June of 1998, I was 18 years old sitting in a park in Everett Massachusetts around 9pm waiting for my girlfriend to sneak out of her house. I had just bought a pair of Adidas Ozwego's, white/yellow/navy, and was examining them in the moonlight. I believe 1998 was when reflectors on running shoes were the dope hottness. I was amazed at the total perfection this shoe had, I was proud of my choice, and I firmly remember thinking; "where will these shoes take me?".

September 17th 1998, they took me to a party in Mission Hill Roxbury. Roxbury was in the news in the late 80's for kids getting killed for their Jordans, which was the norm in urban ghetto's around the country. This party was for my cousin graduating Northeastern University, one of the greatest parties ever. I had been drinking alcohol the entire week preceding this and this night was full of pills and drinking. Around 4am I woke up in a car with some 36 year old dude. He was driving with one hand on the wheel…and his other hand down my pants. I quickly removed his hand and let him know I wasn't gay. I tried to get him to take me home, he said he would bring me in the morning…. I was still very intoxicated, and since this fucker just molested me, I was not thinking rationally. He was very persistant about trying to get me in his bed, thats when I ran out of the house. I was about an hour away from boston but thought I could hitchhike. He followed me into the woods and that's when I decided to end it.

I stabbed him 13 times in the face, cut his throat, took his money and his car, and left him to die. Fortunatly for me he lived.

Well those Adidas Ozwegos took me places that night, they ended up in a bag with all the evidence at the bottom of a river.

September 23rd, 1998 My first day in county jail.

I could write novels on the psycological impact jail has on any human who is forced to experience it. But this is about sneakers. Im now wearing some beat up adidas falcons, and everytime the spanish kid in the cell next to me wants to go play handball he asks to use my sneakers. Sure, if it keeps me alive another week! But everytime he gives them back they were a little more and more torn up. Lesson 1, don't let anyone "borrow" your kicks. Those didn't last long. Overall sneakers are hard to get in prison, usually Converse would have a contract with the state forcing inmates to buy the one stlye and one brand.

So how come the kid in cell 301 has two pairs of Jordans?

You get to keep the kicks you come in with, which would sometimes tell a storey in itself.

This one kid Ryan had a brand new pair of the Nike Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway joints, remember they had the 1cent logo on them? Well he was in jail cuz he tried to burn down a strip club that kicked him out. Himself and his "pennies" was soaked in gasoline when the cops grabbed him. So those "pennies" stank of gas, and smoke.

The other way you get kicks is when someone leaves, they would hit you off with some sneeks, cause they were going home. This was the ultimate sign of honor and friendship.

Please understand you have no car, house, or girlfriend to help you standout, or describe what kind of person you are. That's what prison does is take away your individuality. But because it would cost to much for the state to buy sneakers for every inmate, they let you keep them.

The next "keep it on the down low", way to get kicks through the walls is have a guard bring them in. Why would a guard risk his $50,000+ a year job for some dirty inmates? Because imates are willing to pay astronmical prices for regular kicks you can still get in the stores. Regular pair of Air Max go from $104.00 to $124.00, behind the wall those are worth $500 and up in ANY condition. Gaurds don't notice the sneakers as much as they would a shank, crackpipe, or tattoo gun. Also your not going to end up in the hole because you somehow obtained new joints, so it was worth the risk. And it commands respect from the other inmates. We would read about new sneakers, in "The Source" hip hop magazine, or Maxim…but when you enter the chow hall and you see someone with the new nike shox, you'd be like "Damn he's makin' moves!"....or snitchin'…which was another way to get kicks. But not respectable.

Now this brings us to the last way to obtain fresh joints…by force. The most comon "gank move" would be waiting for your victime to go to the shower, the sneakers are already off and for some reason people don't put up as much of a fight when they are naked. One of my graffiti buddies from Medford, Eric, he used to write termzer. He came to concord state prison with brand new Adidas responses' he was 18 like me, and was about 5 feet tall, I was scared for his sneeks. Size was on his side for once his foot was like size 6 and whoose gonna waste their time beating someone down for shoes that don't fit!

Most people I hung with had their daily beaters and their "visit" kicks. You know when mom or wifey comes once a week to see you, update you on family affairs, or whats poppin in the hood…you need to be in the freshest pair you own. These were usually kept in a plastic bag in a locked footlocker.

So now I'm being sentenced, I'm going to go to state prison for 4-6 years with 3 years probation after I get out. Great. I had lost my last pair of A-dogs in a card game, I've been wearing flip flops for the past 3 months. You come to admire Nikes air bubble after 3 months of wearing flip flops and having your feet become deformed. Some new loser was on the tier under me, he had a pair of D.C. shoes. These were the first D.C.'s I had seen and had to have them. He told me He'd sell them for $20 in food, they were beat and he was hungry.

State prison has individuals doing "Life" i.e. never getting out. We all know sneakers from the ‘80s are rare, whats even more rare is someone that still wears those original cortez, or the Bo Jackson cross trainers. And they don't wear them for any reason except those being ther're only pair! You could almost tell what year certain people were arrested by the sneakers they had. Of course after 15 years kicks come and go, but a lot of solid inmates would keep the shoes that touched the ground when they were free. How does a pair of Space jam Jordans make over 10 years and are worn at least seasonally?! I knew dudes that on a sunny Saturday morning, they would fill their trashcan with soapy water find a spot by a window and scrub their sneakers with a toothbrush, as if they were washing their car. Insoles, laces, everything is meticously cleaned and left to dry by a fan.

If your kicks have past their expiration date, the prison store (canteen) sells whatever company has a contract with them at the time. When I was there you could purchase these New Balance runners. These cost me $45.00, which is is alot when you only make $1.00 a day mopping floors! The back of these says USA, they came out in 2001 so it might have been a 9/11 special, but we liked to think it was a special prison edition!

Although most of you will never see the inside of the prison walls, if they had tours, or a window you could look in like an aquarium, you might catch a glimpse of a huge sneaker time capsule. It's a untouched subculture, full of "freakers" who have a lot more to worry about than sneakers, but are extremely focused on they're feet.

I was released on parole August 15, 2002… That day was a unique experience. The next day I went to World Foot Locker in Cambridge, and this new retro-throwback style is all they sell, Airforce 1's, dunks, Reebok Classic. I asked the kid that worked there what was everyone buying, he pointed out white AF1's with a yellow swoosh. I was like "what the fuck??!!" I just came from state prison where that's all anybody could wear cause that's what everyone was wearing in the 80's and 90's. Now that's what people want to wear? I was hoping on some new sneaker technology, or patterens that will make people remember the early 2000's as great sneaker years. Not re-make great sneakers and bring them back like they were just invented.

So before you head out to the Bar, Pub, Club, anywhere you could get really fucked up. Tie your shoes tight…you might be wearing them for awhile.