Hegemonic discourses authorise certain ways of being, knowing, and doing. We internalise or appropriate images, patterns, and words from the social activities in which we have participated. Race, gender, sexuality, age, education, class are among aspects of identity (social constructions) that affect our language and literacy acquisition, the way we make sense. Grounded in the field of New Literacy Studies and drawing on the tools of critical discourse studies, I analyse verbal and non-verbal excerpts from a street literature memoir, tentatively titled "PHD 2 Ph.D.: Po Ho on Dope 2 Ph.D, The Ill Narrative of Dr. E", to examine young Black women's negotiation of raced, classed, gendered and sexual ideologies. My aim is to show that these ideologies work to constrain the possibilities for Black womanhood by ascribing negative meanings and identities to Black women, which render them 'at-risk' for various sorts of disadvantage, that "at-risk" youth are not inherently so, and that educators and other youth workers should be aware of the ways that social literacies frame youth identity and sense making. (Contains 4 notes.)