Youth Living On The Fringe

This could be it, he ponders. This could be the day.

"Excuse me, but do you have any extra change you can spare?"

"No, sorry, but I am pretty broke, too."

The boy squinted, eyeing our backpacks and said, "Are you traveling?"

He was dressed in the typical uniform of a rebellious 18-year-old boy. He wore layers of unwashed T-shirts and sweatshirts under a green army jacket, matched with a pair of filthy jeans, a Nike hat and a red bandana around his neck. His dirty blond hair, unsuccessfully hidden under his hat, gave away that he had not showered for what looked like a couple of months.

He was sitting by a lanky girl who refused to make eye contact with anyone. It was obvious he was highly entertained by the questions and observations he made. It was his self-proclaimed profession, he knew what he was doing.

Zack and Asha are best friends. They travel by hopping cargo trains or other means of transportation in order to travel. Zack is from Southern Humboldt and Asha is from Oregon. They have been in San Francisco for about a week and planned on leaving soon.

"We met this guy who is going to help us get to Eugene," Zack said. "He just asked for a few favors in return. We're just waiting."

Zack did not go into detail about the favors, but it involved Asha having to do "something."

Asha was tall and skinny, like Zack. Her brown eyes rarely looked at anything above the ground. On rare occasions she spoke, she talked through her teeth in a very paranoid manner. She had a habit of shaking compulsively when she got nervous, which Zack made a cruel habit of mocking.

She was clearly in her own world when she was not talking to Zack. They are a team. Zack and Asha both got a high from the life they led.

"There is nothing better than the rush of trying to catch that train without being caught," Asha said.

Five hours north of San Francisco, two guys in their early 20s are hanging out on a street corner by the Arcata grocery store Co-op, along with c6untless other locals and young travelers passing through the area.

Shunka, 24, and Eddie, 21, often eat their meals at the Arcata Food Endeavor, a local nonprofit charity that collects food from area businesses.

They sleep where they are invited, which sometimes means relying on the hospitality of Mother Nature. Unlike Zack and Asha, their rebellion goes deeper than the nostalgia freedom brings. Their choices are based on political and moral beliefs.

"I don't believe in supporting the landlord system and giving up my tax money to support our government," Shunka said, while adjusting the strap connected to an overstuffed duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

Shunka and Eddie strongly believe in the preservation of the environment.  While living in Missouri and Illinois, he kept in contact with his friend Julia Butterfly, the local environmental activist who has received media attention since she decided two years ago to live in a tree, in hopes of stopping clear cutting of the redwoods. It was Butterfly's strong stance and vision for the future that Shunka says spurred his move to Humboldt County.

"It is her statement of faith. This is a crazy time. We need people like Julia," his blue eyes sparkled with admiration.

Part of their cynicism toward authority figures has a lot to do with their own past experiences.

Last November Shunka's fellow environmentalist, David "Gypsy" Chain, was killed by a falling tree while protesting the clear cutting of redwood trees. There was an argument between the loggers and Gypsy before his dark fate.

Since then there has been much controversy between Gypsy's sup porters, local authorities and loggers. The loggers and police claim it was an accident, while others, like Shunka and Eddie, have rebutted their claim, saying it is just a cover-up for what really happened.

"Our brother Gypsy was killed. It was insane seeing his body like that. We had the whole thing on (cassette) tape. It was just so wrong," Shunka said.

Shunka and Eddie were well-spoken and liked to converse and debate their views on government and society. They were cynics of the system, but their choice of lifestyle was not their way of ignoring reality. It was a statement of their faith and a boycott against society's values. 

"We have to push (for our beliefs) from the gr6und up," he added. "We all move in our own individual ways."

Zack, on the other hand, like look beyond the whirl of confusion surrounding him. He chose to round himself in an environment completely ignores because it is the lifestyle he likes, it is the ideology of it he enjoys.

He has San Francisco at his feet, his sidekick, Asha, no responsibility and countless criticisms to announce.

"I hate crackheads. They are useless," he pulled his bandana over his mouth, stood up and spread arms and hands out like tree branches and started to dance around a man passed out on the ground. "Satan is coming to get you! Satan is coming get you!"

He stopped dancing and watched them in disgust. "Damn hippies in bushes. Get out of the bushes!"

Zack was not just mocking those around him, he was mocking world. He liked to make people mad. He was loud and obnoxious, yet likeable. He talked a lot, but he never really talked about himself.

"What made you decide to come to San Francisco?"

"Seemed like a good idea."

"How did you end up on I streets?"

"I just ran away from home when I was 16."

"Why?"

"You have to go out of California to see the country," Zack said, quid changing the subject. "If you want I can take you guys to the wall. That?s where all the crackheads sleep and hang out." He stopped, catching glance at each other. "Don't worry, no one cares. Everyone is too wasted around here. As long as you dont have anything, they'll leave you alone."

"Thanks, but we got a room I the night," I said.

His big brown eyes opened wide expressing complete astonishment. He stopped cold in his tracks. "Why pay for a room when you can sleep anywhere in this city for free?"

He was right. He could sleep anywhere in the city for free. Aside from the rude stares and comments made by those who pass by, the city had its moments of tranquility.

Those who would harass them would not likely step foot in the area in which they resided.

The typical homeless person in America is a minor. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, of the 36.4 million Americans who currently live in poverty, 40 percent are children. Nearly half of the homeless minors either have witnessed or have been subjected to violence in their home. They usually flock to the streets because of economic troubles or problems at home.

The National Coalition for the Homeless reported in February 1999 that the number of homeless families with children has increased significantly over the past decade and are among the fastest growing segments of the homeless population. According to Street Kids International, a nonprofit organization that helps homeless children, homeless youth can be male or female and can come from rich or poor backgrounds. Minors who have been living on the streets with their parents often do not find an escape, as Asha has.

Asha became a statistic when her mother was forced to raise her on the streets when she was 15 years old.

Zack and Asha were very quiet and weary of the subject, constantly stealing glances at one another. Perhaps, like siblings, they share family secrets that brought a bond between them stronger than friendship.

The coalition also stated it's very difficult for homeless youth to attend school because they lack school records and do not meet the guardianship requirements. According to the coalition, those who do find a way to attend face the obstacle of finding transportation to get there. The coalition added that if they do not receive an education then they will never acquire the skills needed to escape poverty as adults.

Humboldt County is not a foreigner to the homeless youth. According to the 1999 quarterly report published by Launch Pad, a youth outreach program located in Eureka, 405 youths have been classified as homeless in Humboldt County. Thirty of them were reported as runaways. Almost 1,400 youths in Humboldt County were reported homeless in 1998. However, even all the local statistics put together cannot account for those, like Shunka and Eddie, who do not report to shelters and programs like Launch Pad.

There is a unity, a bond, between Shunka and Eddie's friends that Zack and Asha failed to conceive. Zack's arrogant and selfish ways prevented him from ever making the same unity Shunka and Eddie felt between people. Zack and Asha had a brother and sister type of affection - distant and squabbling at times, but also very protective of one another.

Shunka often referred to his friends as "brothers" and "sisters, "but it did not have the same meaning and affection as Zack and Asha. Shunka meant it in a "we are one" way.

"How long do you plan to live this lifestyle?" I asked Shunka.

"It's indefinite. Probably forever."

"We are blessed," Eddie explained. "God sees our path and is blessing us by giving us food and places to sleep. We have a friend that now has land that was given to him. He says we can go up there to live. It's totally a blessing."

It is 10 p.m. in San Francisco. The city is waiting for the trials and tribulations of a new day.

"Where are you guys going to go for the night?" I asked Zack.

"Hmmm. .1 don't know. I never really know. It is still pretty early. Wherever we end up, it doesn't matter. Huh, Asha?" He gave her a soft nudge. She cracked a slight smile and looked at the ground.

He shrugged and swaggered off down the street with Asha by his side. Half way down he started singing a song about the ethics of sleeping with a "whore" without any regard to the stares and snickers from those he passed.

The sun rises and temporarily rescues him from yesterday. It was a good day. Zack is gone.