1953. America is in a boom economy — people buying everything, discovering shopping as a hobby. My mother, my two brothers and I move into public housing. There is no car, the closets have no doors, we buy our clothes at John’s Bargain Basement. My mother works two jobs: by day she’s a comptometer operator, typing numbers on a mechanical calculator; once a week she cooks hot dogs for Bingo Night at a synagogue. My grandmother lives with us, to take care of us, but in many ways my brothers and I raised ourselves. The smart, Jewish wild children of the projects.