10.25.2004

Mashuga

I would like to turn everyone's attention to one of the Fotolog links I've added on the right. Mashuga's Fotolog is a project by a professor at Bloomsburg University, near my hometown of Drums, PA. I've had it on my own log's Friends/Favorites links since the start, but he's become somewhat more of a celebrity since then. His project is to photograph the homeless in NYC and also Wilkes-Barre, PA, also near Bloomsburg. Recently he has been the subject of an NPR story and also on Brazilian television (Brazil has quite a few Fotologgers).

Mashuga's site has special significance to me, since a few years ago my younger brother was homeless on the streets of Wilkes-Barre. I showed him the pictures and he said he knew or recognized a couple of the WB subjects. In my brother's case, he was lucky and found a job and got off the streets. It was a series of poor life choices that led him there, mainly financial, and as far as I know had nothing to do with drugs or alcohol. His life has still been hard since then, and I think he still struggles even though he works hard.

Not long ago, one of Mashuga's WB homeless subjects passed away from lung cancer. His name was Paul, and my brother said he knew the guy but "didn't like him". He was just a "bitter old man" or "just an asshole". I don't really know why my brother had this opinion of him; I wonder if it partially has to do with a distaste for anyone who is still homeless, since he freed himself from it. It is fortunate for these people that Mashuga's site has become so popular...Paul received cards or letters from people all over the world. Unfortunately, it was only after he died that the shelter he stayed at (the same that my brother stayed at) was able to locate his estranged brothers, who had been searching for him for years. They were able to go to Mashuga's site and see their brother and all the comments people had left for him.

Please listen to the NPR story here. I thank God we haven't lost my brother the way Paul's family lost him.

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