Interview With a Vampire
Friday, January 4, 2008
I had mentioned that I met a local homeless man who claims to be a vampire, and promised a video interview with him. Now, I personally do not think he is a vampire...but who knows? At the very least it makes for an interesting story. I shot this video outside, where it was a tad windy so the audio could be much better. As I have said part of this journey is about allowing people to tell their stories.
posted by Cory @ 4:50 PM,
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More Tales from Springfield, IL
Thursday, January 3, 2008
It has been a few days since I have been able to find a free moment to make a much needed site update. I have now got to experience a New Years Eve and Day here in Springfield. I have also had the most strange day labor job ever, and been blessed by even more kind strangers and locals.
I will start with New Years Day. My expectations for this day where not very good. I knew that nearly everything in town would be closed, and that we were in store for bitter cold. That Tuesday morning I awoke to a pleasant surprise however. Due to the bitter cold some people volunteered their day to help keep the Salvation Army shelter open. So instead of being stuck out in the cold we had a warm place to ride out the day. Thank you to Gloria for getting that setup, and a big, big thanks to those who gave their time and energy to make it happen.
Just to show that the holidays can be a dark time for the homeless here are two troubling videos from the New Years holiday. The first is a man being removed from the Salvation Army shelter for standing up to a staff member about a mentally ill girl being kicked out on that cold New Years Day morning. The second is from Wed. night when another man overdosed on pills and booze. Both sad.
On Wednesday I may have done the most odd, day labor job ever. I was tasked to place country of origin stickers on cans of rocks. The rocks are like a 'gag gift' to be used for a paper weight. Apparently the company forgot to have the country of origin placed on the product anywhere, so I was hired to place the stickers on. It was an odd 6 hour gig.
(the second photo is pretty blurry but that 'Made in Thailand' sticker was what I was putting on the cans)
I would like to send a big thank you to Richard in Carbondale, IL for his very, very kind Paypal donation. Also I would like to explain a few things. First the title of the blog.. 'The Homeless Hacker'. The Homeless Computer Geek would have likely made a better title. However it is just not as catchy. I have read some criticism that I do not do any actual 'hacking'. This is very true. I do however try to do the odd geeky tech posts now and then, like that one about getting around the filters and timers many public PCs use. Also I have plans to expand on the 'tech' stuff in the future as I build a full fledged website, using this blog as part of a larger overall product.
Also I have seen some ripping on my spelling and grammar. This is well deserved. The major problem is that I just do not have time to do any proper editing. My time on the Springfield Public Library computers is very limited. I have a hard time getting a post done, checking my emails, and uploading photos and videos in the time allowed. Often I am hitting 'publish post' just as my time expires. At some point I will get a laptop and that will go a long way towards improving the situation. Right now you are getting a very raw, quick, and dirty account of my doings. Its sort of like a personal journal that you just happen to have access to.
Speaking of running out of time, I have to go. Three more days in Springfield then off to St. Louis! Thanks for reading.
-When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion.- Abe Lincoln
posted by Cory @ 5:42 PM,
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