Lisa Gray-Garcia, aka Tiny: Criminal of Poverty. Growing Up Homeless in America

A daughter’s struggle to keep her family alive, through poverty, homelessness and incarceration

Eleven-year-old Lisa becomes her mother’s primary support when they face the prospect of homelessness. As Dee, a single mother, struggles with the demons of her own childhood of neglect and abuse, Lisa has to quickly assume the roles of an adult in an attempt to keep some stability in their lives.

“Dee and Tiny” ultimately become underground celebrities in San Francisco, squatting in storefronts and performing the “art of homelessness.” Their story, filled with black humor and incisive analysis, illuminates the roots of poverty, the criminalization of poor families and their struggle for survival.

“Criminal of Poverty lays bare the devastating effects of inheriting a life of poverty, as well the real redemption and power in finding your voice.” – Michelle Tea, author of Rose of No Man’s Land and Valencia

“Tiny’s indomitable spirit comes to life in her amazing story of poverty and homelessness, reaching into and teaching our hearts and minds. With her flawless descriptions of the pain of living in the margins of the richest country in the world, she opens up an important window onto a reality looked upon by many but truly seen by few, augmenting our capacity for empathy and action in an area so in need of social change. Bravo Tiny, for your gift to us all! Punto!!!” – Piri Thomas, author of Down These Mean Streets

Lisa Gray-Garcia  (www.tinygraygarcia.com)
is a journalist, poet and community activist. She is the founder of POOR magazine and the PoorNewsNetwork (PNN), a monthly radio broadcast and an online news service focused on issues of poverty and racism.
(www.poormagazine.org/)

Criminal of Poverty
Growing Up Homeless in America
Lisa Gray-Garcia, aka Tiny
Publisher City Lights Foundation Books
Paperback, 2007
278 pages
ISBN-10 1931404070
ISBN-13 9781931404075
List Price $19.95

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