“Nostalgia for Ireland sweeps over me often, not just when I’m working with an Irish cast. I love Ireland and I miss it very much.” – John Huston We’ve had quite a year (at Irish America we measure time from March to March). In March 2011 we hosted our inaugural Hall of Fame luncheon in New York City, and later that year opened our Irish America Hall of Fame in New … [Read more...] about The First Word: Ties That Bind
The First Word
The First Word: Something to Shout About
When we first published the magazine back in 1985, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with our slogan “Mórtas Cine,” which translates from the Irish as “Pride in one’s heritage.” As children we were warned about “pride” and its place at the top of the list of the Seven Deadly Sins. “Pride goes before a fall,” my mother would caution. Growing up in Ireland, surrounded by other … [Read more...] about The First Word: Something to Shout About
The Magic of the Diaspora
The First Word One Christmas was so much like another in those years, to quote Dylan Thomas. Looking back, it does seem as if all my childhood Christmases have fused into one glorious memory. I remember the crunch of frosty gravel as we walk to the car for our trip to town and midnight Mass. The stars are bright in the night sky – easy to believe in the Three Wise Men making … [Read more...] about The Magic of the Diaspora
The First Word: The Spirit of America
A letter from our Editor: As I write this the world outside my window is peaceful. It’s Sunday so the construction that happens on weekdays is stopped and though I actually enjoy watching the men at work, doing manly stuff, digging and endlessly moving things about, I’m glad of the quiet. (New York is always reinventing itself. “Our country is so new that we watched it being … [Read more...] about The First Word: The Spirit of America
The First Word: Imagining America
A letter from our Editor: My image of the South and the Civil War was formed in part by the movie Gone With the Wind. RTÉ, our one channel when I was growing up in Ireland, ran movie classics on Sunday afternoons. It was one of the features I enjoyed watching with my mother. My desire to come to America was fueled by those movies, by the glamour of Fred Astaire … [Read more...] about The First Word: Imagining America