Publication: Grand Central Winter: Stories From the Street

• Stringer, Lee

In the underground tunnels below Grand Central Terminal, Lee
Stringer -- homeless and drug-addicted over the course of
eleven years -- found a pencil to run through his crack
pipe. One day, he used it to write. Soon, writing became a
habit that won out over drugs. And soon, Lee Stringer had
created one of the most powerful urban memoirs of our
time.

With humane wisdom and a biting wit, Lee Stringer
chronicles the unraveling of his seemingly secure existence
as a marketing executive, and his odyssey of survival on the
streets of New York City. Whether he is portraying "God's
corner," as he calls 42nd Street, or his friend Suzi, a
hooker and "past-due tourist" whose infant he sometimes
baby-sits; whether he recounts taking shelter underneath
Grand Central by night and collecting cans by day, or
making a living hawking Street News on the subway, Lee
Stringer conveys the vitality and complexity of a
down-and-out life. Rich with small acts of kindness, humor,
and even heroism amid violence and desperation, Grand
Central Winter offers a touching portrait of our shared
humanity.