This spring, a book authored by Professor Emeritus Joseph J. Romano, PhD, Reds: The 2nd Greatest Generation, was published by Page Publishing Inc.
Romano’s idea for the book—a story about five boys growing up in the 1940s and ’50s, one of them named Reds—originated from a Cabrini Philosophy Club panel discussion four years ago. The topic was “Children Playing Sports.”
“I was asked to be a panel member and decided to tell a story about kids living in a small, blue-collar town,” Romano said. “[In the story] they formed their own baseball league with no adult knowledge or supervision, which framed their lives as autonomous decision makers, engendering natural leadership roles and the ability to sort out their own problems. As it turned out, this story became Chapter One of Reds.”
After Romano retired from full-time teaching at Cabrini, he turned his focus toward finishing the book, which is classified as creative non-fiction.
“Almost every event is factual, but not always in reference to the actual persons depicted or times the events happened,” Romano said. “And while the events do reflect many of my individual experiences, it is more important that they reveal universal aspects of human life that could or should be part of everyone’s experiences.”
“In many ways, Reds is an assessment of human existence, framed by the generation of American kids who lived in the aftermath of the Great Depression and during the Second World War,” Romano said. “It is a story that tries to capture the human paradox whereby each individual is unique in his existence and yet committed to a social order that constantly molds and shapes individuals into a social conformity that is a necessary ingredient for species survival, but not always kind to every individual.”
Parts of the book’s storyline were influenced by the Cabrini family, including discussions with fellow Cabrini faculty Anthony Tomasco, PhD, Professor of Psychology, and Sharon Schwarze, PhD, Professor of Philosophy.
Schwarze said, “Joe Romano was always a philosopher. He didn’t know it right away but his mother probably did. He was always asking questions, especially ‘Why?’ Each chapter of Reds reveals the philosopher-in-waiting.”
Pulling in actual philosophical lessons that he’s taught in the classroom during his 58 years at Cabrini, Romano hopes that the students who have studied with him will recognize some of them.
“I always tried to relate the classroom thinking with life experiences,” he said.
“Students from his classes will recognize the way he weaves stories from his own childhood into philosophical lessons for everyone,” Schwarze said. “As in his classes, Joe is a generous listener who sees the good in people, in experiences, and even in the sorrows that all of us face.