Bear in mind these dead: I can find no plainer words. - John Hewitt, "Neither an Elegy nor a Manifesto" The New Year brings good tidings to a young couple I know, the birth of a baby boy, a welcome addition to their ever expanding family. Unlike his mother, a Belfast native, this boy will grow up outside the danger zone of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland. Other children … [Read more...] about What the Future Holds
First Word
The First Word: Our Evolving Heritage
In this issue we celebrate the realization of the American dream by so many of our people, reminding us once again of the good fit this country has proved to be for the Irish. Not that it happened overnight. In the words of Robert Kennedy: "As the first of the racial minorities our forefathers were subject to every discrimination found wherever discrimination is known." The … [Read more...] about The First Word: Our Evolving Heritage
An Always Known Place
"We people of the diaspora, whether from Australia or Michigan or the plains of Canada, get here, returning ghosts, utterly confused and in need of guidance; and we see a place like Ballycotton, and recognize it straight away as a never but always known place." The Australian-Irish writer Thomas Keneally summed up in that sentence how someone from so far away, both in terms of … [Read more...] about An Always Known Place
Times They Are A’Changing
In 1984 I was part of an Irish American delegation which sought a meeting with the U.S. State Department to discuss Northern Ireland. We were the usual suspects, ethnic newspaper publishers, community activists, longtime Irish American leaders, numbering about 30 in all. At the time I was publishing a small Irish newspaper in California and the trip to D.C. was a major … [Read more...] about Times They Are A’Changing
The First Word: Pilgrimages For Peace
Nowhere in the world are Americans more welcome at the moment than in Northern Ireland. For the people there realize the importance of the American role in bringing about the present climate of peace. Not least of all has been the role of our President Bill Clinton. In the words of George Mitchell, the president's economic advisor on Ireland: "When you go over to Ireland … [Read more...] about The First Word: Pilgrimages For Peace