For the month of July, here on Trasna, we will be highlighting some of the literary and artistic events cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Featured this week is the West Cork Literary Festival, an annual, weeklong celebration of writing workshops offered by some of the finest Irish and international writers.…
The Art of Getting Home: Bart Giamatti and the 1952 Saint Patrick’s Girls Softball Team By Christine O’Connor No one has ever written about the game of baseball with more intelligence and beauty than former Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti. In one of his many essays on the subject he described…
William Henry Merritt By Eileen Loucraft Back in the early days of professional baseball, Lowell produced a star catcher named William “Billy” Merritt. William Henry Merritt was born in Lowell on July 30, 1870 to William and Mary (Cleary) Merritt who were Irish immigrants. He attended Lowell schools and the College…
Baseball By The Numbers A Confession By Jerry Bisantz I admit it. I am bad at math. So, why do I love baseball so much? And, please, don’t give me all that Kevin Costner “Field Of Dreams” playing catch with your Dad poppycock. Anyone who really knows baseball knows “Bull…
Fenway Park (web photo courtesy of bostoncalendar) American-Based by Chath pierSath The batter spits. Shoves his left foot against the diamond. He makes eye contact with the pitcher. He tilts down the right edge of his cap to buckle it tight to each strand of his hair. It’s…
Time Lapse By David Daniel I am sitting in my night class and Mr. Crutchfield, the instructor, is talking about time lapse photography and how you can manipulate an image by the amount of light you permit to enter the camera. I’m not too clear on what this means, for…
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Politics isn’t everything. On a holiday like July 4th, celebrating our nation’s independence and its brilliant founding documents, it is tempting to recount the myriad ways that our President has trampled on the promises made therein. Unsparingly, he…
Today’s Baseball Week post combines two items from August 2013, the first by me, the second by Paul, both of us fans of Red Sox rightfielder Tony Conigliaro, a Massachusetts native who reached professional stardom at a young age and whose potential seemed limitless – until the evening of August…
Spinners Photo Essay By Jennifer Myers This has been a tough year for baseball, particularly minor league baseball. Earlier this week, Major League Baseball announced that the entire minor league season had been cancelled. But even before the pandemic, MLB had started contracting the number of minor league teams which…
Guilty Pleasures of the Fourth by Henri B. Marchand An essay from Henri Marchand, updated from its original 2006 version. As another Fourth of July holiday approaches the nightly cannonade of assorted firecrackers and whistling skyrockets has been steadily intensifying. These illegal blasts and crackles usually reach a crescendo over…
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