Dennis O'Toole
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Walk Right Through the Bolted Door: Reflections on Being Irish

3/17/2013

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Picture
“Rusty was earthy and vulgar at times, but he was very real.”
-From Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep.

Somewhere around ten years old I got a sense what a stereotypical Irishman was, and I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I bet you conjure the same guy I did:  a good story teller with a quick wit; a little garrulous, maybe, but never annoying; someone you want on your side when a fight breaks out; a pious man, but not one to take himself too seriously; a drinker, fun to be around, always quick to break into song or to tell one of those great stories. 

Each one of those stereotypes has its negative side, and in the time of Irish Need Not Apply formed a basis of discrimination:  an Irishman is a tiresome blowhard, a deadly brawler, and a superstitious Papist who’ll drink anything he can get his hands on.  And yet even with the prejudices we Irish face, we got luck on our side.  If someone who's never met me wants to assume I’ll bring a tad much to a party—hey, go right ahead.


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Clearing the Vital Hurtle

3/11/2013

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North American readers care inordinately that fictional characters be likable. This preference is strange, given that few real people are thoroughly nice and that those few aren’t interesting. Surely what actually matters is that characters clear this vital hurdle: that they be interesting.
-Claire Messud
There was a guy in my neighborhood who jogged each December in a Santa Claus outfit.  I'll call him E.  E. ran a landscaping business and mowed each lawn alongside his staff, which included several of his sons and (my parents tell me) unemployed men from the neighborhood eager or desperate for a paycheck.  But that was not his main gig.  He taught high school English in a poor neighborhood on the South Side.

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    About Dennis

    Dennis O'Toole is an all-set cobra jet creepin' through the nighttime.  He lives in Chicago. 

    If you need to reach me, dial:
    denotoole AT SYMBOL gmail DOT co LETTER M.  

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