Betty Wald visits Ireland for the first time in search of her grandmother's home in Kilmacillogue, County Kerry In all the long years of Sunday visits to my grandmother's apartment in the Bronx, she never talked about Ireland. There were no tales of a far-off land for a child's imagination to grab hold of, to elaborate over the years, making family myths to pass on to future … [Read more...] about A Visit Home
The First Word: Our Evolving Heritage
In this issue we celebrate the realization of the American dream by so many of our people, reminding us once again of the good fit this country has proved to be for the Irish. Not that it happened overnight. In the words of Robert Kennedy: "As the first of the racial minorities our forefathers were subject to every discrimination found wherever discrimination is known." The … [Read more...] about The First Word: Our Evolving Heritage
Stage Irish
From East to West Coast, Irish theater companies are booming as never before. The creation of the Thomas Davis Irish Players conjures an image of monks in monasteries, copying manuscripts with quills. The year was 1933 and seven young Irishmen, some of whom had been actors in Ireland, were studying for their high school equivalency tests in New York City. Missing their … [Read more...] about Stage Irish
Fionnula Flanagan: Up Close and Personal
Actress Fionnula Flanagan is a beautiful woman who is not afraid to ditch the glamour if the role demands it Audiences who remember her as the green-eyed, sultry redhead in the TV series Rich Man Poor Man for which she won an Emmy, and How the West Was Won, might have a hard time recognizing her in Some Mother's Son. Flanagan's opening shot shows her wearing no makeup, her hair … [Read more...] about Fionnula Flanagan: Up Close and Personal
Of Women and War
Terry George's latest movie, Some Mother's Son, is a universal story which will haunt long after the final credits run, writes Laoise MacReamoinn. There's a savage irony in the opening sequence of Some Mother's Son. In newsreel footage from 1979, Margaret Thatcher, British prime minister-elect, greets the press, and with a sweet, thin smile claims to see herself as continuing … [Read more...] about Of Women and War





