From the time he was young boy, Mark Hawthorne understood the power of words. His father was a reporter for the Associated Press and his mother was a school teacher. So when Hawthorne landed his dream job and became a reporter for The New York Times, everything seemed to fall into place. Except that it all fell apart.

These days, Hawthorne uses the power of words in a different way. Mostly, it’s to say, “fuck you” or “I hate you.” For the past 25 years, Hawthorne has lived on the streets of Berkeley, where he’s developed a following and is known by the moniker “Hate Man,” or simply “Hate,” as he prefers. But Hate isn’t hateful, per se. Rather, he believes that people are most caring when they’re upfront about their disdain for each other. Only then, he says, can people trust one another.

By Kathleen Richards and Sandeep Abraham, East Bay Express