I used to be a sheltered suburban kid (all the way up to the age of 25) watching Drugs Inc on Nat Geo and hearing scary stories about scary homeless people and scary dope dealers and scary tweakers and scary gangbangers. Then I became Drugs Inc. And almost all of my friends are scary homeless people, dope dealers, tweakers, and gangbangers. I myself am more than one of those things. :huey-wut:

The oppressive sheltering by my father led me down a dark hallway. I wanted to walk that path. I was homeless for two years, and the only thing I regret is getting housed up last February.

We have a fascinating culture all our own. I'm still learning the ropes, learning how to survive, learning the unwritten rules of the streets, and learning how to not get fucking ripped off. I think I'm respected for my honesty and my good-intentioned nature, but I also feel like people think I'm mentally handicapped and either treat me like a homie's kid sister more than anything (and by that I mean, being nice, just to be nice, like you would a friend's kid sister; you don't actually think of your friend's kid sister as like, the one you go to when you need something, you're just nice because she's their kid sister).

But don't fucking ask about me. I'm here to answer questions about my people, the ones you see sitting or kneeling or lying on concrete out the corner of your eye.

I feel like it's up to me to speak for us. I've always been sucked into the internet even when I was at my worst on the streets. I started posting on the Chapo sub using free WiFi from either UC Berkeley (which had a student union anyone could go in :el-chapo:) or the Taco Bell off Telegraph Avenue (which sells liquor now). I'm pretty sure I posted the AMA that made me famous (about being trans and homeless) sitting in Taco Bell. One time some dude was sitting next to me doing fucking whippets. And the Taco Bell bathroom was where I first did cocaine. :che-smile:

Uh, yeah, anyways, what I meant to say is

Life on the streets sucks but it's not doom and gloom all day every day for a lot of us. Life indoors sucks too. To me, personally, there's tradeoffs, and they balance out. You only see the bad side: children living out of a mid-sized sedan, crackheads taking shits on the sidewalk. You don't see the good. You don't hear the genuine laughter coming from inside the homeless encampment. You don't see someone handing off the last of their dope to a friend in need.

Also we have this cool system of like, honor and respect and shit, because on the streets your word and your reputation is all you have.

So yeah, ask me anything.

I strongly encourage others familiar with street culture to chime in, if anything because I always enjoy meeting other current and former lumpens or whatever.