The Villager Voice
Six years ago today I fulfilled a long-held wish: I attended a spring training game at Jet Blue Park, the preseason home of the Red Sox. Naturally, I wore my red and blue Sox cap and a polo shirt to match. Which meant I was the only person in the entire stadium not wearing green. (I knew it was St. Patrick’s Day; our hotel restaurant smelled like corned beef by 7:00 am.). Mind you, I am 0% Irish. And since I am 50% English, I should probably be wearing orange today, but no, like most people I put on a bit o’ green this morning. The Villager is getting into the spirit by playing ersatz Irish music this morning, from some lilting sea chanties to the Mexican hat dance in the form of a jig to the Dropkick Murphies, with some Scottish bagpipes tossed in for good measure. I suspect nobody here is Irish either.
St Patrick is rightly credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, and he is revered for this and other reasons. But it was only a few years ago that I learned he did not rid Ireland of snakes, as legend has it. Ireland does not have, and has never had, snakes. Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, Hawai’i, and a handful of other islands have never had snakes either. So I suppose that if we can celebrate St Patrick for something he never actually did, then a half-Brit like myself can get away wearing the green for a day.
I’m going to be on vacation next week, and yes, Jet Blue Park is on the itinerary. My sincere thanks to The Rev. Toni Smith for stepping into the pulpit for us next Sunday. And, putting on a different hat for the moment, I invite you to tomorrow (Saturday) night’s performance of the Southeast Connecticut Community Orchestra at Connecticut College’s Evans Hall at 7:30, the concert will feature music by Puccini, von Suppé, Dvorak and Beethoven.
Here are the links to Sunday’s bulletin and service.