I Brake for Jake!

Along the same lines of differing speech in various regions across the US, the status of the homeless man varies as well.
In Toronto hundreds of homeless line up sleeping bags and huddle together over night in the park by the ice rink. In Lapeer, they'd walk up and down the highways picking up pop cans, and turning them in for the ten cent deposits.

In Springfield, there are the few homeless guys, your traditional sleeping on a back stoop in an alley, crawling into an abandoned factory for shelter, holding the "will work for food" sign on a scrap of cardboard (I always wonder where they find the Sharpies to make the sign???). In our town, there's a little homeless villiage in a pallet yard, with little makeshift lean-tos and dining tables made from cable spools.

Inventive? Yes.
Survivalistic? Yes.
Is "survivalistic" a word? Don't know.
But typical? Definitely.

Not so in Ann Arbor. When I worked in Ann Arbor, MI, I'd park my car a million miles away from work, to avoid paying to park. Along the hike up the hill to my job, every once in a while, I'd pass by a homeless man in a doorway, giving me a great big grin.
Smiling, because I saw him first, waved and called out "hi Jake!"

This guy was "Shakey Jake", the best homeless guy ever! Seeing Jake on the way to work made your day that much better. He always had nice things to say to people; definitely the happiest bum I've ever seen. Jake sightings were always shared with friends, telling them where you saw him, what he said to you.

People didn't think twice about sharing spare change with Jake, buying him a coffee or a sandwich, or giving him a lift somewhere. (Which goes to show, being nice can get you everywhere!)

Jake was a local celebrity. He had his guitar with the Mickey Mouse sticker on it, and he'd wander around playing songs, singing shakey jibberish, wearing his big glasses, fur coat and pimp hat. He was cool. He was in parades and at festivals. There were actual products marketed after him!

What I always wondered though: if everyone loves him so much, why's he still homeless? Or is he really not, and has a place somewhere, and being "Shakey Jake" is just his day job, and he's just a little bit crazy?

I have no idea if Jake is still around, but...I do have the t-shirt! (Mine's yellow.)