Luke

His story:

I’m from South Louisiana — way down there.  A town called Venice; we drilled for concrete down in the Gulf of Mexico.  I’m 100 percent Cajun. I worked for my dad on the Bayou growin’ up. We lived off crawfish. My parents died in Katrina — I survived. I’ve been here ever since. It was nothing compared to Vietnam. I did four terms there; I worked with the medics. I was shot twice — once in the shoulder, once in the leg. I’m blind in my right eye.    

Average day:

I’ve been here since ‘06.  I stand over by that corner six days a week. Fridays I take off. I’m a survivor, man. I don’t worry ’bout nothin’.  I don’t ask nobody for nothin’. I’ve got a cave up there in the mountains. King-sized bed in there.

What is home:

Home to me is somewhere to sleep, something to eat.  

Homelessness in America:

Stay in school.  Get a good government job.  Don’t take no shit off nobody. You have your constitutional rights; if you don’t know ’em you’re shit out of luck.  

Community:

I got a bunch of friends here; good friends.  Nobody fucks with me here.

Honestly, man, I don’t see that many more years left in me.  Some days I feel good, some days I feel like fuckin’ shit. But what can you do — it’s good to be alive.