“Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience.” – John F. Kennedy This past Thanksgiving, as I made my way to a friend's for a home-cooked meal, I thought about my early years in New York when I worked most holidays at my waitressing job. … [Read more...] about A Nation of Immigrants?
Patricia Harty
A Reflection on Simplicity
The Irish-born biologist and parasitologist William Cecil Campbell, who was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine, talks to Patricia Harty. For those of us fortunate enough to turn a simple tap to take a nice relaxing bath or long hot shower, it’s hard to imagine risking the loss of your eyesight for a single bucket of water. But for centuries, onchocerciasis, commonly … [Read more...] about A Reflection on Simplicity
First Word: Climb Every Mountain
When I was a kid my father would take us for drives to County Clare, or as he called it, “Biddy Early country.” We’d drive the back road, so narrow that the trees on either side reached across to each other, pass through the tiny village of Portroe, and stop at the top of a hill at a place called the Lookout to take in the view across Lough Derg to County Clare on the far … [Read more...] about First Word: Climb Every Mountain
First Word:
“Reach for the Stars”
“We are adventuring into a new world.”
– Astronaut Eileen Collins.
℘℘℘
The idea of an issue devoted to women has been brewing for some time but it really took hold these past months with all of the 1916 commemorations and celebrations marking Ireland’s rebellion. Finally, the Women of the Rising are getting their due, and there has been a plethora of articles showing us just … [Read more...] about First Word:
“Reach for the Stars”
First Word: Does this sound familiar?
“I’m of Irish descent and in America, 100 years ago, we were refugees, my family. Irish were treated terribly in America for a period of time and not accepted, and America learned to accept all of these ideas. It’s what our country is, a country of immigrants. We have not recently done a very good job of remembering who we are.” — George Clooney, speaking to a group of Syrian … [Read more...] about First Word: Does this sound familiar?