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Volume 5, Issue 6
Like death and taxes, we can always count on change
Progress is highly overrated. There are two reasons for this. The first is that progress actually means change — change in external matters and those inevitably require a change in me including my attitudes and actions. I rarely accept these upsets to my warm little cocoon of self-delusion (that being that all things are occurrences revolve around me) with any enthusiasm or grace.
For quite a number of years I clung to the idea that I could efficiently resist change and was doing so whenever something I did not care for such as rap music (didn't someone leave a "c" out of that word?) came along and started making changes I found wholly unacceptable, or at the least unnecessary. Rap wasn't such a big problem. I just changed the radio station or TV channel to some more familiar and acceptable fare such as that classic, mainstream 70s album, Pit Bulls On Speed.
My unimpeachable self-delusion (in the US self-delusion has replaced an instinct for survival or procreation as the primary impetus of human behavior) served me well through the loss of hair, expansion of waistline, and inching past the age when it was okay for me to have a lot of "potential".
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Volume 5 Issue 6
Miss Ireland, Rosanna Davison, crowned Miss World 2003
Rosanna was a student at University College, Dublin and studied Archaeology, Sociology and the History of Art. After completing her first year she deferred to represent Ireland at the Miss World Contest. Her ambition is to finish college and pursue a career in the Arts, Fashion, sports Science & Nutrition. Rosanna enjoys many sporting activities including: swimming, water-skiing, hockey, tennis, netball, athletics, hill walking, snow skiing, pilates, and is a keen dancer having studied ballet & modern dance.
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Volume 5, Issue 6
Irish tyrant drives legendary LA water project
An Irish immigrant obsessed with an engineering challenge of epic proportions, William Mulholland brought the Owens River to Los Angeles through a combination of determination and deceit. His accomplishment earned him not only the honor of being the namesake of Hollywood's famed Mulholland Drive but his project was the focal point of several movies including the film noirish Chinatown and Mulholland Drive.
Born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1855 into a family of modest means, Mulholland spent his childhood in Dublin. He left home at age fifteen to become a sailor, arriving in New York City in the early 1870's. He worked for a time in the Michigan lumber camps and at a dry-goods business in Pittsburgh, and arrived n San Francisco in 1877. After a brief stint as a miner in Arizona, during which he was hired to fight the Apache, Mulholland moved to the Los Angeles area.
In 1878, Mulholland began what was to be a lengthy engineering career with an inauspicious beginning — as a ditch-cleaner for Los Angeles' private water company. Eight years later, the self-educated engineer had become superintendent. When the city took over the water system, Mulholland was retained as head of the Department of Water and Power, a position he would occupy until 1928.
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Volume 5, Issue 5
Fill the New Year with realistic vigor and youthful aging
The New Year brings an aging bon vivant's lament. Come January, I should be 60 and able to feel the compiled pains of every third down, wild horse, motorcycle wreck or brawl that ever snapped me up from rationality and carried me to an endless supply of emergency rooms for the customary X-rays, stitches or cast, and stern rebuke from the intern about taking better care of myself.
Many of my contemporaries claim that if they had known they were going to last this long, they would have taken better care of themselves. I doubt it. Looking back, most of my injuries were too far from my heart to kill me and no younger man has sense enough to realize the pain will come later with age.
Oh, yes, I would have skipped a few of the injuries and causal contretemps such as the Recent Unpleasantness in Southeast Asia, to be sure. The fact is, however, most of it I would do all over again because it was fun, exciting and made life a great thing to be living. Mentally reviewing the past 60 summers, I note that my regrets are few and my fond memories and beloved friends are many.
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Volume 5, Issue 5
Santy and the six-year-old Whistle Blower
From Jim McAuley, Ireland Editor, Hornpipe
There are people in this green and fair island of Ireland who don't believe in Santy. (That's what the children in Wicklow call Santa Claus.) And I'm not talking about the adults, who pretend they don't believe in Santy, so that they can claim the credit for all the presents the children find under the Christmas tree or by the fireplace on Christmas morning.
I'm talking about children as young as six years old, who go to schools like the Blessington No. 1 Primary School in County Wicklow. That's where I was last year, on the last morning of school before the Christmas break. It so happened that Santy had made a commitment to visit the school at 11.00 AM that day. But Lillian Murphy, the attractive, real-cool Principal, learned at the last minute that Santy was stuck in traffic behind a gravel truck from the Blessington quarry, and had to abandon the reindeer-sleigh and hurry on foot.
I happened to be at Blessington No. 1 school when Lillian got the news, having dropped off son Daniel to class. So I was asked, very sweetly, to help Santy out. I jumped back in the Toyota and ... joined the traffic jam about two miles from the school. Now what? I thought. The time for Santy to visit Lower and Higher Infants (kindergarten) and First and Second Classes (Grades), was minutes away.
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Volume 5, Issue 5
New Year circles globe with plans of resolve
As the clock ticks down the waning moments of 2003 in New York and the ball drops, the year 2004 will begin up and down the east coast of the US and for a few miles out to sea that is in the Eastern Time Zone. Four time zones earlier in LA, the evening is young and the New Year won't arrive for another four hours. In Dublin, it will be 6 AM and most New Year revelers will be fast asleep having already broken one or two of their resolutions.
In China New Years won't be happening until February and the year will be four thousand and something. In Africa there is no New Years among indigenous peoples. In the Muslim world, the new year has been underway for weeks and was greeted with fasting and quiet prayer and meditation. Many South American Indian bands have no traditional concept years, only passing seasons. So where did a clear celebration of the new year as we know it start? Well, there are as many theories as schools of astronomical study and theory but here is a commonly understood beginning.
New Years in ancient Ireland was called Samhain and actually occurred in the fall. The name likely means, "summer's end", and it does indeed mark the transition from summer to winter. The celebration was a pagan event born of the Druidic religions and rites and it was a time when the Sidhe, the gods and the ancestors might come visiting and should be offered proper hospitality; food, drink, a place to rest. Even current holiday habits in Ireland carry on this ideal somewhat as the ritual milk and bread are put out on Christmas for travelers and unknown visitors.
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Volume 5 , Issue 4
A Hollow's Eve
The season is upon us and once again we prepare to honor and celebrate various autumn holidays. Here, as in Ireland, an important part of the holiday schedule are the Celtic celebrations that have become such a significant part of the North American celebratory landscape. However, time and distance have caused changes and although the holidays may be the same they aren't necessarily celebrated in the same fashion across the two continents. America has created a 'Hollywood' version of these Celtic holidays and the differences are marked.R
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Volume 5 , Issue 4
Make-believe Irish barkeep presaged modern political pundit
Martin Dooley: Political Power Before Cable
Before there was a glut of cable television's political babblers, before there was Foreign Policy magazine, the National Review, the pre-eminence of New York Times editorial page or the power of the Washington Post, there was one journalistic voice that kept the nation's attention. Martin Dooley, an imaginary Irish immigrant and Chicago barkeep held forth, first in a newspaper column in the Windy City and shortly in national syndication.
Dooley, of the 1800's Chicago, spoke in the accented vernacular English of immigrant Irish working class people. He was the creation of Finley Peter Dunne whose genius brought newspaper readers the thoughtful views and insights of a common man who represented the largest group of immigrants in the nation and Dooley spoke from the Irish sanctum of the pub.
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Volume 5, Issue 3
Fall is short on change
Slight hints of the end of summer can be sniffed in cooler night air are when your gondola on the county fair Ferris wheel stops at the top of the ride. Astonished youngsters can hardly believe that the end of carefree days is less than a month away. That first coat of sunburned skin has given away to a tan that is starting to fade and peel.
Parents, already counting quarters to ensure new clothes for the kids, are barely able to suppress a smile when they think about school resuming. While football may be billed as the greatest fall spectacle, for many mothers and fathers it is actually the sight of that big, yellow bus pulling into view.
This fall may be different than others of recent years for many Americans. The US had the longest economic expansion in its history until three years ago when a serious economic downturn started. By now the effects of that economic slide have touched most Americans in ways ranging from slight cutbacks on family spending to huge upheavals including unemployment and drastic reductions in lifestyle. And the end is not in sight, yet.
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Volume 5, Issue 3
Revolutionary War Irish gave much to Tennessee — the first Western frontier
Much of the focus on historical contributions made to the US by Irish immigrants has been on that latter 19th and early 20th century. But many Irish immigrants from as far back as pre-Revolutionary War made great contributions in opening up the frontiers of the south and west. Here are sketches of two Irishmen who made such contributions to the South and Tennessee, host of the 2003 Nationals, as frontiersmen.
(The remainder of this article deals with the contributions of the following Revolutionary War heroes:
- Griffith Rutherford
- Hugh Rogan )
Volume 5, Issue 3
Tears of Un-Forgiveness
Sandy Salinas
Kevin was being Kevin - a typical 10-year-old kid going through that silly, giggly, and somewhat obnoxious stage that most 10-year-olds seem to go through. In this particular evening he chose to direct the force of that energy at Sean, his 15-year-old brother.
One of Sean's friends had called him and in an effort to escape the constant badgering and intrusion of Kevin and his questions, Sean took the cordless phone and walked outside to finish his conversation. Not one to be defeated easily, Kevin persisted in his quest to disrupt Sean's call. He followed him outside.
I realized what was going on and demanded that Kevin come back inside.
From my bedroom, I heard Kevin's commotion continue so I yelled to him, "Stop acting like an idiot and leave Sean alone." As soon as the words left my lips, I regretted them. Kevin has always been particularly sensitive, and I knew immediately he didn't hear "Stop acting like an idiot," but rather, "You are an idiot." I ran to the hall as he rushed past me in tears.
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Volume 5, Issue 2
The Dress
a poem by Phil Richardson
Phil Richardson, a former military officer and pilot has lived most of his life in the Chesapeake Bay region of Tidewater Virginia. A photographer and writer for the better part of forty years only recently has he been persuaded to publish a collection of verse on Irish dance and culture. "The Dress" was the first poem written for the collection.
Through the window on the wall
the morning sun of Donegal would move it's way
and come to rest
upon a plain green dancing dress.
the dress was just a hand-me-down,
my mother now to me.
And today i dance in Donegal
where everyone will see.
All the girls will dance today,
the festival is here!
Brightly dressed they all will come
from village far and near.
Volume 5, Issue 2
Rose of Tralee Festival celebrates Irish beauty whose love launched a legend
Few annual events in Ireland have gained so much international attention as the Festival of the Rose of Tralee. The 2003 edition of this fabled beauty pageant, in its 45th year, will run from August 22 - 26 and in addition to days of entertainment, eating, drinking, a talent show and plenty of music and dance, Rose candidates from several countries including the US, will vie for the coveted title of Rose of Tralee.
The tale of the original Rose of Tralee, Mary O'Connor, her star-crossed love of William Pembroke Mulchinock, and the tragic end that befell these romantic figures is sure to have played a major part in making the Rose of Tralee festival a world favorite.
Here's the tale. ...
Volume 5, Issue 2
Patrick O'Reilly saved Civil War Atlanta
Irish priest saved Atlanta churches, city hall in Civil War
It is unlikely that any nation has produced as many expatriate heroes of revolution and war the world over as Ireland. In lands as far from Irish shores as Japan, China, Africa, South America and Australia, Irishmen have made a mark in war and rebellion most often siding with the underdog or taking the part of the weak. this martial tradition stems from the Irish love of a good fight as well as an instinct toward justice.
Lafcadio Hearn of Japan was not only an Irishman who wrote the classic Japanese horror anthology Kwaidan under an assumed name, he was a vocal critic of 19th century Japanese rulers who abused their citizens. He nearly lost his head for his trouble.
The son of Wolfe Tone, named for his legendary Irish rebel father, became a field marshal in the armies of revolutionary France and was extensively decorated for his valor and exploits against the British.
The family names of O'Neill, O'Donnell and O'Brien are to be found emblazoned on streets, buildings and entire towns in nations once under Spanish rule. Members of these three clans served the Spanish crown, or opposed it, in Spain, Mexico, Central and South America as well as in Portuguese holdings. An O'Donnell rose to be prime minister of Spain at the time Columbus sailed for the New World.
But nowhere and at no time have the Irish played so many important and heroic roles as they did in the US Civil War (The War of Northern Aggression) serving in both Union and Confederate forces as well as in the role of neutral peacemakers and protectors. Literally thousands upon thousands of young Irishmen were recruited for both armies as they stepped off the boat in places like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Charleston, Mobile and Savannah.
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Volume 5, Issue 2
Memoirs of an amnesiac
Hornpipe's Ireland editor James J. McAuley is the foremost poet of Ballyknocken, Ireland, and has been hard at his art through nine volumes of poetry, playwriting, acres of prose and a dip of the nib in operatic ink whilst penning a libretto.
Retired from a 30-year career of trying to bring literacy to the northwestern-most region of this nation, he decamped with wife, Deirdre, and the youngest of six sons, to Ireland where he is, between golfing engagements and international readings, working on his next achievement, a book entitled "Memoirs of an Amnesiac."
Excerpted here is a portrait of a beloved uncle, one of the wonderful character actors that populate Jim's work and who let the reader know that Jim is himself a character worth a line or two.
Bang-Bang. His ancient yellowish gabardine floating out behind him on the open platform of a Number 11 bus, gripped the pole with one hand, fired his invisible six shooter with the other, and shot me as I emerged from the Bank of Ireland colonnade into the open spaces of Westmoreland Street. I grabbed my chest, staggered, and collapsed against the railings. Bang-Bang shouted in triumph and the onlookers cheered.
Bang-Bang's street theater was gift to the life of central Dublin in my youth. he was one of a fair few "characters" who entertained - and occasionally provoked - the passing throngs. My Uncle Barry was a minor street character of the generation preceding Bang'Bang's. The principal star was the Bird Flanagan, mentioned betimes by Miles na gCopaleen in his Cruisekeen Lawn column in the Irish Times almost a half century ago. ...
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Volume 5, Issue 1
Summer studies offer visitors all possible sides of Ireland's cultures
The first time tourist to Ireland usually has a lengthy list of sites to visit and frequently finds that even with well-manned tours they are not able to reach their goal. Some of these visitors find that after two weeks of careening around the Irish countryside that they come away with an experience, that while thoroughly enjoyable, leaves them feeling like they barely scratched the surface of getting to know Irish culture.
For those who have been to Ireland and want to go back for more in-depth experiences or those who would like to have an Irish holiday experience that goes along the lines of their life interests, Hornpipe has done some research that might be useful.
www.ireland.travel.ie/thingstodo/ is the place to start. This is a fairly comprehensive website that will lead the potential visitor to a plethora of activities involving a closer look at some aspect of Irish life. This article's material is drawn for the website and offers some samples of the sort of things that a tourist with a yen for more than the usual tour will find attractive. We'll take them by category.
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Volume 5, Issue 1
Anglers join serenity with action fishing bucolic Irish lakes, streams
Fishing Ireland's numerous lakes, rivers and coastal areas ranks as one of the tourist's favorite activities after sightseeing cultural events, and golf. Many of the waterways in Ireland are noted for their fish production but numerous others have had little attention from fishermen despite Ireland being recognized as being the outstanding angling destination in Europe. The vast variety and quality of fishing has given the country an international reputation. There are lakes untold and mile upon mile of rivers full of fish as well as abundant ocean fishing.
Irish saltwater angling includes cold water Cod and Coalfish to the Mediterranean loving Bass and the mid Atlantic Blue Shark. Few Irish anglers fish for "coarse" fish, considered freshwater species other than the salmon and trout. Ireland's bountiful supplies of pike, bream, tench, roach, rudd and eel are ripe for the tourist, as is much of the ocean fishing, particularly along the south and west coasts.
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Volume 5, Issue 1
Ireland has changed the world and should incite curiosity
Yer' man James Joyce did indeed set the world on its ear with Ulysses and a few other tomes and poems that rocked the foundations of a post-Victorian world and set the stage for revolutions in writing.
He was followed, thank you very much, by the likes of Samuel Beckett, another exile from the Catholic strictures of his native land, who did indeed make the world think hard about all its assumptions about life and its machinations. No thinking someone who has seen Waiting for Godot can for a moment divorce himself from the human travails, insights and foolishness represented in this wonderful play.
In the past decade or so, films such as Crying Game, The Snapper, and The Commandments have presented the world with insights to modern Irish life that are revealed with the sound track of U2, the Corrs, Daniel O'Donnell and dozens of others playing in the background.
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