Maria didn't want to be photographed. Not at first. "I lost my teeth, and thats a downfall. I ain't pretty like I was." She has been on the streets since June, ever since her partner of 18 years told her it's his house, and put her outside with all her things. She teared up twice talking to me, both times about her partner. "I wouldn't have him out in the cold - he was homeless too. He works." Years ago she fell outside a McDonalds, carrying Big Macs in her arms. She lost a tooth, and the others fell out eventually - "I didn't take care of it, and it kept going."
"I have one daughter, her husband, they cool, but I can't stay there." "I couldn't help, you know? I get food stamps, so that helps, but you know, can't stay there forever. They real cool, they real nice, never asked me to go." I asked her what she does at night, and she said she likes a few shelters, and they pick people up. "Shelters are good, but out right in the morning, seven, earlier... but they feed you." She said the summers are worse than the winters. The only cool place in the summer heat is the library. "I don't like sitting outside Union Station all day."
