What's My Zip Code?
On February 25, 2004, John Stringer was murdered in Phoenix. He was 52 and my brother. John had struggled for more than thirty years with substance abuse (pot, alcohol, LSD, peyote and crack cocaine, among others) and schizophrenia. He had lived in a crack house, under a bridge, in prison, in a mental hospital, a half-way house, and finally, where he died, in a roach-infested apartment. What’s My Zip Code? examines how this could have happened to a bright, healthy, well loved and well supported young man.
While John was being beaten and strangled, my sister Candy and I were making our way to the airport to fly to Phoenix to help him move to a condo the family had bought for him. We thought he would be safer there. We had grown up in upscale Darien, Connecticut, yet despite years of attempted intervention and support – personal, financial, medical, and legal – John’s situation had deteriorated. The tragic paradox was that he was killed for the money the family was giving him.
What’s My Zip Code? weaves together two stories: how John Stringer’s life took its sad course and how our family came to grips with his life and death. The book presents John as a popular and charismatic athlete in high school and college, a drug abuser in a culture tolerant of drug abuse, a schizophrenic street person, a swami, a prison inmate, a “urine analysis person,” “a lonely middle-aged man,” and a brother about to be reborn into a new life. And finally, a murder victim. The book also examines what our family did to help and what more we might have done. Despite his inescapable illness and violent death, the conclusion of What’s My Zip Code? is affirmative. John battled his disease using what resources he could command. He loved, and he knew he was loved. And our family was changed by his life and death: our human connections deepened.
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While John was being beaten and strangled, my sister Candy and I were making our way to the airport to fly to Phoenix to help him move to a condo the family had bought for him. We thought he would be safer there. We had grown up in upscale Darien, Connecticut, yet despite years of attempted intervention and support – personal, financial, medical, and legal – John’s situation had deteriorated. The tragic paradox was that he was killed for the money the family was giving him.
What’s My Zip Code? weaves together two stories: how John Stringer’s life took its sad course and how our family came to grips with his life and death. The book presents John as a popular and charismatic athlete in high school and college, a drug abuser in a culture tolerant of drug abuse, a schizophrenic street person, a swami, a prison inmate, a “urine analysis person,” “a lonely middle-aged man,” and a brother about to be reborn into a new life. And finally, a murder victim. The book also examines what our family did to help and what more we might have done. Despite his inescapable illness and violent death, the conclusion of What’s My Zip Code? is affirmative. John battled his disease using what resources he could command. He loved, and he knew he was loved. And our family was changed by his life and death: our human connections deepened.
What's My Zip Code?
On February 25, 2004, John Stringer was murdered in Phoenix. He was 52 and my brother. John had struggled for more than thirty years with substance abuse (pot, alcohol, LSD, peyote and crack cocaine, among others) and schizophrenia. He had lived in a crack house, under a bridge, in prison, in a mental hospital, a half-way house, and finally, where he died, in a roach-infested apartment. What’s My Zip Code? examines how this could have happened to a bright, healthy, well loved and well supported young man.
While John was being beaten and strangled, my sister Candy and I were making our way to the airport to fly to Phoenix to help him move to a condo the family had bought for him. We thought he would be safer there. We had grown up in upscale Darien, Connecticut, yet despite years of attempted intervention and support – personal, financial, medical, and legal – John’s situation had deteriorated. The tragic paradox was that he was killed for the money the family was giving him.
What’s My Zip Code? weaves together two stories: how John Stringer’s life took its sad course and how our family came to grips with his life and death. The book presents John as a popular and charismatic athlete in high school and college, a drug abuser in a culture tolerant of drug abuse, a schizophrenic street person, a swami, a prison inmate, a “urine analysis person,” “a lonely middle-aged man,” and a brother about to be reborn into a new life. And finally, a murder victim. The book also examines what our family did to help and what more we might have done. Despite his inescapable illness and violent death, the conclusion of What’s My Zip Code? is affirmative. John battled his disease using what resources he could command. He loved, and he knew he was loved. And our family was changed by his life and death: our human connections deepened.
While John was being beaten and strangled, my sister Candy and I were making our way to the airport to fly to Phoenix to help him move to a condo the family had bought for him. We thought he would be safer there. We had grown up in upscale Darien, Connecticut, yet despite years of attempted intervention and support – personal, financial, medical, and legal – John’s situation had deteriorated. The tragic paradox was that he was killed for the money the family was giving him.
What’s My Zip Code? weaves together two stories: how John Stringer’s life took its sad course and how our family came to grips with his life and death. The book presents John as a popular and charismatic athlete in high school and college, a drug abuser in a culture tolerant of drug abuse, a schizophrenic street person, a swami, a prison inmate, a “urine analysis person,” “a lonely middle-aged man,” and a brother about to be reborn into a new life. And finally, a murder victim. The book also examines what our family did to help and what more we might have done. Despite his inescapable illness and violent death, the conclusion of What’s My Zip Code? is affirmative. John battled his disease using what resources he could command. He loved, and he knew he was loved. And our family was changed by his life and death: our human connections deepened.
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What's My Zip Code?
What's My Zip Code?
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940012996879 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Crooked Mile Books |
| Publication date: | 05/10/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 854 KB |
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