Foreword- " A Piece of the Banner."

Foreword

I remember well our catechism lessons in the quiet precincts of Saint John the Evangelist Elementary School in Buffalo, New York. The nuns would lead us in a daily progression of the tenets of the faithful.
“Who made me?” the book would ask.
“God made me,” was the book’s answer.
The rota continued through a progression of what we were programmed to believe in the Catholic faith.

At home, the process was more subtle but similar in its direction.
My parents and older siblings had an endless array of do’s and don’ts with which we were to conduct ourselves at dinner, in church and in the crowded streets around us on Seneca Parkside in South Buffalo. It seemed to a small child that there were rules for just about everything. And the penalties for not adhering to any of the various codes of conduct were quantifiable. No dinner, stay after class, a whack on the knuckles with a ruler, a dusting on the seat of the pants. Each was a pointed encouragement to “follow the rules.” It worked on us for a while until we got old enough to swallow the occasional negative reinforcement with a shrug and a casual comeback.

“Don’t mean nothing,” you would hear. Even though it might have.
Family, religion and the society around us were crafting junior versions of themselves in the smaller people who were in their charge. It wasn’t anything sinister. It was simply the only way they knew how to do things.
For some reason or other, the Martins were different. At least this one was anyway. The old man (dad) had instilled in us from birth the notion that we were as good as anyone on the planet. Maybe we were not as wealthy or as bright or any of a dozen other qualifiers, but he taught us that we were innately as worthy as anyone who arrived on the earth. This was both a radical and a powerful notion to teach blue-collar working class kids. I believed him and carried the notion with me into politics and life in general. In dozens of situations, in later years, where the wealthy and the powerful expected obeisance, they got from me the ordinary collegial respect due any fellow inhabitant of the planet. And I expected the same accord from them in return. My father had equipped me with a unique armor that has served me well throughout my entire life. Thanks dad.
From my mother Eileen May Carney, I was given the love of reading and learning that has enriched my life immeasurably these last 62 years. Thanks mom.

After setting down what I knew of the first four generations of my family’s history in America in Westward From Eire, I thought that I would take a hard look at the circumstances and events that gave rise to people born in a tight knit, Irish-Catholic, working class community. I wanted to examine and depict the formative influences that gave rise to patterns of behavior (mine) as they occurred in the political arena of Buffalo and Erie County, New York.

I started with my earliest memories and walked up through high school and college, trying to note the many influences that crafted the final persona that was Joe Martin.

I don’t know if I succeeded, but I had fun dredging up all of the wonderful memories and setting them down for others to read and hopefully enjoy. We are all unique creatures possessed of complex personalities and intellects. The final product that becomes the adult is often not what was expected.
If you accept the Baltimore Catechism premise that “God made us,” then surely our family, schools and friends around us helped create “who we are,” for better or worse.

I have used the temporal divider of the decades to set out a logical progression of the times and events that surrounded me. Even though all politics is local, as former House Speaker Tip O’Neil maintained, I tried to employ the various progression of American presidents as a means of advancing the story through the last six decades. My comments about them are brief. Many thousand of books are written about each and every one of them. I offer but brief glimpses I had of them as they and their actions impacted upon myself and those around me.

In chapter V, “The Creations of Legends,” I have set down a fable that encompasses dozens of experiences surrounding that magical time of childhood. And as I said in that chapter, if the events set down aren't completely true, then they ought to be. Similarly in the chapter, “The Holy Cross Vote,” the events depicted are not literal but an amalgam of fears and wishes that “urban legend” had devised in the grand galleries of gossip surrounding the government and political centers in Buffalo and Erie County New York. Those who came before me could and probably had committed many of the election infractions that I have mentioned in those days long past when rules were what those in power wished them to be. I thought a fable here would say more than a complex discussion of what actually does go on in an election process.

In setting down these memories, my chief technical adviser, editor, writing consultant and producer was my lovely wife Mary. Thanks as always Mary. It wouldn’t happen without you.

After I finished a first draft of A Piece of the Banner, I mailed out copies to some of the “usual suspects” for their considered review. My sister Mary Eileen read it first and offered her helpful comments on reorganizing the flow of the story. Thanks Mary.

A very good friend from Wisconsin, Richard Goff read the manuscript over carefully for non-sequiturs, logical flaws and just plain goofy mistakes. Thanks Dick for your attention to detail.

The final product emerged tentatively at the end of 2010. The smoky penumbra of memories, trailing back over 60 years, are sometimes both sketchy and sometimes necessarily of dubious accuracy. I learned early on in politics that there weren’t only two sides to a story but several versions depending on where you were sitting in the great card game of life. Perception is indeed reality.

These events herein set down are the way that I saw things as I progressed through the last six decades. I hope they offer a portrait of the life and times of that era and all of the many influences that made us who and what we are. And I hope that my reflections dredge up for you the many happy memories that family, schools, and friends made for you. People for the most part are wonderfully generous and good-natured. I was blessed to meet many whom I came to much admire. As for the others, I hope you spend eternity with a room full of people just like yourselves.

Table of Contents

Chapter I – A Series of Ethnic Villages p. 1-13
Chapter II - The 1950’s in Buffalo p. 14-19
Chapter III - The Fifth Generation p. 20-28
Chapter IV - Cheaper by the Dozen p. 29-40
Chapter V - A Scattering of Siblings p. 41-61
Chapter VI - The Education of the Rascals p. 62-75
Chapter VII - Even Adults Make Mistakes p.76-81
Chapter VIIII - The Creation of Legends p. 82-90
Chapter IX - Teen Angels p. 91-100
Chapter X – Windows p. 101-104
Chapter XI - The Fall of Camelot p. 105-112
Chapter XII - College as a Catalytic Experience p. 113-135
Chapter XIII - The Griffin Years in Buffalo p. 126-136
Chapter XIV - Passing the Torch p. 137-152
Chapter XV- Illusions and Persuasions p. 153-157
Chapter XVI - The Yellow Brick Road p. 158-162
Chapter XVII – Rallies, Wakes, Scams and Rascals p. 163-177
Chapter XVIII - The 1980’s - Bedtime For Bonzo p. 178-184
Chapter XIX – Padron of the Erie County Parks Department
p. 185-195
Chapter XVIX- Mr. Clinton Comes to Washington p. 196-204
Chapter XX -The Holy Cross Vote p. 205-210
Chapter XXI - A Run for the Roses p. 211-219
Chapter XXII - A Dark Horse Comes Calling p. 220-223
Chapter XXIII - The Texas Lone Ranger Rides Again
p. 224-228
Chapter XXIV - 9/11: A Buffalo Remembrance p. 229-232
Chapter XXV- Overseas Wars and Bursting the Economic Bubble
p. 233-241
Chapter XXVI - A Sea Change in American Politics p. 242-248
Chapter XXVII - Going Home p. 249-259