“I've an an elegant legacy / Waitin’ for ye, / ’Tis a rhyme for your lips / And a song for your heart, / To sing it whenever / The world falls apart! Look, look / Look to the rainbow. / Follow it over the hill / And the stream. Look, look / Look to the rainbow. / Follow the fellow / Who follows a dream.” – “Look to the Rainbow” lyrics from Finian's Rainbow It seems … [Read more...] about The First Word: Look to the Rainbow
Issues
Remembering Frank McCourt
Why We Loved Him Tom Cahill, Colum McCann, Peter Quinn, and others pay tribute to Frank McCourt I saw Frank a couple of weeks before he passed. It was at the Irish Repertory Theatre gala fundraiser in June. He had just finished his last round of chemo. He looked fine. I spoke to him for a couple of minutes but I didn’t say anything that I wanted to say. Frank was my hero … [Read more...] about Remembering Frank McCourt
An Irish Welcome for the Champ
Thousands turned out to welcome Muhammad Ali, 67, to Ennis, County Clare, the birthplace of his great-grandfather, on August 30. The purpose of his and his wife Lonnie’s visit was to inspire awareness and support for the recently established Alltech-Muhammad Ali Center Global Education and Charitable Fund, and also for the Muhammad Ali Center in the Alis’ hometown of … [Read more...] about An Irish Welcome for the Champ
The 2009 Wall Street 50 Awards
The annual Wall Street 50 event brought together national leaders from every sector of the financial world. Police commissioner Ray Kelly, Loretta Brennan Glucksman, Chairman of The American Ireland Fund, and many other luminaries from the Irish-American community gathered to celebrate the honorees. Of the evening’s many highlights were the words, excerpted below, offered by … [Read more...] about The 2009 Wall Street 50 Awards
Remembering Ted Kennedy
To call you the greatest of all the Kennedys might strike some as lofty rhetoric. But it isn’t. You gave your life to your country, as surely as those patriots of old gave theirs for the United States and your beloved Ireland. A great Irish chieftain has passed. Sure, Jack became president and Bobby became a folk hero. But they never accomplished what you did throughout your … [Read more...] about Remembering Ted Kennedy