In the Zombieville universe, Toxic Waste denotes a community of homeless people with spondis [PWS] who live off of Pine Street in Burlington on the site of the old Barge Canal [now a Superfund site!]. I’d like to have a Toxic Waste denizen as a character in Zombieville, but I keep inventing people with high-maintenance looks instead, none of which are really compatible to the practicality enforced by homelessness. But I am now developing the look for a Toxic Waste resident, based less on pink hair and clashing prints and more on what I have seen in my experience.

The Toxic Waste denizen wears a heavily layered, worn and weathered outfit with some combination of the following up top: T-shirt, vest, hooded sweatshirt, plaid shirt. Definitely jeans [possibly torn, with long underwear bottoms underneath] and hiking boots. Knit cap or baseball cap. Backpack. Possibly a folding cart, shopping cart or rolling luggage [folding cart or rolling luggage more likely]. Walking stick/cane/trekking pole. Hair in a ponytail [possibly dreadlocked if in 20s, 30s or early 40s]. Cell phone. Possibly a laptop. A few cardboard signs for different situations. First aid kit!

Homelessness for this person does not mean living in a shelter or with friends or on various couches. This person lives outdoors in all but the hottest or coldest weather, in a semi-permanent, illegal platform tent, built on on lakeside swampland, with unstable, intermittent access to hot water, electricity and laundry. This person therefore dresses for utility, warmth and portability.

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