In 1609, the few patrician members of the Dowling clan were transplanted from their native Laois to the border of north Kerry and west Limerick, dividing the clan’s geography. Today, the majority of Dowlings can be found still in the east of Ireland, where the new British landowners generally ignored the lay clansmen in their home territory along the western bank of the River … [Read more...] about Roots: The Dowlings
Roots: The Dowlings
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Review of Books
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Songs and Sonnets Paul Muldoon has eleven previous volumes of poetry and has won many prizes, including the Pulitzer and the T.S. Eliot. This year, he released two books of song lyrics, and though they may not win awards, that’s not the point. At a brisk 48 pages, Songs and Sonnets is more ear candy than brain candy. But amid the poems’ entertainment (and some truly … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Those We Lost
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Harold M. Agnew (1921 – 2013) In late September, the last major living figure of the Manhattan Project died at the age of 92. Harold M. Agnew was 20 years old when he was assigned to work with Enrico Fermi, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, in his atomic research at the University of Chicago in early 1942. He was 21 when the team of researchers caused a chain reaction of … [Read more...] about Those We Lost
Family Photo Album: The Perfect Mother
In Memoriam Delia Kennedy Shea SEPTEMBER 19, 1924 – SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 My mother, Delia Kennedy, was born on September 19, 1924, in Kilfillig, Mountbellew – a small village of six houses, 30 miles from Galway City. She had three brothers and two sisters whom she stayed in touch with throughout her life. Her parents were known as kind and gentle people who were strong and … [Read more...] about Family Photo Album: The Perfect Mother
The Last Word: Irish-American Adoptions
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Is it time to have a gathering? Philomena shines a light on an aspect of Irish in need of urgent attention. The movie Philomena, based on Philomena Lee’s real-life search for her son who was adopted by an American family, highlights the issue of the many clandestine adoptions of Irish children by U.S. families, and the complicity of religious orders and government and … [Read more...] about The Last Word: Irish-American Adoptions