Brown and White and My New Poem

Deer are good companions during cold winter

along with my little dog that barks at them.

When inside, her barking scares them away

but outside they see her and are slow to move.

But deer aren’t always patient with little dogs

when busy finding food among the odd growth.

One day, annoyed at my barking little dog,

a doe came forward and stomped on her back.

My dog ran back to the house anxious to enter

and bolted up the stairs into the closet

embarrassed by her lack of courage,

hurt by the encounter that surprised her.

For weeks she could not climb the stairs

and each day I lifted her into my arms

and carried her like a little baby outside

so she could go on her excursions.

Finally, she recovered from the injuries

and went in back and looked for new signs

of deer that might be patient one day

and annoyed at little dogs the next.

I remember my own barking days

when I stood up tall to trouble

and dared the beasts to come

so I could chase them all away.

But now I fall prey to bigger things

that are not so scared of old men

and want to show me their displeasure

by chasing me back up the stairs.

Copyright 2017, Sporting Chance Press

Norris is the author of the Brown and White, a fictionalized memoir published by Sporting Chance Press that is available through Amazon. The book is about a young man's freshman year at the late 1960s in Chicago. It's about changing neighborhoods and challenges, a humorous and positive book.

Brown and White and My Poem

Mice come into the house from cold fall air
and haunt my kitchen until I set traps for them.
My neighbor tells me they must make a home
out in the old pile of logs where the rabbits go.


But there's something spiritual in my wood pile
it holds relics of my old apple tree
and I can't bring myself to get rid of the logs
summer home of mice and hiding place for rabbits.

But like all dead things I hold onto,  it brings trouble,
memories of mistakes I have made that sneak up
and cry out on these cloudy winter days
scolding me for what I failed to do in summer.

So on these cold mornings when nothing is warm
and even the squirrels won't come out of their nests,
I sometimes battle ghosts stuck in my head
like mice that come in from the cold, haunting my kitchen.

Copyright 2017, Sporting Chance Press

Norris is the author of the Brown and White, a fictionalized memoir published by Sporting Chance Press that is available through Amazon. The book is book about a young man's freshman year at the late 1960s in Chicago. It's about changing neighborhoods and challenges, but it is most of all a humorous and positive book.

50 of The Brown and White

The Brown and White

Just a quick post to tell you that I have sold 50 of The Brown and White in my first month. That's pretty good in that I was so busy with another book, I had little time to promote the Brown and White in the first month. Let's hope its 500 in the second!

The Brown and White takes you back in a literary time-capsule. You're exposed to changes in many areas of life while the boys in the book carry out on their daily activity. These Catholic boys are carried back and forth on the Brown and White bus with its free spirited captain, Willie. Much changes, but hope prevails. In fact, faith prevails. 

McCaskey Speaks at Long Island Chapter of Legatus

McCaskey's Sports and Faith

Sporting Chance Press author and Chicago Bears Vice President Patrick McCaskey is schedule to speak at the Long Island Legatus Chapter on May 4, 2017. 

Founded in March 2004, the Long Island (N.Y.) Chapter  meets on the first Thursday of every month. Speakers have included author George Weigel, Sisters of Life Prioress Mother Agnes Donovan, America magazine editor Rev. Drew Christianson, Catholic University president emeritus Most Reverend David O’Connell, and the late Bowie Kuhn, former Major League Baseball commissioner. 

Legatus includes over 4,000 Catholic business leaders and spouses. 

Lessons and Humor in The Brown and White

I once got a school jacket from a neighbor that was old and worn out after it was "advertised" as practically brand new. My mother, although certainly doing her best, added insult to injury by knitting some clothes to go with it.  This is a funny lesson in my book The Brown and White. I have a number of episodes in the book that are funny, but a little painful as well. My life, and I suppose many other people, could be described as funny and painful. 

More than anything else, my book is funny! But when you write humor, it gets a little tricky at times.  I wrote The Brown and White over 40 years and sometimes I looked at things and made changes. My sensibilities changed.

I often think of humor as having no conscience. Things can be funny and cruel; funny and racist; and funny and just wrong. Hitler thought Roosevelt's letter suggesting he leave the rest of Europe alone (after he started his expansionism) as funny. To Hitler and thousands in the audience, Hitler's response was funny. To Roosevelt and most people concerned with Hitler's threats, it was something different all together. 

It occurred to me this morning that several of the incidents I have written about in The Brown and White are not only humorous, but on some level instructive. The instructive stuff is good, but I certainly didn't write the book for its lessons. I wanted people to know the way it was for us back in 1967-1968. And I wanted to give everyone in my past a kind of hug. The book is written for adults, although I do hope it gets a lot of play with young adults.

My book, The Brown and White, examines the life of a Catholic High School freshman who goes through some funny and scary times.  It's a good quick read that is based on fact. I've been working with books by other people for a long time and this is my first book. Maybe I will end up like Carole King, behind the scenes for years and break out into super stardom! Well, I can hope.

Our Ad for the Brown and White

Lawrence Norris

The Brown and White

Pub. Sept. 2016

Forty plus years in the making, The Brown and White is a fictionalized memoir that tells the story of Collin Callaghan's freshman year at a Chicago Catholic High School. Collin is a white boy who is living in turbulent times in a changing city. He clings to his neighborhood and his family as he heads out each day with his classmates on the Brown and White, the ancient school bus driven by free-spirited Willie. Memorable characters abound as this story unfolds. Collin's loveable family, especially his Irish Catholic policeman father and his Irish immigrant mother face life together. Collin and classmates blaze their own humorous and passionate trail through the late 1960s. A unique cast of terrific teachers are there to see the boys through. Laughs and life meet readers head on as they travel on the Brown and White.

 

The Brown and White is published by Sporting Chance Press and is available from Amazon and select stores.

·        Paperback: 190 pages

·        Publisher: Sporting Chance Press, Inc.; 1st edition (September 16, 2016)

·        Language: English

·        ISBN-10: 0981934277

·        ISBN-13: 978-0981934273

·        Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches

·        Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces

See and buy book here at Amazon.

Lawrence Norris is an author, an editor, and a publisher. He started working with books as a teenager at the legendary Kroch's and Brentano's Bookstores and he worked for decades for a major international publishing firm. He has written several books, edited a couple dozen, and published books as well under his own company, Sporting Chance Press. Norris surrounds himself with books and he especially loves the simple stories of people who try to make a difference. His heroes are policemen, firemen, janitors, librarians, teachers, moms, dads, grandparents, nuns, ex-nuns, and humble priests.  Sporting Chance Press, 1074 Butler Drive, Crystal Lake, IL 60014. www.sportingchancepress.com

BROWN AND WHITE IN PRINT

BROWN AND WHITE

NOW IN PRINT NOW IN PRINT NOW IN PRINT NOW IN PRINT NOW IN PRINT

Forty plus years in the making, The Brown and White is a fictionalized memoir that tells the story of Collin Callaghan's freshman year at a Chicago Catholic High School. Collin is a white boy who is living in turbulent times in a changing city. He clings to his neighborhood and his family as he heads out each day with his classmates on the Brown and White, the ancient school bus driven by free-spirited Willie. Memorable characters abound as this story unfolds. Collin's loveable family, especially his Irish Catholic policeman father and his Irish immigrant mother face life together. Collin and classmates blaze their own humorous and passionate trail through the late 1960s. A unique cast of terrific teachers are there to see the boys through. Laughs and life meet readers head on as they travel on the Brown and White.