It’s disgusting to me that the man who runs this blog fails to explore they whys of who these people are and what they are doing. Nothing in this context can be taken at face value. I work in the TL with people who might considered of this population, particularly the ones who are using (which it seems many that frequent the allies do). It might behoove this man to consider a few things :

- People who are homeless or marginally housed very rarely have the thing that we lucky people often take for granted - privacy. An alley, for many, provides a place for acts that provide them pleasure, for they lack alternative places to create this privacy. It’s the best they can do. We have the luxury of indulging in pleasure in our homes in ways that we see fit for ourselves. Pleasure that becomes a right in our minds - having a drink with friends, being intimate with loved ones, masturbating, watching a movie at full volume, blasting our favorite band, you get the idea. And even unpleasntries such as fighting, crying and raging. All in our at our own discretion and in the confines of four walls that prevent others from seeing into our lives. For many people that he is photographing, their acts are private however do not/can not receive the veil of privacy. A hit off a crack pipe for them is a glass of wine for us. They don’t have the luxury of being enclosed from peering eyes. Have you ever been in a city shelter or an SRO? They are the most basic of places that provide only a place to lay your head with no availability for other activities that us ‘normal people’ could never imagine being without.

- People deserve privacy. Can you rightly say that someone who is unfortunate enough to be relegated to allies in search of it be put on the stand in even more public view?

- What are you accomplishing by airing out these acts without examining they why’s? Have you ever thought to better understand the phenomenon of allies, used as private public places, in under-served areas?

- Who are you serving by publishing these photos? Certainly not the people being photographed. For this will not create positive change, if that is what you seek.

I say a big fuck you to this guy. In my eyes you are being more irresponsible than the folks you choose to shame because you fail to examine anything other than your own self righteous reaction.