Hometown Memories

What it was like to be a crossover kid.

Jul 13, 2022

Since I’ve written up some of my experiences in Crenshaw and elsewhere with Asian kids, mostly Japanese (Nisei), I’m in something of a nostalgic mood. It turns out that I made a video in 2017 that had a lot of flavorful details about me and 70s street culture in Los Angeles. I’m going to put that one here, because of course I didn’t just hang with black and Japanese kids, I hung out with a lot of white kids as well. At that time from about the age of 13 to 17 I hung out with several different cliques of white teen kids. So I’m specific about this in the video. Fun stuff. Lots of details. Pack a lunch.

I spoke about some of this in passing in ‘Leaving My Blackness At Home’.

Stoic Observations

Leaving My Blackness At Home

Q: I am going to this predominantly white school for the first time and I am really scared. This is my first time leaving my blackness at home. Is there anything I should expect? A: Try this. One day at lunch sit by yourself and observe. Close your mouth and open your eyes. Listen. You are under no obligation to ‘represent’. Neither is anybody else…

2 years ago · 12 likes · 9 comments · Michael DC Bowen

A lot of this falls into the category of ‘Impossible Black Man’ which I suppose I will elaborate at some point in the future when I feel like talking about myself again. But it’s not about me and I have to give this a break. In the meantime, this is my family & NYC cousins right around summer of 1974. That’s me with the beanie and the bomber jacket on the right. That’s Santa Monica just north of the pier. Right about here.