Man continues, after I ask for clarification about book name (I\u2019ve put the statement about being in the hospital in the back of my mind for now): It\u2019s about him being a prison guard back in the early years and the green mile meant you were on death row.\u00a0 One of the guys that he had on death row was this huge, huge, huge black man but he had special powers.\u00a0 He helped heal the guard and also, he helped heal the warden\u2019s wife.\u00a0 She was bedridden.\u00a0 And the guard took him out of the prison to the warden\u2019s house.\u00a0 And he helped heal her.\u00a0 But the thing about it was \u2026 whatever was, whatever was in their body that was making them sick or whatever, he would inhale it and take it into his own body.\u00a0 Then all he had to do was blow it out (he demonstrates).<\/p>\n
Me:\u00a0 Too bad that can\u2019t be true.<\/p>\n
Man: \u00a0Yes (emphatically). Too bad.<\/p>\n
Me: \u00a0So, let\u2019s start with \u2026<\/p>\n
Man:\u00a0 How I got here?<\/p>\n
Me:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Would you mind telling me your name?<\/p>\n
Tony: \u00a0My name is Tony.<\/p>\n
Me: \u00a0Tony.\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n
Tony: \u00a0I lost my job and my house at the same time.\u00a0 Um, I worked on a horse farm just outside of Helen Ga.\u00a0 Uh, we gave artificial insemination and raised ponies up to certain age, and we shipped them to Florida .. to the owner\u2019s sons and they raised \u2018em up for horse racing.\u00a0 I was there for about 8 years and there were nine of us that lived on the farm.\u00a0 Um, the owner passed away, from a heart attack.\u00a0 He was in his mid-70s.\u00a0 His sons I had always dealt with for years, just by phone, I had never met \u2018em, umm\u2026 but once their father passed away, they came up, they put up for sale signs and said, \u201cSee ya.\u201d\u00a0 No severance pay, nothin\u2019.\u00a0 I\u2019m originally from here.\u00a0 This is where I grew up.<\/p>\n
Me: So you grew up in Athens and left to work on the horse farm?<\/p>\n
Tony:\u00a0 I moved away before that.\u00a0 I worked for a book company.<\/p>\n
Me: What book company was it?\u00a0 What did you do there?<\/p>\n
Tony: Account administration and I went from that to receiving department.\u00a0 The company was Baker and Taylor.\u00a0 They\u2019re right in Commerce.\u00a0 I stayed there for like 14 years and um \u2026 then I got into account managing, inventory control, that kind of stuff.\u00a0 I decided after 14 years I\u2019d had enough of it.<\/p>\n
Me: it just wasn\u2019t the right thing for you.<\/p>\n
Tony: Yup.\u00a0 So, I decided I wanted to learn how to build a house and I had no clue (laughs) so I went out and started toting lumber for construction companies that were building houses here in East Athens.\u00a0 And um, swinging hammer, learn how to read blueprints.\u00a0 I did that, probably for about 7 or 8 years.\u00a0 Then the last 8 years I was on a horse farm.<\/p>\n
Me: What did you like the best of those things that you\u2019ve done so far \u2026 or none of them?<\/p>\n
Tony: I liked being on the horse farm. Yes.\u00a0 I would love to go back to the mountains.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 But, I\u2019ve been back here about 3 years.<\/p>\n
Me: Do you still have family in the area?<\/p>\n
Tony: My son lives in Lawrenceville.\u00a0 Uh \u2026 he has no idea of my situation.\u00a0 I don\u2019t let him know about that.\u00a0 I mean I talk with him, and we visit.\u00a0 I have two grandsons, one is four years old and the other one\u2019s seven.\u00a0 And I talk with him and stuff.\u00a0 He\u2019s doing very well and I\u2019m very proud of him.\u00a0 He and his wife, both.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t let him know what my situation is.<\/p>\n
Me: How do you keep him from discovering that?<\/p>\n
Tony: I go visit him sometimes but he doesn\u2019t come here.\u00a0 Yup.\u00a0 If he knew I was out here, doing this, he would\u2019ve already come and got me.<\/p>\n
Me: And you don\u2019t want that.\u00a0 Do you like to be on your own?<\/p>\n
Tony: Well, I didn\u2019t choose to be in this situation but that doesn\u2019t mean I have to stay here.<\/p>\n
Me: No, it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Tony: Yea; several people I\u2019ve met since I\u2019ve been here and I\u2019ve asked them, \u201cHow long have you been out here and they say, you know, seven, eight, nine years.\u00a0 And I say, \u201cWell, do you look for a job?\u00a0 And the first two words to come out of their mouth are \u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019 not physically disabled, they\u2019re not mentally disabled, as far as I know.\u00a0 I think the first words that come out of their mouth should be, \u201cI don\u2019t want to\u201d.<\/p>\n
Me: I see.<\/p>\n
Tony (adds quickly): But you know just because this happened to me doesn\u2019t mean I have to stay here.<\/p>\n
Me: No, absolutely not (I know that this juncture begs a question about what he is doing to change it, but I did not feel it was the right time to pose that question.\u00a0 Instead, I just let him continue).<\/p>\n
Tony: \u00a0I\u2019ve been here a little over two years, day and night.<\/p>\n
Me:\u00a0 Where do you sleep at night?<\/p>\n
Tony: Um \u2026 normally beside the church under the stairwell, because it stays dry.\u00a0 I have camped with some fellows, in a tent, that type of thing, I\u2019ve done that.\u00a0 But no, normally for the last year or so, I stay by the church over there.<\/p>\n
Tony: I slept in that<\/em> stairwell for 6 months (points to stairwell going down to basement of Subway sandwich shop).\u00a0\u00a0 I worked there for 8 months.<\/p>\n Me: At the Subway?<\/p>\n Tony: \u00a0Yes (nods).\u00a0 I gave it up because my last paycheck, you get paid every two week, my last paycheck for 2 weeks was $19.\u00a0 I had 3 hours in two weeks.\u00a0 I worked there for 8 months and made not the first sandwich.\u00a0 Everything I did was downstairs.\u00a0 When the trucks came in, the freezers and the coolers and stuff, you have to bring everything out front, bring new stuff in.\u00a0 Rotate it.\u00a0 That kind of stuff.<\/p>\n Me:\u00a0 You were living on the street at that time?<\/p>\n Tony: Yes.\u00a0 Right there (points to stairwell).<\/p>\n Me:\u00a0 What\u2019s it like being out here?<\/p>\n Tony: It\u2019s not so bad.\u00a0 To me it\u2019s like, umm, I keep an eye on who I associate myself with.\u00a0 There are people out here who are not good people.\u00a0 In my opinion.<\/p>\n (At this point, a young woman who apparently knows him came out of the Subway shop and told him she had been hired.\u00a0 He congratulated her then returned to our conversation, now talking about how the Athens has changed since he was a young adult, particularly noting increased number of students and new buildings going up.\u00a0 Another individual approached him, apparently a street person.\u00a0 They spoke for a few minutes.\u00a0 I interjected that I\u2019d let him go and would come back to talk more another time.)<\/p>\n Tony: Oh no, please don\u2019t.\u00a0 Don\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n (I stay for a while longer and resume our conversation)<\/p>\n Me: You\u2019ve got a lot of friends out here.\u00a0 I can see that for sure.<\/p>\n Tony (smiles, then says about the friend who has now left):\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s very musically talented but since he\u2019s been out here on the street, he\u2019s kind of nuts (laughs).<\/p>\n Me: \u00a0Hmm.\u00a0 So, you were saying that you get a read on people and know who to stay away from.<\/p>\n Tony: \u00a0\u00a0Yeah, that\u2019s important.\u00a0 (Pauses)\u00a0 About 2 months ago I started having seizures.\u00a0 And I never had that happen to me before, ever in my life.\u00a0 They gave me anti-seizure medication and did an MRI and said that I had a brain tumor. \u00a0The doctor said I could go to Emory.\u00a0 They\u2019d cut in to see what it is or to just take it out.\u00a0 But right here in Athens they could do radiation.\u00a0 So, I did that.\u00a0 They took me off anti-seizure medication because it\u2019s not good to take it while you\u2019re having radiation.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I was supposed to have 6 sessions.\u00a0 Then after 4 the doctor checks it and says it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n Me: Oh, I\u2019m glad to hear that.<\/p>\n Tony: But, I had another seizure, so they said it wasn\u2019t the tumor.<\/p>\n (A passerby asked for directions to the Mellow Mushroom and he said it was two block down on the right)<\/p>\n Tony continues: The neurologist referred me to a doctor across the street and she\u2019s internal medicine.\u00a0 She put me back on anti-seizure medicine.\u00a0 But, I had another one last night.\u00a0 Right here (points to pavement).\u00a0 One of the ladies that works there, at the Subway, saw me. It\u2019s like a blackout thing.\u00a0 My body doesn\u2019t tell me that this is fixing to happen.\u00a0 And um, she got me to come to and brought me some orange juice and stuff, but umm \u2026 I didn\u2019t go to the hospital last night.\u00a0 The last time I did that they kept me for like 6 days.\u00a0 And they strapped me to the bed because I was like wanting to leave.<\/p>\n Me:\u00a0 That can\u2019t be too pleasant.<\/p>\n Tony: \u00a0No, it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 And I didn\u2019t want to go.\u00a0 I go back to the doctor on the 30th<\/sup> and she\u2019s wanting to give me another brain scan and do some blood work.<\/p>\n Me (getting ready to leave): I\u2019m going to check up on you, Tony, and see how you made out.\u00a0 I have to go now but I\u2019d like to talk to you again.<\/p>\n Tony: Oh, yea.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be sittin here.<\/p>\n Me:\u00a0 This is kind of your spot.<\/p>\n Tony:\u00a0 Oh yea.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been sitting here for over 2 years.<\/p>\n Me: \u00a0\u00a0Well, I\u2019m going to stop and talk to you another time.<\/p>\n Tony:\u00a0 Do that.\u00a0 Please do that.<\/p>\n I gave him an unopened bottle of water I had in my bag and wished him well.\u00a0 Before leaving, I asked if I could take his picture.\u00a0 He did not hesitate to say yes and added: I have no problem with that.\u00a0 I\u2019m not wanted anywhere.<\/p>\n As we left, Tony said: Good luck with your class!<\/p>\n Transcript of 8\/22, midafternoon, interview with Tony, a homeless man sitting on a bench at the corner of College and Clayton. After a quick walking tour around the streets of downtown Athens, I decided to focus on a man sitting on this particular bench.\u00a0 He was looking at a book when I first saw him.\u00a0 … Continue reading Interview<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1997,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-downtown","tag-first-interview"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Ndkv-an","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1997"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"20160822_153637\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/magwriting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/259\/2016\/08\/20160822_153637-1-e1472484588933.jpg\")
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