Brueggers Bagels at Vanderbilt served double duty as my breakfast stop and prep area, at least on the first morning. Enjoying a bagel, egg, and sausage sandwich in the familiar confines of a national bagel chain, I felt much less adventurous than when I was home planning all the exciting stuff I would do. My goal on this particular day was to explore downtown by foot and public transit, and hopefully set up the aforementioned excitement and adventure.

While photo stalking the Frist, I met a man selling $1.00 newspapers to benefit the homeless (presumably himself). I bought a paper and received his hopeful story in return. The homeless are organizing. They’ve banded together through their own efforts, supported by the local faith community. His eyes widened in enthusiasm as he told me of men and women who now earn enough through this project to afford rent. I’ve seen similar initiatives in other cities…I hope they benefit their participants as much as this gentleman described.

Trip Advisor Told Me To

I’ll admit it: sometimes I just give up and follow Trip Advisor. To give some semblance of structure to my day downtown, I pulled up a walking tour of the city. That’s how I ended up at the main branch of the Nashville Public Library. The architecture of the library’s most recent home (c. 2001) projects some of the grandeur of the its early twentieth-century roots.

As I reviewed a library exhibit of Nashville’s links to the civil rights movement, a young man named Patrick approached me from the corner of the lobby. He’d noticed the camera slung over my shoulder, and asked how much I charged to do a portfolio. *Sigh*. He explained he’s starting on his hip hop career (stage name Poetry), and was looking to launch himself with some headshots. As flattered as I was….I had to decline. I couldn’t trash his burgeoning reputation with my inexperience. Too bad, he had numerous, what I can only describe as delicate, tattoos on his neck and face. It would have been a joy to bring them to life in photos.