Andrew O'Connor

NASA logo, 1982.

It'll Be Grand [phr] [Irish] An unbothered, unshakeable Irish optimism. Equal parts comfort, comedy, and chaos control - ideal for when everything's a mess, but you've decided not to care (yet).

An emotional piece on the nature of giving and the creation of Santa Claus, with personal anecdotes from different lives. The image shows a snowy scene with footprints leading up to a chimney. I created Santa Claus HE'S A CHUBBY MAN with a red suit and a cold nose and a big heart, and everybody knows he isn't exactly true. The books tell you he goes back twenty centuries and is known from the North Pole to the bottom of Africa. But the books don't say why a man who doesn't exist has been around so long and has gone so far. Who created Santa Claus? The books don't know, but I know. I created Santa Claus. Here is my story. I was a Roman soldier. I was assigned to the execution of a man who got into trouble with the authorities. We used to nail them to a cross in those days. When I saw this man his clothes were torn and somebody had put a crown of thorns on his head, but I knew there had been a mistake. He couldn't be a trouble-maker. I felt he was a man who would help anybody in trouble if they gave him a chance. So I defied my orders. I ran away. They put me in jail for it, but I've never been sorry. There was something about that man I didn't want to destroy. I was an electrician in Philadelphia. One Sunday in May, I was fishing in the Schuylkill River and I heard a scream. I saw a boy struggling in the water, a little boy about seven. I jumped in after him. The current was strong and I was never a good swimmer. We were reaching out our hands toward each other when I drowned. I was a German infantryman. On December 25, 1917, we were in the trenches with a few metres of mud separating us from the Americans. We'd been shooting at each other for weeks. Suddenly I found myself laying aside my rifle, and I wrapped a piece of chocolate I'd been saving for myself, and I threw it across the lines. From the enemy side, somebody threw back a can of milk. Soon we were all tossing presents back and forth, laughing and crying like madmen. You will say it was a foolish...

From America, Dec 1952: Life Insurance ad from John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company

«I created Santa Claus»

Bach, you have to stop. Your clavier is too well-tempered. Your concertos too Brandenburg. They’ll kill you

Happy Buran Day to all who celebrate

We have been robbed as a society of treasures