sounds like you lived in a very dangerous neighborhood. May be a good thing you found a few older friends with a reputation. Sad that they ended up dying that young. Your mom probably saved you from a terrible fate moving away!
As we know, youth is waisted on the wrong people. I contemplated this all day, to stir a memory in my youth. Living in a mid Hudson valley town of Hopewell Junction. NY. The boys you speak of that were cool, came into our town when I was 12 years old. They were violent and rebellious and down right mean. But the thing was, that kind of cool we never experienced before, like James Dean cool. Young girls started getting pregnant, some almost got raped or did. They had no one to tell. My mother had to move her 3 daughters, I the youngest, to a kid friendly zone. Glad she did, though I miss my friends.
Thank you, Carrie, for sharing this. I appreciate your honest comment and you got me thinking of how hard I worked to become one of the cool boys. How much it mattered to me. You also got me thinking of how often misogyny is cloaked in "coolness."
sounds like you lived in a very dangerous neighborhood. May be a good thing you found a few older friends with a reputation. Sad that they ended up dying that young. Your mom probably saved you from a terrible fate moving away!
Absolutely. A direct quote from my mother: "If we don't move, I'm afraid you'll end up dead or in jail."
Thanks, Ingrid!
Although i have two older brothers and two teenage sons, i admit the ways of young men is a mystery to me.
It IS fascinating, and although the story has a sad ending, there is something about your memories of this time and place that is incredibly powerful.
These young men were wild and ungovernable, and in these times, I find that spirit a hopeful thing.
Amen! To this day, I cannot help but believe that many of the kids I grew up with had the potential to aim their rebellion into glorious directions.
As we know, youth is waisted on the wrong people. I contemplated this all day, to stir a memory in my youth. Living in a mid Hudson valley town of Hopewell Junction. NY. The boys you speak of that were cool, came into our town when I was 12 years old. They were violent and rebellious and down right mean. But the thing was, that kind of cool we never experienced before, like James Dean cool. Young girls started getting pregnant, some almost got raped or did. They had no one to tell. My mother had to move her 3 daughters, I the youngest, to a kid friendly zone. Glad she did, though I miss my friends.
Thank you, Carrie, for sharing this. I appreciate your honest comment and you got me thinking of how hard I worked to become one of the cool boys. How much it mattered to me. You also got me thinking of how often misogyny is cloaked in "coolness."