"I knew that we were Irish and I knew that Irish was the best thing to be."
– Novelist Alice McDermott
℘℘℘
When I immigrated to this country I had no idea of the history of the Irish in America – indeed, I had the idea that only someone born and raised in Ireland could call themselves Irish.
A Greyhound bus ticket at a cheap student rate that lasted three months and … [Read more...] about The First Word:
Now and in Time to Be
Immigration
The First Word:
News from Ireland: Ireland to Fingerprint Asylum Seekers
In an attempt to reduce the number of illegal immigrants entering the country, Ireland will introduce mandatory fingerprinting for all asylum seekers. This step has been roundly criticized by human rights organizations and the Irish Refugee Council. Under the new program, all asylum seekers over the age of 14 will be fingerprinted and the information will be added to a … [Read more...] about News from Ireland: Ireland to Fingerprint Asylum Seekers
Hibernia: Irish
U.N. Sculpture
The United Nations recently received a sculpture from the Irish government. The work, by renowned Galway artist John Behan, celebrates the Irish diaspora and their contribution to the world.
Entitled Arrival, the work portrays Irish emigrants debarking from a ship. If this sounds like a typical Famine commemoration, it's not. As the Irish Minister of State at the Department … [Read more...] about Hibernia: Irish
U.N. Sculpture
Nora, an Excerpt
Even now, here 30 years since, when I turn to the southwest in Ennis from Shannon, and head out on the peninsula that ends at Loop Head, and somewhere on that road get my first wind of turfsmoke, I remember the first time and the sense that I had then of coming home. "The name's good," the man in the customs hall had said, letting my bags pass without a look. I had a hundred … [Read more...] about Nora, an Excerpt
The Perils of Pat
Peter Quinn writes about his immigrant grandfather. ℘℘℘ The man on the horse is my paternal grandfather, Patrick Francis Quinn. The date is September 5, 1904. Pat is about to take his place as grand marshal of the New York City Labor Day Parade. The horse was rented for the occasion. I have the sash he is wearing in the photograph, a piece of faded blue silk embroidered … [Read more...] about The Perils of Pat