I should probably just get this out of the way before anyone asks. We flunked the assignment… again. Though this time we got a C- because we almost did everything required of us, which was a definitely the kinda break our grades needed.
We don’t do that well in school.
But were fine with the way things are, sorta, kinda, not really. I gotta forge Athena’s report cards so her parents don’t have a heart attack. (He really does)
But part of the website isn’t dedicated to how were doing in school. If we cared
about doing well in school, we wouldn’t even have made this web site in the
first place.
Mr Jenkels is still living under that bridge, and still lives in a cardboard box. Though we helped him get a fancier cardboard box. One that don’t get soggy in the rain. He had a job for a couple of weeks in 2000, but than he quit that job, because he wasn’t happy with it. And he kept talking the customers ears off, about how burgers used to cost ya 10 cents back than and if yous was lucky, you’d get a free girlfriend alongside that.
Personally I don’t get whats so wrong with chatting a bit with the customers, he
didn’t even hold up the line that badly. It just extended all the way out to the
highway. But other than that really, hes still the same old Mr Jenkels from 1999
that you saw in that interview we did with him.
Man was that a fun interview to do, me and Athena had a whole lotta fun filming that thing, if you couldn’t tell. We ended up going back to that bridge tomorrow, to fulfill the promise we made to him about filming a sorta, biographical account of his life. We spent 5 hours there recording him just talk about his life. By the time we were done, the homeless people who had jobs had arrived to the bridge and gathered around Mr. Jenkels, and us.
It was a real special moment, and I think everyone who was there, knew that it was.
After that moment, we became real good friends with Mr. Jenkels. He’s quite the wise man if you couldn’t tell from the interview. He’s got a way with words, but not in the sophisticated way that Athena’s got. It’s different than her, and that’s I guess what makes us interested in hearing him speak. Well that and his stories.
He’s an older folk. He’s 79, he’s been around the block, a whole lot more than
me and Athena. And he’s got stories to tell us, that we didn’t even know we
wanted to hear before meeting him.
I mean I always respected elders before meeting Mr. Jenkels more than I did adults, teenagers, and kids our age. It’s hard work to stay alive for 6 decades I’d imagine, heck it’s hard enough to stay alive on this planet for 13 years, so imagine being here for 79 years. The world’s a dangerous place, and you living a long life ain’t guaranteed, even if you do live in a first world country, with some of the best medical professionals in the world.
But Mr Jenkels, really opened up our eyes to the fact that the stories that old
folks can tell, matter just as much as the ones, me and Athena make up for the
our movies. Or the stories our parents tell us about their childhood. And in a
way though, were kinda jealous of the fact that they got to experience something
that will never be able to be replicated.
You can always wear bell bottom jeans, but you’ll never get to truly capture the era, culture, and spirit they were born into. The drugs, peace, and a belief that if we all just huddle around each other that we can make a difference. That and jeans are just more stylish than wearing slacks.
And I’ll never get to experience that, though maybe I don’t want to experience that. I hate drugs, and the people that do them, they stink up rooms, and act like arses all too often for me to like them or their bongs. And besides they didn’t even have camcorders back in the 60’s and 70’s, and racism was still pretty prevalent. I never thought much about how the decades were for minorities till someone in Mr Jenkels neighborhood who was Hispanic told us about his experiences throughout the decade, as a Mexican. Ain’t no one have it good but a select few people back than.
Mr Jenkels can look past his narrow vision of the past, and see the flaws and mistakes for what dey is, and is happy to have been able to make it this far in life, to meet us and befriend us. But not everyone can be like Mr. Jenkels. Dey is set in their ways, and belief that the good old days are behind them, when in fact they ain’t anywhere. The good old days are everywhere, yous just gotta look for dem. One day despite all the bad that’s happened so far this millennium. People will look back on us, and wish they were in our shoes. If only they truly knew what it meant to be alive at this point in history.
Or maybe things really are the bad in the future that our lives will seem much better in comparison. We just don’t know yet, and I guess that’s the distinction between time periods. We know what happened in the past, we can understand or at least see what’s happening in the present, but the future’s an entirely different beast.
We ain’t no idea what shes cooking up in that kitchen. We can just hope that shes nice, and ask her to make the fries a bit saltier.
Well that’s about all I wanted to update anyone reading this web page on. Me, Athena, and Mr. Jenkels, is all good friends still, Mr Jenkels is still homeless. Me and Athena flunked the assignment again, and were still doing real bad in school, but derned if we ain’t having fun, while doing so.
Also if you’d like… could you consider visiting our main website?
That’d be very much appreciated, kind stranger. You’ll even get to hear an audio clip of the interview we did with Mr. Jenkels! Cause I’s got a converted now! Best Christmas gift a kid could ask for… or at least a kid like me could ask for. (I got him that gift.)
