And Time Will Darken It: A Memoir in Fact and a Bit of Fantasy

And Time Will Darken It is a memoir written in a nonlinear style-warts and all. From love and loss to family triumphs and tragedies, to friends and enemies. It is about a life in journalism, union activism, and the sporting world. It includes experiences in and thoughts on religion, race, politics, jazz, theater, sex, and boozing.

I am a native of San Francisco, CA. and worked for 35 years as a journalist before taking early retirement. I started as a copy boy in 1960 at the old morning S.F. Examiner and advanced to copy editor and assistant photo editor. Soon after the merger of the Examiner with the S.F. News-Call Bulletin I moved on to the Oakland Tribune, working there as an assistant news editor, copy editor and also as a de facto sports editor. The last 20 years of my career were at the S.F. Chronicle as a slot and layout person, a reporter and also writing an occasional sports column under the byline J.P. O'Shea. I have contributed pieces to "The Big Book of American Irish Culture", which was published by Viking Press in 1987, and written many travel articles. I was also a Newspaper Guild (union) activist, serving at various times as a shop steward, Chronicle unit vice-chairperson and chairperson. Since my retirement some 20 years ago, I have embarked on biennial 3-month journeys and over the years have visited about 70 countries, some only once, others up to 8-10 times. In 2015 the new countries were South Africa, Tanzania and Ethiopia. My parents were both born in Ireland and I have dual citizenship.