“Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If
love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each
other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay
forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision.” Erich Fromm
GOOD WORDS
TO HAVE………………..
Morpheme: A distinctive
collocation of phonemes (such as the free form pin or the bound form -s of
pins) having no smaller meaningful parts. Some words in other languages are so
useful they're the root of two or more totally different words in English. The
word "laughed" is made up of two morphemes: "laugh" and the
past-tense morpheme "-ed."
Morphemes are the indivisible
basic units of language, much like the atoms which physicists once assumed were
the indivisible units of matter. English speakers borrowed morpheme from French
morphème, which was itself created from the Greek root morphē, meaning
"form." The French borrowed -ème from their word phonème, which, like
English phoneme, means "the smallest unit of speech that can be used to
make one word different from another word." The French suffix and its
English equivalent -eme are used to create words that refer to distinctive
units of language structure. Words formed from -eme include lexeme ("a
meaningful linguistic unit that is an item in the vocabulary of a
language"), grapheme ("a unit of a writing system"), and toneme
("a unit of intonation in a language in which variations in tone
distinguish meaning").
I WILL BE SPEAKING AND SIGNING BOOKS AT THE DEEP RIVER PUBLIC LIBRARY ON SATURDAY OCT 3rd FROM 2-4 PLEASE DROP BY AND SAY HELLO
I WILL BE SPEAKING AND SIGNING BOOKS AT MT. ST JOHNS ON OCTOBER 3rd PLEASE ATTEND IF YOU CAN, ITS FOR A GREAT CAUSE
HERE'S MY LATEST BOOK ON SALE AT AMAZON AND ALL BARNES AND NOBLE STORIES
This is a book of short stories taken
from the things I saw and heard in my childhood in the factory town of Ansonia
in southwestern Connecticut. Most of these stories, or as true as I recall them
because I witnessed these events many years ago through the eyes of child and are
retold to you now with the pen and hindsight of an older man. The only
exception is the story Beat Time
which is based on the disappearance of Beat poet Lew Welch. Decades before I
knew who Welch was, I was told that he had made his from California to New
Haven, Connecticut, where was an alcoholic living in a mission. The notion
fascinated me and I filed it away but never forgot it.
The collected stories are loosely
modeled around Joyce’s novel, Dubliners (I
also borrowed from the novels character and place names. Ivy Day, my character in “Local Orphan is Hero” is also the name
of chapter in Dubliners, etc.) and like Joyce I wanted to write about my
people, the people I knew as a child, the working class in small town America
and I wanted to give a complete view of them as well. As a result the stories
are about the divorced, Gays, black people, the working poor, the middle class,
the lost and the found, the contented and the discontented.
Conversely
many of the stories in this book are about starting life over again as a result
of suicide (The Hanging Party, Small
Town Tragedy, Beat
Time) or from a near death experience
(Anna Bell Lee and the Charge of the
Light Brigade, A Brief Summer)
and
natural occurring death. (The
Best Laid Plans, The Winter Years, Balanced and Serene)
With
the exception of Jesus Loves Shaqunda, in each story there is a rebirth
from the death. (Shaqunda is
reported as having died of pneumonia in The Winter Years)
Sal,
the desperate and depressed divorcee in Things
Change, changes his life in Lunch
Hour when asks the waitress for a date and she accepts. (Which we learn in Closing Time, the last story in the
book) In The Arranged Time,
Thisby is given the option of change and whether she takes it or, we don’t
know. The death of Greta’s husband in A Matter of Time has led her to the
diner and into the waiting arms of the outgoing and loveable Gabe.
http://www.amazon.com/No-Time-Say-Goodbye-Memoir/dp/
In
1962, six year old John Tuohy, his two brothers and two sisters entered
Connecticut’s foster care system and were promptly split apart. Over the next
ten years, John would live in more than ten foster homes, group homes and state
schools, from his native Waterbury to Ansonia, New Haven, West Haven, Deep
River and Hartford. In the end, a decade later, the state returned him to the
same home and the same parents they had taken him from. As tragic as is funny
compelling story will make you cry and laugh as you journey with this child to
overcome the obstacles of the foster care system and find his dreams.
http://www.amazon.com/No-Time-Say-Goodbye-Memoir/dp/0692361294/
http://amemoirofalifeinfostercare.blogspot.com/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John
William Tuohy is a writer who lives in Washington DC. He holds an MFA in
writing from Lindenwood University. He is the author of numerous non-fiction on
the history of organized crime including the ground break biography of
bootlegger Roger Tuohy "When Capone's Mob Murdered Touhy" and
"Guns and Glamour: A History of Organized Crime in Chicago."
His
non-fiction crime short stories have appeared in The New Criminologist,
American Mafia and other publications. John won the City of Chicago's Celtic
Playfest for his work The Hannigan's of Beverly, and his short story fiction
work, Karma Finds Franny Glass, appeared in AdmitTwo Magazine in October of
2008.
His
play, Cyberdate.Com, was chosen for a public performance at the Actors Chapel
in Manhattan in February of 2007 as part of the groups Reading Series for New
York project. In June of 2008, the play won the Virginia Theater of The First
Amendment Award for best new play.
Contact
John:
MYWRITERSSITE.BLOGSPOT.COM
JWTUOHY95@GMAIL.COM
Excerpt from my book "No Time to Say Goodbye:
Memoirs of a Life in Foster Care.
Friendship
is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. . . It has no survival value; rather
it is one of those things that give value to survival. -C. S. Lewis
That first year
that I returned to Waterbury I didn’t know anyone other than my mother, my sister
Kathleen, and the parade of lost souls who were my mother’s friends and lovers.
I was lonely.
I stayed
home at night and on weekends, spending my time taking Kathleen to the park or
watching old movies late into the night while I listened to the cadre of
neighborhood characters acting up out on the sidewalks.
One day
that back in August my Aunt Ginny dropped by the house and invited me to come
over to her apartment and meet her daughter, Little Ginny. My Aunt Ginny—
Virginia was her given name—was the eldest of my mother’s tribe of brothers and
sisters. She had a toughness about her
that wasn’t practiced. It was real, from the ever-present cigarette butt
dangling from the side of her mouth to the incredibly thick Brooklyn accent.
She leaned forward when she talked and she talked loudly, and her humor was coarse
and rough. Unlike my mother who, surprisingly, didn’t swear very much, Aunt
Ginny was Ground Zero for obscenities.
She was
almost fifty years old when she moved to Waterbury, about a year before I
returned, to be closer to her father and sister who had moved to Waterbury.
Before that, she had spent her entire life in Brooklyn, never once venturing
outside its borders. She had never seen Manhattan or its sights. For years she
lived within a few feet of an elevated subway track that made everything in the
house shake, rattle and roll when a train sped by every forty-five minutes.
My aunt
looked like an older version of my mother except she had piercing, clear blue
eyes that showed her natural intelligence. Otherwise, she had the round, ruddy
face and freckles and the light auburn hair that the rest of us had.
Ginny had
two children. Her son, Anthony, was my age and as a child I had fought with him
whenever we met. He daughter —Little Ginny—was about a year younger than I and
had spent most of her life in foster care. She had run away to live with her
mother and had come with her to Waterbury.
My Aunt
Ginny and Little Ginny were living in the old Elton Hotel in the center of
town, the place where Paulie and I had stayed with Miss Hanrahan and where we
ate in the formal dining room with the waiter who liked my choices. I went to
see her a few days after she dropped by my mother’s. But, oh, how the mighty
had fallen. The once-grand Elton was now a welfare hotel. Its occupants were
the dregs of society, and it showed. All the fine furniture was gone from the
lobby, as were the doorman and desk clerks. The thick red carpets were worn and
dirty, the hallways eerily quiet and suspiciously dark. Still, the hotel had a
regal sense of class, or perhaps it was simply what I wished for that grand old
place. I found the room number and knocked.
Aunt Ginny
let me in. She made us coffee. The hotel rooms had been broken up into hundreds
of tiny apartments, each with one medium-sized room, a tiny bathroom with a
shower, and a large walk-in closet that had been converted into a kitchen with
a two-burner stove, sink, and mini-refrigerator. But the high ceilings and the
four large windows facing Waterbury Green and the magnificent Basilica of the
Immaculate Conception next door made the place seem much larger than it
was.
Aunt Ginny
slept in a cot in the kitchen because the stove kept her warm. Like most
alcoholics she was cold all the time. Like my mother, she chain-smoked
non-filtered Pall Malls, and the kitchen reeked of tobacco and stale beer. The
Pall Malls lowered her voice to a rough gravel, so she sounded more like a man
than a woman.
“Little
Ginny’s gone down the store to get some cigarettes.” She coughed. “You want a
beer, Johnny?”
I passed
on the beer, and about then the apartment door opened and Little Ginny stepped
in. A blue-eyed blonde, she didn’t resemble anyone in the family. She was
taller than I had expected, slim, well- built, not attractive, but not homely.
She was dressed loudly and provocatively in a way more fitting to her native
Brooklyn than to Waterbury.
“This
here’s Johnny I told you about,” Aunt Ginny, said in her thicker-than-molasses
Brooklynese.
Although
Little Ginny had been staring at me, now she turned her gaze toward the kitchen
and nodded in a disrespectful recognition of me. She asked her mother, “We got
anything to eat?”
Aunt Ginny
handed her a ten-dollar bill and said, “Youse should go out and eat.” She
turned to me and said, “She ain’t been outta the house since she got here, so
go on, go out,” and sank into a chair, popped a beer can and focused her
attention on an old black-and-white movie.
Ginny
slipped on a silver-colored coat and wordlessly let herself out the door. I
followed.
“I do go
out,” she said angrily as she walked quickly down the long hall. I tried to keep up with her, and then stopped
and watched her walk farther and farther away until she stopped and turned to
face me.
“I didn’t
do anything wrong,” I said. “So whatever is eating you, don’t take it out on
me.”
She waited
for several seconds and then waved me ahead. “Come on, Mister Sensitive, let’s
go get a burger down the White Castle.” And we did.
It turned
out that she was actually a nice person, a little rough around the edges. She
had the family trait of swearing like a sailor and was a few hundred miles away
from genius, but she could be kind and considerate, and mostly important she
was my age and she was company. And I was desperate for company.
That first
day, we spent four or five hours talking about what a drag Waterbury was, but
neither one of us had anywhere else to go, although towards the end of the
night we hatched a plot to run away to Manhattan and live as panhandlers.
She didn’t
have a sense of humor but she did have a fine appreciation for the absurd. And
you need one or the other o when you’re poor because they console you for being
the way we are, just as having an imagination compensates you for what you
aren’t.
Over time
she began to smile at my inane ramblings, my ridiculous protests over the
insignificant but unavoidable difficulties and indignities of life, and with
every pronouncement—and there were many of them, because I complain
endlessly—her smiles widened. Her eyes grew large and she laughed at what I
said. Slowly the arch in her back dropped and the clench in her jaw disappeared
and she became happy.
Whenever
one of us had money, we went to the movies at the Palace Theater or splurged on
cheeseburgers at the White Castle, but mostly we had no money, so we talked a
lot, aimlessly strolling through the downtown streets or sitting in front of my
mother’s secondhand black-and-white television, chatting deep into the night.
We learned a lot about each other in the way that young people do.
We spent a
lot of time sitting on one of the green painted on the Green. On weekends, Aunt
Ginny would go to a package store and buy us a bottle of Boone’s Farm , a
remarkably bad apple wine that cost just under a dollar a bottle. Little Ginny
and I would sit at our bench that faced the handsome basilica, , sip our wine
and chain-smoke our Marlboros. Sometimes we talked and sometimes we just sat
there staring up into the night, looking at the stars. More than once we spent
the entire night there, leaving after we watched the sun come up.
“I’m a
loner,” she would say, and I would think, No,
you aren’t a loner. You don’t enjoy being alone any more than I do.
“She said
once, “This life we got is terrible. I hope the next one is better, or else I’m
gonna have something to say to God, I’ll tell ya.”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I think life is
good.”
The
faintest of smiles came across her face as she brushed back her hair and said,
“Just because we ain’t dead, don’t mean we’re alive.” She waved her hand around
the room and added, “I mean, look at where we are, and look at how we live.”
I don’t
know, maybe because the truth hurts, but I felt myself becoming angry at her.
She was right, of course. It was a miserable existence, and I was ashamed of it
and tired of it.
“You know, Ginny,” I said, “you can’t go through
your entire life thinking everyone will let you down.”
“Why not?”
she asked. “It’s easier to believe that, you know? It’s easier to believe in
the bad stuff that will happen to you instead of believing in some like, pipe
dream where everyone is nice to you and all that.”
We sat in
silence because we disagreed with each other. We were all we had and because of
that, we vigilantly kept even the slightest discord from coming between
us.
“Listen,”
she said, as she took my hand and smiled at me, “you’re right, you shouldn’t go
through life figuring people are gonna let you down, but from where I sit, from
what I seen, you don’t expect nothing you don’t never get disappointed.”
When we
met again a few nights later, I took a paperback from my back pocket, a very
worn and tattered copy of Romeo and
Juliet. I was battling my way through it as I would all of Shakespeare for
the rest of my life. But certain passages touched me with burning clarity and
when I found them I circled them in pen and read them aloud to make sure I understood
the words t as the author intended. I asked, “Can I read you something?”
She sat up
and crossed her legs towards me and a serious expression came over her face as
when I mentioned other books or points of higher learning. I think it flattered
her that I thought enough of her to share those studious things. And I think
she listened so intently because she knew it made me happy.
“Listen to
this,” I said, my face close to the page.
“Okay,” she
answered, and I read:
“When he shall
die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.”
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.”
When I was
finished, she tilted her head to the side and considered the words and said
“Take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will—What was the rest of
it?”
I read,
“‛And he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in
love with night’.”
She looked
up into the heavens and smiled and whispered, “Wow,” and then asked, “Who wrote
that? Some guy?”
“William Shakespeare,” I answered.
“What?” she asked, very concerned “His father die
on him or something?”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said. “But I think what he’s
saying is, is that everyone is magnificent, even a little piece of them is more
glorious than then all the stars in heaven.”
She smiled
and brushed my hair behind my ear and said, “You know what I like about you?
You believe things.”
“I know,” I
said. “I got to stop doing that.”
“No, no,
no,” she said, leaning in closer. “You always got to do that, for the rest of
your life. That’s a real important thing to have. We’re poor people, us, but
inside your mind with all those poems and nice stuff, it’s like inside a really
beautiful palace made outta gold. You ever give that up and I’ll come back and
haunt you.”
If it had
been any other person in the world who said “I’ll come back and haunt you,” I
would have asked, “Why? Do you plan on dying soon?” but with her, I didn’t ask,
because there was a sense of inevitable doom about her. You knew it wasn’t
going to end happily, because she was so beaten by it all.
No one ever
gave a damn about her, and, unlike me, she let that defeat her. She was the
product of indifference. And that’s the problem in foster care. Bad people aren’t
the problem in foster care. Indifferent people are the problem in foster care.
I was
lonely because I didn’t know anyone my age. But I wasn’t tormented by my
loneliness because I had the heart of a poet, and because of that I knew the
difference between loneliness and solitude. Loneliness can be painful, but
solitude can be a productive and glorious exploration.
Little
Ginny was lonely, as was I, but she was lonely because she distrusted the world
and everything in it, and that’s the worst sort of loneliness.
She had
encountered many defeats, so she quit trying to win. And that happened because
she had never learned to deal with her problems. I had learned to deal with
problems the same way a boxer learns to deal with his opponent. Study him, know
everything you can about him, find his weak spot and bust him up. But Ginny
couldn’t do that. She saw nothing beyond what her life as it was then, a
jobless teen in a welfare hotel with no hope. Hope in the present always dies
long before hope for the future. She was, she said, a realist. Foster care
makes you a realist. The paradox is that to be a realist you must believe in
miracles, and this young lady did not, on any level, believe in miracles.
She didn’t
know that there was a way out of it all, out of the poverty and the dead ends.
Nor did she believe that a better life could be had because, I suspect, she had
absolutely no idea what a better life would be like. But I did. My books told
me there was a better life. I was positive that there was a way out and that
outside that awful existence we lived in, life was rich and good. She had lost
her faith. It’s an odd thing, faith. You can’t do very much with it, but you
can’t do anything without it.
I was
always concerned with losing faith, in losing belief in things unseen. I was
never deeply concerned about losing hope, something I do quite often. You can
always regain hope in something or some else. I’m not sure the same can be said
for losing one’s faith. Hell, I’m not even sure we lose faith. I think maybe
you just stop letting faith—the belief in a God and a world filled with love
and kindness and compassion—direct your life and the way you live it. Without
it we become snide, suspicious, and mean. As the Bible says, “According to your
faith be it done unto you.” And it isn’t limited to us. Imagine a world without
faith. There would be no living in it.
After a few
months at school I started to meet new people, make friends and get drawn into
new things. But Ginny didn’t. She stayed the same, day in and day out. I
started seeing less and less of her, mostly because I had classes to attend and
I couldn’t afford to stay up all night to watch the sun rise over the hill. And
the truth is, she was starting to bore me. Maybe that was because I was young and
shallow, or maybe because, at our cores, I believed in cause and effect and she
believed in luck and circumstances.
November
came and the cold forced us to retreat from our bench to her mother’s cramped
apartment, where we spent the weekends drinking wine and smoking and watching
ancient black-and-white films and talking late into the nights.
“Do you
like going to dances?” I asked her. “They’re having a dance at the school.”
“I dunno,” she said in a tired slur. “Never been
to one.” But she lifted her eyes and asked, “Are they fun?”
“You wanna
go?” I asked.
“I can’t dance,” she said, her eyes on the dirty
linoleum floor.
“Sure you can,” I said, joining her in gazing at
the floor.
“Don’t know how,” she said.
I turned
down the television and turned on the radio set. In 1971, a lot of folks still
had radio sets in their homes. I found the local rock station playing a popular
song from that year, a slow, melodic tune by the Bee Gees called “How Can You
Mend a Broken Heart?”
I took her
hands, pulled her up from the couch, held her in a dance position and said,
“You follow what I do. We’re going to make a box, so go to the left two steps,”
and she did.
“Now we go back two steps.” And she did. “Now to
the right two steps and now forward two steps.” She was tense and unsure but
interested, and kept her eyes on her bare feet.
“Now we do the whole thing over again,” I said,
“but just a little bit faster, looser, okay?” She nodded, and after a while she
got it and a contented smile spread across her face.
“You want
to try a spin?” I asked, and she let go of me and spun in a circle.
“I think
you’re supposed to let the guy spin you,” I said. “Let’s try it again.” And
that was how we passed the night, waiting for slow songs to come onto the radio
and dancing across the room lit only by the flickering light of the muted
television set.
We went to
the dance the next weekend. She met some guy, I met some girl and we were both
glad we had gone. I was starting to enjoy school more and more. I asked her
about getting back into school, or maybe learning a trade—hairdresser, or
nurse’s aide— but she was like most foster teens who don’t improve because the
only role model they have is themselves. And whenever I made those suggestions,
she got get angry. I’ll tell you this much: Nobody wants advice, not really.
What they want is for you to tell them they’re right.
She seemed
to collect the everyday insults tossed at her and the memories of the
injustices that intruded on her life and talked about them over and over. It
was as if she waited for the next grievance so she could add it to her
collection of indignities.
So I lost
track of her after a while, I don’t know why, although when I think of her,
remembering when we were so close, I ask myself why we allowed each other to
drift away. But there is no answer, except that sometimes that’s just the way
life is—you replace one person with another.
Over the
years I heard bits and pieces about her from my mother and my aunt. Aunt Ginny
died of cancer, and Little Ginny had to move out of the Elton after that. She
was involved with some guy and had a baby, and the guy left her. She became a
prostitute.
She
contracted AIDS in the early days of the epidemic and died soon afterward. She
was twenty years old. I had never gotten to talk to her about that last part of
her life, but I know that being a hooker humiliated her because she had a proud
dignity about her.
I remember
one morning, as we sat on the bench, she said, “Tears are for after all the bad
things happen, ’cause when it’s all falling down around you, tears just waste
your time and let them know how bad they hurt you. You know, a lot of times,
you think that in the future, when you’re all old and everything, that it’s going
to be better because you will have been hurt so much by then, there won’t be
nothing left of you to rip apart no more, then they can’t hurt you none,
because there ain’t no part of you that’s left.”
She died
with a lot of scars. I will too.
It’s a sad
story of a throwaway life of a person who didn’t matter to the world. But she
mattered once, to me, a very long time ago, when we danced the night away in
the Elton Hotel. She’ll always be with me. Death can end a life but it can’t
end a memory. After Little Ginny died, her son was put into the foster care
system and life went on.
WHY THE WORLD NEEDS EDITORS.....................
THE ART OF PULP
Sculpture this and Sculpture
that
DON'T YOU LOVE POP ART?
Bill Noir
THE ART OF WAR...............................
DON’T WORRY-BE HAPPY
Happiness Spreads But Depression
Doesn’t
Having friends who suffer from
depression doesn’t affect the mental health of others, according to research
led by the University of Warwick.
The academics found that having
friends can help teenagers recover from depression or even avoid becoming
depressed in the first instance.
The findings are the result of a
study of the way teenagers in a group of US high schools influenced each
others’ mood. The academics used a mathematical model to establish if depression
spreads from friend to friend.
Professor Frances Griffiths, head
of social science and systems in health at Warwick Medical School, University
of Warwick, said: “Depression is a major public health concern worldwide. But
the good news is we’ve found that a healthy mood amongst friends is linked with
a significantly reduced risk of developing and increased chance of recovering
from depression.
“Our results offer implications
for improving adolescent mood. In particular they suggest the hypothesis that
encouraging friendship networks between adolescents could reduce both the
incidence and prevalence of depression among teenagers.”
The study has been published in
the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B entitled Spreading of healthy
mood in adolescent social networks.
Using data from The National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health they looked at more than 2,000
adolescents in a network of US high school students. They examined how their
mood influenced each other by modelling the spread of moods using similar
methods to those used to track the spread of infectious diseases.
Individuals were classified as
either having depressive symptoms (low mood) or not being depressed (healthy
mood) according to the score cut-off associated with a clinical diagnosis of
depression.
The team found that while
depression does not ‘spread’, having enough friends with a healthy mood can
halve the probability of developing, or double the probability of recovering
from, depression over a six to 12 month period.
The mathematical model used
suggests that adolescents who have five or more mentally healthy friends have
half the probability of becoming depressed compared to adolescents with no
healthy friends. And teenagers who have 10 healthy friends have double the
probability of recovering from depressive symptoms compared to adolescents with
just three healthy friends.
University of Warwick mathematics
researcher Edward Hill is lead author of the research paper. He said: “In the
context of depression, this is a very large effect size. Changing risk by a
factor of two is unusual.
“Our results suggest that
promotion of any friendship between adolescents can reduce depression since
having depressed friends does not put them at risk, but having healthy friends
is both protective and curative.”
Social factors such as living
alone or having experienced abuse in childhood are already linked to
depression. Also social support, such as having someone to talk to has been
cited as important for recovery from depression.
However this study looks at the
effect of being friends with people on the likelihood of developing depression
or recovering from it.
Another author of the paper, Dr
Thomas House senior lecturer in applied mathematics from the University of
Manchester said: “It could be that having a stronger social network is an
effective way to treat depression. More work needs to be done but it may be
that we could significantly reduce the burden of depression through cheap,
low-risk social interventions.
“As a society, if we enable
friendships to develop among adolescents (for example providing youth clubs)
each adolescent is more likely to have enough friends with healthy mood to have
a protective effect. This would reduce the prevalence of depression.”
Other research into adolescent
mental health by Warwick Medical School will be explored in an upcoming play
called Cracked which is being performed by Santé Theatre Warwick
People
taking pictures of people:
I'm an
amateur photographer, I travel a lot so some years ago and I noticed that
everywhere I went there was someone taking a photo of someone else. It's part
of the human condition and I think it’s fun so I started snapping pictures of
people taking pictures. 
HERE'S PLEASANT POEM FOR YOU TO ENJOY................
Animals
By Frank O’Hara
Have you forgotten what we were like then
when we were still first rate
and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth
it's no use worrying about Time
but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
and turned some sharp corners
the whole pasture looked like our meal
we didn't need speedometers
we could manage cocktails out of ice and water
I wouldn't want to be faster
or greener than now if you were with me O you
were the best of all my days
Francis Russell
"Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was a writer, poet
and art critic. Because of his employment as a curator at the Museum of Modern
Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is
regarded as a leading figure in the New York School—an informal group of
artists, writers and musicians who drew inspiration from jazz, surrealism,
abstract expressionism, action painting and contemporary avant-garde art
movements. O'Hara's poetry is personal in tone and in content and
described as reading "like entries in a diary".
Poet and critic Mark Doty has
said O'Hara's poetry is "urbane, ironic, sometimes genuinely celebratory
and often wildly funny" containing "material and association’s alien
to academic verse" such as "the camp icons of movie stars of the
twenties and thirties, the daily landscape of social activity in Manhattan,
jazz music, telephone calls from friends".
In the early morning hours of
July 24, 1966, O'Hara was struck by a jeep on the Fire Island beach, after the
beach taxi in which he had been riding with a group of friends broke down in
the dark. He died the next day of a ruptured liver. Attempts to bring negligent
homicide charges against 23-year-old driver Kenneth L. Ruzicka were
unsuccessful; many of O'Hara's friends felt the local police had conducted a
lax investigation to protect one of their own locals. O'Hara was buried in
Green River Cemetery on Long Island. The painter Larry Rivers, a longtime
friend and lover of O'Hara's, delivered one of the eulogies, along with Bill Berkson,
Edwin Denby and René d'Harnoncourt.
HERE'S SOME NICE ART FOR YOU TO LOOK AT....ENJOY!
Howard David Johnson Valkyrie Maiden
Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench The Artist’s Son Seated
Interior (Woman Reading) (1925) Edward Hopper
I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE
PHOTOS
The Real Value of A Universal
Basic Income Is That It Raises The Reservation Wage
Tim Worstall
Steve Randy Waldman has a nice
slide series explaining the benefits of a universal basic income as a
replacement for the various hotch-potch of policies we currently call the
welfare system. I’m largely in agreement that such a universal basic income would
be a better idea than what we already do and I’m largely in agreement for most
of the reasons that Waldman outlines. However, there’s one point I take rather
strongly, which is that such an income must be a basic one. This is not about
providing enough income that everyone gets to live nicely without working and
it’s most certainly not meant, in my eyes at least, to be anything close to a
“living” income. Something like $800 a month for the US, per adult, is the
range I think of, for the UK something like the pension guarantee of £130 per
week. Enough, just about, to scrape by upon but not enough to provide a life of
beers and iPhones: to get those one would need to go out to work.
The other point I like to
emphasise is one that Waldman also points to. Which is that a proper,
universal, such income would quite radically change power relations in the
workplace. This is a point often made by the thinking man’s Marxist, Chris
Dillow.
Think about the caricature that
we’re told the modern economy is. The decline of unions has meant that the
workers have no market power these days. Employers can just offer them whatever
scraps fall from the table and they’ve got to accept that as wages simply
because they’ve got to feed themselves and their children. This is what is
behind the growing inequality, the concentration of wealth at the top and the
fall in the share of the national economy that gets paid to labour. That it is
in fact all rather more complicated than that is true but let’s stick with that
general story that currently reverberates across political scene. There are
even those who would insist that declining union power is why kittens no longer
gambol in sunshine, as they did in the days of our youth (hyperbole alert!).
The usual answer to this is that
we must therefore rebuild union power. Although I have to say that if the
solution is to bring back Jimmy Hoffa to “invest” the workers’ pensions funds I
think we may well have mis-stated the question. For the thing is that we don’t
necessarily want to bring back the unions as the representatives of the
workers’ power. What we want to bring back is the workers’ power. Specifically,
we want the workers to be able to tell the employers to go take a hike if they
offer insultingly low wages. And that’s exactly the thing that a universal
basic income does achieve:
Improved worker bargaining power
• Many of us consider the declining relative
fortunes of the perfectly hardworking people who could once afford middle class
lives and now cannot (without dodgy borrowing) to be a compelling social
problem.
• Reversing the decline of union power, or the
degree to which middle class workers are now in competition with counterparts in
lower-wage countries, or the potential for automation seems unlikely and
arguably undesirable.
Quite so. But the universal basic income rides to
the rescue: A universal basic income creates bargaining power by increasing all
workers’ capacity to refuse a raw deal.
- A UBI increases workers’ “reserve price” — the
minimum each worker must be paid before she is willing to accept a given job
with particular working conditions
• A UBI is a much more flexible means of enhancing
labor bargaining power than unionization or a minimum wage.
- All workers are able to drive a harder bargain
with a UBI than without, shifting the distribution of behavior and effectively
augmenting bargaining power.
- Firms and individuals retain complete freedom to
negotiate the terms oftheir own engagement, and to take into account unusually
pleasantworking conditions or nonpecuniary benefits of certain kinds of jobs that
might be made untenable by a minimum wage.
You don’t have to be a member of
a union to gain this increased bargaining power: there’s no need for there to
be a priestly caste standing between you and the employer, a priestly caste
growing fat off your tithes (or, union dues) in order to stand up to The Man.
Simply because everyone knows that they’ve got the minimum they can scrape by
upon (and yes, is is scrape by upon, not live comfortably upon) then everyone
has that greater market power.
The other way around of putting
this is that the reservation wage has gone up. Imagine that there’s no welfare
system at all: it would thus be possible, when there’s high unemployment, for
an employer to offer 2 lbs of bread a day as the wage. That was the deal in
early Victorian times in England. And people took it because there was no
alternative. With people getting $800 a month for just being a breathing adult
then such tactics would not work. The amount that an employer must pay in order
to convince someone to get up off the couch and come into work will rise. Those
of us who are already higher paid already have that market power: that’s why we
get paid more than some subsistence amount. One of the things a universal basic
income does is provide at least a modicum of that market power to the currently
low skilled and low paid.
A UBI therefore meets one of the
demands of the liberal right (ie, the economically liberal), that if we’re
going to have some form of a welfare state, which we obviously are, then let’s
have the most efficient one we can. With the fewest distortions, with low
marginal tax rates, fewest disincentives to work and lifestyle choice and so on.
A UBI also meets the demands of the liberal left (ie, the not so economically
liberal in the modern parlance) and aids in overturning the power imbalances
that they see in the current society.
Thus, I would submit, we really
ought to damn the torpedos and move straight ahead to a UBI, a universal basic
income. That it is economically logical and achieves many political goals,
while over turning the current power structures of both left and right (both
employers and union bosses, plus the administrators of the current welfare
state, would lose out) is why it’s unlikely to happen though. Those political
power structures are too well entrenched for it ever to get onto the statute
books I fear. There’s too many choke points in the legislative process for it to
pass unscathed. Anyone care to imagine the AFL-CIO’s, and thus the Democratic
Party’s, reaction to a legal change that would make unions redundant? Or the
more archaic part of the Republican party’s reaction to a welfare system that
was simple, worked and was expensive?
Quite. It’s the right thing to do
but quite how to make it happen….I could see a Parliamentary system like my
native Britain managing it long before I could see the US managing to get it
enacted.
My latest book is "The No
Breakfast Fallacy, why the Club of Rome was wrong about us running out of
resources."Amazon and Amazon.co.uk. $6.99 and relevant prices in other
currencies.
Photographs I’ve taken
Dog parks, dog beach and dog shows
CHILDHOOD POVERTY IS HAPPENING EVERYWHERE IN AMERICAN, WE'RE BETTER THAN THIS.....YOU AND ME....WE'RE BETTER THAN THIS AND OUR COUNTRY IS BETTER THAN THIS......LET'S GET THIS CONVERSATION GOING ACROSS AMERICA AND DO SOMETHING TO END POVERTY IN AMERICA NOW
The face of childhood hunger is
increasingly suburban
Jessica Swarner
Nearly half of all students newly
eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches lives in America's suburbs,
according to a recently released report by national grassroots advocacy group
Fair Share Education Fund.
“The face of childhood hunger has
changed. Hunger is no longer strictly an urban issue,” said Chris Destiche,
state organizer for Arizona Fair Share Education Fund.
The nonprofit’s second annual report
on this issue, Childhood Hunger in America’s Suburbs: The Changing Geography of
Poverty, shows that Arizona’s statewide eligibility rate increased by 10
percent between 2006-2007 and 2012-2013, while its suburban eligibility rate
increased by 14 percent.
In suburban Phoenix, 45 percent
of children, were eligible for free or reduced-priced lunch in 2012-13,
according to the report. Overall, the region had a 51 percent eligibility rate
in that time period.
The report says this change in
the geography of childhood hunger occurred after the Great Recession, which
created financial hardship for millions of Americans. After those years of
economic instability, Phoenix had the third highest poverty rate out of the
nation's 25 biggest cities in 2013.
Nearly 1 in 3 Arizona children
suffers from food insecurity, meaning they are at risk of hunger every day.
That compares to a national rate of 1 in 5.
Destiche said that the advocacy group released
the report in early September because it is Hunger Action Month, and the
funding of hunger prevention programs will be a pressing topic in Congress.
David Martinez of St. Mary’s Food
Bank Alliance said a priority of Arizona Child Nutrition Coalition, a group of
statewide organizations that provides direct aid to students, is to ensure that
Congress reauthorizes the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 before it
expires on Sept. 30. The measure
regulates nine federal nutrition programs. The law is revisited every five
years, when changes to items such as funding amounts and school nutrition
guidelines can be made.
Although school lunch and
breakfast programs are permanently authorized, decisions regarding their
funding as well as the future of similar programs are up for debate.
Glendale City Councilman and
Glendale Elementary School District Governing Board member Jamie Aldama spoke
at a conference about the newly released report, representing a city with a
poverty rate above the state average. Census data shows 20.5 percent of
Glendale residents fell below the poverty level for 2009-2013, compared to 17.9
percent for Arizona overall.
"No kid should have to go to
school hungry,” said Aldama, noting he experienced it growing up with a single
mother who cared for seven children.
He urged residents to reach out
to elected officials and remind them of the widespread effects of childhood
hunger.
THE MOB UNDER SURVEILLANCE
(LtoR) Testa, Iezzi, Monte and Capello leaving Virgilio's
Tony Spilotro (far left) and the hole in the wall gang (Las Vegas)
Anthony Baratta
Genovese soldier James Bernardone (46) and associate James Coumoutsos outside of a funeral home
Genovese soldier James Bernardone
Joseph Costa, Vincent Parisi, Vincent 'Vinny Butch' Corrao, August Sclafani, Patsy Marsala
Michael Ciancaglini (middle).
Mikey Chang & Joey Merlino.
Ray Long John Martorano
Sebastian John LaRocca in front of the Allegheny Car Wash he owned, located at 100 Sandusky Ave, Pittsburgh
Surveillance photo of Tommy Horsehead Scafidi and John Stanfa
huckie Merlino, Scarfo, and Phil Leonetti (Philadelphia)
IF INDUSTRY WON’T ACT RESPONSIBLE, THEN IMPOSE A
SUGAR TAX
This Is Why You Should Never
Drink Coke Again But Use It Instead
HEALTH LIFESTYLE BY JAMIE LOGIE
Do you have a Coke problem?
Unless you’re someone like Lindsay Lohan reading this, you’d know right away
that I’m talking about the beverage that is part of Americana:Coca Cola. You
may be surprised to know that the classic drink which started out as an elixir
tonic may be doing a whole lot of harm to your body.
Let me show you 8 reasons why you
should look to avoid what’s been called “The Real Thing” (despite how amazing I
thought the Coke ad was in the last episode of Mad Men). First, let’s set the
stage.
History Of Coke
Coca Cola was invented by Civil
War survivor John Pemberton. After being wounded in battle, he became addicted
to morphine and was looking for a substitute. Coke started out as a coca wine.
It was first registered as a nerve tonic. It was an alcoholic beverage, so
after prohibition passed, Pemberton created a non-alcoholic beverage he called
Coca-Cola. It was originally sold as a patent medicine for 5 cents a glass at
soda fountains. This Cola was believed to cure morphine addiction, dyspepsia,
headache and impotence. Pretty good deal for only a nickel.
You might be wondering where the
name “Coca-Cola” comes from? Well, this ties into the whole “cocaine in Coke”
issue. The original formula never used straight cocaine; however, the coca leaf
is where cocaine is derived from. It inadvertently contained trace amounts. By
1903 fresh leaves were removed for “spent leaves” that contained virtually no
cocaine. Today, Coke uses a cocaine-free coca leaf extract.
The name cola comes from the Kola
nut which acts as a flavoring and supplies the caffeine. The “K” was eventually
replaced with a “C” for marketing purposes. The rest of the recipe is a tightly
guarded secret that has remained pretty much unchanged to this day, except for
alternative varieties like New Coke.
With all this in mind, let’s look
at the issues that come from consuming this “black gold”.
1. A Horrific Amount Of Sugar
This is clearly the main issue
around drinking soda in general — it’s liquid sugar. You are basically drinking
a chocolate bar! A regular can of Coke contains upwards of 10 teaspoons of
sugar. Since it’s fast acting liquid sugar, you are looking at skyrocketing
blood sugar and insulin surges. Over time this leads to insulin resistance, obesity,
heart disease, and diabetes.
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup
High fructose corn syrup was
introduced into beverages once it was found to be a much cheaper alternative to
sugar. HFCS also has a longer shelf life. It is also the reason why drink sizes
have become gigantic over the years. Since it costs manufacturers very little
to make, you now have Big Gulps the size of an SUV.
When you consume HFCS it goes
straight to the liver (unlike regular sugar) and triggers lipogenesis. This
refers to the production of fats like triglycerides and cholesterol. It is one
of the major causes of liver damage in the country, causing “fatty liver.” This
affects 70 million people!
3. High Caffeine Content
Some caffeine comes from clean
sources, like tea or fresh ground coffee. These aren’t that bad in moderation,
and actually provide some health benefits. Caffeine in Coke is far from a clean
source. Constant exposure can raise blood pressure, cause heart burn,
negatively impact your sleep, lead to ulcers, and cause indigestion.
If you want to learn more about
the dangers of too much caffeine read this other article I wrote for Lifehack.
4. Promotes Dehydration &
Thirst
This is the double whammy that
causes you to keep drinking more. The caffeine issues mentioned above can also cause
loss of water, since it acts as a diuretic. Then, the sodium content also keeps
you thirsty. Add into this the addictive properties of sugar and caffeine (I’ll
get to in a second), and you have a product with a built in continuous
consumption cycle.
5. Phosphoric Acid
You might wonder why this is an
ingredient in a soft drink. Phosphoric acid helps to give a sharper taste to
sodas like Coke. It also slows the growth of molds and bacteria, which normally
multiply rapidly in a sugary solution.
When you consume phosphoric acid
it can lead to low mineral bone density and osteoporosis. This is specific to
colas and not other clear sodas, which tend to use citric acid. To make matters
worse, the first thing this acid hits is your teeth. Phosphoric acid can cause
tooth enamel erosion, even at low levels.
Think of phosphoric acid as
something that can pretty much dissolve away your skeletal system, like
drinking from the wrong Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.
6. Tap Water
This seems a bit weird, but it’s
important to remember that tap water is not the healthiest thing in the world
either, and it is the main ingredient in Coke. They are using the cheapest
municipal water sources they can find. These sources contain amounts of
chlorine, which has been linked to bladder, rectal, and breast cancer.
7. Aspartame
This is going to apply more to
Diet Coke, but with Diet being produced in larger quantities than regular this
will apply to most people. Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that went
through a lot of shady politics to get approved. It probably should have been
left for its original intended purpose: an ulcer medication.
When you consume an artificial
sweetener like aspartame it does a few things: it acts as an excitotoxin (which
can destroy brain cells), it causes addiction, leads you to want to consume
more, and newer research shows it to alter our gut bacteria
The aspartame/artificial
sweetener issue is a big mess. You can read more about it here. Speaking of
destroyed brain cells, I wonder how much Diet Coke the Kardashians have
consumed?
8. It’s Bad For Your Body, But
Can Be Good For Other Uses
Do you really want to drink
something that removes rust? Now that you know how harmful drinking Coke is,
here are a few other ways you can use the favorite drink of Mean Joe Green:
1. Pouring Coke on a bug bite or
bee sting can help neutralize the pain.
2. A can of Coke and a wet cloth
make a great cleaning solution to remove bugs and dust from car windows.
3. Remove rust from small
objects. You might have tried this with the old penny in the glass of Coke
overnight trick.
4. Coke can help get the smell of
skunk off your pets. Just don’t forget to rinse your pet off afterwards.
5. Coke can also be used for
toilet cleaner. Phosphoric acid is actually good for something! Your (old)
favorite drink can now help breakdown all the lime scum and buildup in a
toilet.
FROM LLR BOOKS. COM
Litchfield Literary Books. A really small company
run by writers.
AMERICAN HISTORY
The Day
Nixon Met Elvis
Paperback 46 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Day-Nixon-Met-elvis/
Theodore
Roosevelt: Letters to his Children. 1903-1918
Paperback 194 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Theodore-Roosevelt-Letters-Children-1903-1918/dp/
THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND CIVILIZATIONS
The Works
of Horace
Paperback 174 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Works-Horace-Richard-Willoughby/
The
Quotable Greeks
Paperback 234 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Greeks-Richard-W-Willoughby
The
Quotable Epictetus
Paperback 142 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Epictetus-Golden-Sayings
Quo
Vadis: A narrative of the time of Nero
Paperback 420 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quo-Vadis-Narrative-Time-Nero
CHILDRENS
BOOKS
The
Porchless Pumpkin: A Halloween Story for Children
A Halloween play for young children. By consent of the author,
this play may be performed, at no charge, by educational institutions,
neighborhood organizations and other not-for-profit-organizations.
A fun story with a moral
“I believe that Denny O'Day is an American treasure and this
little book proves it. Jack is a pumpkin who happens to be very small, by
pumpkins standards and as a result he goes unbought in the pumpkin patch on
Halloween eve, but at the last moment he is given his chance to prove that just
because you're small doesn't mean you can't be brave. Here is the point that I
found so wonderful, the book stresses that while size doesn't matter when it
comes to courage...ITS OKAY TO BE SCARED....as well. I think children need to
hear that, that's its okay to be unsure because life is a ongoing lesson isn't
it?”
Paperback: 42 pages
http://www.amazon.com/OLANTERN-PORCHLESS-PUMPKIN-Halloween-Children
BOOKS
ON FOSTER CARE
It's Not
All Right to be a Foster Kid....no matter what they tell you: Tweet the books
contents
Paperback 94 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Right-Foster-Kid-no-matter-what
From the Author
I spent my childhood, from age seven through seventeen, in
foster care. Over the course of those
ten years, many decent, well-meaning, and concerned people told me, "It's
okay to be foster kid."
In saying that, those very good people meant to encourage me,
and I appreciated their kindness then, and all these many decades later, I
still appreciate their good intentions. But as I was tossed around the foster
care system, it began to dawn on me that they were wrong. It was not all right to be a foster kid.
During my time in the system, I was bounced every eighteen
months from three foster homes to an orphanage to a boy's school and to a group
home before I left on my own accord at age seventeen.
In the course of my stay in foster care, I was severely beaten
in two homes by my "care givers" and separated from my four siblings
who were also in care, sometimes only blocks away from where I was living.
I left the system rather than to wait to age out, although the
effects of leaving the system without any family, means, or safety net of any
kind, were the same as if I had aged out. I lived in poverty for the first part
of my life, dropped out of high school, and had continuous problems with the
law.
Today, almost nothing
about foster care has changed. Exactly
what happened to me is happening to some other child, somewhere in America,
right now. The system, corrupt, bloated,
and inefficient, goes on, unchanging and secretive.
Something has gone wrong in a system that was originally a
compassionate social policy built to improve lives but is now a definitive
cause in ruining lives. Due to gross
negligence, mismanagement, apathy, and greed, mostly what the foster care system
builds are dangerous consequences. Truly, foster care has become our epic
national disgrace and a nightmare for those of us who have lived through it.
Yet there is a suspicion among some Americans that foster care
costs too much, undermines the work ethic, and is at odds with a satisfying
life. Others see foster care as a part
of the welfare system, as legal plunder of the public treasuries.
None of that is true;
in fact, all that sort of thinking does is to blame the victims. There is not a single child in the system who
wants to be there or asked to be there.
Foster kids are in foster care because they had nowhere else to go. It's that simple. And believe me, if those kids could get out
of the system and be reunited with their parents and lead normal, healthy
lives, they would. And if foster care is a sort of legal plunder of the public
treasuries, it's not the kids in the system who are doing the plundering.
We need to end this
needless suffering. We need to end it
because it is morally and ethically wrong and because the generations to come
will not judge us on the might of our armed forces or our technological
advancements or on our fabulous wealth.
Rather, they will judge
us, I am certain, on our compassion for those who are friendless, on our
decency to those who have nothing and on our efforts, successful or not, to
make our nation and our world a better place.
And if we cannot accomplish those things in the short time allotted to
us, then let them say of us "at least they tried."
You can change the tragedy of foster care and here's how to do
it. We have created this book so that
almost all of it can be tweeted out by you to the world. You have the power to improve the lives of
those in our society who are least able to defend themselves. All you need is the will to do it.
If the American people,
as good, decent and generous as they are, knew what was going on in foster
care, in their name and with their money, they would stop it. But, generally speaking, although the public
has a vague notion that foster care is a mess, they don't have the complete
picture. They are not aware of the human, economic and social cost that the
mismanagement of the foster care system puts on our nation.
By tweeting the facts laid out in this work, you can help to
change all of that. You can make a
difference. You can change things for
the better.
We can always change the future for a foster kid; to make it
better ...you have the power to do that. Speak up (or tweet out) because it's
your country. Don't depend on the
"The other guy" to speak up for these kids, because you are the other
guy.
We cannot build a future for foster children, but we can build
foster children for the future and the time to start that change is today.
No time
to say Goodbye: Memoirs of a life in foster
Paperbook 440 Books
http://www.amazon.com/No-Time-Say-Goodbye-Memoir
BOOKS ABOUT FILM
On the
Waterfront: The Making of a Great American Film
Paperback: 416 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Waterfront-Making-Great-American-Film/
BOOKS ABOUT GHOSTS AND THE SUPERNATUAL
Scotish
Ghost Stories
Paperback 186 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Scottish-Ghost-Stories-Elliott-ODonell
HUMOR BOOKS
The Book
of funny odd and interesting things people say
Paperback: 278 pages
http://www.amazon.com/book-funny-interesting-things-people
The Wee
Book of Irish Jokes
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Series-Irish-Jokes-ebook
Perfect
Behavior: A guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in all Social Crises
http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Behavior-Ladies-Gentlemen-Social
BOOKS ABOUT THE 1960s
You Don’t
Need a Weatherman. Underground 1969
Paperback 122 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Weatherman-Notes-Weatherman-Underground-1969
Baby
Boomers Guide to the Beatles Songs of the Sixties
Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Boomers-Guide-Beatles-Songs-Sixties/
Baby
Boomers Guide to Songs of the 1960s
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Boomers-Guide-Songs-1960s
IRISH- AMERICANA
The
Connecticut Irish
Paper back 140 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Connecticut-Irish-Catherine-F-Connolly
The Wee Book of Irish Jokes
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Series-Irish-Jokes-ebook/
The Wee
Book of Irish Recipes
http://www.amazon.com/The-Wee-Book-Irish-Recipes/
The Wee Book of the American-Irish Gangsters
http://www.amazon.com/The-Wee-Book-Irish-American-Gangsters/
The Wee book of Irish Blessings...
http://www.amazon.com/Series-Blessing-Proverbs-Toasts-ebook/
The Wee
Book of the American Irish in Their Own Words
http://www.amazon.com/Book-American-Irish-Their-Words/
Everything
you need to know about St. Patrick
Paperback 26 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Need-About-Saint-Patrick
A Reading
Book in Ancient Irish History
Paperback 147pages
http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Book-Ancient-Irish-History
The Book
of Things Irish
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Things-Irish-William-Tuohy/
Poets and
Dreamer; Stories translated from the Irish
Paperback 158 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Poets-Dreamers-Stories-Translated-Irish/
The
History of the Great Irish Famine: Abridged and Illustrated
Paperback 356 pages
http://www.amazon.com/History-Great-Irish-Famine-Illustrated/
BOOKS ABOUT NEW ENGLAND
The New
England Mafia
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-England-Mafia-ebook/
Wicked
Good New England Recipes
http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Good-New-England-Recipes/
The
Connecticut Irish
Paper back 140 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Connecticut-Irish-Catherine-F-Connolly
The
Twenty-Fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers
Paperback 64 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Fifth-Regiment-Connecticut-Volunteers-Rebellion
The Life
of James Mars
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Life-James-Mars-Slave-Connecticut
Stories
of Colonial Connecticut
Paperback 116 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Colonial-Connnecticut-Caroline-Clifford
What they
Say in Old New England
Paperback 194 pages
http://www.amazon.com/What-they-say-New-England/
BOOK ABOUT ORGANIZED CRIME
Chicago
Organized Crime
Chicago-Mob-Bosses
http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Mob-Bosses-Accardo-ebook
The Mob
Files: It Happened Here: Places of Note in Chicago gangland 1900-2000
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-1900-2000-ebook
An
Illustrated Chronological History of the Chicago Mob. Time Line 1837-2000
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Chronological-History-Chicago-1837-2000/
Mob
Buster: Report of Special Agent Virgil Peterson to the Kefauver Committee
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Buster-Peterson-Committee-ebook/
The Mob Files.
Guns and Glamour: The Chicago Mob. A History. 1900-2000
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Guns-Glamour-ebook/
Shooting
the Mob: Organized crime in photos. Crime Boss Tony Accardo
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-photos-Accardo/
Shooting
the Mob: Organized Crime in Photos: The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-Valentines-Massacre
The Life
and World of Al Capone in Photos
http://www.amazon.com/Life-World-Al-Capone
AL
CAPONE: The Biography of a Self-Made Man.: Revised from the 0riginal 1930
edition.Over 200 new photographs
Paperback: 340 pages
http://www.amazon.com/CAPONE-Biography-Self-Made-Over-photographs
Whacked.
One Hundred Years Murder and Mayhem in the Chicago Outfit
Paperback: 172 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Whacked-Hundred-Murder-Mayhem-Chicago/
Las
Vegas Organized Crime
The Mob
in Vegas
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Vegas-ebook
Bugsy
& His Flamingo: The Testimony of Virginia Hill
http://www.amazon.com/Bugsy-His-Flamingo-Testimony-Virginia/
Testimony
by Mobsters Lewis McWillie, Joseph Campisi and Irwin Weiner (The Mob Files
Series)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Kennedy-Assassination-Ruby-Testimony-ebook
Rattling
the Cup on Chicago Crime.
Paperback 264 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Rattling-Cup-Chicago-Crime-Abridged
The Life
and Times of Terrible Tommy O’Connor.
Paperback 94 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Terrible-Tommy-OConnor
The Mob,
Sam Giancana and the overthrow of the Black Policy Racket in Chicago
Paperback 200 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Giancana-ovethrow-Policy-Rackets-Chicago
When
Capone’s Mob Murdered Roger Touhy. In Photos
Paperback 234 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Capones-Murdered-Roger-Touhy-photos
Organized
Crime in Hollywood
The Mob in Hollywood
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Hollywood-ebook/
The Bioff
Scandal
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Bioff-Scandal-Shakedown-Hollywood-Studios
Organized
Crime in New York
Joe Pistone’s war on the mafia
http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Petrosinos-War-Mafia-Files/
Mob
Testimony: Joe Pistone, Michael Scars DiLeonardo, Angelo Lonardo and others
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Testimony-DiLeonardo-testimony-Undercover/
The New
York Mafia: The Origins of the New York Mob
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Mafia-Origins
The New
York Mob: The Bosses
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Mob-Bosses/
Organized
Crime 25 Years after Valachi. Hearings before the US Senate
http://www.amazon.com/Organized-Crime-Valachi-Hearings-ebook
Shooting
the mob: Dutch Schultz
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-Photographs-Schultz
Gangland
Gaslight: The Killing of Rosy Rosenthal. (Illustrated)
http://www.amazon.com/Gangland-Gaslight-Killing-Rosenthal-Illustrated/
Early
Street Gangs and Gangsters of New York City
Paperback 382 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Early-Street-Gangs-Gangsters-York
THE RUSSIAN MOBS
The
Russian Mafia in America
http://www.amazon.com/The-Russian-Mafia-America-ebook/
The
Threat of Russian Organzied Crime
Paperback 192 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Threat-Russian-Organized-Crime-photographs-ebook
Organized
Crime/General
Best of
Mob Stories
http://www.amazon.com/Files-Series-Illustrated-Articles-Organized-Crime/
Best of
Mob Stories Part 2
http://www.amazon.com/Series-Illustrated-Articles-Organized-ebook/
Illustrated-Book-Prohibition-Gangsters
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Book-Prohibition-Gangsters-ebook
Mob
Recipes to Die For. Meals and Mobsters in Photos
http://www.amazon.com/Recipes-For-Meals-Mobsters-Photos
More Mob
Recipes to Die For. Meals and Mobs
http://www.amazon.com/More-Recipes-Meals-Mobsters-Photos
The New
England Mafia
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-England-Mafia-ebook
Shooting
the mob. Organized crime in photos. Dead Mobsters, Gangsters and Hoods.
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-mob-Organized-photos-Mobsters-Gangsters/
The
Salerno Report: The Mafia and the Murder of President John F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/The-Salerno-Report-President-ebook/
The
Mob Files: Mob Wars. "We only kill each other"
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-Wars-other/
The Mob
across America
http://www.amazon.com/The-Files-Across-America-ebook/
The US
Government’s Time Line of Organzied Crime 1920-1987
http://www.amazon.com/GOVERNMENTS-ORGANIZED-1920-1987-Illustrated-ebook/
Early
Street Gangs and Gangsters of New York City: 1800-1919. Illustrated
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-1800-1919-Illustrated-Street-ebook/
The Mob
Files: Mob Cops, Lawyers and Informants and Fronts
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-Informants-ebook/
Gangster
Quotes: Mobsters in their own words. Illustrated
Paperback: 128 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-Quotes-Mobsters-words-Illustrated/
The Book
of American-Jewish Gangsters: A Pictorial History.
Paperback: 436 pages
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-American-Jewish-Gangsters-Pictorial/
The Mob
and the Kennedy Assassination
Paperback 414 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Kennedy-Assassination-Ruby-Testimony-Mobsters
BOOKS ABOUT THE OLD WEST
The Last
Outlaw: The story of Cole Younger, by Himself
Paperback 152 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Outlaw-Story-Younger-Himself
BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY
Chicago:
A photographic essay.
Paperback: 200 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Photographic-Essay-William-Thomas
STAGE PLAYS
Boomers
on a train: A ten minute play
Paperback 22 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Boomers-train-ten-minute-Play-ebook
Four
Short Plays
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Short-Plays-William-Tuohy
Four More
Short Plays
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Short-Plays-William-Tuohy/
High and
Goodbye: Everybody gets the Timothy Leary they deserve. A full length play
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/High-Goodbye-Everybody-Timothy-deserve
Cyberdate.
An Everyday Love Story about Everyday People
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Cyberdate-Everyday-Story-People-ebook/
The
Dutchman's Soliloquy: A one Act Play based on the factual last words of
Gangster Dutch Schultz.
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/Dutchmans-Soliloquy-factual-Gangster-Schultz/
Fishbowling
on The Last Words of Dutch Schultz: Or William S. Burroughs intersects with
Dutch Schultz
Print Length: 57 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Fishbowling-Last-Words-Dutch-Schultz-ebook/
American
Shakespeare: August Wilson in his own words. A One Act Play
By John William Tuohy
http://www.amazon.com/American-Shakespeare-August-Wilson-ebook
She
Stoops to Conquer
http://www.amazon.com/She-Stoops-Conquer-Oliver-Goldsmith/
The Seven
Deadly Sins of Gilligan’s Island: A ten minute play
Print Length: 14 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Deadly-Gilligans-Island-minute-ebook/
BOOKS ABOUT VIRGINIA
OUT OF
CONTROL: An Informal History of the Fairfax County Police
http://www.amazon.com/Control-Informal-History-Fairfax-Police/
McLean
Virginia. A short informal history
http://www.amazon.com/McLean-Virginia-Short-Informal-History/
THE QUOTABLE SERIES
The
Quotable Emerson: Life lessons from the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Over 300
quotes
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Emerson-lessons-quotes
The
Quotable John F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-John-F-Kennedy/
The
Quotable Oscar Wilde
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Oscar-Wilde-lessons/
The
Quotable Machiavelli
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Machiavelli-Richard-Thayer/
The
Quotable Confucius: Life Lesson from the Chinese Master
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Confucius-Lesson-Chinese/
The
Quotable Henry David Thoreau
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Henry-Thoreau-Quotables-ebook
The
Quotable Robert F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Robert-F-Kennedy-Illustrated/
The
Quotable Writer: Writers on the Writers Life
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Writer-Quotables-ebook
The words
of Walt Whitman: An American Poet
Paperback: 162 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Words-Walt-Whitman-American-Poet
Gangster
Quotes: Mobsters in their own words. Illustrated
Paperback: 128 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-Quotes-Mobsters-words-Illustrated/
The
Quotable Popes
Paperback 66 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Popes-Maria-Conasenti
The
Quotable Kahlil Gibran with Artwork from Kahlil Gibran
Paperback 52 pages
Kahlil Gibran, an artist, poet, and writer was born on January
6, 1883 n the north of modern-day Lebanon and in what was then part of Ottoman
Empire. He had no formal schooling in Lebanon. In 1895, the family immigrated
to the United States when Kahlil was a young man and settled in South Boston.
Gibran enrolled in an art school and was soon a member of the avant-garde
community and became especially close to Boston artist, photographer, and
publisher Fred Holland Day who encouraged and supported Gibran’s creative
projects. An accomplished artist in drawing and watercolor, Kahlil attended art
school in Paris from 1908 to 1910, pursuing a symbolist and romantic style. He
held his first art exhibition of his drawings in 1904 in Boston, at Day's
studio. It was at this exhibition, that Gibran met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, who
ten years his senior. The two formed an important friendship and love affair
that lasted the rest of Gibran’s short life. Haskell influenced every aspect of
Gibran’s personal life and career. She became his editor when he began to write
and ushered his first book into publication in 1918, The Madman, a slim volume
of aphorisms and parables written in biblical cadence somewhere between poetry
and prose. Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931, at the age of 48
from cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis.
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Kahlil-Gibran-artwork/
The
Quotable Dorothy Parker
Paperback 86 pages
The
Quotable Machiavelli
Paperback 36 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Machiavelli-Richard-L-Thayer
The
Quotable Greeks
Paperback 230 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Greeks-Richard-W-Willoughby
The
Quotabe Oscar Wilde
Paperback 24 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Oscar-Wilde-lessons-words/
The
Quotable Helen Keller
Paperback 66 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Helen-Keller-Richard-Willoughby
The Art
of War: Sun Tzu
Paperback 60 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Confucius-Lesson-Chinese-Quotables-ebook
The
Quotable Shakespeare
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Shakespeare-Richard-W-Willoughby
The
Quotable Gorucho Marx
Paperback 46 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Groucho-Marx-Devon-Alexander
BLOGLAPEDIA’S
BLOGS
ARCHITECTURE
Architecture
for the blog of it
http://architecturefortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
THE ARTS
Art
for the Blog of It
http://artfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
Art
for the Pop of it
http://artforthepopofit.blogspot.com/
Photography
for the blog of it
http://photographyfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
Music
for the Blog of it
http://musicfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
Sculpture
this and Sculpture that
http://sculpturethisandsculpturethat.blogspot.com/
The
art of War (Propaganda art through the ages)
http://theartofwarcleverhuh.blogspot.com/
Album
Art (Photographic arts)
http://albumartsocheesyitsgood.blogspot.com/
Pulp
Fiction Trash (The art of Pulp Fiction covers)
http://pulpfictiontrash.blogspot.com/
Admit
it, you want to Read this Book (The art of Pulp Fiction covers)
http://goaheadadmitityouwanttoread.blogspot.com/
FILM
The
Godfather Trilogy BlogSpot
http://thegodfathertrilogyblogspot.blogspot.com/
On
the Waterfront: The Making of a great American Film
http://onthewaterfrontthefilm.blogspot.com/
FOOD
Absolutely
blogalicious
http://absolutelyblogalicious.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Book of Irish Recipes (Book support site)
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/
Good
chowda (New England foods)
http://goodchowda.blogspot.com/
Old
New England Recipes (Book support site)
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com/
And I
Love Clams (New England foods)
http://andiloveclams.blogspot.com/
In
Praise of the Rhode Island Wiener (New England foods)
http://inpraiseoftherhodeislandwiener.blogspot.com/
Wicked
Cool New England Recipes (New England foods)
http://whickedcoolnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
Old
New England Recipes (New England foods)
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
FOSTER CARE
Foster Care new and Updates
Aging out of the system
Murder, Death and Abuse in the
Foster Care system
Angel and Saints in the Foster
Care System
The Foster Children’s Blogs
Foster Care Legislation
The Foster Children’s Bill of
Right
Foster Kids own Story
The Adventures of Foster Kid.
HEALTH
Me
vs. Diabetes (Diabetes education site)
http://mevsdiabetes-bloglapedia.blogspot.com/
HISTORY
The
Quotable Helen Keller
http://thequotablehelenkeller.blogspot.com/
Teddy
Roosevelt's Letters to his children (Book support site)
http://teddyrooseveltsletterstohischildren.blogspot.com/
The
Quotable Machiavelli (Book support site)
http://thequotablemachiavelli.blogspot.com/
HUMOR
Whatever
you do, don't laugh
http://whateveryoudodontlaugh.blogspot.com/
The
Quotable Grouch Marx
http://thequotablegrouchmarx.blogspot.com/
IRISH-AMERICANA
A Big
Blog of Irish Literature
http://abigblogofirishliterature.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Blog of Irish Jokes (Book support blog)
http://theweeblogofirishjokes.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Blog of Irish Recipes
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/
The
Irish American Gangster
http://irishamericangangsters.blogspot.com
The
Irish in their Own Words
http://theirishintheirownwords.blogspot.com/
When
Washington Was Irish
http://whenwashingtonwasirish.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Book of Irish Recipes (Book support site)
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/
LITERATURE
Following
Fitzgerald
http://followingfitzgerald.blogspot.com/
Shakespeare
http://shakespeareinamericanenglish.blogspot.com/
The Blogable
Robert Frost
http://theblogablerobertfrost.blogspot.com/
Charles
Dickens
http://charlesdickensfan.blogspot.com/
The
Beat Poets of the Forever Generation
http://thebeatspoetsoftheforevergenera.blogspot.com/
Holden
Caulfield Blog Spot
http://holdencaulfieldblogspot.blogspot.com/
The
Quotable Oscar Wilde
http://thequotableoscarwilde.blogspot.com/
NEW ENGLAND BLOGS
The
Quotable Thoreau
http://thequotablethenrydavidthoreau.blogspot.com/
Old
New England Recipes
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
Wicked
Cool New England Recipes
http://whickedcoolnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
Emerson
http://emersonsaidit.blogspot.com/
The
New England Mafia
http://thenewenglandmafia.blogspot.com/
And I
Love Clams
http://andiloveclams.blogspot.com/
In Praise
of the Rhode Island Wiener
http://inpraiseoftherhodeislandwiener.blogspot.com/
Watch
Hill
http://watchhillwesterly.blogspot.com/
York
Beach
http://yorkbeachfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
The
Connecticut History Blog
http://connecticuthistory.blogspot.com/
The
Connecticut Irish
http://theconnecticutirish.blogspot.com/
Good
chowda
http://goodchowda.blogspot.com/
NOSTALGIA
God,
How I hated the 70s
http://godhowihatedthe70s.blogspot.com/
Child
of the Sixties Forever
http://childofthesixtiesforeverandever.blogspot.com/
The
Kennedy’s in the 60’s
http://thekennedysinthe60s.blogspot.com/
Music
of the Sixties Forever
http://musicofthesixtiesforever.blogspot.com/
Elvis
and Nixon at the White House (Book support site)
http://elvisandnixonatthewhitehouse.blogspot.com/
Beatles
Fan Forever
http://beatlesfanforever.blogspot.com/
Year
One, 1955
http://yearone1955.blogspot.com/
Robert
Kennedy in His Own Words
The
1980s were fun
http://the1980swereokayactually.blogspot.com/
The
1990s. The last decade.
http://1990sthelastdecade.blogspot.com/
ORGANIZED CRIME
The
Russian Mafia
http://russianmafiagangster.blogspot.com/
The
American Jewish Gangster
http://theamericanjewishgangster.blogspot.com/
The
Mob in Hollywood
http://themobinhollywood.blogspot.com/
We
Only Kill Each Other
http://weonlykilleachother.blogspot.com/
Early
Gangsters of New York City
http://earlygangstersofnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/
Al
Capone: Biography of a self-made Man
http://alcaponethebiographyofaselfmademan.blogspot.com/
The
Life and World of Al Capone
http://thelifeandworldofalcapone.blogspot.com/
The
Salerno Report
http://salernoreportmafiaandurderjohnkennedy.blogspot.com/
Guns
and Glamour
http://gunsandglamourthechicagomobahistory.blogspot.com/
The
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
http://thesaintvalentinesdaymassacre.blogspot.com/
Mob
Testimony
http://mobtestimony.blogspot.com/
Recipes
we would Die For
http://recipeswewoulddiefor.blogspot.com/
The
Prohibition in Pictures
http://theprohibitioninpictures.blogspot.com/
The
Mob in Pictures
http://themobinpictures.blogspot.com/
The
Mob in Vegas
http://themobinvegasinpictures.blogspot.com/
The
Irish American Gangster
http://irishamericangangsters.blogspot.com
Roger
Touhy Gangster
http://rogertouhygangsters.blogspot.com/
Chicago’s
Mob Bosses
http://chicagosmobbossesfromaccardoto.blogspot.com/
Chicago
Gang Land: It Happened Here
http://chicagoganglandithappenedhere.blogspot.com/
Whacked:
One Hundred years of Murder in Gangland
http://whackedonehundredyearsmurderand.blogspot.com/
The
Mob Across America
http://themobacrossamerica.blogspot.com/
Mob
Cops, Lawyers and Front Men
http://mobcopslawyersandinformantsand.blogspot.com/
Shooting
the Mob: Dutch Schultz
http://shootingthemobdutchschultz.blogspot.com/
Bugsy&
His Flamingo: The Testimony of Virginia Hill
http://bugsyandvirginiahill.blogspot.com/
After
Valachi. Hearings before the US Senate on Organized Crime
http://aftervalachi.blogspot.com/
Mob
Buster: Report of Special Agent Virgil Peterson to the Kefauver Committee (Book
support site)
http://virgilpetersonmobbuster.blogspot.com/
The
US Government’s Timeline of Organized Crime (Book support site)
http://timelineoforganizedcrime.blogspot.com/
The
Kefauver Organized Crime Hearings (Book support site)
http://thekefauverorganizedcrimehearings.blogspot.com/
Joe
Valachi's testimony on the Mafia (Book support site)
http://joevalachistestimonyonthemafia.blogspot.com/
Mobsters
in the News
http://mobstersinthenews.blogspot.com/
Shooting
the Mob: Dead Mobsters (Book support site)
http://deadmobsters.blogspot.com/
The
Stolen Years Full Text (Roger Touhy)
http://thestolenyearsfulltext.blogspot.com/
Mobsters
in Black and White
http://mobstersinblackandwhite.blogspot.com/
Mafia
Gangsters, Wiseguys and Goodfellas
http://mafiagangsterswiseguysandgoodfellas.blogspot.com/
Whacked:
One Hundred Years of Murder and Mayhem in the Chicago Mob (Book support site)
http://whackedonehundredyearsmurderand.blogspot.com/
Gangland
Gaslight: The Killing of Rosy Rosenthal (Book support site)
http://ganglandgaslightrosyrosenthal.blogspot.com/
The
Best of the Mob Files Series (Book support site)
http://thebestofthemobfilesseries.blogspot.com/
PHILOSOPHY
It’s
All Greek Mythology to me
http://itsallgreekmythologytome.blogspot.com/
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychologically
Relevant
http://psychologicallyrelevant.blogspot.com/
SNOBBERY
The
Rarifieid Tribe
http://therarifiedtribe.blogspot.com/
Perfect
Behavior
http://perfectbehavior.blogspot.com/
TRAVEL
The
Upscale Traveler
http://theupscaletraveler.blogspot.com/
TRIVIA
The
Mish Mosh Blog
http://theupscaletraveler.blogspot.com/
WASHINGTON DC
DC
Behind the Monuments
http://dcbehindthemonuments.blogspot.com/
Washington
Oddities
http://washingtonoddities.blogspot.com/
When
Washington Was Irish
http://whenwashingtonwasirish.blogspot.com/