As a native New Yorker, I am often asked to characterize my experience growing up in the eccentric Greenwich Village of the 1970s. The Village was larger-than-life, an alternative universe, a progressive ideal for a new generation.
But it ain't that simple. A lesser-known dark side existed in the neighborhood. Intolerant voices chose not to embrace the burgeoning progress, resulting in social paradox and dubious choices amongst many of the neighborhood youth.
We were just kids however, no different from anywhere else, experiencing the triumphs and traumas of boyhood, albeit in a world of complicated dualities.
We were Urban Townies.
"Urban Townie: Vignettes from a Forgotten Neighborhood" is a satirical, coming-of-age memoir told through a series of humorous, self-contained short stories. This anthology of growing up in Manhattan delivers the triumphs and traumas of boyhood with raw honesty and a distinctly New York sense of humor. Each sketch offers a window into a different moment of urban adolescence, exploring identity, masculinity, sexual confidence, and self-discovery in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape.
These accounts offer a fresh and honest perspective of the New York story, with a playful and distinctive cadence. The storytelling is suspenseful and compelling. The message is both laughable and profound.
I invite the reader to join my friends and family through the misadventures of our youth. We battle fear, insecurity, parental warfare, sexual drama and anger, albeit with levity, satire and a self-effacing style. An important theme I explore is the struggle for sexual confidence and certainty in an abruptly transforming environment of choices and lifestyles, without the explanations available to us today.
"Urban Townie" is a progressive experience, but also edgy and complex. It's a journey of discovery and catharsis in a setting that was equal parts wonderful and onerous. The Woke Generation might have to step outside its comfort zone to embrace parts of it, but Urban Townie is ultimately a plea for forgiveness and compassion. In today's polarized sociopolitical climate, we must find the space for constructive fence mending.
