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Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Chapter 4: Au revoir! Blanche knew how important it was to keep abreast of the news. Her parents made reading the press and listening to radio broadcasts part of the daily routine. Social agitation characterized the summer of ’65. Vietnam war protests were spreading…
Read More »Atlantic Currents: Connecting Cork and Lowell, brings together sixty-five writers from both sides of the Atlantic, featuring a collection of stories, poems, essays, songs, and parts of novels. This January, Trasna features selected writings from this 2020 anthology. Featured this week, the poetry of Alex Hayes. FR8879, 42 (Warsaw…
Read More »Norman Mailer Remembered By David Daniel A while back, in one of my classes, I mentioned Norman Mailer. Several students chorused: “Who’s Norman Mailer?” Which surprised me. This is a class at the state university. I thought for a moment, and said, “He’s a thinking man’s Bukowski.” This got nods.…
Read More »Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Chapter 3: Readying Summer was coming to an end and back-to-school preparation topped Maman’s agenda. Blanche helped her mother take the inventory of the leftover school supplies. How many number two pencils, ball point pens, erasers, copybooks, loose-leaf sheets and folders could they salvage…
Read More »Nancy and I have been attending the Moby Dick Marathon at the New Bedford Whaling Museum since 1997, the beginning of a New Bedford tradition. We’ve only missed two over the 25 years since then. I wrote this a few years ago right after the reading of the final chase…
Read More »“Where Now Begins” This week, on January 6th, the United States Capitol was attacked. It houses the meeting chambers of the United States Senate and the Congress. It is one of the most symbolically important buildings in the nation. At the time of the attack, a joint session of Congress was…
Read More »Thanks to our regular contributor Stephen O’Connor for bringing us another essay by Malcolm Sharps, who was born in England and has lived in Hungary many years. About this commentary on Thomas Wolfe’s iconic novel Of Time and the River, Steve tells us, “I’m glad that I got something of…
Read More »Beannacht is the Irish word for blessing. As 2020 ends, and we prepare to begin 2021, we extend a heartfelt and beautiful Beannacht from Tipperary-based healer and writer, Eileen Heneghan. Here at Trasna, we wish everyone health and happiness in the new year. Sliabh na mBan, Co. Tipperary …
Read More »Boarding School Blues is a fictionalized story by Louise Peloquin of life at a Catholic high school in 1960s New England. The full story will be presented in regular installments over the next few months with one chapter appearing every other week. Boarding School Blues, chapter 2 Facing the inevitable…
Read More »From: “A Christmas Childhood,” Patrick Kavanagh (1943) “Outside the cow-house my mother Made the music of milking; The light of her stable-lamp was a star And the frost of Bethlehem made it twinkle. A water-hen screeched in the bog, Mass-going feet Crunched the wafer-ice on the pot-holes, Somebody wistfully…
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