Welcome to Time Out of Kilter by me, Matty Selman.
We are all part of one another’s story.
I grew up on Staten Island in the 1950s and 1960s, which was truly a singular experience that, in memory, is an old friend now residing in my heart and mind.
This newsletter is a collection of American stories. A kaleidoscope of fascinating people and intriguing places. Some of these stories are poignant, others humorous. Each will offer a slice of life… with a little whipped cream on the side.
We begin with my “Before the Bridge” stories. — “Before the Bridge,” referring to the Bridge… the Verrazano Narrows that connects Staten Island to Brooklyn. A bridge that, for many native islanders, marked the beginning of the end of a place that was many things, a greenbelt, a hidden gem, a place that, happily, time forgot. Here, you will be transported back in time, become familiar with my delightfully imbalanced Staten Island family, and, perhaps, recognize in our trials and tribulations, our minor triumphs and our thunderous failures, a sense of what any of us experienced growing up.
In those days, before the bridge, Staten Island could easily have been a midwestern town with horse stables, a farmers market, drive-in movies, an airstrip, a nickel ferry ride, and its own foot-long hot dog amusement restaurant, Al Deppe’s. Crawfish darted between the fallen leaves and shale in the brooks at Clove Lakes; new roads led to a place called Lands’ End, and everywhere was an innocence, a resilient quietness that still echoes from that era before the Island became what many consider simply another borough.
But there will be other stories as well. Stories about our parents and relatives who served in World War II or Korea and elsewhere, stories of musicians, bricklayers, pizza men, roofers, tough kids, and underdogs. This newsletter will be a doorway to reaffirm, renew and bring back – even for a moment, the lives, the loves, and the mysteries that have dealt us the cards of whom we are today. I hope to be able to share memories and artifacts from my life with you, and I hope you, in turn, will share your stories here with me.
There is no time like the present, which is already past, and thus, out of kilter.
With heartfelt thanks,
Matty
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