Growing Up Poor in Irish Boston
"Growing Up Poor in Irish Boston” is a podcast series, colored with humor, nostalgia and pathos. It’s about a Boston tenement kid, born in 1939, clawing his way out of poverty by being hard-working, creative, persistent, entrepreneurial and by taking risks often. There are also stories of my later life in Boston, Cambridge and New England. If you like old Boston stories or Irish-American stories or old Cambridge stories, this is your podcast. If you like Pull-Yourself-Up-By-The-Bootstrap type stories and/or down-to-earth philosophy with a Roman Catholic, funny and relatively conservative slant, then this is for you.
I am Roderick Patrick Murphy, born into a large, loving Irish family in Boston, widowed after 50+ happy years. So I am now doing some writing, volunteering and learning how to be a bachelor again.
Episodes
69 episodes
Ep. 56 Second Hand Stuff, Sallies & The Morgie
Ep. 56 Second Hand Stuff, Sallies & The Morgie. This episode details how my parents bought clothing, shoes, etc. for 7 kids on my Dad's meager income. Lots of detail on the 1940s and 50s Boston second hand stores.
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8:38
Ep. 29 Quincy Quarries
Ep. 29 Quincy Quarries. "Danger increases the fun for teen aged boys." Some really dangerous examples of what my youthful friends and I considered swimming holes fun.
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7:52
Ep. 68 Troubles Era Letter From County Cork Cousin & An Irish Song
Ep. 68 Troubles Era Letter From County Cork Cousin & An Irish Song. An imagined letter from a cousin to his immigrated cousin about the Irish rebels and the Troubles with some humor, of course and a Song.
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4:55
Ep. 71B Murphy's Comedy Club
Ep. 71B Murphy's Comedy Club provides another batch of Paddy Murphy jokes in locations in Ireland and the the USA.
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7:41
Ep. 71C Murphy's Comedy Club
Ep. 71C Murphy's Comedy Club provides another batch of Paddy Murphy jokes in locations in Ireland and the the USA.
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6:59
Ep. 71A Murphy's Comedy Club
Ep. 71A Murphy's Comedy Club provides some Paddy Murphy jokes in locations in Ireland the the USA.
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5:55
Ep. 31 Murphy Brothers' Bloodline Discussion
Ep. 31 Murphy Brothers' Bloodline Discussion discusses conversations between my bother, Garry and I about our County Cork grandfather, Patrick Murphy and our great grandfather, Con Murphy. Both were Irish rebels.
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5:11
Ep. 39 Living Free at the Boy Scout Camp
Ep. 39 Living Free at the Boy Scout Camp relates how my parish's Boy Scout camp in then rural Bedford provided such wonderful and freeing, outdoor experiences for us, Boy Scouts in the 50s. I do a little raw ranting towards the end about lettin...
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7:41
Ep. 67C My Conflict with Quebecois Separatists
Ep. 67C My Conflict with Quebecois Separatists. This episode reflects my fiery meeting with Quebecois who wanted independence from Canada.
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5:21
Ep. 67B The Murphys Honeymoon & Jean's Acadian Ancestor
Ep. 67B The Murphys Honeymoon & Jean's Acadian Ancestor. This one talks about our honeymoon trip to Quebec and Jean's long ago French ancestor, Pierre Michaud.
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8:08
Ep. 17 Big Brother's Brutal Swimming Lesson
Ep. 17 Big Brother's Brutal Swimming Lesson relates how Little Roddy learns to swim.
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4:26
Ep.23. World War 2 Patriotic Homefront
Ep.23. World War 2 Patriotic Homefront Unlike the Vietnam War homefront openion which was contentious. America's citizens were very patriotic and supportive of our soldiers and sailors during WW2. I talk about it in this episode.
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4:10
Ep. 45 Where to Dissipate in My 1950s Boston
Ep. 45 Where to Dissipate in My 1950s Boston describes drinking, chasing women and carousing in my youth in Boston and Cambridge, etc.
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4:57
Ep. 67A O Canada & Our Gaspe Adventure
Ep. 67A O Canada & Our Gaspe Adventure. This episode is about being 13 years old and going on big adventure with my big brother, Garry to the Gaspe Penisula in Eastern Canada.
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7:35
Ep. 48 Polyglot Boston & Cambridge
Ep. 48 Polyglot Boston & Cambridge is an episode spelling out ethnicity and language differences in Greater Boston.
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8:55
Ep. 53 Vengeance at Murphy Flat
Ep. 53 Vengeance at Murphy Flat describes the Murphy kids and how we indivually handled getting even for ratting out a sibling. It wasn't pretty.
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10:31
Ep. 35 Hotel Commander Notes
Ep. 35 Hotel Commander Notes This one relates my first part time job where taxes got taken out. I was a busboy at the Hotel Commander in Harvard Square.
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3:24
Ep.44 Quincy Market Wildcat Strike
Ep.44 Quincy Market Wildcat Strike describes my mugging and unhappy experience with labor unions.
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8:13
Ep.58 Savage Amusement
Ep.58 Savage Amusement. Outdoor and often really dangerous fun and games were my daily life as a kid.
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9:31
Ep. 55 Neighborhood Creeps & Verboten Coal Yard
Ep. 55 Neighborhood Creeps & Verboten Coal Yard discusses what jailed convicts consider lowlifes. In prison child molesters are called "Short Eyes" and they punished by other cons every day. We had child molesters in our neighborhood ...
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5:23
Ep. 40 Shooting Crap & Other Gambling Stories
Ep. 40 Shooting Crap & Other Gambling Stories relates how kids and adults engaged in gambling in my youth. It was less organized and "offline" rather than as it is today.
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5:58
Ep. 34 The ER Was the Murphy's Health Care.
Ep. 34 The ER Was the Murphy's Health Care. The Murphys did not have Medicare or other employee type heath care plans. They didn't exist. We had the Cambridge Cityy Hospital Emergency Room and we used it alot for broken arms, nail punctures, st...
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7:55
Ep. 14B My Pond in the City
Ep. 14B My Pond in the City details a little bit of heaven for a little boy in a noisy, crowded city.
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6:40