Photographs by Rachel Bujalski
T he blanket was filthy , and it was writhing—as if the person beneath it was trying to escape, or tear it apart.
As I watched from a van just up the road, at the intersection of 17th and Vermont, in San Francisco, Sister Salvina, wearing the blue-and-white sari of Mother Teresa’s order, explained how best to approach the person under the blanket. We would bring a tremendous offering of food: two water bottles, two juices, two Egg McMuffins, one meat-and-cheese sandwich, four Uncrustables, one cup of oatmeal, one hot chocolate, one banana. She recommended I keep my tape recorder in my bag, and handed me the banana…