Chip Taylor Interview · 167 days ago

We are born and we die a million times. Our lives take turns that we could never have predicted. For some this is an unsettling fact but in this uncertainty Chip Taylor finds the magic. From musician to professional gambler to musician Chip has followed his heart even if that calling has caused huge changes and great struggle.
I met Chip through a friend who works for the record company that distributes Chip’s music. We ran into Chip one night at his favorite hangout, Schiller’s, and my friend was telling me about meeting Chip at the record convention in New Orleans and he sounded like a cool guy. Chip had an immensely successful song writing career, cranking out hits like “Wild Thing,” and “Angel of the Morning,” but he also had a successful career playing blackjack and betting on horse races. And he continues, about to set out on a year long world tour with his duet partner, Carrie Rodriguez.
After Chip’s mother grew ill and he played guitar and sang to her at her bedside, Chip felt called to return to playing music for people. He told his gambling partner Ernie Dahlman, who the New York Times called, the Wizard of Odds, that he was bowing out of the game.
After hanging out with Chip a couple times and talking over a glass of Laphroig I can tell that Chip has much to share with the world. I was moved by the passion with which Chip greets each of his unpredictable days, not getting bogged down by the uncertainty but rejoicing in it. Chip told me, “It’s a sweet feeling when you can show your insecurities, what you don’t like about yourself.” Chip lets us in on some of his insecurities as well as his tremendous ability to unrelentlessly search for the magic.

Young Philosopher: When did you discover that music was your calling?

Chip Taylor: When I was just a little kid, I loved music. I was eight years old and my parents had an extra ticket for a Broadway show and they didn’t have a babysitter. My brothers were with our grandparents and so they forced me to go. I was really upset.
the show was a musical called “My Wild Irish Rose.” They had good seats, in the fourth or fifth row. I was pouting and then all of a sudden the music started and everything changed for me. I was on fire from then until the end. And I remember at the end of the musical going back home, sitting in the back seat and I didn’t want to talk to my parents. I didn’t want anybody to say anything. I just wanted to keep feeling that buzz. It was a real chill. I remember thinking that this is going to be my life, something in music.
My folks let me listen to late night radio and when I heard “Wheeling West Virginia” I got the same chill I felt when I listened to “My Wild Irish Rose.” I said, “That’s the music I want to do.” I want to hear that stuff. I don’t want to hear what I have been hearing on the radio; I want to hear that.
I eventually became the lead singer of the only country band in Yonkers and we got our first contract with King records when I was 16 years old.

YP: When did you first get notoriety for the songs you wrote?

CT: When I left King and went to Warner Bros. I had my first hit. It wasn’t a huge hit but it was number one or two in several markets and in the top 80 in the nation.

YP: What song was that?

CT: One called, “Here I am.”
The interesting thing about that one is that I am just a simple writer. I’m not sophisticated; I can’t read a note of music but when I wrote that song I had met Burt Bacharach and Burt is a really sophisticated guy, and I used to go and see him at a place called Chuck’s Composite. It was a little cocktail lounge in New York and every time I would walk in there he would play my song. It meant a lot to me.
Then I got lucky, I was selling songs for a while, but I wasn’t doing well enough as an artist. I wasn’t making any money as an artist but when some people started cutting my songs I decided to go all out to try and sell my songs.

YP: Was anyone instrumental in your music career at this time or did you feel like you were going at it alone?

CT: The guy who took me off the street of selling songs was a very nice guy named Jerry Teifer. He worked for a little publishing company and then was hired by CBS to run their company. As soon as he became the head of CBS, the first thing he did was call me in and tell me, “from now on don’t sell your songs around town. We own all your songs and I’ll give you a salary. You can stop running around; I’ll give you a good enough salary so you can support yourself, give you a little office where you can write your songs.”
I thought, “Oh, wow this is great!” He was a good guy.
I’m going through something now where I need to go back to 1964 to1966 to find out about the contractual relationship I had. Jerry is the only guy who can help me and I just found out from his son that he passed away two weeks ago.
On one side of it Jerry can’t help me with my dilemma, on the other side it got me to remember the beautiful and wonderful things this guy whom I haven’t seen in years, did for me. It got me thinking what a good friend he was. I did good for him, he did good for me but if it wasn’t for this guy I wouldn’t have been able to get married because I got a steady job from him. I wouldn’t have been able to have all my songs protected by the best company in the world. So it was great to be able to talk to his son. I didn’t just get off the phone when he told me Jerry was gone. I told him what I felt about his father. It was a wonderful thing for me.

YP: When have you doubted your musical talents and needed the support of others to feel confident to continue in your field?

CT: There was one point when people from England were telling me that people in the Rolling Stones’ camp were interested in me coming over there and working with them because they liked my songs. They had just cut “Angel of the Morning” with one of the artists on their label. I don’ t know how accurate that was or who was the one inquiring but I remember when the inquiry came I was saying, “No. I’m not going over there. I’m not going to sit in front of anybody and show them how limited I am.”

YP: Songs don’t have to be complicated or sophisticated to be great songs. If you can communicate the passion you have to another person through music you’re doing something special.

CT: Passions are everything. I’m a worker. I don’t like to vacation; my fun is working. Right now it is creating things, making music. For years I gave up music for gambling and I did that full-time. I did that with a passion. From the early 1980’s to 1996 I basically gave up music for gambling. I was a professional gambler.

YP: What was your game?

CT: I was a card counter at black jack. I was banned from all the casinos in Atlantic City, when they thought they could ban you, and from several in Vegas where they could ban you if they wanted to. So, I was a card counter and then I was a horse player. I got into that just when I got into the music business. I was doing a little horse race betting everyday, and I was really good at it. I made profits every year. It was like doing a big crossword puzzle every morning and working hard at it. I saved all the data I needed to save to put me one step ahead of everybody else. I’d make one or two bets a day.

YP: What kinds of things did you study when you were in crossword puzzle mode?

CT: You study everything about the past performances. Past performances would be how many days the horse was away from a race, what kind of races he was in, what distance it was, and every fractional interval in that race. I also looked at what part of the track he ran on, what was the better part of the track that day, what jockey he had, was he a good sale or a bad sale. I also studied what kinds of shoes horses wore. Nobody even thinks about it. No one thinks it means anything, but its huge, monster edges. Horses use shoes that have cleats, mud caulks. Mud caulks are important on dry tracks as well as wet tracks because it’s like the difference between someone wearing cleats and somebody wearing sneakers, and no one thinks it means anything.
Being able to have accurate information about a horses’ shoes, which the tracks don’t give you, you need somebody there watching the horses as they walk out. I used to hire somebody myself. Ernie hired somebody. We both had people on the payroll to give us information about shoes.

YP: Was gambling a social event for you?

CT: No, horse racing was solitary. The kind of stuff I did wasn’t worth talking to anyone about because I knew what I knew and no one could help me and most times people gambling on horse racing don’t know what they’re talking about. It wasn’t a social thing there but then I got to be friends with the biggest money maker of all time in the sport and we became partners, sharing information. That was fun. There was a camaraderie between this guy Ernie Dahlman, who the New York Times called “the Wizard of Odds” and me from 1983 to 1996. We still talk every day. It was fun. That became the first time it wasn’t a solitary thing. Every day was exciting; it’s like I feel today about music.

YP: How did you make the transition back to music? You were making money and it sounds like you had lots of fun with your partner Ernie.

CT: At one point my mom got ill and I started playing music for her. I hadn’t picked up a guitar in a while. That was 1995 and I felt that the day I spent with mom and the guitar and singing for her was more important than anything I had been doing for a while and that led to a couple weeks of doing that and at the end of the two week period I told Ernie, “You’re not going to believe this but I’m going to quit gambling. I want to play for people. That’s my calling now.” I knew that I had to fully stop gambling, 100%, in order to do this.
For that period, when I was shifting jobs, I had to totally stop because —- I had been doing it since I was 18 years old and I knew that if I really wanted to play for people, if I kept gambling, I wasn’t going to do the job correctly. My whole drive became to play for people. That was in 1996. I was going against all odds, the guy coming back after all those years.

YP: Career changes are difficult for anyone, at any age. What keeps you excited about going out and experiencing life, ready to shift directions when moved to do so?

CT: The great thing for me everyday is the unknown. I’m involved in the creative process so every day I have a guitar sitting there and at some point in the day I am going to pick it up and start fooling with maybe something I started yesterday. I am not a writer who thinks about what I am going to write about. I just let things come out and let them form until there is some part that touches me, like when I got the chill when I saw my first Broadway play or the feeling I got when I first heard country music. I do nonsense stuff until I go, “Ohh, what is that.” I get so excited because something is going to come and I don’t know what it is.
You don’t ever look at it like an ego thing, like look what I just created. You look at it like, whoa, look what just flowed through my veins. Everyday, I know that that’s a possibility, a good possibility, that I am going to find something that I never found before. I’m looking forward to the unknown everyday and that’s a wonderful thing-to not be looking forward to the known.

YP: Or dreading the known.

CT: I know that if I’m doing stuff I’m not worrying about…life can get to you, you know. Sometimes I start worrying if I am all right, if I’m healthy and stuff like that. If I am active I get that off my mind. But, work is just for the joy of working. Also, as you get older you ask, “what am I really about?” As much as you defend the position of your personality, often times I look at myself and I ask, “what the fuck am I about?” when I’m doing things that aren’t so comfortable for other people or comfortable for myself. Songs can be a therapy for that. Songs for me are a real therapy. Huge. If I’m feeling affection for some woman I wake up in the morning and write about it. If I’m hurt that will come out. I don’t think about it but that will come out. Some of the best songs I’ve written recently were written because of some really terrible thing I have been going through. That’s what comes out, it’s therapy.
It’s a sweet feeling when you can show your insecurities, what you don’t like about yourself. I like when songs can do that, when you can be honest and show what you don’t like about yourself.

YP: Where does your motivation come from?

CT: People do it for me and I’m good at responding to them but I am also good at lighting that fire myself. I just think about the chill I get when something comes up.

YP: Well, thanks man for doing this interview with me because this is where I get my chill.

CT: You gotta go out there and look for the magic, everyday just look for the magic.

— Albin

ROME · 167 days ago

Rome wears tee shirt by Joe Sikora

Photos: J. Naughton

Interview with Rome

When I first hooked up with Rome a cast covered the Old English SCR, swords and cross tattoos on his right arm, the marks of A Simon City Royal gang member. The cops saw something they didn’t like and broke his right arm with Billy clubs, ruining his plans of working construction. Rome still stays in touch with brothers in his home state of Wisconsin and with brothers in Chicago, Mississippi, and California, but he is going legit.
Rome couldn’t work construction but he’s an expecting father and he has to make some cash so he took a job at Target. Rome had just gotten off a 16-hour shift before he picked me up in what he referred to as his “Lamborghini,” better known as a beat up Chevrolet. He’s got a sense of humor and from guns, cars and fast money to the difficulty of hooking up a decent toothbrush in prison to the nightshift at Target, Rome is gleaming with the smile of a child.

Rome was showing me his photo album and amidst the photos of gang graffiti and brothers with rags over their faces that only leave their eyes exposed, holding shotguns that aren’t just for show, one photo stood out. It was a photo that looked like it would be on a proud mother’s refrigerator, not in this album. “That’s my buddy. He got 45 years for a homicide; first parole chance is in 2009. He looked out for me big time when I first got in the pen, what ever I needed, he took care of it.”

Young Philosopher: What were the charges that landed you in prison?

Rome: There were numerous charges. Four burglaries, felony possession of a fire arm. We stole a car but we weren’t charged with theft because the keys were in it; we were charged with operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent. And we were charged with stealing three stereos but those were all misdemeanors.

YP: Was anyone there for you when you went to prison?

R: My buddy wrote some letters saying there’s a brother coming up and he needs a little bit of guidance, so hook him up.
I went in, met up with some brothers and they hooked me up with a care package, I got a few packages of Ramen noodles, a decent toothbrush, and toothpaste.
From the second I walked into prison to the second I walked out I always had someone looking over me. In turn I looked over them. It goes both ways. You can’t go in there getting greedy, keep getting hook ups and not expect to pay it back. You might not pay them back with money or by giving them back soups. You just look out. If they get into it with somebody you got their back.

YP: What was the biggest change in your life from the day you went into prison to the day you got out?

R: Right before some people get out they get butterflies in their stomachs, but I wasn’t like that. I didn’t really care.
I don’t know if I didn’t care if I got out or if I was scared to get out.
A lot changed. I wasn’t used to the outside world. I went in as a little kid, as a 17 year old punk and I’m coming out at 21 years old as an adult. I went in a simple burglar. I came out a murderer.
Prison doesn’t rehabilitate you, it teaches you how to get away with things.
I learned how to get away with a lot more stuff. I came out criminal minded.

I talked to plenty of people. I did two and a half years in a maximum security. There are murderers up there. They tell you how they did their thing, how they got caught. There are burglars and robbers. You learn so much there.

YP: How did you wind up in a maximum-security prison?

R: I first went into a medium security prison but I threw a cup at a guard. That moved me to maximum status. I got attempted battery to staff.

YP: What?

R: He was being a jerk. He was a black guard. It was his last day there. He was the only minority guard there. Everyone else was white. I don’t know if he had beef or what.

YP: You were in prison for almost three years for that?

R: No, I got 6 years but I served 4.
I can’t say that I regret it because I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t go. I never really thought about school or what might happen in the future. I just lived day by day.

YP: Before you went to prison did it ever occur to you that this might happen?

R: No, it didn’t. Basically I was just living, and that’s how I still do it. I do whatever comes to mind. If I want to go play basketball I do it. I’m not the type of guy who has any phobias. I’m not scared to get behind the wheel because I might get hit by another car. I’m not afraid to walk down the street because I might get robbed. I’m just here.

YP: You wouldn’t be afraid to go anywhere no matter what horror stories you hear about a place?

R: I think that’s what fascinated me about New York. I’d hear people talk about how rough it is in New York City.

YP: What are your first impressions of the city?

R: It’s different from where I used to live. It’s a big change, especially with the different ethnic groups. I’m used to being around mostly Caucasians. I come out here and there are Asians, Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, Indonesians.
I see people that I had only seen on television.

YP: What was the neighborhood like where you grew up?

R: It depends. I grew up in a bunch of different spots. I grew up in Steven’s Point, Polonia, West Bend, Hartford, and Kenosha. I lived on a farm until I was about 12. Then I went from living with my dad on the farm to living with my mom in a city of about 30 or 40,000 people, back and forth.
I was in two foster homes during that time.

YP: How old were you when you were in the foster homes?

R: 8 and 10.

YP: Any lasting memories from your time at the foster homes?

R: I can remember the address of the last one, 210 Weir Boulevard, Stevens Point, Wisconsin 54481.
They were good people but you’re not with your family. You’re with somebody else’s family.
I did one year in the first one and one and a half years in the second one.

YP: How old were you when you started hanging out with Royals?

R: I’d been with different cliques or organizations but I didn’t get with the Royals until I was 17.
I had some friends who were Royals but I never really got down with them. I hung out with them and that was it.

YP: Are you still a Royal?

R: Yeah.

YP: How does it feel, after so long, to go legit? Working 16 hour shifts at Target…

R: It’s different from committing crimes and going to prison. When people look at us the first thing that comes to their minds is that these guys are bad, they’re in a gang.
It’s not a gang. I don’t look at it as a ‘gang.’
It’s a bunch of people who come together for a purpose, a purpose with good intentions.
You have your guys who are a little more thuggish and ones who aren’t. To me, it’s a family. It’s who I am. I can’t just say, “I’m not a Royal anymore.” It’s in my blood. I’ve been down with them since I was 17.
I’ve always had a fascination with gangs. When I was 15, my buddy who was half Japanese and half white and I made up our own little crew called the Dragon Clan. We adopted the Japanese symbol for luck and eventually had fifteen members.

YP: We all need to identify with something. When I was 15, I hung out with a tight group of friends who all skateboarded. We shared common interests.

R: Some people might consider skateboarders a gang. Skateboarders, tagging crews, actual gangs, other organizations, but I don’t look at it like that. It’s a family thing and there are divisions, just like there are with any other clique. Your younger one’s are usually the thuggish ones and your older ones are on their money and their family. That’s what we’re about. We’re not about going around and beating up people. I’m older. I’m going to be 26 in July.
There are guys out there committing murders but you’ve got that everywhere. You’ve got people who aren’t in gangs committing murders. What do you call them? Are you going to call them their own little gang? We classify way too much.

YP: Did you look up to certain people in the gang or did you only view the gang as a whole?

R: A little bit of both. There are a couple members who I’d look to and hope that when I got to their ages I would be as well respected. I want to be a model to some of the younger members, and not in a bad way like, ‘he did four years for whooping some dude,’ but like, ‘he did his thing and he’s still around.’
I’ve known brothers who died for this. A lot of people would say that they died for nothing. I don’t look at it like that. He did his thing and he died for his family.
My girlfriend here is pregnant. (She is sitting next to Rome on the bed reading a book about pregnancy.) It would be like if somebody pulled out a gun and tried shooting her and I stepped in front of her. I’d be doing it for my family. That’s how I look at it with Royals. If I were to do something it would be out of love.
It’s family based where I come from but everywhere you go it will be different. They’re different in Wisconsin than they are in Chicago and they’re different in Mississippi too. You’ve got to be careful. You go over here and they’re friends with these guys, but over here they’re not.

YP: Like you were saying that Royals have no beef with Cobras in Wisconsin but Royals and Cobras don’t mingle in Chi town.

R: Yeah, they don’t get along at all. You’ve got to do your homework. When you meet up with someone, just ask. When I went to Chicago I asked who they were beefing with.

YP: Is being a gang member a full time job?

R: Depends on where you live and how many enemies you’ve made.
If you grew up in Chicago and you’re all about gangbanging, then it’s a full time job. You’ve always got to watch your back. You could be an hour away from your house and run into someone you had beef with a few weeks ago. You’ve got to constantly look over your shoulder so you don’t get shot.
I do it. I do it out of habit. It’s not because I’m scared someone is running up on me, but when I was in prison I made some enemies. Just because I’m a Royal I automatically have enemies.
It can be a full time thing but I moved out to New York. As far as I know there aren’t any Royals out here and if there are they are probably older and retired. I don’t go out there flexing it. I don’t say, ‘hey man, I’m a Royal, what are you?’
I’ve been out here for two months and not a single person knows I’m a Royal except for you.

YP: You’re in a big city where you can lay low and pretty much go unnoticed, and like you were saying, there are tons of people from all over the world here, and you’re just another person in that mix. Was it pretty black and white in prison, and difficult to go unnoticed?

R: Yes. White people are the minority at about 22%. Black people are the majority at about 75%. Then it’s 3% Other, Native American, Hispanic.
We were out numbered.

YP: Is race the major factor that determines who you hang out with.

R: It depends on what state you’re in and what kind of prison you’re in. In a lot of prisons that’s how it is but in the prisons I was in we didn’t really stick to our own race. I hung out with black kids; I played ball with them every day. My friend who I was celled up with, who was white, he and I were both good at basketball. We hung out with them, played ball with them, and talked with them. Of course, we had our controversies with them. A lot of them liked to use that word ‘honky’ or ‘peckerwood.’ As soon as you use that word ‘nigger’ they get all defensive. They don’t realize that the equivalent to nigger is honky for a white person or spic to a Mexican or gook to an Asian. It’s all the same word it’s just said differently. It means the same thing.

YP: What does it mean?

R: If I were to call somebody a nigger I could apply that to someone of any race. A nigger is a dirty person who is always looking for handouts, who doesn’t work for a living. He is a low life of that race.
I don’t care what people think about me. I don’t care what they think about how I look, but I take care of myself.
There’s a difference between a nigger and a black person when you’re using it towards them but when you try and explain it…forget it. They don’t want to hear it.
They hear the N-word and it’s on like Donkey Kong. They want to fight.
I’ve had black people ask me, ‘You don’t like niggers, do you?’
I tell them, ‘No, I don’t like niggers but I don’t dislike black people.’ There’s a difference.
A lot of people think I’m racist because I have a shaved head and tattoos.
That’s not true. If I was a skinhead, if I was such a racist, would I be with a Hispanic woman?

YP: Would she be with you?

R: Yeah she would. (We all laugh).

YP: You doing all right Wendy? We’re not bothering you too much.

W: No, I’m fine.

R: The N-word is one of the biggest things in prison. You say that word and you’ve got every black guy popping his head out.
I was on a unit. There were 40 people total. There were 7 white people and 33 black people. 3 of the white guys belonged to a white power organization, so there were 4 or us who weren’t with the white power organization. We all stuck together though. I hung out with the black guys on the unit but I stuck with the white guys because we have more in common.

YP: Rome, what really matters to you? Do you value honesty, loyalty…?

R: If I’m busted for a crime you better believe I’m trying to get out of it. I will stretch the truth. I did four years for bending the truth. When I went to prison I did four years for five people.
I wrote them all letters. I told them, ‘Don’t say anything.’ One of them just had a baby and I didn’t want him taken away from his baby. One had never been to prison. Another one had been to jail but he’d never been to prison.
I knew I’d get a couple years but I told them all, ‘Don’t say anything. I’m gonna take the wrap.’
I told the police, after nine hours of them trying to drill me and me telling them bullshit stories, ‘I did it and I did it all by myself.’
They were trying to get everybody’s name. I didn’t give any names.
I believe in street justice. I don’t believe in a system.
If this guy kills one of your family members, okay, an eye for an eye, you take one of his family members. But then his family member can come at you because it’s an eye for an eye and it can go on forever.

YP: Like the Montagues and Capulets.

R: You have to have a little law, a little something that will put an end to it but if someone whoops my brother you better believe I’m coming at him.
My uncle killed my Dad. He shot him six times and dragged him behind a truck for a quarter of a mile where he dumped the body.
I had the chance when I was in prison to go to the same prison he was in. I could have kept my mouth shut. I could have caught him and I would have killed him. I would have grabbed a weight and smashed him in the face with it. I don’t know exactly what I would have done but I know that I wouldn’t have stopped until he stopped breathing.
He took my dad from me. I haven’t seen my dad since I was 12 years old.
I had two choices. I could have kept my mouth shut and they would have sent me to that prison and I’d be in prison right now doing life, for killing him. But I spoke up.
If I went to the prison where my uncle was, I knew that later on I would have regretted it. To this day I don’t regret anything. I went to prison; it was a life experience. It’s only a mistake if you don’t learn from it, right? It’s something that a lot of people will never experience.
I’ve met people in there who I’m still in contact with today, a lot of people, a lot of good people. It’s not like I met all these bad people and I’m hanging out with them and doing crimes. I’m trying to do the right thing.

YP: What values do you want to instill in your child? What kind of role model do you want to be?

R: When I was growing up I didn’t have any money. I’m working an average of 50 hours a week and I’m doing that because I’m trying to get money. I’m trying to save up money for the child so he doesn’t have to go through what I went through, committing crimes to get money. I’d like him to have a good education. I’d like it if his mother didn’t baby him so he grows up to be a mamma’s boy or mamma’s girl.
I’d like to pass down loyalty. I’d like to give him the chances I never had. I never really liked school but I’d like to let him know that school is important. You can’t really get ahead, especially nowadays, unless you’ve got an education.
I’d like to give our child the opportunities I never had. I’d like my child to say, ‘He’s the best dad,’ and mean it, not give me a trophy that says, ‘#1 DAD,’ and get one of those every father’s day. I don’t want ties either. I’d be happy with a happy father’s day wish.
He’s going to learn that I’ve been in prison. I’m not hiding anything from him. He’s going to learn about how I grew up and how she grew up.

YP: You told me that you miss your dog. Is there anyone else back in Wisconsin who you miss?

R: I miss my godson. I lived with him for nine months. When my best friend went to prison I told him that I would be there for the family. I lived with his wife and three kids. I love my little godson like he was my own. I’ve been there since the day he was born. I think I was there when he was conceived.
I was in the delivery room for 29 hours. I was there the second he was born. I’ve been there from the get. He’s my little buddy; he resembles his daddy.
I’d like for my relationship with my kid to come out like his and mine.
When I left and came out to New York he used to come home everyday and say, ‘Ome, Ome, where’s Ome.’ He couldn’t say his R’s too well.
I used to wrestle with him all the time. He’d be chasing me and Royal, that’s my dog, would be chasing him.
I love my godson and I hope I have that relationship with my son. I’m looking forward to it in seven months.

YP: That race stuff we were talking about, it’s like, yeah there are differences between people. We are all raised differently and we act differently, not to say that is dependant solely on race, but family stuff is for everybody. Playing with a kid, showing him or her that you love them, playing with your dog, missing him when he’s not around, everyone can relate to that.

R: I feel strongly about family.
I don’t like people messing with three things in my life. Number one is my family and family is anyone I consider my family.
(Points to Wendy) She’s my girlfriend, not my wife, but she’s my family.
I have different levels. If I meet someone, three days later I’m not going to introduce him or her as a friend. They’re an acquaintance.
You don’t have to have the same blood, the same last name or family ties as me just to be my family. If we’re good enough friends, we’re brothers.
Number two is friends. Don’t mess with my friends. If I’m at a club and I see that someone is trying to get into it with a friend, I’ve done it before, I’ll jump past the friend and knock a person out. I’ll be quick to jump on someone.
I’m not the best fighter in the world. In New York there’s a lot of people; I’m sure a lot of better fighters but I’ll throw down. I don’t care if you outnumber me 5 to 1, if you’re gonna be that much of a punk and come at me like that then I guess you’re gonna come at me. I’m going to give it my all. If I lose, so be it.
Number three is my money. Don’t mess with my money. I keep track of my hours. When I clock in I write it down and when I clock out I write it down.
If you mess with my money you mess with my life. You’re taking away from me, my kid, and my livelihood.

YP: Who do you work with at Target?

R: Mostly Hispanics and a number of black people. I’m not talking about blacks from America. They come right over from Africa. They have an accent.
I get along with everyone really well. Last night I was teasing them. There was a Puerto Rican, a Columbian, and myself sitting at a table and another Puerto Rican comes and sits down. I said, ‘Hey man, you got to leave. This table is for Hispanics only.’ I just goof around like that.
There’s one manager who doesn’t like to admit when his people do something wrong. He comes in the morning and I work overnight shifts. He’ll criticize the work and I’ll tell him that I wasn’t the one who did it but I’m defenseless. What am I going to do? Smart off to the boss and lose my job?
Today, he was talking to a female and I don’t know if she tried sticking up for herself because I came into the conversation late but I came around the corner and he was yelling at her. He said, ‘Just remember who gets the last laugh. ME. And he started laughing in her face.
I thought, ‘What a jerk.’ You’re going to try and pull a power trip like that. What’s your problem? You belong to a big corporation, you’re supposed to know how to talk to people, don’t say, ‘who gets the last laugh.’ And don’t threaten me. I get on the defensive very quickly when people threaten me.
If this happens to me I’m going to get a lawyer. I’m serious. I’m going to start suing people. Instead of beating them up I’m going to sue them. Might as well.

— Albin

Comment [3]

Peter Interview · 167 days ago

Interview with Peter at the corner of Spring and Greene streets. Peter is a world traveler who supports his travels through his craft of making and selling handmade jewelry. I ran into Peter as I was sitting on the steps near where he sets up and displays his Jewelry. I put down my granola bar and asked him a couple of questions.

YP: What is success? When have you felt successful or unsuccessful?

Peter: If you feel successful you have achieved what you expected to achieve.

YP: Our scope is limited. We may set out to do one thing and in the
process tend towards another.

P: The road to success bends, I guess. Another success is being
satisfied with the many little successes along the way, feeling
comfortable with that.

YP: When have you last felt successful?

P: Probably today when I made jewelry (this morning). Every time you challenge yourself you feel successful.

YP: Does success require an element of discipline?

P: There is an element of focus and I suppose you can call that
discipline. This is my art, this is what I make so whenever I
progress, my jewelry changes. Mabye progress is a factor in success as well.

YP: How much of success is an internal feeling and how much is outside affirmation?

P: Maybe true success is when you find satisfaction with yourself or the world in general. It is not necessarily related to a claim by thousands. If I can make the same ring and perfect it and make it again and again; I suppose material success comes from that.

YP: Where do your notions of success come from?

P: Nature and nurture. There is a feeling and there is the desire outside. The desire comes from your environment, that desire to be content. There is a feeling of peacefulness in your success.

YP: What were the early notions(of success) that were handed to you?

P: Being the alpha male in every possible environment, (being) in charge of all the other kids, the fastest on their bike, the cleverest kid, or the captain of the team. It’s all set up for you to go and achieve these things. This is how it is for everything you experience. If you are building a den, who is going to build the best den? Or playing with guns and sticks like we used to, who shoots the best who make the best machine gun noise. It’s competition, competition, competition. Again it comes back to if you are satisfied with your own machine gun sound and your den and if it satisfies you, you’re successful.

YP: Do you agree that to whom much is given, much is expected? Success for one person might be jumping a certain distance but for another it might be jumping three times as far.

P: I suppose success is relative to your surroundings. There is the horse that just won two races. I heard that it won a race by two head lengths. Is that as fast as that horse can actually go or could it have gone a little faster?

YP: Potential. It might be that you have the ability to achieve but you don’t perform when your chance arises. One of the horses might have been faster but it didn’t perform when the time came to do it.

P: That is an issue of being satisfied with yourself. You can still feel comfortable in the universe even when something bad happens. I come out here and some days I make a bunch of money and others I make nothing. I think, what happened, because I made this stuff. You think your stuff is ugly, you feel ugly, and then the next day it all changes. The success was when I made it.(the jewelry)

YP: How do you keep from getting swallowed up in the seas of possibility?

P: Very difficult. It’s super confusing because you feel that you can choose any path and go along it. I don’t know if you settle for something at some point. I have been doing this for seven years. I realized that I want to live somewhere peaceful and beautiful and have this going on in England or the USA and make a few bucks. The best way for me to do this is with jewelry because this is what I know best. I am also interested in carving/sculpture so hopefully with the success of the jewelry I will be able to continue with the sculpture. Who knows; maybe I’ll make sculpture and jewelry. Back to success again, when I achieve this expectation I will pat myself on the back, feeling
successful. But then there is the whole issue of do I want to be out on my own or do I want to have a family.

YP: You say the success is in making the jewelry. For another, success might be selling jewelry, for another it be to own the building used to sell jewelry.

P: I guess that is why I stay poor. I am satisfied enough with the making of these things (points to jewelry). I don’t make much money but I am satisfied with making it.

YP: Do you have to be busy to be successful?

P: Yeah, I think so. Involved with your life, proactive.

YP: Must YOU be busy to be successful?

P: Yeah, busy advancing my experience on the planet and learning about other people.

YP: When I asked you that last question I was thinking about being busy in terms of having a full schedule but now I see that being busy can categorize a lust for living that does not necessitate having a full schedule.

P: Being active rather than just busy. Embracing everything around you, being alive, that is a success.

YP: Is success attributed to hard work or luck?

P: I grew up with the impression that hard work was a bad thing.
People used to complain about having to do hard work. But I work hard making these things (picks up a ring). Sometimes that’s how you do it; you get in a groove and keep going. There was a period last year when I was in Los Angeles and I was waiting to leave to come to New York and I spent two months focusing on jewelry. The jewelry changed and my energy as a jewelry maker became more interesting to people. I got a job offer in L.A. designing jewelry for 1,000$ a week.

YP: Did you take it?

P: I said no at the time because I as about to go traveling and then I realized I had make a big mistake and I got back to the woman who offered me the job but there was an issue about getting a visa. In the end it came to nothing but if I jumped on it immediately it may have been different. I feel that that opportunity arose because I really applied myself to what I was doing. All of my energy went into that, not TV, not a girlfriend, not dancing and drinking. All that energy of one human focused into one craft. And, somebody picked up on it.

YP: What do you do when something is not a success or you don’t feel successful?

P: Cry. Well, inevitably because I am still here taking breaths, I get up and give it another go. Little successes feed the journey for the big success. You are successful if you appreciate your many successes that make you feel good. There is a snowball of energy building up. Continually challenging yourself is the base of success.

YP: Maybe success is like happiness in that you’re not going to wake up one day and be totally satisfied and happy. It is an ongoing process and you have to take steps toward its realization daily.

P: It’s up and down. It comes and goes, that happiness thing. Is
happiness success? That is another question…not necessarily. What you were saying about busy people made me think of lives where people divert themselves from themselves by being busy. Maybe part of success is having the bravery to deal with yourself.

YP: How did you start making jewelry?

P: I went traveling in Mexico and before going home I wanted to buy my girlfriend a ring but I couldn’t find one that I liked so I found a guy who could make my design. I hung out with him and just basically watched him work. He made a wax model of my drawing, cast it and filled it. When I got back to England I was just bumming around again and I thought it was about time I get my shit together and not depend on someone else to employ me. I started making a few rings and people bought them and I have carried on making them. It seems like the more you make, the more you sell. They are very personal. Some of them are weird or warped but some weird or warped person will come by and buy that ring. Some are heavy and others are delicate, but I make them all myself.

— Albin

Comment [3]

Gurjant Singh · 167 days ago

J. Naughton shot these photos of Gurjant. Check out other photos at thankyounyc.

Gurjant loves his block but like any city slicker he carries with him the ideal of the country, where he could, “have a clubhouse that won’t get torn down by sanitation workers.” If he isn’t selling lemonade on Orchard Street Gurjant is playing handball with his friends, but unlike the rest of his crew he dreams of becoming a surgeon. In addition to studying hard in school to achieve this goal, Gurjant practices preventative medicine by volunteering at the soup kitchen on his block, feeding those in need of a meal. This twelve year old was quick to snap, “I was born in New York and I’ve been here all my life and it’s great,” …

Young Philosopher: Why do you volunteer to serve meals at the Catholic Worker’s soup kitchen?

Gurjant Singh: I started because my friend Jake worked there. He brought me there the first time and then I started volunteering by myself.

YP: Now you go on your own?

GS: I’ve got a lot of friends there.

YP: What is a typical day for you?

GS: Get up in the morning, brush my teeth, take a shower, say bye to my mom, go outside, walk to school. If it’s raining I go inside the auditorium; if it’s not raining then I stay outside and play. I graduated from my old school. I’m a graduate now.

YP: What was the name of your old school?

GS: P.S. 20 School of Technology and Arts. It’s on Essex Street.

YP: Where’s your new school?

GS: Right across the street from my old school. That’s where my brother goes.

YP: What’s your neighborhood like?

GS: Living here is pretty good but there’s a lot of things to watch out for, like gangsters. But still, I grew up having a good childhood. I like it. Every day I go to the park and play handball. Now that I’m old enough to go out by myself I go to the handball court. It’s not far; it’s right across the street from my house.

YP: So you serve meals for no pay but your nickname is Money. Where’s Money come from?

GS: I make money at my lemonade stand. Usually on Sundays. I used to do it on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Now I just do it on Sundays on Orchard Street.

YP: What time?

GS: Usually from 1-5 p.m.

YP: What’s the cross street?

GS: On Orchard near Houston Street.

YP: How did you start selling lemonade?

GS: My friend from New Jersey came to New York and he and I made a lemonade stand. We made a lot of money and we split it. Then I said I should do my own lemonade stand and that’s how it started.

YP: How much money do you make in an afternoon selling lemonade?

GS: Usually I make around $55.00.

YP: Why don’t you stay inside and play video games or look around on the computer?

GS: I don’t really have a computer and I only have one system and that’s a Gameboy and it’s pretty boring. Outside is nature. You go play outside, it has more stuff than you have inside.

YP: Why do so many kids your age play video games and stay inside?

GS: They play video games because these games get people into it. They want to beat the next level. Well, I don’t really care if they want to do that, it’s up them. But for me, I just like going outside and playing. I have the game Super Mario which is pretty good and hard to beat, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to do that when I could be outside playing games rather than playing one old game.

YP: What do you want to be when you’re older?

GS: You’ll see me being a doctor. I will be a surgery doctor.

YP: What steps are you taking towards becoming a doctor?

GS: I watch shows that have doctors in them and when I go to the library I get books on medicine. Every time my Dad gets medicine, because he had a stroke, I read his medicine bottles. I know this has nothing to do with surgery but that is still the kind of doctor I want to be.

YP: You’re interested in health and helping people?

GS: Yes. It started when I was small. My mom said she wanted me to be a doctor, and I said, “It’s up to me, whatever I want to be.” Then I got interested in being a doctor anyways so I’m going to go to school and stuff like that. A friend of mine told me it’s hard being a doctor because you have to go back to school every time new technology comes out. You have to learn about it.

YP: Don’t sweat it. You can do it.

GS: I know.

YP: What’s your favorite thing about waking up each day?

GS: I don’t like to see rainy days. I like to see the sun. When it’s sunny everything is fun. Every time I wake up there are a lot of things I get to do. If there is nothing really to do I get to go to the Catholic Worker. Sometimes I’m really in a chopping mood. I’m not trying to say a bad mood, but a mood like I want to cut vegetables. I go to the Catholic Worker for that. For every mood I usually have something to do. When I feel lonely I go over to the park and play with my friends. When it’s hot, when I’m in a hot mood, I go to the pool. If I’m in a cold mood, well I haven’t really found anything for that.

YP: What other moods do you have?

GS: Angry moods, bad moods. When I’m in a bad mood, I don’t know how to say this, “You know Frankenstein?”

YP: Yes.

GS: (makes Frankenstein noises) Like him. But usually I’m never in a bad mood.

YP: What frustrates you?

GS: I can’t stand that me and friends all had a clubhouse and now it’s gone. My friend and I used a lot of cardboard. We hunted for cardboard and made a clubhouse and it frustrates me that the sanitation workers destroyed it.

YP: Where was the clubhouse?

GS: It was between 1st Ave. and 2nd Ave. on 1st Street. It was under a staircase. The owner of the building said it was all right if we built it but they [sanitation workers] destroyed it. We are trying to find a new place but in New York it is too hard to have a clubhouse.

YP: How long has your family lived in New York?

GS: My dad has been here for fourteen years, three years before I was here. My brother was born in India and I was in my mom’s stomach before I came to New York. My little sister is in India right now.

YP: Who is she with?

GS: I have a big family and they’re mostly in India.

YP: Have you been to India?

GS: Yes, I’ve been there twice.

YP: Where in India?

GS: Punjab.

YP: Do you like it over there?

GS: I think I would like to live in Punjab. I know it’s a poor city because there is not that much money there but it’s more natural. There are cars but not that many. Where we live there are cows everywhere. I love it.

YP: Does your family eat dinner together?

GS: Yes, my family eats dinner together, and of course we love Indian food because we are Indian, except me, I’m American. Indian food has a lot of spices in it and it’s really good. American food to me is kind of better but I like Indian food. My mother is really good as an Indian cook.

YP: What time to you eat dinner?

GS: My mom puts really hard work into the meal so we get to eat at 9:30 p.m. Indian food takes really long to cook. It’s not like American food. In America there are stoves. In India you have to make your own fire. In India the food cooks quicker; in America, when you do Indian food, it takes longer because you use a stove. In India the fire is faster, hotter, bigger.

YP: What do you love to do in New York that you miss when you’re in India?

GS: Fishing at the East River or the Hudson River. At the East River there are a lot of striped bass. To catch striped bass you need a good hook, a two-ounce weight, and the best bait to use in bunker. Three days ago I caught a herring but I threw it back because it was too small. If you’re going for herring try to get a boogy hook, that’s a shiny hook. Use no bait and make the hook small. Throw it in and without waiting, reel it in. That’s how I did it when I caught my herring. Water in the East River and the Hudson River are kind of not good but it’s not contaminated so if you catch a fish you can eat it and you won’t die.
And remember, my lemonade stand is on Orchard Street, near Houston, and I will be doing it throughout September.

— Albin

Comment [1]

Todd & Jean on the Greyhound · 167 days ago

An 11 p.m. Greyhound ride is an adventure no matter what the destination. Mine was Los Angeles. I had no where to spend the night in San Francisco so why not hop on the bus. My mistake wasn’t taking Greyhound, it was arriving at the station two hours early.

First I walk into the bathroom on the second floor and there is a dude passed out, blocking the doorway. I step over his bent leg and peer into his scruffy face and see myself. I shake that one away and glare at the sink clogged with puke. I can make out some pineapple, maybe from a Hawaiian slice of pizza but the sounds from the stall distract me. Two guys are getting off in the stall and they’re not being frugal with their grunts; I try not to think about what else they’re taking liberties with. I take a piss, half in the urinal half on the floor and dart back into the lobby, where it’s not much better.

The kid I sit next to announces that his grandpa has cancer and he is canceling his cross country bus trip. Then he starts yelling that he got ripped off on the bag of weed he bought and he slips a metal rod from his backpack and up the sleeve of his jacket and asks me to watch his bags. He runs out of the terminal as I assure him that no one will touch his stuff but that I can’t watch it. Who, taking a Greyhound, can handle that much responsibility?

I had just eaten the second half of a pot brownie and before I swallow I realize the mistake.

There is a couple next to where this kid was sitting and I am mystified by them. Every word out of their mouths, their subtle movements, the lady finger cookies they share with one another, their outfits, I can’t take my eyes off of them.

How can I shoot a few photos of them without being a jerk with a camera? I tell the guy that I make a magazine and I’d like to ask him and his lady a few questions. He agrees. Most of his answers are one-worders but after about thirty seconds of silence he slaps the rigid, metal benches we are seated on and says to me, “They make these things so uncomfortable so when we get on the bus we think the seats are soft.” I nod in agreement and seconds later we’re called to line up for the ride.

I don’t really smoke pot and this brownie is hitting me hard. I’m beginning to flip out.

I get on the bus but I haven’t gotten my photos yet. I approach the couple and ask if now is a good time to shoot away. “No, why don’t we wait ‘til we’re settled in,” is the response I get. I had to do it. I presented my two travel beers to the man and that sealed it. I was good to go. I couldn’t drink the beers and even if I could they were a small price to pay. I was only able to click a couple photos, but they are enough. I don’t need to retell the stories of prison, beer drinking bouts—let your imagination run wild.

I got comfortable, hugged my backpack and fell asleep. I would wake up in a panic many times on this trip. A couple of those times I jumped up from my sleep and seat, swiping at my right front pocket where I keep my wallet. I was convinced that someone was trying to rob me. No one was even awake. But I took the cash out and put it in my underwear band and switched my wallet to my left pocket, the one farther from the aisle and predators.

— Albin

Comment [1]

Paul & Tap · 167 days ago

Paul and Tap are two brothers, both in their 90’s, who have lived on Mulberry Street their whole lives. Tap was smoking a cigar and Paul was paging through the Daily News outside of Benito One, just south of Broome. By the time I had run up stairs and grabbed my tape recorder, they resumed their walk. The humidity hadn’t set in and the tourists were still asleep as Tap and Paul strolled past Italian restaurants and souvenir shops. Tap looked straight ahead while Paul used his cane to knock bottle caps and rubbish out of his path.

Young Philosopher: Do you live on Mulberry Street?

Paul: Yeah, we live here. Right Tap?

Tap: All our lives.
I’d rather live some place else. I’ve been around to different places. I always wind up here.

YP: Do you know all these guys hanging out on the block?

Paul and Tap: Yeah.

Jimmy and Vinny sitting in lawn chairs joke with Tap and Paul: Hey slow down. You’re going too fast.

Young Philosopher: How has the block changed?

Tap: It’s changed in many ways.
It used to be an Italian neighborhood, now it’s mostly Chinese. Time goes by, everything changes. That’s the way it goes.

YP: You can accept it or fight it.

Tap: You’ve got to accept it.

Paul: Fighting it ain’t gonna get you nowhere.

YP: What’s your plan for the day?

Paul: None, just relax and take it easy.

YP: Are you brothers or friends?

Tap: Brothers.

YP: What’s the age difference?

Tap: I’ve got about three or four years on him. Time goes by for everybody.

YP: Hey, Tap, who gave you that name?

Tap: Who the heck knows. I don’t even remember.

— Albin

Comment [1]

Mr. Raispis Interview part I of II · 167 days ago

Frank Raispis Interview

Mr. Raispis is a person I never wanted to disappoint. How could I? This man made me feel welcome when I was a freshman in high school. His Latin class wasn’t as formulaic as it could have been either; it wasn’t only about Latin. Two years with Mr. Raispis got me to appreciate learning for it’s own sake. His classes would take pop tests and just when everyone was terrified of turning in their work, he’d say, “Pass it to your neighbor.” We’d go through the exam; he’d make sure no one had any questions before the period was over and then pass out the exact same exam the next day.
We did so much chanting as a class that I still find myself declining verbs in my head before falling asleep, and singing verses of Ningiat, (“Let it Snow,” in Latin) in the summer.

Young Philosopher: How long have you been teaching Latin?

Frank Raispis: I started at De LaSalle in 1953. This is the start of my 53rd year. Pretty much the last 50 have been here (at St. Ignatius College Prep).

Mr. Raispis and I are walking around the new football field and I ask

YP: Has having a football team affected the student body?

FR: It hasn’t. Kids don’t come because of the football. They don’t come for any athletic program, really. For 23 years in a row we were the top track team but to a great extent that was because of individuals.
The total athletics program is fine, as long as the tail doesn’t start wagging the dog.

There is a garden tucked away from the football field that Mr. Raispis plants each year. He moves some bulbs he had dug up so we can sit on a bench.

FR: Kids are still kids. A lot of the alumni ask, “Kids are different now aren’t they?” And I say, “No, they’re not. The kids aren’t any different.” Our culture has changed and is changing and kids are victimized. Kids are pawns. But quit blaming the kids for being low achievers. Kids will do what they know is expected of them, for the most part. We should stop and make sure the kids know what it is that we expect, instead of saying kids will be kids. Kids will be kids, that’s no explanation.
But this nonsense that kids are not as good (as they used to be) that’s baloney. If I see that a kid’s having trouble or making trouble and I tell him to see me after school and I start talking to him, the boys cry as easily as the girls. It’s not that that’s what you want to do but you say, “Do you realize the mess you’re making of your life?”

YP: Maybe they’re touched that someone cares about them and is taking the time to work with them.

FR: Shouldn’t that be the bottom line? The job of a school teacher is not 8 o’clock to 3. When I talk to new teachers I ask them if they’ve read Highet’s book, The Art of Teaching. It’s not one of these “educators” books. I use “educator” very spitefully. I think these guys who go to school and get a doctorate in education…

YP: They’ve never taught kids.

FR: They’re not teachers. They’ve got all kinds of schemes and great plans but they don’t know the reality of a classroom. I have minimal respect, if any, for them. Not because I am elitist and think that you should have a degree in the humanities in some shape or form, but because education is not training.
I was reading someone in the same vain who said, ‘You ought to get rid of pre-med programs. We ought to get rid of pre-dental, pre-law. Those pre-programs ought to be junked if we want educated people to move into positions of influence in our society and at large.’
Being educated means being aware of who we are as a people, as a nation. And you can’t come to grips with that if you’re going to be a “specialist.”

YP: Think about what you need when you go and see a doctor. You need care but you need someone to set your mind at ease, someone who can talk to you. When you’re hurting that pain colors your entire world.

FR: We are losing something. We are getting too smart for our own good. We are making it extremely difficult to get to know people.
In some of these gated communities people don’t even go out. When I lived in Berwyn someone would say, ‘Grandma’s having a birthday party why don’t you come over.’

YP: Not any more?

FR: And you could say, isn’t it worth it. Look at all the advantages we have.
I’ve got cable but there’s nothing I want to watch. I’ve got a lot of books I want to read. And I’ve got a nice stereo system.

YP: What are you listening to?

— Albin

Mr. Raispis Interview part II of II · 167 days ago

YP: What are you listening to?

FR: Right now, in there, I’ve got five CD’s. The first one is The World’s Greatest Overatures and there’s a little bit of Beethoven. I’ve got Frank Patterson, an Irish tenor. I’ve got Moonlight Bay, it’s a gal with a piano player singing all the old songs. “Wait ‘Til the Sun Shines Nelly.” It’s a nice voice, very quiet. I’ve got Frank Sinatra, “September Song,” My favorite song on there is “As I Approach the Prime of My Life,” which is kind of my theme now.

YP: Yeah, I’d say you’re in your prime.

FR: When I give a little talk at a meeting or something that’s usually how I start, “As I approach the prime of my life I seem to find the time of my life…” And the fifth one is Louis Armstrong, “What a Wonderful World.”
I’m eclectic.

YP: How is your approach to learning and the studying of Latin going to save our world?

FR: It may be incidental. I think we get a much better sense of who we are and what we are if we know where we came from. According to Highet the ideal teaching situation is the teacher looking into the eyes of a student.

Education by a machine is not real education. It may improve your memory. But to say you’re educated if you don’t understand people…you can be trained, like a dog can be trained. We’ve got robots that can go into a burning building and save a fireman, fantastic. But real education means appreciating, you talking with me and me talking with you, not at you.
I don’t know what your analysis of the situation is but if you’re sitting in my class you’re supposed to make an effort to learn Latin. That’s why I’m here, to help you learn Latin. I know Latin so I’m not going to give you the answers. You’re here because you want to get the answers. The sooner you can get the answers by yourself the better off you’re going to be. And, that’s why it’s great that you were studying in the Greek combination.
What are you going to do with Greek? But, the point is when you’re studying Greek and Latin, whether you like the idea or not, talking about the contribution of other cultures to America, basically we are who we are because of the Greeks and the Romans.
When the Founding Fathers came over here they did not come over as Chinese scholars they knew nothing of Zen philosophy. The constitution was written by people who were familiar with the Greeks and the Romans. It’s important that we learn about Eastern civilization as well but we are who we are because of the Greeks and the Romans.

YP: What about the injustices committed by Greeks and Romans and the Founding Fathers?

FR: The Greeks and Romans had slaves, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves but YOU don’t accept the status quo if you’re a thinker. If you see some things that are objectionable, you say “That’s not right.” It gets people mad. In the end, there might be a civil war.

I like to talk to the seniors that there is nothing better for all of us than to have conversation. You’re here, whatever your basic motive is, you’re here in this class to learn something about Latin and Greek and culture, western civilization. The fact is, I find year after year that Latin and Greek are so personally satisfying for me because there are so many distractions.
Often enough we’re going to be reading something in Latin or Greek, or somebody will make a comment, and all of a sudden I’ll go off. And that’s not really as random as you’d think, because the more we know the greater freedom we have.
It sounds kind of trite but Truth will make you free.

YP: How important is it to reach out to those who don’t have the facilities or abilities to get a better education (like one at St. Ignatius)? Are there enough programs for people who are interested in learning and growing?

FR: Well, we like to think so but I don’t know.

YP: Have you ever had a student who no matter how hard you tried you could never get through to? Any lost causes?

FR: No.
One guy sent his son here because he wanted to see his son get what we tried to give him.
I caught him at a dance drunk. This was in the 1960’s.
I took him up to the office and called his parents and told them to pick him up.
He wasn’t staggering drunk but was obviously drunk. He had a date and he was driving.
I talked to Mr. And Mrs. X and they took him home. That was on a Friday and at the time we were still all boys. On Monday he was told by the principal to clean out his locker and he was dismissed. There was no discipline board.
He was drunk on school grounds.
[Years later b]oth his son and daughter went here and graduated.
I ran into him and he said that was one of the best things that ever happened to him, when we threw him out.

— Albin

W.B. Braxton Bantu · 167 days ago

Interview with W.B. Braxton-Bantu
Village Café, Richmond, Virginia

What would you do if you realized that following your heart would put you on the street. You wouldn’t be on the street during the day but return to your home in the evening to relax, eat, and sleep. You would stand in solidarity with the men and women in this plight to the detriment of your own privacy and stability.
W.B. Braxton-Bantu, a self-proclaimed spiritual activist and graduate from Virginia State University, has followed his heart, living on the street for nearly ten years. He is working to change the way the underclass is treated and perceived in this country. W.B. is helping those directly affected by homelessness: men, women, and children on the street, himself, and you.

W.B. Braxton-Bantu: I am a spiritual activist as opposed to a political activist in the politics of the poor. One of the things I would like to make known is that the adjective ‘homeless’ should not be used to describe human beings. It is permissible to be used to describe things or animals but not human beings, or even the condition that human beings may fall into. We should see human beings as living, sentient beings who are always deserving of respect. Secondly, this is not only a problem that the people who are in this plight have themselves but this is a community problem and everyone should be concerned that this is their brother or sister who is out on the streets without adequate clothing or funds to secure affordable housing or to live in a cheap hotel.

Young Philosopher: Do most people who see homeless men and women feel they’re too busy to help them or do they not feel responsible for helping them?

WB: See that’s why I am a spiritual activist rather than a political activist because if you take a path toward enlightenment you see that every human being is worthy of our time and patience and efforts to help him or her, whether they are one of the haves or have-nots. Siddhartha Gautama left affluence and wealth to see how the other side lived (excuse the expression) and took the life of a beggar or wanderer, one seeking enlightenment. The Prophet Muhammad risked his life, preaching to the then wild Arabs, and made his pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. There are others like Christ, Confucius, Lao-Tzu, back to Socrates and Moses. These great teachers were spiritually involved in the lives of others.

YP: Can you differentiate between a street person and one who is living on the streets?

WB: I consider myself a man who is on the streets technically or geographically, but not a street person per se. There are people who are not geographically on the streets but there is a mentality of the person who is a street person, where even if he has a roof over his head, a driver’s license, money in the bank, he prefers to spend most of his time in the streets, even when he doesn’t have to. Or simply, some people who are on the streets and have been institutionalized in shelters or jails, they have embraced that as a way of life. Just because they get a check or have a job and an income and choose to live off the streets, technically, geographically, doesn’t’ necessarily mean they are not street people. Whereas other people, through circumstances beyond their control or choices they have made, are out on the streets, and until they can find a way to step out of that reality they will continue to be on the streets. This does not mean that that person is a street person.

YP: Do you have any income?

WB: I have income part time. In fact, I am controversial in this environment. I would like to be married with a family. That’s easier said than done because there is a resistance of people who are in this plight to get out of it because they have issues that they have to resolve. The issues don’t necessarily have to be ones of substance abuse or behavioral problems, but sometimes there are issues beyond one’s control. In this city the real dilemma of homelessness is that jobs don’t pay enough and housing costs too much. Most housing in this city is $350 to $500 a month plus a security deposit, with one or more utilities. So if one does not have a job earning $9.00 an hour, or have two jobs, with that kind of rent and expenses, how will he continue to pay it? Now for affordable housing like SRO housing or Section 8 or public housing, one has to be on an exhaustingly long waiting list for six months to two years, or longer. Especially one who is unmarried and without any children. I would like to be married with children, and not just to be moved up on the waiting list for public housing.

YP: Many people think you have to have a car and money, etc. if you want to have girlfriends. As a man without a house, a high-paying job, what difficulties do you have meeting women and going on dates?

WB: I have no problems meeting women but the women I do meet are very complicated; many of them have serious issues. There is one woman, I will call her Ms. K. She seems to always be in some kind of drama, some kind of plight, much like the cartoon character in The Exploits of Penelope, in which such and such a gang would have to come to Penelope’s rescue, much like Superman rescued Lois Lane. I am sure that in the book of Transactional Analysis there is a certain name for this type of game, one in which someone is in a position in which he or she is always the victim.

YP: You gotta play Captain Save ‘Em?

WB: Not me in particular. Someone has to come as the rescuer in this situation. If you are not careful, you who were the rescuer, you become their victim and your former victim becomes you persecutor. Situations like that I have seen too often at the Daily Planet [day shelter which provides services to ‘homeless and near-homeless men and women’], or the overflow site [last resort night shelter] and there seems to be some type of treacherous situation that develops in which you put yourself in the position to be someone’s rescuer. Ultimately we should look within ourselves and be our own rescuer, rather than wait for someone to come along and rescue us.
Poverty seems like a material or financial problem. Actually the roots are spiritual. Despair, self-pity, hopelessness, anger, bitterness, rejection, fear, all these negative emotions that defeat anyone in life. The way to deal with it is to counter it with positive emotions, such as hope rather than despair, love rather than hate, self-acceptance rather than self rejection. Love dominates over all of them—love for ourselves and love for our neighbors. Many of us don’t love ourselves. America has a spiritual problem. America is still a superpower, but modern day America is post-Christian. America has chosen, above all else, to be capitalistic. As a result people are thrown into the streets because they cannot pay the rent, but salaries are not raised along with the cost of living.

YP: What is the difference between the girls you met in college versus the women you meet on the streets and what role does one’s social status play in defining one’s individuality?
WB: Interestingly enough there is not much difference between the women I meet in this environment and the women I met when I was at VSU [Virginia State University]. Except, the women on campus did not have as many issues as the women in this environment. There were more single women with less issues at VSU than there are in the poverty population. A man is still a man and a woman is still a woman. One has only to meet that one person that one can relate to and vice versa. It’s not a matter of one trying to be a player. In fact that is a self-defeating game. It may not look that way, but in fact, it is that way. The way to go would be to meet someone in this environment you care about. You look out for the person, he or she looks out for you. You two can still grow in love despite the issues she may have and despite the issues you may have, and you can find a way out of the plight by rescuing each other.
Some people get an income, they get housing, but they don’t keep it very long. Nobody really wants to go to an empty house. If you try to invite people from various shelters, you are inviting chaos and confusion into your home and you will end up losing your house, and end up back where you started. You can tell a lost man how lost he is and at the end of the day he will stand up and say, “I’m glad you weren’t describing me.” To some degree we have people who are in denial; they are deceiving themselves. In order for one to come to one’s own rescue, one must choose wholeness over fragmentation. These are cycles: cycles of addiction, cycles of poverty, cycles of illiteracy, cycles of crime. But how ca you break these cycles? We must make an endeavor to select a transformation from who we are to who we want to be.

YP: Did you learn more in the academic world of a university or do you learn more living in the world outside of academia?

WB: Life teaches its lessons wherever you may be, but I will say that going to any university makes you an elitist. Some of the problems I have seen in this environment are the same ones we had on campus: students getting addicted to alcohol and drugs, men and women in abusive relationships, women getting pregnant and not knowing where to turn and then losing the chance to complete what they started. But those were choices the people made and I do not see too much difference in the university environment from outside environments, except that the university environment is much more forgiving. On the streets, there will probably not be much sympathy for Mary Jane, but if she were a student at some prestigious university, say Vassar or Yale, someone would say, “Oh, poor dear, poor thing, what can we do to help her?” There is always more help for people who are in environments or institutions that are positive. But, at this point, if Mary Jane is on the streets, there is little or no sympathy for her, even from the people in this plight.

YP: Why do you study philosophy?

WB: What I like about philosophy is that philosophy is an all-out assault on what people take as truth. We forget that there are always inconsistencies. There might have been an occasion when a person observed a prince walking while a servant was riding a horse. We never know what may befall any of us, including you who are interviewing me, including you who are out in the audience. You don’t know what may be lurking around the corner. As a result we must always have love, faith, compassion, and forgiveness for those who are struggling, just as we would want those kinds of sentiments given to us if we were the one in need. This may be a lesson in life that the university of hard knocks is coming to teach you.

— Albin

Mari · 167 days ago

MARI

I met up with Mari while she was in New York City for fashion week.
Mari owns four boutiques in Japan (Faline, Baby Faline, Bambi, and Tokyo). She’s a business woman with a whole-hearted interest in her products and the people she serves. She travels the globe, not so much searching, just seeing what’s out there. While some would be all worried about finding particular styles of clothing to fit some notion of what’s hot, Mari checks out what’s available and stocks what she likes.

Young Philosopher: Would you talk about the work you do? What brought you to New York and what will bring you to Paris?

Mari: I have a store in Japan. I started this business 10 years ago. In the beginning, I was only buying from Vivian Westwood and I just had one little store.

YP: A little boutique where you sell other people’s clothes?

M: Now, but it used to be that I only sold Vivian Westwood.

YP: How’d you go about becoming a licensed dealer?

M: I really wanted it so I went to the company’s outlet seller.
At that time I was wearing blond wigs and long dresses and I had no eyebrows, totally like a western drag queen. And the company was quite businessman [style]. They were like, ‘Oh, my god,’ when they saw me. But it worked out and from there I started a tiny store in Nagoya City.

YP: Where does your style come from?

M: I started going out to discos when I was 15 and at that time I didn’t have money to buy expensive clothes, but I liked quite freaky, punkish, new wave styles, so I just tried to make them. I would sew ballerina costumes by hand, and I’d make fluffy, pretty, French style clothes. It wasn’t only me, all the kids at that time wanted to show off.
Then I started wearing Vivian Westwood’s clothes when I was maybe 20 or something.

YP: You made your own clothes because you wanted a certain style that you couldn’t find on your budget, are you like this with other things? You don’t wait for them to come to you?

M: I’m coming from me, always, very strong. I’m a Scorpion. I want everything that I want.

YP: What do you want that you don’t have right now?

M: Me? Now I’m very happy. I just opened a Tokyo store last year on St. Valentine’s Day.

YP: As a business owner, how important are the people who work for you?

M: Almost my livelihood. Like my family.

YP: What types of clothes do you sell at your stores?

M: My stores are mixed: edgy and haute couture.
I respect my customers. Tokyo customers are more casual—they don’t buy as much expensive stuff as Nagoya customers. Nagoya customers are more VIP. We have VIPs from 10 years ago. It’s quite expensive but they love it.
(In Nagoya, she’s the only one who sells these labels, but in Japan these labels are easier to find).
We’re all very close.

YP: You’re in the mix.

M: It’s a community.

YP: It doesn’t sound like you’re just trying to capitalize off of fashion but fashion is something you love and you’re happy to be sharing it with others.

M: It’s very personal.

YP: Do you choose all the clothes you’ll sell?

M: I travel myself and meet designers or go to the show room and pick up stuff. I look at clothes and decide which ones are better.

YP: Has your job always been about doing what you enjoy, not like I have to get a job; I need cash?

M: It follows you later.

YP: The money?

M: Yeah. My friends all think Mari do whatever Mari likes.

YP: Is that the way to do it?

M: In ten years sometimes it’s good and I make money but sometimes it’s really bad.
Couldn’t make any money. I spend a hard time as well. Now after ten years there’s been a revival so I’m very happy. Now I can save or give to mommy.
Plus I was too young when I opened the first store. I didn’t care about my furture.
My mother had a stroke two years ago. That was quite a hardcore time for me. So many things are different. I realize life is not forever. She is losing her body and I worry that mine will go as well.
Now, we’re coming together and making money. We share.
But it’s not going to be forever; I have to figure out what’s next.

YP: When did you first start this business?

M: Eleven years now. Faline is eleven years this year. Baby Faline this summer is six; Bambi is eight or nine. Tokyo is baby, just one year.

YP: Are there many female business owners in Japan?

M: Yeah. My age is getting more. My mom’s age, not really. The generation is different. Our’s is more powerful.

A couple days ago somebody asked me, “Isn’t it hard for a woman to have a business in Tokyo?” I’m not married yet. I don’t have kids.
My answer was, “Since I was a kid I didn’t care about marriage or having a baby. So, this is quite natural for me. Maybe somebody else can’t do this. For her it’s quite hard.
It is a hard job but fashion is beautiful.
In other parts of Asia it’s quite difficult. I’m Asian but other Asian countries, like Bangkok, have a tougher reality. I’m lucky.
I didn’t always have money. I had some bad times, really bad. I got really popular and then went down.
Now is a good time but it’s not going to be forever.

YP: When times were tough did you still have good people around you, supporting you, or did people ditch you?

M: The people who work for me need to make money so they had to get other jobs. That’s reality but I loved them; they love me, and they helped me even if I don’t have money (to pay them).

YP: It’s a typical story to hear that when times are good people will stick around to enjoy the success but when things sour people leave. If you’re low no one wants to be around you.

M: But I didn’t show to anyone that I had a bad time. This is a fantasy so I cannot show to them.
Of course the shop people know but other people around me they’re still thinking things are good.

End.

— Albin

Comment [1]