We walked back toward the Hi Ali swap meet together. When I asked where she slept at night, she replied that it was easy to stay in her van, which was parked just across from her vending tables. Nobody bothered her there. She told me I was crazy to live in New York and that she was grateful she wasn’t stuck in a “concrete jungle” somewhere. “If the birds can live in the park—or they can live in the city—then why can’t I?” she said. “We don’t have to live wherever people are supposed to live—that’s what it’s all about!”
