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October / November 2004

Head in the Clouds

Tom O’Neill talks to Hollywood heartthrob Stuart Townsend about his newfound stardom and his latest movie with Charlize Theron. ℘℘℘ The common perception might be that when you have a...

“Eoin was never afraid to aim high. He played a seminal role in creating the transatlantic scholarly conversation that is Irish studies today, and he believed in his vision at a time when...

Kilkenny Rose Orla O’Shea emerged as winner of the 46th International Rose of Tralee Festival. The 20-year-old teacher was voted ahead of 27 competitors hailing from Ireland, Europe, America...

Joe Cahill, former I.R.A. chief of staff, died on July 23 at his Andersonstown home in Belfast after a short illness. The 84-year-old was buried after a huge funeral cortege carried his remains to...

Knock Airport, the brainchild of the late Monsignor James Horan, has proved critics wrong by reporting a dramatic increase in passenger numbers this year. The airport, built in a County Mayo bogland,...

Cian O’Connor jumped for gold at the equestrian events in Athens to send the Irish tricolor aloft for the first time in the Olympic Games. The 24-year-old County Meath show jumper won the...

According to Swedish scientist Ulf Erlingsson, the mythical sunken island of Atlantis was actually Ireland. He bases his assertion on the geographical details described by Plato in 360 B.C., linking...

Aer Lingus, Ireland’s national airline, is cutting costs in response to mounting financial difficulties. It is set to slash its workforce in an attempt to compete as a low-cost operator. The...

A number of hospitals in Ireland admitted they had taken glands without consent during post-mortem examinations of patients during the 1980s. The practice, which appears to have been widespread,...

Political parties in Northern Ireland are gearing up for September talks in England at Leeds Castle in an effort to restore the dissolved Northern Ireland Assembly. Arms decommissioning, policing,...

ROAD deaths in Ireland are on the increase despite the introduction of penalty points and a raft of new laws to curb speeding. By August, a total of 239 people were killed on Irish roads, 18 more...

The Irish Face in America, a stunning book of photographs and text, by writer Julia McNamara and photographer Jim Smith, delves beneath the surface to show us who we are today. Here is the...

Irish America magazine and Financial Dynamics Business Communications co-hosted the 7th annual Wall Street 50 Awards at the Sky Club on Wednesday, July 14, 2004. Chairman of Allen & Co. Donald R....

The first annual Inter-Continental Gaelic Athletic Association Youth Championships were held in Purchase, N.Y. at SUNY on July 24. G.A.A. fans from all over the U.S. attended. This slideshow requires...

The Celtic heritage of Kansas City runs deep, as immigrants from Ireland were first brought to the new city in the late 1850s to dig streets through the river bluffs and to work on the railroads and...

Brendan Gleeson is turning into Hollywood’s go-to-guy, at least when it comes to supporting characters. Gleeson’s credits, in the last few years, are a tour through A-list Hollywood, from...

Pete Hayden, a career veteran, was named Chief of the Fire Department of New York City by Mayor Bloomberg in July. Hayden, who has been with the FDNY for 35 years, was one of the principal officers...

Denis Leary, who stars as a firefighter in the new TV series Rescue Me (Fox Network), is more than just an actor playing a role, he takes his commitment to public safety seriously. In 2000, the actor...

After losing Michael, his firefighter son, on September 11, 2001, Jack Lynch felt a responsibility to ensure that the day’s events be remembered appropriately. An executive board member on the...

Pity poor Mary Mallon. Born in Cookstown, County Tyrone in 1870, she came to New York looking for a new life in 1883, but the life she found, from 1909 until her death in 1938, was confinement on...

Death and disease. Mystery and suspense. A lover’s betrayal with controversial human rights issues in the mix. Nova’s new documentary The Most Dangerous Woman in America has it all. The...

NOVA’s new film about Mary Mallon, The Most Dangerous Woman in America, is based on the book Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public’s Health by Judith Walzer Leavitt, a professor of medical...

Showbiz legend Mickey Rooney took to the Irish Repertory stage in New York in August regaling sold-out audiences with music, tales, and movie clips from his life. He performed with his wife, Jan, in...

Acclaimed author Jennifer Donnelly won the prestigious U.K. literary prize, the Carnegie Medal, for her first young adult novel A Northern Light. “I almost fell out of my chair when my...

Sinead deRoiste was the first African-American Rose to compete in the Rose of Tralee competition in Ireland on August 24. A daughter of an Irish father and African-American mother, she proudly...

The FDNY Cross Country Bike Tour is a ride across America by N.Y.C. firefighters cycling for the Widows’ & Childrens’ Fund. The 42-day event began in Los Angeles, California, on...

The Ireland-U.S. Council, an American-based organization that promotes economic growth in Ireland, held its annual “Irish” dinner in Dublin on June 25. Billed as “An American night...

One of the most anticipated new television series to debut this fall is Crime Scene Investigation (CSI): New York, the third installment in the highly successful CSI franchise. Up-and-coming...

The Kennedys were out at the New England Aquarium in Boston on Monday, July 26.. The cause for the celebration was the dedication of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in honor of the late Rose Fitzgerald...

The 92nd biennial convention of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which was established in 1836, took place in Philadelphia on July 10, 2004, with delegates attending from all over the United...

Recent passings in the Irish and Irish American communities. ℘℘℘ Al Gavin Al Gavin at the Top 100 Awards in March. Legendary boxing cutman Al Gavin passed away after suffering a stroke on...

Natalie Coughlin, an Irish-American swimming champion, came back from a shoulder injury and a career hiatus to win five medals for the U.S.A. in Athens. ℘℘℘ Natalie Coughlin took the swimming...

As the 2004 United States Presidential Election Approaches, Irish Americans want to be informed of the candidates’ policies on Irish issues. Deanna Turner approached President George W. Bush...

Boston Police Commissioner Kathy O’Toole serves as top cop to the nation’s oldest police force and brings a global approach to the job. ℘℘℘ It’s a week after the Democratic...

September 11 has become this generation’s “Day of Infamy.” The terrorist attacks forever changed the way we live, and have made our daily lives more difficult. A secure environment...

The surname Quinn is derived from the Irish word O’Cuinn meaning “descending from Conn.” Conn comes from the Irish word ceann, meaning “head,” and denotes a person of...

The unique Irish / Scottish heritage of PEI, off the coast of Nova Scotia, is preserved in music and dance and in the faces of the people. ℘℘℘ “An always but never known place” is...

Christopher Connell writes on his Uncle Jimmy McSweeney, the very model of the Irish bachelor farmer. ℘℘℘ My uncle Jimmy McSweeney was laid to rest recently beside his mother and sister in the...

Selections of recently released music by Irish artists. ℘℘℘ Critic’s Pick: James Galway James Galway, Wings of Song. Wings of Song Perhaps the greatest living flutist, 64-year-old Sir...

Long written off by the music industry, Shane MacGowan’s new single “Road to Paradise” has the critics buzzing. Richard Purden reports. ℘℘℘ The behemoth of Irish music has...

A sampling of the latest Irish books. ℘℘℘ RECOMMENDED Nights of Rain and Stars Maeve Binchy Maeve Binchy, Nights of Rain and Stars. There was a rumor a few years back that the best-selling...

When I set out this year’s veggie garden, it never occurred to me that 6 eggplants, 5 peppers, 4 cucumbers, 6 string beans, 3 zucchini, and 8 tomato plants, plus a few 4-inch pots of herbs,...

“He was a unique individual, both a pioneer and a genius. He will be missed and can never be replaced.” – John Walsh, CEO of the Irish American Cultural Institute ℘℘℘ To my mind...

1890: Jackson’s Patch, Pennsylvania. ℘℘℘ In this picture, Patrick Cummings of Loan in Clogh parish near Castlecomer in County Kilkenny sits with his wife Margaret Crennan, also of Loan,...

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October / November 2004

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