I decided to make my third installment of this series a profile of an individual living on the streets of St. Petersburg. I wanted to present the situation as objectively as possible while retaining the humanity of the piece, spotlighting the conflict of a person up against the concrete and iron of the system she lives in—the streets of a city and the body within them. That’s what I wanted to narrate.
I asked around and found myself sitting on the south sidewalk of 1st Avenue North between 4th and 5th Streets talking to a couple known around town as Mad Dog and his wife—known to the City as Bobby and Linda. They’ve been homeless in St. Petersburg together for almost seven years. We talked for over an hour. Linda told me her story.
This article appears in Dec 30, 2009 – Jan 5, 2010.