John, if you’re reading this please excuse the errors but I broke the cardinal rule: I never took notes.
John is from Michigan. He’s been in New York for about two years. Some time in the past year the apartment building where he and his girlfriend lived and worked burned down. They’ve been sleeping rough ever since. John says he has no parents to turn to and his sister has her own problems.
Once, when John and his girlfriend were sleeping a block from the Empire State Building some men tried to rape John’s girlfriend. John intervened and has the knife marks to prove it.
John and his girlfriend are trying to get out of the city. They have a dog so they can’t take public transportation easily.
John spends most days on 14th Street between 5th Avenue and Union Square. His girlfriend is a block over. Her grandmother, who lives on the West Coast, died recently and she hopes she may have a small inheritance waiting for her if she can make it there. Someone has offered to give them a lift but it’s not definite.
John says he doesn’t care whether passersby give him money. He just hope his sign makes them laugh.
Homelessness, New York
If John doesn’t care whether passers-by give him money then he should lose the red cup. If an able-bodied man is sitting outside begging instead of working, chances are the story he told you is not complete.
I forgot to say. He has a problem with his right leg; something to do with a bike accident while he was in New York.
He said he didn’t get the right treatment for it—not sure if it had to do with not having insurance—but he can’t walk on it and I think he is in some pain.
I remember him telling me about it, but as I say, I (stupidly) didn’t take notes.