I Am Another You

I left China in 2011.

I left to find something I'd been searching for all my life.

Along the way, I've learned I'm not the only one looking.

Traveling was one of the few freedoms I knew in China.

Every year since I was 20 years old,

I would celebrate my birthday by traveling to a new place.

I started this tradition in China.

On my first birthday living in New York,

I bought a one-way ticket and went to Florida.

I was excited to document every conversation I had.

Welcome to America.

Like this is-- this is what America is like.

Since I was a teen, I just wanted to grab a backpack

and go travel, you know, not knowing

where I'm going to sleep or who I'm going to be with.

That excited me.

Tell me what's your next plan-- travel?

I'm going to South America for six months.

A few days into the trip, I stayed at a hostel

where I met someone whose mode of travel

was different from anyone I knew.

How do you spell your name?

Dylan.

Dylan.

And your last name?

Olsen.

The first night I met Dylan,

we talked for hours about our lives and travels.

What did you have when you first got on the road?

An empty backpack and no money.

I just began to travel across the country.

How can you pay the hostel if you don't have money?

I-- I worked for them.

I-- I came here offering my work for a place

to close my eyes at night that was safe and a place to just

to be at peace.

So many people come and go,

it's hard to remember.

I do know that when I first met Dylan,

I immediately identified he was a street kid.

How?

Just because he's a street kid.

You meet so many people, you can see certain things.

It's evident.

And so we had a conversation and made the agreement

that he would leave all those survival skills of the street

behind.

They have no place here.

We identified that immediately.

And it's very rare that we'll allow that.

But he's unique-- very smart, very creative.

He's got one of the best skills that you can have--

fearless in working-- fearless in doing.

- I - wanted to experience the life

that Dylan described to me.

When he went back to the streets,

I decided to follow him with my camera despite the fact

that I hardly knew him.

Oh, we need a better map.

Being lost is where I'm found.

Upon arriving the path that I am happy to tread,

my shoes come off, and I experience that full connection

with the floor.

It's as if I can breathe better.

Observing everybody else around in their entirety,

their passions, their bizarre behaviors,

as well as their observing me and my bizarre behaviors.

There's no time living in this sense.

I don't know what day it is.

Every day is now, right now.

Every time is right now.

I taught Dylan

how to use my camera so he could document

my experiences a while.

This was the first time I ate food from our garbage can.

It was the beginning of my short street life.

"Wherever he goes, he leaves an echo

to show from the pitter patter of his feet

to the magic incantation he speaks, a man

from the past living in the present.

So his presence is living in the future.

Yesterday and tomorrow-- last week was seven years long."

Why you choose to be on the street?

Hmm.

Why are you choosing to stay on the street?

Well--

Huh?

I guess the only objective is eating,

and happiness, and community.

What do you mean eating?

And I feed myself, and I have a good attitude,

and I just go wherever I want to go.

You can wander around and see so many things

and meet so many people that none of that

could ever occur if I were--

if I were just staying in one place, working for one person.

I've gone through quite a big portion of North America.

I'm just exploring, just meeting people.

Hey, man, you got a Sharpie.

I really couldn't answer and say when

I'll be done traveling or living on the street in this way.

But anywhere I am, something likely amazing happens.

My name is Jared.

Jared.

And this is my buddy here Jong.

My name is Dylan.

Dylan. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, man.

My name NANFU.

That's cool.

So you're from Utah, you said? - Yeah.

Originally?

Yeah.

What part did you say?

Just north of Salt Lake City.

Did you grow up Mormon?

Uh, yeah, for a minute.

For a hot minute?

Yeah, for a hot minute.

You are welcome to stay the night.

Neat.

That's a pullout.

She needs a good rest, so she's earned it.

One of the first people to buy here in the 1960s.

Jared had

known us for just a few hours.

You guys want a beer?

But he invited us home.

It had been days since I slept under a roof.

So I've been there.

You know, I've been traveling by myself.

I've had no place to stay.

So I just figured I'd extend a hand.

And I like him, you know?

He's a funny cat, man.

You know, he's young, and he's finding himself.

It's tough living life on the street and on the roads.

Jared took us to dinner that night.

I told myself one day I'd come back and thank him.

But I don't even remember where he lived.

Am in the camera?

Yeah.

- A beer, right? - A Budweiser, please.

- Budweiser. - Thank you.

Oh, OK.

Oh, OK.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

I hadn't told my family

that I was living on the streets with someone I just

met and wasn't involved with.

They wouldn't understand why a homeless person

would be worth following.

The idea that someone would choose to be homeless

would be inconceivable to them.

But this was a kind of freedom I had never encountered before.

Everywhere we went, I was amazed by how many people

were interested in this life.

- Don or Dylan? - Dylan.

Dylan.

How long are you planning to do this?

I don't know, man.

I have no idea.

I'll see where the road takes me.

I'm just fascinated.

So what made you like-- did someone else do

this that you decided to do it?

I wondered

if the presence of my camera affected how people behave.

So sometimes I would retreat from Dylan

and wait until something happened.

This guy met Dylan in front of a coffee shop

while I was sitting inside charging my battery.

They talked for hours.

And then he invited Dylan to his home.

We were just carrying a conversation,

and we got something in common with a hostile.

I stayed in a hostile that was in California.

I just decided that it was good to have some money to give.

It just makes me feel good to be able to--

makes me feel good it you can help somebody.

What part of his story interested you?

Well, I guess the way--

the choices he makes.

Street life was

free and exciting for Dylan.

But it wasn't that way for everyone.

Why were people so generous to Dylan, but not to the others?

I began to realize the privilege of choosing

to be on the streets, which includes both of us.

A little something to get people here.

Who came here a member?

Who came-- did anybody

come to meet with God tonight?

Well, we're glad that you chose to come here tonight.

Who has been here before and decided

they might come back again?

All right, well, I think we're in the right place.

So let's pray over the meal.

Father, I thank you for tonight.

I think you--