"Bear"

Meet Bear, a 50-some year old navy vet and now full-time homeless man.

I was walking past him and did what I thought was a discrete hip shot, when he said "nice camera!" Caught red-handed. So I backtracked and sat down with him to have a little chat and formally ask his permission for a picture.

Nice guy really; he was stationed all over the US on both coasts and he loves scuba diving: had a ball of it when in California. He had a deep throaty laugh, no doubt from the hard cigarettes he rolls himself. He's actually a DC native -- which is rare by any stretch of the imagination in a town whose population changes with each election.

I'm glad I stopped to chat with him; it seemed to surprise him as well. Sometimes, it's good to challenge one's assumptions…