"I have lived so long abroad and in so many countries that I can feel at once the voice of Ireland in anything." – James Joyce, in a letter to Frank Bludgeon ℘℘℘ A story: In the early 1940s a young and popular nun from Louisburgh in Mayo – a coastal town under the dark and lovely shadow of Croagh Patrick – was asked to leave her native land to help a struggling church in … [Read more...] about A Man of Two Countries
2000
My Wild Irish Mother
In 1967 when she was 80, I tossed a birthday party for Mother. There were over 70 people present: my generation and hers, friends and cousins, our children, cronies from way-back years. The party started at three in the afternoon because I was sure that Mother and the other old girls would get tired early. I should have known better. Twelve hours later, I and my contemporaries … [Read more...] about My Wild Irish Mother
Sean Minihane
Immigrant Defender
In the late '80s and early '90s the Irish Immigration Reform Movement (I.I.R.M.) was a powerful lobbying group for Irish immigrants, working to change U.S. immigration law to provide equal access to all immigrants and to legalize the thousands of illegal Irish immigrants who were in the country already. The following excerpt is from an interview with Sean Minihane, then … [Read more...] about Sean MinihaneImmigrant Defender
Founding Father
A shy priest from Cavan who helped tame a frontier town. Imagine him, pale Irish skin against a black robe. On that bright spring morning in 1845 when he first arrived in the little town that was fast-filling a mud shelf overlooking the Missouri River, the Indians – the Shawnee in their calico flocks and turbans, the Sac and Fox with their shaved heads and painted faces – … [Read more...] about Founding Father
Donald Keough
The Philanthropist
Donald Keough, former president of Coca-Cola, is chairman of Allen & Company. A leading Irish-American philanthropist, he has played a leading role in strengthening the tie between the U.S. and Ireland.
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Peace is taking that cloud of anxiety off the whole island. I think that you are going to see its benefits written large for future generations. It is just … [Read more...] about Donald KeoughThe Philanthropist