Irish America

Irish America

Issues

Jimmy Fallon Family Tree

By Megan Smolenyak, Contributor
February / March 2014

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Megan Smolenyak, the roots detective, takes a look at Jimmy Fallon’s Irish side. Not yet forty, Jimmy Fallon already has an impressive history to look back on.  Between “Saturday Night Live” and hosting “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” he’s logged more than a decade on air, and is now primed for his take over of “The Tonight Show.” Not bad for a Brooklyn-born, Saugerties-raised … [Read more...] about Jimmy Fallon Family Tree

Portals to the Past

By Patricia Harty, Editor-in-Chief
February / March 2014

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I love to drive around Ireland, especially if I have the luxury of time. I aim my car in the direction that I hope to end up, and then take the by roads, leaving the highway behind. Many of the old “main” roads are still in use and, though narrow by today’s standards, they are still wide enough for another car passing in the opposite direction. It is down these backroads, with … [Read more...] about Portals to the Past

The Fifth Province

By Dr. Miriam Nyham, Contributor
February / March 2014

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There is a well-known Irish saying: ar scáth a chéile a mhaireas na daoine that can be loosely translated as “it is in the shelter of each other that the people live.” Particularly during acts of migration, this adage becomes a critical component of immigrant success. In New York and other parts of the United States, as Irish immigrants attempted to recreate a sense of home in … [Read more...] about The Fifth Province

Grandma Walsh’s Wake

By Timothy Walsh
February / March 2014

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Grandma Walsh’s Wake After the viewing in the funeral home— all the young cousins marauding through the ghostly upstairs rooms, our parents whispering solemnly below— then came the night-long wake in the apartment of the bachelor cousins, the newest arrivals from the old country, the casket brought there by eight strong men. Next day would come the funeral Mass in the stone … [Read more...] about Grandma Walsh’s Wake