Exactly 30 years ago this October, the Northern Ireland civil rights movement burst onto the international scene when television pictures showed marchers being batoned off the streets of Derry by the police. Non-violent protests against discrimination had been percolating for years, but it was the small march in Derry that really launched the movement. When film showed the … [Read more...] about Black and Green
Issues
Healing Places of Ireland
New Age health spas, springing up alongside the more traditional seaweed baths, are enticing people to Ireland for healing vacations as never before. John Wayne did it. W. B. Yeats did it. Even the pagan Druids did it. They all went on healing vacations. Yesterday's movers and shakers knew then what today's vacationers are just discovering -- Ireland has the power to heal and … [Read more...] about Healing Places of Ireland
A People’s President
Mary McAleese was elected president of Ireland in October of 1997. It was an astonishing outcome. Just a few months previously, the 46-year-old law professor at Queens University in Belfast was hardly known in the Irish Republic and the notion that a Northerner could be elected president of Ireland seemed a farfetched one. Then in one of the most stunning ascents to power in … [Read more...] about A People’s President
The Music Makers
These photographs represent wonderful meetings and friendships with traditional Irish musicians which originated over twenty years ago when we arrived in Ireland for a two-year sabbatical in 1977. After numerous concerts, pub sessions, dances, and house parties, both in Ireland and in the States, I can only affirm that the soul of Ireland is deeply embedded in the music. That … [Read more...] about The Music Makers
Historic Times in Ireland
Every once in a lifetime or so comes an opportunity to reflect on truly historic news which affects all Irish Americans of whatever class or creed. The peace agreement signed in Northern Ireland on Good Friday after much burning of the midnight oil by all the parties concerned qualifies for the term "historic" and has been portrayed as much by the world media. There are many … [Read more...] about Historic Times in Ireland