Not surprisingly in a neighborhood like this, there are characters who have only your wallet, not your best interests, at heart. In particular, about 100 feet in front of me, two very rough-looking men were casing me from the opposite side of the street. They crossed to my side of the street. So I crossed to the other side. They crossed back and I crossed again.
In the first phases of defense taught in specialized martial arts, creative thinking takes you to the three strategies of avoid, confuse, and dissuade. When it became obvious to me that I wasn't going to avoid these individuals successfully, this mind-set prompted me to move to confuse. So I headed di- rectly toward them and took my hands out of my pockets. I undid my jacket and put my hand inside-body language suggesting that I might have a weapon (which I didn't, except for my hands).
Their demeanor immediately changed. I had successfully confused them. They had figured that since there were two of them and only one of me, I wouldn't take them on.