Irish America

February March 2015 Issue

Stephen Colbert: One Last
Report (It’s Genealogical)

By Megan Smolenyak, Contributor
February / March 2015

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It was a damp morning in late February 2008 when the phone rang. Harvard scholar and PBS host Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr. was calling with one of his random genealogical requests. He was going to be on The Colbert Report later that day. Did I, by any chance, know anything about Stephen Colbert’s roots? Luckily for him, I had two hundred years of family history at the … [Read more...] about Stephen Colbert: One Last
Report (It’s Genealogical)

Compadre Plant Matrix

By Irish America Staff
February / March 2015

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Botanists at Trinity College Dublin have launched a database that documents significant ‘life events’ for nearly 600 plant species across the globe. Working with like-minded individuals across five continents the team has gathered data over a near 50-year span. At a time of climate change, the researchers hope their COMPADRE Plant Matrix database will … [Read more...] about Compadre Plant Matrix

The President’s New Year Message

By Irish America Staff
February / March 2015

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President Michael D. Higgins’s Christmas New Year message, broadcast from Aras on Uchtairan on December 31, remembered the Irish abroad, those who assist them, and the communities which have welcomed them. Higgins also encouraged those “who may be feeling distressed or lonely to look beyond the long dark nights, to the promise once again, of the dawning light of Spring,” adding … [Read more...] about The President’s New Year Message

100,000 Protesters March Against Water Charges

By Cliodhna Joyce-Daly, Contributor
February / March 2015

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Up to 100,000 protesters opposed to the introduction of water charges brought Dublin to a standstill in December when they rallied outside the Irish parliament building. The December 10th protest was the largest yet in what has become an increasingly strife-filled argument between the Irish government and the taxpayers. The charges, which are mandated by the 2010 E.U. bailout … [Read more...] about 100,000 Protesters March Against Water Charges

Winter Solstice in Newgrange

By Irish America Staff
February / March 2015

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There were 30,532 entries for a lottery to experience Winter Solstice 2014 at Newgrange in Co. Meath. Fifty names were drawn, and each of those fifty people were invited along with a guest to gather at dawn (8:58 a.m.) from December 18th to December 23rd. Newgrange is the best known Irish passage tomb and dates to around 3200 B.C. At dawn on the winter solstice, the shortest … [Read more...] about Winter Solstice in Newgrange