Brian Keenan, Belfast-born, was teaching English at the American University of Beirut when he was kidnapped by fundamentalist Shi'ite militiamen on April 11, 1986. It was during the Lebanese Civil War. His captors mistakenly took him for British. Released in August, 1990, he went on to write an acclaimed memoir about his captivity, called An Evil Cradling. He was in New York to … [Read more...] about A Journey Beyond Imagination
Patricia Harty
The First Word: Look to the Rainbow
“I've an an elegant legacy / Waitin’ for ye, / ’Tis a rhyme for your lips / And a song for your heart, / To sing it whenever / The world falls apart! Look, look / Look to the rainbow. / Follow it over the hill / And the stream. Look, look / Look to the rainbow. / Follow the fellow / Who follows a dream.” – “Look to the Rainbow” lyrics from Finian's Rainbow It seems … [Read more...] about The First Word: Look to the Rainbow
The First Word: Finding Strength in Our Ancestors
“There’s no sense of entitlement, no sense of placement, it’s all a sense of you’ve got to go out and work hard to get there. It doesn’t all break your way all the time, so you’ve got to just power through it. I think that’s deeply imbedded in the culture of the Irish.” – Brian Moynihan, whose ancestors left Ireland in 1850. I am remembering a day around this time of year in … [Read more...] about The First Word: Finding Strength in Our Ancestors
The First Word: Celebrating Irish Heritage in Holyoke
If there’s a connecting theme in this issue it’s the Famine: Brian Moynihan’s ancestors came over at the end of the famine, Christine Kinealy writes about the international response to the famine, while David Fleitz brings us a story on the early days of American baseball that was populated with the first generation – the sons of famine immigrants. Looking back over the years, … [Read more...] about The First Word: Celebrating Irish Heritage in Holyoke
Holyoke’s Irish Heart
By Patricia Harty, Editor-in-Chief
Patricia Harty was honored at the St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and decided that if there is a place called Irish America, this could be it. Its heart, Holyoke, Massachusetts, is still Ireland Parish, which is what it was known as back in the 1800s when immigrants, mainly from the Irish-speaking area of Dingle, Co. Kerry, settled there and found … [Read more...] about Holyoke’s Irish Heart