For the Class with Dave group.

Assignment: "The Street" in B&W – Your portrayal of life on the street. Photos must be black & white.

This is the Craig Street Bum. He is what I can best term, a professional homeless man. In one month, I will have lived in Pittsburgh for 15 years. For this entire time, this man has been stationed on Craig Street between Forbes and Fifth Avenue. He sometimes moves from one side of the street to the other. He is never there at night. But every day, rain or shine, whenever I am on Craig Street he is there, perched on his milk crate, with a cup in front of him begging for change. I have often wondered if he is really homeless or not. Not to be callous, but you’d think after 15 years he’d either be back on his feet or would have died. I don’t very often see people giving him change (I think most passers by are aware that he is simply there every day) but he clearly changes his clothes from time to time, despite having "the homeless look." If you pay close attention you’ll even notice that his Nikes are newer than mine.

Maybe I should give the panhandling thing a try.