Re: Sylvia's book

[Sylvia Schildt <creativa...>]

Lorele,


A groysn dank, she said modestly.

Mayn Shtetele Brunzvil/Remembering Brownsville, for those not in the know,
was published by the IAYC  (International Association of Yiddish Clubs) last
May and launched at the Baltimore Conference in September.

Actually it is a collection of 12 little story vignettes dealing with our
magic childhood in the midst of real poverty. Yet somehow, despite poor
housing, financial hardship at every turn, we had a ball. MSB/RB is less
about our sturm and drang and more about our escapades and the colorful
people who inhabited the mostly substandard tenements. It's about the
Brooklyn Dodgers, carrying paper flags on Simkhas Toyre with lit candles
wedged in potatoes, sneaking into the movies for free and more like that
there. Brownsville was an interesting mix, with sometimes 2 and 3 Orthtodox
shuls on every block,  and left-wing political agitators on every street
corner. Yet a spirit of tolerance prevailed, even between extremes.
Brownsville was the home of Murder,Inc. the Amboy Dukes, but also the first
home of Margaret Sanger's  Birth Control Clinic, the HES (Hebrew Educational
Society, s revolutionary all-day child-care facility for working mothers),
the first all-children's Public Library and the now-legendary Pitkin Avenue.

Brownsville was where I first heard Klezmer music every Saturday night, from
Spring to Fall, booming out onto the street from the wedding places. I
talked to one of those musicians at a recent KlezKamp and he told me they
used to come to the gigs from the Bronx  by subway and then by bus, carrying
their instruments and in full tuxedo dress.

"We didn't know how poor we were until we moved away" is an expression used
by many former Brownsvillians.

The book was designed not only as a personal read, but also as a learning
tool - each story is written in easy to read interpolated Yiddish and
Romanized Yiddish, followed by the English translation,  family and archival
photos. There is also a glossary of "anglicisms" for the Yiddish purist --
English words that were incorporated into Yiddish by the immigrants. About
80 vinkls are using the book as a study tool.

It's almost out of print and we are considering a re-issue but it's not
definite yet.

But in the meantime, we have gotten together an all-English edition which is
being readied for press.

Books have been written about Brownsville, even a poem in Yiddish by Katya
Maladovsky, but mostly  sociological studies. I tried to put its essence in
these stories, not  as an exercise in nostalgia for geezers like myself, but
for new generations, so they can experience its richness, Yiddishleyt,
warmth, mutual tolerance -- maybe as an object lesson?


Contact me privately for details.


Sylvia Schildt
Baltimore, Maryland


on 1/23/04 6:20 PM, Lori M Simon at lorelecs (at) juno(dot)com wrote:

Since Sylvia brought this up, I have to tell you all that her book is a
delight and makes me wish I had grown up there, too!  In case you don't
know, the first edition is bilingual (Yiddish-English) and well worth
reading.

Sh'koyekh, Tsipele!
Lorele

Sylvia Schildt
Baltimore, Maryland

PS - The English version of Mayn Shtetel Brunzvil (Remembering Brownsville)
is being readied to go to press. $12USD PLUS 4.50 s/h) Let me know privately
if you are interested.