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Mustiness pervades the atmosphere on DART, mixing with worn, spotty seats and dusty windows, combining with other odors to create many interesting scents. One of these scent combinations occurs when mustiness latches onto a man wearing way too much cologne. Then, it fuses with the infamous odor of gas station sushi to create a nasty stench. These smells and scents are just the beginning of DART.

The sights around DART are hard to believe and could easily be fiction if they were not an everyday occurrence. However, passengers are by far the most interesting part of the DART adventure. While some people put on headphones and retreat within themselves, others interact, forming a community. They know each other’s lives and genuinely care about each other: 

“What up, Bobby! You still at QuikTrip, bro?” or “OMG, Angela! I haven’t seen you in a minute, girl.”

Many passengers have stops on Route 4, which has two stops on the Grand View campus. This leads passengers to interact with the students who ride the DART to work and school. These buses, and the people who ride them, are woven into the Grand View perspective, and their stories are a meaningful element of the Grand View community.

Devine

Devine has Multiple Sclerosis, a disease which occurs when the body has an adverse reaction to its auto-immune system and proceeds to attack the host’s central nervous system. Just don’t tell Devine.

Devine said, “I don’t have time for any of that negativity. If you bring me negative vibes, I’ll send you away.”

She always has a smile on her face. Despite dealing daily with MS, she has a positive outlook, but she won’t take credit for it. Devine just thanks Jesus and goes about her day.

“The Lord never gives you more than you can handle; never ever,” she said.

Then, she broke out into song. “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine! Let it shine, let it shine!”

She has a lovely voice, which is enhanced by her North Carolina accent. Devine said she loves singing, almost as much as her 14 grandchildren.

“Oh, yes child, I got 14 grandbabies,” she said. “I love every single one of them.”

Devine was more chipper than usual today.

“I’m on my way to Marshall’s to try and get a job,” she said. “I can’t stay in my house all cooped up. It’s unhealthy.”

She went on to give advice about how she remains so positive all the time.

“What else is there to do?” she said. “If I give into all the negativity, then what example does that set for my grandchildren?” she asked.

Wise words from a wise woman.   

Scott      

Scott has an electrical engineering degree and can work on many projects, from navigation systems to cell phones. Despite this intelligence, however, Scott is not working in his desired field.  He is a customer service representative at Wells Fargo. The economic downturn has significantly impacted his professional career.

“Once I moved down here, it was difficult to find a job, so I had to make some choices, and that’s how it goes, I guess,” Scott said.

He is living with extended family and does not own a car. 

“Yeah, I use the DART bus to get to work every day since I don’t have a car” Scott said. “It’s been great for me. We don’t have any solid public transportation back in Detroit. There is such a strong car culture, what with Chrysler and Ford among others, that public transportation is viewed in some ways as being anti-Detroit. So I’m fortunate that I can use DART often.”

He is a soft-spoken man. This is uncommon for someone who works in customer service, but Scott is good at moving past the jerks who call in just to  yell at someone.

“It’s funny,” he said. “I’m sitting here with an electrical engineering degree and I’m being yelled at probably because this person doesn’t know how to follow directions. I’ll tell them what to do and they just can’t do or won’t do it because they’re so mad. All you can do is laugh.”

Scott is in poor health right now. This makes traveling on the DART buses and dealing with work much more difficult. 

“I’ve been trying to pass a kidney stone for quite a while now, and it has taken a toll on me, that’s for damn sure,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I’ll be fine. Once this passes, everything else will get better too.” 

Johnny

Johnny loves to talk almost as much as he loves to promote his YouTube channel. He dominates conversations with enthusiasm and eccentricity. His stories are outrageous, but that’s Johnn. 

Johnny said he has been accused of “stalking” by the New York Daily News and the Des Moines Register. Specifically, he was allegedly stalking the daughter of former Des Moines boxing champion, Rocky Pepeli. He gets fired up when he discusses the situation.

“I’ve been imprisoned falsely three times over this,” Johnny said. “I care about (her) a lot. I would never do anything to harm her.” 

He was sincere about his feelings for the woman; he made it a point to show the tattoo of her name on his neck. Johnny said that he met her at a gathering at Pepeli’s residence and has had a bond with her since.   

As the Daily News and the Register reported, Johnny likes this attention. He said he believes it will shed light on his perspective. “I welcome this [attention]… I just want my day in court to be heard. They have slandered me enough.”   

His story becomes even more captivating. He tells these stories candidly and always with a sheepish grin. 

“I have been falsely charged with attempted murder, too,” Johnny said.

The Daily News and the Register confirm this charge in the same article as the stalking allegations. The charges were dropped when the victim could not be found. 

“I’m pretty sure he was an illegal… he had been deported twice already,” he said.

Johnny said these allegations have damaged his reputation. 

“It’s all about credibility” he said. “The Register and others have really tarnished my reputation, and I’m not sure I can get it back.”

Nowadays, Johnny is simply trying to help people, He said he has been trying to do this for years through his nonprofit organizations: Stop Violence to Women and Women Don’t Have to Take It Anymore.

He is trying to raise money for veteran centers in Iowa. One of his recent projects involved the  purchase of several singing bears dressed in U.S. military uniforms. If everything goes right, Johnny said, he would like to sell these bears at Flying J truck stops. 

“I wanna sell a million of these guys!” he exclaimed, holding up one of the bears proudly.

He feels obligated to help veterans, and his respect for the military is apparent. His demeanor is more somber and respectful when he talks about members of his family who served.

“My father was in the Navy; my uncle was too. I respect the hell out of them,” Johnny said. “My family is big on helping veterans because of what they did. They may be gone but I can try to do something for them.”

Debra

“Y’all ain’t gonna take too many pictures are you?” said Debra. “I don’t look too good right now.” 

Debra is shy, but she is a kind soul. She has been remodeling houses of the less-fortunate for years. One of these homes is that of her friend Billy, who has mental health issues after a childhood accident.

“Billy was in a real bad accident when he was six,” Debra said. “He got run over by a car and he’s had problems ever since,” Adams said. 

She was introduced to Billy about 15 years ago and has since been impressed by his perseverance.

“He’s just a great kid, always warm and kind. It’s amazing that he survived the car accident, and then he had that awful time with the police,” Debra said. “They came in on a drug raid, and Billy wasn’t doing nothing… he freaked out and one of them [officers] ended up giving him something like 42 stitches in his head.” 

Her demeanor grows different when she talks about Billy. She is friendly and outgoing already but lets her guard down even more. She is even comfortable enough to talk about her son.

“When he was born we went ahead and named him Forrest. Forrest Lee, on account of him bein’ conceived in a forest,” she said with a laugh. 

Debra said she treasures her son even more due to her trials with childbirth.

“I’ve lost two pregnancies, the one before Forrest and the one after,” she said. “It just makes me love him even more,” she said.

She sinks a little bit. The kind soul is reminiscing about what could have been. Debra said she does this from time to time but never dwells on it for too long. She doesn’t shed a tear, mainly because she has done that too often already. 

“I’ve done enough crying over them, I think” she said. “I’ll always think of em’, but it allows me to love Forrest and my grandson Jayden even more.”

These stories are everywhere on the DART buses. They exist on every route, at every stop and everywhere in between. The mustiness might obscure these gems, but they will always be around just waiting to be discovered. The next passenger who steps off the Route 4 bus under the skywalk here at Grand View will undoubtedly have a story to tell. Just don’t try any gas station sushi they offer you.