I've been spending a lot of time lately reading
Crustypunks, a blog featuring photos and first-person accounts by the many men and woman traveling through Tompkins Square Park.
Here's a portion of
Illy's story...

[
Photo by Steven Hirsch via Crustypunks]
"I got a forty smashed over my face. Last night. Basically a chick started calling me out saying, I was some sort of dumb ass saying I'm full of shit. So I said something I should not have said and I deserved a forty but
she had no reason to cut off my dreads. With scissors. I thought she was pulling my hair. I stood and took it like a homeboy. She kicked me in the face. Smashed a forty over my head. Gave me a few punches. You know I'm not gonna hit a homegirl."
The site is the work of
Steven Hirsh, a noted photographer now teaching at Pratt.
Thanks to EV Grieve reader Cary Conover for telling me about the site.