Well, maybe not quite.

Listening to the Dropkick Murphys, I’m swept into their Irish-Catholic South Boston neighborhood. The sense of place in their rough-and-tumble songs is simply that strong—and not just on account of the accent coming through in the vocals.

The Murphys are a curious blend of genres: they’re described as both hardcore punk and Celtic folk, and you can definitely hear both in their music. I’d add unapologetically, jubilantly brash. And raucous. Irreverent. Throbbing with life, vitality, emotion, even a little death. Not above making fun of themselves.

And prolific. This year’s 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory, peaking at number eight on the U.S. Billboard charts, follows a dozen releases by the Murphys since 1998. You may Read more about Dropkick Murphys: Kiss Them, They’re Irish

This Sight and Sound blog post was perhaps the hardest for me to write of all of my posts.  There are two reasons for this.  The first is because I will retire from the library shortly after this post goes up.  I have had almost forty years at the Monroe County Public Library as either a staff member or volunteer and it is time to move on to another adventure.   I still believe this library is one of the best, if not the best library in the state. But of course, I am biased.  I hope that you and the library will forgive my choice of pictures to head up this post. (I didn’t ask for permission) I’ve always believed that libraries are places of wonder and learning; imagination, and research, but above all, they are places full of fun and life and joy that one can experience almost nowhere else.  There is something special about the books, movies, services and special programs that take place in a library that help make any community stronger and better for all. Young and old, rich and poor; people from every walk of life can find something in common at a good library and there are always interesting people to meet at a library. Some of you may remember me from many different places in the library; when I started I worked at the Community Access Channel, then I moved to the Movies and Music Department, then to Adult Services and have recently begun working at our Ellettsville branch.  I even worked for a while as a night janitor. One of my greatest joys, however, is playing the clown (and the music) for the Children’s Story Hour Extravaganzas and especially the October event for which this picture displays my standard outfit and perhaps the real me.  It is the joyous laughter and smiles of a child who is discovering for the first time the world of the library that I will remember the most after I leave.

So this is good-bye, which is hard.  Harder still, at least intellectually, is the second reason this post was so difficult. Because this will be my last post I am forcing myself to make a choice out of all the movies I have watched over the years to just five of my favorites. Read more about Five of my Favorites and So Long