benevolentbjs @benevolentbjs

As we canvassed the back alleys of downtown Calgary, it’s apparent that the city's housing plan for those on the street is (sort of) working, which is great. Finished for the day, we were walking back towards the hotel. We passed a bus stop where we encountered this guy. He was…

The day complete in Calgary, we encountered this random dude at a bus stop as we made our way back to the hotel. As a straight guy, he just couldn't comprehend the idea that I would want to be filmed, as he put it: showing my face with some guys dick in my mouth. Or grasp the…

It was a dreary day in S.F. and not much happening on the street. Through a back entrance of the Westin St. Francis we encountered this dude, who was sitting on the hotel's loading dock by himself smoking a cigarette. We thought he a street guy based only on his look and his…

We found this dude on the loading dock of the Westin St. Francis Hotel (SF) conference centre. He was a roadie simply doing his job packing boxes and putting them onto a truck after some convention. In the elevator going up to the room this man of few words said "make quick work…

We encountered this Tlingit First Nations man in the Main/Hastings area of Vancouver's downtown eastside. He'd arrived from Prince Rupert a few days earlier after having been banned from the Reserve he was living in for reasons he didn't want to talk about. It was a week-long…

When this Tlingit First Nations guy said what great 'revenge porn' he could make I didn't realise until it was too late that the revenge he was extracting was upon ME! This shy, short bespectacled dude's innocent look laid waste to the reality of what was happening. When my…

Most of the guys that I encounter on the street end up there as a result of drugs, breakups or other life changing events beyond their control or ability to deal with. A few, like this guy in Vancouver's downtown east side, lead a life of what I think of as a "mid-twenties funk".…

This dude, on the streets more as a "lifestyle" for the moment in Vancouver, said he liked the "street vibe". He's on and off in the rough for four years, working when he had to but partying and living a life that suited him for the moment. When I knelt for him, wow, what a…

This dude was sleeping, baseball cap over his face, in the back of a derelict SUV as I walked by on a side street near Louisville Slugger Stadium. A couple hours later when I passed back again he was sitting in the passenger seat eating some fast food. An out of work mechanic who…

It's fascinating to me how often it occurs that women and divorce, not drugs, are at the root cause of a guy ending up on the street. This dude, who was living in his beat up SUV, said no at first but changed his mind. I'm not sure if it was because I'd helped him out regardless…

This skateboard dude recognised me from our past encounter where I met him at the skateboard pit in a park in Vancouver. Even though I was sitting by myself at a Tim Hornton's when he walked by, with no videographer, there was no NOT blowing this dude again. I remembered his…

We encountered this man in a mall in NE Calgary. Passing by the lottery stand, I got on line to pick up a 6/49 ticket for that night. This dude was in front of me, spending some of his last dollars on scratch off lottery tickets. A half hour later when we were sitting in the food…

From the shopping centre in Calgary where I first encountered him to my hotel room, this dude took my pitch with the rationalisation that 'turnabout is fair play' because he pays for pussy all the time (when he has the money to do so). He had great body art, one of which was a…

Driving behind the back of a Walmart in NE Calgary to the online order pick-up area, we saw this man besides a bunch of commercial dumpsters. He was sitting on a pile of discarded mattresses having a smoke. After we'd picked up our order, we parked and walked over to walk to him.…

We'd driven to a Walmart in Calgary to get our order at the pickup area, where we found this man sitting on a pile of discarded mattresses behind the store. The most powerful, defining attribute about this man was his scent, which I could smell downwind when we first encountered…

Exiting the Powell St. BART station in SF and walking up into the plaza, we encountered this man among the makeshift stands of people hawking their various crap. He was at a podium under a tarp, surrounded by a group handing out religious tracts and seeking donations for their…

This religious zealot was handing out bible tracts for his 'street church' which was housed under a tarp in the middle of the Powell Street BART plaza. Until he encountered us, he didn't understand that dangling between his legs hung the key to unlock a true oneness with God; a…

We found this man along Ellis Street in the Tenderloin/SF, his hardcore homelessness the result of an ugly breakup with his wife and two children which left him emotionally gutted. He described himself as a 'punk' and "bad boy" whose own Karma further came back to bite him in a…

This man's homelessness is a result of divorce and then car crash which literally broke his back as well as his spirit. He said the street changed him: a self described "punk" & "bad boy" but now a humbled, beaten man. The car wreck left him with little sensation or feeling in…

The Venice Beach Pier was super busy on this Saturday afternoon when we encountered this dude, asking to bum a smoke. I handed him a fresh pack of Export "A" (Canadian cigarettes) to keep, which provided fodder for conversation. I asked him how he found himself there on the beach…