Barron Hall Jr. Barron Hall Jr. was born April 14, 1948, in Washington, D.C. His mother died of a brain tumor when he was five years old. His father, despite a crippling alcohol addiction, was his guiding light and best friend. Hall graduated from Cardozo High School in 1966 and was immediately drafted into the military – at the height of the Vietnam War. He reported to active duty in July 1967 and served until 1969. He returned home a changed man. “[The war] turned us young men, mostly poor and underprivileged, into people that when we came home had a hard time,” Hall said. “Some of us couldn’t even adjust to this society and still haven’t adjusted.” While collecting disability for multiple mental illnesses, Hall studied drafting at a local junior college and married the woman he had been engaged to since before Vietnam. The marriage was annulled after a year. “The person she knew when I went overseas wasn’t the person she knew when I came back,” he said. He married his second wife, Marilyn Johnson, in 1972. The marriage lasted 13 years and produced two children before Hall’s post-traumatic stress disorder got the best of him. He shunned professional help and resorted to street drugs, primarily heroin, for medication. During that time he was working for the federal government. Hall ceased government work in 1980 and went to Charlotte, N.C., to study to be a Christian minister. He said he felt like he was called to preach the word of God. He performed his trial sermon in Flint, Mich., in 1996 but was back on drugs within the same year. That’s when he checked himself into a Veterans Affairs hospital for the first time. “Before then I never went for my mental illnesses, I just dealt with it,” he said. “I was ashamed. I always thought I was an unjustifiable killer.” Today Hall is in treatment for schizophrenia and other illnesses while seeking Section 8 housing assistance. He first applied for Section 8 housing five years ago. How did you become homeless? When I became disabled, I was living with my sister and getting help every month through the [Department of Veteran Affairs] and social security. My sister got married, and I relapsed and went back to the VA hospital. When I came out, my sister and I had a little confrontation and I started staying at the shelter. Why do you sell Street Sense? It’s good, not so much to earn a living but it helps me with my self-esteem. I used to panhandle, now I sort of work. It makes me feel like I’m truly getting back to myself. I know if the right person reads what I sell them or what I give them, it’ll help them. I want to give back the little bit I’ve been given or have accepted from others. What is your favorite book? The Koran and the Bible What is your favorite music? Gospel music What is your favorite movie? “Tupac: Resurrection” and “Malcolm X” What is your favorite food? Crocker fish and salad