"Oh. My. Goodness. You're from the Bronx? How did you ever survive?"
"Oh you're one of those snobby/privileged/entitled/insert whichever adjective you like here kids from Bronxville."
Those are the two stereotypes I grew up with when people found out I was from Bronxville. They're pretty much on opposite ends of the spectrum but I still heard both of them fairly often.
How is that possible? It's easy. People who are from Westchester county in New York know that Bronxville is a wealthy village (it's tiny). People who don't have the benefit of knowing Westchester geography hear Bronxville and assume it's part of the Bronx borough of New York City. People think of the Bronx and for some reason they thing of gangs, violence, drugs and other types of hardships.
Both the stereotypical Bronxville image and the stereotypical Bronx image are incorrect. There are amazing neighborhoods in the Bronx. The Bronx Zoo and Fordham University are housed there -- two places I love. You'd be hard pressed to find Italian food better than the restaurants on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx as well. Last but definitely not least, my gray grandparents lived in the Bronx in a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood and had a lovely life there.
There are nice, intelligent, sensible people living in Bronxville. Everyone living in Bronxville is not spoiled or entitled. Everyone living in Bronxville is not wealthy. There are some very real, down to earth people counted among Bronxville's citizens.
What was it like to grow up here? Well, it's hard to say because I didn't have a full Bronxville experience. I was sent to private school in the sixth grade. Bronxville has a top notch public school system, but the way I was districted I would have been sent to Yonkers public schools, despite having the Bronxville P.O.
Like I said, Bronxville is small. It encompasses one square mile. That's it.
I did go to grammar school in Bronxville. I went to the archdiocesan grammar school. The kids I went to school with weren't necessarily from Bronxville, but some of them were.
In truth, I find it difficult to continue this article because I honestly don't have much good to say about my time at this school, and by extension Bronxville. The parents? Some of them were amazing parents. They were kind and encouraged their children to be kind. The rest of the parents? They set horrendous examples for their children. The children? Some of them were wonderful, beautiful, kind, and intelligent. The rest of the kids? They followed their parents horrendous examples.
My parents were the only divorced parents in my class. Kids weren't allowed to play with me because of this. Parents in the class forced the venue for one of my birthday parties to be changed from a restaurant that had a couple rooms of games (like skee ball, a basketball shooting game, air hockey, foosball etc) to a different venue because they got it into their heads that my parents (who were both there, by the way) were going to spend their time hitting on other people at the restaurant. This is one incident of many that my parents and I experienced during my six years at this school.
I won't even go into the judgment my mother got for being a working mom, to say nothing of the fact that she made it to more of my school performances and games than some of my classmates' mothers did. Forget the fact that she became a partner in one of New York City's top law firms. You would have thought she was committing a crime by being a mother and simultaneously having a career (a successful one at that).
If you think that doesn't impact the way a child grows up and views herself you are very much mistaken.
I suppose the moral of this story is that some people think being from Bronxville makes them superior to others because of the reputation Bronxville has within Westchester. These people do not speak for me or represent me in any way. The truth is that outside of Westchester, no one has heard of Bronxville and they envision you living on gang ridden streets because they equate Bronxville with the Bronx. This stereotype of the Bronx is false and harmful.
Don't get me wrong, there are things I love about Bronxville. It's tiny. It's quaint. The stores are unique to Bronxville (for the most part). For awhile, we had a store dedicated to selling olive oil. I kid you not -- that's all they sold. It certainly has character. I always like driving through the town.
Where you are from certainly has a hand in shaping the person you grow into. It doesn't tell the whole picture, though. At the end of the day, Bronxville has a very special place in my heart despite some of the experiences I had here.
