skidrowdiaries - Tumblr blog

[skidrowdiaries]

Dear Diary,

I don't even know if anyone will read this so I decided to just keep a diary. I guess its better than talking to myself. People who do that here get pegged as deeply disturbed. I think people who talk to themselves are used to no one else showing they care. Life here is isolating like that. A lot of people don't show they care and people will act like they do care to run a con (for their own survival, mind you). It's rough.

Anyway like a lot of people in the neighborhood, I'm not actually from Skid Row. I'm not from Los Angeles either but I've been here quite a while. I moved to the city over a decade ago. Well, let me backtrack a bit... I first came to Los Angeles in my teens. I saved up $200 and ran away on the Greyhound with another queer kid. Nothing particularly traumatic was going on in our homes... we just needed answers and thought Los Angeles may have them. A belly full of Johnny Rockets, hot Cheetos & Mountain Dew we weren't any closer to understanding why we felt different so we called our parents to face the consequences.

All these years later I get that same feeling of defeat watching LAPD and Sanitation steal my unhoused neighbors property under the unconstitutional 41.18. Our communities deserve better.

So I guess that's what I'll be writing about mostly... my journey to Los Angeles, what landed me on the streets & what's happening with my unhoused neighbors now.

Your pal