Streetplay Discussions
We lived in an apt in Astoria,…
We lived in an apt in Astoria, Queens and as a little girl I use to prop upa blanket like a tent. Me and my siblings would hang out especially on hot summer nights. We had to be in at 8:00 and everyone was still out. So being on the fire escape made us feel we were not missing anything. Also there would be a group of boys from a gang called the Barons and they would harmonize to the tune of Duke of Earl. Oh the days of little wants.
I lived on Steinway St in…
Whenever my family pissed…
Whenever my family pissed me off I would buy a $15.00 round trip bus ticket to Atlantic City. The bus drivers knew me well. I was way too young to drink or gamble, so when the usual preachy speeches they gave were over they’d let me follow them around and eat at the buffet tables until it was time to return. To this day my folks can’t figure out where I went.
My first summer job on the…
My first summer job on the books was at Mickey D’s by Prospect Park. I was 15 and so happy to get my little work permit, until I got hit with a little thing called taxes. The money I brought home was a joke compared to the “free” money I earned doing hair, or baby sitting. I was beginning to cultivate a bad attitude about working on the books until I got a new cute young manager. Gave me something to look forward to. My check sure wasn’t much to look at.
I have been reading with…
I have been reading with great interest the discussion of “jacks.” We flipped to see who was first; if you could flip all of the jacks from one side of your hand to the other, you could claim, “one game.” Otherwise, we went from onezies to tens, in order. If you missed, you were out and the next girl took her turn. We called a stacked jack “double jack,” and if anyone yelled “double jack” first, she got to smash it apart. Of course, if it were your turn you wanted to be the one to yell and break it apart gently, so that your jacks wouldn’t scatter. I had never heard the term “fancies” but evidently we called the same thing “coggzies.” You had to get through a hard coggs or easy coggs (your call) before you could claim the game. We played multiple games, reciting “one game, two games, etc. as we finished.
Did anyone play with two…
Did anyone play with two pink balls bouncing them against a wall? We used to do one, two three alera, four five six alera, etc. and at alera you had to bounce it under your leg or clap or turn around. We also used to do Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, you’re the next so carry on…. and you would pass the balls to the next one. Does this ring any bells with anyone?
I lived in East New York…
roller hockey with the freeze…
Does anybody remember that…
Does anybody remember that song (sung to one of the army marching tunes I think) “Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now, just now I found a peanut, found a peanut just now. It was rotten it was rotten it was rotten just now… Ate it anyway…etc. Does anybody know where this goes? I seem to remember it being quite long.