Mary Pat Kelly, director, producer, screenwriter and contributor to Irish America magazine, doesn't always pick topics that interest the mainstream media. In 1984, she was commissioned by Rolling Stone to write about President Ronald Reagan's visit to Ireland. While in the country, she covered the elections. "In those days there was still a lot of violence. The idea of going … [Read more...] about Standing Proud
Issues
An Icy Thaw for Belfast
In the town of Belfast, the word "Titanic" is still met with downcast eyes and a grimace. The Titanic was the world's largest moving manmade object. It was the grandest and most advanced mechanism of its time, and was, rightly, viewed with pride by the inhabitants of the then-booming industrial city of Belfast. When the ship, built in the city's Harland and Wolff shipyard, sank … [Read more...] about An Icy Thaw for Belfast
Irish Eye on Hollywood
There seems to be an odd trend spreading throughout Hollywood: Irish actors playing American presidents. First there was Northern Ireland native and respected thespian Kenneth Branagh playing Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the May HBO movie Warm Springs. Branagh portrayed FDR's life before he became president, and the film's particular focus was with how Roosevelt dealt with his … [Read more...] about Irish Eye on Hollywood
The Irish Immigrant Experience
Tucked in a corner of southwest Baltimore, the grand dome of the country's largest railroad museum looms over a run-down area that was once an Irish enclave. On the site of the once revered but now defunct Baltimore &Ohio Railroad Company, the museum pays homage to the country's first passenger and freight railroad. The surrounding area, which hosts a number of … [Read more...] about The Irish Immigrant Experience
The Galway Arts Festival
Ireland's changing. Fast. Where once the country stirred up images of threadbare tweed jackets, alcoholism and an omnipotent church, Ireland has become the new Land of Opportunity. Nowhere is the change more apparent than in Galway, the heart of Ireland's west and, once a year, host of the country's largest arts festival. "In the late '80s, unemployment was at 20 percent, … [Read more...] about The Galway Arts Festival