Can I even discuss this without mentioning my real name? I think so...

My name is not especially common, but there are a couple of people with the same name as mine who have lots of mentions on the internet.

The most interesting case is a fellow just a year or two younger than myself who was killed while working the door at a Socialist Workers' Party fund-raising event in Brooklyn back in the early 1970s. (I might have the organization's name wrong, but it was some such Trotskyite New-Left faction.) The group regards this fellow as a martyr to their cause (even though, as I interpret the story, he was really just the victim of random violence), and still holds events in memory of his (and my) name.

Now, I was involved in the draft resistance back in the late 60s, although far more Christian than Communist in orientation, and definitely not affiliated with that particular group. (That is, I was a fairly visible member of the "New Left," but not nearly that far left.) I suppose that, to some of my more distant acquaintances, it very well could have been me collecting admissions at that dance that evening. So now I know why, over the years, a few folks have expressed surprise that I was still alive ~ they probably read a newspaper piece about my namesake's murder and figured it had been me!

Another prominent person with the same name as mine is a Catholic priest who is highly placed in the hierarchy of the Maryknoll order. He ain't me, either.

And finally, one more person with my name who I found via Google turned out to be a semi-distant relative with whom I started up an interesting correspondance. I met his father (my father's cousin) more than 40 years ago, and may have also met this fellow when he was a very young child.

I've only found a single reference to my own actual self: A short couple of paragraphs I once posted to a site requesting info on St. Patrick's Day Parades around the world. I gave 'em my report on our celebrations here in New Orleans, and they gave me a byline.

(If I were using my real name here at Mudcat, I'm sure all kinds of crap would turn up. One more good reason for using a fake Mudcat name.)