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<!--Generated by Squarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.158 (http://www.squarespace.com) on Tue, 21 May 2013 23:55:04 GMT--><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="/universal/styles/feed.css"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>Books - Comments</title><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/</link><description></description><copyright></copyright><language>en-US</language><generator>Squarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.158 (http://www.squarespace.com)</generator><item><title>N. Cary comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>N. Cary</author><pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 14:18:23 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/20031985</guid><description><![CDATA[I grew up at 56th and Malcolm in the late 40&#39;s and early 50&#39;s.  My friends went to MBS and I went to Longstreth.  At that time it was a really great place to live but after reading some stories in the paper I would not want to live there now.  It breakes my heart that it has changed so much.]]></description></item><item><title>Mike Duffy comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>Mike Duffy</author><pubDate>Sat, 02 Feb 2013 03:36:24 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/19595200</guid><description><![CDATA[I remember beautiful Gail Bryson the girl Ms. Clark speaks of. There were many more horrific murders, rapes stabbings. The first rape I remember was of a 12 year old girl that was taken off the streets around Ruby at 53rd by blacks in their car and raped. We started throwing rocks at cars with black guys in them and they called us racist. The hard thing to rationalize is the people committing all these murders, stabbings, rapes didn&#39;t seem civilized or in some respects human to a young mind. The scars remain. It is only human to feel this way not racist. On a recent visit to The Little Sisters (Homey Wall) I noticed the beautiful houses across on Chester Ave. are destroyed. They looked like the souls of the people on the streets. They looked like Zombies, maybe they weren&#39;t human after all. Mike Duffy]]></description></item><item><title>Happy growing up in Southwest Philly comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>Happy growing up in Southwest Philly</author><pubDate>Sat, 15 Dec 2012 01:14:48 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/19345399</guid><description><![CDATA[From 1961-1969, I lived in Southwest Philly and attended M.B.S. from second grade through eighth grade. From 1970-1974, I attended West Catholic Girl&#39;s High School. After graduating from college, I returned to M.B.S. and taught two years at the school. I continued to live in the parish up until 1988. If anyone has the ability to comment on life in Southwest Philly, it is I...and, life during that time was not a war zone. I remember enjoyable parish picnics, the famous school carnivals, Irish tap dancing lessons with Kay, walking to Myers playground on a beautiful summer&#39;s evening. I remember the I.H.M. nuns giving up their Saturdays to take a group of kids on the trolley to the Art Museum. I remember homework club and endless games in the schoolyard. Yes, to be certain, there were fights growing up. Yes, children were hurt. Yes, I remember having a police escort on the trip to high school because of the unrest in the community. But, it was not a war zone. &quot;The Lost Boys of Sudan,&quot; groups of over 20,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups were displaced during the Second Sudanese Civil War from 1983 up to 2005. Southwest Philly did not have refugee camps, bombings, no water supply. Children like the Lost Boys grew up in a war zone. Mr. Purcell is certainly entitled to his memories. However, I remember events very differently. Unlike Mr. Purcell&#39;s view of the Catholic Church&#39;s involvement in the community, I remember many priests and nuns helping &quot;behind the scene.&quot; Because of my childhood, I now enjoy recognizing the true joy and beauty in life, along with the hardships...and, I can state the positives outweigh the negatives.]]></description></item><item><title>Margaret Cassidy Clarke comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>Margaret Cassidy Clarke</author><pubDate>Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:06:08 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/18965420</guid><description><![CDATA[I read Kevin&#39;s Book and it brought back so many memories of my time growing up on 53rd Street in MBS Parish.  They were the best and some of the worst times of my life.  But I look back on them and feel they made me a stronger person for having lived through them.  We moved out when our part of SWP was real bad in the late 60&#39;s  when I witnessed a girl get stabbed to death 2 doors down from her house when she went to the store to get hairspray because she was to be a maid of honor in a wedding the next day.  The guy who murdered her lived three doors away from me, after he stabbed her he walked up Upland Street laughing.  Was caught two days later.  Thanks to Kevin for the memories, even my son loved it and he never stepped foot in SWP he grew up in the safe neighborhood of Lawncrest, (which is not so safe now).  Thanks Kevin]]></description></item><item><title>Nick Carraway comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>Nick Carraway</author><pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 2012 06:15:33 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/18961370</guid><description><![CDATA[Good post, Dugan. I&#39;m glad we can support Philly authors here on the Lunch Break. I&#39;ve added Philly War Zone to our Amazon book list in the right hand column if anyone is interested in checking it out. I&#39;ll be sure to give it a read as I head back to my home city next month.]]></description></item><item><title>James Dugan comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>James Dugan</author><pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 2012 02:18:11 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/18960892</guid><description><![CDATA[Thanks for the comments and reaching out to the author. I am especially grateful for the author leaving a comment. It is honor. I hope you will realize some of the quality of the writing on the site and join our community. We try to provide an interesting lunch in essay, story, or poetic form. I also would love any suggestions of books to review and read from the local Philadelphia area. Thanks again.]]></description></item><item><title>Susan Gallagher (Lynde) comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>Susan Gallagher (Lynde)</author><pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:29:36 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/18960588</guid><description><![CDATA[I truly love this book!!!! This book haws been read by my husband who also grew up in Philly and went though the changes My friend who grew up on a farm out west and myself again Kevin, you make us all proud and honor to read your book!   Thank you again!!]]></description></item><item><title>Joe Hohneck comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>Joe Hohneck</author><pubDate>Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:41:42 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/18960464</guid><description><![CDATA[First let me say that I have known Kevin and his brothers my whole life, I lived on the same block as these guys and ran around with his younger brothers. This book brought back things that I had forgotten, or tried to forget. I have read it twice now and still find things in it that jar me. I am so glad that I lived in this part of the city, and in this time, it has made me who I am today. I must also say that what has been said here is very true, reading this book is like sitting next to Kevin and talking about how we all got by and were so lucky to get out before anything really bad happened. I work in and around the city now, and have gotten back down to the old neighborhood. I had to stop and look around,I had to drive down the block, and past the playground and the church. Much has changed, but the one thing that did not was the fact that while there I still kept one eye looking over my shoulder. Congrats to a guy from the block, you have done well, please give our best to your family.]]></description></item><item><title>M.J.K. comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>M.J.K.</author><pubDate>Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:37:11 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/18959606</guid><description><![CDATA[What is really remarkable is that all Kevin and his brothers went through he went on to become a husband,father and business owner. His brothers also went on to lead productive lives and they are all very close. I give his Mother a lot of credit. Others weren&#39;t so lucky. Some fell into drug and alcohol abuse. Others had a hard time accepting the further challenging road of life we all have to navigate no matter where we come from. And some others left the neighborhood never to be heard from again. I guess they never looked back. It&#39;s amazing too that just a few years prior to Kevin&#39;s years the neighborhood was a very nice place where the children still walked the neighborhood in the May Procession. And Mr Dugan what you heard from your uncles in the bar many of us were subjected to that almost daily. It was a fear of a changing world I guess. But all in all what we can be thankful for is that those times wil not ever take place again.  Thanks Kevin.   M.J.K.]]></description></item><item><title>Kevin Purcell comments on Philly War Zone by Kevin Purcell: How My Philadelphia Came to Be</title><author>Kevin Purcell</author><pubDate>Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:30:40 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.thelunchbreakblog.com/books/2012/9/4/philly-war-zone-by-kevin-purcell-how-my-philadelphia-came-to.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">359926:5520468:comment/18959180</guid><description><![CDATA[Thank you all for your kind words.  So glad you liked the book.  If anyone would like to read a sample, the 1st chapter is at PhillyWarZone.com.  Thanks again!    Kevin]]></description></item></channel></rss>