Irish America
Irish America
On the deck of the SS Costa Riviera a half dozen strayed revelers from Irish Festival Cruises raise their near-empty glasses to the dawn. Paddy Clancy, guru of that renowned group the Clancy Brothers and Robbie O'Connell, is so overcome with the beauty of it all he strips down to his shorts and dives into the Jacuzzi. You say, "How can anyone dive into a Jacuzzi?" Your point, … [Read more...] about A Big Ship Sailing
All over Ireland – why this chill?Why this foul mist?Why the crying birds?Why do the heavens mutter Such wrathful words? In 1840 Ireland's population was close to 10 million; less than a decade later, starvation and emigration had reduced it to 6.5 million. Such was the devastation that a visiting Frenchman wrote in his diary: "I saw the American Indian in his forests. And … [Read more...] about Farewell to Erin
Ray Kelly, New York City's recently-named Police Commissioner, talked to Brian Rohan about the trials of policing the world's most hectic city. For a long time it was common knowledge in New York City's Police Department that Ray Kelly was the Obvious Choice. A cop with a stellar record of problem-solving within one of the largest municipal policing departments in the world, … [Read more...] about The Commish
"We have constitution which perpetrates the fallacy that Ireland is one nation with a right to territorial unification...when are we going to recognize that the 'national territory' is Santasyland." - John A. Murphy. Sunday Independent Newspaper Dublin "Northern Ireland Catholics are not our responsibility. They are citizens of a modern democracy and a regional economy … [Read more...] about The First Word: Does the South Want the North?
Here, then, follow my own observations of the lines by which the community in Northern Ireland is divided..... The first and most important line of division separates national identities. The two main groupings are of course those who see themselves primarily as British and those who see themselves primarily as Irish. Broadly, the first seek to maintain the union with Great … [Read more...] about Northern Ireland, Culture & Identity
