one of my early alter egos was “Les Grims.” It was never stolen.
Wonder why?

The Group Shooters

As we crossed the country we would shout out FStop, then get out of the car and photograph. All the way from New Jersey to Portland, like that. The two of us shot film like it was free and so were we. Will carried one single book. I carried three. He was a dedicated reader. He’d read one author until he had to buy another copy of the book, while I’ve only done that with one book. Meaning, read it until it falls apart and must be replace.

Will’s favorite author was F. Scott Fitzgerald. It didn’t take till we hit Pittsburgh before our FStops had spawned the group ego for that trip; “FStop Fitzgerald.” By the Badlands Will was writing the name down in motels, gas stations and park benches. In San Francisco, we scrawled it on our public’d photos.

It was meant as a group name, anonymous, unowned, unknown. Like many such things of those times, it was claimed. It is even the “official” government sponsored name of someone, just not of Will.

I’ve lost his time, as he has mine, but sometimes I do wonder what he ever thought of that. Knowing Will, he probably cares less about it than I do. Like snow melting off the cascades, “it makes the trees, that is more than enough.”