One of my colleagues from work sent me a lovely but unsettling text message last night. It said:
“Umm I just want to let you know that I like your blog…but I keep reading the name as life in the 8 tre(y) which is a notorious gang that is near where I live. Lol!!!”
She then included the following link:
This is not what my little old blog is about
“Oh dear thanks for letting me know” I texted back to her.
Thus began my education about the Westside Eight Trey (83) Gangster Crips. Dang! What’s a girl gotta do to get on 60 minutes?
Apparently assault, car jack, sell drugs, and probably murder. This group has more followers than the best blogger on the internet, having identified offshoot groups (according to this helpful article my friend sent me) in Denver, CO; Aurora CO: Hennepin, Minnesota; Harris County, TX; Wichita, KS; St. Louis, MO; Albuquerque, NM; and Portland, OR, in addition to “owning” 40 blocks of Los Angeles.
Wow. Now that’s some serious readership. My little blogs about dinner parties and trips to the Hollywood Bowl and other theatres around LA have a way to go before I can pull in that kind of power.
“Tookie’s gang started on 83rd Street but eventually spread north and south and formed several clicks including the Original South Side, Deep Side South Side, Bacc West Side, Far West Side and Nutty North Side. ”
(The last, Nutty North Side, is probably where I would belong.)
So I’m going to form my own click – and change my name to “L’il Monster Blogger from South Park.” You can call me LMBSP. Rolls trippingly off the tongue, doesn’t it? Probably a more concise name would be more useful. The following names are not available, having been become deceased, RIP:
8-Ball, Cocaine, D.B., Lucky, Roach.
But I’m going to keep thinking about it.
lifeinthethe8tre 