In her new biography of Maeve Brennan, Angela Bourke includes two photographs taken around 1948. In one, Brennan, a delicate-looking young woman dressed in black, is sitting in front of the fire looking over her shoulder, a cigarette in her left hand. With her hair fixed tightly in a bun and her lips pursed, she looks like a fashion model. In another photo from the same shoot, … [Read more...] about The Troubled Life of Maeve Brennan
History
The Irish Scrubwoman
In the days when "No Irish Need Apply," my maternal grandmother, Margaret McCabe Ackerson, was lucky to find work scrubbing office floors to support her five children. My aunt remembers sitting as a little gift on the curb in front of their East 29th Street, Manhattan tenement until her widowed mother came home around midnight. This was not the American dream Margaret's father, … [Read more...] about The Irish Scrubwoman
The Future of the Ambassador Hotel
The battle over what to do with the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles may finally be coming to a close. Once a mecca for movie stars, European royalty and American presidents, the hotel, built on 23 acres on Wilshire Blvd., closed its doors in 1988. Its days of Hollywood glamour had been eclipsed by the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy was shot while making his … [Read more...] about The Future of the Ambassador Hotel
St. Mary of Sorrows
When you walk among the headstones of the hilltop graveyard of St. Mary of Sorrows, the first Catholic Church built in Fairfax Station,Virginia, you can't help but notice all the Irish names and the counties in Ireland where the deceased were born. Among the many, there's John Cashion (d. 1882) from Co. Clare, and Patrick Crowell (d. 1891) of Co. Roscommon. Each Memorial Day, … [Read more...] about St. Mary of Sorrows
News: Joe Cahill Laid to Rest
Joe Cahill, former I.R.A. chief of staff, died on July 23 at his Andersonstown home in Belfast after a short illness. The 84-year-old was buried after a huge funeral cortege carried his remains to the Republican plot at Milltown Cemetery. Cahill was honorary vice-president of Sinn Féin, and the party's current president Gerry Adams paid homage to his friend at the … [Read more...] about News: Joe Cahill Laid to Rest