Jerry Cox spent a lifetime ministering to California’s Mexican immigrants, and found similarities between Irish and Mexican cultures. ℘℘℘ Shortly after Jerry Cox was ordained a priest in San Francisco in 1950, the Irish American visited his relatives in Skibbereen, County Cork. That’s when great aunt Elizabeth Casey told him: “Welcome home, Father Jerry!” Noticing he was … [Read more...] about Shamrocks and Salsa
Sláinte! Flipping Over Pancake Tuesday
Once the winter holiday feasting frenzy ends, hundreds of ads bombard us with ways to lose weight. There is certainly a time to count calories, but then there is Fat Tuesday. Dieters beware. The two will never go together any better than oil and water. As the final day before Lent, Fat Tuesday has for almost two-thousand years been cause to consume high-calorie, … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Flipping Over Pancake Tuesday
Photo Album: Dad and J.F.K.
My father Cyril DeFever grew up on a dairy farm near Detroit, Michigan. His parents had immigrated to the U.S. from Belgium. My mother, Marie Clancy, the daughter of an insurance man, was Irish. Her grandfather grew up on Turbot Island off Connemara. Her uncle Robert Clancy was a U.S. senator. Dad boxed as a young man (Joe Louis’ manager wanted to manage him). He won the … [Read more...] about Photo Album: Dad and J.F.K.
The Last Word:
Irish American Agitation in the Age of Trump
U2, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, and the Irish trying to save America.
In autumn 2017, U2 released their 14th studio album, Songs of Experience. Critical reception on the album was mixed – was it a superstar older rock band’s attempt at political relevance, or a late-career classic infused with the urgency of Brexit, Trump, and a world thrown into uncertainty? In December 2017, the … [Read more...] about The Last Word:
Irish American Agitation in the Age of Trump
Weekly Comment:
Limerick Girls – In Memory
of Dolores O’Riordan
By Cecilia Donohoe
January 19, 2018
January 19, 2018
I WAS LEAVING the beer tent within yards of the main stage when The Cranberries came on. It was June 1994 and the band’s song “Linger” was a huge hit in the U.K., though I hadn’t heard of them when I bought my ticket for the Fleadh, an Irish music festival at Finsbury Park in London. For the past several hours I’d been soaking up the music of musicians I loved – the Saw … [Read more...] about Weekly Comment:
Limerick Girls – In Memory
of Dolores O’Riordan