Comparison and Contrast

Christine Ledson

October 23, 2005

Comparison and Contrast

I grew up in Brooklyn New York. Believe it or not, in the Seventies and Eighties, Brooklyn was a great place to be a youngster. I have so many wonderful childhood memories. I can still remember them as if they happened in the not so distant past. Of course, there is a good and bad side of everything, and growing up in a big city, like Brooklyn is no different. It has been quite a few years since I left, and I haven’t regretted the decision to leave. I have a young son, and honestly I would not want him to grow up in Brooklyn, not the way it has changed.

In the early seventies we lived in a very family oriented neighborhood. It was great. There were always children in the streets playing stickball. There were little girls and boys drawing on the sidewalks with chalk, playing hopscotch and skelly. The dads would be in the narrow driveways between the houses with their heads under the hoods of their cars, the moms would be sitting on the cement stoops of the two family houses, having coffee, chit chatting with one another and watching the little kids play. Not only did they watch out for their own children, but also every adult watched out for all the neighborhood kids. As teenagers you couldn’t get away with much, there was always eyes watching, ready to call your mom and let her know that you just committed some kind of wrongdoing. It was safe, our neighborhood was not just a place to live; it was like one big extended family.

In Brooklyn there was always something to do, there were so many exciting places to go. If you were bored on a lazy summer afternoon there was Coney Island. What kind of genius came up with the idea of putting an amusement park on the beach in the city? Who ever that was, I hope they got an award for it. You could take the subway to Coney Island, ride The Cyclone (the worlds scariest roller coaster), walk down to Nathan’s Famous for the best grilled hot dog on the planet (always be sure that you ride the Cyclone before you eat the hot dog), go to jump into the ocean off of the Mermaid Avenue pier, and top off your day with some more rides in Astro-Land, all for less then seven bucks. Life doesn’t get any better, at least it didn’t seem like it could, not back then.

I recently went back to my old stomping grounds. I was sorely disappointed. Things have changed dramatically, and for the worse. As I drove over the Verrazanno Bridge into Brooklyn, I got that feeling like I was home. That feeling didn’t last all that long. The place that I remembered so fondly was no longer a place that