I make friendly with aliens in Marfa.

no thank you. 

Date: 11.30.11
Location: Marfa, TX
Pictures: here
Video: here

I am reminded of this homeless dude that I was talking to one night in Austin, late, real late at night this was, at the end of a game day when the Longhorns lost, and this guy came at me pissed off, and solidly drunk. I was alone on a corner, trying for the 45th minute to find a cab home.

Homeless people: I'm pretty good with them. I've had some pretty good talks with them to be honest. You  have to trust your gut on these things, because, yeah, the truth is that some of them are angry unmanned garden hoses on full blast.

Marfa main street. 

But I know, I trust, that as far off the reservation as this guy might be, that beneath what I see, this guy has the same basic fears and needs as I do. Money for drugs and alcohol? Not from me, my friend, can't do that for you, but you can walk with me to the next corner if you want to share some words.

And he swears he is an alien. And I tell him he probably is, that we all feel that way a lot. But this guy went nuts probably because he felt that way his whole life, and maybe he fell off the cliff when he didn't have anyone to tell him that it was ok to feel/be/look/act different.

Interior of my trailer. 

I dont know how it happened, I had three minutes with the guy, maybe he came out friggin nuts, but I do know that once he lost hold, he brought up anchor hard and fast and forever.

So that's a theme I've been thinking about as I wander from town to town, that every once in a while I feel like I'm not an alien after all when I come to a place like Marfa, or Toronto, or Austin. And when I meet people who seem to have just the same kind of focus on the world.

Elcosmico compound. My home. 

Because feeling like an alien isn't your fault, it's just the planet you chose. So if you can't breath that air your breathing right now and you feel like maybe you anchor is coming loose, then I believe you need a new rock.

Take a ride with me in Marfa, Texas....with me and not much else but some wild pigs and a border control dude.