The new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690 – 1840, is a legacy tribute to the last Knight of Glin. Popularly known as the “long 18th century,” beginning with the ascendancy of William and Mary over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1689 and culminating at the brink of Ireland’s Great Hunger in the … [Read more...] about Made in (18th Century) Ireland
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Cherishing Joanie
As the Cherish the Ladies 30th Anniversary Tour begins, Kristin Cotter McGowan talks to founding member, the award-winning whistle and flute player Joanie Madden. Irish music was the soundtrack to life for Joanie Madden and other Irish American kids growing up in Woodlawn, a heavily Irish section of the Bronx, NY, back in the 1970s. “I was lucky – even if you didn’t want to … [Read more...] about Cherishing Joanie
An Ancestral Tour of Stephen Colbert’s Family
It was a damp morning in late February 2008 when the phone rang. Harvard scholar and PBS host Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr. was calling with one of his random genealogical requests. He was going to be on The Colbert Report later that day. Did I, by any chance, know anything about Stephen Colbert’s roots? Luckily for him, I had two hundred years of family history at the … [Read more...] about An Ancestral Tour of Stephen Colbert’s Family
Follow the Music: Advice from a November Holiday in Ireland
By Liz Cunningham-Purchia, Tim Gannon, Clare Gannon, and Jano Cabrera, Contributors
February / March 2015
February / March 2015
Liz Cunningham-Purchia, her boyfriend Tim Gannon, his sister Clare, and her husband Jano Cabrera, all Washington, D.C. transplants, planned a November escape to trace their roots and follow the music. This is their account of six nights in Ireland. We’ve never heard any of our relatives say “You have to visit Ireland in November.” Nor would our practice of booking evening … [Read more...] about Follow the Music: Advice from a November Holiday in Ireland
The Girls Are Alright
Five years after the tragic loss of their mother and sister, the five Murray daughters and their father, Sean, continue to thrive. Tie-dyed sheets line the back of a Chevy Chase classroom where a group of preteen girls sit discussing some of the weightier topics of adolescent life: Why do we feel the need to conform? Is it harder to stick up for ourselves or for someone else? … [Read more...] about The Girls Are Alright