I’ve written about several Irish American mothers for this magazine – Eugenia Biden, Lorna Colbert, and Anne Meara – and the word that always comes to mind is indomitable. Nothing breaks them, which makes it all the more shocking when we lose them. My mother was a member of this club.
The last-minute child in a Jersey City family that included two older sisters, Mom was named … [Read more...] about Photo Album:
The Shields Family
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The Last Word:
Who the Irish Really Are
The shocking news leapt across the airwaves and sped along the Internet – the Irish, by national vote, had declared gay marriage equal to the straight version. Gay marriage, something virtually unknown just a few years ago, had been approved as fully lawful and valid within the borders of the Irish Republic. Had been approved, not just by a majority of Irish voters, but by … [Read more...] about The Last Word:
Who the Irish Really Are
George M. Cohan: “Born on the Fourth of July”
By M.V. Quinn, Contributor
The life of George M. Cohan, the greatest song and dance man of all time. Not far off from his song's boast, George Michael Cohan was born on July 3, 1878, according to his birth certificate, however his mother always claimed that he was born on the 4th, and as he proved again and again in his plays and songs, he remained “a real live nephew” of America’s Uncle Sam throughout … [Read more...] about George M. Cohan: “Born on the Fourth of July”
Des Bishop Is Seriously Funny
He grew up in Queens, went to high school in Ireland, spent a year in the Gaeltacht, two years in China, and just bought an apartment back in New York. And here is an incomplete list of things he has done stand-up sets or made RTÉ documentaries about: living on minimum wage, alcoholism, his father’s lung cancer, low-income housing, the state of the Irish language, the … [Read more...] about Des Bishop Is Seriously Funny
First Word: High Notes
One of the many highlights of our recent Hall of Fame lunch was Notre Dame’s president Rev. John Jenkins’s tribute to Don Keough, the late great Irish American who contributed so much to Ireland and Irish Studies. “Don loved everything Irish,” Jenkins said, “but he also insisted it can’t be all about Ireland, and challenged us to found the Keough School of Global Studies at … [Read more...] about First Word: High Notes