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Anyone who’s spent considerable time in Tenleytown knows Duane Foster. Maybe not by name, but by sight.聽

He鈥檚 worked in Tenleytown for about a decade. His office stands out.聽

He can be spotted in front of the Wisconsin Avenue CVS parking lot every weekday during working hours. A bike rack serves as his desk, and a crate replaces an ergonomic chair. His wares are unique. It鈥檚 not clothing nor food that he sells but a digital newsletter, 鈥淭he Hobo.鈥� It can be purchased for $5 and downloaded via QR code.聽

Foster has spent much of his adulthood homeless. In his newsletter, he writes about life on the streets under the guise of the fictitious character Black Fields.聽

Earlier this fall, Foster turned 50 years old. It鈥檚 an age he wasn鈥檛 sure he鈥檇 reach, but he feels it in his back, ankles, knees, his stamina and his outlook on life.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of guys out here, man, in their 40s and 50s that鈥檚 passing, so each day is like man鈥� this might be it,鈥� Foster said, adding that aging involves 鈥渏ust constant awareness of your mortality.鈥�

He first became particularly conscious of the fragility of his life and body on September 18, 1992, his golden birthday.聽

He got into a fight with a college peer when the other student closed the door on his hand, slicing off his finger.聽

Had the incision been a quarter inch deeper, it would have impacted his artery and led to severe blood loss, the emergency provider told him in the ambulance.

鈥淭hat was my first kind of instance where it鈥檚 like, 鈥極kay, I鈥檓 mortal. I could die out here,鈥欌�� Foster said, gesturing with nine and a half fingers. 鈥淵ou start thinking about consequences.鈥澛犅犅�

Within days, he began using drugs for the first time in his life. The habit would persist for years. He wouldn鈥檛 understand the correlation between the events until about seventeen years later in a drug rehab program.聽

As he ages, it becomes harder to contend with the challenges of homelessness, he said. Each year, it鈥檚 more difficult to bear through the cold, defend himself against adversaries he encounters on the street and compete with panhandlers. He said he feels 鈥渧ulnerable鈥� sometimes.聽

Fortunately, others look out for him.聽

On an October afternoon, CVS security guard William Jones stopped by to say hello and give Foster a fist bump. Foster broke into a smile.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the head of my security team right there,鈥� Foster joked.

Jones said Foster adds a nice bit of variety to the suburban neighborhood, even as far as the local homeless population goes.聽

鈥淗e鈥檚 different from the rest of the homeless people,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淗e has a product for sale and it鈥檚 actually a cool product.鈥�

Jones said he enjoys having Foster around the corner every day and reading his newsletter every so often. It reminds him of 鈥淭he Boondocks鈥� TV show, he said. It鈥檚 fun and unique.

Homelessness isn鈥檛 ideal for Foster, but he isn鈥檛 ignorant of the challenges of participating in the housing market. In order to afford a comfortable, well-insulated and clean home in the Washington D.C. area, he鈥檇 need a much higher and more stable income than his business brings in now.聽

鈥淎ll the discomforts that I would experience outside, I鈥檓 going to experience in the type of place that I鈥檓 going to get,鈥� he said.

Unless he stumbles into a fortune, the Tenleytown block where he鈥檚 become a mainstay will remain his makeshift office for the foreseeable future, and that鈥檚 alright with him. He feels lucky just to be waking up each day.

鈥淭he lifestyle I lived, I really probably should have been dead in my 20s or 30s,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just God been walking with me the whole time.鈥�