1 - This boyhood memoir of growing up in the small working-class immigrant-laden town of South River NJ in the 1940s, 50s and 60s is filled with gripping historical and philosophical implication. Through in-depth descriptions of my own hometown, I try to paint a general portrait of many blue-collar towns on the Eastern seaboard. South River was a special immigrant-laden football town filled with teachers and mentors dedicated to providing its youthful baby-boomer inhabitants the necessary education and tools needed to become successful adults, But for us Trzeciak kids living on 50 Division Street, the best teacher was our father, Tata, as we called him. 2 - I was the son of a relatively poor but very special immigrant Polish father, Vincent Trzeciak (Tata), who led an incredibly adventurous and remarkable life. Although formally uneducated, Tata had the inborn intelligence and enlightened wisdom of a sagacious philosopher, and his story needs to be told. He would father and guide seven rambunctious children who would experience the full impact and promise of the American Dream of opportunity and freedom. His perspective, leadership and personal example of doing 'the best you can with what you have where you are' shaped us seven children to be successful adults. Tata promised his Polish wife (Mama) that all her noble sons and daughters would live a life better that they had in the 'Old Country' and gave up his whole life to that purpose. He was a saint. 3 - It is also a story of four adolescent football players who became lifelong Baby-Boomer friends and called themselves "the Four Amigos" We four would eventually be honored on the 'Wall of Fame' of South River High School. Our adventurous experiences and American Graffitti-like escapades amidst the birth of rock 'n roll music was legendary. We Amigos folded into a rebellious senior 'Class of 1962' in the town’s brand-new high school. We shocked and embarrassed the town with newspaper headlines of our antics. Little did we realize back then in 1962 that we students were the early vanguard and seeds of the youthful Baby-Boomer cultural revolution that exploded in the late 1960s and rippled across the nation with long hair, bell bottom slacks, miniskirts, Martin Luther King marches, psychedelic posters, free love, communes, flag burnings, college sit-ins, anti-Vietnam War protests, Nehru jackets, beads, headbands, marijuana joints, two-finger peace signs, Woodstock and the motto “Don’t trust anyone over 30”.

The first year of the COVID 19 virus pandemic in2020 was riddled with life-stifling sequestration and lockdown. So, I decided to make good use of my time by compiling my historical notes of interviews of my Polish immigrant father (recorded at the tail end of his life) into a detailed memoir for my family. Tata was truly unique. He had a special common sense and perspective based on his survival experiences and he used it to guide his seven children. The result was a lengthy Word file which I emailed to my 5 living brothers and sister on Thanksgiving Day of 2020, a sacred day for the Trzeciak family. That’s the holiday that landed Tata on Ellis Island in 1928. The manuscript also pays tribute to my hometown and its educational system which provided teachers and mentors who helped shape the town’s adolescent lives for the better, certainly mine. The family was literally stunned by its thought-provoking contents, and my oldest brother, Al, suggested it be expanded into a book for a larger audience. I spent the next five years doing just that.

The main goal of the book is to entertain and educate the reader with an accurate historical and philosophical rendering of mid-20th-century adolescent life in my blue-collar ethnic hometown of South River NJ and its special distinctiveness. Three major interrelated subjects provide interesting and abundant literary value: 1- the remarkable life of the my Polish immigrant father, 2- the exceptional attributes of my small New Jersey hometown, and 3- the enduring lifelong friendship and personal growth of four high school football players who referred to themselves as 'the Four Amigos'. This non-fiction novel represents an opus of reflection on growing up in a small East-coast town as a baby-boomer in the idyllic aftermath of World War II amidst the birth of rock 'n roll. Readers will swim in a sea of touching and poignant stories of a past era, gone by but not forgotten---the best of times. Along with a compelling feel-good story of personal growth, the book delivers an important message which will be different for everyone.

Using a unique conversational and deliberate descriptive tone, I recount my hometown tale of growing up in South River from the viewpoint of 3 distinct entities, three voices that lived in my head across the years: childhood Ebby--the pudgy Polish kid in St. Mary’s elementary school; Zeke--the cool adolescent teenager in high school; and Ed--the adult retired scientist, me, the author. But Tata always referred to me, his 5th son, as ‘Edveen, the Professor’. By example, Tata showed his children how to live a productive life to its fullest, one filled with gratitude, love and happiness. If Tata's perspectives and counsel were heeded by the general populace, it would be a better world. It is a story of boyhood personal growth positioned in the aftermath of World War II and factually captures the essence of immigrant working-class Americana in the mid-20th century. In addition to adult perspectives, there is no finer description of adolescence and first love that can be found elsewhere. The secret and mysterious acronym-title of the book (AHNSAD) refers to a word phrase having two themes: Tata's promise to Mama and the spirit of South River High School. The first theme is disclosed in the middle and the other is revealed at the end of the book. Also, I felt compelled to provide some personal perspectives on several important national issues. I have led a good life and want to pay it forward with a gift of 20% of the proceeds of the book given to the SR Board of Education.