grit and poverty

urgh – monday morning.

there was a woman working the stroll in front of my apartment building this morning, just by the bus stop which is a bit strange given that sex-trade workers in the neighbourhood don’t tend to work that far up from hastings at 7 in the morning. after midnight and before 5, yes – but once people start going to work, they tend to go back down to the other part of the neighbourhood.

she seemed out of it, weaving a bit as though intoxicated – and i wondered if she was simply not paying attention to the unspoken rules about the sex trade in the neighbourhood because of it.

the unspoken rules are those followed by the women working the street in order not to raise the ire of the pure-minded community folks – in order to be allowed to exist without too much police interference. they include things like keeping a low profile on commercial drive during daylight hours, and keeping sex acts themselves to the industrial zones that ring the neighbourhood. these are the games we play with each other in urban areas – games of rules and denial – so one group can pretend the other doesn’t exist and in that way we can give space on the margins.

the city seems gritty to me this morning, as the summer drags on – more people wearing less clothing sleep out on the streets in heaps of rags and doorways. there is a desperation in cities when it gets hot and stays that way for weeks on end – a resignation to outdoor living that is not jubillant for the lack of rain – for a lack of rain also means a dearth of shelter beds and drop-in centres that only open in the winter months. through the urban eastside the smells of urine and garbage waft as the temperature rises – cooking the stew that is poor people living in poor neighbourhoods.

on my way to work i was reflecting on this – how our society does such a job of thoroughly wrecking some people – taking people capable of work and love and creativity and compassion – and turning them twisted and scrabbling for food and drugs and basic needs unmet. i understand that it happens, and to some degree even how it happens – but the why…… remains unanswered to me.