Punching and Kicking

People don’t ever leave The Point, even if they move far away. Or at least, that’s how it seems to journalist Kathy Dobson. Growing up in Point St. Charles, an industrial slum in Montreal, she sees how people get trapped in the neighbourhood. Dobson shares her journey of trying to escape what was once described as the toughest neighbourhood in Canada, as she and her five sisters—raised by their single mother—deal with slum landlords, “pervy uncles,” and their father—a mostly absent police officer who does occasional work on the side for the local mob. As Kathy grows up and starts attending college outside the Point, she has to learn how to survive in a new world where problems aren't solved by a good punch to the head.