Loose Squares, Loose LOVE

Seems as if loose squares are plaguing our streets more than crack cocaine and heroin. Everywhere, the Blue Line subway, the 63rd  and State bus stop, outside of our schools..."loose squares, loose squares"...that's what my ears take in and my heart has to process when I'm traveling in our hoods. The bogus hustling, the lung cancer that is killing us, the underage cigareete smoking, the sensation of smoking.

So a pack of squares in most of our hoods are about $7.50. Damn! I don't know about you all, but I can do a lot of productive things with that little bit of money. I'm sure a lot of us can, but a lot of us would much rather purchase New Port longs, and live short.

But coming from the hands of a hustler, if you want a box, maybe six bucks and some change. Hell, no wonder some folks settling for the nickle bag of fun these days.

But a loose square, 50 cents, two for a dollar. And if the hustler knows you and you're a regular, perhaps a better deal than that.

Now Vee never knocks a hustle, I honor any hustler's spirit. However, I do have an issue with a street hustle that's digging our communities in deeper holes of destruction. Like weed, most cigarette smokers do not characterize cigarettes as a drug. I say, if it's causing you to spend your last and it takes chewing some gum to kick the habit, it's pretty damn addictive. And smoking is a big deal. Hell, even President Obama made a televised announcement that he's kicked the habit.

I remember when I first saw a lady hustler selling loose squares outside a Citgo Station out West. Pretty girl, and I hated that loose squares had to be her hustle. I couldn't help but wonder if she was, herself, a cigarette smoker and if her kids were eating off those dollars she pocketed. And if those kids were maybe victims of second hand smoke, or perhaps smokers themselves.

Too many cigaratte smokers got their heads stuck in their own smoke clouds and choking on the truth: the shit is killing us all. Whether you're a smoker or not, cigarettes may effect your health. And that's bogus.

I notice how these wack ass advertisements are targeting the mind of our youth, when they know damn well their vulnerable to do it only because "everybody else is doing it." I see more cigarette butts in vacant lots of the hood than I do blades of grass. And some people who aren't willing to buy squares from the local gas stations or off the streets, oh those folks "catch a bargain" and buy them in bulk at Sam's Club or a tobacco shop. I say, at least they're saving a few bucks, because their damn sure not saving no lives.

The loose squares in our hood displays a sense of loose love.  Because if our love was tight, if we were really "good in the hood", wouldn't be all this drug distribution. Our hustles would be more positive and they wouldn't promote and advocate the same issues we're trying to dig ourselves from underneath.

Love,
Vee