise all 6 of us on her own. She never complained and we became a very strong family together through the hardships.

I now have 6 children of my own and a very strong family, with a great father to my children. We are all very close because I have always been committed to never doing what my father did to us.”

“The only danger you’ll ever have in Jamaica is if you try to sleep with my wife.”

I had this conversation with Aman when he was outside my airBNB, working on the pipe to fix a water leak for a few hours.

I said ‘You are really great at working on things.’ and his reply:

-

‘When your grandfather dies before you were born… and then your father dies when you’re just 11 months old - You have no choice but to grow up to be a man. To support your mother in any way you can, and learn how to do things that can give her a more comfortable life.

-

“You know, each day, a man goes to work and carries the burden of work with him. He has to work hard, and work isn’t always fair, but it is up to him how he deals with it.

Because, at home, he has children and a wife that needs his positivity when he returns. That needs him to come home with a smile, no matter what he has deal with that day, because they have been waiting on him to return. So when he returns with negativity, he brings all of that onto his children and they suffer because of it.

Now they have to suffer twice - From waiting all day for his love - and then him bringing it into their home.

But, just as easily, he can leave work AT his work and return home to the place where true love and joy comes from - His family - and give it a fresh start when he walks in.

He quickly learns that, when he brings joy into his families life, they give it right back to him.”

-

"You always have to be paying attention, you really do.

I remember a day a few years ago when I was power washing this property here, about to build my home. The machine was loud but I had this feeling like I should turn it off for a second so I did. When I did, I heard all of the shouting.

I ran outside and saw a few people around a man laying on the ground, by some power lines. I ran over there and saw the man was injured badly. He was from the power company and working on the wires when he got electrocuted and left torn apart.

But somehow - He was still alive.

I had some CPR training so I gave it to him while others ran to get help. They ended up airlifting him to a hospital in Kingston and he survived, but he lost some very important parts about his body.

The power company came to our town (Treasure Beach) to interview the locals and try to find some mistakes that he had made, so that they could deny his insurance. But I told them the truth - They had left the wire hanging too low and it was a fools errand. It was far too dangerous to be worked on.

The man the company sent said to me 'Sir, do you know that I was sent here to find a way to deny this man what is justly his? To find a way to deny his insurance. Because of you though, I will be going back to publish my report and say that we should give this man what he deserves.'

He left and I never heard another thing for over a year.

Then one day, while I was in my home, there was a knock on the door. I opened it and immediately recognized the man from the accident.

He told me he had lost everything after the accident. His ability to have children, his wife had left him, and I could still see how badly he had been burned. But he asked me if he could come in and I welcomed him with open arms.

He said 'Sir, I came only to say thank you for the compensation you help me get. Because of you, I won't have to think of work again. And I am here to ask you - What can I do for you? I was given a lot of money and want to know how I can use this blessing to bless you also.'

I quickly pulled him close to me and told him 'Mon, I have enough money. I don't need any more money. If you really want to bless me, then please take that blessing and go out and live the life you deserve. What happened was not your fault but what you do now is your choice, and only yours. Go and live your life with it.'

The man hugged me and when he pulled back, I saw many tears coming from his eyes. He gave me one more hug and then he left - And thankfully, never came back to this day.”

“Back in the 70’s there was a lot of unrest in Jamaica. Lots of political things were happening and we were all watching Cuba, making sure that didn’t happen here. But it was a very, very tough time for Jamaicans.

I have always been very involved in politics here, and keeping Jamaica free and democratic. But during all of this unrest, everyone just started fleeing the country. Me and my wife had best friends that we saw at work on Friday and by Monday, they had just disappeared. They were too scared to even tell us where they were going and just left. Some of them, we didn’t hear from for years after.

Because I was involved in politics, me and my wife were in danger by those trying to take over the country. Many people told us ‘They will come and kill you and your wife Winston, you have to leave.’ But I didn’t want to leave and would tell them ‘If Jamaica goes down in flames, I will go down with the Jamaican flag on my back. I am not leaving.’

Because we were in danger, they would move me and my wife back and forth from our home in the city to the mountains outside of here. We got a lot of threats during this time and these were very difficult years.

But slowly, the country came back, as I always knew it would. I had bought property and land when many people had left and, as tourism came back, we began re-building the city that is behind us (Montego Bay). At every step along the way, we have fought against corruption and to losing our country to drugs and crime. In the 1990’s, drugs started to become a bigger issue and we quickly installed checkpoints in between all of the parishes, saying ‘We will never become another Mexico.’ These checkpoints alone helped stop the large majority of all drug trafficking in the country.

Now, that it is later in my life, I am proud of what we have done. And I am turning property into parks, to leave everyone here with places that are better than when we found them.

To leave Jamaica as beautiful as it should be.’

'“Jamaica is a place that we are proud of, and have fought very hard to keep corruption out of. We even hold our police accountable here.

A few weeks ago, I got pulled over by the police because I am a taxi driver. They won’t mess with the tourists but they will mess with us from time to time.

The officer told me ‘Give me your papers so I can check you out.’ I had all of my papers and gave him the right ones. But he said ‘This isn’t enough for me - Give me $25,000 Jamaican (about $200 USD) or I have to keep your papers.

This is a lot of money to us and I explained to him that I didn’t have that much. I told him I only had $15,000 Jamaican but it was all the money I had made and I needed it. He didn’t care and told me to give him the $15,000 and then bring him back the other $10,000 or he would come arrest me. I didn’t have a choice so I said okay, and he told me a place and a time to bring it to him.

When he walked away though, I wrote down his police plate and information. He drove away and I went to the police station with this information and talked to the supervisor, to tell him what happened. He told me ‘Okay, bring him the other $10,000 and I will come with you.’

A couple days later, I went to the spot the police officer told me to go to with the rest of the money. I brought the supervisor with me and, when he saw him take the money, he came out and arrested the police officer… Putting him in handcuffs right in front of me and putting him in his car.

Then he gave me my money back and we took a corrupt officer off the streets.’

“I was born and raised in this very small place (Burnt Ground). A place where everyone knows everyone, and everyone gets along.

About 12 years ago, I heard a lot of noise in the front of the town and went to see what was happening. There was a girl and she was being messed with by two guys that wern’t from here. So I ran up and told them to leave her alone and they came around and tried to fight me. I protected myself in self-defense and other people came to help.

By the end of it, one of the guys ended up dead and the police came to investigate. When the police looked around for who was at fault, I got blamed because I was there first and they threw me in jail. When I went to court for it, the judge gave me 20 years in prison.

20 years… I was only 20 years old at the time.

I appealed it with a lawyer and hoped the truth would come out... That it would come out as self-defense. After a lot of time working on the case, we got it down to 15 years. But I appealed it again, hoping for anything better than that. During the second appeal, the police came back to this town to try to find out bad things about me and give a case to deny my appeal. But my whole town stood up for me…Saying I was a good guy and have always done the right thing.

Because of this, the judge finally brought it down to 10 years, which I ended up serving.

While I was in prison, my mother was the only person that came to visit me so I got her face tattooed on my belly, to show my love for her.

-

While I was serving my time, I mostly stayed to myself. But one day, a guy tried to fight me and I had to wrestle with him to protect myself. While we were wrestling, he pulled out a piece of metal and went to cut my face with it. I am so lucky I was able to move at the right time, so he didn’t cut my eye out. But I will have this scar for the rest of life to remember that from.

-

Because my whole town stayed by my side while I was gone, I told myself ‘When I get out, I will go back to Burnt Ground and live the rest of my days there.

So, when they released me, I came right back to the place that I was born.”

I had an incredible introduction from a lady (Sabrina) on Reddit - Who gave me one of the best scavenger hunts so far.

She told me “Take the road from Negril into the countryside and find a road called B8. Follow this road farther into the country and you’ll come across a very small town called Ramble. There will be a guy there and when you get there, ask him to call ‘Prince’ for you. Then wait for Prince to bring you up to a town called Burnt Ground. There is nothing there except for one rum shack called Kaitlyns Corner, but Prince will get his father, nicknamed ‘Fashion’ and he will introduce you to everyone and take you anywhere you want to go. He’s a local legend in this part of Jamaica and knows everyone there is to know.

-

I couldn’t wait to go to this town and figure this out. I got lost for 2 days trying to find it and had to head back to Negril before dark but on the 3rd day, I found it.

I pulled up into Ramble and there was a guy with a machete, who was unloading a truck full of coconuts. I asked him if he could call Prince and he first picked up a coconut, cut it up, put a straw in it and handed it to me. Then he pulled out his phone and called Prince and told me to wait.

I stood there for a few minutes and a car pulled up with Prince AND Fashion in it. They stepped out with beautiful welcoming smiles and quickly shook my hand and said to follow them. There was a moment where I felt my intuition telling me this was maybe a little too crazy - I didn’t have a clue where I was and I was so far off the beaten track, to follow these guys even farther into the country was crazy. I didn’t have a phone. No one on the planet (except for the lady that set this up) even knew where I was.

I thought about it for a few minutes then decided I would go a little farther with them and see how I felt. We went up a dusty dirt road and came to Kaitlyns Corner and I was quickly greeted by everyone that lived on the street there. I immediately felt better and like I was in the right place.

We walked into the rum shack and got beers and tonic wine and started talking. They walked me up to the oldest house in Burnt Ground, a home built over 150 years ago by slave owners, but that had been left dilapidated for the last 5 years. The grounds keeper ‘Derrick’ told me more of the history and walked me into the back part of the home to see the beauty of the place inside.

Then we went back to the rum shack and Prince and Fashion asked ‘What do you want to do? Go to some abandoned places? See a Jamaican weed farm? Go on a drive?’

And I just said ‘You know what, I would love to just do whatever you guys would normally do on a Sunday afternoon'.

They smiled and we walked back into the rum shack and they turned the music on. People from the houses around started coming out and everyone was so incredibly kind and welcoming. We all drank beers and tonic wine and they told me stories about growing up. Almost EVERYONE in this rum shack had grown up on this one single street - A dirt road with absolutely nothing on it except for a few simple homes. And even more interesting - No one wanted to leave. They loved it there. They knew everyone there. One or two of them had left for work but they all came back. Some of them would go to Montego Bay in the day for work and then drive back at night. They were so proud of their little place, that was nothing but a dirt road and a rum shack.

Prince and Fashion really looked out for me and kept asking if I was comfortable or needed anything. They wanted to make sure I wasn’t bored but I assured them I loved the simplicity. In the rum shack, there was only one small gambling screen where they had played 5-card draw most of their life. Everyone crowded around it and played it. But I spent years learning the math of poker with some of the brightest minds in the world and could see a lot of mistakes they were making - Taking huge gambles that would so rarely pay off, that they would almost always lose money.

So I stepped in and showed them how to play it better. They laughed at me and said they knew what they were doing but I explained the math of it and how to make smarter decisions that would pay off more in the long run. I would say things like ‘If you choose this, there is only 4 cards left in the deck that can give you that. Out of 52 cards, with 5 already out, thats around an 8% chance. Meaning you lose 92% of the time. But if you do this, now you have 6 cards you can win with and that adds a few more percentage points.’ They looked at me like I was crazy but we started playing this way and they started winning a lot more. The whole shack crowded around while I played and we won some very big hands worth a good amount of money to them. I then stepped back and gave them the screen back and they all said ‘No! Please keep playing!’ But I said I didn’t want to and would help. For the rest of the day, they all played the way I showed them and I watched them do a lot better.

A huge rainstorm came in and it started getting darker and Prince pulled me aside and said ‘It would make me more comfortable if you got going while there was still light outside. To make it home before dark.’

So I said my goodbyes to everyone. We had so many special moments and I heard so many great stories that we felt like family when leaving and we all hugged.

I’ll definitely be back.

Stories from Jamaica:

I didn’t have a single plan when I went to Jamaica. I didn’t even know I was going until three days before. And I didn’t even have a place for when I arrived until 2 days before. If I can instill anything into you, I invite you to have the courage to know you’ll figure things out if you need to - But that things often work out much better than expected if you allow them to.

Because I didn’t know much about the island, I made a post on Reddit and asked to hear if people could give some personal recommendations. One lady, Sabrina, gave me a wealth of information and then gave me a very intriguing adventure:

“Go to a place called Burnt Ground, on the interior, and find a very small town called Ramble. In that town, there is only one shop called ‘Kaitlyns Shop’ and the locals will be there, drinking rum and telling stories. When you get there, ask for Prince. He will bring you to the home of a guy named ‘Fashion’, who is a local legend and knows all the people and most special places around there.

I drove to Negril and got a place there to cliff jump for a few days. And then, I went into the interior to find this shop. I don’t have a phone or any maps while I am here so I rely on stopping to talk to locals and get directions and help for finding the right place. In true Jamaican fashion, on the way to Ramble, I stopped at a random gas station to make sure I was on the right road. The gas attendant didn’t know anything so I just walked up to a taxi cab that had just pulled in to get gas. I asked him if this was B8 (the road) and he said yes, and then he said ‘Where are you going?’

I told him I was heading to Ramble and he said ‘I have family that lives in Ramble.’

I told him I was going to Kaitlyns Shop, to meet a guy named Prince, and without saying a word - he just pulled out his phone and showed me the last call he made. It was to Prince. He was related to Prince and Fashion, and knew Sabrina very well too. Such a small world - Travel can be so interesting on how connected we all truly are.

He told me to go to a town on the way called Savanna La Mar and stop at the Tax Office to pick up his cousin, who is related to Fashion also. He said he would take me the rest of the way.

I found this town but it was extremely hectic and busy. And, of course, I saw the chaos and the markets and the colors and I just wanted to take pictures of it. I started walking through the markets and met so many wonderful locals along the way.

Finally, I asked a local for directions again, to make sure I was on the right path and he drew me a map. I followed the map into the countryside and quickly realized, there was no way this was the right direction. But it was gorgeous and the mountains were all around me, and I didn’t really want to stop. So I followed the road for a while until it started to go back into the forest/jungle and there, I saw a small sign that said ‘Roaring River.’ I followed this sign and it took me to a tiny village. I got out of my car and quickly saw the Roaring River - It was an absolutely gorgeous, crystal blue spring, coming out of the earth and leading into big pools of spring water. The locals told me it was where most of Jamaica got their fresh water, and where the water comes from when you buy a bottle of water in the store.

To them, this was spiritual water though - Slaves had come to these waters for many years (since the countryside that took me there was mostly sugar cane fields) for their healing qualities. But, even more, there was a very special cave in the hillside, where the slaves would use to escape in the countless natural tunnels that you could get lost in.

Where Captain Morgan himself used to escape to.

And where Bob Marley used to go to meditate, when he needed to write or get away from the world.

I couldn’t believe my ears. The locals were so kind and proud of their land and one gentleman offered to show me this place. So we walked up a path until we found the entrance and then walked in to a huge cave (100 foot ceilings at some places) that was dark, damp and full of incredible history that you could feel in the walls. My guide walked me through it and would stop every 20 feet or so to show me a different face that the locals found in the walls and stalagmites. A woman’s face. A sheep’s face. A dogs face. A rabbit. Etc.

Finally, he brought me to an entrance to a tunnel where there was a spring coming out of the ground and filling up 3-4 foot pools of water. The water was warmer than expected, probably 60-70 degree temperatures, but the locals would sit on the vents where the mineral water came out of the ground to heal themselves. Once I sat, the guide handed me mud that you put all over your body and then let harden. Once it hardens, you wash it off your body and your skin feels brand new.

While I was sitting in the pool, the gentleman started to sing me Rasta songs that his mother had sand to him while growing up. His sounds echoed in the caves all around me, as I sat in this incredible water in almost completely darkness. And I realized - This had to be one of the most incredible moments of my life and I wouldn’t wish to be anywhere except here right now.

These are the places you end up when you travel spontaneously, without just going from one planned place to the other. You need to let life happen to you, and you need to use your intuition to know how far you should go. When I left, I jumped into the spring to get a plastic plate that had blown into the water and the locals all shook my hand and said ‘Respect.’

It costs us nothing to help others.

When I checked in to my airBNB in Negril, there is a security guard + and a host. The host is around my age (28 years old) and the nicest, most humble kid ever.

So I told him I was going to jump off the cliffs and he gave me this smiling face and told me to have fun... But he kind of lingered on it, so I asked what was going on. He told me that locals aren't really allowed to jump there and, even though hes grown up ACROSS the street from the cafe where the cliffs are, he's never done it. In 28 years of his life.

So I was like 'Well, they have to let you in if you're with me. So I'm just going to say you're my friend. So let's go.'

And he RAN to his house, got his swimming suit and hopped in the car. He just walked out of work that day for the opportunity.

We went to the cliffs and I jumped off first to help him swim if he needed help. Then he jumped and came out of the water with one of the happiest faces I have ever seen. I don’t even know if he really knew how to swim well… He struggled a lot in the water but he didn’t even hesitate. He just jumped.

He was shaking when he came out of the water because he was so happy.

It was a beautiful moment... And we jumped for a few more hours there.

“I was born and raised in Afghanistan. When the Americans came, there was a lot of good and bad that happened and the country was really divided on loving or hating what they did. But, after the conflict was over, the American companies stayed and helped us rebuild our cities... Most importantly, our schools. Because they were helping the children, I wanted to work with them to help too but would be threatened every day by the locals because I would help them.

For 7 years, I looked over my shoulder every day, afraid one every moment I would be shot because of doing this. By my own people. As we worked together, I got close to the Americans and they eventually helped me with my paperwork and everything I needed to go to America... In search of a better life. So I came here four years ago and had to work 16 hour days for a long time to be able to stay.

But I didn’t mind... I was finally able to make enough money to send back home, to help all the people that are still there.”

"When I was younger, I always dreamed of flying in helicopters. So I became a helicopter mechanic and thought that would help me get up in the sky.

Soon after I became one, I met the girl of my dreams and asked her to marry me. She said yes - and life was really falling together for me.

But four days before our wedding, I got my papers that I was drafted to go to Vietnam and serve our country. Just 21 days later, I was in the rice paddies... Just wondering how fast everything happened (He then smiled and said 'The honeymoon was passionate enough that we did already need a break from each other.'). I was married for less than two weeks before leaving for Vietnam and didn't see my wife for 14 months after that.

I ended up being in five helicopter crashes in my career. I was shot down twice in enemy territory and had a fellow soldier pull me out by my collar one of the times. I was shot down once in Nicaragua but thankfully, it was over a freshly plowed farm field and we had as soft as a landing as you can get in a helicopter crash.

Not many people survive helicopter crashes, let alone five. I might be paying for it now, with a lot of pain, but I sure am lucky to still be here and walk.

Throughout all of this, I always carried the most important things with me - Two pictures of me and my wife on my wedding day, and a picture of me and my father, a full blown colonel, who is the man I always wanted to become.

My wife has always said "If anyone's going to kill me, it's going to be her."

"I am 90 and he is 93. My husband died 12 years ago and his wife died 3 years ago.

We both met at a lovely senior citizens home and, after months of sitting at the same table for lunch, he finally told me he had feelings for me. On one of our first dates, he told me that he didn't want to fall asleep alone and wanted me to fall asleep next to him.

But I told him 'If you want me to sleep next to you, you have to marry me first. I am a lady and my values haven't changed, even this late in life.'

So this Saturday, we are getting married here in Napa Valley to make it official. So that we can spend the rest of our days being able to fall asleep next to each other."

“We are from Buenos Aires, Argentina and now live in Australia. When we were very young, we had a teacher who taught us English so we could get around in the world. But she taught us the wrong words and many of the wrong ways to say things... And it’s been impossible to reverse since we were so young. I’ve always been too embarrassed to even speak it.

So, when I (girl on right) had children, I didn’t want to be the one to teach my daughter. I wanted her to have the best teacher so she did not have to repeat the same mistakes I will always make. And now, she is fluent in English and she helps me continue to learn it correctly, and make less mistakes.”

“You know... My whole life, my parents told me not to talk to strangers. But this whole conversation has proven otherwise.”

“I’m not sure if people know how hard it is to survive for lower wage workers. I just found out I have a condition with my ankle where the tendon is pulling it, causing every step to hurt. Thank God I have been through this before so I own a medical boot to wear but I need to rest it to let it heal. But, if I don’t work full-time, I cant afford to pay my rent for my small one-bedroom apartment. So I’m here standing on it everyday, helping run food up and down stairs.”

One story I really haven’t shared with almost anyone, that impacted me alot:

About 5 years ago, I was in St. Louis and driving home from a place I used to go a lot called the Coffee Cartel.

The Coffee Cartel was open 24 hours a day and I used to go play online poker there at nights, since many of the tournaments would go past midnight. (The Coffee Cartel was a very interesting place after hours but that’s a whole new story).

This particular night, I played a late night there and was coming home around 1:30 in the morning. I was driving down a main highway (Highway 40) and there was only one car ahead of me on the whole road. When Highway 40 hit Highway 270, me and that car both merged onto Highway 270 and again, were the only ones on the whole road.

The car was about 300 feet in front of me and driving pretty normal. But, in the blink of an eye, I watched the car go from driving straight to immediately jerking the wheel and go straight into the median at 60+ miles an hour. From normal to absolutely obliterated in one second. It made no sense to me.

I pulled over on the shoulder and looked across four lanes of the highway at the car. It was absolutely demolished and there was no life in it at all. The entire highway was silent. No cars, no noise, just me and what was left of this car. I was desperately hoping for anyone to come to help me with this situation but there was no one in sight. I called 911 - Told them what happened and then stood there in silence. I just stared at the car, immediately sick to my stomach, knowing I was going to see a dead body. But still knowing what I had to do.

I ran across the four lanes of the highway to the wreckage and slowly walked up to it. Still complete silence and completely lifeless.

When I got to the front, I prepared myself to see a dead body and came around to a girl just sitting in what was left of the car, not moving.

Her eyes were open though. My heart stopped.

I immediately said' ‘Are you okay?!’ and she just sat there shaking her head saying ‘I am so fucked. I am so fucked.’

I said ‘Why?’

And she said ‘I am drunk.’

I said ‘But you are alive. And you are okay. And that is a lot more than what I thought just a few moments ago.’

It didn’t bring her any more peace. I sat next to her and just stared, with barely words to say after the emotional rollercoaster of thinking she was dead to then seeing she was completely unscathed. After a few minutes, police came and I explained to them what I saw. Then they told me to go home and get out of there.

As I walked away, I locked eyes with her one more time and said ‘Everything will be okay, I promise.’

And then went home.

“I had to get R and L tattooed on my hands because I have dyslexia and don’t know what to do when I’m driving. To someone with dyslexia, there’s not a right or left... Everything is more of a circle and there’s no real direction, which can be very scary when you’re driving and don’t know what to do. Once I started driving my mom around, I wanted to tattoo this on my hand to make sure I never put her in danger.”

“Man, when I was shot last year, it didn’t scare me as much as everyone thought it did. I grew up in the streets of St. Louis man... I’ve been shot at more times than I can count. I had a bullet graze my face once. I have buckshots in my arm still because someone shot at me with a shotgun but they were too far away. So when I had a gun pulled on me this time, I just put up my hands and said ‘Hey man, whatchu want? My wallet? $10 I have in my pocket? My watch? You can have it. I don’t care about those things.’

But when I heard him cock his pistol, I knew right then he was an amateur. When you go up on someone in the streets, you already have a bullet in the chamber... You don’t cock it when you’re right in front of them. So, as soon as I heard that, I pulled my gun out and shot twice at them first. But there was someone else with him that I didn’t see... and he was the one that shot me.

The bullet that hit me tore threw my femur bone and broke it. When I was in the hospital, they tried to put some of the bone back in place and it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I was screaming and finally told them to stop so I could breathe for a second... and I told them to hand me my phone and headphones before they did anything else. I wanted to listen to my favorite song and so I put it on, told the doctors to try again and then closed my eyes. Just a moment later, the doctor poked my shoulder and I opened my eyes again. He asked “Did you feel that?” I looked down and saw my leg was back in place. I didn’t feel a single thing.

Did the police ever find the people responsible? Hell no man. I’m a black guy in St. Louis who got shot... You think that’s anything new? You think that’s anything they care about? They didn’t even come talk to me at the hospital.”

“It’s hard. It’s really hard.

To inspire your son to become a baker and follow in his fathers footsteps means inspiring him to do something that takes a lot of time. Something that means working with your hands and might not look cool to your friends. Doing something that isn’t cheap or easy to do. So, last year, I took him to Fiji to show him how so much of the rest of the world lives. We met locals who took us in and they took care of us, for no reason other than the kindness in their heart. Expecting nothing in return. People with so little reminded both of us how to treat others. And, when we came back, he really started to see that many of the people he thought were his true friends, were not. Because he learned that true friendship expects nothing in return.

So now, we’re back in the bakery and I’m just trying to show him an honest way to live.”

“The only thing you need to know about where you are - is that this is the place the rest of the world has forgotten about.”

"I was a combat fighter in Vietnam. I remember like it was yesterday... My first night in the trench.

I had two soldiers behind me, trying to sleep for a minute whenever they could. Claymores in front. Barb wire fence in front. It was terrifying. It was hell.

That first night in that trench... I drifted off and had a quick dream.

In the dream, I was looking down a winding dirt road, with a beautiful country home at the end of it. Huge pine trees all around. Out in the wild. Total paradise. It was so beautiful... For that one moment.”

(He has a moment of silence)

"Adam, can you come with me for 7 minutes?"

We hopped in his truck and he drives down a little dirt road for just a minute. As we go around a gentle turn, he slows down and tells me to look forward.

There, right in front of me, was a winding dirt road, with a beautiful country home at the end of it. Where he and his wife had lived for the last 30 years, in their dream home.

"This was exactly what I dreamed of that night in the trench."

(After some long deliberation)

"Yes, yes. You may take my photograph - but please do take it with great care and respect."

(Taken at the table where Ernest Hemingway did a lot of his writing - in Cafe Iruna - Pamplona, Spain)

Her: "We just celebrated our 58th wedding anniversary."

Me: "Wow. Do you remember what you did on your first date?"

Her: "Of course I do. It was on our first date when he asked me to marry him."

"My name is Yossi and I am a landscape architect from Israel. I flew 4,000 kilometers just to see and study this one geological fold here, on the cliffs behind me.

I saw a photograph of these formations on Google some time ago but never could find any more information about where they were. So, I just spent a long time trying to find the guy in the photograph (on picture #2)... and I finally did. I wrote to him and he kindly said to come to Southern France and he would take me there himself.

Please understand - this is an open history book of time that we are looking at here. You can see all the layers of each layer of time and, to me, this is much more interesting than any Napoleon history could ever be.

This is millions of years in the working and just incredible to witness.”

-

“But there is something much more important about why I am here.

I am helping design a children's hospital in the city I am from. And I have always strongly believed that people can be healed and inspired by nature, if they see it as often as possible.

So, when I saw these formations in person, I just knew that we had to use this in the creation of the hospital and, as you can see in this rendering, we have already begun making this happen.”

"I like this photograph here more than any of the ones the French newspapers have ever taken of me."

“People around here call me Tweety. I’ve been taking care of pigeons on this block, at this same spot, for over 50 years. They have smarter brains than both of ours combined and people underestimate them so much.”

"Today was the first day in 30 years that we have all been together."

"I was born in a part of Iraq without much opportunity. My father was a general in the army and my mother was a housewife. My father wanted so much for me to become something but we didn't have the opportunity where I came from.

So, when I was young, he would just make me read books all the time. As many as I could, every day. We always valued education and that was the best we could do.

Then, one day, I received news that I could go to America to go to college. It was such a big day and my father looked at me and said 'This is the chance we have been preparing for.'

I went to America and graduated with my doctorate in Pediatric Medicine. And I have been a pediatrician here for over 30 years now."

"Have a seat son. I grew up in the wilderness up here (on the Canadian border) and have some great bear stories to tell ya."

Me: “Now, do me a favor and look at each other for a second!”

Lady on the right: “I’m cross-eyed as a schmuck, now how I’m gonna look at her?” (in a Staten Island accent)

“We both crossed into the country as illegal immigrants, to try our best and find work. The journey from El Salvador is long and we had to split up six months ago. Today, we finally saw each other again and haven’t left each others side for even one minute.”

“The names Mellow.”

“I’m 76 and have been drinking in this bar since I was 13 years old.”

“No one’s ever asked to take my photograph before.”

"I grew up in the 50's in St. Louis. Now, back then, everyone was poor. And I mean, really poor. Only once in my life, when I was a freshman in high school, my mom gave me $5 and told me I could buy what I wanted with that money but that was it. And all I had ever wanted was a pair of nice shoes.

I bought a pair of Italian loafers and I wore them every single day. They were all I had. I wore them every damn day until they finally wore out. So, when they did, I took them to the shoe repair shop by my house to have them fixed. He fixed them but the first time it rained, it wore them out again. I ended up finding out he used the cheapest leather you could buy, which was belly leather. I was so upset that I went to trade school (which was free in those days) just so I could learn shoe repair to fix them myself. And it really was just because I loved that pair of shoes so much and I knew I would never be able to get another pair. What did I do with my first project in that class? I fixed my damn shoes.

Now, I've been doing this for over 50 years and supported my whole family with this."