In the 1960s my mother inherited a ring that had been passed down through two generations. When she began wearing the ring, just before falling asleep or upon waking, she heard the sounds of murmuring voices, clinking glasses, and muffled laughter as if there were a party going on in another part of the house. Then, a man’s insistent voice calling out, “Rose! Rose!” A few weeks … [Read more...] about Photo Album: Bits and Pieces
2014
At Home with the McDonalds
Ed: NYPD Detective Steven McDonald, who was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame in 2014, died Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY following complications from a heart attack. McDonald was paralyzed from the neck down in July 1986 after confronting potential bicycle thieves in Central Park, one of whom shot him three … [Read more...] about At Home with the McDonalds
The First Word: Hall of Fame
Past, Present, and Future In this issue, in which we celebrate the new inductees into our Hall of Fame, I’m reminded of great Irish Americans of the past such as John Barry, the father of the American Navy; John F. Kennedy, our first Catholic president; and Eugene O’Neill, playwright and Nobel Laureate. Our incoming Hall of Fame honorees take their rightful place alongside … [Read more...] about The First Word: Hall of Fame
Christine Kinealy:
Historian, Author, Activist
Christine Kinealy is the world-renowned historian and newly appointed professor of history and founding director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut. Beginning with her Ph.D. dissertation at Trinity College on the Irish workhouse system and continuing, in 1997, with her breakthrough book This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845-52, … [Read more...] about Christine Kinealy:
Historian, Author, Activist
Chris Matthews:
Political Commentator, Author
Chris Matthews has been following American politics since the first Eisenhower campaign. As a young teen, he became enthralled with the historic rivalry of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. It was a time of big downtown rallies and ticker tape parades on Wall Street, when supporters wore boater hats and bright campaign buttons.
Hardly a decade later he was engaged in American … [Read more...] about Chris Matthews:
Political Commentator, Author