Category Archives: Chapbooks
Peter Volaric – Today We are Blessed…
I like to stay happy. I like to stay positive. Because, you know, today we are blessed, so why not be happy? [How will we manage every day?] It depends. Are you willing to say, “Tomorrow’s not going to be there,” or “Tomorrow will come and it will be better”? If you say, “Tomorrow will be a better day,” then you’ll experience that day. It’s all about saying tomorrow will come and it will be better. You get that energy, and you really can experience that day. Like we did, from the island to here. That’s how we did it.
Carmine Percontino – Town Inside
When I got good at it, I was about seventeen or eighteen. I was getting more involved, and definitely wanted to make a presepio and see it in the house. [My mother] made such a fuss. I would make a mess, but it would look great after it was done. [I’d wanted the inside of the presepio to look like Monte San Giacomo.] In my town, there is what we call “atafesa.” It’s like a mountain hillside. That’s what you see. That was the inspiration. I imagine my town being the town inside.
Donald “Red” Barrett – The Hook
Featuring the memories of longshoreman Donald “Red” Barrett and photographs he took of Hoboken’s working waterfront from 1955 – 1970.
Donald “Red” Barrett was a longshoreman for 34 years, working on piers in Brooklyn, Newark, and Hoboken. From 1955 until 1970, when the shipping companies abandoned Hoboken, Donald “Red” documented the hiring hall (“the shape-up” on the top floor of City Hall), the docks, the cargo ships, and his fellow longshoremen—day by day amassing a vital record of the city’s working waterfront.
Peter “Chipper” Falco – Two-Wheel Man
“Two-Wheel Man, Recollections of Peter “Chipper” Falco,” features Peter “Chipper” Falco, one of the founders of the 40-year-old Hoboken Motorcycle Club, who shared his recollections of living in Sinatra’s childhood home, the origins of his nickname, HMC parties and charity events, and the long-lasting influence of the film Easy Rider.
Bill Bergin – The Firehouse
Bill Bergin, a former deputy fire chief, served as the city’s public safety director from 2007 to 2009. The Firehouse contains stories of Bergin’s early years chasing fire engines on a bicycle, his rookie training as a firefighter, and accounts of some of the blazes he fought during his 31 years with the Hoboken Fire Department.
Patsy Louis Freda – Kid
In its pages a single interviewee conveys the story of two lives intertwined—of Patsy Freda and his “bride and best friend” Edna (McLaughlin) Freda, the woman he called “Kid.” Their courtship, begun in the late 1940s, was unusual. He was Italian and she was Irish, and there was tension between the two ethnic groups in Hoboken during that period. And Edna’s bout of childhood polio had made walking difficult for her, and had also left her distrustful of the long-term intentions of suitors. But Patsy was different. He was in love with Edna. “I took one look at that face and those blue eyes, and I was hooked,”he explained. “I wasn’t leavin’. I wasn’t going any place.” Reader, he married her. In 1953, the muscled dockworker and truck driver from 302 Madison Street wed the petite blue-eyed city secretary from 1 Willow Terrace. They had 55 years together. Early in 2012, Patsy Freda recalled his growing-up years, how he met his bride, and the years they shared, to Holly Metz, who edited his transcripts into this chapbook.
Joan Cunning – In the Terrace
Joan Cunning recalls over 50 years in the life of one extended Irish-American family, on one small Hoboken street.
Angel Padilla – We Were Not As They Thought
Angel Padilla describes his migration from Santorce, Puerto Rico, to Hoboken, in the 1950s,and his ties to St. Joseph Church, the first parish in the city to do outreach to the Puerto Rican community.
Vinnie Torre and Lynne Earing – The Pigeon Guys
“The Pigeon Guys, recollections of Vinnie Torre and Lynne Earing” on the sport of pigeon racing.
Michael “Biggie” Yaccarino – I’d Rather Lose a Clam than a Customer
“I’d Rather Lose a Clam than a Customer, Recollections of Michael “Brother” Yaccarino” tells the story of Biggie’s Clam Bar, founded in 1946.