Walking quickly toward the Bronx Criminal Court, Diva pulls out a Newport menthol, shields the cigarette from the wind, and flicks her lighter twice, ’til it catches.
“Take a trip or something, that’s what I want to do,” she says. “Because by the time summertime comes I’ll be finished with all the legal issues. Well, this is the last thing I have to do. Then I’ll be able to live my life normal.” Diva is 43 and has a swaggering strut. She sips deli coffee—one cream, seven sugars—as she crosses the street.
Diva knows the trip from the city shelter where she lives, in downtown Manhattan, to this court well: two trains and a bus, about an hour of travel. In January of 2014, she was charged with menacing and harassment, the result of a heated dispute with the woman she was subletting from. Both called the cops, but Diva was the one who ended up in cuffs. Since then, she’s made the trip to the criminal court 10 times for hearings. Her case was closed this February. She wasn’t charged with a crime, but was mandated to attend three anger-management classes.
Today she is heading to one of those classes, which are held at the court. She points up the street. “Alyssa’s office is right up the block. I love my legal team—Lord knows I do,” she says. “She just told me to keep her updated on what’s going on with me, and how I’m doing. I said, ‘Girl, I’m doing all right! I’m doing fine.’”
[For more of this story, written by Maura Ewing, go to http://www.psmag.com/politics-...ished-for-being-poor]
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