Things were much better economically back then, and we had no reason to doubt him when he said his earnings were enabling him to put his two children back East through college. He blithely told us that his annual income was $38,000. Based on what he told us, it is easy to see why a panhandler would not want, back then, to get a "makeover" from Scavullo and his team and thereby sabotage his way of earning a livelihood.
In our photo archives, we have a good portrait of Berkeley's beloved Hate Man. We had to do a re-shoot when we couldn't find the j-peg files of his portrait. We used Northern Lighting with a white door as background to get a shot with the look we wanted.
The East Bay Guardian did an award winning feature story profile of Hate Man (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/hate-man/Content?oid=2491949 ) and we could not hope to do better with a measly 1,000 word column. If readers do a Google Image search for Hate Man, one of the top suggestions is a portrait of Hate Man earlier in life and we offer that photo as conclusive proof that we do not harbor a condescending attitude regarding Hate Man because fifty years ago, he had already achieved a level of journalism success that we can still only envy today.
If (subjunctive mood alert!), the World's Laziest Journalist were teaching a course in Journalism at a world famous University that is close to People's Park, which is where Hate Man's World Headquarters is located, we would beg him for the opportunity to be a guest lecturer in an outdoor meeting of the class. Hell, they should pay him to teach a class there every semester.
As it is, most folks take a quick look at Hate Man and revert to Lookism to make their assessment of the fellow. Getty and Armstrong would score a coup if they could talk to him and listen to what he has to say. Come to think of it, maybe even Uncle Rushbo would love to hear a person proselytizing on the idea that people shouldn't suppress hate.
If the Republicans want an eloquent exposition on the idea that hate should be expressed enthusiastically, they couldn't find a better spokesperson. Since Hate Man lives in one of the most Liberal congressional districts in the USA, maybe the Republicans might take pride in Hate Man if they elected him to be the local Congressional delegate, but it is our opinion that Hate Man would get claustrophobic sitting in a Congressman's office and decline the opportunity.
Recently in London, photographer Rosie Holtum caused a sensation with a photo exhibition that was based on the same premise that Esquire used so many moons ago. Conservative media owners will probably be very quick to squelch this graphic evidence which proves a liberal contention.
What would happen if, instead of giving families a home makeover on a reality TV show, the production company started doing a weekly program that gave homeless people a makeover? Conservative media owners won't let that idea be expressed in any pitch session, eh?
While writing this week's column, we saw the new Walter Mitty movie which features repeated recitations of the mission statement for LIFE magazine which provides us with an appropriate end of the column quote: "To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of Life."
Now the disk jockey will play Madonna's "Vogue," Frank Sinatra's "Nancy (with the laughing face)," and the Cowsills' "All I really want to be is me." We have to go buy a DVD copy of "Funny Face." Have a "say "cheese!'" type week.
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