By 6am, there were sixty Valley Cafes ready to go. Simone, Lana and Miguel recruited one hundred volunteers, stationed in teams of two just outside the front doors. Cam'el's inner circle filled in at the rest of the locations.

The coffee action was deemed a success. Facebook raged and Instagram self-congratulated. The circle was high with anticipation. They were invited to speak at bookstores across town and appear on local talk radio.

For Miguel Dios, the gangs of his LA barrio were the only family he knew. A poet, transplanted and now reformed, Miguel saw being affiliated with Cam'el as a path to freeing his people from oppressions across multiple borders.

Racine Abtar's girlfriend worked at an agency for transgender youth, seeking to reduce their eating disorders, self-harm, cutting, suicide. Over dinner, they discussed ways people were exploited around town and how they planned to use this opportunity.

Simone Garcia went to bed encouraged. Things were going great. Dreaming visions, she awoke atop a mountain perch amid swirling winds and snow. Across a narrow gorge was Cam’el. “Simone, I have something for you.”

Assisting a wheelchair-bound grandma to load fifteen grocery bags at Wally's Mart as part of a long pool ride, engaged in-Gentleness. Belligerent drunks slamming car doors, then deciding one ☆ was all you deserved, elevated in-Self Control and in-Patience.

“He stays home with our two autistic sons and I found this job. But now he’s become a pothead. Well, I kinda made him one. Weed really helps since I got sick with MS.”

“Do you know for sure he’s cheating?”

After a year of acclaim, the bandwagon of fandom that had grown around the PEOPLE’S MAYOR campaign began to wane. Younger followers left for greener coalitions.

"Listen Jess, we did the shows to let people know about our programs. I guess we were getting too real for them. They're leaving us, we're not leaving them.”

When he hung up the phone Cam’el got Karin to Nana’s, dressed and headed to Festival. He didn’t call the Circle, but wandered in alone. Nicole Denis had organized one last Bridezilla promotion comprised of Vegas newlyweds.

Spoken. Heard. Believed. In recent months, the daughters of Nigeria return, accused priests see jail, moguls and media executives lose their place. Families tear. Untouchable celebrities and pop stars lose brilliance.

Lena meets me on the way to the front door. Standing about 4’6, slow, yet moving with elegance. A beggar. Her eyes are large and soft. She wears a straw sun hat with gloves cropped at the knuckles.

Migrations are inevitable. Sent things are new things, a switch, a time above a time below, clouds of witnesses, clouds of storage, clouds of confusion, clouds of joy, clouds in the sky, clouds in my eye. Water droplets and ice crystals.

"I was so glad to retire. Customer service can be hard -- especially when people lose their money, and eighty-ninety percent of people do. They can be very mean. But casinos don’t tolerate being mean to customers, right or wrong.”

He seems in his 40s, she younger. The woman firmly holds the hand of her son of maybe 10 as they slide into the backseat. Luis chooses to sit upfront. As we pull off, he asks that I take the Boulder Hwy route, not the highway. There is a stop he wants to make along the way.

He is waiting curbside with a small luggage bag on wheels. “This is for you" holding out a five-dollar bill. “I will always give five dollars if you have me.” Christopher sports a short black leather jacket -- underneath, purple sleeves cover bandages wrapped around his wrists.

We leave Children’s Hospital where Martha's 9yr old is brought after having a seizure. Being born six months early caused him to be born paraplegic with hearing and speech issues. From time to time there are seizures.

By the time I get out, she is tapping her way down the driveway. I gently cup her elbow as Rae maneuvers the curb and backdoor. Its Stacy's name, her daughter, who called the car. "They were supposed to pick me up, but I couldn’t wait. I have to get my errands done." The destination is Sparkle Nails.

potent / yet so painful to know we don’t have enough / the world is becoming blind / we will grow / tears in heaven / talent / visionary in front of me / unifying / in a culture marred / peace advocate / report

our cause / is divided / city of angels / we don’t even see / you a blood / and you a / and you a / f up mentality but that is the culture / come from / state of mind / he whom you love / from that day on they planned together to kill him / our friend

My dad entered this world one afternoon on April 14, 1933. He gave my sibs and I his name, love and protection well before we were aware of his presence. Thinking of what I might write to remember him today, I came across this scripture: “He who sees me, sees the one who sent me.”