The ghost story reminded me of another story I've got. Feel free to not read if you want, but it's pretty cool. During my Junior year in college I had a project site in downtown Des Moines Iowa. My gf at the time had the same project and needed night shots of the site, so we visited the site at about 10:00 PM...the following transpired.....it's been about 3 years so I'm a bit fuzzy on some exact words that he said (I'm sure I'll forget something) but here goes..... As we pulled up to the block we started rolled down our window and started shooting a few pictures (not much traffic on a weekend night in Des Moines). As we're slowly driving by I hear a guy yell "Hey! Hey you guys!" and I looked up. A slightly scraggly black man was waving at us and approaching the car very slowly. I couldn't tell if he was homeless or not and I thought about taking off, but he was holding his hands in a "I'm not going to hurt you" manner and was rather skinny, so I decided I smiled and said hi. He walked up and said "Are you photographers?". "No" I replied, we're architecture students from Iowa State. "Oh" he said, "I was just asking because I used to teach photography at Iowa State about 3 years ago. Maybe you've heard of me...my name is Gary Cornelious". I told him I hadn't heard of him, so he pulled out a ISU ID with the face scratched off so badly that it could have been me (remember I'm a 23 year old white male and he's a 30 year old black man). I just smiled and listen to him tell us that he's working for a professor at the University and needs money to get papers back to him.....I immediately say "No, we're students and don't have any money". He was very nice and said "Oh, Ok" and we drove off. I started feeling bad (I had a few bucks) and it was cold so I turned back and we caught up with him a few blocks away. I gave him the money and he was VERY thankful and started talking REALLY fast and striking up conversation. "Do you know the intersection of Lincoln Way and Grand?" he asked. "Of Course" I replied, they're two major roads in Ames. "yep" he said "You should go there around Thanks Giving time and you'll see a pickup on that corner. We sell Turkey's there around those times". "You have Turkey's?" I replied. "Yep, I own the biggest Organic farm in the state!" he said............(now I was totally confused. This guy talked a MILE a minute and never really finished his thoughts. Figured I was dealing with a crack head with mental problems.) "Well...it's not actually my farm anymore...I gave it to my daughter. One day she came to me and said "Daddy, I want to be a Farmer, a teacher, and a Doctor"....she was only 7 years old! My little baby didn't know what that means! Do you know what it means?" "No" I said. "A great black man was once a farmer, a Doctor, and a Teacher...his name was George Washington Carver. My baby wants to be like George Washington Carver...so I told her.....baby, I can't help you become a Teacher or a Doctor, but I can make you a farmer right now.....so I gave her the farm" he said.....(Now I knew I was dealing with a junkie) He continued "Actually I have a lot in common with George Washington Carver....we're both Civil Rights leaders. In fact, if you go to any elementary school in Iowa you'll find a book with a picture of MLK Jr., George Washington Carver, and me on it! I used to work for Bill Clinton! You see as a black farmer I had a hard time getting the same loans as white farmers. We could get the loans, but it would take longer and we couldn't get our crops in on time. So I was selected to go to Washington DC and speak to Congress. The night before I was first supposed to speak to congress I got a knock on my door. When I opened it the hallway was empty, but there was a folder on the floor. I looked over it and it was a proposal that looked pretty good...so I took it to congress. I met the president and flew out to speak with them ever few months over the next few years. Of course once he left office I lost the job, but I was worked for Bill Clinton for awhile!" He could see that we didn't believe him and said "Go look up the book!....how old do you think I am?" ......(dude looked about 30 so we both guessed 30-31)...."I'm 49" he said. "I stay young by eating my organic blue berries". He went on to rant about how he was from Chicago and his father had passed away from cancer and how he had fulfilled his life's pupose and didn't need anything anymore. He also talked a bit about his uncle........the creator of Soul Train. "Go home and look it up! There's articles on me! You'll read about this in the paper". After listening to this for about 30 minutes we bid him farewell (and gave him 10 bucks) and went home. We looked it up, and it was all true There was an article in the Des Moines register confirming everything he had said (he's now a homeless junkie, but still) that's been taken down. The best I could find to confirm it is this link..it talks a bit about him working at ISU and the speaking to congress bit. http://www.iastate.edu/news/releases/97/farmers12.12.html Moral of the story: Don't judge people......EVER....
Yeah he is. He was into Meth and his wife got a restraining order against him (thus why he's homeless) BUT....he's still lived an incredible life. I wonder if he's still around, been thinking about seeking him out when I'm downtown.
I just saw your post about this Mark Gary Cornelious, I know you posted this over a year ago but a similar story to yours happened to me today by chance. I was in Zion IL at work, picking up some signs along the streets, and this guy on a bike comes over to get my attention. He kind of started talking quickly and since the neighborhood is not the greatest I thought it was some homeless guy or something looking for a handout. Just like you I thought he was maybe crazy at first because of what he was saying, then he started to tell me about god and what happened to him and meeting the president. Then he pulls out the paperwork and pictures to back up what he was saying, which I thought was crazy. He then talked about how he was being evicted, and needed to take paperwork somewhere. He then said then at the end up November he was going out east because he finally got a job farming. I hope that was the case for him, and he kept saying he was happy that God was helping him out. Well I hope he doesn’t use the money I gave him for anything but what he really needs to survive. But I thought it was very interesting you had a very similar story. It is quite amazing the people you run into sometimes.
that is an awesome story! I never meet those homeless people though. The ones i meet are trying to nibble on their feet or something. sometimes i'll pay the homeless ladies $5 to flash the car behind me though. gives those behind me a surprise
Same here. Here's my story about a homeless person I met: I was drunk in downtown Ft. Lauderdale one night. I was so drunk I couldn't stand up straight. I gave him $10 to hail a cab for me. Then he stole my cell phone and necklace.
Wait, did you judge him because he's black or the other stuff? In the case of the former, thas' rassis'. In the case of the latter, cool story, bro.
The irony with that statement is that he solid it for nose candy. So yeah, it may as well have been Lucky. It may as well have been.
