"While traveling for my documentary project,"Hear Us", I pulled up to a busy Phoenix intersection and stopped at a red light. An obviously homeless man began crossing in front of our paused vehicles. I was first in line and was completely preoccupied with the reality that I couldn't find my 1:00 appointment at the nearby (or so I thought) shelter. He turned toward me, pointing to the corners of his mouth, made a universally understood motion to indicate "Smile" and stood and stared at me." So begins this true story of a stranger with a simple, wordless and hard to refuse request.
