I lived in Massachusetts for about twelve years. I moved there with my born and (partially) bred Quincy boy in 1991 when I was 25. Having started this blog while living in Sacramento, where we moved when we left Massachusetts, I haven't waxed much, poetic or otherwise, about the state which I do consider home in many respects.
I spent most of my adult life in Cambridge and did some serious growing in that city that I love. (Cap and I would move back there in a heartbeat if we could.)
Tonight, due to some wrestling with yarn which ultimately proved to be not enough to finish Gem's second sock, I watched the whole of Craig Ferguson's late night talk show. (He could be a whole other blog post. I really like him. Maybe some day.)
Craig's second guest, after Carmen Electra (it's kind of amazing that I didn't change the channel, but thanks to the dang yarn challenge, I was too busy knitting to pick up the remote), was Dennis Lehane.
Dennis Lehane is an author who grew up in Dorchester, MA. He is probably most famous for penning Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone. I've read some of his books and have enjoyed them. They're not for the faint of heart. Bad things happen to children, etc.
He was on the show to support his latest book, a historical novel, about the 1919 Boston police strike.
Watching and listening to him talk about his childhood, hearing that familiar cadence, made me homesick. It reminded me of the very, remarkably few times that I have met Irish Americans since leaving Massachusetts and how the two individuals I can remember running into, were from Massachusetts. And how it lifted my heart to just be with them, as if I was holding a bit of my past with me for a bit, a treasure.
I never realized how true it is, that in Cambridge and Boston, and southeastern MA where we have family and spent the last two years of our life living in the Commonwealth, that Irish Americans are everywhere. I never realized, until I left, how much of a positive impact my contact with this particular subset of New England culture had had on me.
I don't want to go into hyperbole. But, I am full of appreciation and wonder.
4 comments:
I just borrowed his latest book from my coworker Lois -- also a Boston lover. It is darn heavy. Haven't started it yet. I didn't read the others though. We'll see.
~B
1.) LOVE LOVE LOVE your new pic with the blue scarf! LOVE IT!
2.) Ah Cambridge. We had some good times there. Mike and I are throwing our very first Winter Solstice/Yankee swap party this year. We will think of you.
3.) I saw the movies Mystic River and Gone, Baby,Gone. I think I need the filter of film to hear his stories. I think a book might be too intense for me.
Hi,
As a reader of your blog,friend and former colleague, and also as one of those Cambridge Irish-Americans, I say thanks! I still love living in Cambridge and am sad that my daughters most likely won't be able to afford it.
Neal and I do as many things "Irish" as we can: Music, plays, theater...we just saw "A Christmas Celtic Sojourn" in a Boston theater Sunday.It was joyous!
Glad that you have such warm memories of my extended Irish-American family members!
Julie, we almost had a Solstice party this year... Haven't had one since the year after Aki was born, I think. Remember the Name Game?
Sue, that is so sad that your daughters will likely be priced out of Cambridge... I'm sorry to hear that. That probably means we won't be able to afford living there either! We should have bought a 2BR condo in North Cambridge for 150k when we had the chance... :-)
Barb, let me know how you like the book. Craig Ferguson made no pretense about the fact that he hadn't read the book---it's around 700 pgs they were saying!
Love you guys---thanks for always reading.
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