Stranger #372 [weeklyish posts] || Location: Rubble Gallery (Victoria Dr./Powell)

The story goes a little like this: I was at a gathering at the Rubble Gallery when I realized I wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for this project. Somebody asked me how I got to know a gentleman named Mike, who happens to co-run a queer party called Spit. The question immediately triggered a flashback: I had met him through the Stranger Project. I still remember. This happened very early in the project when he was at the Elysian and I was looking for strangers. Although he didn’t have any tattoos, he did a good (and pretty accurate) assessment and gave me a few passes for his party. Little did I know I would end up doing some work with them. So there I was, at the staff party explaining this story when, of course, I got introduced to someone with a very neat piece:

This is a Romanian gypsy wagon. My last name is Bedry, and nobody knows what nationality Bedry is. I am uncertain about where it comes from, and everyone on my Dad’s side of the family (where I inherited my name from) is dead, so I can’t ask anyone. But I do know that his parents were Italian and Romanian, and that there was some Romanian in his family line from long way back. I figured I would start there, so I got a Romanian symbol that I liked, and as I try to discover where my last name actually comes from I want to add more tattoos…

That was super neat. It could end up making for a big, nice-looking narrative piece.

I then took the shot and asked him if I could publish it on the blog, and here we are. :) The party continued and we were merry.

Thanks stranger!

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