I grew up in East Boston in a three-decker dumbbell tenement building. My grandparents lived on the first floor and we lived on the third floor. We spent a lot of time on the first floor with my grandparents and ate dinner there practically every night. My grandmother was a seamstress and worked piecework in […]
read moreIn the Middle of Good and Evil
I grew up in the city of Boston, in an East Boston Italian neighborhood, on Frankfort Street. On one corner stood a bar called The Airways, which was later named Cardinal’s Nest. On the other corner lived a convent of nuns affiliated with the Mount Carmel Church, where I served as an altar boy. The […]
read moreBumpy Is A Reminder Of Comfort And Consistency
It was just my grandfather and me in his hospital room, at least that’s how I remember it. Just the two of us; he could barely speak, and the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose made the words inaudible, yet I understood what he was saying. He was saying goodbye and that he was […]
read more