Saturday, October 11, 2025

The 50 Street Code Laws

1. Stay quiet after they answer — silence makes ‘em talk more. People expose themselves when you give ‘em room.

2. Nod slow while they talk — it pulls more outta them without you saying a word.

3. Ask, “What makes you say that?” instead of arguing. That’s how you make ‘em reveal their weak spots.

4. Mirror how they move. People trust reflections of themselves more than strangers.

5. Get three yeses before your real ask. Small wins make big ones automatic.

6. Ask for help instead of approval — folks ride harder for the ones they feel useful to.

7. When they diss you in public, stay cool. The crowd will check ‘em for you.

8. Give choices that still lead your way — “You wanna handle this now or later?” Either way, you win.

9. Match their talking pace — fast talkers respect energy, slow ones respect calm.

10. The one asking questions runs the room. Control comes from curiosity, not noise.

11. If they get defensive, ask “You good?” It cuts past ego and hits truth.

12. Talk slow, pause often. Calm makes you look like you know something they don’t.

13. People fear being left out more than being wrong. Show ‘em others agree, and they’ll fold quick.

14. Praise effort, not talent — it keeps ‘em working for your nod.

15. Make your idea sound like the “right” thing to do — most folks chase being good more than being smart.

16. Ask about their dreams once, then back ‘em up. You’ll live rent-free in their loyalty.

17. Close the gap slow — space creates distance, closeness builds trust.

18. Drop a small truth about yourself — they’ll overshare trying to match your “realness.”

19. Say what you see — “You seem upset.” People chill when they feel seen.

20. Ask deep “why” questions — it makes shaky people crumble.

21. Say, “You can say no.” Freedom tricks folks into saying yes.

22. “I need your help” works better than orders — people love feeling needed.

23. Add fake urgency — “I only got a minute.” It gets answers faster.

24. Don’t always be available — people value what they gotta wait for.

25. Use their name — it hits the brain like a spotlight.

26. Say, “You probably don’t wanna hear this…” — watch ‘em lean in every time.

27. Ask something personal, then shut up. Silence pulls secrets.

28. Speak first in a deal — your number becomes the anchor.

29. Ask, “What would you do if you were me?” — empathy exposes honesty.

30. Talk how they talk — people vibe with what feels familiar.

31. What they brag about is what they’re insecure about. Listen close.

32. End the convo first — mystery’s louder than words.

33. Ask, “What’s something nobody knows about you?” Curiosity digs deeper than trust.

34. Compliment something random — it throws ‘em off balance.

35. Let silence hang after a hard truth — they’ll fill it with confessions.

36. Boundaries ain’t always verbal — your body speaks too.

37. Drop your voice when things get heated — power whispers.

38. When emotions rise, say less. Calm is king.

39. Ask for small favors — help builds attachment.

40. Watch what makes ‘em defensive — that’s their wound.

41. Make your idea feel like theirs — people fight harder for what they “own.”

42. Say, “I respect your opinion” before asking — it softens walls.

43. Share one secret — it tricks ‘em into sharing two.

44. Say, “You probably already know this…” — it makes ‘em listen twice as hard.

45. When someone vents, don’t fix it. Just repeat what they said. Validation builds loyalty faster than advice.

46. People repeat what made you react — control your face and you control the game.

47. Never explain too much — mystery builds power, talking drains it.

48. The calmest one in chaos always wins — panic is loud, power is quiet.

49. Loyalty ain’t said, it’s shown. Watch patterns, not promises.

50. Respect is currency — spend it wisely, and you’ll never be broke in influence.

Friday, October 10, 2025

Touch Grass: A Reflection on Technology, Trust, and Real Life

Man… the world has changed. I get why some people use the virtual world for interactions — phobias, shyness, social anxiety — I get that. But it’s not going to help you grow or connect in a real way. FaceTime? Facebook? Instagram? TikTok? None of that replaces human interaction. You can’t read someone through a screen. You can’t gauge their reaction, feel their energy, or truly understand who they are.

Take my recent experience: someone charged $19 to my account from a virtual card I didn’t even know I had. Unauthorized. I froze my cards, started a dispute, and now I have to wait for my bank to do their thing. The money isn’t the problem — it’s the principle. That someone got access to something that’s mine without permission. It’s aggravating, and it’s made me think a lot about the digital world we live in.

Platforms like OnlyFans? Not for me. Personally, I see them as virtual prostitution, and I’m not here to sugarcoat it. People selling themselves to strangers online isn’t empowerment — it’s exploitation disguised as opportunity. You can’t read a person, you can’t trust a screen, and you can’t replace the human experience with a subscription.

I’m not saying everyone should unplug forever, but people need to step outside once in a while. Take a walk. Touch grass. Feel the sun. Experience life outside of notifications and pixels. Back in my day, my mom would have to search for my ass to come back into the house. Now, kids have to be dragged out of their rooms. There’s something wrong with that.

Phones tracking you, apps broadcasting your location, platforms luring attention from every angle — it’s convenience at the cost of your autonomy and your connection to reality. TikTok? Attention-whoring. Stupid challenges that can get someone hurt. Instagram? A filtered illusion of life you don’t really have. Facebook? Everybody has the most perfect life, they're so happy with their significant other and their life is just picture perfect which is a bunch of bs.

Yet, technology isn’t all bad. I love platforms that provide knowledge, efficiency, and curiosity — YouTube videos about history at the push of a button, tools like Google that help me get answers faster than I could on my own. That’s tech done right: it empowers without replacing humanity. That's what the internet was created for in the very beginning information gathering. 

Life isn’t lived in notifications, subscriptions, or pixels. It’s lived in people, choices, and experiences. Knocking on doors, reading body language, showing up, being present — that’s what builds character, trust, and real connection. And yeah, I’ll say it again: sometimes, you just need to touch grass.

And for the record, some memories stick forever. Like my mom yelling from the yard down the alley: G.T.F.I.T.H.R.N.B.I.B.Y.A — “GET THE FUCK IN THIS HOUSE RIGHT NOW BEFORE I BEAT YOUR ASS.” That line, burned into my brain, is a reminder of what real presence felt like: authority, urgency, and love all at once. You can’t replicate that through a screen, no matter how high-res the video is.

So yeah, unplug occasionally. Go outside. Talk to people. Experience life. Use technology to enhance, not replace, the very thing that makes us human. And the biggest question I have where do you draw the line between convenience and outsourcing a piece of yourself?

Wednesday, October 01, 2025

Onlyfans

I want to talk about something that’s been bugging the shit out of me for awhile, OnlyFans. You’ve seen the headlines: “So-and-so makes more than professional athletes,” or “This person got rich overnight.” But I want to cut through the hype and give you the reality. Because in my eyes, platforms like OnlyFans aren’t empowerment — they’re exploitation disguised as freedom.

On the surface, OnlyFans looks like autonomy. A woman, a camera, a smartphone, set your price, set your rules. It’s marketed like entrepreneurship, like you’re your own boss. But let’s be real. This is a mechanism of exploitation. Marxist feminist critiques nail this point: “free choice” is a smokescreen. Most women aren’t logging on because it’s their dream career, they’re doing it out of financial necessity. And when the system boxes people into selling themselves to survive, that’s not empowerment. That’s exploitation, plain and simple.

Let’s look at the math. The average creator on OnlyFans makes between $150 and $180 a month. That’s it. Not life-changing money. Not even bill money. Meanwhile, the top 1% of creators take home anywhere from 33 to 60 percent of the platform’s entire revenue. That means the headlines about million-dollar payouts? They’re outliers. They’re bait. The reality is most creators are hustling for scraps while the platform and a few celebrities pocket the big cash. That’s not entrepreneurship that’s a power law distribution, where the rich get richer and everyone else stays broke. And the money isn’t the only problem. The work itself takes a mental and emotional toll. Studies show sex workers, including OnlyFans creators, report high rates of depression, anxiety, and even PTSD.

Why? Because the job isn’t just uploading a picture. The real money comes from interaction. Constant chatting, custom requests, roleplay. For some creators, 70% of their income comes from responding to messages. And what are those messages? Harassment, abusive comments, vile fantasies. That’s the daily reality. Again this isn’t empowerment. This is emotional labor at its most toxic where your paycheck depends on how much abuse you’re willing to tolerate.

So who really wins here? Not the average creator. Not the men paying for a false sense of connection. The winners are the platform itself raking in fees and commissions and the celebrities who treat it like a side hustle. Meanwhile, the women selling their intimacy are left with digital footprints they can’t erase, psychological scars, and no retirement plan. Someone younger, someone hungrier, will always be ready to replace them.

So let’s stop pretending OnlyFans is some revolutionary path to empowerment. It’s the same transaction that’s been going on for centuries selling intimacy for survival just dressed up with hashtags and smartphones. If you want to call that empowerment, fine. But I call it what it really is: a system that preys on loneliness, desperation, and instability, while the real money flows upward to the very few.

MaryAnn DiGiacomo Tribute Page