Gangbangers and other taggers leave their marks in Fresno. 2007.
Photo by Sarah Jane Alexander
As a reward for not getting laid off (although everyone who survived got a pay cut, woo hoo!), I decided to come off the money I had been too scared to spend as the layoffs drew near.
First stop: the liquor store. I stood in line behind three hicks who were buying two cases of beer and 12 bottles of whisky.
Another tagged-up corner of Fresno. 2007.
Photo by Sarah Jane Alexander
The lady was lumpy with bleached blonde hair. The guys’ unkempt brown hair looked as if it had been growing for quite a while, but not as long as their beer guts. “Is your cigars fresh?” one of the guys asked the cashier.
When I lived in Oregon, I had the Hollywood impression of Californians: Everyone is toned and tanned. Then I moved to the breadbasket of the United States, Fresno County. I didn’t even know California had agrarian regions; I thought all it produced silicon and silicone. Actually, Fresno County is the United States’ No. 1 agricultural county, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department, producing goods including grapes, almonds and milk.
Fresno, the region’s big city, is surrounded by small towns whose populations include not only farmers and farmworkers but gangbangers. Fresno has a wide variety of gangbangers too, as well as everyday people from diverse races and cultures.
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