LIFE MAGAZINE

In the 1940’s when I was at the Boys Club someone told me that Life magazine had written an article about South Boston. It was there on the table so I picked it up anticipating what it contained. Now I was about 8 and of a very impressionable age. What I read shocked me. The piece had several negative connotations about the Town I lived in. Words like slum, poor, unsafe, run down were scattered throughout the article. Could this be the same Town. I knew we didn’t have many material things (my father never owned a car) but never in my wildest imagination did I ever consider my family poor. Unsafe? I never felt safer in my life. When some unfortunate incident occurred affecting someone on our street the neighborhood would join forces to help the family get back on its feet. Run down? None of our homes were mansions but there wasn’t a home I visited that I felt wasn’t spotless. The woman took huge pride in keeping  their  homes wonderfully clean. My family provided love in abundance. If you scrapped your knee and your mother wasn’t close at hand another neighborhood mother was there to console you. How dare Life depict us that way. I wish I was older so I could write to Life and cancel my subscription. But hey, I was only eight.