On Friday, June 6 of all nights, I wanted to go home and try to get in some early sleep. I knew it was going to be a busy day the next day, not only for me, but for a lot of people: the people from the Downtown Eastside. 

With a wide, warm smile and a contagious positive energy, Stephen Scott is a joy to be around, which makes him a natural for the cover of this issue. But the gregarious Megaphone and Hope in Shadows vendor has had more than a few setbacks in his life.

"I started selling Vancouver’s street paper 20 years ago, when it was Spare Change. I have problems with my feet that make jobs with too much walking impossible—that made even bottle-binning tough. I’d always had a hard time getting jobs, and the pain limited my options. I hit the streets every...

Judy Graves photo by Christine McAvoy. The City of Vancouver’s sole advocate for the homeless, Judy Graves, retired May 29, 2013. To commemorate her decades spent working to connect homeless people with housing, Judy’s colleagues at the city compiled a book featuring writing, artwork, and remembrances by the wide circle...

"Selling Megaphone has helped me build my confidence and made me feel proud of myself. I like selling the magazine because I can get out of the apartment and do something I really love. And I like talking and interacting with my clients and people on the street. 

Since the year 2000, Vince has been daily fixture at the Granville Island Public Market, selling street newspapers in the laneway outside the JJ Bean coffee shop. He’s a familiar face in the market community, and he seems to have struck up friendly acquaintances with just about everyone who regularly...

"I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Downtown Eastsider. I was born here, went to school at Strathcona and my daughter went there, too. I spent a lot of time in the penal system, in New Westminster and in the Valley, but aside from that, the Downtown Eastside has always been my home. My...

"I sold papers in Calgary before and I did well there, so I thought I’d give it a shot here in Vancouver. I also sold papers in Toronto years ago.

"I was raised in Boston Bar. I went to college in Kamloops, which was just a small community too, so there wasn’t much opportunity for work. I took a carpentry course up there and then I moved to Vancouver.

"I grew up in Manitoba. I lived in Ontario. In the early ’80s, there were no jobs where I lived back east. I came out west and worked in mills. We moved the whole family out here. When we first came out, we lived in Port Coquitlam. And then we...