by _refugee_

The woman who wrote this observed a lot of it in Philadelphia, my closest actual "city," and so in some sort of way still "my home."

Philadelphia is a sad and filthy and angry place. It has good things too.

In running from each other, from their girlfriends, and in a few cases their mothers, Reggie and his friends learned how to navigate the alleyways, weave through traffic, and identify local residents willing to hide them for a little while.

This reminds me of when I was in college and not able to stay at my parents during unenrolled periods (like summer). I began to keep a running list of houses I could crash at, monitoring houses I had recently crashed at to make sure I didn't overstay. I developed contacts (in at least one case FWB) and filed them away knowing they would be able to help me (or not) if I needed somewhere to crash. It's helpful to know these things - though of course, don't develop friends just so you have a place to crash...though also of course, only those with the ability to not worry about such things would say such things - when you are facing the street for a night I think most people will try and find a "friend" instead. And TO BE CLEAR I liked the FWB too; the ability to crash at his place was just a big benefit. A big "pro" in the column.