I had never really been all that comfortable with my Irish heritage. I've always been scared that our American society views the Irish as a bunch of drinkers, big talkers who cannot be relied upon. It's not accurate or even generally true, but it's out there, lurking behind many a conversation. The image of the poor, pathetic, disheveled McCourt family of Angela's Ashes haunts … [Read more...] about Waking the Dead
Culture
Northern Roots Southern Branches
By James W. Flannery, Contributor
Photos Courtesy of U.S. Library of Congress
August / September 2001
Photos Courtesy of U.S. Library of Congress
August / September 2001
Will a re-examining of the Ulster Scots advance the idea of a "pluralist society" or lead to further separation? Southerners like to say they are not like other Americans, and often base that claim on their characteristic ways of talking, storytelling, preaching, dancing and, above all, playing country music. But few of them realize that those very qualities can be … [Read more...] about Northern Roots Southern Branches
Coming Home
I always imagined my wedding as a beautiful and romantic event: My dad would walk me down the aisle, my brother would be a groomsman, and my very best friends would be there standing up for me. The "who" was easy. But when John and I got engaged in August of 1996, the "where" and "when" of our plans did not take shape so effortlessly. I hadn't lived in my hometown in … [Read more...] about Coming Home
The Irish as Playful Souls
The old St. Patrick's Day quip about there being two kinds of people – those who are Irish and those who wish they were – turns out to be not so far from wrong. The research my colleague Michael Hout has carried out shows that there are a lot more Americans claiming to be Irish than one might expect from immigration records, because the children of ethnically mixed marriages … [Read more...] about The Irish as Playful Souls
Sláinte! Irish Eats Down Under
Regular readers have probably deduced I'm a boomer – a member of that generation born after WWII when the troops came home. Along with more than one hundred thousand other Americans, my Da spent the war years in Australia. In 1942 with Australian forces off fighting for England and Pearl Harbor a fresh victory, Japan advanced on Australia, intending to use it as a … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Irish Eats Down Under