urban armor

(homeless boy in a hood, sf, 4/25/06)homeless drifter lucas from wisconsin. lucas is sitting on the sidewalk with some friends panhandling; one friend is gil, whose photo i had taken a month earlier (where from here 3/29/06). lucas is off to venice next week. he's just waiting on a girl; he met some girl who's letting him clean up (shower, etc.) at her house sometime next week; then he's off.lucas is severely swollen on the right side of his face (hidden), on his upper nose and on his forehead. he came upon some kid being beat up by some guys and he tried to help out. he was beaten bloody with a baseball bat. this happened about a block from where this picture was taken.gil yells to lucas: "hey pussy, why don't you lose the hood?"to which lucas: "why would i do that? it's my armor; it's my shield! why would i do that?"