Scardy-Cat-

When I was a kid I was scared to death of firecrackers.  Not the danger but the noise.  LOUD!  Pow, pow, pow..............

I remember walking down Mott Street as a child, clinging to my mother or father's side.  Something about the explosion shook you from your very core.  From the inside out.  I'd wear a hat and ear muffs to shield me.  I'd insist that we'd walk all the way around the Bowery every Chinese New Year as we went to my grandmother's for lunch on Henry Street.  It would be shorter if we walked straight down Mott Street, but then we'd be in the thick of all of the noise.  No, can't do it.  Too afraid.

If you've never walked down Mott Street during Chinese New Year's in the '70's you can't imagine what the noise is like.  Deafening.  Scary. Like a war zone.  One year I decided to be brave. Never really thought to watch the dragons, or parade because I was too pre-occupied trying to stay alive.  To toughen myself up, I decided I would walk down Mott Street alone one year.  I DID IT!  I was so proud of myself. Then I graduated to playing with firecrackers with my cousins.  Thought I was so cool lighting the incense and catching the little strings on fire, throwing at just the right moment.  Now firecrackers are outlawed.  Good or bad?