Our 2nd reader for our first night of The Frunchroom’s 2nd anniversary show is Tom Cramer who, like more than a few readers of ours, came to see the show and is now onstage.
We ask each of our readers to send bio information, but Tom’s was so specific to his voice that I’m running it exactly as he sent it:
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I was born in 1965 at Little Company of Mary in Evergreen Park into a South Side Irish Catholic family. I have 4 siblings, ranging 14 to 27 years older than I (the word you’re searching for is surprise; not mistake .) I was an uncle at the age of 2, have 10 nieces and nephews and 20 great nieces and nephews.
My first home was at 103rd and Drake, second near 107th and Kildare in Oak Lawn, and then moved to the Oak Forest/Tinley Park area. I attended Kolmar (Oak Lawn) and St. Damian’s (Oak Forest) for grammar school, Marist High School and the University of Notre Dame.
Several years ago, I was shocked to hear that my friend Bob had passed suddenly. We met in 7th grade, and graduated St. Damian’s, Marist and Notre Dame together. That night, I had a flood of vivid memories about my childhood in Oak Lawn, before I ever met Bob. I typed them up and sent them to all the Kolmar school friends I could track down. Much to my surprise, one was an editor for the Huffington Post. She loved the piece and invited me to blog about growing up in the 70’s, and I started in the fall of 2012.
I’ve spent my entire career in the printing industry, which led me to live in the Dutch/Flemish speaking area of Belgium for a while during the 1990’s. This afforded me the opportunity to travel, including a visit to County Kerry Ireland, where both of my mother’s parents were born. Living in Belgium and travelling in Europe exposed me to the many different styles of beer, and I returned to the States just as the craft beer scene started to take off. I also blog for a social media craft beer group called the Pints Templars. Currently I’m working on building my own blogging site and ideas for fiction.
I will be sharing some stories of growing up in the Oak Lawn/Evergreen Park/Beverly area, which a lifelong friend has nick-named “God’s Country.”
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Tom will be one of five readers on the 26th, with five more on the 27th. Watch this space for more bios and click the links below to RSVP on Facebook. See you at Beverly Woods!
The Frunchroom 