Irish American author of "Angela's Ashes" and Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt passed away on July 19, 2009 in New York after battling melanoma cancer. Originally born in Brooklyn to Malachy and Angela McCourt, his parents moved the family back to Limerick after the death of his younger sister Margaret. The McCourts sunk very deep into poverty and this became the influence … [Read more...] about July 19, 2009
Coco Rocha Rocks the Runway
She looks, if possible, even more modelesque in person, although this might have something to do with the high-heeled lace-up Balenciaga boots she’s wearing (along with an Urban Outfitters top, Marni belt, vintage gold lamé purse and a skort that once belonged to her mother). When I sit down with Irish Canadian Coco Rocha, who has taken the fashion world by storm before turning … [Read more...] about Coco Rocha Rocks the Runway
The First Word: Celebrating Irish Heritage in Holyoke
If there’s a connecting theme in this issue it’s the Famine: Brian Moynihan’s ancestors came over at the end of the famine, Christine Kinealy writes about the international response to the famine, while David Fleitz brings us a story on the early days of American baseball that was populated with the first generation – the sons of famine immigrants. Looking back over the years, … [Read more...] about The First Word: Celebrating Irish Heritage in Holyoke
The World of Irish Dance
The second week of April certainly brought some confusion to Philadelphia residents as thousands of young girls in bouncy wigs and vendors with everything from Celtic t-shirts to Irish sweets descended on the Kimmel Centre of Performing Arts. The 39th Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne, World Irish Dance Championships, was held for the first time in North America at the Kimmel Centre … [Read more...] about The World of Irish Dance
Sea Fever: An Irish Surfing Odyssey
Ireland, with 3,000 miles of open Atlantic to the West, offers some of the best surf conditions in the world. Sea Fever, a documentary, covers the history of Irish surfing from the early 1960s to the present. Surfing. The very word brings to mind golden sunsets over tropical locations. The palm trees of Hawaii. The warm seas and roaring waves of Australia and California. … [Read more...] about Sea Fever: An Irish Surfing Odyssey