You would think that after being an "Up Stater" for 35 years I would no longer be asked the question, Where are you from? It happens all the time, yet always takes me by surprise. Is my accent still that pronounced? I don't notice it at all. But then again, I can pick up a "Down Stater" from a mile away. As soon as I hear that familiar sound, I feel right at home. I guess it's true, you can take the girl out of Brooklyn but you can't take Brooklyn out of the girl. Even though I absolutely love living "Up State" and wouldn't trade it for the world, my heart was born in Brooklyn and my roots dug deeply into its' soil. I played stick ball in the street and potsie (aka hopscotch) on the sidewalk. I traveled on the Jamaica El and Atlantic Ave. buses. As a little girl I even did some dancing at Nellie Cook's Dancing School on Broadway in the Bushwich section. Cousin Sharon went to the same dancing school and after class we would laugh and sing together, Nellie, Nellie with the pimple on the belly. My mother didn't drive so we would walk together to Broadway. She would wheel my little brother in his stroller and strangers would ask, Isn't he too big to be riding around in a baby carriage? The nerve of them! Didn't they ever hear of polio? I learned then and there that people should just mind their on damn business. I watched Don Drysdale through binoculars (he was cute and I was an adolescent) as he pitched a game at Ebbet's Field. I played spin the bottle at a teenage party in our plain, old, unfinished basement. And on one balmy June evening I even experienced my first real kiss outside, under the stars, on a Brooklyn street. I was 15 and the guy who walked me home had just graduated from high school. He stopped a few doors from my house and actually asked me if he could kiss me. I said yes and after that he asked for a second kiss and I said yes again. Then he took my hand and we continued walking to my front door. He was a gentleman and it was a nice first kiss.
Brooklyn was a fine place to grow some roots.
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ReplyDeleteI have just finished reading all of your columns to date. WOW! You are an excellent writer and capture many profound thoughts and emotions directly and elegantly. Reading your work, I laugh, I want to cry, I feel your joie d'vivre and I appreciate, I nod my head in affirmation of the wisdom of your observations!
This is great stuff! You have a gift of capturing complex, personal feelings and thoughts directly which requires a lot of courage and verve.
Best wishes. Keep up this great work!
You have a loyal follower! AJ
What a sweet story about your first kiss. Having teenagers in the house makes me wonder, sometimes, what the world is coming to. I walked in the room during a "relatively" wholesome show the other night to hear a teenage girl on tv say to a teenage boy, you'll probably go to bed with her in the next couple of weeks. I was like, "What??!!" Did all these electronic gadgets make our lives better? When picking up our children from friend's houses, we used to go in to the house, meet the parents, etc. Now we just text from our post in the driver's seat. Do all middle aged (plus) people feel like things were so much better in "their day"? I can't help thinking they were.
ReplyDeleteYour posts are insightful and thought provoking. Thanks for sharing.
Terri K. - "upstate" cousin
(I believe we were once called "the farmers"??