The Official And Now Love Podcast: www.andnowlove.com Book link: https://www.burnbarrelpress.com/product/grey-flowers-by-suitcase-joe Website: https://www.suitcasejoe.com/ For over a decade, the anonymous Los Angeles street photographer known only as Suitcase Joe has walked Skid Row and the fringes of the city, photographing the people the rest of the world tends to look past. In this moving episode, Cynthia Marks sits down with Joe to talk about what he's learned in that time — not just about the community he's come to love, but about himself. What began as a project to document Skid Row "for historical purposes" slowly became something far more personal, as strangers became friends, encampments started to feel like homes, and Joe's own hardwired assumptions about people quietly fell away. Joe shares stories from the streets, including his close friendship with a man named Cricket and the complicated reality of what happens after someone finally gets housing. He reflects on the "birth lottery" that shapes so much of our lives, how following his passion pulled him out of his own darkest chapter, and the freedom he found by letting go of what society told him he was supposed to be. It's a conversation that lands, again and again, on the theme at the heart of this show: that beneath our circumstances and our trauma, we are far more alike than different — and that seeing another person with compassion can change everything. Joe's new book, City and Soul, continues that work, honoring the people who give the city its real soul. This is And Now Love. Listen to your dreams and live from your heart. Please follow, rate, and share the podcast, and pass this episode along to someone who might need it. You can find Suitcase Joe on Instagram @suitcasejoe and at his website, and look for his forthcoming book City and Soul, published by Beyond the Streets. This episode includes a candid discussion of depression and past suicidal thoughts, shared in the spirit of hope and healing. If you or someone you love is struggling, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 by call or text at 988. Follow our socials: Instagram / / andnowlove.podcast Facebook / / And Now Love Podcast Youtube / / @AndNowLovePodcast TikTok / / and.now.love.podc Timestamps 0:40 — Welcome, Suitcase Joe 1:50 — Wandering Into Skid Row 3:30 — These Are Their Homes: A Shift in Perspective 7:47 — The Reality of Getting Off the Streets 9:41 — Cricket: A Friendship and a Loss 14:00 — Crew Show and Earning Trust on the Blocks 18:44 — The Depression That Led to Grey Flowers 28:00 — There Are No Rules to Making Art 46:00 — City and Soul and What Unites Us