Whats it like living in a real bad ghetto?

It's terrible

I would imagine you would have to be on guard 24/7 365 and your fight or flight would be going nuts. Seems exhausting.

We lived in Gardere in the early 2000s for a year while I was in grad school at LSU (it was cheap and on the bus line).

Probably not as bad as the worst hoods in the country but there was plenty of illegal crap going on.

We just minded our own business, kept doors locked (appt and car) and didn’t go around flashing crap that other people might want (not that we had much of that at the time anyway). Other than loud obnoxious music, we didn’t have any problems with anyone.

Definitely was a little extra motivation to finish and start my career though.

I spent a few years in my younger days working with kids in the poorest areas of BR. In a nutshell, most every adult around them is non-functioning in some way. Nobody is married or educated and drug use is rampant. A parent having a "job" as a drug dealer or prostitute is normal, because everyone's just trying to get some money. Since everybody's a single mom with often multiple baby daddies, the teenagers think this is normal.

Everyone is on welfare, and the kids knew to the day when they would have money again. Most of their dads, when they knew them, were in jail. Then, because boys want to be like their dads, I guess, they lived "that life" and found themselves in jail, too. This was almost always a flex.

Some moms worked incredibly hard (2-3) jobs to try to get out of the neighborhood. The problem is, when you're working that much, your kids are alone much of the time. Not a problem so much in a good area, but the streets get them. The cycle continues, rinse, repeat.

Went to Tech not LSU

Broke down cars in the yard are a decor staple of the community

New Orleans crime map- they don't even bother putting NO East on it

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5.) When you walk down the street, how you carry yourself, and, most importantly, how you look at people in the eye determines whether you get jumped by a mob of young little yutes or they all move out of your way.

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So walk confidently but avoid eye contact is the strategy?

I mean my actual approach is don’t go to those places because there’s nothing there for me and I have far more to lose than they do, but there have been times you get somewhere in Chicago or NYC late and the vibe changes.

I’m an imposing guy, but it seems like there’s a fine line between not being passive and eye contact being perceived as a challenge.