Irish America

Irish America

The Other Side

The Other Side: Wild Spirits A-Flitting

By Cormac MacConnell

October 1991

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I am aware you know there is a Santa Claus. There is also a Halloween, a real night of real pookas, witches, goblins, of mischievous wild spirits a-flitting, burning pagan flames against the snapquick velveteen of wild hours between the dying of gentle October, under a fat and Christian moon, and this birthing of harsh November, its frosted soul, its scouring winds from the … [Read more...] about The Other Side: Wild Spirits A-Flitting

The Other Side | He Never Touched a Drop

By Cormac MacConnell

September 1991

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Listen to this. It's true. Only the surname has been changed. It has been changed to McGonagle. In all his life, and I have observed public flashes of most of it, the most decent carpenter in the province of Connacht. It may be that he is a boring man, a paragon of all the negative virtues, but decent he has always been. Until last month he could honestly look his Lord straight … [Read more...] about The Other Side | He Never Touched a Drop

The Other Side | Pub Crawling in the West

By Cormac MacConnell

July/August 1991

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I am in the Mayo town of Ballaghaderreen on a June day, l am here because this town has more pubs, it is said, than any other town in the West of Ireland. For a drinking population of about seven or eight hundred people there are 42 pubs and one hotel, which has a bar, and two off-licences where you can buy takeaway booze. It is the Court day in the town and one of the cases … [Read more...] about The Other Side | Pub Crawling in the West