Secrets Posted, Hot Kids and La Famiglia
Monday, May 16, 2005
A couple of quick plugs before we get to the goods. First off, someone at the Isotope boards directed me to Post Secret. What an amazing fucking art project. People send in a postcard with a secret on it that they never told anyway. Raw honesty, every single one of them heartbreaking despite how scary or funny they might be.
Also, in case anyone is interested, over at the Isotope board we are trying to prove that comic fans love books as much as comics. Today starts our first monthly book club, we’ll be reading Elmore Leonard’s THE HOT KID
. If you feel like discussing it with us, go read the book; discussions will soon.
_________________
This week is all about my mom’s side of the family – the D*Porte family. Last month I spent a week on my father’s side and you can read those stories here: La Familia, La Casa, La Invasion de Boston, La Carta, y El Funeral. Like I did during that week, I’m going to start with a rundown of the family.
My grandfather, Jackie (whom we all call Poppy), was a World War II hero. Here’s a picture of his medals that were actually recovered when his house burnt down – there were more. Poppy has a story that’s dying to be told but, unfortunately, most of it is rumor and hearsay, Poppy died when I was one years old.
He married Margaret (whom we called Nanny) after the war. Story goes; the family found out Poppy was fooling around in France while Nanny was waiting at home for him. Poppy’s father (I believe) bought an engagement ring for Nanny, told her it was from Poppy, and then sent Poppy a letter saying he’s now engaged and he better start acting like it.
He opened a bar down in Red Hook called Gabes and he became a neighborhood legend. He would always do for the people in the neighborhood – giving away a sizable portion of his money to help them out. As a result, when he died, the family wasn’t well taken care-of. But that’s the way the man was, he gave and gave and gave and never realized that he had people he needed to provide for. There’s such a thing as too good of a heart.
Annamae is their oldest daughter. She married Uncle Jerry and had two kids – John and Jerry. You will notice a “J” theme with my cousins’ names, all of the aunts and uncles swear it was unintentional.
One of my earliest memories is my family going over to my Aunt Annamae’s house at around eleven at night. They were getting out of New York, escaping in the middle of the night, and going to Florida. My family does that, they escape New York. For my father’s side my Uncle Alex went to Arizona to get cleaned up, my Aunt Sophie followed her husband to Virginia to escape a beef. My Aunt Annamae had to escape a beef and the bills. I remember sitting around while everyone was crying, my mom kept asking her why she had to leave.
They’re all still in Florida. John has a family of his own, a great wife and two incredible kids. He does some top-notch tat-work as well. John served in Desert Storm, as a printer, just like my dad. Jerry was an amazing bowler and probably could have gone pro.
The second oldest is my Aunt Jackie. She married and had three kids – John, Jackie and Jillian. Jackie and I were incredibly close growing up, up until puberty hit. Now we’re pretty close again but recent developments in the family have caused us to drift apart somewhat. There’s a fair amount of tension between my family and Aunt Jackie’s husband, a couple of incidents throughout the years and a particularly ugly one going on right now involving my parents’ house.
The next oldest was Uncle Mike. Uncle Mike was my sponsor for confirmation. He’ll be getting his own day this week, so I won’t talk too much about him now. I will say that he was one of the greatest guys I’ve ever known but he also liked his alcohol too much. He died two days after his liver failed on Christmas day. We weren’t notified until later on, one of the original points of contention alluded to with Aunt Jackie’s family, and by the time we got to the hospital he was already in a coma. Uncle Mike was never married and had no kids. His longtime girlfriend – Lorrie – was, basically, his wife.
Next up is Uncle Auggie. Uncle Auggie is an interesting story. The guy just has no luck. He’s not a bad a guy, he loves his family and he loves his kids but he’s always getting into trouble.
He had a kid, Jeanine, with his first wife. Her mother hid her from Uncle Auggie and the family and, up until two years ago, no-one in the family knew where she was. We found her recently in one of those crazy fate stories where she just happened to be in a hospital talking to somebody who knew my mom. Jeanine hangs with my family now quite often; she actually lives on Long Island (Uncle Auggie escaped to Florida before Aunt Annamae did, Jeanine was born there).
Uncle Auggie has custody of his other kids, Auggie and Samantha. Uncle Auggie, himself, is always in and out of jails and since my Nanny died, I honestly can’t say I even know where he lives now. Samantha had a child very young, I believe at 14, and Auggie is following in his father’s footsteps.
But the thing is, you talk to that guy, and you like him. He’s not a bad guy; he just never made the right decisions. The real shame – he can draw his ass off. If he was clean I would be putting his ass to work right now.
After Uncle Auggie comes my mom, Margaret, the youngest of the D*Porte kids. My mom is so unlike the rest of her family. She’s just sweet as fuck, never will hurt anyone and will do anything anyone asks. She is her father’s daughter without any doubt.
But she also has her tough side. She was dating some guy Cookie, for instance, and caught him making out with some other chick in his car. She responded by picking up a heavy, old-school garbage pail and smashing it though Cookie’s windshield – my mom will fuck you up if you get on her bad side.
So, that’s the family. It’s kind of funny, both my mom and dad where born and raised in Red Hook – my dad was the oldest son of a poor family and my mom was the youngest daughter of a well-off family. They both lost a brother; they both had sister’s that fled New York and a second brother with a shady, occasionally criminal past. Fate? I don’t believe in it but it makes for a great story.
My mother and father are the only two people on both sides of the family that still live in Red Hook. Keeping it real.
Also, in case anyone is interested, over at the Isotope board we are trying to prove that comic fans love books as much as comics. Today starts our first monthly book club, we’ll be reading Elmore Leonard’s THE HOT KID
. If you feel like discussing it with us, go read the book; discussions will soon. _________________
This week is all about my mom’s side of the family – the D*Porte family. Last month I spent a week on my father’s side and you can read those stories here: La Familia, La Casa, La Invasion de Boston, La Carta, y El Funeral. Like I did during that week, I’m going to start with a rundown of the family.
My grandfather, Jackie (whom we all call Poppy), was a World War II hero. Here’s a picture of his medals that were actually recovered when his house burnt down – there were more. Poppy has a story that’s dying to be told but, unfortunately, most of it is rumor and hearsay, Poppy died when I was one years old.
He married Margaret (whom we called Nanny) after the war. Story goes; the family found out Poppy was fooling around in France while Nanny was waiting at home for him. Poppy’s father (I believe) bought an engagement ring for Nanny, told her it was from Poppy, and then sent Poppy a letter saying he’s now engaged and he better start acting like it.
He opened a bar down in Red Hook called Gabes and he became a neighborhood legend. He would always do for the people in the neighborhood – giving away a sizable portion of his money to help them out. As a result, when he died, the family wasn’t well taken care-of. But that’s the way the man was, he gave and gave and gave and never realized that he had people he needed to provide for. There’s such a thing as too good of a heart.
Annamae is their oldest daughter. She married Uncle Jerry and had two kids – John and Jerry. You will notice a “J” theme with my cousins’ names, all of the aunts and uncles swear it was unintentional.
One of my earliest memories is my family going over to my Aunt Annamae’s house at around eleven at night. They were getting out of New York, escaping in the middle of the night, and going to Florida. My family does that, they escape New York. For my father’s side my Uncle Alex went to Arizona to get cleaned up, my Aunt Sophie followed her husband to Virginia to escape a beef. My Aunt Annamae had to escape a beef and the bills. I remember sitting around while everyone was crying, my mom kept asking her why she had to leave.
They’re all still in Florida. John has a family of his own, a great wife and two incredible kids. He does some top-notch tat-work as well. John served in Desert Storm, as a printer, just like my dad. Jerry was an amazing bowler and probably could have gone pro.
The second oldest is my Aunt Jackie. She married and had three kids – John, Jackie and Jillian. Jackie and I were incredibly close growing up, up until puberty hit. Now we’re pretty close again but recent developments in the family have caused us to drift apart somewhat. There’s a fair amount of tension between my family and Aunt Jackie’s husband, a couple of incidents throughout the years and a particularly ugly one going on right now involving my parents’ house.
The next oldest was Uncle Mike. Uncle Mike was my sponsor for confirmation. He’ll be getting his own day this week, so I won’t talk too much about him now. I will say that he was one of the greatest guys I’ve ever known but he also liked his alcohol too much. He died two days after his liver failed on Christmas day. We weren’t notified until later on, one of the original points of contention alluded to with Aunt Jackie’s family, and by the time we got to the hospital he was already in a coma. Uncle Mike was never married and had no kids. His longtime girlfriend – Lorrie – was, basically, his wife.
Next up is Uncle Auggie. Uncle Auggie is an interesting story. The guy just has no luck. He’s not a bad a guy, he loves his family and he loves his kids but he’s always getting into trouble.
He had a kid, Jeanine, with his first wife. Her mother hid her from Uncle Auggie and the family and, up until two years ago, no-one in the family knew where she was. We found her recently in one of those crazy fate stories where she just happened to be in a hospital talking to somebody who knew my mom. Jeanine hangs with my family now quite often; she actually lives on Long Island (Uncle Auggie escaped to Florida before Aunt Annamae did, Jeanine was born there).
Uncle Auggie has custody of his other kids, Auggie and Samantha. Uncle Auggie, himself, is always in and out of jails and since my Nanny died, I honestly can’t say I even know where he lives now. Samantha had a child very young, I believe at 14, and Auggie is following in his father’s footsteps.
But the thing is, you talk to that guy, and you like him. He’s not a bad guy; he just never made the right decisions. The real shame – he can draw his ass off. If he was clean I would be putting his ass to work right now.
After Uncle Auggie comes my mom, Margaret, the youngest of the D*Porte kids. My mom is so unlike the rest of her family. She’s just sweet as fuck, never will hurt anyone and will do anything anyone asks. She is her father’s daughter without any doubt.
But she also has her tough side. She was dating some guy Cookie, for instance, and caught him making out with some other chick in his car. She responded by picking up a heavy, old-school garbage pail and smashing it though Cookie’s windshield – my mom will fuck you up if you get on her bad side.
So, that’s the family. It’s kind of funny, both my mom and dad where born and raised in Red Hook – my dad was the oldest son of a poor family and my mom was the youngest daughter of a well-off family. They both lost a brother; they both had sister’s that fled New York and a second brother with a shady, occasionally criminal past. Fate? I don’t believe in it but it makes for a great story.
My mother and father are the only two people on both sides of the family that still live in Red Hook. Keeping it real.
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