Identify Society Homeless 366 11/10/2023 Day 41, Friday, Leaving Worcester

11/10/2023 Day 41, Friday, Leaving Worcester

8:30 a.m. It’s Friday, I wake up and record a camp breakdown. Once all my gear’s packed up and I’m ready to go, I leave the swamp and I head out to the bus stop. I take the bus to the hub in Worcester and from there I bike over to the train station. I literally got there just in time to take the train into Boston. When the conductor sees me on the train I buy a ticket because of Veterans Day I get the $10 deal which allows you to ride on the commuter rails all weekend for only 10 bucks.

 

11:30 a.m. When I arrive at South Station I head out and get ready to ride over to North Station. I see a man sitting up against the wall and I think he might be overdosed. It looks as if he’s not even breathing so I began to yell in his face to see if he’s awake. The guy next to him says oh he’s always like that. I have my Narcan ready, and the man wakes up. He thanks me for waking him up, and I tell him I’m doing a documentary and he gives me a quick 1 minute video about homelessness. I ride my bike over to North Station and it’s about an hour wait for the next train into Salem. I grab a bite to eat at Star Market, tuna fish on a croissant and some Fritos chips. 

1:05 p.m. I take the train to Salem and then ride my bike to a friend’s house where my truck is stored. On the train ride I  reached out to a few friends and I’ve made plans to spend the night with a good friend of mine. I take some time at my friend’s place where my truck is to wash my clothes, wash my gear, and get the stink out my boots, which I do by spraying disinfectant in them, putting them up against the heater to dry them out, then spraying more disinfectant, washing the insoles, and then spraying Febreze in them, drying them out again, and spraying Febreze and them again. 

6:00 p.m. Once my phones are all charged and my gear is all cleaned I shower and get myself ready to spend the night with another good friend. It’s always a stark contrast from sleeping out in the woods in a small tent by myself, to sleeping in a nice place, watching funny movies, and having all the luxuries of modern human society. Although I like the survival aspect of this project, the comfort and pleasures of modern luxury saturate my being like some pleasurable drug.

HINDSIGHT: 10/8/2025

This was a theme of my travels. I would take weekends with friends and family. This helped me recharge and kept me grounded in a state of manageable mental health. I went on a date with a wonderful woman recently, and she asked me while we were talking, “do you have bipolar?” I explained to her that I have ADHD. She was cute, and I liked her for asking matter of factly about what she perceived of my behavior. I can’t always hide how I am, and I have suffered my whole life, because people mistaken my differentness as weakness, stupidity, or mental instability. In reality my resting mental state would probably cause regular folks, or what I call mental norms, anxiety and distress beyond their ability to cope. I’ve adapted to my condition and learned how to leverage it’s benefits and I find ways to mask or manage the downfalls.

It is very difficult for me to lie or purposely deceive others. When dealing with others I notice that when I focus on them it’s as if I’m stepping into their body. All their mannerisms, tone, facial expressions, and words betray an inner world. The greatest crime of humanity is that we are so good at lying to ourselves that lying to everyone else is a natural progression. Take a look around, when you see suffering, understand that a great deal of the suffering in the world is a result of deceit.

I’ve learned in the past that certain people who have distain for my differences, as well as them not understanding the extent of my resilience and mental grit, have expressed their hope for me to suffer or fail. This has done nothing but help me grow stronger and harden my resolve to show people that many of us that diverge from the herd are actually more equipped for survival and bring more innovation and substance to society than any sheep baa baa baaing the same baas of all the other sheep.

I knew on this journey my mental health was paramount. I guarded it the best I could, and made sure to keep connection and love as a corner stone of my practice. I did suffer mentally. It’s taken me this long to get back on track to finish this work, revisiting these experiences has been difficult to face. At this point I have healed and evolved in ways that I am grateful for, and allows me to finish what I started. Most importantly I learned, for myself, where the limits of my ability to persevere begin to break down. Many others in our society are not as lucky as me. They languish before us, while many of the ones who trumpet their altruism to the world, walk by never taking a second glance.

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