Expat Medford Writer Brings To Life His Dual Identity In New Book

MEDFORD, MA – In his new book, “Looking Homeward – Essays & Humor from a Misplaced American,” Steve Coronella brings to life his dual identity as a Medford native and expat to Dublin.

In the book, Coronella recalls his upbringing in 1970s Medford and also reveals an eventful 21st-century Dublin afterlife featuring marriage and fatherhood.

“I take everyday occurrences and give them universal appeal – Bill Bryson with a Boston accent!” Coronella said.

Having reversed the journey of his Irish and Italian grandparents decades before, Coronella explores a variety of topics – family life, local history, entertainment and the arts, sports and current events – as he attempts to make sense of his dual identity and advancing age.

Read more below about his life, the book, and why Medford readers should consider reading it.

Tell me a bit about yourself and your upbringing in Medford?
I graduated from Medford High School in 1977, and I grew up in the Hillside area just down from Tufts. I went to UMass Boston and worked part time in Porter Square Star Market. My college career starts and stops – it took me seven years to get through a four-year degree – but that’s because I came over to Ireland and Europe on a few occasions on backpacking trips for two or three months at a time

My grandparents on my mothers side are from Ireland and my father’s parents are from Sicily. I came over on my first trip to Ireland in 1980, I came with my mother and my grandmother and that kind of set the seeds for, I suppose, me coming over fairly regularly during the 1980s.

You write about your dual identity, beginning in Medford and ending in Ireland. Can you speak more on that?
Ireland has been transformed incredibly, more so than, I’d say, any western European country definitely, it’s gone through so many transformations in the last 30 years, it’s like I’ve lived in two or three different countries.

Medford was a different place back in the 70s and 80s as well. Whenever I go back to visit I see that property prices are, as they are everywhere, going crazy, but it seems to be an attractive place to live, whereas when I grew up, Medford had a reputation for being a tough working class area. If you said you were from Medford, people had a certain opinion of you, which usually wasn’t very flattering, but which has changed now.

The line between the two [places], I was a single guy, I was living on Cape Cod for six years before I moved over here and then when I came over here there was marriage and then a few years later there was fatherhood and that brought a whole different scene as well.

What motivated you to write this book?
This book is my third collection. The first one was 2009/2010 (“This Thought’s On Me – A Boston Guy Reflects on Leaving the Hub, Becoming a Dub & Other Topics”). I just discovered that by contributing to various papers around Boston, I had enough column-like pieces to put together a book. I shopped around but didn’t get too much interest so I decided to put it out myself, and I had a few book signings around Boston. And then I did the same with the second collection, which is called “Entering Medford.”

With this latest one, because I'm a little bit older now, I figured I'd put the three books combined and form a bit of a legacy. It’s probably the closest I’ll come to writing an autobiography, it’s more memoir.

Writing is a way of trying to make sense of the world. You see things around you and I try to write about them universally.

What’s your pitch for why Medford community members should pick up this book?
It recalls a past time in Medford that a lot of readers might remember fondly, and it’s also a humorous book. I think we need a laugh these days, so it’s kind of lighthearted but at the same time, it has a lot of good insights.

Most memoirs tend to be about trauma, or traumatic childhoods, I had nothing of the sort, but at the same time, I had a very interesting childhood. When you sit back and think about it and write about it you realize that an ordinary life can be very interesting on its own level.

Can you give an example or two of the short essays from the book that would appeal to Medford readers?
There’s one story where I recount the time I showed up unannounced on the doorstep of my father's relatives in Sicily. I also take readers on a walking tour around my hometown, taking in such spots such as my grandparents' old house in South Medford and two of my former schools that have since been sold and re-purposed. I also tell how even in modern Ireland there's no capiche for a simple Italian surname like Coronella.