What is a bobcat? Can you eat one or keep it as a pet? What should social policy be toward them? I have no idea on how to answer these questions because during my boyhood over 60 years ago in the Bronx, animals were not discussed. There were rats, but they were too disgusting to think about.
I did not know a single person who went fishing. The only fish I ever ate was our weekly serving of frozen fish sticks (“brain food”) from the A&P. As a child I thought that all fish lived in a frozen state in water. I had no concept of fresh fish.
Rindge today has a population of 6,000. The Bronx during the late 1940s and early ‘50s had 40,000 to 50,000 people per square mile in some areas. That was then the highest population density on earth. There was an area called Parkchester where 500 people per acre lived. This is why I do not get excited about accessory dwelling units in Rindge. The Bronx was so crowded that it was not uncommon to find people just entering your home and helping themselves to what was in the refrigerator.
Rindge is very different from the Bronx. People here discuss manure – what kind to use and when to spread it on their gardens. Bronxites did not discuss manure and did not have gardens. It wasn’t until my mid-20s that I realized people could grow fresh vegetables. There were no Republicans either. Republicans were mythical creatures like vampires and mermaids. They might have existed somewhere, but not in the Bronx. People then did not discuss politics with the intensity Rindge residents do today. Rindge is divided into numerous political factions that do not get along, but this is not unique to Rindge.
Attitudes toward food were different. Most people ate most meals at home. It was rare to go out as a family to eat in a restaurant. This was because the majority of people were poor or lower middle-class. Eating at home was fine, but not great. Most women cooked special meals only on Thanksgiving or religious holidays.
Pizza was excellent. If a pizza was brought home for dinner on a Saturday night, our large family devoured it like a lion pride eating a zebra. You did not actually chew a slice, but rather folded it in half and inhaled it. Otherwise, you would be too slow to get a second slice. Food, of course, was a substitute for love, which was never expressed in any other way.
People in Rindge own guns. I think my wife and I are the only Rindgites who do not possess firearms. I had one friend in the Bronx who belonged to to a public high school rifle team. He would carry his rifle to school while riding on the subway. No one noticed or cared. It was a different world. No one hunted or trapped either.
Childrearing was different then. Imagine growing up in a world where all most all adults spoke like Donald Trump. Encouragement was never given. I wrote a short story and showed it to an adult. He looked at it and called it “garbage.”
My junior high music teacher told me in front of an auditorium of people, “You should never sing because you have the worst sounding voice in human history.” A principal told me, “There are eight million people in New York City and you have the worst handwriting of all of them.”
The vast majority of adult males were very hard-working, but they could not fix anything. People lived in apartments and when anything broke it was fixed by a man called “the super.” No one ever used tools. People did not fix cars because it was only in the 1950s that car ownership started to become widespread.
Families owned at most one car and no one had a truck for personal use. Vehicles in the Bronx, like now, were status symbols. Today it is trucks and SUVs. Then it was a transition from Chevrolets to Buicks and, at the top, Cadillacs. People in Caddies would actually drive slowly around a block so teenagers hanging out at candy stores could gawk at the car.
When I reflect upon areas of comparison between my childhood and living now in Rindge, it is clear that people were, overall, different in attitudes and values with two exceptions. The people in the Bronx and in Rindge were mostly religious and very patriotic. However, Bronxites believed more firmly in freedom of speech. I don’t remember people not talking to another person because of contrary beliefs, nor the notion of political correctness. The attitude was “This is a free country and you can say what you want.”
Some expressions
Rindge today: “We oppose the pipeline.”
The Bronx 1950s: “Take gas”: an unfriendly remark meaning lock yourself in your kitchen, close the windows, turn on the gas, and commit suicide.
Rindge: He/she is a “RINO,” meaning a Republican in name only.
Bronx: “You will die in the electric chair”: a parental remark to a child to encourage the child to reach his full potential.
I am happier living now in Rindge than growing up in the Bronx. The people in Rindge are more polite, courteous and helpful. They hold doors open for you. The only things I miss are Bronx pizza and potato knishes.
Rick Sirvint lives in Rindge.