"The world needs uncles, too"

Talking with writer Isaac Fitzgerald about "walking it off," growing up unhoused, the meaning of "dirtbag," his time as a smuggler, and why he doesn't want to be a dad

Isaac Fitzgerald has lived many lives.

He grew up in a shelter among the fellow unhoused in Boston. He has been a boatman, a firefighter, an international smuggler, a television personality, and, most persistently, a writer. He works high and low, niche and broad. One day he will publish a beautifully literary essay in a high-minded magazine. The next, h…