When I was 13 years old, my mother took my siblings and me to Rockaway Beach in New York City for the day. After we romped in the ocean and were sufficiently sunburned, we ended up at a rather run-down Irish tavern that was hosting a singing contest. Since I can carry a tune, my mother made me enter. All the entrants, adults and kids alike, sang well-known Irish songs. I … [Read more...] about The Blue Ribbon
Irish-American
Irish Memories
Thomas Fleming writes of the struggles and triumphs of an Irish-American family. ℘℘℘ My County Mayo-born grandfather, David Fleming, could not read or write. He had a brogue so thick I couldn't understand a word he said. But I knew one thing. He was Irish and proud of it. He had a favorite poem that he made me memorize and recite when I was six. It was called "Why I Named … [Read more...] about Irish Memories
Pat Riley
The Coach
When Pat Riley coached the New York Knicks basketball team, journalist Pete Hamill listed him in a Thanksgiving column as "one of the things New Yorkers should be grateful for." Riley now coaches the Miami Heat and is a motivational speaker. He is the author of The Winner Within.
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When I was about nine years old, my father told my brothers to take me down to Lincoln … [Read more...] about Pat RileyThe Coach