I had never really been all that comfortable with my Irish heritage. I've always been scared that our American society views the Irish as a bunch of drinkers, big talkers who cannot be relied upon. It's not accurate or even generally true, but it's out there, lurking behind many a conversation. The image of the poor, pathetic, disheveled McCourt family of Angela's Ashes haunts … [Read more...] about Waking the Dead
2001
Why Grandpa Should Be in the Hall of Fame
On July 1st, 1920, my grandfather saved the only no-hitter ever thrown by the Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson. Grandpa played first base for the Washington Senators, and he and Johnson were in Boston to play the Red Sox. When the ninth inning came around, only one Red Sox had made it to first base – on an error – and the Senators were ahead 1-0 with two outs. One more out … [Read more...] about Why Grandpa Should Be in the Hall of Fame
Field of Dreams
How one Man's dream became a reality. It all began with a castle. In 1987, a husband and wife from the nearby town of Ballyvaughan purchased a 16th-century tower house. Newtown Castle, along with a neighboring country house and a 17th-century coach house lately used to shelter cows. Yes, these were fixer-uppers. The slate-roofed residence Newtown House was showing its … [Read more...] about Field of Dreams
Book Reviews
RECOMMENDED For decades, one simple question has split the Irish on both sides of the Atlantic into two warring factions: Do you love or loathe The Quiet Man, that 1952 stage Irish classic starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and directed by John Ford? Ford himself was often more Irish than the Irish themselves, making up an ultra-Gaelic name for himself, and playing … [Read more...] about Book Reviews
Film Forum: James Joyce in Love
For many years, the conventional wisdom about Nora Barnacle, James Joyce's longtime companion and eventually his wife, was that she was an ignorant but "country cute" peasant from Galway with an unaccountable hold on the great writer, whose work she disdained. How could Joyce have lived all those years with a woman who refused to read Ulysses? Her very name was an excuse for … [Read more...] about Film Forum: James Joyce in Love