Growing Up Unrented On The Lower East Side Edmund Berrigan Summary

In “Growing up unrented on the lower east side” by Edmund Berrigan is a written piece that tells the story of his struggles trying to settle down in the bustling city. He starts off the passage with an explanation of a repeating dream he has about an old apartment that he used to live in, and how he felt he never went anywhere no matter how high he climbed. After moving from place to place, Edmund and his family make their next home an apartment in New York. In the apartment lived Edmunds siblings and their parents, who both made a living by utilizing their talents as poets. Living in this apartment was difficult due to its pricing, which was very hard to maintain due to Edmunds father dying when he was 8. Growing up in this apartment was extremely difficult as Edmund grew older, having to move the dishes out the tub to shower, having a lack of air conditioning in the hot months and heating in the winter, and the fact

He gets to know those who are also renting on different floors of the apartments, which consisted of old people and other poets. He also became acquainted with some of the drug dealers on his block, not befriending them but establishing a mutual sense of respect towards each other. The years passed and Edmund’s mother remarried to a man named Doug, who became a great stepdad for him that lived with them for a long time. Edmund made many friends throat his junior high school and high school years that he explored the city with, finding out new things and attractions to direct their energy to. Edmund eventually grew up and went to Purchase College, an institution in Harrison NY, where he got his degree after four and half years. After getting his degree, Edmund lived in San Francisco where he worked at a coffee shop for a living to support his cramped apartment-style