Staple Design So, how you doin today? T Alright. Staple Design Alright, what's your name? T Zormis Jones. Staple Design Ok, how old are you? T I'm 52. Staple Design Where you from? T Originally from New York. Staple Design How long have you been homeless for? T Ah, a little over a year now. Staple Design How did it happen? T I was working and sharing an apartment with my boss, and I was paying
the rent, but he was never paying the rent. He took off to Puerto Rico, and
I got evicted. I flipped out and beat the hell out of him and ended up in
jail. So I just dropped out of society. I call it dropping out of society. Staple Design What's the single worst thing that's happened since you've been
homeless? T The worst? People stealing from me. That upsets me. It's like...now I
just...here I am. I'm working everyday, I pick up cans for a living and try to
make a little bit of money. And I leave my stuff for a few minutes and it's
gone. Like I went back to my tent last night and somebody stole my sleeping
bag. And that really upsets me, that people, you know, would actually do
this. And people out here on the street, I'm sorry to say, but they just
don't care. Staple Design I mean, the more and more people that we talk to, that's been the,
pretty much, overall feeling. You can see it in their faces, you know? T You can ask somebody for a cigarette, and they just look at you, like
[unclear] the way I look. And just, I've been working all day, it's just
tough out here. Staple Design What's the best thing that's happened since you've been out here? T The best thing that's happened? Well, I do meet people like, [unclear]
but I sell spare change newspapers, and I've met some real...there are some
people out there that do care. You know like this winter, I lived out in a
tent, all winter long. We got some pretty heavy snow this winter and ah, I
don't know if you believe in God, but God, he takes care of me... Staple Design That's one of the questions actually. T ...yes he takes care of me. I wanna share a story with you guys. It
happened to me this winter, I was selling spare change newspaper. I started
work at 9:30 in the morning, it was the last big blizzard we had, I don't
know if you remember that, but it was snowing pretty hard. By 12 o'clock, I
hadn't made a dime. My tent got blown down by the wind. I had no place to go
and I prayed to God that day. I said, "God, what am I going to do?" I went
to a phone and called up a few shelters, they said "we're all booked up,
we've got no room." So I said, "well I've got thirty papers left," and went
back downtown Boston and tried to sell some more papers. And a woman came up
to me, and started to [unclear] and she gave me a 20 dollar bill and she
said, "God told me to give you this." By 4:30 in the afternoon, other people
came up and gave me money, and I made $120 to be able to along for that
two-day blizzard. That's a straight story, that really happened. It happened
to me this winter, and even now it's unbelievable. I didn't make no money
yesterday, none whatsoever, and I came out today, I started at 1:00 and God
just put these dollars in front of me so I could get something to eat today.
That's how I figure it, you know? Staple Design So that's how you get by? You collect the bottles? T I collect the bottles and the cans. And another story, like I had a
woman the other day, she gave me 40 dollars because I found her wallet.
Inside the wallet was, all the money was gone, but all this woman's credit
cards were there and everything. So I called up the woman and she was like
amazed. She said, she didn't use 'bum' but she said 'hobo,' "I don't believe
a hobo would actually call me up and return my wallet." To continue the
story, I called this woman up and she was really happy to get her wallet
back. And she looked at me and she couldn't believe that somebody of my
status could be that kind, that I would return her wallet. And I said, "why?
What's the difference between me and you? You work in a high-rise, you're a
big executive, what's the difference? If you found somebody's wallet would
you return it?" She said, "yes." I said, "so would I." People look at you,
just sort of like being black, people have prejudices, they really do. I go
on the subway, I've had people actually get up from next to me, get up from
me and leave. And I feel this, it's just unbelievable. I just got back here
in NY, but I don't plan on being homeless whatsoever, I plan on getting back
on my feet again. And this is only temporary, what I'm doing, until I get
situated. Once I start selling newspapers again, I always make a little bit
of money. I sell 60,70 papers a day. And once I get that, I plan on getting
a fulltime job and getting back on my feet. Staple Design So where do you think you'll be in five years? T It's hard to say. I won't be homeless I know that. It's just something
that...I'm a Vietnam veteran, so I guess you probably won't understand. When I
say dropping out of society, what I mean dropping out of society, I don't
bother with nobody, you're the first people I've talked to in three weeks! Staple Design Really? T I work everyday, I pick up cans and I go back. I have my meal at night,
I go to sleep, I get up at 6:30 and go to work again. I've been doing that
for over a year now. Staple Design What do you do with the money that you receive? T I buy food and I buy clothes.
Staple Design What's your favorite movie? T My favorite movie right now? The Sixth Gate. Staple Design What's your favorite book? T My favorite book ah...by Jackie Collins, it's called Lady Boss. It's the
Lucky [?] series, I don't know if you ever read that. She had a whole series
of books. This woman's got six different books and it's one woman. It's
about a Mafia, yeah, she's a Mafia woman. Staple Design What's your favorite food? T My favorite food? It's ain't lobster, that's for sure. My favorite food
is ham. I eat that just about everyday. Staple Design What do you do for fun out here? T Right now, nothing. Well, I take that back. Like I'm too late today but
like tomorrow I'm gonna take off. I like to go and watch the street
musicians, I do that for fun. I'm a guitar player myself. Staple Design Really? Alright. So you don't have a guitar? T Well I don't have a guitar now, no? That's what I do sometimes...I'll go
out and one of the street performers will let me play something, you know,
on their guitar, but I like to watch them. That's what I do for fun right
now. Staple Design So what do you think about NYC? T I love New York City. Staple Design What do you think about the Mayor/ T Ah...well, I really can't say much about him. Staple Design Where did you go to highschool? T Rhode Island. That was way back in 1969! Staple Design Did you go to college at all? T I got my DED and I went to Johnson Wills College, in Providence, Rhode
Island. Staple Design Do you have any kids? T Yeah I have four children. Staple Design Four children? Where are they now? T Ah...one's in Ohio and the other three are in Rhode Island. And I have
one son, he joined a gang, and ah he's in jail right now because he killed
somebody my age. Him and a gang jumped somebody. That's probably why I
dropped out of society too because I couldn't handle it. To have your son
actually beating somebody up my age, and then throwing him in a river and
leaving him there...My oldest son, he's a mechanic, he just had...I'm a
grandpa...he's only three months old, that's my grandson. Thomas Jones III. Staple Design Alright. If you could be anywhere in the world, where would it be? T Anywhere in the world? Probably Vietnam, I'd like to go back there
sometime. Staple Design Wow. T It's a beautiful country out there, believe it or not. Staple Design How long were you there for? T 26 months. Staple Design Were you fighting? T Well...yeah. I'm an ex-Marine. And I got shot in the leg, right here. Staple Design The government didn't give you any kind of money? T I have an income right now, but I'm still paying support to my ex-wife.
So, when I got in the accident, I quit drinking. And I wasn't working for a
while so I had signed everything over to her. Two years to go and I get out
of that, I'll get my pension back. Staple Design What's your definition of the word home? T Definition of home...home is where, it could be anywhere. A place you can
go to at night, you know what I mean? Staple Design This is your opportunity to speak out, if there's anything else
you'd like to say... T Well I'd just like to say, any person who reads this magazine, walking
on the street and they see some homeless person, sitting there and wanting
help, you know what I mean? Buy em a candy bar or give them something to
eat. Ścause the last couple of days, I've had it rough. Like I said, last
night I didn't make no money and I had peanut butter and jelly for supper!
But I ate that down like it was a steak! Even if you sit and talk to a
homeless person, you'd be surprised, we're normal people. If they read the
magazine, if they see somebody, stop and talk to them. They'll be surprised
how educated some of us are. Staple Design Oh I know. They'll learn quite a bit, I know I have. T That's my story.
THOMAS JONES