This is Johnny Lickers.


This is Johnny Lickers. We’ve chatted before but not in a few years. Today as I pedaled home from a grocer he was on the corner sipping from a bottle so I stopped and asked if I could capture his image. “Yea, sure,” he said, “the news did a story on me recently.” When asked who interviewed him or what news he couldn’t name them. He told me that he started adorning his bikes with different things when he was a kid, “It makes them more difficult to steal,” he added. The mask hanging off the bunny’s ears were a nice touch, I told him. Both times we’ve spoken he made a point to tell me that he is a Native America, part of the Onodaga Nation, and that his brother is police chief. We chatted for a bit and he said he remembers me; he also suggested we should grab a beer together. I offered him a gift card instead, “Good, now I can get something to eat,” he responded. There are so many different people in the world and to me this is one of the things that makes life so interesting. Things would be so boring if everyone looked and acted the same. People that live on the fringe of society—and not necessarily conforming to societal norms—are some of the most interesting. Today Johnny and I chatted for a few minutes and my day is brightened because of him.

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