Sunday, March 29, 2026, 11:30am-1pm
43 Wagner Drive, Callicoon, NY
Hop on your bike and join me for a ride around my neighborhood.City slickers might say Ardena was nowhere, but they had no idea. There was Asbury Park 15 miles east, and Freehold, the county seat, just west. I believed that roads from here could take me anywhere in the world. I was a sixth grader in 1961, sweating out the last days before summer vacation. Speaking of sweating, it was a melting pot at Ardena Elementary. My classmates’ families might pray in different churches, synagogues, and mosques, but we played with each other in playgrounds, ball fields, creeks, and woods … the topography that extended the boundaries of who neighbors were. I had moved here with my grandparents, a good change for me. Here, being half-Japanese didn’t make much difference.