[BrianAlt]

I grew up in NYC...ok, sure, it was Staten Island...but still. I went into The City as often as I could.

At 14-15-16 I would travel in with my friends and do whatever, usually finding a place in the Village that would let us in to drink. This was the early 80s, I was 14 in 1980. When we were in midtown, near the Port Authority, you would pass someone who would say under their breath, "smoke, coke, acid, smoke coke acid." One time we passed someone that said, "smoke, coke, acid, switchblades, fake IDs," and other shit. Midtown was a lot different then than it is now.

I was only mugged once. That was in Syracuse. Never in NYC.

Not totally related...

I saw a guy singing on the train yesterday. He was a black dude. He was asking for money. He was complaining to the black women sitting near me that they weren't giving him any money and even worse, not even paying attention to him. He said if he was in church and singing all the women would be coming up to him and saying how beautiful his voice was...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He was a pretty young guy. Maybe 30 or younger.

I had my earphones on, so I could only half hear him. But at the end of his rant he turns to me and he says, "remember, you could be black too!" I just shrugged and he got off the train.