Tyler, 57

'His Best Friend, Smoke'

“I never knew we were poor till someone told us. My mom was awesome. Dad and stepdad good – both good parents. Stepdad was awesome – baseball coach, coach for everything. By the time everyone else was graduating, I had my associates in structural concrete from Utah Technical College [now SLCC]. I worked about 30 years an electrician, a utility man. I do everything. I did good jobs, too. I never worked because I loved what I did.

I don’t consider myself homeless. I live with my family when I leave here. My wife got sick while we were out here. She’s got Alzheimer’s or dementia – I don’t know the difference between the two. Yesterday she came to start me on fire. She used lighter fluid and a torch lighter. Who knows – who knows. I got a little fluid on me. She wouldn’t have got me. It’s just, I don’t think she was even trying to get me. She started me on fire a couple times. I don’t want to say nothing bad against my wife. It’s just a matter of time before she goes nuts on somebody else. I told the cops. They won’t do nothing about it. We’ve been married almost 23 years.

Her mom was sick for about 10 years previous, and we took care of her mom in her mom’s house, just right there on Emerson, three streets over. They tore the house down and put another house up. She rented her house for 20-something years, and when she died they threw us out. So, it was hard for [my wife] because she grew up in that house.

I worked the whole time when she was taking care of her mom. I stayed busy. I never had any charges from the law, ever. Out here, I have seven warrants for camping in the park. And they’ve arrested me three times. One of the tickets the wrote was a blue code. Cops can’t come and throw you out of your tent if it’s below 32 – it was 17 degrees.

I’ve lost my stuff three times. They just release you and they don’t charge you. There’s nothing you can do but take that as a loss. I started out with 12 shopping carts. I lost my dad’s hat – it was my dad’s, my real dad. He’s been gone for a while.

That’s my best friend in the whole world [points to his dog, Smoke]. Right, boy? Smoke. We don’t let him smoke. That would be wrong.”

Photograph and story documented by Stephen Speckman.