Those who don't follow me on Twitter are probably asking themselves what the hell a #walkofpoverty is and how I ended up taking one. Let me share my tale.
This isn't the first time I've been on a #walkofpoverty, although this is the first time I've actually named it. The very first one I did was in 2007, the details of which you can read here. That was a very sweaty day.
This year's iteration pretty much started out just like the one three years ago. I was off to cover the press conference of a theater company, and since I was running late I decided to take a cab to the venue, which was the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). That would prove to be my undoing.
Because just like the 2007 edition of #walkofpoverty, I had forgotten my wallet at home. But unlike 2007, this wasn't a jeepney I was in. This was a cab, and I most certainly couldn't just jump out of it and not pay. And I couldn't just ask the cab driver to take me back to my house and then back to the venue because I was already late.
So rather than take a trip to the nearby police station, I took a chance and offered the cab driver what I thought was a reasonable arrangement: He would wait for me outside the venue, with the meter running, and take me back home, where I would pay him. To my surprise, he agreed, and I thought that everything was fine.
Thirty minutes later -- after rushing through my interviews and not even eating any food -- the cab driver was gone. I spent about an hour walking around the CCP, checking out parking spots and side alleys where the cab driver could have parked. NOTHING.
My first thought was "OMG I DON'T HAVE TO PAY!". And immediately after that, "HOW THE FUCK AM I GETTING HOME?"
I thought about getting on a jeepney and jumping off at my stop without paying, but I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to make as quick an escape as I did back in 2007. Taking another cab and paying them when I got home seemed like a good idea, but I wasn't sure if I had enough small bills in my wallet to pay the cab driver. I didn't wan't to fight over change on top of everything else.
That's how I ended up walking all the way from the CCP to Intramuros. Here are six tweets recording the event for posterity.
* * * * *
This is Joshua Bumpus
One thing I've learned in my years of being a gay man is that you do not mess with the trans folk or with drag queens. They may look fabulous, but they are more than capable of cutting a bitch.
Some idiot found that out the hard way when he tried to rob a transvestite prostitute.
I quote:
"He got the gun away from (Bowman), he grabbed (Bowman) by the hair and beat him down. He beat the (daylights) out of him," [Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Ryan] Nelson said.
That's about when several of Bumpus' friends, also dressed as women, flagged down Cincinnati Police Officer Dave Kennedy. Other Bumpus friends helped Bumpus beat Bowman."
I would not want a crowd of angry trans folk ganging up on me. Just saying.
