Book Review - "Next Stop - Growing Up Wild-Style in the Bronx"

Another post about my roots in the Bronx. "NEXT STOP" is a fascinating book that takes me back to my days in the same neighborhood of the Bronx that the author lived in. It's a penetrating look at life in the 80's and 90's in the Kingsbridge Road area of the Northwest Bronx. Ivan Sanchez takes the reader into his world of poverty, crime, drugs, despair and death. It's a brutal and sad story yet unfortunately very true. Ivan who was born in the Bronx in 1972 and was able to escape in 1993 and recreate himself and create a new life for himself and his family in Virginia.

Ivan is a couple of generation younger than me and his world of the Bronx was a darker, more violent and destructive one than my experiences in the Bronx. I also grew up with the poverty, drugs, arson and crime in the South Bronx. The two different factors in my days were guns weren't as widespread and while heroin use was epidemic it didn't compare to the destructive nature of the crack epidemic. I also took a different path than Ivan when I was a teen. I took a path that would take me down a different road.

I moved to the Kinsgsbridge Area of the Bronx in the early 70's from the South Bronx where I was born and lived all my life. I moved there to organize for a radical/revolutionary anti drug organization that was associated with the Puerto Rican Young Lords Party. I spent four years in that neighborhood organizing.

I moved back to Ivan's neighborhood in the 80's from Chicago. I worked for a period of time with a local community organization the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. I returned to the Bronx to start over and try to find myself and create a new life for myself. I left the Bronx in 1991 after attending the funerals of ex-girlfriend of mine who died of AIDS. I left for California to start over again and recreate myself. It was the best decision I ever made. I've been back to the Bronx many times since then to connect up with old friends. I also wonder how I survived it and how I created the life I have now and I am both amazed and grateful. I will be writing more about my life growing up in the Bronx

I came across the book "Next Stop" while browsing in Barnes and Nobles. The book may be about a world that you are unfamiliar with but it is a universal experience and ultimately a hopeful story that is worth the read. Ivan Sanchez shares the stories of his life and the lessons he learned the hard way. Check it out.....