"Irish people didn't get me out of jail. It was English people who got me out of jail." – Paul Hill I don't remember Bloody Sunday. I don't remember seeing footage on TV or being shocked by the carnage that left thirteen people dead and a fourteenth who would die later from wounds. How do I explain this? The Ireland I grew up in largely ignored the North. It … [Read more...] about The First Word: Something to Remember
The First Word
The First Word: Afraid of the Dark
The Irish writer John B. Keane once said of my home town that "they should build a wall around it and let no man in and let no man out." I don't know why he said that about An tAonach, which means Fair or Market place. (The town was named Nenagh by the English during that great renaming which saw Gaelic names replaced by ones which bore no relationship to the Irish.) … [Read more...] about The First Word: Afraid of the Dark
The First Word: Carry On, Mr. President
Dear Editor: Re: "Thank You, Mr. President" Just because Ms. Harty got her night in the Lincoln Bedroom, we're all supposed to admire an underachiever, a national embarrassment and a degrader of women. Is it required to be a Democrat to read Irish America? Sincerely, (Mrs.) Josephine K. Maloney Matawan, New Jersey Dear Josephine: Thank you for … [Read more...] about The First Word: Carry On, Mr. President
The First Word: The Wealth of Our Heritage
As I write this, the end of the first year of the new millennium is closing in. It's November 1. Celtic New Year, a day when it was thought by the ancients that the layer between this world and the otherworld diminished and souls passed freely from one to the other. In the Ireland of my childhood on October 31. All Hallow's Eve, the elders left out food for those visiting … [Read more...] about The First Word: The Wealth of Our Heritage
The First Word: A Little Boy’s Cry
On a plane to San Francisco a young couple sit across from me with two boys. The younger one is kicking up a ruckus. As I reach for my ear-plugs I hear the wife say something to her husband, a trendy fellow with glasses and an earring. "Big Ian" she calls him. Belfast, I think to myself. The accent is that of my sister-in-law Elaine. That this family is from Northern Ireland … [Read more...] about The First Word: A Little Boy’s Cry