The kids are all right.

Some people just don’t get it. They fail to understand that referring to Dennisport’s Old Wharf Road as “Snatch Alley” simply reflects a memorable period when the youthful bulge (known the “Baby Boom”) in this nation’s population was coming of age in postwar America. To deny that Snatch Alley ever existed is to deny the existence of two important generations in the history of America.

The first of these two would be the generation of my folks, the so-called “Greatest Generation.” They included those who great up in the shadows of the Great Depression. Some fought in the second World War; others worked tirelessly on the homefront to outfit the troops. Still others tossed and turned each night with the worries of having a loved-one abroad. They included two of my mother’s brothers, as well as Jack Kennedy, who knew little of the deprivation of the Great Depression, but who knew much about the hell of war. Aside from their triumphs in wartime, their efforts brought unprecedented advancements in technology and production that continued long after the end of World War II.

The second of these two generations would be that of the “Baby Boom,” which the survivors of WWII brought forth in the years from 1946 to 1964. This generation includes myself, as well as my older brother. Though he was born in 1943, he was on the cutting edge of the boom. The schools and such that raised his cohorts quickly became inadequate to handle the massive bulge in the population. By the time I came along, new schools were being built, new roads were being set out, and new homes were being built.

Having been born in 1948, I became a teen-ager in 1961; my brother had done so in 1956. In my brother’s time, the word “teenager” first came into being. Before that, “teenage” (like "cabbage" and "cribbage") was a British word. Teenage kindling wood. Boys and girls aged 13-19 were simply known as “teens.”

Meanwhile, on this date in 1961, Jack Kennedy was celebrating his first birthday as an occupant of the White House. It was his 44th, and my dad was a year older than the President of the United States. In the 1960 election, America had chosen their youngest Chief Executive, and youth would be at the fore of the nation’s thoughts. Hyannisport was not Dennisport. And Squaw Island was not Snatch Alley. Still, to understand Snatch Alley is to understand the impact of the Baby Boom upon American culture and of the nation’s fixation upon youth.