Via Flickr:He was sitting on a street corner smoking a cigarette, with a few possessions at his feet. He asked me for some change and I told him about the $2 Portrait project. He perked up, smiled (revealing a lot of missing teeth) and readily agreed. He chuckled and said his old joke is that his name is Two Dollar Bill and he always comes up a dollar short.
Marcus is 57 years old and is from Santa Rosa, CA. He's been in San Diego since 2004; the penal system brought him here. Said he got strung out on rock cocaine and spent 30 months in prison. He's now out on parole and is trying to stay clean. He said San Diego is a nice place to be so he hasn't left. I asked him what kind of work he used to do and he seemed very proud that he's a certified botanist and horticulturist with over 3000 hours of some type of training. When I then asked him if he's tried to find work in his field, he said "… can't start a new career at my age and besides who's going to hire me…I messed around with drugs too long…".
Really being out of $2 Portrait practice, I failed to ask him about family and other storylines I like to explore. I gave Marcus $2 and wished him good luck. He thanked me and said now he can get some breakfast.
Taken 4/29/12 in the San Diego Gaslamp area.
