Summary

Bruce opens Chapter 1 by describing the street he grew up on. The street serves as a backdrop for his early life as it is there that he "has been rolled in [his] baby carriage, learned to walk, been taught by [his] grandfather to ride a bike, and fought and run from some of [his] first fights. [He] learned the depth and comfort of real friendships, [and] felt [his] early sexual stirrings" (3). Bruce grows up in Freehold, New Jersey, surrounded by extended family who all live in the shadow of the Catholic Church. He lives with his parents and sister in his grandparents' house. Bruce's grandmother is devoted to him but Bruce writes that "her blind single-minded devotion would lead to hard feelings with [his] father" (6).

Bruce's family is "pretty near poor" but as a child he never thinks...