#5 BEG

The word of the day for the Dictionary Project is -

beg
verb-
1. ask someone earnestly or humbly for something.
2. ask for something, typically food or money (alms).
3. to make a humble or urgent plea.
4. to ask for, or solicit in charity.


This is Jean, a street beggar, musician and performance artist.
She's 67 years old and had led this lifestyle for 45 years.
Jean loves doing what she does and wouldn't do otherwise she says.
Apparently she has also memorize most of T.S.Eliots poems.
I was treated to three of them, The Fire Sermon,
Whispers of Immortality, and Hysteria.
The first poem took almost five minutes to recite.
The second one was just about as long and the last was shorter.
What a mind and memory this woman possessed.
A true pleasure to chat with and she loved to be photographed.
We both benefited from the encounter today,
I used her and she used me.

This is the first time I have ever photographed a person.
The Dictionary Project is really stretching my imagination and range.
I'm a solitary person, so I really had to steal myself today.
I drove 35 miles to downtown Tucson to find my subjects.
What an experience today, to ask a stranger if I could take their picture.
If I wasn't so nervous I would have made a better image than this one.
But you know what? It was all worth it. What a wonderful day!

If you want to know more about the
Dictionary Project click back a few days.
Thanks for visiting my page ;o)