I passed on my way, God be praised that I met him,/Be life long or short, sure I'll never forget him./We may have brave men, but we'll never have better!/ Glory O, Glory O, to the bold Fenian men ( changes my own)
Yesterday, we said goodbye to a husband, a father, a brother, a neighbor, a heroic man who lived fiercely.
Herbie Johnson died on the job. His bride, children, brothers, sister, neighbors, comrades in the City's defense gave this fine man a send-off worthy of heads of state, kings and saints.
Terry Sullivan and Jazz Great Tom Muellner, as well as a these artists Art Davis, Jim Cox and Eric Hochberg have performed here at 12 West Elm for the last year. If you have caught the Chicago Jazz Caravan you have enjoyed real jazz. If Sunday's have been too tough schedule, as they tend to be, you might wish to shuffle some time.
Let's try and make it to the last show. You will have a ball!
Lions of Laughter: LEO H.S. Alumni Comedy Fundraiser - top Friday - November 16 8:00 PM
November 16, 8pm
$40/$50 at the door
The Lions of Laughter present the comedy of Bill Campbell, Kenny Howell, Mike Toomey and Paul Kelly.
Four comic geniuses will fill the theatre of the Beverly Art Center with the mirth, memories and mayhem that is a huge fabric of Leo High School. Giant of Comedy Paul Kelly - Listen in to the Skinny and Houli Show tonight on AM 1450 at 6PM and catch Paul match yarns and yucks with Leo President Dan McGrath -Taped Live from Lizzie McNeill's Pub, about eight blocks north of Leo High School - this show airs on Saturdays from 3:05-4PM and Sundays from 8:05-9PM.
.
Repeating their success of last year, Chicago's Dean of Comedy Paul Kelly will lead Bill "Soups" Campbell, Kenny Howell, and Chicago's Mike Toomey onto the stage once again. Last year's Lions of Laughter was a sell-out smash.
Impressario Bobby Standring (Leo '70) has once again helped Paul Kelly make Lions of Laughter 2012 a hit. Ticket sales are hotter than Barb Stegmiller.
All proceeds from this event will benefit Leo High School. Order your tickets now, so you have seat and won't be stepping on the guys rolling in aisles.
Skinny - 'Look Houli this is a pretty thin beef they got us on." Houli - ' Howya mean, Skin Dr.?' Skinny -' Simple . . .how can we be accused of stealing votes? We was adding to 'em, see?' Houli - 'Ex-akly. Hey, you two with yer ear on a stick! Back up, 'for I gives ya's a slap.'
Therefore, I trust my 2012 Post-Election Political Analysis to Skinny and Houli and no one else, see? Skinny and Houli are two bright boys.
Get over by Lizzie McNeill's Pub on the Chicago River
Step on it, Sister! The best stools are probably took by the De La Salle National Honor Society and Latin Club already. You look fine. . . .none of that back-sass either. Oh, yer goin'!
400 North McClurg Court Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 467-1992
The honor guard of Chicago's Own 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines leads the two hundred veterans and the Leo High School student body and staff to the Leo War Memorial, at 11AM on Friday November 2nd..
Leo Veterans and Alumni: Gene Earner leads the singing of God Bless America while Larry Richards of Bugles Across America prepares to sound taps.
" Dad, Mr. Johnson was killed in a fire at 58th," my son Conor informed me last night when he came home from work. God, no. Poor Susan and the kids. His brothers and sisters all Chicago cops and his boy in the Marines. Our parish lost Brian Egan early this week and now Herbie. Herbie Johnson? “He was the first one to go in,” all of the time. Christ called Captain Herbie Johnson home on All Souls Day. Herbie Johnson was the quintessential Catholic gentleman, a man always surrounded by squads of laughing and worshipping little boys and girls on the Maplewood block or in the alley, a guy who radiated love, fun and family, a fierce doer. The family that he saved know of our loss.
Soria said she saw Captain Johnson on top of the house on the roof at one point. “He was the first one to go in,” Soria said. Upon hearing news that the captain had died, the families of the charred building were shocked.
“We feel very bad,” Soria said. “He tried to save our lives,” said Ortiz. “We didn’t think this would happen,” Soria said in Spanish. “Oh, God.” Longino Soto, 43, who lives on the home’s first floor, said in Spanish: “I feel bad.” “It could have been any one of us,” he said. When Johnson was pulled from the blaze, witnesses watched as his fellow firefighters fought to save him, performing chest compressions before loading him into an ambulance. He was brought down to the home’s porch, still wearing his air mask. “They pulled him out,” Maria Retiguin, 41, who lives across the street from the fire. “He was the first one in. He looked very bad. I was scared.” Sun Times
Herbie Johnson grew up that way. A kid from St. Basil's on the Boulevard who shares the dangers remembers,
Johnson was assigned to Engine Co. 123 in Gage Park Friday, but usually worked from firehouses all around the city. One firefighter who knew Johnson since they were kids said he will always remember his old friend's laugh. “He was the best, he was the best guy,’’ said Chicago Fire Dept. Lt. Steve O’Malley, who had been relieved by Johnson around 6 a.m. Friday from Engine 123, Tower Ladder 39, on 51st Street after O’Malley had worked a 48-hour shift. “He was his usual crazy self, laughing,’’ O’Malley said in a telephone interview, his voice shaking. “He always had a smile on his face." O’Malley said he and Johnson talked about their old stomping grounds, the St. Basil neighborhood, where they both grew up near 58th and Winchester. They knew each other since grade school. “I grew up with the whole family,’’ said O’Malley. “He was an all around great guy and great fireman. What a big-time, huge loss to the department. He was loved by everybody. “We fight fires all the times, we had three that day. But now it hurts. Now it hurts,’’ O'Malley said. Firefighters were called to the frame home in the Gage Park neighborhood around 5:15 p.m., according to Fire Department spokeswoman Meg Ahlheim. It was quickly raised to a 2-11 alarm, and an emergency medical services plan was called sending six ambulances to the scene, she said. Family members said eight children, ages 2 to 14, were in the living room with an adult, and other adults were in the second-floor kitchen when they started to see smoke outside the windows. . . .Johnson is survived by his wife, Susan, a daughter and two sons, Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago said outside the hospital hours after the fire. One son is in college and the other in the U.S. Marine Corps. Three brothers are Chicago police officers, a sister is a retired Chicago cop and another brother is a Chicago firefighter. Chicago Tribune
79.6% of the 500,000 citizens of Staten Island are Roman Catholic and along with their neighbors, it sure seems likely that the Catholic vote is being suppressed. More importantly, these Americans are ignored and in mortal danger. Some powers that be don't seem too interested in these voters - whatsoever.
There will be a New York Marathon.
Staten Island in New York is very much like my own neighborhood - working class, Catholic, ethnic and largely white. This borough is home to fireman, cops, transit workers, skilled tradesmen, nurses and teachers - urban helots.
These folks won't (how in the Christ could they?) have a vote come Tuesday, but Manhattan will have a Marathon on Sunday.
This is the Middle Class the political wizards, spin-merchants and ad men whine about with such love and compassion that it would sicken a slug.
Staten Island is hurting. People are missing. Kids are freezing. Old People endure the unimaginable with grace and faith.
Mayor Big Gulp is setting out the Big Apple welcome mat to Marathon runners from Kenya, Boston, L.A. and Switzerland on Sunday while a half a million of his citizens starve, suffer and strive against nature and political hypocrisy*.
Staten Islanders are a half-million people - Median Household Income -$55,000.
Home Values Before the Storm: Estimated median house or condo value in 2009: $449,400 (it was $216,600 in 2000)
Staten Island:
$449,400
New York:
$306,000
Mean prices in 2009:All housing units: $538,672; Detached houses: $605,969; Townhouses or other attached units: $417,785; In 2-unit structures: $623,790; In 3-to-4-unit structures: $510,487; In 5-or-more-unit structures: $285,074; Mobile homes: $261,596; Occupied boats, RVs, vans, etc.: $389,490
Now, that's suppressing the vote - the Catholic vote.
It sure does seem like a monstrous way to keep people from the polls - ignore their suffering.
Update at 5:01 PM CST
The marathon, Bloomberg told reporters, will "give people something to cheer about in a week that's been pretty dismal."
"You can grieve, you can laugh, you can cry, all at the same time," the mayor said.
He also said the race would pump much-needed money into the city's economy, which was brought to its knees by the storm. CHRISTINE BRENNAN: A confounding and unseemly decisionSTATEN ISLAND: Help was slow in comingMary Wittenberg, president of the New York Road Runners that operates the event, also tried to fend off criticism by saying this year's event will involve more private contractors than in past years to ease the strain on city services.
The marathon, which has run every year since 1970, brings an estimated $340 million into the city, and race organizers say some of it will be used for recovery efforts.
New York Road Runners will donate $1 million to the recovery fund and said more than $1.5 million in pledges already had been secured from sponsors.
Bloomberg's critics, however, were blunt.
Councilman James Oddo, from the devastated borough of Staten Island, where the race will begin, lashed out at the mayor on his Twitter feed:
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer weighed in, saying the city is trying to recover from the blow by Sandy and now is not the time to hold a marathon.
He said in a statement that New Yorkers throughout the city "are struggling to keep body and soul together, deprived of basic essentials as temperatures drops."
The race should be rescheduled, he said, "in order to focus all of the city's resources on the crucial task of helping our neighbors recover from this disaster."
"New Yorkers deserve nothing less than to know that the entire government is focused solely on returning the city and their region back to normalcy," Stringer said.
If they take one first responder from Staten Island to cover this marathon I will scream. We have people with no homes and no hope right now
LeoHigh School site
of Veterans Observance on Friday, November 2, 2012
at@11:00 A.M
Contact - Mr. Pat Hickey -Director of Development (773)
224-9600 ex. 208
When – November 2th
2012 at 11AM
Where – The
Courtyard of Leo High School 7901
South Sangamon StreetChicago60620
What - Leo
High School, Leo Alumni Association welcomes all veteran to the Memorial Observance
at the Leo War Memorial in the school’s courtyard. , LeoHigh School Principal
Phil Mesina (USAF ret.) &
Vice Principal Frank Wilson (USMC ret.)will direct the observance which
features presentations by Veterans, wreath - laying by John Gardner,
President of the Alumni Association,
LeoHigh School erected a memorial in 1965
to the many Leo men who have died serving America
in World War II, Korea,
and Vietnam
and the Windy City Veterans of Chicago updated the engraved names and
constructed permanent lighting for the memorial. Last year more than two hundred persons
joined the 150 Leo students in honoring America’s war fallen.
LeoHigh School Speakers at War Memorial 11 A.M.
1. Principal Phil
Mesina, USAF (ret.) and Vice-Principal Mr. Frank Wilson, USMC (ret.) call to
Order
2. Prayer Pete Doyle
3. Leo Alumni
President Dan McGrath Leo ‘68
4. Color and Honor of
the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines – Posting of the Colors
-Chicago’s own & Wreathe Laying by Leo Veterans and members of of the James Arneberg ( US Marine, Leo '43 dec.) Family.
5. Our National Anthem
– Sung by All
6. Leo 2004 Alumnus
and IraqAfghanistan Combat Veterans: Sgt. Jauwan Hall, USMC & Sgt. Marvin
Carey U.S.A.
7. Taps – Buglers
Across America
–Larry Richards Leo ’60, Gun Salute and Dismissal & Refreshments in Leo
Cafeteria
Sponsors – Calabria Italian Imports
and Steuber Florists
A British monk by the name of Alcuin was the first to set the date of November 1st as the commemoration of all the saints. However, Pope Boniface IV dragged 28 wagon loads of bones from the catacombs to the old Roman Pagan temple - The Pantheon and rededicated that building as a church sometime in May 609 AD.
The Pantheon was a temple that recognized all of the old Roman/Greek gods and now Christians who had come out of hiding from persecution in three hundred and twenty five years after Christ could recognize those who had been martyred for the Faith, or had lived exemplary lives. My friends, family and neighbors are adding Brian Egan (58) to the canon of saints today at St. Cajetan's Church. This saint was a great guy. There are many great guys and gals interred on consecrated ground, lost at sea, or cremated with ashes scattered all over the globe. Tomorrow, we will recognize our War Dead at the Leo High School Memorial in the courtyard on 79th Street.
We remember the saints - small s.- as well as the Saints -Capital S.
The Pope began to set rigorous standards for official Canonization of Saints in about 990 AD. Five Hundred years ago the process became even more exacting. After Vatican II many Saints - Upper Case S - were taken out of the Canon of Saints; most memorable was the dropping of St. Christopher.
Sainthood is important, but not as important as remembering sainthood - Brian Egan is a great example. He was a guy who showed up to worship, work and play. Brian Egan was accountable. That is the mark of real sainthood. He knew the rules and did not need them.
Another saint once told me, "Don't worry about what Heaven is like; worry about what you are doing."
Do I lie, cheat, neglect, take, ignore, or shirk? Good God, Yes.
Do I give, ease, fix, show up and remember? Not for me to say.
I have worked at Leo High School on the south side of Chicago since 1995 - not the south side where I live, mind you. I am an old white boy and live in the 19th Ward ( Morgan Park) which is mostly peopled by old white boys, their wives and their kids.
The young men who attend and graduate from Leo High School are mostly black, non-Catholic young gents. We have some white boys, but they are not of the garden variety upper middle class privileged background that spawns the white boy who gets on You Tube, arrested at G-8/NATO/GAY RIGHTS/St. Paddy's Day events and then has Pater's lawyers sue the bejazus out of everyone but the towel boy and Fore Caddy at Briarwood, Biltmore or Evanston Country Clubs.
The black,white and Mexican kids at Leo are working men's sons. Like my kids and the kids of cops, firemen, teachers, tradesmen and nurses, they respect the aging, the elderly, the Veterans, mothers, working men and themselves. Respect is learned. Disrespect is intolerable. Entitlement? As if.
Leo is a safe place in a very unsafe part of the city. I am here six days a week minimum. I have always been treated with dignity and respect here in one of Chicago's most homicidal neighborhoods by the students and the neighbors. Go figure. They hold it not against me that I am an old white boy!
It must be that our black kids from Englewood, Auburn Gresham, Grand Crossing and Brainard know that life is fraught with consequences - often fatal. White, privileged males who fought on Nintendo, lettered in Madden Football, liberally ignore gas, beer, rent prices and other such bothersome consequences have caused me some small discomfort.
I met one such young scapegrace very recently in Chicago's Loop. I was delivering materials downtown, when a lithe, rakishly disheveled, and tattooed son of Lake County when he rushed into me while talking, and or texting and vigorously thumbing into some high-end black palm buddy apparatus recently purchased at a Steve Jobs venue. Our contact upset his gait, his foaming latte and temper; this grey-beard was treated with a broken record of imprecation ( salty and salaciously hostile) and was greeted as the lad's "Bitch," once warned to watch it. So warned, Bub. This Bitch abides.
Now, I am as yellow as a duck's foot and have had my posterior lobes and other corporeal appendages kicked by the best of men and weakest of girl on any playground. Nevertheless, such bluster and bravado must not go unanswered. God gifted me, if not with the lusty and husky accoutrements of an Ajax, with a very crazy set of eyes covered in the bushiest of eye-brows and a Silly Putty Mug that morphs my moods. I stepped into the Jerque Du Jour with a verbal counterpoint similar to my age, culture and general bearing and the white boy's bowels turned to water. Beeeeee Otch, Sonny? Play that Funky Music, White, Boy!
The hectoring scamp exited the field with nothing more than his foamy brew and his pathetically fading impotent imperative sentences. I never had the chance to unsheathe my dolon.
A tear formed but refused to fall from my tired eyes as I considered how it must really suck to be that boy. America's youth. Sic Transit White Boy
Here is a fine example of exactly the species encountered
Had the lad been formed in a family and neighbor centered embrace like here in Working Man Chicago, such life lessons would only be of consequence to career criminals, lawsuit lotto lawyers, mental defectives and members of Progressive Marching Societies
Tim Pireacht is the President of Caitlicigh do gach Duine Lánúnas (Catholics for @#$% All and Everyone) “What makes you a Catholic,” Tim says, “is your Baptism.” That said, Tim Pireacht arrived in Chicago to accept an award from the Progressive Pan Fetish/Onanist/ Puppy Love Political Action Committee (PFOPL). Tim's work in making Catholics aware that they need to do absolutely nothing once the good Father applies the salt, oil and water to little Fish eaters. The Cork-born founder of Caitlicigh do gach Duine Lánúnas clarified, " You can eat the knickers off a Sultan's missus, wear a titled kilt and an Indian Headress to Bar Mitzva and be a Catholic. You can drink yourself paralytic, whore about, play the villain, mooch, abort the babies, spread the crabs, roger yer man's old woman and her kids, hump the chihuahua, bugger the meter reader, vote for Obama, snatch the money out of young Tadgh's 1st communion cards, order a pork chop at Salaam, blackguard the curate, use Granny's I-Pass, jump the turn-stile and sleep with a Yak, because you have been baptized!" The celebrated gobshite, lay-about and academic set the historical context. " I mean Archbishop Buzz Kill, or What? Nay, to naught I say! Bishops, and them collared lads, cause more problems than a Mot's dose. Stay NEUTRAL! Ireland avoided all the Blitz and Feck All because DEV said - stay neutral. Follow the Pope and be Thomas More with no noggin, or Larry O'Toole on the Brit Griddle. Catholics Choose to Stay Neutral and let the other fellas hump the worries,' the artful Celt offered. "So,'BELT UP, BLOODY WANKERS!' Religion, one's faith, should be as easy and as liberating as the old quick jig to the jakes after a great feed of colcannon and a gallon of Guinness," concluded this voice of Progressive Thought. Tim Pireach took home his award, his honorarium, three sets of steak knives and three members if the cast of Chicago's cast of The Book of Mormon. As election draws nigh, more such fine reportage will appear in Chicago's newspapers . . .fading like a Cheshire cats grin and Obama's Hope.
Jack, Nora, Pat, Bridget and Brian Egan of St. Cajetan's Parish
I met Brian Egan through St. Cajetan Parish and Kennedy Park activities. My son played St. Caj football with Jack Egan who was a year older than Conor and my youngest daughter remains very close with Nora with whom Clare went through Three of Seven Sacraments, Pre-K, T-Ball, Soccer, Softball, Basketball and the rigors of eight years of Catholic grammar school on the south side of Chicago. No easy task that. Brian Egan had their little backs.
All through those years, Brian Egan stood on the sidelines, in the stands and in the dugouts, knelt in the pew and supported not only his babies, but every youngster with his coaching skills which were formidable, his encouragement which was genuine and his love which was never turned off at anytime.
His beautiful daughter Bridget suffered with disease and Brian Egan had her shoulders locked in his grip. His lovely wife Pat had a guy who worshiped the sand, clay and blades of freshly cut Chicago Park District grass in and under her sandals. Brian Egan, like most south side guys I know, was life-long overwhelmed by the love of his girlfriend, bride and partner. Well we should.
Brian Egan was too tall a man to cast a shadow. I am heartbroken with his passing from our company but comforted that God has a great coach, neighbor and role model for His Saints. Brian Egan now makes a 'better place' a happier one.
Trib Editorial Board Offers Nothing . . . Once more . . .oodles of nothing.
Bengahzi? Nope. Libya? UhUh. Dead Ambassador? Zilch. Dead Heroes? Ditto. Questions for President Obama? Can't say.
One may expect news from a newspaper; but, then again, when a newspaper endorses four more years of nothing, nothing might seem like a real cool hand, from a practiced dispenser of nothing in the news.
Dad always said that I couldn't find my butt with both hands. I can. Allow me to add this imperative -“Defend the unborn against abortion even if they persecute you, calumniate you, set traps for you, take you to court or kill you." - Pope Francis to celebrate Pro-life Mass, Vatican
"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."
A peach of a guy with all the sweetness one could expect from a life well-spent and in good company: short on brains but a terrific dancer!
Author:
Every Heart and Hand: A Leo High School Story
The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One: A Novel of Guam in Time of War
November 16, 8pm
Jack, Nora, Pat, Bridget and
Trib Editorial Board Offers Nothing . . . Once more . . .oodles of nothing.
