Mary McAleese was elected president of Ireland in October of 1997. It was an astonishing outcome. Just a few months previously, the 46-year-old law professor at Queens University in Belfast was hardly known in the Irish Republic and the notion that a Northerner could be elected president of Ireland seemed a farfetched one. Then in one of the most stunning ascents to power in … [Read more...] about A People’s President
Feature
God Said, “Ha!”
By Joseph McBride
April / May 1999
First, a confession. I once urged Julia Sweeney not to become an actress. Luckily, Julia disregarded that advice and went on to become, as she calls herself, "a woman of many media." Most people know her best from her four years on TV's Saturday Night Live, where she created the endearingly goofy, mysteriously androgynous Pat, or from the 1994 movie version, It's Pat, which she … [Read more...] about God Said, “Ha!”
New York Rock Band: Black 47
Irish America speaks to Larry Kirwan about the Irish Famine's Musical Legacy. Think of any major event in Irish history and a song or two will spring to mind that describes the emotions of a people. Except, that is, for the Great Famine, which left its sufferers at a loss for words to describe their anguish and devastation. With the exception of “Skibbereen,” the musical … [Read more...] about New York Rock Band: Black 47
Maid as Muse: Emily Dickinson’s Irish Connection
Aífe Murray tells Irish America the story of how an Irish maid influenced Emily Dickinson's poetry and saved it from destruction. Genius does not exist in a vacuum. This was the message taken away from Aífe Murray, author of Maid as Muse, when she spoke at Glucksman Ireland House on March 25th. The topic was Emily Dickinson, whose poetic prowess has been understood as the … [Read more...] about Maid as Muse: Emily Dickinson’s Irish Connection
The Good Samaritan
During the worst winter of the Famine, the American reformer Asenath Hatch Nicholson began her one-woman relief operation, organizing a soup kitchen, visiting homes of the poor and distributing bread in the street. In May 1844, Asenath Nicholson left New York aboard the Brooklyn to “personally investigate the condition of the Irish poor.” She had been a schoolteacher in … [Read more...] about The Good Samaritan