I interviewed Lolo, a former traveler who started the memorial gathering in New Orleans that is attended by people from the nomadic subculture I was part of, frequently referred to as “dirty kids.” A subculture full of train-hoppers, hitchhikers, rubber tramps, you name it. Many people in this community either aged out of foster care, were kicked out of their house for being queer as a teen, ran away from an abusive home, and survived many other adverse experiences to end up as a dirty kid. Usually something happens to make someone homeless, and then they run into dirty kids somewhere like their hometown and hit the road with them. Lolo talks about her own beginnings in this episode and the difficulties of trying to mourn the frequent losses of these makeshift family members that happen on the road. Overdoses are very common. Lolo explains how this inspired her to start the memorial gathering, which I will be driving down to New Orleans to attend and attempt to document with audio and video.

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