Irish America
Irish America
That's the question currently inflaming the intelligentsia of Putnam County, a rocky chunk of exurbia some 60 miles north of New York City, Its 247 square miles are home to 88,971 inhabitants and some 200 mysterious stone chambers that were built either 150 or 3,000 years ago, depending on who you talk to. Some of the best examples are in the woods off Whangtown Hollow Road in … [Read more...] about Hibernia
Just seven days into the New Year, the Irish community in New York and in the entire country were shocked by the news of the first major legal battle wonby Irish Republicans in America for as long as anyone could remember. On that day a federal judge admitted that Bronx resident Sean Mackin, 33, would suffer certain persecution if he was deported back to his native Northern … [Read more...] about Blazes Boylan
At the end of it all, it was from his fellow inmates at the Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, federal penitentiary that Joe Doherty heard the news. "Hey Joe, you're going to go," shouted an inmate who was tuned in to the radio, which had just announced the U.S. Supreme Court's decision of that day, January 15. The Court decision had effectively paved the way for Doherty's deportation … [Read more...] about Doherty’s Supreme Disappointment
The Beckett Festival at the Gate Theatre during Dublin's Theatre Festival was the first ever of its kind, presenting all 19 of Beckett's plays in just three weeks. One couldn't help wishing Sam were there to witness the hugely favorable response of ordinary theatergoers to plays once reputed to be of extraordinary difficulty. Even though I didn't get to see the entire … [Read more...] about Beckett Festival: First of Its Kind
As Larry Kirwan, the wiry lead guitarist and singer drags out this melodramatic emigration song, the eyes of the young Irish woman beside me mist over. She silently mouthes the words to herself as Chris Byre's plaintive tin whistle comes in over Kirwan's dirge. Byre, his crew-cut head bowed, dark shades hung low, continues with a slow air on the tin whistle, adding to the … [Read more...] about Black ’47: The Clancy Brothers of the 90’s?
