Irish America

Irish America

Rosemary Rogers

St. Fiacre of Breuil

By Rosemary Rogers
IA Newsletter, June 22, 2024

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St. Fiarce 600-670 AD | Feast Day, September 1 | Patron of cabdrivers and gardeners Because a hackney stand in Paris was located in front of a hotel named in honor of this Saint, French taxis are called “fiacres.” Thus, Fiacre is the Patron of cabbies. By a lucky coincidence, “fic” (meaning “fig”) is a French slang term for hemorrhoids—a common complaint of taxi drivers, … [Read more...] about St. Fiacre of Breuil

Lola Ridge, Poet and Anarchist

By Rosemary Rogers
IA Newsletter, March 2,2024

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“How can you help writing about something you feel intensely?” Ireland may have more poets than any other Western nation, but Lola Ridge remains in absentia on lists of Irish poets. True, most of her life was lived outside Ireland but she held her Irish heritage close, believing she was of royal Irish blood, the Reillys of Loughrea, County Galway a “very old race of kings.” … [Read more...] about Lola Ridge, Poet and Anarchist

The Uncrowned Queen Of Ireland

By Rosemary Rogers
IA Newsletter, February 3, 2024

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— Well I let her bawl away, to her heart’s content Kitty O’Shea and the rest of it until she called that lady a name that I won’t sully this Christmas board nor your ears, ma’am, nor my lips by repeating.He paused. Mr. Dedalus, lifting his head from the bone, asked:—A nd what did you do, John?— Do! said Mr. Casey. She stuck her ugly old face up at me when she said it and I had … [Read more...] about The Uncrowned Queen Of Ireland

Kirsty MacColl,
a Musical Talent In Her Own Right

By Rosemary Rogers
IA Newsletter, January 20, 2024

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The end of 2023 saw the passing of Pogues founder Shane MacGowan, which came as a surprise to absolutely no one but set off a riotous blend of tears, jubilation, and, as befitting Shane, irreverence (hockey pucks, tea bags, and Finnegan's Wake on the altar of St. Mary of the Rosary?). Since it was Christmastime, Kirsty MacColl, unfamiliar to most Americans, was also everywhere. … [Read more...] about Kirsty MacColl,
a Musical Talent In Her Own Right

He Died an Irishman

By Rosemary Rogers
IA Newsletter, December 16, 2023

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John le Carré was born David Cornwell in Poole, England in 1931. His father, known as Ronnie, was a violent con man who landed in prisons across the globe. Olive, David’s mother, so despised him that she packed her bag and slipped away in the middle of the night. She went into hiding leaving David, then only five years old, and didn’t return to her son’s life for another 16 … [Read more...] about He Died an Irishman