Irish America
Irish America
We're heading towards the end of 1999 and there are some, including myself, who may not see another year with a 9 in it. And isn't that the gloomiest opening sentence you ever read in your life? Still, it had to be written because they're going, my generation, the silent generation, slipping gently, one by one, into that good night, going with grace -- unlike the bleating … [Read more...] about The Paddy Clancy Call
All the great novels and stories of John Steinbeck slice into the American experience, clear to the bone. They are set in California, or along Route 66, where the Joads trekked across the southwest from the Dust Bowls. And Steinbeck himself, born with the century, was raised in Salinas, California, when it was still a small town on the last frontier of America. Yet the voice … [Read more...] about John Steinbeck: Voice of the Dispossessed
The Music Makers It's only in the last number of years that I realize how deep down into the soil of Ireland my roots really go. I had such a tremendous amount to draw on, and didn't realize it."-Tommy Makem The image is indelible -- five Irishmen, clad in Aran sweaters, chests out, singing songs of Irish humor, history, and freedom. The Clancy Brothers, along with Tommy … [Read more...] about The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem
Pete Hamill writes on JFK Somewhere in the shadowy land between myth and history lies the domicile of John F. Kennedy. The first United States president of Irish-Catholic descent, Kennedy was a man of many faces: war hero, orator, lover, creator, and visionary. He had it all, and it was all taken away, but in the end he gained immortality. That day I was in Ireland, in the … [Read more...] about Our Jack
Recently, I wandered into a used bookstore and was stopped in my tracks by a volume sitting on a table by the door -- a copy of the first cookbook I ever owned. It wasn't a fancy collection of gourmet recipes, just a child's Golden Book. The publishing date read 1950; I had been 3 years old. A price of $45.00 wits penciled on the flyleaf (about 20 times more than its original … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Milk: The Other White Meat
