1/24/2006: Shoe tree

[wolf]

The gang thing is an urban legend. Shoes do not mark gang territory. Bullet riddled bodies surrounded by shell casings (more casings than bullet holes in the body, homey can't shoot for shit) mark gang territory. The shoes over the powerline thing has two possible origins ... one is the end of school year joy of throwing your own sneakers over the power lines ... esp. parochial schools won't let students wear sneakers to classes other than gym. The sneakers are carried over the shoulder by tying the laces together. (In some places it might mark the end of the summer as the old pairs are tossed up when the new pair is purchased during the back to school sale.)

If it's not done by oneself in a celebratory gesture, it's the result of bullies stealing your sneakers and tossing them up into the powerlines.

No gangs, in the West Side Story sense of the word involved at all.