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Aerial Warfare in the Bronx
by Bruce Chance, renowned 1960s kite warrior
The South Bronx isn't that crowded these days. Most of the tenements were
abandoned and knocked down and what's left is mostly vacant lots or those new
low cost two story homes. But when I grew up, the tenement buildings were
next to each other with just an alley in between and there was a whole other
world up on the roof. People raising pigeons, people hanging out and kids
flying kites.
I loved those ten cent kites you'd get from the candy store cause you could
cash in some bottles to get them. They were just made of that craypaper like
material and balsa wood sticks but they could fly really high. In my
neighborhood, we didn't just watch our kites fly, we battled the other ones.
You'd save those razors that your dad threw out and tie them onto the tail of
the kite. When you were flying, you'd always be on the lookout for other
nearby kites and you'd try to position yours to intercept someone else's. If
you were lucky your razors would cut their string and their kite would sail
off into the distance. Of course they might get you instead, and you'd run
downstairs and try to salvage what was left from the street or another roof.
You'd might get into battles with someone across the street or on a roof a
couple of blocks away. Sometimes kids would get really mad at each other, but
most of the time it was ok, just part of the game
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