So many cops are married to nurses,” the great novelist and screenwriter Richard Price once observed. “It’s just the way it is. You know, mom’s a nurse, dad’s a cop.... That’s where they’re going to meet their spouses – following up a homicide, following up an aggravated assault. And you go to the same hospital maybe three times a week for a couple of months, you … [Read more...] about Photo Album:
Cops & Nurses: A Love Story
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Photo Album: Molly Long’s 100th Birthday
To receive a personal letter and gift from the President is one of the lovely Irish ways of honoring centenarians. We were indeed proud on May 19, 2016, to read to our mother, Molly Long, a message from President Michael D. Higgins: “What a wonderful occasion for you, your extended family and friends as you reminisce and celebrate a life great in years, and I have no doubt, … [Read more...] about Photo Album: Molly Long’s 100th Birthday
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Discovering Rossa on Film
Growing up in New York City, there was always a formal photographic portrait of our great-grandfather Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa on the wall of our apartment. In this photo, Rossa looks dignified, dressed in a 19th-century suit and broad-rimmed hat, his clear eyes giving the impression of strength, clarity and determination. Next to it hung an illustration from the cover of the … [Read more...] about Photo Album:
Discovering Rossa on Film
Photo Album: The Young Americans
A widow leaves her children in care of the nuns in Galway and sets out for Boston, where she finds work as a domestic servant. In doing so, she sets the course for future generations. This photograph of my five uncles was taken in 1935, the year I was born. Pictured, left to right, are Robert (Bob), my father Peter (the oldest), William (Bill), Francis (Frank), who was no more … [Read more...] about Photo Album: The Young Americans
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The Shields Family
I’ve written about several Irish American mothers for this magazine – Eugenia Biden, Lorna Colbert, and Anne Meara – and the word that always comes to mind is indomitable. Nothing breaks them, which makes it all the more shocking when we lose them. My mother was a member of this club.
The last-minute child in a Jersey City family that included two older sisters, Mom was named … [Read more...] about Photo Album:
The Shields Family