The political process gets underway in Northern Ireland. 12/14/99: A "day unlike any other" was how Taoiseach Bertie Ahern described his feelings at the history-making first meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in Armagh City on Monday (December 13). While the media gave massive coverage to the event - it was broadcast live on BBC Northern Ireland Television - the … [Read more...] about When Hope and History Rhymed
Archive
A New Dawn
"The question before the House, in view of the apathy, neglect, and lack of understanding, which in this House has shown to these people in Ulster, whom it claims to represent, is how in the shortest space it can make up for fifty years of neglect, apathy, and a lack of understanding...""If British troops are sent in, I should not like to be either the mother or sister of an … [Read more...] about A New Dawn
Film Forum: A Late Encounter with the Enemy
Few things are sadder than a missed opportunity. The story of the San Patricios, the Irish emigrants and their comrades of other ethnic groups who fought for Mexico during the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-48, is rich and underexplored dramatic material. Complex and stirring issues of loyalty and heroism resound throughout the saga of the Saint Patrick's Battalion, which consisted … [Read more...] about Film Forum: A Late Encounter with the Enemy
A Musical, Magical, Mystical Tour of Ireland
By Nancy Lyon
Mick Moloney, the folklorist, tenor banjo player, songster, wit, and raconteur offers a tour of Ireland to end all tours. On both sides of the Atlantic, Mick Moloney is known for his expressive traditional singing and tenor banjo playing dexterity, and he performs widely with Derry fiddler Eugene O'Donnell and set dancing champion Regan Wick, and with the touring ensemble The … [Read more...] about A Musical, Magical, Mystical Tour of Ireland
The Origin of “The Fighting Irish” Nickname
By Murray Sperber
This exchange in a novel about college sports in the 1920s catches the prejudices that many Americans of the time held toward citizens of Irish-Catholic descent. However, unlike other immigrant groups who tried to submerge their ethnicity into the American melting pot and considered such terms as "Polack" and "Bohunk" insults, Irish Catholics gloried in many of their nicknames, … [Read more...] about The Origin of “The Fighting Irish” Nickname