Uncle Joe’s Last Drink

Joe Cavallo strumming a guitar.

In Weymouth, they called him Joe Horse. His real name was Joseph Cavallo, but nobody called him that. Not at Denly’s, not on Lake Street, not at the Water Department where he worked. You see, Cavallo means horse in Italian, and Joe wore that name like a crown. He was a local legend. The kind … Read more

A Turn-of-the-Century Immigration Story

A picture of colonial home on 67 lake street in Weymouth MA.

The nurse handed me a cane. A standard-issue black cane with a soft Styrofoam grip. As soon as it touched my palm, something inside me shifted. The hospital room, the nurse’s voice, the weight of my diagnosis, they all faded. Because I had seen this cane before. Not this exact one, but one just like … Read more