Irish America
Irish America
In the vast collection of traditional Irish music, there exists a tune called the Ballinasloe Fair which celebrates what was in its heyday one of the most famous horse fairs in Western Europe and which is still regarded as the biggest and most popular fair in modern Ireland. The week-long fair opens on October 3 each year and follows an old recognized pattern of Irish country … [Read more...] about The Fair of Ballinasloe
From unpretentious origins in Dublin, Bernard Shaw grew up to be the most celebrated playwright and polemicist of his generation. His life spanned an extraordinary period from publication of Darwin's Origin of Species to the dropping of the first atom bombs. Believing that an author's business was to mind everybody else's business, Shaw involved himself in everything. His … [Read more...] about A Great Performance
Good news! The 1990 U.S. Census has reported that Irish Americans now number 44.3 million, a 3.6 million increase over the 1980 census figure of 40.7 million. The new figure is equivalent to 17.9 percent of the total U.S. population. Coincidentally, 3.6 million closely correlates to the population of the Irish Republic. There are just five million people on the whole island … [Read more...] about First Word: We Are Now 44.3 Million Strong
Not every artist who dies abroad enjoys a home burial, though homage is generally paid– to Joyce in Zurich, or to Keats in Rome. Such is sadly not the case, however, for James Fitzgerald, a highly regarded twentieth-century American painter who died on Aranmore Island, County Donegal, in 1971, and whose grave is seldom – if ever – visited in Dublin’s Mount Jerome Cemetery. Yet, … [Read more...] about An Irish American Artist’s Brush with Ireland
Justice for Judith Ward and Nicky Kelly The Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four might have been the most famous victims of injustice in recent years, but they certainly weren't the only ones. In the past month two others who were wrongfully imprisoned, one by the British government and one by the Irish government, had their names cleared. Judith Ward was freed on May 11 … [Read more...] about Blazes Boylan
