On swanky hotels, Gráinne O’Malley’s tailor-made pirate outfits, and her own unusual hidden talent. Mary Beth Keane’s novel, Ask Again, Yes, is a lyrical, moving tale spanning 40 years about family, love, alcoholism, and mental illness. Told with tenderness and empathy for the human condition, it is juxtaposed with just the right amount of humor to carry the story along. … [Read more...] about What Are You Like? Writer Mary Beth Keane
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Window on the Past: The Triumph of a Sad Clown
The extraordinarily gifted Emmett Kelly, who turned clowning into an art form. Though he was most certainly a clown, Emmett Kelly’s performances were wistful rather than slapstick. Instead of wearing cheerfully bright clothes and having a prominent grin painted on his face, Kelly flouted clownish convention, wearing dark-colored rags and having a face forever contorted … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: The Triumph of a Sad Clown
Dan Ward’s Stack
From rural Donegal to Russia’s Hermitage Museum: the bizarre journey of an Irish landscape by an American artist. ℘℘℘ You would hardly expect to find idyllic scenes of the Donegal Gaeltacht in a Russian state museum, but the celebrated painting “Dan Ward’s Stack” and other gorgeous canvases of rural Donegal grace the walls of two of Russia’s world-renowned art museums. The … [Read more...] about Dan Ward’s Stack
Sláinte! Clean Green
Summer is in full bloom! The days are longer, and the light is brighter. But with the drapes pulled back, and sunshine illuminating the corners of every room, suddenly everything looks a little dingy. The windows could benefit from a good washing. The chandelier has lost its gleam. Ditto the furniture. And while everything outdoors smells fresh and green, everything indoors … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Clean Green
Irish Power, U.S. Politics U.S. Rep. Richie Neal Talks to Niall O’Dowd
Richie Neal’s extraordinary journey from a working-class neighborhood in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., and one of the most powerful jobs in American politics as the chairman of the Ways & Means Committee. On November 7, 1960, Mary Garvey Neal, who had roots in Ventry, County Kerry, took her son to the Springfield, Massachusetts, town hall. It was very … [Read more...] about Irish Power, U.S. Politics U.S. Rep. Richie Neal Talks to Niall O’Dowd