Disciplines

Jewish Studies

Abstract

Linda Comac was born in 1948 in the Bronx and raised on Walton Avenue near 164th Street, where she lived until 1969. Her family had deep roots in the borough, dating back to the 1930s. She grew up across from Joyce Kilmer Park, which she remembers fondly, as well as frequenting local shops and hangouts along 161st Street, including Addie Valens ice cream parlor and the corner candy store near “the rocks.” Her building and neighborhood were overwhelmingly Jewish, and she recalled a strong sense of community and safety. Comac’s family kept kosher, and Jewish cultural traditions shaped much of her upbringing. Her father was an observant Orthodox Jew who was active in the local synagogue, Adath Jeshurun, while her mother cooked traditional Ashkenazi dishes like gefilte fish, gribenes, and chicken soup.

Linda attended PS 114, then Jordan L. Mott Junior High School (JHS 22), where she was in the Special Progress (SP) program, completing junior high in two years. She went on to attend William H. Taft High School, where she emerged from the shadow of her academically gifted sister and thrived socially and intellectually. Her early passion for writing led her to major in English literature in college, though her career path was varied—ranging from advertising and publishing to teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), where she eventually became director of the English Language Institute at New York Institute of Technology. Linda was politically aware but not heavily involved in the hippie or anti-war movements, although she reflected later in life on her shifting views on Vietnam and feminism.

Though she moved out of the Bronx in 1976, she carries vivid memories of her childhood and expresses a deep love for her home borough. She reflects nostalgically on its vibrant sense of community and mourns both the loss of that closeness and the displacement caused by modern gentrification.

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