




she was hangin around outside the Drake last time I was there I think
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HAHAH wow, so she's a serial junkie hangouter??
There's a woman like that who lives on the sidewalk in front of the market next door. I walk past her a couple times a day and for some reason she really doesn't like me. I've never said anything to her, but she yells at me and demands that I leave her alone and stop bothering her. Once she called me a whore and said I was dead to her, LOL! She also likes to stand on the sidewalk and deliver these loud rants at the top of her lungs to no one in particular. Kinda sad.
poor thing. I can't imagine what it feels like to be her....so sad![]()
It's probably stupid but I can't help it, sometimes I try to picture her as a little girl. Running around giggling, dancing around pretending to be a ballerina or a princess, etc. How does one get from one point to the other?
I used to work on Vancouver's Lower East Side with people like this for 2 years.
You would be shocked at how many of these people were literally thrown out on the streets from mental institutions due to lack of funding, their families stopped paying for treatment, or the staff just didn't want to deal with them anymore.
There are also some homeless/drug addicts that have the budding of dementia or alzimers and their drug use only aggrivates the situation.
When I worked in a geriatric ward there was a woman there who was convinced I was a Nazi and hated me for being so...she tried to run me down with her wheel chair and hollered obscenities at me, telling me how she wanted me to die and so on....
It is not just menal issues either...There are those who are on the streets suffering autism, downs syndrom, and other birth defects who cannot cope and are easily sucked into the drug culture.
Then there are those who are completely normal but drug use has killed the person they once were.
I saw far too much and had to witness the aftermath of OD's of people I knew down on Hastings. It got to be overwhelming and I had to stop the outreach I was doing. However I am willing to do so again when my kids are older.
Be very careful if you make a woman cry, because God counts her tears. The woman came out of a man's rib. Not from his feet to be walked on. Not from his head to be superior, but from the side to be equal. Under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved."
Hebrew Talmud





^ and i am appalled at how many people SHOOT UP in plain view...
Wow. This just reminded me why I'll never do any hard drugs...





Wow, I haven't ever seen crackheads just hanging around... but I don't live in a big city. I guess we all keep our drug problems on the down low here.
Why? "Life's A B*tch." If my mom wasn't surrounded by caring people she'd be just like the woman in Corgan's video or the lady who lives on the sidewalk next door to Yekhefah. It starts slowly and creeps up on some, it's caused by drug psychosis in others.
I didn't realize Canada had the same shortcoming in its mental health treatment system as the U.S. does.![]()
Haha, nice. Try living next to a CRACKHOUSE. Because I do. My neighborhood is literally nothing but crackheads and college students. An interesting mix, to say the least. Oh well. The rent's cheap and the people watching is always entertaining.
http://cracktivist.blogspot.com





I'm glad I never turned out that way...



Well, I've lived in Vancouver for my entire life. This is just something we have all learned to live with, in a weird way. Since I was a child, I have seen several of the same crackheads/homeless/mentally insane/streetkids/etc and have even grown very close to a few. Vancouver is notorious for having one of the highest populations of homeless, espeicially in the downtown eastside (which is where I think you took your video, if I could place it correctly).
This is mainly because we have the warmest weather (year round) in Canada so we get alot of Canada's homeless, good social programs/systems to feed them (well, they have been better), legal safe injection sites, and we are a port city. Port cities are more likely to have an aboundness of drug addicts, just because we get the most drugs. In the last few years (mind you, I went to high school and now work downtown, so this is not someone from the suburbs who visits speaking), I have noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of homeless. One of the most important factors in this the fact that housing costs have literally doubled in the five years, forcing many people to leave their homes. As well, because Vancouver housing is in such high demand, gentrifying previously bad areas has become a huge priority, and thus turning low income hotels into luxury lofts. Suffice to say, one must consider that Riverview mental hospital was also shut down several years ago, forcing many mentally ill people to self medicate on the streets.
Yet all things considered, I love many of downtowns homeless, especially those in Kits and South Granville. To really understand homeless people, we have to understand their homelessness. There are many different kinds and many different situations from which they come. Some are addicts, some are street kids, some are binners (they get bottles), some are just insane. I would really suggest reading George Orwells, "Down and Out in Paris and London", just the Paris part, to get a better perspective on the different "types". Some (well, many) choose to be homeless; I had a very close binner friend who I would meet for coffee, all he did was drink (but not a hardcore alchoholic), bin, hang out with his friends (they actually met for potlucks, etc. very much a support group on its own). He used to have a very rich life as a financial advisor (I know, his advice has always been super amazing and intelligent) but chooses to live in the forest stress-free as he calls it.
Many have also really helped me in weird/bad situations, and have saved the day really! I have never been one to give lots of money to them, but I have always been a fan of a coffee or a muffin. Many want your money for crack, but there are also many that want to be your freind and just have a chat. They are the eyes and ears of the city, and could just very well save you in a iffy situation (especially the regs that hang outside of the clubs, always make sure to be friends with those ones!). Watch the movie "M" from the thirties, also really good with the eyes and ears idea.
Anyway, sorry this was sooooo long. Just wanted to give my Vancouverite perspective.
Main & Hastings is a one stop drug shopping mart, you can get almost any kind of drug there.





lol yes, i was told to NOT go on main st by myself after dark.





... don't tell me that... i am living in gastown currently, like, a block or 2 away from main!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!
Gastown is nice, you'll be safe there





oh whew. i guess it scared me because i live real close to the brickyard, and i see alot of crazy shit DURING THE DAY!! i couldn't imagine at night.
Darling I could not agree with you more!!!
You actually gave a very good description of life on the LES.
Main and Hastings has more than enough memories for me...LOL
Geeze I can see all these places in my mind now as though I just stepped of the street 2 seconds ago!
Be very careful if you make a woman cry, because God counts her tears. The woman came out of a man's rib. Not from his feet to be walked on. Not from his head to be superior, but from the side to be equal. Under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved."
Hebrew Talmud





heh, the vid reminded me of some crackheads ive seen here.
Love it!
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