My grandfather, Denis A. Lyons, was my best friend and playmate. He used to spend many hours with me trying to support and mold my forming personality. As is the tradition among the Irish, he used stories to illustrate whichever point he was trying to make. He told me many, many stories but only one has remained with me in its entirety all these many years later. It must have … [Read more...] about Grampa’s Story
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Chapter & Hearse
"For twelve long years I've suffered this damned cat.../ though more than once I've threatened violence/ the brick and burlap in the river recompense/ for mounds of furballs littering the house." – "Grimalkin" "Grimalkin," Tom Lynch informs me, "is dead." I couldn't help it, I had to know. The cat lasted almost eight years after the poem was written. "I had told … [Read more...] about Chapter & Hearse
To Hell or Barbados
The ethnic cleansing of Ireland: Emmett O'Connell reviews Sean O'Callaghan's book on the Irish whom Cromwell sent into slavery. "These Irish, anciently called Anthropophagi (maneaters), have a tradition among them, that when the devil showed our Savior all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory he would not show him Ireland, but reserved it for himself...They are the … [Read more...] about To Hell or Barbados
Gerry Adams The Way Forward
Kelly Candaele talks to Gerry Adams about recent developments in Northern Ireland. ℘℘℘ Gerry Adams is no stranger to violence. In 1984, he told reporters that he believed there was a ninety percent chance he would be assassinated. Two months later, he was shot by loyalist paramilitaries. While he denies ever having been a member of the IRA, most close observers of the … [Read more...] about Gerry Adams The Way Forward
Women in Northern Ireland Politics
In war-torn Northern Ireland, for women to fight for equal rights would have been seen as a betrayal to the Nationalist or Unionist cause, Anne Cadwallader examines the position of women on the political front post ceasefires. The women of Northern Ireland have, in virtually every sphere of influence, through their work in the community and the trade unions, through … [Read more...] about Women in Northern Ireland Politics