breakin'

My "Old Man" story:

          I remember when I was a kid, we lived next to the park. It was a big park with baseball diamonds, and swings and tennis courts and even an Olympic sized swimming pool. South Gate park was the best, I loved living a block away. After school, in Jr. high, which was like 1984, 1986 around there, I would go into the park looking for break dancers. Just a huddle of 20-30 kids gathered around a slab of cardboard, a D-cell laden boom box, carried proudly by some young man, thumping hip hop. Somewhere in the center someone was breaking, or pop-locking. It was as normal a scene as apple pie. I never would have guessed how lucky I was to be witnessing the birth of a whole culture.