Juan

I’ve seen him at my bus stop a few times, and he’s always been nice. I’m very curious about his story, and I have to admit that I love seeing him on his street corner. He is definitely a Seattle classic.

I, who likes to find thing sto review which are 4’s and 5’s have to go medium on him. I get afraid when screamed at on the street. I have sadness for him.
I live in an area where people have begun living in the Post Office due to need for warmth. There is a world out there of people with needs which is nto pretty. I have sadness in this arena.

Any trip to downtown Seattle is not complete without seeing Juan. Juan… seriously you make downtown Seattle what it is… this is for you man:
«Seattle.Police Department… Communists!!!»
~G
p. s. Remind me to get you a matching pimp cup for your pimp staff.

I forget where I heard this, but I’m pretty sure he’s from Cuba.

In the eighties there was an (unsurprising) blusterfuck between U.S. President Carter and Castro. There was a famine in Cuba, thousands of people were trying to leave.
Carter tried to make the States look like some sort of magnanimous good guy and said that of course the US would take any refugees from Cuba. Castro didn’t want to lose face and agreed to let anyone who wanted to go leave. Thousands of people showed up to the docks and were taken over to Florida.
Castro took this opportunity to empty the jails and mental hospitals onto the boats as well.

More negotiating and blusterfucking, and Cuba took back some of the repeat offenders and patients, and now the US only gives automatic citizenship to Cubans who set foot on land. All refugees caught or rescued at sea are sent back to Cuba via Guantanamo.

I don’t remember where I heard he was from Cuba, but what he says starts to make some sort of weird sense when you put him into that context. He has also pointed to my friend’s nose and claimed he saw the devil hanging off the end of it.

He thinks the police are communists. For that he will always remind me of the old man in A Confederacy of Dunces. Every time I walk by him I think, «My valve!»
UPDATE 1÷1÷08: When it’s cold outside and I see him out there I feel sorry for him and think, «Fortuna, you vicious slut!»

I salute you Juan… I agree with him, because the Seattle Police are helping take more of your money so the government can plan more social services… thereby, more control — a communist idea.

I remember seeing Juan when I visited Seattle for the first time in 2001. When I moved out here three years later, one of the first things I saw was Juan and his sign. Amazing. He really makes Seattle feel like home.

Always a highlight of my downtown shopping trips. Just the possession of a scepter alone gets him five stars.

Juan is a Seattle street character and goes on a continuous tape-​loop rant, accusing the Seattle police of being communists, although I doubt the Seattle police are actually communists. And in this «people’s republic» of a city, most would not find that reflexively objectionable in and of itself.
I know very little about the Seattle police or their reputation in the community, but I would think that if Juan yelled, «Seattle Police… are fascists», that might actually raise the heckles of the local folks.

Juan is alright. He’s got issues for sure, but he’s neither foul-​mouthed nor violent. He’ll acknowledge you if you acknowledge him. For 2−½ years, I drove by his corner on an almost daily basis. We developed a sort of bond. I’d wave to him and he’d wave back. I’d sometimes walk by him at lunch. I’d nod and he’d nod back. Sometimes it was the other way around. He’s harmless. Don’t be mean to him.