William Flynn is living proof that sometimes big business and politics should mix. In his role as Chairman of insurance giant Mutual of America he has worked tirelessly to keep the U.S. involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland.
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There are some commitments which one makes out of obligation, some out of position, and some out of choice. There are other commitments … [Read more...] about William Flynn The Optimist
Issues
William Flynn
In Pursuit of my
Ancestral Heritage
From The Seven Little Foys to Patriot Games.
Once when I was a child, I asked my mother to let me dye my entire body green for St. Patrick's Day. She refused, sensibly enough, or I would still be trying to scrub the food coloring from my fingernails. That memory tells me I must have had a strong enough desire to proclaim my Irish roots from an early age.
But those were … [Read more...] about In Pursuit of my
Ancestral Heritage
A Man of Two Countries
"I have lived so long abroad and in so many countries that I can feel at once the voice of Ireland in anything." – James Joyce, in a letter to Frank Bludgeon ℘℘℘ A story: In the early 1940s a young and popular nun from Louisburgh in Mayo – a coastal town under the dark and lovely shadow of Croagh Patrick – was asked to leave her native land to help a struggling church in … [Read more...] about A Man of Two Countries
My Wild Irish Mother
In 1967 when she was 80, I tossed a birthday party for Mother. There were over 70 people present: my generation and hers, friends and cousins, our children, cronies from way-back years. The party started at three in the afternoon because I was sure that Mother and the other old girls would get tired early. I should have known better. Twelve hours later, I and my contemporaries … [Read more...] about My Wild Irish Mother
Sean Minihane
Immigrant Defender
In the late '80s and early '90s the Irish Immigration Reform Movement (I.I.R.M.) was a powerful lobbying group for Irish immigrants, working to change U.S. immigration law to provide equal access to all immigrants and to legalize the thousands of illegal Irish immigrants who were in the country already. The following excerpt is from an interview with Sean Minihane, then … [Read more...] about Sean MinihaneImmigrant Defender