Finding Free Books On The Streets Of Manhattan

Among the authors whose books I have found in free book kiosks, on street corners, and in front of apartment buildings are Harper Lee, Richard Wright, Dorothy L. Sayers, Walter Isaacson, Stephen King, Isabel Allende, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ed McBain, Renee Rosen, and Michael Eric Dyson. That would also include a copy of In the Life, the 1986 anthology edited by Joseph Beam and of which I was a contributor. It's one of the perks of living in otherwise pricey Manhattan.

The Waning Days Of Harlem's Mount Morris Baths

While going through some old manila file folders, I found a handwritten draft of a letter-to-the-editor written on canary yellow paper and dated June 25, 2001. I don't recall what publication prompted me to write it. As far as I know, it was never published. Here's what I wrote (which includes my edits):

Dear Editor:

Re: The increase in HIV infection among black gay men. 

I recently worked part time as a towel attendant in a Harlem bathhouse. During the two months of my employment I witnessed

After working two months as a part-time towel attendant/porter, I can see in a Harlem bathhouse, I can see why there is an increase in HIV infection among young black gay men. During my employment, I found crack vials, poppers, and other evidence of drug abuse as well as carelessly discarded condoms.

On the flipside of the page was another handwritten (and presumably unpublished) undated draft. This is what I wrote:

While the rest of 125th Street [in Harlem] rebuilds or renovates its premises, the Mount Morris Baths remains dirty and rundown. In a 1999 issue of the New York Blade News [a gay newspaper], Walter Fitzer [the straight owner of the bathhouse] claimed that the Health Department had been "busting my chops for the past three years under [then mayor Rudolph] Giuliani." If that is true, it would seem justified.