Life on the Sidewalk

Sidewalk Personalities Play a Role in Public Spaces
  • Not just BOOK vendors (Hakim and Jerome)
    • representatives of their community
    • trusted gate-keepers
    • people with information (directions, advice, suggestions, warnings)
    • mentors/counselors
      • Hakim in the role of "old head" (African American tradition of mentor
        • informal relationship between old men and younger children and adults
        • teach, support, encourage and socialize young men to be responsible Black adults
        • can also be young women
        • replace or enhance relationship of father
      • voluntary relationship
      • old head represents positive values for young men
      • not just very successful people, but people they can relate to as role models
  • "Black Spaces": How are they defined?
    • content of conversation
    • types of books
    • patrons
    • location
    • class
  • Old Heads and the exercise of "influence"
    • advice need not be followed for the relationship to maintain itself
    • crux of relationship is the importance of continued conversation
      • young men are willing to listen to older men and older men are also wanting to listen to younger men
      • tolerance expressed by Hakim when advice is not taken
    • Influence comes from knowledge and experience-perceived wisdom
    • influence comes from legitimizing his claims with facts (read the NYTs  because...)
    • Influence comes form his "consciousness"- his value of advancement of the African American people
      • some have lost prestige because they understand the manufacturing, not the street economy (Hakim understands the street and its (lack of) opportunities).
  • New Old Head (often younger from street/drug culture)-underground economy
    • replace old heads as legitimate
    • occur as churches and community centers disappear
    • Hakim is an old head located squarely in the new urban society
Highlights the importance of the informal social relationships found on the sidewalk. The success of a city requires that people take a modicum of responsibility for each other even though they have no ties. 
  • Magazine Vendors: (Marvin and Ron)
    • "Fuck it" versus "Opportunity" : selling magazines on the street and being "unhoused" describes a varied and surprising set of experiences
    • Unhoused -is how these men describe being homeless
      • "choice" made but out of necessity
        • inevitability?
        • "Fuck it!" attitude which makes one abandon to a tleast some degree social norms (giving up on society)
        • lack of opportunity as opposed to why Marvin adopted a life outside of the formal economy on Wall Street to sell books
        • negative impact of drug use (self-medicating for DEPRESSION)
          • unlike middle classes, have no access to mental health benefits/treatment
    • "Fuck it" leads to:
      • participation in informal economy
        • magazines
        • panhandling
        • selling drugs
      • becoming unhoused
        • separating oneself from family and friends
        • having to "hustle" instead of having a formal job with a paycheck
          • involves earning money through savvy art of bartering for prices 
          • creating, building, and maintaining good relationships with "customer" base
          • making your quota (amount of money you need for that day-when you go home)
          • creativity
          • being in control at all times
        • no longer looking for job in the formal economy-POLITICAL justification (indifferent society, racism and discrimination)
        • having SOME interaction with the criminal justice system
        • Four major results one feels BODILY:
          • affects all major aspects of physical existence (requires a fundemental re-socialization of the BODY)
          • become indifferent to that was once basic and natural (bathing/sleeping in a bed)
          • extreme embarrassment or shame for having hurt someone (drug and alcohol use, incarceration, unemployment, violence) and distance from family and friends (NOT A TOTAL FUCK IT!)
          • FREEDOM that comes from having given up all responsibility to others 
      • EXTREME FUCK IT (rarely found in the sidewalk economy)
        • Potential for various sorts of vandalism (Stanley Cohen)
          • Acquisition Vandalism
            • damage done to acquire money or property
          • Tactical Vandalism
            • conscious tactic used to advance some end other than acquiring money or property
          • Vindictive Vandalism
            • property destruction in the form of revenge
          • Malicious Vandalism
            • action enjoyed for its own sake
    • Rehabilitative Forces of the Sidewalk
      • sidewalk may encourage or discourage retreatist behavior-did not find wholesale retreatist behavior, but a balance
      • attitudes
        • its never too late to turn your life around
        • found opportunities to take control of a small part of their lives
        • to support themselves
        • devise new goals: can affect aspects of life outside of sidewalk economy
        • develop deep and caring relationships
        • develop self respect
      • Bargaining as a means of self respect (GOOD HUSTLING)
        • morality of prices (no one undersells the other)
        • rules for respect between customer and vendor (minimum expected price and rules for special pricing)
        • staying in charge
        • take control of exchanges in an otherwise uncertain position for making money
      • Self-Respect
        • ability to use ones ingenuity and resiliency to maintain self-respect while engaging in economic make-shift
        • getting over: getting the better end of the deal
        • self direction of work and being your own boss (independent)
        • friendly and supportive relationships between vendors and vendors and their customers
        • diverse interactions where many segments of society interact
          • otherwise separated by social and economic inequaity
        • redistibuting written matter to people that dont have access otherwise
        • motivate each other to live better lives through mentoring or sponsorship
        • no strict code of conduct but instead ENCOURAGEMENT to do better (Marvin does this with Ron as the OLD HEAD).

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