Category Archives: Ireland

St. Patrick’s Day

I speak for no others,

only for myself.

For me, this day has

nothing to do with

green beer or

green rivers or

green clothing,

this day has nothing to do with

pinching me or kissing me;

my bad jokes aside,

this day has nothing to do even with Jameson.

Today is a day

to remember oppression

to honor resistance

to recognize that, despite the efforts of

systems of race and racialization

to separate us,

struggles for dignity and justice,

freedom and equality,

human rights and humanity

are inseparably linked:

none of us are free until all of us are free.

for that reason, in that spirit, and in my own fashion,

I mark this day, and each 17th of March.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Fitzgerald, from County Cork, on my mother’s side

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Filed under Current Events, Family, Friends, Ireland

13 September 2020

Walking. Germantown.
San Patricio Brigade (with Eileen Ivers) – Black 47
St Patricks Battalion – The Wakes
La Iguana – The Chieftains With Lila Downs
La Golondrina – The Chieftains With Los Folkloristas
A La Orilla De Un Palmar – The Chieftains With Linda Ronstadt
Danza De Concheros – The Chieftains With Los Folkloristas
El Chivo – The Chieftains With Los Cenzontles
San Campio – The Chieftains With Carlos Núñez
The Sands Of Mexico – The Chieftains Feat. Ry Cooder
Sailing To Mexico – The Chieftains With Carlos Núñez
El Caballo – The Chieftains With Los Camperos De Valles
March To Battle (Across The Rio Grande) – The Chieftains With Banda De Gaitas Del Batallón De San Patricio, Liam Neeson, Los Cenzontles & L.A. Juvenil
Lullaby For The Dead – The Chieftains With Moya Brennan
Luz De Luna – The Chieftains With Chavela Vargas
Persecución De Villa – The Chieftains With Mariachi Santa Fe De Jesus Guzman
Canción Mixteca (Intro) – The Chieftains Feat. Ry Cooder
Canción Mixteca – The Chieftains With Los Tigres Del Norte
Ojitos Negros – The Chieftains With Los Cenzontles
El Relampago – The Chieftains With Lila Downs S
El Pájaro Cu – The Chieftains With La Negra Graciana Sa
Finale – The Chieftains With Los Cenzontles, Carlos Núñez, Los Folkloristas, Banda De Gaitas Del Batallón De San Patricio, L.A. Juvenil

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Filed under Exercise, Ireland, Louisville, Music, playlist

17 March 2020

Soundtrack for the day; not really an exercise playlist.
Song for Ireland – Mary Black
God Save Ireland – Barleycorn
Thousands Are Sailing – The Pogues
Weep Not for the Memories – Seamus Egan
On Raglan Road – Sinead O’Connor
The People Have Spoken – Tommy Sands
Daughters & Sons – The Sands Family
Zombie – The Cranberries
Soldier’s Song – The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem
Against the Wind – Maire Brennan
Give Me Your Hand – The Wolfe Tones
Among the Wicklow Hills – Christy Moore
Breatnaigh Abu – Maire Breatnach
The Minstrel Boy – James Galway
Famine Theme – The Irish Film Orchestra
A Nation Once Again – Paddy Reilly
As I Roved Out – Planxty
Star of the County Down – Van Morrison & the Chieftains
Paddy’s Lament – Flogging Molly
Fire of Freedom – Black 47
The Rocky Road to Dublin – The Chieftains & The Rolling Stone
Breathless – The Corrs
Whiskey in the Jar – Thin Lizzy
Only Time – Enya
How Can I Keep from Singing – Celtic Woman
Peace on Earth – U2
My Heart’s Tonight in Ireland
The Parting Glass – The Dubliners

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Filed under Ireland, Music, New York, playlist

Purple flowers, guest collection #100

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14 July 2019
Blarney Castle, Ireland
photo by Nancy Eng MacNeill

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Filed under Friends, Ireland

The Until We Meet Again Tour – 2 September 2016

The Until We Meet Again Tour, featuring Eric as a guest artist, visited Battery Park. However, our gig at the Irish Hunger Memorial was cancelled due to construction.

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Filed under Family, Ireland, New York, Photo

The color of the day is green

IMG_1708Friday Prince. Today Ireland.

Friday purple.Today green.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising of Irish men and women against the occupation and oppression of England. More civilians were killed during the rising than were combatants on both sides. Guerrilla warfare followed that resulted in England leaving Ireland. The agreement to end that war partitioned the country: 26 counties became the Irish Free State; 6 counties in the north remained part of the United Kingdom. Civil war ensued but did not change that configuration. The Troubles convulsed Northern Ireland; progress has been made toward peace, the journey is not complete.

In remembrance and prayer, green was today’s color.

Note April 24 also marks the day the Armenian genocide began in 2015.

See you along the Trail.

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Filed under Exercise, Ireland

Irish Hunger Memorial

Irish Hunger Memorial (800x533)

13 April 2015
Irish Hunger Memorial
Manhattan, New York

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Filed under Ireland, New York, Photo

17 March – each year, every year

I speak for no others,
only for myself.
For me, this day has
nothing to do with
green beer or
green rivers or
green clothing,
this day has nothing to do with
pinching me or kissing me;
my bad jokes aside,
this day has nothing to do even with Jameson.
Today is a day
to remember oppression
to honor resistance
to recognize that, despite the efforts of
systems of race and racialization
to separate us,
struggles for dignity and justice,
freedom and equality,
human rights and humanity
are inseparably linked:
none of us are free until all of us are free.
for that reason, in that spirit, and in my own fashion,
I mark this day, and each 17th of March.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Fitzgerald, from County Cork, on my mother’s side.

See you along the Trail!

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Filed under Antiracism, Current Events, Human Rights, Ireland

Tommy Sands at Christmas

Many years friends ask about favorite Christmas songs.
I name two every year.
Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon
The Rebel Jesus by Jackson Browne
This year I add, Like the First Time It’s Christmas Time by Northern Ireland’s Tommy Sands.
It is another song that speaks of the hope and possibility and peace of the season.
See you along the Trail.

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Filed under Ireland, Music

Celluloid connections

I always enjoy recognizing places I know in movies, particularly when it surprises me. It brings back memories and makes connections with people and places. A recently viewed movie became much more enjoyable when I spotted Pedernal in the background.

This morning, I finished watching The Quare Fellow, an adaptation of Brendan Behan‘s play. It presents a critique of thedeath penalty as it focuses on two pending execution.

The character subje ct to execution is not named or seen, except with a hood over his head at the hanging. The crime remains unnamed.

As a death penalty opponent, who has not been active enough lately, I appreciate that. My opposition is to the death penalty – to the state taking a life. My opposition depends neither on the person nor the certainty of guilt nor the crime for which the person is convicted, many of which are truly horrific. I grieve for those killed and violated in the crime. But executing the criminal demeans society. Execution is the issue.

Given such a topic, the movie is bleak and somber.

I recognized a filming location as Kilmainham Gaol. Kilmainham has a painful, tragic, troubling history. It is a place of defiance and resistance. All that washed over me this morning.

541970_10150941839146063_1422754043_nBut so did the memory of visiting Kilmainham with Tricia and Bruce and Nancy when we were in Dublin for the wedding of Joel and Roja. And the connections to my family and friends warmed me. (And yes, I realize celluloid is not used much anymore.)

See you along the Trail.

 

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Filed under Capital Punishment, Death Penalty, Family, Friends, Ireland, Movie