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Patrick's Corner

Name: Patrick's Corner
Author: Sean Patrick
ISBN: 9780882898780

by Sean Patrick

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Overview

You've heard of Murphy's Law and even the Peter Principle, but here's a new one: Patrick's Law. Patrick's Law, which deserves at least equal space in the index of life, states that in large families, the youngest gets the shortest end of the stick.
The youngest has certain traits that can last to adulthood: "His clothing will mark him and his position in the family strata. His socks will droop because of a lack of elasticity brought on by age and the larger ankles of his brothers. The youngest will generally never hold an original opinion for fear of being informed he is a klutz by at least one of his brothers. He will always be referred to as So-and-So's little brother and will NEVER (a) get the Sunday funnies first, (b) go anywhere without telling at least two persons where he is going, or (c) be able to read a comic while seated on the family's only commode."
Patrick's Corner is a collection of stories about growing up after World War II in a world where family life, neighborhood interdependence,
and nurturing environments were the norm. The author describes how one family's steadfast devotion to each other and their foundation of moral values helped them surmount the challenges of poverty.
Told with the sensitivity of the "baby of the family," this nostalgic reminiscence is full of warmth, love, growing pains, and the struggles for survival. The author writes about his "comin' up" as the youngest of six sons in an Irish Catholic family headed by a widowed mother. Like most brothers, the Patrick boys fought, but more often they were friends who talked, laughed, and shared their growing pains with each other.

Even if you have never had to wear hand-me-down clothes or been referred to as So-and-So's little brother or sister, these stories are sure to touch your heart.
Sean Patrick, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he teaches creative writing at Fayetteville Technical Community College. He has operated two teen group homes, served as an administrator of a religious education program at his church, and, along with his wife, has given lectures on parenting skills. He has written for Catholic Digest and has also been published in The Liguorian.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A bred-in-the-bone storyteller, the author makes this memoir a dramatic, moving and irrespressibly witty delight. A WW II baby, he was the youngest of widowed Kate Patrick's six sons. They lived in a tiny flat in a Cleveland, Ohio, tenement on Kate's pay as a char and the pennies the brothers earned on ``Patrick's corner,'' shining shoes and running errands. As the author shows, the family had little money but otherwise had all they needed: one another. Although he griped about inheriting the last of the hand-me-downs and about the older boys' bossiness, he knew he could count on their vigilant support in important ways. The Patrick brothers helped their youngest bear the afflictions of draconian nuns at his Catholic school (one, they swore, was a former heavyweight boxing champion) and in time taught him the art of courting. There are lively descriptions of ecumenical relations, celebrating the seder with Jewish neighbors and the ordination of a friend who succeeded his father as a Protestant minister, an Irish Orangeman. Today, the Patrick brothers number a judge, a college professor, a businessman, two fire chiefs and the author, who teaches writing at Fayetteville Technical Community College in North Carolina, and with his wife Pat has cared for 20 foster children. (Mar.)