John Richard McGuire came to America from County Roscommon in the early 20th Century. He met Winifred Sullivan at a dance. After they married, they moved to “Irish Harlem” in the Bronx. There, they bottled their own beer and sold it, along with food, to mostly Irish railroad workers. They had three sons  »  Read More

My mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1968. She was one of the first people to receive intensive chemotherapy. It was awful. But she asked her favorite question, “What good can we make of this?” The way she made good of the cancer was to keep a daily record of how the chemotherapy affected her. She wrote out the  »  Read More

You might guess he was Italian from his formal name, Biagio Buffolino. Or maybe you’d get a clue from the name of his restaurant, “New York by the Slice Italian Restaurant.” If you still had any doubt, a tee shirt hanging on the wall of this restaurant might catch your eye. It read, “I’m not shouting, I’m  »  Read More

Time to step back and take a break. Time for the sound of the surf, the laughter of grandchildren, naps, and long cigars. Time for reading and conversation. I’ll be the better for it when I come back on August  »  Read More