The Street Spirit

2 weeks ago | thestreetspirit.org | Alastair Boone

I was 7 years old when I first remember seeing his tall slender frame as he ducked his head to enter my grandparents’ living room. Here was this handsome, well-dressed man, with his hair pulled back into a slick ponytail, calling me “baby girl.” It was the first time I remember seeing him, and I had no photos of him, but as soon as I saw him, I just knew.

Mar 4, 2025 | thestreetspirit.org | Jack Bragen |Bradley M. Penner

When I was young, in my twenties, I took pride in being able to get letters to the editor published. For a young adult with severe psychiatric illness, a letter to the editor in a paper is pretty good. But I wanted more. I really wanted to become a published writer. Periodically, I would submit stories to publications, and if you consider the level of the writing I produced back then, I stood little or no chance of getting something accepted. I married my wife when I was 31.

Mar 4, 2025 | thestreetspirit.org | Supriya Yelimeli |Bradley M. Penner |Pablo Circa

Street Spirit vendors are musicians, carpenters, salespeople, athletes, riddlers, storytellers, and multihyphenates. Street newspapers are a quiet catalyst for connection in our hectic, ever-changing cityscapes, and the vendors—the core of this operation—each bring different lived experiences to the task of engaging with strangers, making conversation, and forging lasting relationships that begin on the streets and sidewalks.

Mar 4, 2025 | thestreetspirit.org | Zack Haber |Bradley M. Penner

“All my wishes can be summarized in two words,” Gazan English teacher Asma Mustafa told me in a voice message on January 25, “peace and love among people here.”This was the first I’d heard from Asma since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was implemented. We had been communicating on and off through text and voice messages since last September, when she asked if I would write a report about her teaching, which continued throughout the Israel-Hamas war, despite her daily struggle to survive.

Mar 4, 2025 | thestreetspirit.org | Caron Creighton |Bradley M. Penner

Street newspapers, like the one you’re reading now, have been in circulation since the late 80s. Originally inspired by the need to elevate unhoused people’s stories through their own words, street newspapers often counter the problematic narratives regarding poverty and homelessness published by mainstream media outlets. In 1989, Street News was launched in New York City, becoming the seminal publication of the modern street newspaper movement.