Indian War Whoop-end of 2013

What's your spaghetti policy here?

The hunter becomes the hunted - taken by my 4 yr old niece, Olivia

I've been walking Central Park. Singing after dark . People think I'm crazy.

Kyle

It aint' always easy

The job is to wake up every day and drain my heart of its heaviness

It's not so bad, but there is a nervous dread that rests in my belly

It is combated with the pulp of optimism, whether I'm fakin it or not

What really helps is to treat life exactly as it is

Random, dangerous, extreme, monotonous, everything.

Don't be shocked, don't be dull

I try to take it all

good and bad

because I know that there is no miracle place, no goal, no happy ending

no sad ending, really...

But I get these nerve bundles and I think they've been there the whole time

stressing about tornados and tsunamis at 6 years old

but I've learned to ebb the tide a little

day by day, hour by hour, sometimes

My job is to wake up in the morning

stare at life into it's endless eyes

and give and receive the truth

I tell her she's beautiful, I tell her she terrifies me

She says the same to me

And we both move on

We both do what we gotta do.

Jacob

Self portrait - 7 yrs bad luck

disposable pornography

Cake flavored vodka

Public Transportation

North Portland

Truckstop motel

sauce

alfred hitchcock

Ronald Davis - I'm Not A Bum, I'm A Human Being

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know plenty of bums who don't live on the street. And I know plenty of people who live on the street and work their asses off just to eat. Don't judge someone just because you've never been in their position. Just because you have never been that far down. In my past, me and my family have had times in our lives when we literally lived on the streets. The only way we made it out was by pounding pavement and receiving generosity from kind strangers. Some people are terribly stuck and can't seem to dig their way out. Some people literally have no family, or no family to claim them. The least you can do is treat homeless people with respect. No one is saying you have to give them anything more than common decency. They are still human, first and foremost, after all. As long as the respect is returned, it is earned.

Olivia 'n' Polka Dot

Rape Jokes

“In the U.S. every year, 207,754 people are raped, so there are also a whole bunch of people committing those rapes. What that means is that any comic who regularly performs in front of an audience is likely to spend at least some time telling jokes to someone who’s raped someone. And when he hears a joke like Tosh’s, that starts with “How can a rape joke not be funny?!” and goes on to say that a woman who interrupts him deserves to be raped –- or a joke like Morril’s (“My ex-girlfriend never made me wear a condom… She was on the pill: Ambien!”) –- he’s probably going to feel pretty comfortable in that room.

When he hears the laughs in response to Morril’s joke, he’s not liable to feel shame about the night the girl from the bar passed out when he got her upstairs; he’s probably going to feel like he’s surrounded by a bunch of people who agree that what he did wasn’t really a big deal. He’s going to be reassured that he’s not in a society that takes it seriously.”

—	What Do Rapists Think About Rape Jokes? | xoJane

Muggy nights

 

dead 60s

Grandma's hands

 

 

“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”

—	Alan Watts

.Bless You.

 

 

 

 

Today is full of sighs

No satisfaction
 

It is full of long bus rides

Full of people and none see

Me
 

I just want to get to my seat

Watch the road blur by

Listen to the music in my ears
 

It is a deep hallowed feeling

And those cant be fixed

They just go away sometimes
 

Feeling shitty
 

But feeling shitty about that too

Because I have no right to feel so shitty
 

I inhale and wait for the tickling in my nose to release

I sneeze all over the bare ditch in my arm

And on the window too
 

The Mexican kid in front of me, takes one ear bud out
 

From his head
 

and turns to me

And says, “Bless you”.
 

I can’t really hear him because of the music

But his lips were enough
 

“Thank you”. I say grinning.
 

I woulda cried had I let myself be overcome

I’m not religious

But boy it sure does feel good

To be blessed.

Still tired. Still learning.

 

There are times in life where you will feel hopeless

You will fall

Tumble

Like a smooth stone in a rapid, angry river

You will try to grip onto things around you

And sometimes you will grab on to something nice. Something warm. Someone warm.

But mostly you will fall.

And I want you to know;

this is okay.

You will land on a soft bed of moss

Only to be knocked down deep, once again

And you will tumble

And this is okay.

Breathe,  my little pebble.

Make sure to always breathe

And when you get a chance,

Look around. There are things to be seen

Beautiful things

Even when you feel as if you’ve lost control.

Look at the way the sun sparkles on top of the water

You are part of that, my little pebble.

Look at the way the sun breaks through the trees and lights your path.

You are part of that.

When the night comes

And you find yourself alone and rolling once again

When you try very hard to be okay, but you just can’t

Look up to the sky and say hello

Take the deep blue and the moon and the stars; roll them up

Wrap the cold night air around your shoulders

And breathe.

Breathe, my little pebble

Just breathe.

Because you are not alone,

The moon will keep you safe

so long as you store it close to your heart.

Wrap yourself up in the night sky

And enjoy the journey

until you reach your next bed of moss.

And I will meet you there,

 my little pebble.

Photo and poem by me, Ashley Davis.

A portrait

"i always justify it with the assumption that that person could be having a terrible day...like they just got fired or their mom just died or something. if i was in that situation and needed a smoke, i'd hope someone would respond the same way i usually respond".
-Johnson





“A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.”
― Steve Maraboli