Stanley Owen Green – The Protein Man
I followed him to Hanover Square one day, shared his bench and spoke to him. Gently fierce, I thought. More right than wrong.
As he spoke, I found myself wondering what rogue proteins I myself had ingested that morning. Muesli, banana, milk. Did he consider coffee a protein? I thought about it, but dared not ask for fear of proving myself entirely stupid.
I looked into his eyes and felt momentarily brave. I thought about Diane Arbus and wondered what had played out in her soul as she worked. Was she a hunter or fellow traveler of those she found? I wanted to assure him that I was the latter, but was too wracked by a sense of guilt; shackled, too, by youth.
Truth was, I knew that in his terms I had committed a great crime against my body and by extension, society. And I couldn’t deny that I had a secondary agenda, as Arbus no doubt had hers. But I let it get in my way and didn’t raise the camera to my eye as I should have.
He had sandwiches wrapped in wax paper. At least that’s what I thought, though I wondered what filling it could be that would conform to his strictures. Perhaps it was a salt and pepper sandwich, the kind my parents swore they’d eaten when there wasn’t enough money. It struck me as a very modest lunch, barely enough calories to keep him walking Oxford Street and see him home to Northolt.
Afterwards, I stumbled down the street, somewhat dazed, humbled by his certain belief, his quiet dignity, and clear-eyed honesty.
I bought his booklet, Edition 35 and numbered 69 000 out of the 87 000 he produced. I read it, I have it still. At the time, I found myself disinterested by claims that seemed entirely wild, such as: “Even a gentle person who stays long enough under the influence of sexual fascination BECOMES POWERLESS to resist it.”
It seemed a frantic claim in 1993, but timely in the shadow of darkness that Jeffrey Epstein and his lead procurer brought to the world since.
Stanley Owen Green (22nd February 1915 – 4th December 1993)
Please note that the date for this previously published blog post has been assigned to create a sequence and not a chronology.
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