Saturday, August 24, 2019




UNDERSTANDING


Understanding is a work in progress.
In other words, one needs to take a
lot of time to understand - sometimes
to understand just one other person -
like in marriage. It takes time. It takes
making time for finding out how the
other person thinks, remembers,
saying things like, “I was thinking
about something you said the other
day. Do I have it right when you
said….” It takes great questions:
“What’s it like to have a baby?”
“What’s it like to feel you're in prison?”
“What’s it like to feel misunderstood?”



© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

Friday, August 23, 2019


August 23, 2019


TONGUES  ARE  US

Every morning, after brushing our teeth,
it would be wise to look in the mirror,
stick out our tongue and say a prayer
that we use our tongue well, today -
that we don’t hurt anyone with a tough
word - that we praise and affirm at
least one person today -  and then that
night to look in the mirror - look at our
tongue - and talk to each other how we
worked together - and then thank God
if together we made a better world today.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019


August  23, 2019 



Thought for today: 


“One  picture is worth  a  thousand diets.” 

Charisse Goodman

Thursday, August 22, 2019

August  22.,  2019

SOME  PARTICULARS

Sometimes some poems make 
some particulars seem so particular: 
like poinsettias in a poem by John Shea;
like The Fish  in a poem by Elizabeth Bishop;
like trampolines in a poem by Denise Levertov;
like “The Red Wheelbarrow” or the plums 
that were in the ice box that were so delicious
in a poem by William Carlos Williams; 
and then you walk into the kitchen.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
That's William Carlos Williams
reciting his poem, "This is Just to Say ...."









August  22, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“A good scare is worth more than good advice.”  

Proverb

Wednesday, August 21, 2019


IRISH,  ITALIAN  AND  SPANISH 
LAYING  CLAIM  TO  COSTELLO 

Gregory  Kane 
Baltimore  Sun 
Pages  1b,  3 

ASK AND ye shall receive.

Some 113 callers responded to Wednesday's column with the questions about the name Costello and comedian Lou Costello. To refresh memories, I will go through the questions one by one.

n Is the name Costello-Irish or Italian?

Readers were divided on this one.

“My good friend Bernie Costello is 100 percent Irish,” said Pat Murphy. Mary Ellen Johnson called in her opinion that the Costello name is Irish.

“[Rock singer) Elvis Costello is Irish,” she said. “I think.” Ed Stetka said his wife is Irish, and her branch of the family is named Costello. Michael Daugherty and Susan Costello also said the Susan Costello also said the name was Irish, with Costello adding that the name was prominent in Ireland's County Mayo.

Even a member of the judiciary got in on the debate. Circuit Judge Kathleen O'Ferrall Friedman said Costello is an Irish name.

“I've got tons often,” she said in reference to her family members who are named Costello, “And I've just come from Ireland, where the name was everywhere.”

But others said they know American Costellos with both Irish and Italian ancestry.

“Yes and yes,” said Alan Walden of WBAL. “Costello is both Irish and Italian. The Irish pronounce it CAH-stel-oh, with the accent on the first syllable. The Italians pronounce it cah-STEL-oh, with the accent on the second syllable.”

Eleven callers claimed the name Costello is neither Irish nor Italian, but Spanish Sailors in the Spanish Armada who survived when the fleet was destroyed in a storm off the Irish coast intermarried with native Irish women and left Spanish surnames.

But Lorenzo Gaztannga left the intriguing message that Spanish Costellos may have been descendants of Italian immigrants to Spain.
“Immigration started long before America,” Gaztannga said. “The Costello name immigrated to Spain and Ireland in the early days of European immigration.”

Were Lou Costello's ancestors Irish or Italian?

Most callers left messages that Costello was not tile comedian's real last name. He adopted that name out of admiration for Delores Costello, an actress of the 1930s who helped him with  his career. Costello was born Louis Francis Cristillo in March 1906, most callers said. But there is some dispute on the spelling of the last name.

Al DiCenso recalled: “My grandparents came from Italy to Paterson, N.J., where Lou was born. My father and his brothers were born there, as was I. I'm told by my father that Lou was a contemporary of his, that they hey went to the same high school but were not classmates.... Lou's mother and my grandmother were 4-iPnd., that time was Cristelli.”

Other callers said Lou Costello was both Italian and Irish. Sources as varied as almanacs, encyclopedias and the Internet were cited, but all agreed that Lou's father was an Italian named Sebastian and his mother an Irish woman named Helen.

Preston Pardue said Costello was his second cousin. His grandmother, Eva Zissimos, and Costello's mom were sisters. Costello would often visit his Aunt Eva, who lived on 36th Street in Hampden.

Perdue said he was 7 weeks old when his cousin Lou Costello held him at his christening, following a tradition that said if you hold a male child at his christening, you would have a boy of your own.

“Six months later, he did have a son,” Perdue remembered, “but he died tragically in a pool accident. Lou actually went on stage and performed for an hour knowing his son had just died.”

Lou Costello: half-Irish, half-Italian and an all-American original. This discussion leaves you pining away for him and his partner, Bud Abbott, doesn't it? I loved Abbott and Costello when I was a boy. Especially Costello. He provided continuous joy in a world that was sometimes joyless and sometimes not very child-friendly. When in March 1959 other kids in the neighborhood told me Costello was dead, my tortured 7-year-old self immediately concluded I would see no more of his movies.

That misconception was soon cleared up. The comedy of Bud and Lou lives on through the magic of celluloid. Most of us know their “Who's on first?” routine by heart. Isn't it still funnier than what passes for comedy today, when comedians think humor is defined by the number of four-letter words used in a routine?

My thanks to all the folks who called in. You've confirmed my belief that if you want to know anything, just consult Sun readers.

_________________________________________________________________


Gregory  Kane  died  at  the   age of 62 on February 18, 2014





August 21, 2019



SOME  SERMONS

Some sermons wake us up.
Some sermons put us to sleep.
Some sermons pull us up.
Some sermons put us down.
Some sermons grab us by the shoulders,
shake us, and ask, “What about this?”
Some sermons take us into our past.
Some sermons take us into our future.
Some sermons put us in the sacrament
      of the present moment.
Some sermons get us to say,
“I wish so and so was here to hear this.”
Some sermons get us to say, “I disagree!”
Some sermons get us to laugh.
Some sermons - a few of them - get us to cry.
Some sermons get us to ask,
“What does this have to do with Jesus?”
Some sermons are full of grace and we say,
“Lord, it is good for us to be here.”
Some sermons get us to say,
“I’m out of here.”
Some sermons get you thinking,
“He didn’t prepare this?”
Some sermons get you thinking,
“Why don’t we give women
the next 2000 years to do this?”
Some sermons are homilies; 
      some are somebody's else's stuff?
Some sermons are from God.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019