For years, Pete Soukus lived on top of the hill in Seattle’s wealthy Magnolia neighborhood that overlooks Interbay and Tent City 5. Pete still lives in Magnolia, but his new home now lies in the shadow of the hill, inside of Tent City 5. Until alcohol took over his life, Pete had a career in product management and supply-chain logistics, a home and a family. Then according to Pete, “I drank myself to the point of almost losing my life.”
Pete didn’t lose his life, but he lost his fiancé, his home and his job. He hasn’t seen his kids in years. He remembers spending one night hunkered down under a bush after drinking a bottle of hand sanitizer.
In the words of the immortal Janis Joplin, who sang Me and Bobby McGee, “Freedom is just another...