Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Cloud Gate Photos







Two weeks back I mentioned helping the man who had the seizure. Here are the photos in the proper order, the first being a shot with the Trump Tower in the background. Then I'm up close, doing the carnival mirror photo. The man was on the opposite side of the other person in this photo, but he was still standing with his cousins while I took the photo (trying to set it where I was the only one there, and I'll likely crop the photo soon). Then, here he is on the ground, after the cops and paramedics arrived. The two black girls had said the stricken man was their cousin, and they were terrified. I don't necessarily blame anyone for their inactivity, as before the proper help arrived, I was there with that fellow from Greece, a tourist. And yet it seems surreal, a man prone on the ground and, feet away, people photographing the sculpture, that one kid in the last photo mugging for the camera. I do believe that for the jaded Chicagoans there, it was more, hmnn, black guy in tattered clothes on the ground, seizures=drugs, because of course, that has to be it. I'll go on record, because I pretty much know which homeless people are grifters or (as Nelson Algren called them) stewbums, and I'll ignore them when it comes to handouts. That said, I don't care who it is, if they are on the ground having seizures or bleeding, I'm gonna help. Me and a tourist from Greece.