End-of-Year Bronx Pilgrimage

A photo-essay of my recent family trip to the Bronx -- my birthplace as well as the starting point for my Irish immigrant ancestors upon their arrival in the 1890s -- is now featured via my nostalgia website Mosholu Jerome Baseball League Memories. Check it out! It's a follow up to my initial, related post here at Jersey Sandstorm, "Bronx Pilgrimage: Herman Melville's Grave."

Creative Nonfiction Magazine Retweets 'Micro-Essay"

Creative Nonfiction magazine today selected my following "micro-essay" for a re-Tweet (that's Twitterspeak for "redistribution through CNF's Twitter account:"). CNF picks just ten winners per day, so, despite the fact that it's just a one-sentence true story, I'm honored to have been selected by such a respected publication known for being a leader in the nonfiction genre.The piece now is a contender for publication via the journal's hard-copy version.

Sped by the Harley shop today on Rt. 70, my mind slowing to '77, skating rink in its place, Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" on the stereo.

Audio: "2nd Grade Word"

An audio version of "2nd Grade Word," a poem that Edison Literary Review published in 2010, is available via the site HitRECord. Click here to hear it,

Bronx Pilgrimage: Herman Melville's Grave

 The grave marker of Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick, who is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. I only recently discovered that the famous writer is buried at the edge of my old neighborhood in the Bronx.

That's me, with Moby-Dick at the ready, leaning on Melville's tombstone. The pebbles you see presumably had been deposited by other visitors marking their pilgrimage. I forgot to add one, however.

Reading page one of Moby-Dick to my daughters Julia (l.) and Quinn (r.).