Zenno Styles

    This is Zenno Styles. I was walking down Casino Center during this week's Las Vegas Document   walk when I spotted Zenno. I began discretely taking his picture as he was preparing to cross the street. He spotted me taking his picture, set down the large, full trash bag he was carrying, and what came next is something I will never forget.

    Zenno thanked me for taking his picture, which surprised me and then asked if he could share something with me. I figured it was fare to hear him out, after all he was letting me take his picture. First he pulled out some papers (which turned out to be someone else's wireless bill) and then rummaged through his pockets to find a pen.

    I figured he was going to try to sell me something, so I was surprised when he began to write. He began in the middle of the page and started writing. I looked for a pattern, but quickly realized that there was no pattern or reason to what he was writing. Zenno is mentally ill.

    Zenno wrote for the better part of 15 minutes or so. I honestly couldn't tell you how long it was. He seemed quite content to write his message as I circled around him taking pictures. I began to notice details about him. He had very interesting finger nails. They had various symbols in black and white polish, though I couldn't tell what all of them were. Her also had several bracelets. One had skulls, the other had the name "Miguel" spelled in beads. It seemed to have been homemade by someone.

     Zenno also wore a watch, which he would check obsessively as he wrote. It was if he were checking it for information.

 

 I was loathe to leave Zenno, as meeting him was a singular experience, but I had to move on to another subject that I had spotted walking past and would soon catch his bus. I would try to leave and Zenno kept saying he was almost finished. He finally tore out the pages he had written on and gave them to me. They are now prized possessions.

 Among the things Zenno wrote on the 3 pages he tore out were the phone number for the U.N., the address to the National Treasury, and the phrase "Peace Drinks Iced Tea", which what I decided to call the piece below.

      I will forever wonder exactly who Zenno Styles is and was. How did he end up where he is? Who was he before? Why does he have these things in his head and what are they supposed to mean? I have lost 2 Uncles to mental illness and I know people who currently suffer from it. I feel that Zenno's writings are a peek into the mind of mental illness, and I will always treasure the experience.