Tita was a perfect example of the contradictions created by industrial-strength poverty. She was an extraordinary human being but didn’t know it. She could have had a PhD in philosophy or maybe German literature. She could have carved out a place for herself on Wall Street or even in Hollywood. She was that smart, that charismatic. But she was also a hood rat, brought up worrying about last month’s rent, her next meal, and how to get over on those who only knew violence, inebriation, and death. For her, survival was rarely a plan and, more often, just the luck of the draw.
