He’s out of the ordinary. At a glance he is colourful and nattily dressed.
When I zoom in, I see that the leather of his two-tone shoes is cracked. He is wearing two watches on one wrist and one on the other. He has dollar bills clipped to the sides of his plastic bags.
He has not one, but several plastic bags – the handles showing one in side another.
He seems to me – the foreigner in New York – to represent what happens when you denigrate a whole section of society for generations. Some of them try; their wounded, injured self respect and pride makes them try. But in the trying they are nonetheless wounded, and the trying is a bit odd.
Of course, I could be reading more into this than it warrants. Maybe. What do you see?
My oldest son told me something last night. The conversation turned to Charlottesville and he mentioned something he had read by a Black academic on the history of Black people – how the narrative started with slavery. Interesting thought.
It reminded me of something I read – that in the early days of the British adventure in India, everyone in Britain wanted Indian furnishings and art in the homes.
When Britain took over India, a subjugated people didn’t have the same appeal and people in Britain didn’t want Indian furnishings any more.
Photograph Works 
Cracked leather or not, there is a sharp crease on those pants and he has made a lovely composition of his attire… To me he looks like a Jazz Musician from the Golden Age, someone who was someone at The Cotton Club. I would love to hear the stories he has to tell.
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Lovely comment. And a friend over on Facebook also thinks he might be a jazz musician.
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I’ve been thinking about the leather of his shoes… Years ago, I recall there having been ‘quick polish’ cloths in hotel rooms that put an amazing, almost glass-like finish on your shoes with just a swipe (never used ’em myself, it was nasty-smelling stuff that reminded me of the volatile components of Magic Marker ):): but, if you put applied layer upon layer, it would eventually form a shell so hard it would crack where the upper flexed… Et voilà; there you have it: ‘cracked’ leather; )
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I have used those cloths. The man here though has pretty obvious cracks in his shoes and a piece that has come away revealing the white material underneath the leather.
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Yes, I’ve only been looking on the WordPress app, so not the highest magnification. (Wishful thinking on my part…
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