...before the money really ran out, before the beatings got worse and more frequent, before they had to move to Henry Street on the Lower East Side...
...where the rats were bigger than Mitzi the dog.
In those Brooklyn days being left handed was not allowed. He was sent home for not knowing how to write with his right hand.
And of course on the first day of school, his name, a Hebrew one, was changed to an English one.
5 comments:
I can't imagine the mental trauma, like coming through Ellis Island, only it's just across the river. A stranger in one's own home...wow.
I'm wondering where in Bushwick? My dad (approximately the same age) grew up there, on Van Buren Street.
The school is still active - 325 Bushwick Avenue. My dad remembers living in Bed Stuy - Ralph Avenue and Rockaway Avenue. They also lived on St. Marks Place which is now Prospect Parks. His memory is very clear in brief moments - a name, a place but the rest is in fog.
CO - all the waves of history that sweep through Brooklyn. I heard somewhere years ago that 75% of Americans either have a relative who lived in Brooklyn, or know someone who did. I've always thought of Brooklyn as a vast clearing house . . . .
How curious that the Lower East Side was a step down in those days . ..
T.
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