Mark's Pages

January 18, 2011:

Mark at Pergamon, January 4, 1980.

Native American ancestry. Jet black hair, shoulder length. Facial scars from nodulocystic acne. Wide mouth. The prominent nose has been broken and tilts left. Eyes hazel, frank, full of curiosity.

Layers of thin clothes: t-shirt, sweater, surplus parka he ironically dubs "Admiral Byrd". Tartan scarf. A single sturdy jacket would keep him warmer.

Optimism, determination, impossible energy.

He's in terrible emotional pain just now but there's no trace here. This face is a mask of friendly curiosity.

With the hair and the parka and the dozens of film canisters in his bags, he votes himself Most Likely To Be Shot By Border Guards. A prediction nearly fulfilled three weeks later in Patras.