Under a freeway pass in West Los Angeles I met Sheri.

I am glad I did.

She believes that one must have a sence of humor and a belief in God to keep life in perspective while living on the streets.

She tells me “I’m getting by…hopefully better than before, not as bad as before I hope….life is up and down and you can only be optimistic, and I believe in prayer and the ability to help.”

“I am from Glendale and grew up in Burbank” she shares. “I’ve been out here this time for 6 1/2 years.”

“Being free, being alive and having what I’ve got is what I am grateful for today. Being able to hold onto things too, because you get robbed a lot out here and there’s different ways of looking at life, not just the possessions but your sanity and all sorts of things you get robbed of all the time”.

As for being a woman as opposed to a man out here she tells me “I not sure there’s a difference  to tell you the truth. I mean, no one should live like this, male or female. Just because someone is a female, people think certain things, you know. But, it’s equal out here. Not everyone out here are thieves or drug addicts.”

“Do you damnedest, do your best, strive hard to be better. Try to get smarter in school, more athletic and more spiritual and keep an open mind” are her words to the youth of today.”

“When others continue to put a gun to their head, I put a bible in my hands…I don’t always pray and read like I should, but it does help.”

“Keep yourself open with your mind.”

11 Jan This entry was published on January 11, 2015 at 1:02 pm. It’s filed under Portraits, Uncategorized and tagged Attitude, Black and White, California, Food, God, Gratitude, Homeless, Honest, Hope, Knowledge, Laughter, Los Angeles, Photography, Portrait, Smile, Woman. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.