There is a great book “How the Irish saved Civilization” about the period in the early middle ages post the complete breakdown of the Roman Empire how the scholarship of monks and the copying/creation of manuscripts transmitted scholarship through the Classical period through till the Renaissance. Well that is for starters about our Irish heritage. The Irish embraced and preserved Christianity during that time but also that they endured through great periods of political, social and economic repression by the British, building formidible underground political networks, embracing English as a second language to become great writers, playwrights, poets. That they brought their ability to organize people and groups to the US when cities were growing and moved easily into urban politics which eased their way into American life. They endured a lot of shit here too, i.e. “no Irish need apply” which was part of the experience of my grandparents generation. They are a major force in the church, in politics, in journalism, media, and the arts, that’s if you can still identify the Irish as a distinguishable group. And I think you can…
dibs, what do you like in potash is anything? I had to get rid of TNH this morning. Owned POT a couple of times and did well, but I know there are some other guys around…
Reading through your posts I was struck by how open you are with your particular predicaments and about how much of life is uncertainty.
I am grateful for your sharing and please allow me to say that I empathize with what you have written and have experienced.
That in itself is a gift that you all possess, the ability to share your vulnerability with others. It is not easy for many people, myself included, to be that open.
And while I have reached a point in my life where I feel I have accomplished certain things that I set out to do, I will be the first to admit that there were many, many times in the past where the very idea of success, whatever that may mean, was nothing but a fleeting notion. There were entire years in the early eighties for instance that I look back on now as a sort of slow motion reel of difficult moments linked only by the wonder of how that kid I once was, survived. The crack scourge was consuming everything in the neighborhood.
In the end though, time passes and possibilities open up and circumstances change. You begin to wonder if uncertainty and change aren’t the true constants to life. I always wondered what Sartre meant when he wrote that;
“life begins on the far side of despair.”
After watching the twin towers fall and then two months later finding myself racing home to watch the remains of flight 587 burning two blocks away over the homes of 3 neighbors, it was all too apparent.
It was apparent in the people I met while helping in the relief effort at St. Pauls Church after 9/11 where I probably passed by bxgrl and montrose morris without even knowing.
You are all successful in your courage and decency and and in your joys and especially in your most difficult moments when you share of yourselves
that’s cuz st. patricks day is a celebration of drinking!!! you dont have to be irish. there’s nothing really in particular to celebrate about irish culture anyway.
Looking at the electric bill.
I pay more for the ‘delivery’ of electricity than the actual electricity.
WTF??????
There is a great book “How the Irish saved Civilization” about the period in the early middle ages post the complete breakdown of the Roman Empire how the scholarship of monks and the copying/creation of manuscripts transmitted scholarship through the Classical period through till the Renaissance. Well that is for starters about our Irish heritage. The Irish embraced and preserved Christianity during that time but also that they endured through great periods of political, social and economic repression by the British, building formidible underground political networks, embracing English as a second language to become great writers, playwrights, poets. That they brought their ability to organize people and groups to the US when cities were growing and moved easily into urban politics which eased their way into American life. They endured a lot of shit here too, i.e. “no Irish need apply” which was part of the experience of my grandparents generation. They are a major force in the church, in politics, in journalism, media, and the arts, that’s if you can still identify the Irish as a distinguishable group. And I think you can…
dibs, what do you like in potash is anything? I had to get rid of TNH this morning. Owned POT a couple of times and did well, but I know there are some other guys around…
organic veggie types, pls skip to next post.
Ooooooh, just saw on the elevator news that two police officers were among those arrested in a jewelry store heist in New Jersey.
drink, throw-up, get into brawls all you want but don’t let those damned gays march. gotta be respectible.
hey folks,
ExpText, *rob* and MM,
Reading through your posts I was struck by how open you are with your particular predicaments and about how much of life is uncertainty.
I am grateful for your sharing and please allow me to say that I empathize with what you have written and have experienced.
That in itself is a gift that you all possess, the ability to share your vulnerability with others. It is not easy for many people, myself included, to be that open.
And while I have reached a point in my life where I feel I have accomplished certain things that I set out to do, I will be the first to admit that there were many, many times in the past where the very idea of success, whatever that may mean, was nothing but a fleeting notion. There were entire years in the early eighties for instance that I look back on now as a sort of slow motion reel of difficult moments linked only by the wonder of how that kid I once was, survived. The crack scourge was consuming everything in the neighborhood.
In the end though, time passes and possibilities open up and circumstances change. You begin to wonder if uncertainty and change aren’t the true constants to life. I always wondered what Sartre meant when he wrote that;
“life begins on the far side of despair.”
After watching the twin towers fall and then two months later finding myself racing home to watch the remains of flight 587 burning two blocks away over the homes of 3 neighbors, it was all too apparent.
It was apparent in the people I met while helping in the relief effort at St. Pauls Church after 9/11 where I probably passed by bxgrl and montrose morris without even knowing.
You are all successful in your courage and decency and and in your joys and especially in your most difficult moments when you share of yourselves
Many of those drunks on Passover are not Jewish.
that’s cuz st. patricks day is a celebration of drinking!!! you dont have to be irish. there’s nothing really in particular to celebrate about irish culture anyway.
*rob*
Many of those drunks on st pats day were not irish.