Songs, Stories, and Shenanigans Podcast

Shin Guards & Pony Tails When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters. And you know, we've always been green. We have great events, news from Ireland, sports and a small bit of poetry for you today ~ So, let's get to it ~ Hear Ye, Hear ye What's the news today? We have very exciting news to share with you! First: Our covid on hold expansion plans are finally coming out of the darkness. Do you know a writer who lives in the Greater Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or Detroit area? We are looking for new writers based in those cities. Please send them on to us to chat with. Yes, we started with Pittsburgh, which had its launch meeting last month, and then Detroit is next, Buffalo? Indianapolis? Cleveland to Clearwater is our opportunity corridor. Fourteen states from CLE to shining CLE. Second: In Ohio, eighty-five Giant Eagle, Marcs, CVS and Drug Mart stores from Cleveland thru Columbus will soon carry the Ohio Irish American News. Third: Due to this expansion, our Ohio Irish American News name no longer fits! We'd like to share with you, our listeners, our new name: Drum roll please … Our new name is … iIrish! We feature such a wide variety of outlets to reach the Irish in America, and all across the world, with Digital, Print, Podcast, eBulletin, social media, Video, and Web content and expertise. The name iIrish fits and describes our work and our reach across the 14 states, and the Diaspora at large, much better. Other things to talk about: Tomorrow, Cleveland St. Pat's host the men's and women's football clubs from the Pittsburgh GAA, at the WSIA in Olmsted Twp – admission is free, games start at noon. Sunday the West Side Irish American Club Hosts its Family Picnic in Olmsted Twp, the Shamrock Club of Columbus has its Golf Outing on Friday, on the 26th the new eBulletin (you ARE get5ting the eBulletin, right?) comes out at 3:10 p.m., and 2 weeks from today, Podcast #35 comes out, kicking off the Midwest Finals, this year in Pittsburgh. So excited to be shooting that event and seeing a few great Irish football and hurling matches. Coming Up: Bringing you the movers, shakers and music makers in our community each month. Sessiún: Alternate Sundays @Gormley's Pub / Every Thursday at @The Plank *Subscribe or Download the Free Biweekly Podcast from www.WHKRadio.com and Listen anytime. **Sign up for the Biweekly Free eBulletin at www.OhioIANews.com or Facebook: Ohio Irish American News Cleveland Saints, Akron Celtic Guards Gaelic Football & Hurling 17th – AKR Hurling @Buffalo, CLE Ladies @Pitt, Mens: Pitt @CLE, Syracuse @Albany; 24th – Midwest Invitational @Detroit for ALL Teams; 31st – Midwest Finals in Boston for division winners. Flat Iron Café 16th - Dante Maselli 7-10pm, 23rd - Jim & Eroc, Classic Rock Duo 7-10pm, 30th - Jimmy-O 7-10pm. 1114 Center St. Cleveland 44113-2406 216. 696.6968. flatironcafe.com Sully's 16 - The Island Doctor, 17- Michael Crawley & Matt Sofranko, 24- Hello McFly, 31- The Other Brothers. 117 West Liberty Medina, 44256 sullysmedina.com. Music Box Supper Club 16- Bob Seger Tribute by Katmandu; 16- Late Night Lounge: Drag Bingo with Veranda L'Ni & Friends; 25 - Irish Brunch with the Kilroys; 25 - The Cars Brunch; 31 Doors Tribute by Peace Frog; 31 Springsteen Tribute by Swamps of Jersey. 1148 Main Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44113. musicboxcle.com Gormley's 16th - Katy & OC, 17th - Mossy Moran, 23rd - Paul & Tim of The Sellouts. Cigar & Whiskey Every 1st Monday $ 3rd Wednesday, 7p.m., Upper Deck. 19500 Center Ridge Rd, Rocky River, OH 44116 (440) 990-7468 GormleysPub.com Westlake Hooley House 16th – Cats on Holiday Duo, 23rd – Morrison & McCarthy, 30th – West Awake. 24940 Sperry Dr Westlake 44145. 1FunPub.com (440) 835-2890 West Side Irish American Club 16th - Breaded Butterfly Shrimp, French Fries, Cole Slaw Roll & Butter; 23rd - ** BBQ ½ Chicken, Baked Beans, Potato Salad, Roll & Butter; 30th - Baked Lasagna, Tossed Salad, Roll & Butter; 8/6 - Grace Family Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Tossed Salad, Roll & Butter ** Outdoor party with New Barleycorn playing in the Pavilion. Other Events: 15 - General Mtg, 18th - Annual Family Picnic & WSIA 90th Anniversary: To Volunteer Contact Christi 216-906-0663, 23rd - The New Barleycorn entertaining in the pavilion. For a much larger list of all of the events going on, pick up your iIrish July issue at 367 locations (the complete list of locations is on the website), and the issue is archived online, at OhioIANews.com. Sounds like a great coupla of weeks. There is a varied mix of celebratory and solemn events coming up, for sure, each deserving of our attention. So, make a plan, if you can. AND remember: Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened! No Regerts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast33: The launch of iIrish! And Hibernian Guests Marilyn Madigan and Pat Lavelle When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish:the Truth & the Pulse of what matters. And you know, we've always been green. So, let's get to it ~What's the news today? Hear Ye, Hear ye, we have very exciting news to share with you! iIrish – Ho Boy!  Wait'll you hear about this! First: Our covid on hold expansion plans are finally coming out of the darkness.  Do you know a writer who lives in the Greater Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or Detroit area? We are looking for new writers based in those cities. Please send them on to us to chat with. Yes, we are starting with Pittsburgh, which had its launch meeting last Tuesday, and then Detroit is next, but Cleveland to Clearwater is our opportunity corridor. Fourteen states from CLE to shining CLE.  Second: In Ohio, eighty-five Giant Eagle, Marcs, CVS and Drug Mart stores from Cleveland thru Columbus will soon carry the Ohio Irish American News. Third: Due to this expansion, our Ohio Irish American News name no longer fits!  We'd like to share with you, our listeners, our new name: Drum roll please Marilyn & Pat … Our new name is …  iIrish! We feature such a wide variety of outlets to reach the Irish in America, and all across the world, with Digital, Print, Podcast, eBulletin, social media, Video, and Web content and expertise. The name iIrishfits and describes our work and our reach across the 14 states, and the Diaspora at large, much better.  And Fourth: In partnership with John Delaney, who you all know as a founder of Barleycorn, and now, The New Barleycorn, we are delighted to announce our new monthly video series, The Green & Gold Web, featuring Irish music, dance, song and story, culture and so much more from across the Irish Diaspora, released once per month, and soon available online, with your subscription. Other things to talk about: Sunday is Independence Day.  It means so many different things, to so many people. No matter the meaning for you, we have so much to be grateful for, and so much to hope for.  These are the times that try men's souls, but any student of history knows the times they are a changing.  Hopefully for the good, as I believe they are.  Celebrate what matters to us all, Freedom. Cigar & Whiskey Nite is Monday at Gormley's Pub in Rocky River. Live Sessiuns are Back at The Plank in Lakewood on Thursdays. Friday the 9th is Trad music w General Guinness & Friends at Tara Hall in Columbus. 10th – CLE Hurling @Buffalo, Men's Football: Syracuse @Buffalo, Detroit @Cinci, CLE @Buffalo; The New Barleycorn are playing at Sully's Irish Pub in Medina; Mary's Lane is at Music Box in Cleveland. 12th -The next eBulletin comes out, and the next podcast is on July 16th. Sounds like a great coupla of weeks. There is a varied mix of celebratory and solemn events coming up, for sure, each deserving of our attention. So, make a plan, if you can. AND remember: Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened! No Regerts! Let's take a quick look Back, at On This Day in Irish History On 1 July 1681 - St. Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, was hung at Tyburn, after being found guilty of high treason “for promoting the Catholic faith.” He is the last person to be martyred in England. On 4 July 1921 – While awaiting truce with the English, Eamon De Valera ordered the American flag flown in Dublin to “emphasize the principle for which we are fighting.” On 12 July 1691 - The Battle of Aughrin, the most decisive battle of the Jacobite wars in Ireland, took place. It was won by the forces of William III. Over 7,000 warriors were involved in the battle. On 13 July 1886 - Father Edward Flanagan, founder of “Boys Town” in Nebraska, was born, in my own Co. Roscommon. One of the many great activities that occurred since we last spoke was The Ancient Order of Hibernians and Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians State of Ohio Convention, held in Cleveland this year. Patricia Lavelle, Ray McCann, Jim Kilbane, and Kevin McCluskey chaired, and an outstanding team from the Cleveland ladies and two men's divisions located in Cuyahoga County threw a flat-out bash – too fun and too what happens in Cleveland, stays in Cleveland embargoed to detail here. It was on Fire! Congrats to all involved in putting on the first in-person convention in Cleveland post-COVID. Well Done! If you are interested in learning more about the Hibernians, the largest Irish Catholic Organization outside of Ireland, with an active and prolific mission of helping others in so many ways, This is your lucky day! I am delighted to introduce our guests today, iIrish Madigan Muses Columnist Marilyn Madigan, and Convention Co-Chair Patricia Lavelle.  Marilyn is also the National VP for the LAOH. *** If you are interested in finding out more, contact iIrish Madigan Muses Columnist Marilyn Madigan or myself, and we will fill you in, and we will get you on the right road to heaven.  I have never regretted being a member of the AOH, but so many times, over the many years I have been involved, I have been so thankful that I am. After this podcast, we are heading to the Cleveland Irish Football and Hurling clubs fundraiser at Goldhorn Brewery over on E 55th, before catching up with Achill Crossing, playing at Gormley's Pub starting at 7. For a much larger list of all of the events going on, pick up your iIrish July issue at 367 locations (the complete list of locations is on the website), and the issue is archived online, at OhioIANews.com. ** Dear Listeners, remember, all our podcasts past and present are free to listen to, and download from iTunes or OhioIANews.com, anytime.  They offer  great info, and events worth knowing. Your support helps us stay alive, so please subscribe! There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones - of joy, of unification.  Here, and across the pond. We are closer to a One Ireland than we have been in more than 800 years.  And in that vein, Let's unite for America, too. We'll save those songs and stories for next time, when we release Podcast34 on Friday July 16th. Whelp, We've done what we can for this week.  Tomorrow is another day, and another chance to write the future, we want to live in. Happy Independence Day! As always, I end with a bit of the Irish: Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince Which means: When the music stops, so does the dance. Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us.  Don't let it happen to you. Grace us with your music. Now more than ever, wider audiences need to dance to all the beauty around us. Hope to see you soon. Keep the hugs and prayers coming. Thank you listening, and for allowing me to share my stories with you. Please share yours, with me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

6 4 21 iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast32: A Tribute to Noreen, and Special Guest We Banjo 3's Enda Scahill   When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters. And you know, we've always been green.   So, let's get to it ~What's the news today?   Tonight, Mossy Moran is at @Hooley House Westlake, and Paint & Sip is on at the West Side IA Club. Tomorrow the Cleveland St Pat's Gaelic Football and Hurling Clubs head to Pittsburgh for a divisional match. And the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians have another History presentation on the web. Sunday is Father's Day, and Wednesday We Banjo 3 has their amazing LiveStream kicking off at 7pm. We are talking with Edna Scahill from We Banjo 3 on the Podcast today, getting the lowdown. The weekend is highlighting by The AOH / LAOH Ohio Convention, this year being held in Cleveland; The Other Brothers are playing at HHW on Friday, Faith & Whiskey @The Grog Shop on Saturday (the 26th). Tuesday the 29th is the launch of the OhioIANews expansion into the Pittsburgh area; The July issue comes out on Wednesday the 30th and on Friday the 2nd, 2 weeks from today, the next podcast releases, right before heading to the Cleveland GAA Fundraiser at Goldhorn Brewery.   Sounds like a great coupla of weeks. There is a varied mix of celebratory and solemn events coming up, for sure, each deserving of our attention. So, make plan, if you can. AND remember: Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened! No Regerts!   This morning, we buried my sister Noreen. To our listeners, thank you for all if the hugs, well wishes, shared stories and friendship. At her passing, she was surrounded by all of her kids, grandkids, siblings and our parents. She said several times as we all prayed together, that she was at peace, and I believe that she is. We each told of what will always remind her of us, of how we know she is near when we see it, and she smiled as best she could. She could hear our conversation, tho her oxygen assisted breath was labored. “I am fine, I am fine” she said.   We cannot do justice to her heart, her fight, her grace, her faith, her smile, her active support of so many, and her deep love for God.   This is Noreen's Alliteration   I see you in the water, when you wouldn't let me drown I see you in the in the music, as opposed to watching The Crown I see you on the ice, and a fistfight with the male bully I got your glasses safe; the lessons I absorbed, fully   I see you singing at Erieview High, in Annie Get Your Gun impressions I see you in your young Annie, the motions and facial expressions I hear you in my head, with gentle little nudges Cape Cod –trying to teach me to smile, we wept over the judges   The green crash and Roger Fallon, the IA at West 93rd Camogie, The Jerk, the front porch, the sounds I never heard At times we had like-minded magic, at times we had Dairy Queen And of course, we had St. Patrick's Day, laughing over everything, so obnoxiously green   The stories of Mike, the depths of love, the hope running ever eternal Watching you raise your kids, trying not to laugh, while eyes seemed fire infernal Instilling the love, of God & country, and the one across the pond The door always open; the kettle always boiling, of this we are inordinately fond   I see you in the church, and the bishop embracing The love of God rising by day, so many trials head on facing I see you Irish dancing, and thinking, Hell NO Why did you have to leave us, with so many joys still to go?   I bid you farewell; watch over your kids and theirs too There's nothing stronger than a mother's love, for what else can a mother do? Tho you fret, though you worried, you will always be adored Rest in peace, Dear Noni, in the gentle arms of our Lord   ***   Noreen's obituary reads: Noreen O'Brien Beardmore April 28, 1961 - June 13, 2021 Noreen Theresa (O'Brien) Beardmore passed away on Sunday, June 13 at home, surrounded by her family. Her last hours were filled with faith, praying rosaries with friends the night before her passing and with her family the morning of. Noreen fought a vigorous battle with cancer and her family considers the battle won as her whole life is a miracle. Noreen was born in Montreal, Canada to Irish immigrant parents on April 28, 1961 and was the oldest of four children. As a devout Catholic family, the O'Brien's never missed Mass. When they moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1963, their home melded the best of Irish-American culture, including a beloved Irish festival that the whole family participated in running. Noreen graduated from the all-girls Catholic high school St. Joseph's Academy in Cleveland, Ohio in 1979 and was class president. Cleveland served as the highly social platform for her upbringing as she attended dances, organized fundraisers, and navigated the city working various jobs to earn money for school. Noreen attended Duquesne University to study nursing. While at Duquesne, she was awarded the Heinz scholarship for women in global leadership which allowed her to travel to many different countries. When asked during the interview process about which quality defined her most, she said, "I am, above all things, a Catholic." Noreen was truly a very devout woman. She hungered to know the teachings of the faith and to love Jesus more and more. She spent time volunteering at St. Boniface Parish, the Lafayette Catholic Schools System, and to personal prayer and growth in faith. As a nurse, Noreen was the first person in Ohio to be accepted by the Amish community to give immunizations. She was tender with patients and loved her career as pediatric nurse. It is how she met her husband, pediatrician Mike Beardmore. Noreen married Mike in 1990 and they moved to Lafayette, Indiana. Their marriage was one of deep love, hard work, and beautifully shared values. Together they raised 8 children and sent them all through Catholic schools. Noreen and Mike built a family that was centered on humor, music, quality time, and faith. They too ensured that Mass was never missed, and family dinner was central to their lives together. Noreen served as a member of the Governance Board of the Catholic Schools and started a Catholic moms group called "What Would Mary Do?" Unofficially, she was known for seeking out new moms in the parking lot or recognizing when young moms were having a tough time. Noreen loved to connect people with new friends or opportunities that used their gifts. Later in life she worked as the Health & Safety coordinator for the Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana. When Noreen was diagnosed with cancer, the family committed fervently to family rosaries and she brought many others into the fold. A weekly zoom rosary was started for friends from around the country and in Ireland to pray together for healing. These friends say it was an inspiring group to be part of, par for the course for a friendship with Noreen. Recently Noreen was given the "He Leads, I Follow" Award from St. Boniface Principal Sr. Lenore and former pastor Fr. Tim Alkire. Noreen was presented a statue of Blessed Mother Maria Theresia Bonzel for the goodness and humanity she has shown to so many people. Noreen wasn't perfect. She wasn't good at cooking eggs until her later years. She frequently told her children that she couldn't hear herself think. And she kept far too many Martha Stewart magazines with very little intention of ever reading them again. But those closest to her say that she always knew the right thing to say. She was everyone's shoulder to cry on. And her children would have rathered had a short amount of time with her as a mother than a lifetime with any other. There was always room at the table with Noreen and her magazine-worthy garden doesn't compare to the blooms of friendships she cultivated and kept around the world. Her family is certain that she will work even harder from Heaven for her friends and family and encouraged everyone to reach out in prayer to Noreen throughout their lives. Noreen is survived by her loving husband, Mike and her eight children: Caitie, Tommy (fiancé Natasha), Brian, John & Casey, Will, Michael, Annie & Caroline. She has two grandchildren: Henry & Peter. She is also survived by her parents; John & Eileen O'Brien of Cleveland, her sisters Cathy (John Lang)of Cincinnati and Patricia (Philip Parente) and brother, John, Jr. of Cleveland. She has 11 nieces and nephews who have always meant so much to her. Proceeding her in death is her infant daughter, Mary Clare, who the family knows greeted her excitedly in Heaven. Although Noreen loved flowers, what would mean most to her would be the Catholic education of more children. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to the Lafayette Catholic School System.   *** I need time. I can't look back, over the pain. How does life go on, when death quakes our earth?   One timeless way to cope with hurt, is thru music. I am delighted to introduce our special guest today, Enda Scahill, a force unto himself, and one of two sets of brothers: with Fergal Scahill and Martin & David Howley, that are We Banjo 3. If you haven't had the pleasure of singing ballads along with We Banjo 3, you get a new chance on June 24th, when they deliver the End of Summer LiveStream show, not to be missed. But, I'd rather hear the gospel from the priest, so please welcome to the podcast, Enda Scahill.   Hello Enda! Welcome to iIrish Songs, Stories & Shenanigans podcast. It is good to see you again, even if it is via Zoom, as we make the best of things.   · How has your transition to and from COVID gone? · Tell me about the End of Summer LiveSteam · Your work as musical performers and your songs are, to me, a bit about appreciation, and living – with urgency, but perhaps a better way to say it is living in the moment. With awareness– tell me about that. What is the message you and the band were aiming for with your work? · Woodie Guthrie said, ‘You write what you see'. Has that held true for you in your songs? · We Banjo 3 is significantly involved in supporting mental illness relief efforts – tell me about that · You were with Brock & Maguire for many years, before starting WB3. What was your favorite tour you've ever taken? · We always ask, any stories from the road, that you can share, but the road now is a distant memory – still, any stories? · What is one thing in this rock n reel adventure did that you didn't expect? · What is a common myth about your career? · You are a noted Irish tenor banjo teacher, and have several books on the subject – Besides buy the books (endascahill.com), what advice would give to someone starting out? · If we were having this conversation three years from today, what would have to happen for you to feel happy with your progress? · What underrated tool(s) are indispensable for your job? · What have you enjoyed doing the most? · What are you reading or watching? Any reccs?   Thank you for joining us today Enda; I know you are a busy, traveling man, and we appreciate the great joy you bring people with your music and sharing.   f Blues Cleveland w/ The Infamous Stringdusters · So, what happens now for you?   Listeners, remember, all podcasts past and present are free to listen, and download from iTunes or OhioIANews.com. Your support helps us stay alive, so please subscribe! Hear Ye, Hear ye, we have very exciting news to share with you! First: Our covid on hold expansion plans are finally coming out of the darkness. Do you know a writer who lives in the Greater Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or Detroit area? We are looking for new writers based in those cities. Please send them on to us to chat with. Yes, we are starting with Pittsburgh and Detroit in our expansion, but Cleveland to Clearwater is our opportunity corridor. Fourteen states from CLE to shining CLE.   Second: In Ohio, eighty-five Giant Eagle, Marcs, CVS and Drug Mart stores from Cleveland thru Columbus will now carry the Ohio Irish American News. Third: Due to this expansion, our Ohio Irish American News name no longer fits! We'd like to share with you, our listeners, our new name: Drum roll please … We will now be known as iIrish! We feature such a wide variety of outlets to reach the Irish in America, and all across the world, with Digital, Print, Podcast, eBulletin, social media, Video, and Web content and expertise. iIrish and the 14 states we are entering, the name iIrish fits and describes our work and our reach, much better.   And Fourth: In partnership with John Delaney, who you all know as a founder of Barleycorn, and now, The New Barleycorn, we are delighted to announce our new monthly video series, The Green & Gold Web, featuring Irish music, dance, song and story, culture and so much more from across the Irish Diaspora, released once per month, and available online, with your subscription.   There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones - of joy, of unification. Here, and across the pond. We are closer to a One Ireland than we have been in more than 800 years. And in that vein, Let's unite for America, too.   We'll save those songs and stories for next time, when we release Podcast33 on Friday July 2nd.   Whelp, We've done what we can for this week. Tomorrow is another day, and another chance to write the future, we want to live in. Thank you Consul General Kevin Byrne for joining us!   As always, I end with a bit of the Irish: Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince Which means: When the music stops, so does the dance. Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us. Don't let it happen to you. Grace us with your music. Now more than ever, wider audiences need to dance to all the beauty around us.   Hope to see you soon. Keep the hugs and prayers coming.   Thank you listening, and for allowing me to share my stories with you. Please share yours, with me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

6 4 21 iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast31: w Guest Carbon Leaf Appearing at Robins Theatre, June 10th!   When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters. And you know, we've always been green.   After listening, I hope you will feel we have a great show for you today. So, let's get to it ~What's the news today?   Tonight, I am looking forward to seeing Cats on Holiday Duo @Hooley House Westlake, or maybe Barleycorn at the West Side IA Club. Tomorrow is the Cleveland St Pat's Gaelic Football Men's team taking on The Buffalo Fenians at the West Side Irish America Club. A woman's team scrimmage is at 11 and the youth team plays at 2:30. Find out more, and new players are always welcome. Sunday is D-Day: Thursday the 10th Carbon Leaf plays at the Robins Theatre in Warren, Ohio. This is a location change from Kent Stage. Friday through Sunday are the Motor City and the Riverfront Irish Fests; and Cleveland St Pats Hurling Club takes on The Akron Celtic Guards Hurling Club Saturday the 12th at the West Side Irish America Club. On the 14th our next eBulletin goes out to the more than 12,000 fun loving, opted-in subscribers and Gormley's Irish Pub has their monthly Monday Whiskey & Cigar Tasting event, this time w special guest Whiskey Ambassador Barry Chandler; & on the 16th, the annual Bloomsday celebrations take place all over the world, rounding out the events we know about until our next podcast, 2 weeks from today, on June 18th.   Sounds like a great coupla of weeks. There is a varied mix of celebratory and solemn events coming up, for sure, each deserving of our attention. So, make plan, if you can. AND remember: Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened! No Regerts!   Have you picked up or read online the June issue yet? It is a great, varied and informational issue. Of course, it is free at 367 locations across Ohio and in NY., PA., KY., IN., MI. and our OhioIANews.com website. So, what happened, On This Day in Irish History? On the 7 June, 1899 - Elizabeth Bowen was born in Dublin. She was a novelist and short-story writer, best known for her novel, The Last September. On the 8 June 1917 - The Butte, Montana, mine disaster fell: there were 168 dead, including many Irish, when fire broke out in a mineshaft. Butte was the US's foremost mining town at the time, with a population of 50,000, a quarter of whom were Irish, mostly from County Cork. On the 10 June, 1944 – was the death of Frank Ryan, prominent leader of the Irish Republican Army, who led 200 Irishmen to Spain to fight against Franco. It is said that the character “Liam Devlin” in the Jack Higgins thriller The Eagle Has Landed, is based on Frank Ryan. On the 15 June 1919 - Captain Jack Alcock and Lt. Arthur Brown completed the first transatlantic flight, when their Vickers Vimy biplane landed near Clifden, Co. Galway, after a 2,500km (1,500 miles) flight from St. John's Newfoundland. On the 16 June, 1904 - James Joyce first went walking with Nora Barnacle; it became the date on which everything takes place in Ulysses and is known as Bloomsday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

5 21 21 iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast30: w Guest New Irish Consulate General of Ireland, Kevin Byrne When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters. And you know, we’ve always been green. After listening, I hope you will feel we have a great show for you today. So, Let’s get to it ~What’s the news today? Tonight, I am looking forward to seeing Achill Island play at PJ. McIntyre’s. The Mickey Finns are playing at Byrne’s Pub. Tomorrow is the Cleveland St Pat’s Gaelic Football and Hurling Clubs Night at the Races Fundraiser at the West Side Irish America Club. Sunday is the Fire Fighters Fundraiser @PJ McIntyre’s. Tuesday is the deadline to register for elections. Wednesday the June issue of the Ohio Irish American News comes out. June 2nd is the mask burning party @Gunselman’s. Sounds like a great coupla of weeks. There is a varied mix of celebratory and solemn events coming up, for sure, each deserving of our attention. So, make plan, if you can. Now remember: Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened! No Regerts! Have you picked up or read online the May issue yet? It is a great, varied and informational issue. POf course it is free at 367 locations across Ohio and in NY., PA., KY., IN., MI. and our OhioIANews.com website. So, what happened, On This Day in Irish History? On the 24th of May, 1928 – was the birth of William Trevor (Cox), prolific and Pulitzer Prize winning short story writer and novelist, in Middletown, Co Cork. (Felicia’s Journey and The Story of Lucy Gault). 29th of May, 1917, birth of John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Brookline, Massachusetts. *** Enough looking back; let’s get to the good stuff! Our guest today is the new Consulate General of Ireland, Kevin Byrne. If you haven’t worked with a Consul General, you may wonder, what is a Consul General and what do they do? Well, I’d rather hear the gospel from the priest, so please welcome Consulate General to Ireland, Kevin Byrne. Hello Kevin! Welcome to iIrish Songs, Stories & Shenanigans podcast. It is good to see you again, even if it is via Zoom, as we make the best of things. · How has your transition to Chicago gone? · Tell me your work - Origins, mission, goals and benefits of a Consul General · How has it gone, esp during COVID? · Are there other Consul General’s in the US/ Across the world? · Where were you stationed previously? · Your work as the Consul General here in the U.S., to me, is about a bit of a dream – the Irish American Dream, but perhaps unity and hope, today and for the future as well – tell me about that. What are you were aiming for with your work? · If we were having this conversation three years from today, what would have to happen for you to feel happy with your progress? · We always ask, any stories from the road, but the road now is a distant memory – still, any stories? · What have you enjoyed doing the most? · Woodie Guthrie said, ‘You write what you see’. Has that held true for you as a leader? What did you see in the Foreign Service that made you choose that as your career? · Cleveland was once a booming town, and thankfully, is now again. Yet, I am the last of the First Generation here. My dad came from Roscommon. How do we make those who are looking for a new place to build their dream, aware of the opportunities available to young people, here in Cleveland, to achieve their dreams? · For those of us waiting on our Irish Passports, while the embassy in Dublin is closed, any insight on when we might see a reopening, and the processing of the dual citizenship passports? · What are you reading or watching? Any reccs? · So, what happens now for you? Thank you for joining us today; I know you are a busy, traveling man, and we appreciate your insight and support. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast29: Taking the Fields of Glory: Irish Sports Return with Cleveland Tournament After listening, I hope you will feel we have a great show for you today. When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters. And you know, we’ve always been green So, Let’s get to it ~What’s the news today? Tomorrow is the Cleveland St Pat’s Gaelic Football and Hurling Clubs Memorial Tournament at the West Side Irish America Club. Our guest today will be Club president, Vincent Beach. We will talk about the whole day of men’s and women’s shenanigans, plus the Night at the Races coming up later this month; Sunday is Mother’s Day- love your mammy; on the 14th - one week from today, The New Barleycorn are playing at the WSIAClub, The Merry Ploughboy’s virtual concert for Malachi House is that evening as well. The 11th is Armed Forces Day, and on our next podcast, new Irish Consul General Kevin Byrne joins us. Then, the 31st Podcast features the fantastic Carbon Leaf, returning to touring with a show at Kent Stage on June 10th. Whew! Sounds like a great coupla of weeks. There is a varied mix of celebratory and solemn events coming up, for sure, each deserving of our attention. So, make plan, if you can. Now remember: Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened! No Regerts! Have you picked up or read the May issue online yet? Pick one up at any of our 367 locations; the complete list of all distribution points, sorted by zip code, is on OhioIANews.com. It is free, or you can see and read the interactive copy on the website as well, with more to the story: more text, more pics, stories that didn’t make the print edition and LARGER Print. May was a fun issue to compile and read. Our cover features the work of Cartoon Saloon, the multi-Academy, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated Kilkenny based genius’, the Inner View is within. We have Part II of the former West Wing actor Melissa Fitzgerald’s Inner View story; Did you know that potato a day keeps the doctor away? Dr Peters gives us the (Kerry) gold. Toledo Irish meet & greet with Men from the Bog; so many May memorials, especially the anniversaries of the Easter Rising Firing Squads administered to most of its leaders, and the ten Hunger Striker’s deaths is not least among them. Former Celtic Women star Eabhan Mc Mahon’s first solo CD, Wildflower, is reviewed (Hint: it’s really good!), as well as Black 47 Founder and voice, Larry Kirwan’s new Book, Rockaway Blue which is also very good. Ever have an Irish Mexican Fusion? Well, the recipe is inside, and Dan Coughlin writes a very funny Home Sweet Home, and the stories discovered in the line at a wake, while waiting to pay respects. Can they Ban the Irish Language? Thin Lizzy makes an appearance in Ireland, and so does the electric car; and now, more than ever, it is time for an Irish Unity Referendum. Of course, we have the Kid’s Craic and Colour of Ireland Kid’s Contest pages, and the Irish Crossword on Patriots of Ireland, inside too. So very sad to see that Fitzerald’s Bed & Breakfast is up for sale. Certainly, COVID lingers. So, what happened on this day in Irish history? 8 May 1567 - Shane O’Neill of Tyrone was defeated by Hugh O’Donnell at the Battle of Faretsmore, Co. Donegal. 8 May 2007 - ‘Devolution Day’ in Northern Ireland: DUP Leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein Leader Martin McGuiness took office in a restored Northern Ireland Assembly. 14 May 1893 - George “McIrish” McElroy was born in Donnybrook, County Dublin. He became Ireland’s greatest WWI ace, with forty-seven victories. 15 May 2007- Bertie Ahern became the first Taoiseach to address the Westminster parliament. *** So, let’s get to the good stuff! Tomorrow is the opening of the U.S. Gaelic Athletic Association 2021 year.  In Cleveland, it kicks off with a Midwest tournament. But I’d rather hear the gospel from the priest, so please welcome Cleveland St. Patrick’s Gaelic Football Club president, Vincent Beach. Hello Vince! Welcome to the iIrish Songs, Stories & Shenanigans podcast. It is good to see you again, even if it is via Zoom, as we make the best of things. Tell me about Gaelic Football in Ireland, America, Cleveland - Origins, mission, goals and benefits. How has it gone, esp during COVID? Is Cleveland’s the typical Irish immigrant sports story? Differences? What do you dream about when you wake up for the team? Your work with the GAA, to me, is about a bit of a dream - but perhaps unity and hope, today and for the future – tell me about the kids program too - hat are you were aiming for with your work? If we were having this conversation three years from today, what would have to happen for you to feel happy with your progress? We always ask, any stories from the road, but the road now is a distant memory – still, any stories? What do you do besides lead the GAA in Cleveland and the Midwest? Woodie Guthrie said, ‘You write what you see’. Has that held true for you as a leader? What did you see in the GAA that made you choose to take on the leadership of the GAA? Tell us about the tournament tomorrow What will happen and when, and what else is available onsite? What are you reading or watching? Any reccs? So, what happens now for you? All podcasts past and present can be downloaded from iTunes, WHKRadio/local podcasts or OhioIANews.com. I hope you will Subscribe (it’s free) and listen to them whenever you wish. Your support helps us stay alive, please subscribe! If you have a moment, and wish to offer any feedback, it would be most welcome.  For example: Would you follow the podcast more if a video option were also available? Who would you like to see interviewed on the podcast? Every month I beg and beg our readers and organizations from throughout Ohio and the surrounding states to send us their events.  Rarely do they.  I won’t give up.   The invitation stands; send them to us at jobrien@ohioianews.com. There is no charge to have them listed in the OhioIANews. We want to feature all of Ohio, and the surrounding states too. Let us know what’s the craic in vibrant Irish America, so we can share it with our audiences. Do you know a writer who lives in the Greater Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or Detroit area? Please send them on to us to chat with; for those areas are our next expansion targets. I hope I will see you Out & About, safe and sound. If you need a speaker, call. Our Irish Opportunity Corridor runs from The Northcoast, to The Southcoast, Cleveland to Clearwater; CLE to shining CLE. Contact us with your story, event or speaker needs and we’ll be of service. There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones - of joy, of unification.  Here, and across the pond. We are closer to a One Ireland than we have been in more than 800 years.  Let’s unite for America, too. We’ll save those songs and stories for next time, when we release Podcast30 on Friday May 21st, with guest Irish Consul Kevin Byrne. Whelp, We’ve done what we can for this week.  Tomorrow is another day, and another chance to write the future, we want to live in. As always, I end with a bit of the Irish: Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince Which means: When the music stops, so does the dance. Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us.  Don’t let it happen to you. Grace us with your music. Now more than ever, wider audiences need to dance to all the beauty around us. Hope to see you tomorrow at the Tournament. Thank you listening, and for allowing me to share my stories with you. Please share yours, with me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Podcast28: Remembering Bobby Sands, 40th Anniversary of his death on Hunger Strike   After listening, I hope you will feel we have a great show for you today. Y’know, we’ve always been green. When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters   So, Let’s get to it ~What’s the news today?   Well, the Yeats Tour yesterday was spectacular. Check it out for the online recording, and the next event. On Monday, my niece Lynnie is officially adopted, even though she has already been a member of our family for some time ~ I can’t wait; Tuesday is the Ancient Order of Hibernians Ohio State Convention, virtual this year; Wednesday, the May issue of the OhioIANews comes out, and President Biden addresses the nation; Thursday is the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Irish Immigration presentation (virtual), and Thursday thru Sunday, the NFL Draft is hosted here in Cleveland; Sunday is Eastern Orthodox Easter; Monday the 3rd the new eBulletin comes out; Thursday the 4th is a primary election in many U.S. cities; the 6th is National Day of Prayer, and on our next podcast, St. Pat’s Gaelic Football Club President and Taking the Fields of Glory Columnist Vincent Beach joins us in the studio. On the 21st Podcast, we have new Irish Consul Kevin Byrne joining us.   Whew! Sounds like a great coupla of weeks. There is a varied mix of celebratory and solemn events coming up, for sure, each deserving of our attention. So make plan, if you can. No Regerts!   Have you picked up or read the April issue online yet? I cannot do justice to it, for I believe it is one of, if not the best, issue we have ever compiled. Pick one up at any of our 367 locations; the complete list of all distribution points, sorted by zip code, is on OhioIANews.com. It is free, or see the interactive copy online, with more to the story: more text, more pics, stories that didn’t make the print edition and LARGER Print. Stories on the legendary Sarah Makem, mother of Tommy Makem; Cleveland Irish Baseball in America; The Gaelic Football and Hurling Tournament coming to Cleveland next month; an Illuminating story on The Whiteboys, relative to today’s world; new Toledo Irish Columnist Molly McHugh’s Levi & Lilacs Coffee Pub; and a new occasional feature on Stone Mad, a joint effort by a Cleveland man John Digney and the Dry Wall Association of Ireland to understand and preserve the story of stone walls prevalent throughout Ireland. The walls were not randomly built; you will be very surprised at the meaning and measure taken there. So, what happened on this day in Irish history? On 23 April 1926 –New York novelist J.P. Donleavy was born. He was the son of Irish immigrants. He later moved to Ireland and wrote The Ginger Man, which became one of the top 100 selling books of all time in Ireland. On 29 April 1901 - James Stephens, chief founder of the Fenian Brotherhood, died. On 3 May 1903 - Bing Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington, as Henry Lillis Crosby. On 5 May 1981 – Bobby Sands, the first republican prisoner to go on and to die in the 1981 hunger strike, went home to God.   I would like to tell you a bit about Bobby, and in context, the rest of the 1981 Hunger Strikers. Like everything Irish – the connections go person to person, family, village, generations and across ocean’s wide. The background begets better understanding of who we are, and why it matters. This was NOT the first Hunger Strike utilized by “those insolent Irish” in their fight for freedom from British Rule. To me, it was earned, at a terrible cost. It was the highest cost. I believe it was horribly effective, in producing change. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Podcast27: Éabha McMahon’s Butterfly   We’ve always been green. When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters   Hello Everyone! Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans. Our guest today is former Celtic Women alto AYE-vah Mac-MA-hon. Can’t wait to chat with her. After listening, I hope you will feel we have a great show for you today.   What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the news today?   Well, the first day of Ramadan is on Monday; The next eBulletin comes our on the 19th (make sure you are signed up!); Administrative Professionals Day is on the 21st, Earth Day is the 22nd and the next Podcast is the 23rd. There is a varied mix of celebratory and solemn events, for sure, each deserving of our attention.   Did you get the jab yet? I get my 2nd one on Monday, at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, I highly encourage you to call the 866 number, rather than try and book online – When I called, I got an appt for the next day.   Our April issue came out last week. I cannot do justice to it, for I believe it is one of, if not the best, issue we have ever compiled. Pick one up at any of our 367 locations, or see it online with more text, more pics, more info and LARGER Print. The complete list of all 367 locations is there as well. Stories on the legendary Sarah Makem; The Captures of Cash, which is a new feature highlighting Irish historic sites today, by photographer John Cash; Cleveland Irish Baseball in America, The Gaelic Football and Hurling Tournament coming to Cleveland next month; an Illuminating story on The Whiteboys, relative to today’s world; new Toledo Irish Columnist Molly McHugh’s Levi & Lilacs Coffee Pub; and a new occasional feature on Stone Mad, a joint effort by a Cleveland man John Digney and the Dry Wall Association of Ireland to understand and preserve the story of stone walls prevalent throughout Ireland. The walls were not randomly built; you will be very surprised at the meaning and measure taken there. Plus, we have our Speak Irish monthly lesson; Safe Home wishes to Tom Bodle and Beverly Connolly. And of course, there is humor, opinion, Kid’s Craic and Colours contest, profiles and history, book and music reviews and the monthly Irish Crossword Puzzle. The crosswords are a great way to learn or refresh your Irish knowledge, history and folklore, and all past issues, with the crossword inside, are available on our website, OhioIANews.com.   Our April cover shot and Inner View this month is an extensive conversation with Irish American Melissa Fitzgerald, former West Wing show and other TV, live and film actor veteran, now leading Justice for Vets, a non-profit organization based in DC that works to help Vets. It was probably the most interesting Inner View I have ever done. The stories are shared on our Facebook, twitter and Instagram pages, of course. Part II of Melissa’s story will be in the May issue, which comes out April 28th. All of the stories, with more pics, more text and LARGER print, are lodged online. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Podcast26:   When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters   Hello Everyone!  Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans.  After listening, I hope you will feel we have a great show for you today.   What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the news today?   Well, Passover begins at Sundown tomorrow; the virtual Lincoln & The Irish Presentation is Saturday at 1; my interview with the LAOH and Marilyn Madigan is Sunday at 1; the spectacular print edition of the April issue comes on Wednesday; Friday is Good Friday (and last Fish Fry of the year); Sunday the 4th  is Easter; and the last day before we podcast meet again on April 9th, is Holocaust Remembrance Day. There is  a varied mix of celebratory and solemn events, for sure, each deserving of our attention.   Did you get the jab yet?  I got my 1st one on Monday, at the Wolstein Center.  If you haven’t, I highly encourage you to call the 833 number, rather than try and book online – I got an appt the next day.  The Army Airborne’s were manning the Center – The speed, graciousness and organization just blew me away.  I had a 3:30 Appt, got there at 3:20; because of me auld cane was escorted to check in, then another soldier escorted me to a seat. Within minutes, a soldier came to me, holding a tablet, asked a few questions, and said left or right shoulder? I chose the left, since I heard it might ache for a while after.  About 10 minutes later, another soldier came over, verified me, and administered a Pfizer shot. I kid you not, I did not feel a thing.  He said he had been doing medical duties for about 2 years – In a lifetime of RA and back shots, this fella was better than most I have encountered.  He then set me up for the 2nd shot appt. in 3 weeks. I got up, walked out, and went to my car; it was 3:45. I cannot adequately describe how impressive the whole process was.  I am grateful, AND I never felt any shot pain that day, or since.   I’d like to share a celebratory story from the coming issue with you, written by John Myers: Donnybrook: The Greatest Generation   by John Myers Robert James O’Malley died in February 2021 in Washington, D.C. at the age of 98. O’Malley, a proud son of Cleveland, was like so many Irish Clevelanders of his generation; he had a hard scrabble childhood growing up on the near-west side of Cleveland. He joined the building trades; fought fascist dictators as a soldier; was a good public servant and a great human; living a life of little fanfare, middle class economics, and thousands of friends.  We salute the quiet, everyday contributions to our community, our Nation, and our world by these members of the Greatest Generation, living and watching history each day.  Bob ‘earned’ his Purple Heart on the same snowcapped mountain in Italy, on the same day as his fellow 10th Mountain Division member, Senator Robert Dole.  This Bob left Cleveland to join the Congressional Staff of his good friend, Robert Emmett Sweeney, in Washington, but he always had Cleveland in his head and heart. He was a cherished friend of Cleveland Congressman James V. Stanton.  Every Sunday, Bob took a taxi to St. Stephen’s on Pennsylvania Avenue, a church close to the Whitehouse, also frequented by JFK.  O’Malley lived in a modest efficiency across the street from the historic Omni-Shoreham Hotel, the sight of everything from FDR’s inaugural ball to late night, bipartisan poker games with President Truman, to hosting the Beatles on their first trip to the U.S.  Not being much of a cook, Bob walked across the street every day for most meals at the Shoreman’s dining room.  In fact, the hotel staff put a plaque up at his ‘usual’ table.  Bob will be buried at Arlington Cemetery, and now more than ever, we all state the 10th Mountain’s motto: “Climb to Glory” Bob, you deserve it.  Purple Heart Winner Several years ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid honored his good friend with these words, which were entered into the Congressional record in 2010: Mr. Reid:  Mr. President, every one of our servicemembers deserves the unqualified appreciation and admiration of the Senate and our entire Nation.  Today, I wish to salute the service of one such soldier, a man who first answered his country’s call in World War II and has not stopped. Bob O’Malley served our nation with distinction in the 10th Mountain Division in combat in Europe.  He was a sergeant and a squad leader who led his men bravely and with honor.  He put his life on the line on many occasions to protect his men and to fight for freedom against Nazi Germany and was recognized with his squad’s admiration, the Combat Infantry Badge and, because he was wounded, a Purple Heart.  But he has not stopped serving his country.  Bob came to Washington in 1965 and worked for Congressman Robert E. Sweeney before starting a 27-year career with the Doorkeeper of the U.S. House of Representatives.  That is where I first met him, as a young Member of Congress.  The Doorkeeper, Mr. Molloy, and Mr. O’Malley had a suite of offices and it was kind of a hangout for Democratic members of the House; especially it was a way for new Members of the Congress to become acquainted with what was going on over there.  They were very caring about new Members and always pointed us in the right direction.  I have always remembered those two men for all the good deeds they did on my behalf. His was a 27-year career with the Doorkeeper.  As I indicated, that is where I met him.  By the time the war in Afghanistan started in 2002, Bob had retired from service in the House of Representatives.  Most retirees are content to seek a well-earned life of leisure, but Sergeant O’Malley did not.  He signed up for a new and worthy mission, waking every day to serve our Nation’s wounded warriors.  When the war started, he went back to work as a volunteer-supporting and caring for the men and women of the 10th Mountain Division, his old unit.  He has made countless visits to Walter Reed, this great medical center where these wounded warriors come to recuperate.  On all these visits to Walter Reed, he spent countless hours talking and sharing stories about the Division and taking his fellow veterans to ball games and other events, including the sharing of meals on many occasions.  When many of these wounded warriors could not make it home for the holiday, Bob would reach into his own pocket and pay for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s dinners for soldiers and their families at some of the finest eateries in the Washington, D.C. area.  Bob says that helping soldiers recover from their war injuries has added years to his life.  We know it has added years to the lives of those he helps.  Bob O’Malley would be the first to tell you this is not a one-man mission. He has had help from many different areas.  When he decided to help those wounded on the battlefield, for example, he enlisted the help of another veteran and fellow Clevelander, Dom Visconsi, Sr., an original member of the 10th Mountain Division in World War II.  He asked Dom to help, and Dom was happy to help entertain and support these troops.  Many of Bob’s friends soon joined the cause as well, and they are a constant presence for the soldiers, whether here or at home.  Our Army would not be the best place in the world without the work of veterans such as Sergeant O’Malley, whose life has been synonymous with service, sacrifice, and selflessness. He is an inspiration to me, our Armed Forces, and our country.  He is a hero, and I am proud to call him a friend.    Our April issue comes out on Wednesday.  It is our 172nd issue. I kid you not, it may be the strongest issue we have ever put out.  Stories on the legendary Sarah Makem; The Captures of Cash, which is a new feature highlighting Irish historic sites today, by photographer John Cash; Cleveland IrishBaseball in America, The Gaelic Football and Hurling Tournament coming to Cleveland next month; an Illuminating story on The Whiteboys, relative to today’s world; new Toledo Irish Columnist Molly McHugh’s Levi & Lilacs Coffee Pub; and a new occasional feature on Stone Mad, a joint effort by a Cleveland man John Digney and the Dry Wall Association of Ireland to understand and preserve the story of stone walls prevalent throughout Ireland. The walls were not randomly built; you will be very surprised at the meaning and measure taken there. Plus, we have our Speak Irish monthly lesson; Safe Home wishes to Tom Bodle and Beverly Connolly. And of course, there is humor, opinion, Kid’s Craic and Coloring contest, profiles and history, book and music reviews and the monthly Irish Crossword Puzzle. The crosswords are a great way to learn or refresh your Irish knowledge, history and folklore, and all past issues, with the crossword inside, are available on our website, OhioIANews.com.   Our April cover shot and Inner View this month is an extensive conversation with Irish American Melissa Fitzgerald, former West Wing show and other TV, live and film actor veteran, now leading Justice for Vets, a non-profit organization based in DC that works to help Vets.  It was probably the most interesting Inner View I have ever done. The stories are shared on our Facebook, twitter and Instagram pages, of course. Part I in the issue comes out on Wednesday and all the stories, with more pics, more text and LARGER print, are lodged online soon after. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Podcast25: w Special Guest Andrew Shuman of Shamrock Club of Columbus   When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters   Hello Everyone! Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans. We have a great show for you today, including talking w/ Andrew Shuman, President of the Shamrock Club of Columbus.   Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to acknowledge the Past, and then roll forward: So, Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 16 March 1820 - John Scanlon was executed in Limerick for the murder of Ellen Hanley (15) the previous summer. 19 March 1870 - The first installment of Charles Kickham’s immensely popular Knocknagaw, or The Homes of Tipperary, appeared in The Shamrock magazine. It was published as a novel in 1879. 20 March 1920 - Tomas MacCurtain, Sinn Fein lord mayor of Cork, and commander of the 1st Cork Brigade of the IRA, was shot dead at his home. A subsequent coroner’s jury found that the murder had been organized and carried out by the Royal Irish Constabulary. 24 March 1796 - The Insurrection Act declared that Magistrates can be empowered to seize any subject and send them to serve at sea; can place any district under martial law; can impose curfews and the death penalty for oath-taking; and conduct arms searches. IRISH SAINTS THIS MONTH Courtesy of the Ancient Order of Hibernians Can you guess which saint we should feature? Patrick, Archbishop (c. 389-c. 461) observed annually on March 17 “Few do not know at least the outline of the story of the Apostle of Ireland, and at least some of the legends about him. The son of Calpurnius, a Romano-British official, born somewhere in the Roman province of Britain, he was carried off into slavery by Irish raiders when he was about 16. After serving as a shepherd for 6 years, probably in Mayo or Antrim, he escaped, and made his way to Gaul. He seems to have studied at the monastery of Lerins, 412-15, and was probably ordained c. 417. Patrick harbored the desire, encouraged by a vision which he experienced, to return and evangelize the pagan Irish. In about 432, consecrated bishop by St. Germanus, he was sent back to Ireland to carry on the work of St. Palladius, who had died the previous year. Most of the remainder of his life was spent in this task, as he travelled throughout the island, encountering the potentially deadly opposition of many pagan chieftains and the Druidic priests. In 442 and 444, he visited Rome. He made Armagh his episcopal see, cementing its role in the history of the Irish Church. Besides his many conversions, Patrick brought the Irish Church into closer union with Rome, encouraged the study of Latin, and raised the standards of scholarship in general. Among surviving writings, we have his Confession, an answer to some of his detractors, which contains many details of his life, his Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus, denouncing murders committed by Welsh Christian marauders against their fellow Christians in Ireland, and his prayer, The Lorica. Patrick's tomb is believed to be at Downpatrick, with Saints Brigid and Columba. Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the news today?   Our March issue is out about a week - tho COVID reduced, there are many events and columns to choose or learn from to celebrate Irish Heritage Month, whether indoors or out, with family or virtually alone. The issue is full of info, columns, entertainment lists, highlights and things to do related to the theme, and not. Plus, our Speak Irish monthly lesson; Safe Home wishes to Maureen Lowry Curtin and Ray Shulte. And of course, there is humor, opinion, Kid’s Craic and Coloring contest, profiles and history, book and music reviews and the monthly Irish Crossword Puzzle. March’s puzzle subject is Cork and Tipperary Towns. Or as Maury Collins always says, Rebel Cork. The crosswords are a great way to learn or refresh your Irish knowledge, history and folklore, and all past issues, with the crossword inside, are available on OhioIANews.com.   Our cover shot and our Inner View this month is from and about Columbus’ Irish American Fine Artist Maureen Clark, a gifted glorious Irish woman deeply involved in her art, her heritage and the community that inspires her. Check it out in print, and see even more of her work on our and Maureen’s website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters   Hello Everyone! Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans. We have a great show for you today, including talking about International Women’s Day (March 8th), Purim begins on Feb 25th.   Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to acknowledge the Past, and then roll forward: So, Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 1 March 1794 – The Statutes of Dublin University are amended to allow Catholics to take degree. 2 March 1979 - Christy Ring, legendary Cork hurler, dies suddenly at age 58. Widely regarded as one of the greatest hurlers in the history of the game. 3 March 1924 - The world premiere of Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock takes place at the Abbey Theatre. 10 March 1920 - The Government of Ireland Bill, offering a six-county ‘Northern Ireland,’ was accepted by a two to one majority by the Ulster Unionist Council.   Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the news today? The Feast of Purim began last night at sundown and continues until sundown tonight. The Feast commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from the plots of Prime Minister Haman's conspiracy to destroy them. It is a celebration of God's love and protection in the midst of a hostile world. The story of Purim is recorded in the Book of Esther. It takes place in the ancient Medo-Persian empire at the time when the seventy years of exile had come to an end and the Jewish people were allowed to go back to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 29:10). The story begins with Ahasuerus, the King of the Medo-Persian empire, removing Vashti as queen and choosing Esther (Hadassah), a young Jewish woman, to replace her. Shortly after Esther was crowned queen, her cousin Mordecai, one of the King's servants, heard about a plot to assassinate King Ahasuerus. He reported it to Esther, who informed the King, saving his life. In remembrance of the miraculous events that took place, Queen Esther and Mordecai established the observance of Purim to celebrate all that God had done for His people (Esther 9:20-32). - From: The Seven Ways to Celebrate Purim, by David Wilbur, freedomhillcommunity.com   International Women's Day.com tells us that International Woman’s Day is a worldwide day celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. So, it is a civil awareness day, marked annually on March 8th. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity, and is a part of events like Women and girl’s day, Anti-sexism day, and Anti-Discrimination Day Globally, groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally for women's equality. Celebrating those achievements, raising awareness about women's equality, lobbying for accelerated gender parity, and/or fundraising for female-focused charities are just some of the things we can all do, to celebrate and right injustice. Of course, there is urgent work to do - and we can all play a part.   John Myers, our Donnybrook columnist, gives us an update on Brexit and the 40th Anniversary of the Hunger strikers. If you want to know more about the Hunger Strikers, check out my book, The Lyrics of Irish Freedom.   Donnybrook by John Myers FINALLY, Brexit is here, after five years or so of debate, rancor, elections, multiple prime ministers and a whole lot of debate, Brexit took effect on New Year’s Day 2021. While the UK had left the EU in January of 2020, there was a transition period where status quo EU regulations governed through December 31, 2020. It took that entire transition period to formally negotiate the divorce deal, otherwise know as a new Free Trade Agreement. This trade agreement came on Christmas Eve just in time to avoid a “Hard Exit.” The main result is that there will be no tariffs on most goods, significantly minimizing disruption. How the service sector will be impacted is still being finalized. Last year the UK border in Ireland was the major sticking point, but Fishing rights, state support of home industries and enforcement of the new Free Trade Agreement emerged as the major sticking points. The Border Issue in Ireland With the landslide victory by Boris Johnson’s government in the last UK election, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) lost its privileged position. Former UK PM Theresa May’s government had to rely on the dozen or so members of the DUP to hold a majority in the Parliament. This gave outsized influence to the staunch Orange/Loyalists membership of the DUP, limiting the ability to find practical solutions to the “border” issue in Ireland. The Six Counties in the north of Ireland are still legally part of the UK ,and thus no longer part of the EU, thus a way to address customs and trade measures had to be created. The fear was that it would require a hardening of the border between the Six Counties and the Republic of Ireland. Fortunately, with the loss of its privileged position, the DUP could not stop the UK Government from agreeing to making the Irish Sea as the new international customs and trade border. The Six Counties are in a unique position by virtue of having direct access to the UK markets, but still part of the EU single market regulations. Hopefully this will be a great economic opportunity to the Six Counties which have one of the lowest economic ratings in the EU. The UK government was left with little choice, as they are desperate for a new Free Trade Agreement with the US and Speaker Pelosi and President-elect Biden indicated there would be no FTA if border issues put the Good Friday Accord in jeopardy. Loyalists are furious that the Six Counties are being treated differently than Great Britain. Irish nationalists are heartened that this will be the beginning of the end of partition as the 100th anniversary of the division of Ireland is observed this year. The Hunger Strikes: 40 years on 2021 marks the 40th Anniversary of the Hunger Strike in Maze Prison, where prisoners fought for political recognition. Bobby Sands was the first of ten prisoners to die on hunger strike. A previous hunger strike the year before (1980), lay the foundation for the momentous 1981 strike. As part of the Ancient Order of Hibernians commemoration, a live, virtual event was held and recorded. You can view it at https://aoh.com/2020/11/30/hunger-strike-1980/   Our March issue came out Wednesday - tho COVID reduced, March is still coming, and there are many events to choose from to celebrate Irish Heritage Month, whether indoors or out, with family or virtually alone. The issue is full of info, columns, Katie Gagne’s recipe for Bailey’s Irish Chocolate truffles; entertainment lists, highlights and things to do related to the theme, and not. Plus, a great column by Akron Irish Columnist Lisa O’Rourke, on The Big Fella, Michael Collins; our Speak Irish monthly lesson; Safe Home wishes to Maureen Lowry Curtin and Ray Shulte. And of course, there is humor, opinion, Kid’s Craic and Coloring contest, profiles and history, book and music reviews and the monthly Irish Crossword Puzzle. March’s puzzle subject is Cork and Tipperary Towns. Or as Maury Collins always says, Rebel Cork. The crosswords are a great way to learn or refresh your Irish knowledge, history and folklore, and all past issues, with the crossword inside, are available on OhioIANews.com.   A few other highlights in this issue: we have not only our Irish Photography Cover Contest; Kids Coloring Contest; and our podcast Listener Contest, but also the winners of the Nov, Dec and Jan Colours of Ireland Contest, plus we review Andrew McManus’ new CD, Days of Wonder – get it! Our cover shot and our Inner View this month is from and about Columbus’ Irish American Fine Artist Maureen Clark, a gifted glorious Irish woman deeply involved in her art, her heritage and the community that inspires her. Check it out in print, and see even more of her work online. Plus there is News for the GAA; a few Opinion pieces and the Irish movers, shakers and music makers that enrich our days.   Marilyn Madigan has another great column this month as well, centered on the formation and celebration of Irish Heritage Month. Her column is called Madigan Muses, her story this month is titled Irish Heritage Month. Here is a bit of it. Catch the rest on the OhioIANews website anytime. The United States Congress, by Public Law 101-418, designated March as Irish Heritage Month, and authorized the President to issue a Proclamation to observe this occasion. President George Bush issued the first Proclamation on March 12, 1991. In the Proclamation, he recognized the many contributions of Irish Americans throughout the history of the United States. Some of the contributions highlighted on that first Proclamation, which included the nine men of Irish origin that signed the Declaration of Independence, and the many of Irish heritage that fought in the American Revolution. This included John Barry, the first Naval Commander. Irish born James Hoban was the architect of the White House. This was just the beginning of the Irish contributions to the birth of our country. EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin, Ireland, has a display of the twenty-three Presidents of Irish descent. The first President of Irish descent was Andrew Jackson. Our current president, Joseph Biden, is the second Catholic of Irish descent elected. He was inaugurated on the 60th Anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration. On this 30th Anniversary of the designation of March as Irish Heritage Month, he will be recognizing the contributions of his own ethic heritage. The highlight of Irish Heritage Month is our St. Patrick’s Day Celebration. In most years, our Irish community is very busy attending the many concerts, dinners, dances, and parades. Ohio is proud to host St. Patrick Day parades in Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dublin and Youngstown. This year, these Parades have been cancelled due to the have Pandemic. Although they have been cancelled, the Feast of St. Patrick will continue with the celebration of faith, family, and heritage by the many Ohioans of Irish descent. Irish Heritage Month Activities The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians will be celebrating Irish Heritage Month with two programs and a Mass to honor the Feast of St. Patrick. On Sunday March 7, National Treasurer Sandi Swift of Missouri will be interviewing Muriel McAuley, granddaughter of 1916 Hero Thomas MacDonagh and the great niece of Grace Gifford, who the song Grace was written about (by Frank and Sean O’Meara).   As we gather in the chapel here in old Kilmainham Jaill I think about these past few weeks, oh will they say we've failed? From our school days they have told us we must yearn for liberty Yet all I want in this dark place is to have you here with me I had the privilege of meeting Muriel in Dublin in February 2019. We met at the GPO General Post Office, one of the principal sites of Easter 1916) and gave me a walking tour of Moore Street and the route that the women took to Jervis Hospital with the wounded. Meeting Muriel and hearing the personal history of her family was one of the highlights of my trip. We are planning on sharing this interview on the LAOH National YouTube Channel on Sunday, March 7, at 1:00pm. March 8 is International Women’s Day; please remember all the women that have contributed to Irish and Irish American history.   Speaking of the Kid’s Craic Colors of Ireland Contest, here is the info: 2 Age Divisions: Ages 7, 8, 9 Ages 10, 11 & 12 Each Age Group winner receives a Gift Card to Kamm’s Corner Ice Cream, or the OhioIANews Advertiser of their choice! Official Rules and Regs are: · One entry per child · One winner in each age group · Participant must color page without assistance · Participant may use crayons, markers, or paint · Use your imagination! The coloring page is printable from: www.OhioIANews.com as well. Previous winners are featured in this Issue as well. Congrats to: See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast23: St. Valentine’s Day, President’s Day   When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters   Hello Everyone! Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans. Happy Valentine’s Day (Sunday) and President’s Day (Monday). Now wouldn’t that be ironic, for the Impeachment trial were to wrap up on President’s Day? We have a great show for you today, including talking about those two U.S. holidays, and their deep Irish connections.   Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to acknowledge the Past, and then roll forward: So, Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 12 February 1989 - In one of the most controversial incidents of the recent “Troubles,” the Catholic solicitor, Pat Finucane, was murdered by gunmen in his own house in north Belfast. 13 February 1820 – the death of Leonard McNally, defense barrister, composer and one of the first members of the United Irishman. On his death, it was discovered that he had been accepting government money to betray the United Irishmen while acting as their barrister. 18 February 1979 - Leo Varadkar, current Tanaiste (TAW-nuhsh-tyuh), and former Taoiseach, was born in Dublin. 19 February 1624 - Death of Sir Arthur Chichester, chief instigator of the Plantation of Ulster. 19 February 1919 - A local IRA unit, led by Seamus Robinson, Dan Breen and Sean Traecy, ambushed and killed RI Constables MacDonnell and O’Connell at Soloheadlbeg, Co. Tipperary, marking the beginning of the Anglo-Irish War.   Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the news today?   Rugby score : Wales 21 Ireland 16   St. Valentines Day The holiday has origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which is held in mid-February. The festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine’s Day. It came to be celebrated as a day of romance from about the 14th century. Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day may have taken its name from a priest who was martyred about 270 CE by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus. According to legend, the priest signed a letter “from your Valentine” to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and, by some accounts, healed from blindness. Other accounts hold that it was St. Valentine of Terni, a bishop, for whom the holiday was named, though it is possible the two saints were actually one person. Another common legend states that St. Valentine defied the emperor’s orders that soldiers could not marry; he believed it made them fiercer. St. Valentine didn’t agree, and secretly married couples. It is for this reason that his feast day is associated with love. Formal messages, or valentines, appeared in the 1500s, and by the late 1700s, commercially printed cards were being used. The first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid-1800s. Valentines commonly depict Cupid, the Roman god of love, along with hearts, traditionally the seat of emotion. Because it was thought that the avian mating season begins in mid-February, birds also became a symbol of the day. Traditional gifts include candy and flowers, particularly red roses, which is a symbol of beauty and love. People call on St. Valentine to watch over the lives of lovers, of course, but also for interventions regarding beekeeping and epilepsy, as well as the plague, fainting and traveling. He’s also the patron saint of engaged couples and happy marriages. The flower-adorned skull of St. Valentine is on display in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. In the early 1800s, the excavation of a catacomb near Rome yielded skeletal remains and other relics now associated with St. Valentine. As is customary, these bits and pieces of the late saint’s body have subsequently been distributed to reliquaries around the world. You will find other bits of St. Valentine’s skeleton on display in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Scotland, England and France. No record exists of romantic celebrations on Valentine’s Day prior to a poem Chaucer wrote around 1375. In his work “Parliament of Foules,” he links a tradition of courtly love with the celebration of St. Valentine’s feast day–an association that didn’t exist until after his poem received widespread attention. The poem refers to February 14 as the day birds (and humans) come together to find a mate. When Chaucer wrote, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate”   Did you know that there are 23 American Presidents of Irish Descent? Joe Biden is just the most recent. That’s 23 out of 46 Presidents are of Irish descent! Grover Cleveland served 2 separate terms, spaced by 4 years. Presidents' Day is a federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February; That is this coming Monday. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, the holiday became popularly known as Presidents' Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents' Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents, past and present. The story of Presidents' Day date begins in 1800. Following the death of George Washington in 1799, his February 22 birthday became a perennial day of remembrance. At the time, Washington was venerated as the most important figure in American history, and events like the 1832 centennial of his birth and the start of construction of the Washington Monument in 1848 were cause for national celebration While Washington’s Birthday was an unofficial observance for most of the 1800s, it was not until the late 1870s that it became a federal holiday. Senator Stephen Wallace Dorsey of Arkansas was the first to propose the measure, and in 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes signed it into law The holiday initially only applied to the District of Columbia, but in 1885 it was expanded to the whole country. At the time, Washington’s Birthday joined four other nationally recognized federal bank holidays—Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving—and was the first to celebrate the life of an individual American. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, signed into law in 1983, was the second. For the record, here they are: Andrew Jackson 7th President 1829–37: James Knox Polk 11th President, 1845–49: James Buchanan 15th President, 1857–61 Andrew Johnson 17th President, 1865–69 Ulysses S. Grant 18th President, 1869–77 Chester A. Arthur 21st President, 1881–85 Grover Cleveland 22nd and 24th President, 1885–89 and 1893–97 Benjamin Harrison 23rd President, 1889–93 William McKinley 25th President, 1897–1901 Theodore Roosevelt 26th President, 1901–09 William Howard Taft 27th President 1909–13 Woodrow Wilson 28th President, 1913–21 Warren G. Harding 29th President 1921–23 Harry S. Truman 33rd President 1945–53 John F. Kennedy 35th President 1961–63 Richard Nixon 37th President, 1969–74 Jimmy Carter 39th President 1977–1981 Ronald Reagan 40th President 1981–89 George H. W. Bush 41st President 1989–93 Bill Clinton 42nd President 1993–2001 George W. Bush 43rd President 2001–09 Barack Obama 44th President 2009–2016 Joseph R. Biden 46th President   Our February issue, tho COVID reduced, is still full of info, columns, entertainment and things to do. You will find so much - including a great column by Bob Carney on the Festival of Imbolg, with discussion on the origins of Keening, the first community of nuns in Ireland, St. Brigid of Kildare, and the origins of the Brigid’s Cross; The White House; Magical Confections; Pandemonium in Ireland; Speak Irish monthly lesson The Father of Irish Monasticism St Edna of Aran; Safe Home wishes;; and Celebrating 75 years of the LAOH. Plus, there is humor, opinion, Kid’s Craic and Coloring contest, profiles and history, food recipes, book and music reviews and monthly Irish Crossword Puzzle. February’s puzzle subject is Towns in Clare, Limerick and Kerry. The crosswords are a great way to learn or refresh your Irish knowledge, history and folklore, and all past issues, with the crossword inside, are available on OhioIANews.com.   A few other highlights in this issue: we have our Irish Photography Cover Contest; Kids Coloring Contest; and our podcast Listener Contest, News for the GAA; a few Opinion pieces and the Irish movers, shakers and music makers that enrich our days.   Speaking of the New Kid’s Craic Colors of Ireland Contest, here is the info: 2 Age Divisions: Ages 7, 8, 9 Ages 10, 11 & 12 Each Age Group winner receives a Gift Card to Kamm’s Corner Ice Cream, or the OhioIANews Advertiser of their choice! Official Rules and Regs are: · One entry per child · One winner in each age group · Participant must color page without assistance · Participant may use crayons, markers, or paint · Use your imagination! The coloring page is printable from: www.OhioIANews.com as well. Previous winners will be featured in the March Issue Entry and entry info (Name, age, city and Parents Name and Phone Number) may be dropped off to PJ McIntyre’s or the OhioIANews, or scanned and emailed to jobrien@ohioianews.com by the end of the month.   Finally, the new book is out; sales, reviews and reactions have been so much fun to read, and to interact with readers. Celebrating St. Patrick's Day History, Traditions, and Activities A Holiday Book for Kids by John O'Brien, Jr.   Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with this fun introduction for kids ages 6 to 9 St. Patrick’s Day is about more than just shamrocks and leprechauns! This engaging nonfiction book for kids explains the history, traditions, and customs of St. Patrick’s Day―and includes interactive activities that encourage kids to celebrate at home or in their communities. This standout among Saint Patrick’s Day books for kids includes: Celebratory traditions, A variety of activities, Fun facts, illustrations and more From games like Parade Bingo and a Green Scavenger Hunt to recipes and things to do - kids can explore hands-on ways to get festive.   When it comes to St. Patrick’s Day books for kids, this is the one that will get your child excited to learn and celebrate. We are having great fun with it, receiving pics of parent, grandparents, babysitters, and siblings reading the book to a younger one. They will be part of a giant collage we are creating, to celebrate the holiday a little differently in a much different year. Order yours: https://amzn.to/2KycmAX or look for Celebrating St. Patrick's Day By John O'Brien, Jr on Amazon.   And Now we have reached the Ask me Anything Segment of our Show. Questions we’ve received via email, FB & Twitter … We have gotten great reactions to this quarters question so far. It ends at the end of the month, so jump in while you can. So, who and/or what is the quintessential Irish man or woman? What do they look like, act like? What makes them the sexiest man or woman alive, a hero, and/or a human we admire? Send us your answers to jobrien@OhioIANews.com – best answer wins a gift card to the OhioIANews advertiser of your choice.   Did you read something in an issue, and want to read it again, or want to keep in the loop on things that came in after we went to print? All of our issues are archived online and are interactive – so if you click on an ad, you go directly to the advertiser’s website (the plate goes out, but it always comes back). PLEASE Support them, tell them you saw their ad in the OhioIANews, and buy a gift, a gift card or merch, to get them thru this new COVID19 wave. We need them long after this season has passed. No Regrets. Anticipation for the return of live music is palpable. I’m heading from here to listen to Opus 216, the phenomenal Cleveland based jazz group… We always have so many milestones to celebrate: We all have the fierce desperate thirst for conversation with friends. I miss mine so dearly. I enjoy talking with them on the phone, and Zoom has made it even better – replacing Facetime, but, the hugs and connections are much less. There has never been a time where I have wanted to dance more, to hug friends and have a pint over great music and past memories more, and, to simply let loose and forget the troubles. The last part isn’t available yet, the others are under construction, or containment. Books, Music, the arts, can transport you, let you visit lands you have never been to, or illuminate stories. Yet, today’s issues still are a call to action. So many heroes are taking steps, living a life of action. Well mah peeps, we are also videotaping this podcast, as we always do, so you can check out this, and all our videos and podcasts online as well. We will add it to our libraries and YouTube channel. All podcasts past and present can be downloaded from iTunes, WHKRadio/local Podcasts and OhioIANews.com. Subscribe and listen to them whenever you wish. They shall live, in infamy! If you are like me, and like to hold what you read, the complete list of all 367 distribution points, organized by Zip Code, is on the OhioIANews website. We have added over 100 new distribution points since we returned to print, post COVID, in September. We have contracted for 85 more distribution points in Marc’s, Giant Eagle, CVS and Drug Mart, when the time to expand is safe. We are in 6 states, and before we are done, we will be in 8 more. Yes, that does equal 14, one for every year we have been in print.   Every month I beg and beg our readers and organizations from throughout Ohio and the surrounding states to send us their events. Rarely do they. I won’t give up. The invitation stands; send them to me at jobrien@ohioianews.com. There is no charge to have them listed in the OhioIANews.   The Columbus area is growing, inch by inch and row by row, with the addition of Columbus Irish Columnist Molly Truex, and her Columbus Irish column, and new advertisers from the area have jumped onboard the OhioIANewsExpress, but we want to feature all of Ohio, and the surrounding states too. Let us know what’s the craic in vibrant Irish America, so we can share it with our audiences. Do you want a story told? Do you need a speaker? Our Irish Opportunity Corridor runs from The Northcoast, to The Southcoast, Cleveland to Clearwater. Contact us with your story, event or speaker needs and we’ll be of service.   If you know of a writer who lives in the Greater Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or Detroit area, please send them on to us to chat with; for those areas are our next expansion targets. What new name would YOU choose for the OhioIANews, when we expand, to cover Cleveland to Clearwater? Irish Cleveland to Irish Clearwater ICtoIC.   We release a new podcast every 2nd Friday at 5 pm, alternating weeks with our two times a month eBulletin that goes out to over 12,000 opted-in subscribers, every 2nd Monday at 3:10 p.m. I hope you will subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or whatever podcast platform you love, and sign up for the eBulletin too, on either our web or Facebook page.   There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones - of joy, of unification. Here, and across the pond. We are closer to a One Ireland than we have been in more than 800 years. Let’s do the same for America.   We’ll save those songs and stories for next time, when we release Podcast24 on Friday February 26th. Who else would you like to see and hear and guest on this iIrish Songs, Stories & Shenanigans Podcast?   Be sure to send in your questions, comments and ideas for our Ask Me Anything Segment; we’ll read them here next time; with the best answers we can provide! jobrien@ohioianews.com. If you are interested in investing or advertising on this podcast, the eBulletin, in the print edition, website or Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, contact me, John O’Brien, Jr, seek us online or give us a call.   Whelp, We’ve done what we can for this week. Tomorrow is another day, and another chance to write the future, we want to live in.   As always, I end with a bit of the Irish: Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince (When the music stops, so does the dance) Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us. Don’t let it happen to you. Grace us with your music. Now More than ever, wider audiences need to dance to all the beauty around us.   Thank you listening, and for allowing me to share my stories with you. Please share yours with me. We want to hear from you on any topic.   Stay safe and sane. Happy Valentines Day; Happy Presidents Day. I hope to see you soon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast22: w/ Irish Immigration Atty Fiona McEntee When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of what matters Hello Everyone! Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans. We have a great show for you today, including special guest Irish Immigration attorney Fiona McEntee, now based in Chicago. Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to acknowledge the Past, and then roll forward: So, Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 2 February 1882 - James Joyce, poet, novelist and playwright, was born in Dublin. 3 February 1919 - Harry Boland and Michael Collins rescued Eamon de Valera from Lincoln jail, after smuggling keys that were hidden in cakes into the prison. 5 February 1921 - Katherine O’Shea (76), wife of Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-91) died 9 February 1854 - Edward Carson, lawyer and Unionist leader, was born in Dublin. Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the news today? Our February issue, tho COVID reduced, is still full of info, columns, entertainment and things to do. You will find so much - food recipes, including Cooking Up a Hooley In the Kitchen: Mini-Chedder & Bacon pasties. Katie’s column is a comfort food inspiration, and one of those, “I gotta try this” recipes – the whole idea is just what a covid heart needs. Plus, there is humor, opinion, profiles and history, book and music reviews, Irish Dance news, our monthly Speak Irish Lesson and monthly Irish Crossword Puzzle. February’s puzzle subject is Towns in Clare, Limerick and Kerry. The crosswords are a great way to learn or refresh your Irish knowledge, history and folklore, and all past issues, with the crossword inside, are available on OhioIANews.com. Conor Makem wrote a great column, titled, Newgrange: Ireland’s Neolithic Gem, this month, giving the history and highlights of the structure, built even before the pyramids. His photo of Newgrange is our February front cover. And a few more pics are inside and on the website. It starts with this: My father never forced anything down our throats, but if there was one thing that came close, it was the importance of an ancient mound of stone and earth in the Boyne Valley, known as Newgrange. He used to bring the family to experience it starting in the 1980s. Back then, we could just drive up to the base of the hill, walk past the unmanned booth where someone should have been selling tickets and explore. There was often no one else there, though occasionally we’d run across someone the old man inevitably knew. Many Ohio Irish American News readers will already know about Newgrange and will have their own stories about it, but I would be remiss in my son duties if I didn’t at least dedicate one column to it. What the heck is it? Newgrange was built by stone-age farmers 5,200 years ago, making it older than the Great Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge. In fact, there wasn’t much that boiled my father’s bottom more than the international press swooning over the 100 stones in Wiltshire while simultaneously ignoring the gem of the Boyne Valley. But, I digress. Located in Meath, just west of Drogheda in County Louth, the circular mound … When we are all done here, hop over to the website to read The Rest of the Story, or pic up the February free issue at any of our 367 distribution locations. OhioIANews Columnist Bob Carney writes about St. Brigid, and there is more than one, in his Cleveland Comhra (conversation) Column this month. Brigid is considered a patron saint of Ireland just as St. Patrick is. February is recognized as the beginning of spring in Ireland, a time of growth and renewal. The Festival of Imbolg, on the first of February, celebrated the arrival of spring as the earth awakened after the dark winter months. Goddesses were important (Dee eh dees) deities in the ancient religions of the celts, as they were thought to play a daily role in the lives of the people. Brigid was the goddess most associated with (imm molg) Imbolg. Her name means, “the exalted one”. She was the patron of poetry, craft and healing and was often called upon by women in childbirth for protection and safe delivery of their child. Brigid was the daughter of the Dagda, chief god of the (tuath de dannan) Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Morrighan. With her flame red hair, she was also the goddess of fire and hearth, and a patron of warfare. She appears in many stories in Irish mytholog. In one, she is the wife of Bres, the ruler of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Their son, Ruadan, is killed in the second battle of Magh Tuireadh after wounding the god Giobhniu. Brigid went to the battlefield to mourn his death. Caoine Keening This is said to be the first caoine (keening) in Ireland. The practice of hiring women to caoine at a graveside continued up until recent times. Brigid’s caoine was so sorrowful that it caused all of the combatants to lay down their arms at the sound of it. As a result, the warriors of Leinster would seek her protection in battle. In other stories, she is wed to a different king, and her three sons slay Cian, the father of Lugh the Long-Arm. She is still known as the “Goddess of the Well” in pagan customs, a link to the fertility and life giving waters of Mother Earth. There has been a resurgence of pagan and druadic beliefs and practices in recent times. In Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, her feast day is celebrated with “green man” dancing around the fields, symbolizing the fertilizing of the earth. In the evening, her followers gather around a communal fire and listen to stories of the goddess. Of all the Celtic deities, she is the most universal and can be found in the mythologies of Northern Britain, Scotland, Western Europe, and Ireland. Patrick’s success as a missionary was partly a result of his ability to incorporate the familiar into his message of the Christian beliefs. The story of the shamrock to explain the Trinity is one example. He took traditions of the druids in Gaelic culture and tried to explain them, according to the teachings of Christianity. Later missionaries in other parts of the world would try to erradicate old beliefs and impose their Christian ideals by any means necessary. The chieftain of Leinster, a man named Dubhtach, and his people were ardent worshipers of the goddess Brigid, and refused to recognize any teachings that cast doubt on her position as the mother goddess. Yet, this is where the origins of Brigid the saint are found. Brigid of Kildara (Kiladare) … When we are all done here, hop over to the website to read The Rest of the Story, or pic up the free issue at any of our 367 distribution locations in and around Ohio. A few other highlights in this issue: we have our Irish Photography Cover Contest; Kids Coloring Contest; and our podcast Listener Contest, News for the GAA; a few Opinion pieces and the Irish movers, shakers and music makers that enrich our days. Speaking of the New Kid’s Craic Colors of Ireland Contest, Here is the info: 2 Age Divisions: Ages 7, 8, 9 Ages 10, 11 & 12 Each Age Group winner receives a Gift Card to Kamm’s Corner Ice Cream, or the OhioIANews Advertiser of their choice! Official Rules and Regs are: · One entry per child · One winner in each age group · Participant must color page without assistance · Participant may use crayons, markers, or paint · Use your imagination! The coloring page is printable from: www.OhioIANews.com as well. Previous winners will be featured in the March Issue Entry and entry info (Name, age, city and Parents Name and Phone Number) may be dropped off to PJ McIntyre’s or the OhioIANews, or scanned and emailed to jobrien@ohioianews.com by the end of the month. Winners will be in the issue quarterly. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast21: w/ Irish American Artist Maureen Clark When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish:the Truth & the Pulse of the Irish Hello Everyone!  Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans.  We have a great show for you today, including special guest Irish American Painter Maureen Clark, of Columbus, Ohio. Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to the Past, and then roll forward: Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 15 January 1988 - Sean McBride (83), lawyer, revolutionary and international Jurist, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1977), died. 20 January 1902 - Birth in Dublin of Kevin Barry, first IRA Volunteer to be executed During the Anglo-Irish War. 23 January 1803 - Arthur Guinness, founder of the Dublin brewery, dies. 25 January 1627 - Robert Boyle, creator of Boyle’s Law, is born in County Waterford. 26 January 1907 - First production of John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey Theatre. Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the news today? We Get Letters *We Get Letters is open to all. Send us your well-thought-out reasoning/response on any topic to: jobrien@OhioIANews.com, with your name and city. Anonymous and/or inappropriate language letters will automatically be deleted without response. Our January issue tho COVID reduced is still full of info, columns and entertainment.  It has been a big hit. You will find so much - food recipes, including Cooking Up a Hooley In the Kitchen: Holy Moly Donut Hole Do It Yourself Bar.  Katie’s column is an inspiration, and one of those, “I gotta try this” recipes – the whole idea is just what a covid heart needs. Plus, there is humor, Wise Craics, opinion, profiles and history, book and music reviews, Irish Dance news, our monthly Speak Irish Lesson, monthly Irish Crossword Puzzle. January’s puzzle subject is Towns in Northwest Ireland. The crosswords are a great way to learn or refresh your Irish knowledge, history and folklore, and all past issues, with the crossword inside, are available on OhioIANews.com. Lisa O’Rourke, Akron Irish Columnist, wrote a great column, titled Dunne’s Store Girls, it starts with this: Akron Irish Dunne’s Store Girls by Lisa O’Rourke Our collective “annus horribilis” has now just passed, and from this position, it would be hard for this new shiny year to surpass it in the horrible. It is certainly a year that future generations will wonder about; what did we do and how did we get on with life?  We hoarded and cooked and baked and read and watched television. We absorbed so much media that reruns became a thing again. Ideally, a rerun offers the opportunity for another, better look. I encountered one of those better look stories on an NPR program, “The Moth.” It is a program in which amateur storytellers tell a personal story in front of a live audience. This particular episode was a repeat of a show that was recorded in Dublin a few years back. I was hooked right there. The story began with a young girl who was working in a Dunne’s Stores on Henry Street in Dublin. The year was 1984. Unions were under threat around the globe and were staunchly defended in spite of that. This young girl, like the other trade union employees in that store and all-around Ireland, had received a statement from their leadership that they were not to handle goods originating from South Africa. The goods consisted mainly of fruit. Apartheid was at one of its ugliest junctions, clawing to hang on to an indefensible position. Nelson Mandela was in prison on Robben Island. Mary Manning, the Dunne’s Stores clerk, is still not really sure why she did it. She had heard things about South Africa on the news, but wasn’t a political person. She and the other girls were told not to handle produce from South Africa and they generally tried to follow union directives. On this particular day, a woman stood in her checkout line with some South African grapefruit. Mary refused to handle the fruit at her register. She was warned by management, but she chose not to change her position and the strike was born in that moment. Ten of her Dublin co-workers followed suit, nine other young ladies and one young gentleman. One of them was twenty-four years old, one of them was only seventeen, and the others were twenty years old. They were inner city store employees. Most of them still lived with their parents. They did not see themselves as changing the world. Nor did they realize how long, lonely and difficult the strike would be at times. to read the rest of the story,  it is a very good one, hop over to our OhioIANews.com, or our Facebook or Twitter pages after the podcast is complete.  It is striking.  Ireland native and OhioIANews Columnist Regina Costello writes on Joe Biden’s Irish Roots, Bob Carney has a great list of Top 20 Books of 2020 in his Cleveland Comhra Column,  Plus we have our Irish Photography Cover Contest; Kids Coloring Contest; and our podcast Listener Contest, News for the GAA; a few Opinion pieces and the Irish movers, shakers and music makers that enrich our days.   Speaking of the New Kid’s Craic Colors of Ireland Contest, It kicked off in the November issue and continues with the December issue. Here is the info: 2 Age Divisions:   Ages 7, 8, 9, Ages 10, 11 & 12 Each Age Group winner receives a Gift Card to Kamm’s Corner Ice Cream, or the OhioIANews Advertiser of their choice! Official Rules and Regs are: One entry per child One winner in each age group Participant must color page without assistance Participant may use crayons, markers, or paint Use your imagination! The coloring page is printable from: www.OhioIANews.com as well. Entry and entry info (Name, age, city and Parents Name and Phone Number) must be dropped off to PJ McIntyre’s or the OhioIANews, or scanned and emailed to jobrien@ohioianews.com by the end of the month. Winners will be in the issue quarterly. Finally, the new book is on its way! Available 2/2/21, you can preorder now, and sales have been brilliant Celebrating St. Patrick's Day History, Traditions, and Activities A Holiday Book for Kids by John O'Brien, Jr. @Jobjr Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with this fun introduction for kids ages 6 to 9  St. Patrick’s Day is about more than just shamrocks and leprechauns! This engaging nonfiction book for kids explains the history, traditions, and customs of St. Patrick’s Day―and includes interactive activities that encourage kids to celebrate at home or in their communities.  This standout among Saint Patrick’s Day books for kids includes:  Celebratory traditions―Kids will learn how St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated all around the world in different ways, including parades, festivals, sports tournaments, treasure hunts, and more. A variety of activities―From games like Parade Bingo and a Green Scavenger Hunt to recipes for Irish Flag Cookies and Shamrock Shakes, kids can explore hands-on ways to get festive.  Fun facts and illustrations―Colorful illustrations and thought-provoking facts help kids discover new things about this holiday. When it comes to St. Patrick’s Day books for kids, this is the one that will get your child excited to learn and celebrate. Order yours:  https://amzn.to/2KycmAX And Now we have reached the Ask me Anything Segment of our Show.  Questions we’ve received via email, FB & Twitter … Did you read something in an issue, and want to read it again, or want to keep in the loop on things that came in after we went to print? All of our issues are archived online and are interactive – so if you click on an ad, you go directly to the advertiser’s website (the plate goes out, but it always comes back). PLEASE Support them, tell them you saw their ad in the OhioIANews, and buy a gift, a gift card or merch, to get them thru this new COVID19 wave.  We need them long after this season has passed. You can check out the OhioIANews website for a list of events to come and much more; more pictures, LARGER text and all the stories than are in our print edition, plus a few that couldn’t fit, or came in after we went to print, available 24/7.  Or follow our FB, Twitter and Instagram pages to keep up with all the shenanigans. Anticipation for the return of live music is palpable. I’m heading from here to find some. We always have so many milestones to celebrate: We all have the fierce desperate thirst for conversation with friends. I miss mine so dearly. I enjoy talking with them on the phone, and Zoom has made it even better – replacing Facetime, but, the hugs and connections are much less. Schedule zoom time with us if you would like to talk to a real person! There has never been a time where I have wanted to dance more, to see friends and have a pint over great music and past memories more, and, to simply let loose and forget the troubles.  The last part isn’t available yet, the others are under construction, or containment.  Books will transport you, let you visit lands you have never been to, or stories that occurred before your time. But I’d rather hear the gospel from the priest, so please welcome Artist extraordinaire, Columbus’ Maureen Clark Hello Maureen! Welcome to the iIrish Songs, Stories & Shenanigans podcast. It is Good to see you, even if it’s making the best of things, by using Zoom. Tell me about your work? Origins, goals How has it gone, esp during COVID? Is yours the typical Irish story? Immigrant story? Differences? Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “To be Irish is to know that in the end, the world will break your heart.” Most deserve love, most don’t get as much love as they deserve. Your work, to me, is about a bit of a dream -, but perhaps unity and hope too Is that theme impression true? What you were aiming for with each work? We always ask, any stories from the road, but the road now is a distant memory – still, any stories? What does it mean to have an immigrant spirit? So, who and what is the quintessential Irish man or woman? When did you know that music was for you as a career? How did your career start? Woodie Guthrie said, ‘You write what you see’. Has that held true for you as painting what you see? Who inspired you growing up, both professionally and in life? Have you met them? Where can you see, and purchase your work? So what happens now for you? Well mah peeps, we are also videotaping this podcast, as we always do, so you can check out this, and all our videos and podcasts online as well. We will add it to our libraries and YouTube channel. All podcasts past and present can be downloaded from iTunes, WHKRadio/local Podcasts and OhioIANews.com. Subscribe and listen to them whenever you wish. They shall live, in infamy! If you are like me, and like to hold what you read, the complete list of all 367 distribution points, organized by Zip Code, is on the OhioIANews website. We have added over 100 new distribution points since we returned to print, post COVID. We have contracted for 85 more distribution points in Marc’s, Giant Eagle, CVS and Drug Mart, when the time to expand is safe. We are in 6 states, and before we are done, we will be in 8 more.  Yes, that does equal 14. Every month I beg and beg our readers and organizations from throughout Ohio and the surrounding states to send us their events.  Rarely do they.  I won’t give up.   The invitation stands; send them to me at jobrien@ohioianews.com. There is no charge. The Columbus area is growing, inch by inch and row by row, with the addition of Columbus Irish Columnist Molly Truex, and her Columbus Irish column, and new advertisers from the area have jumped onboard the OhioIANewsExpress, but we want to feature all of Ohio, and the surrounding states. What new name would YOU choose for the OhioIANews, when we expand, to cover Cleveland to Clearwater? Irish Cleveland to Irish Clearwater ICtoIC. If you know of a writer who is a potential columnist that lives in the Greater Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or Detroit area, please send them on to us to chat with; for those areas are our next expansion targets. Please Help us out, if you would, with people, events, advertisers and distribution point suggestions. We’ve got plans, should COVID go back to the hellish hole it came from: Let us know what’s the craic, so we can share it with our audiences. ***  And Now, our listener trivia contest: Our question is: So, who and what is the quintessential Irish man or woman?  What do they look like, act like? What makes them the sexiest man or woman alive, a hero, and a human we admire? Send us your answers to jobrien@OhioIANews.com – best answer wins a $25 gift card to the OhioIANews advertiser of your choice. Support for this iIrish Songs, Stories and Shenanigans Podcast comes from WHKRadio and the Ohio Irish American News. We are delighted to say we are now also on iTunes. Big Thanks to the production genius’, Josh Booth and Steve Dole, as well as Gerry Quinn and Tim Vaughn.  We release a new podcast every 2nd Friday at 5 pm, alternating weeks with our two times a month eBulletin that goes out to over 12,000 opted-in subscribers, every 2nd Monday at 3:10 p.m. I hope you will subscribe to the podcast on wherever podcast platform you love, and sign up for the eBulletin too, on either our web or Facebook page. Do you want a story told? Do you need a speaker? Our Irish Opportunity Corridor runs from The Northcoast, to The Southcoast, Cleveland to Clearwater. Contact us with your story or speaker needs and we’ll be of service. There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones - of joy, of unification.  Here, and across the pond. We are closer to a One Ireland than we have been in more than 800 years.  Let’s do the same for America. We’ll save those songs and stories for next time, when we release Podcast22 on January 29th. Our guest is pre-eminent Irish immigration Attorney Fiona McEntee, an absolute rock star in helping people with immigration issues conquer the morass and maze that is US Immigration anytime, let alone during COVID.  She will give an overview, answer questions and give advice to you, performers, special situations and more.    Who else would you like to see and hear and guest on this iIrish Songs, Stories & Shenanigans Podcast? Be sure to send in your questions, comments and ideas for our Ask Me Anything Segment; we’ll read them here next time; with the best answers we can provide!  jobrien@ohioianews.com. If you are interested in investing or advertising on this podcast, the eBulletin, in the print edition, website or Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, contact me, John O’Brien, Jr, seek us online or give us a call. Let’s end with a Wise Craic; Humor is so good for the soul: Dear Lord, So far this year I've done well. I haven't gossiped; I haven't lost my temper; I haven't been greedy; grumpy; nasty; selfish; or overindulgent. I am very thankful for that.  But in a few minutes, Lord, I'm going to get out of bed, and from then on I'm probably going to need a lot more help. Amen Whelp, We’ve done what we can for this week.  Tomorrow is another day, and another chance to write the future, we want to live in. As always, I end with a bit of the Irish: Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince (When the music stops, so does the dance) Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us.  Don’t let it happen to you. Grace us with your music. Now More than ever, wider audiences need to dance to all the beauty around us. Thank you listening, and for allowing me to share my stories with you. Please share yours with me. I would love to hear from you on any topic. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Podcast20: On a New Year’s Day w/ Irish American Band Runa When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of the Irish Hello Everyone! Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans. It appears we’ve avoided another shutdown, for another week or who knows. New Year’s Day, Song writers U2’s Clayton Adam, Evans David and Bono U2 “New Year’s Day”, released in 1983 on the album War, is primarily a song referencing Polish Solidarity. However, there is also an element of love mixed therein. As such, two of the primary themes of the lyrics are undying affection and political revolution. Songsmeaningandfacts.com says: According to this song, there are tumultuous, world-changing events occurring on the outside. Yet despite all of this, the singer sees it as just another day in terms of his desire to be with the person he is singing to. In fact, although he cannot say definitely when, he is supremely confident that he will ultimately reunite with the object of his affection. Of course, because of the title, many people associate it with New Year’s Day, or Eve, so it is often played during those celebrations. Irish Central said that: In 1980 the Solidarity movement in Poland, under the leadership of future Nobel Peace Prize winner and president Lech Walesa, challenged the oppressive rule of the Polish government. In December 1981, the Solidarity movement was outlawed and Walesa, together with the other leaders of the movement, was arrested and put in jail. It is believed that "New Year’s Day" initially started out as a love song, dedicated to Bono’s high-school sweetheart, Ali, whom he had recently married, but this changed. Bono told the Rolling Stone he made the lyrics up on the spot, as he often does. He said, "We improvise, and the things that came out; I let them come out." "I must have been thinking about Lech Walesa being interned. Then, when we'd recorded the song, they announced that martial law would be lifted in Poland on New Year's Day. Incredible." It was not only U2’s first UK hit – where it reached number 10 on their charts – but their first international hit as well, knocking Michael Jackson's "Thriller" from the top of the charts It was their first single to chart in the United States peaking at number 53 on the US-based Billboard Hot 100. New Year’s Day has made Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. All is quiet on New Year's Day A world in white gets underway I want to be with you, be with you, night and day Nothing changes on New Year's Day, on New Year's Day I will be with you again I will be with you again Under a blood red sky A crowd has gathered in black and white Arms entwined, the chosen few The newspaper says, says, say it's true, it's true And we can break through Though torn in two, we can be one I, I will begin again I, I will begin again I will be with you again I will be with you again I will be with you again I will be with you again I will be with you again I will be with you again And Now we have reached the Ask me Anything Segment of our Show. Questions we’ve received via email, FB & Twitter … Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to the Past, and then roll forward: Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 4 January 1969 - People’s Democracy civil rights march from Belfast to Derry was violently attacked by loyalists and local members of the B Special Constabulary at Burntollet Bridge, near Claudy, Co. Derry. 9 January 1929 - Brian Friel, Ireland’s leading playwright, was born in Omagh, Co.Tyrone. 11 January 1729 - Edmund Burke, orator and political philosopher, was born at 12 Arran Quay, Dublin, the son of a Protestant solicitor and a Catholic mother. 12 January 1989 - In one of the most controversial incidents of the recent ‘Troubles’, The Catholic solicitor, Pat Finucane, was murdered by gunmen in his own home in North Belfast. Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the news today? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of the Irish   Hello Everyone! Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans. This is Podcast 19, The Pulse of the Irish, full of news and events.   So let’s get talking: It appears we’ve avoided another shutdown, for another week or who knows. The expected surge of COVID over the Thanksgiving holiday did not occur. Most credible experts attribute it to most people acting responsibly, wearing masks, keeping their distance etc. Even tho 4.9 million people traveled, that’s way down from the 50 million that usually do the extended Thanksgiving weekend. Many here in the US on Visas couldn’t risk going home, in case they couldn’t get back. I remember the mad Dash in March as bands here for their St. Patrick’s Day tours and celebrations had to cut off and head home, smartly realizing that they may not be able to go home at all if they didn’t get out before the lockdowns were mandated. Plus, Ireland has closed its borders again. You won’t go home and isolate for 2 weeks if you are only going home for 5 days. The same is true in reverse. I have tried to help a band or three with US visa apps, wanting to come here for their annual Christmas Tours. The embassies in Ireland are closed. Closed means no processing, and therefore, no visas being approved. Even approved ones are sitting on desks idly waiting the resumption of service.   I fear the same will be true over Christmas. Christmas is family, tradition, certainly, and home. So if you know of someone isolated on this side of the Atlantic, Irish or not, offer them a virtual Christmas invitation if you can. We all need somebody … Somebody like you.   Just for a minute, we’re going to move from the Present to the Past, and then jingle all the way forward: Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: On the 21 December 1971 - Heinrich Boll, author of Irish Journal (1957) and Nobel Laureate (1972), born in Cologne. On the 22 December 1969 -Irish activist and leader Bernadette Devlin was sentenced to six months imprisonment for her activities during the Battle of the Bogside. On the 22 December 1989 - was the Death of Samuel Beckett, playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1969).   On the 27 December 1591 - was the escape of Red Hugh O’Donnell from Dublin Castle, where he was imprisoned since his kidnapping in 1587 at the age of fifteen. He would go on to lead the September 1607 Flight of the Earls, Irish leaders who left Ireland to escape what they believed would be English arrest warrants. Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and about ninety followers, left Ulster for Spain. Some made it that far, some chose other destinations. The Flight of the Earls exile was a watershed event in Irish history, symbolizing the end of the Irish Gaelic Chieftain life prevalent up to that point. Many believed this opened the gate to the Planation of Ulster. There are several songs called Flight of the Earls, but you have probably heard of the one made famous by the Wolfe Tones, and written by Liam Reilly. It is not related to this event, but references “Another Bloody Flight of Earls” We've got nothin' left to stay for, We had no more left to say And there isn't any work for us to do So fare well ye boys and girls, Another bloody Flight of Earls Our best asset is our best export, too   Wiki says that the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls was marked on 14 September 2007, throughout Donegal, with a regatta of tall ships, fireworks, lectures, and conferences. There is a permanent marker in Draperstown, Northern Ireland and at the "Flight of the Earls Centre" in the Martello tower at Rathmullan. Also on the 27 December, in 1904 -The original Abbey Theatre in Dublin opened, with Yeats ‘ Baile’ s Strand and Lady Gregory’s Spreading the News. On the 29 December 1937 - The Constitution of Ireland came into effect, drafted by Eamon De Valera. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of the Irish   Hello Everyone! Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans. It appears we’ve avoided another shutdown, for another week or who knows.   And Now we have reached the Ask me Anything Segment of our Show. Questions we’ve received via email, FB & Twitter …   Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to the Past, and then roll forward: Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 7 December 1979 - Charles J. Haughey defeated George Colley to become leader of Fianna Fail (fee-AN-ə FOYL); he was elected Taoiseach on 11 December. 8 December 1939 - James Galway, the ‘man with the golden flute,” was born in north Belfast, the son of a shipyard worker. 13 December 1955 - Grace Gifford Plunkett, an Irish artist and cartoonist who was active in the Republican movement, and an Irish patriot, died. After the Rising, Grace’s brother-in-law Thomas MacDonagh was shot with PH Pearse and Thomas Clarke by firing squad. That day, Grace heard that her fiancée, Joseph Plunkett, was to be shot at dawn for his part in the Easter Rising. Easter Sunday was to have been their wedding day. So, she bought a ring in a jeweler’s shop in Dublin city centre and, with the help of a priest, Fr Eugene McCarthy, persuaded the military authorities to allow them to marry. Grace and Joseph were married just before midnight on May 3rd in the chapel of Kilmainham Gaol, just hours before his execution. After the wedding vows, Grace was then taken to a church friend’s, and then at 2am, was brought back to Kilmainham. She saw Joseph for ten timed minutes, with at least 1 solider present at all times, and was escorted out of the cell, and the jail.   O Grace just hold me in your arms And let this moment linger They’ll take me out at dawn, And I will die With all my love I place this wedding ring upon your finger There won’t be time to share our love, For we must say goodbye Grace, the song, was written in 1985 by Frank and Seán O'Meara. Grace later spent 3 months in Kilmainham herself, arrested in 1923 as an anti-treaty advocate for her role in the Civil War that followed after Michael Collins signed the peace treaty with England See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast17: It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, Lola. When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of the Irish Hello Everyone!  Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans.  It appears we’ve avoided another shutdown, at least for now.  The Gov has started a 10pm to 5am curfew – I think most everyone will follow it, given that we are all generally asleep at that time.  It does shut down bars an hour earlier, affecting those most impacted, even more.  It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, Lola. Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to the Past, and roll forward: Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 21 November 1920 - Also known as “Bloody Sunday” (the 4th and most recent one), fourteen British intelligence officers are shot dead in Dublin by the IRA. Later in the afternoon, British forces shot 12 civilians at a soccer match in Dublin. That evening three Irish prisoners were killed by their British captors at Dublin Castle. Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the news today? Congratulations to: Nora’s Public House, voted #1 Irish Pub on Fox8’s Hotlist  Across the pond in Ireland – an across the pond COVID perspective: Terry from Derry: Living with Indifference By Terry Boyle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of the Irish Hello Everyone! Welcome back to iIrish; Songs, Stories & Shenanigans. Did you remember to Daylight Save? Pray for All Souls? Vote? I’m grateful, I never struggle to be grateful; I see so much good around me, people and performance, more poignant and perhaps starker too, in COVID. I’m told I am self-aware and work to live in the present. Inhale the flowers, exhale the hate. Yet, I often do struggle to say thanks in the way that someone knows is sincere, not flattery. I think it’s like telling a woman she is beautiful – her first thought may be, What does he want? Is he hitting on me?’ Beauty can be looks, of course, but mostly, it is vibrancy, action over apathy, and the hurt in your eyes. I merely wish to compliment who or what I see before me, but it’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, Lola. Grateful Lines Veteran’s Day; the annual Belleek Day at Casey’s Irish Imports; Thanksgiving, my favorite Holiday of the year; and the blurred lines already crossed, right into Just hear those sleigh bells ringing and jing ting tingaling too. Come on its lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you. If 1918 is infamous, what will 2020 be called? Lordy, if we are lucky enough to read this, we are making it through the year that shall live in dark infamy. I did, in fact, save time, prayed for souls and vote, using mail in. But since I work so close to the Board of Elections, I dropped off the completed and sealed ballot there, on my lunch walk. I saw several masked friends, and had a nice chat with former coworkers as well as so many candidates who were lined up at the proper distance from the people’s place to vote in person. They were meeting people, discussing issues, and respectfully asking for those who hadn’t yet voted, for their vote. This is the way it is supposed to be. Discussion, a certain amount of comradery ... Many say we have lost the civility to do that anymore. They are wrong. Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to the Past, and roll forward: See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast15: with Singer/Songwriter Ashley Davis When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of the Irish Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to the Past, and roll forward: Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 23 October 1921 – 101 years ago today, John Boyd Dunlop, veterinary surgeon, and inventor of the pneumatic tyre, died. 25 October 2002 - Richard Harris (72), actor and Oscar nominee for The Sporting Life (1963), and The Field (1990), died. Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the top news we have to talk about today: Guess what? This podcast is now available on iTunes! Subscribe, and listen to any of the podcasts, any time you wish. What else is going on? You hear us speak so much about the GAA and the Irish language, sports, music and dance, culture, The Gaelic Athletic Association is Ireland’s largest sporting organization and a bit of home for the Irish abroad here in the US of A. Beyond sports, the Association also promotes Irish music, song and dance, and the Irish language as an integral part of its objectives. Speaking of the Irish Language: #OhioIANews #Shenanigans  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast14: Roll Pride When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish:the Truth & the Pulse of the Irish Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to the Past, and roll forward: Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 10 October 1918 – was the sinking of RMS Leinster by German torpedoes. She was bound for Holyhead and went down just outside Dublin Bay. Over 500 people perished, mostly military personnel returning from leave – it was the greatest single loss of life in the Irish Sea. 11 October 1969 - Death of Louise Gavan Duffy, revolutionary, who founded Scoil Bhride, (Scull Bray School), the first all-Irish school for girls, in Dublin. 15 October 1945 - Death of Eoin Mac Neill, scholar and patriot, who co-founded the Gaelic League and was the Irish Volunteers Chief of Staff. Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the top news we have to talk about today: Guess what? This podcast is now available on iTunes! Subscribe, and listen to any of the podcasts, any time you wish. Did you pick up the October issue yet? Our cover features The Mighty Sweeney Clan, a legacy of public service four generations deep, from today’s State Senator Bride Sweeney, turning heads and drilling down to the things that really matter to her constituents, and then getting them done; to her father, former Cleveland City Councilman and State Senator Martin Sweeney; Marty’s sister, Fairview Park Councilwoman Maureen Sweeney; their  father, retired Judge Gerald Sweeney, and Gerry’s father, a State Representative in West Park, when the State Representative went by county. We include a nice Inner View profile of Bride inside. Speaking of Bride, our State Representative responded to a federal court’s last Saturday order requiring the Ohio Secretary of State to explain himself on why he has not allowed Cuyahoga County’s Board of Elections to move forward with its bipartisan unanimous plan to offer ballot drop off services at six library locations. A state appeals court late on Friday ruled that the law allows the secretary to install more drop boxes if he chooses, but the court declined to require him to do so. Also last week, the governor of Texas copied Ohio and ordered all drop box sites closed except for one in each county. Said Rep. Sweeney: “I am sad to see the residents of major American cities – like my hometown of Cleveland and now Houston and Dallas – used as pawns in a national GOP plan to cut off voting access. First, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose limited drop boxes to one per county and ordered Cuyahoga County to halt its unanimous bipartisan plan to accept ballots at six satellite locations. Now, the Texas GOP is following his lead and closing satellite ballot drop-off sites. Thankfully, a federal court is demanding answers here in Ohio. I hope Texans, like Ohioans, will make their voices heard and vote no matter what!” Representative Sweeney is a member of the House Democratic Caucus’ Elections Working Group assembled by Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (of Akron) at the onset of the pandemic to deal with its impact on voters and voting rights. Rep. Sweeney is the youngest elected Democrat in the Ohio House and the first woman to represent her district in the chamber. In an update that went out Wednesday, additional boxes are permitted, at libraries, so we’ll be watching that closely. The Election is only 24 Days away.  One way to choose a candidate is to vote, in person.  Do Absentee, or mail-in, like I do.  Even tho the date to register to vote in has gone back and forth, at this point, it has now passed. We have only until the end of this month to complete the Census.  It is VITALLY important – why? For many reasons, including the mapping of the area a representative represents. Of course, the goal is to reduce gerrymandering – any honest person with ethics wants that, THAT’S a given.  No rigging of the districts to favor one party over another. It is part of the reason that I am an independent; I vote people, and performance, not party.  But the number of people in a district dictate how much money that district gets.  Every person that district represents is equal to $1200 in money for that district. If you want to be an influencer, you must be counted. Complete the Census to make a difference right in your own community. Visit 2020Census.gov.  I did mine when the Census first began, and Honest to God, it took less than 3 minutes; it was so simple to do.  Another way we make a difference, of course, is to vote.  The presidential and vice-presidential debates were designed to help us with making the decision of who we wanted to vote for. Debates are a contest of ideas for people to vote on, who most aligns with what we believe, desire, and need, for a successful life.  They were never designed to be who can be the loudest, or the most immature. Did you know 73 million ppl watched the last presidential debate, on October 1st. 11% of Voters are undecided – that may be enough to turn an election. According to Repub Pollster Frank Luntz - The Debate convinced some voters to not vote at all. We have not had a variety of backgrounds representative of the United States serve as president, even tho we are officially 244 years old. Of course, Barack Obama was the first and only Black American president. John F. Kennedy was the 1st, and only Catholic president. Catholics are the largest denomination in the United States – Joe Biden would be only 2nd Catholic President and Kamala Harris would be the 1st POC American Vice President, if they should win. I was reading up on candidates across my voting area.  We have extensive advertising in the OhioIANews from both republicans and democrats, and occasionally, an Independent.  The Democratic nominee's Irish ancestors have a LOT of similarities to my own story.  I am 1st Generation, and deeply immersed in the Irish American community, so perhaps it is more crystalized for me, more present, meaningful and with similar values forged through our lives, past and present.  Joe Biden’s family left Ireland in the 1800s; 220 years later, Vice President Biden has never shied away from his Irish roots. He knows they were formative to who he is today. VP Biden penned a letter to Ancestry.com the day before he left for Ireland in 2016, which is the source sent on to me. This was as the country was celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Easter Rising. VP Biden “spoke to how the seismic event put Ireland on a path to independence” in his open letter. He also visited Kilmainham Gaol - where the leaders of the rising were executed - during his 2016 visit. I’d like to read you a bit, of what spoke to me: “Biden, who is thought to be five-eighths Irish, said ahead of the official 2016 six-day visit that being Irish has "shaped his entire life." He visited places in Louth, Mayo, and Meath, where his ancestors emigrated from.    He also said, “We celebrate our shared heritage. Our shared values of tolerance. Diversity. Inclusiveness. And it’s a trip I’m so deeply grateful to be taking alongside my children and grandchildren… "Over the course of my life, I’ve been to a lot of places. I’ve traveled all around the world – more than a million miles on Air Force Two alone. I’ve been honored to have held a lot of titles. But I have always been and will always be the son of Kitty Finnegan. The grandson of Geraldine Finnegan from St. Paul’s Parish in Scranton; a proud descendant of the Finnegan’s of Ireland’s County Louth. The great-grandson of a man named Edward Francis Blewitt, whose roots stem from Ballina, a small town in Ireland’s County Mayo – sister city to my hometown in Scranton, Pennsylvania. An engineer with a poet’s heart. Months after my mother passed away, I found an old box of his poems in my attic. "In his poetry, my great-grandfather spoke of both continents, and how his heart and his soul drew from the old and the new. And most of all, he was proud. He was proud of his ancestors. He was proud of his blood. He was proud of his city. He was proud of his state, his country. But most of all – he was proud of his family. "And that is America: This notion that home is where your character is etched. As Americans, we all hail from many homes. Somewhere along the line, someone in our lineage arrived on our shores, filled with hope. We are blessed to experience that simultaneous pride in where we’ve found ourselves, while never forgetting our roots. "James Joyce wrote, 'When I die, Dublin will be written on my heart.' "Well, Northeast Pennsylvania will be written on my heart. But Ireland will be written on my soul.” You can read the whole letter on Ancestry.com, or probably find it with a google search. What else is going on? Well Pro Football is back and has really done a remarkable job in having so few COVID infections. Their well-coordinated plan, and action, shows what can be done, with planning and collaboration. I have really enjoyed watching the NFL so far – of course, because the Browns are 3-1, after 2 decades of mostly futility, and 2 years of complete futility. Pro football is definitely my favorite sport to watch, and to play. I enjoy watching Joe Burrow play for Cinci – he’s a baller for sure. Pittsburgh is its’ usual powerhouse and Baltimore is an AFC favorite; the Browns only loss this year. KC is the Superbowl favorite, with today’s GOAT, Patrick Mahomes. I do wish we could be like the NFL, with few infections, and quality treatment. The rest of America, and the world, are not so fortunate as our football heroes, or president.  207,000 of our countrymen are dead.  Almost 1 MILLION have died worldwide at this writing. In Ohio, 159,964 have been infected. The number of deaths is 4,931. We mourn them; we pray for no resurgence, and the end of the scourge that is COVID-19. I believe in God, the father Almighty, creator of Heaven and earth… is the beginning of a catholic prayer called The Apostle’s Creed.  We are all apostles of one level or another, one sort or another. No matter your spiritual beliefs, I believe in you. Whether you believe similarly or not, I wish you good health. We are All brothers and sisters – this land is your land; this land is my land. The only race that matters in life or death, is the human race, with no divisions. And yes, perhaps the race to find a vaccine that works, to save us all. You will find more great stories in this issue, including A Tale for Samhain, and Happy Halloween Kid’s Craic, Cleveland Irish Cops n Robbers, a profile of Columbus Man of Impact Mike Mentel, a history lesson on the 1stBloody Sunday, and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th too; An Irish History Contest, News for the GAA, Safe home to Pat Car and Patrick Sweeney and a sad story of a beloved priest, who drowned in a boating accident.   Of course, you will find food recipes, humor, book reviews, Irish Dance news, our monthly Speak Irish Lesson, Irish Crossword Puzzle, a few Opinion pieces and so much more.   We always have so many milestones to celebrate: To read these stories and more, pick up the issue in person or read it online, at OhioIANews.com. A list of all distribution points is on the website as well. How about a bit on sports: If you are not familiar with Gaelic Football, and the national sport of Ireland, Hurling, hope online or an extensive number of free videos highlightin The Fastest Game on Grass. Now, Kids football and hurling this month. And now, a Toast, to all the GAA clubs around the country, keeping our sports, history, language alive here in America: "May you never lie, cheat or steal,  but if you must lie, then lie in each other's arms and if you must cheat, then cheat death and if you must steal, steal kisses." What’s the best toast or proverb you have ever heard - funny, ironic, illuminating? Do you have a go to toast for special moments? Share them with us – we’ll read the best on the next podcast and share in our eBulletin and Print edition.  The winner will receive a $25 gift card to the advertiser of your choice. Please let advertisers know you heard about them on this podcast and saw their ad on the OhioIANews platforms of the print edition, online edition, Podcast, YouTube Channel, Social Media or eBulletin. Reinforce their advertising with the OhioIANews as a good deal, so they know you are seeing their ads, and their support is making a difference. Have you conquered this month’s Irish Crossword Puzzle?  The theme is Grab the Popcorn.  If you haven’t, hop over to OhioIANews.com when we are all finished here and give it a go. All of our past crosswords are there too, if you want to stock up, or learn about so many things Irish, history and humor and things worth knowing, via a puzzle. Every month I beg and beg our readers and organizations from throughout Ohio and the surrounding states to send us their events.  Rarely do they.  I won’t give up.   The invitation stands; send them to me at jobrien@ohioianews.com. There is no charge. The Columbus area is growing, inch by inch and row by row, with the addition of Columbus Irish Columnist Molly Truex, and her Columbus Irish column, but we want to feature all of Ohio, and the surrounding states. Please Help us out, if you would. Let us know what’s the craic, so we can share it with our audiences. If you know of a writer who is a potential columnist that lives in the Greater Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or Detroit area, please send them on to us to chat with; those areas are our next expansion targets. Here are a few upcoming events we’d like to share with you: Food, Music & Dance! Every Friday evening, the West Side Irish American Club in Olmsted Twp, the Irish American Club East Side, in Euclid, and the Shamrock Club of Columbus have Friday Specials, a Happy Hour and LIVE music. All social distancing and safety rules will be followed, so don’t be a Karen or a Brad. Euclid Irish American Club East Side IACES Thirty Thursdays are back on the Patio, as long as the weather holds out. The Annual Steak & Chicken Roast is Oct 18. And Coming up, the annual Holiday arts & Crafts Fair is 11/1 from 10-3 eastsideirish.org  Columbus Shamrock Club Events shamrockclubofcolumbus.com     Olmsted Twp West Side Irish American Club This week, the WSIA has their Friday special of Baby Back Ribs w/ fries, beans and more, with food prepared by the extraordinary McDonough’s Brigade, and always so, so good. WSIA Club wsia-club.org. Indiana Fiddler’s Hearth Offering carry out & front patio Al fresco seating. Hotels open near by. If you are planning outdoor music in park settings, we have carry out?   10% of the proceeds goes to Irish musicians who play ... Slainte! fiddlershearth.com Patios are open everywhere, keeping distance and slaking the fierce desperate thirst, Plus 2Nite: Crawley and Sofranko, of Marys Lane are at Pj McIntyre’s 7 to 10ish, Flat Iron has Donal O’Shoughnessy 6 to 9ish, Gunselman’s has Cats on Holiday on the BIG patio starting at 6. Now, the chores are done, let’s get to the good stuff. I got a great book in the mailbag, called, What Have the Irish Ever Done for Us? Written by David Forsythe, a scriptwriter, author and journalist from Cork City.  The title is a bit tongue in cheek, but David has set out to tell us, exactly that – with short bios of Irish men and women, some of whom we know, some we don’t, and their amazing accomplishments that were also amazing, rippling contributions, answering the title question, with great stories on exactly, What Have the Irish Ever Done for Us?    I love the illustrated and photo filled book; I love the style and the accomplishments shared.  Goal Accomplished David, well done. I’d like to share one of David’s stories. Given the season, I choose Kilkenny man “James Hoban, the White House Visionary” (p 92). Lotsa serious stuff this month, this year, this decade, or two. We are into our 7th month of holding COVID-19 off.  It tried to end our run, but must not have realized what our community is made of. Let’s end this podcast with a little humor:  These Wise Craics make me laugh:   Irish craic explained - the six levels of craic you can reach, from @IrishCentral Jun 02, 2017 Craic is the Irish word that most confuses outsiders, yet it is a relatively simple concept. It is the atmosphere, fun, carry on surrounding a particular night out. ”How was the craic?” is the first question uppermost in most young Irish minds after a weekend. Here’s the encyclopedia definition: "Craic" is a term for news, gossip, fun, entertainment, and enjoyable conversation, particularly prominent in Ireland. It is often used with the definite article – the craic, such as, What’s the craic? So now that you have a grasp on what craic is, here is all the different kinds of craic (as if you weren't confused enough!): Good craic: A fairly ok night out, fun but nothing too amazing. Mighty craic: Better than good craic, not quite at the highest level, someone did some crazy stuff maybe. Savage craic: Almost there, great night all together, everyone on top firm, Guinness flowing, great jokes. Deadly craic: A step above savage but not quit the Everest moment. The craic was ninety: The nirvana of craic, everything was amazing, incredible, everyone hooked up, the pints were great. No one quite sure how the word ninety came into it--a famous Christy Moore song “The craic was ninety in the Isle of Man” maybe: Or perhaps, as good friend Shay Clarke explains, the Craic was 90, and we’re going after the other 10. And lastly! Minus craic: That’s when a night goes wrong and essentially, you’d have had more fun in a mausoleum. *** Support for this iIrish Songs, Stories and Shenanigans Podcast comes from WHKRadio and the Ohio Irish American News. We are delighted to say we are now also on iTunes. Big Thanks to the production genius’, Josh and Steve, as well as Gerry Quinn and Tim Vaughn.  We release a new podcast every 2nd Friday at 5 pm, alternating weeks with our two times a month eBulletin that goes out to over 12,000 opted-in subscribers, every 2nd Monday at 3:10 p.m. I hope you will subscribe to the podcast on where ever podcast platform you love, and sign up for the eBulletin too, on either our web or Facebook page. Do you want a story told? Do you need a speaker? Our Irish Opportunity Corridor runs from The Northcoast, to The Southcoast. Contact us with your story or speaker needs and we’ll be of service. If you are like me and like to hold the paper in your hands when reading, pick up your copy of the OhioIANews at any one of more than 300 locations in and around Ohio. The list of distribution points and archived interactive copies are also on the website, at ohioianews.com.  If you want to keep in the loop, you can check out the OhioIANews website for a list of events to come and much more, more pictures, text and stories than are in our print edition, available 24/7, or follow our FB, Twitter and Instagram pages to keep up with all the shenanigans. There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones - of joy, of unification.  Here, and across the pond. We are closer to a One Ireland than we have been in more than 800 years.  We’ll save those songs and stories for next time, October 23rd, at 5pm, when we release Podcast15. Be sure to send in your questions, comments and ideas; we’ll read them here next time; with the best answers we can provide!  We have also started 3 new contests: a listener contest of general topic, A cover photo contest (all seasons/all themes) for the best submitted Portrait style Photograph that you OWN, and, for the young ones, a Coloring Contest - with the winner of each receiving a gift card to the OhioIANews advertiser of your choice. The first coloring entry is included in the November issue, or download it from the website. Here’s the Listener Contest Question: From where does my dad hail? If you are interested in investing or advertising on this podcast, the eBulletin, in the print edition, website or Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, contact me, John O’Brien at jobrien@OhioIANews.com, seek us online or give us a call at 216.647.1144. Whelp, We’ve done what we can for this week.  Tomorrow is another day, and another chance to write the future we want to live in.   As always, I end with a bit of the Irish: Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince (When the music stops, so does the dance) Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us.  Don’t let it happen to you. Keep playing your music. Wider audiences need to hear the beauty all around us. Please share your stories with me. Thank you listening, and for allowing me to share mine with you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast13: And all at once Summer collapsed into Fall,” - Oscar Wilde   When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: the Truth & the Pulse of the Irish   On Wednesday, the October print of the OhioIANews will be available at 400 locations in and around Ohio, and the Interactive issue will also be online, with music and dance and friends and fun, plus November Save the Date events.   Just for a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to the Past: Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 1 October 1761 - The first major outbreak of violence by the “Whiteboys” begins in Tipperary and spreads through Munster and West Leinster.   3 October 1971 - Sean O’Riada (40), composer, notably of the music for the historical documentary Mise Eire (misha airah) I am Ireland (1959) and arranger for The Chieftains, dies. 5 October 1911 - Brian O’Nolan, alias Flann O’Brien and Myles na gCopaleen, nah g ah po leen (Myles of the Small or little Horses) wit, novelist and Irish Times columnist, is born in Strabane, Co. Tyrone.   6 October 1891 - Death of Charles Stewart Parnell, champion of tenant’s rights and co-founder of the Land League.   Moving to the present: What’s the News, What’s the News? What’s the top news we have to talk about today:   John Myers wrote a nice piece on things going on in our community from Lake Erie to Irish Eire, called Donnybrook The Supremes Two strong Irish names will be on the ballot for The Ohio Supreme Court this November, John P. O’Donnell and Sharon Kennedy. Kennedy hails from Butler County and attended Northwest High School and the University of Cincinnati. O’Donnell is from Cuyahoga County and attended St. Joseph High School and Miami University. O’Donnell ‘s Irish roots are from County Mayo whose family tree includes Ohioans Fr. Jim O’Donnell and Sr. Ignatia Gavin, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. Whitehouse 2020 “Northeast Pennsylvania will be written on my heart. But Ireland will be written on my soul,” said Joe Biden on one of his visits to the Emerald Isle. The Veep’s great grandfather was born in Ballina, County Mayo (The sister city to Scranton, Pa) and his Ma, Katie Finnegan’s family is from County Louth. While the 2020 race will be a true “Donnybrook” with the outcome likely razor close, we do know that come January, either Trump or Biden will be living in a house designed and built by an Irishman, James Hoban, a native of Dublin. Erin Go Braugh. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 11th is Patriot Day. Are you familiar with this name? It is tied to September 11th or 9-11. Patriot Day is an annual observance on September 11 to remember those who were injured or died during the terrorist attacks in the United States. Some of our listeners are younger than that, and I wonder what they know about it, but most have very specific, stark memories of that day, and the aftermath. What do you remember? Who do you remember? 19 years ago … I was just getting home from my girlfriend’s, when she called and said turn on the tv. I did, and was irrevocably scarred. Here in the midst of a wide divide, I am reminded even more of the problems and the potential for America. What do you remember? Please share the memories with us, for all our listeners and readers to share too. The September print of the OhioIANews is available at 250 locations in and around Ohio, and the Interactive issue is also online, with music and dance and friends and fun, plus October Save the Date events. For a minute, we’re going to move From the Present to the Past: Let’s take a look at On This Day in Irish History: 11 September 1649 -The Massacre at Drogheda (Drogue heada), in which Cromwell captures the town and slaughtered nearly 4,000 people, ends. 14 September 1814 - Thomas Davis, poet, cultural nationalist, and unofficial leader of the Young Ireland movement, is born in Mallow Co. Cork. 19 September 1881 - Charles Stewart Parnell delivers his famous speech at Ennis in which he introduces the concept of “Moral Coventry” (or “boycotting”) in place of violent protests. More on that in a minute. 20 September 1803 - Robert Emmett, a United Irishman, is hanged. A fair few songs have been written about him, and his heroic actions to try to free Ireland. 24 September 1880 - Mayo landlord Captain Charles Boycott attempts to exploit the workers on land he manages and is sent to “Moral Coventry” by the local rural community. Did you know that this is where the term Boycott came from? 29 September 1984 - The trawler Marita Anne was intercepted by the Irish navy off Fenit, Co. Kerry. It was found to be carrying over seven tons of arms and ammunition from the USA. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are updating our name; with all the new offerings we have added.  iIrish: Songs, Stories & Shenanigans better reflects our work and our outreach in an ever-changing world. When you want to know, where to go, what to do, to be seen, to make a difference, you come here, to iIrish: 30 minutes of Truth & The Pulse of the Irish I love the auld Wolfe Tones song, Boston Rose.  I was probably just in grade school when it first registered.  I suppose I am a romantic. Written by Liam Reilly from Bagatelle, It was recorded and sung most notably by Tommy Byrne and the Wolfe Tones. It tells of an Irish lad in Belfast, who met his Rose one summer, when she came over to Ireland on holiday.  The summer has ended, and she has gone home to Boston. He is back to the grind, working in a factory, and is remembering the good times and what made him fall in love, as well as the teasing of his friends about being love sick, as he daydreams. I remember the Belfast students that used to stay with us in Cleveland each summer, about 15 years older than I. They truly were the brothers I never had, at least until my sisters married. Those memories of summers, fireworks, Gaelic football, road trips and loads of laughing, run through me. In looking back, I first associated this song with them, and wondered if they were lonely while here?  They had each other, but did they seek or find their rose while in the US.  each summer? By the 2nd Summer, Charlie Sweeney was already seeing Martha, both were here in Cleveland for the summer, but Martha was staying with another family; Willie Hunter was seeing Anne I think, back in Belfast. Years later we went to Sean’s wedding to Pamela, when I was 14.  In my daydreams, I hoped to find my own Irish rose. …; But of all the girls throughout this world, give an Irish girl to me! (or Brazilian, WOW!) It didn’t happen for me, despite my dreams, but for so, so many Irish men and women separated by the Atlantic Ocean, it did.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we suspended April’s print edition, I was upset, because a streak of always printing an issue for 14 straight years, was broken. Then it went 2, 3, 4 and then 5 months of suspension, only putting the interactive issue online and in social media. Reality set in. Is this it? We might be facing shutting down, not just the print edition, but shuttering the business completely. We can debate the reasons, but that reality is staring at us, from no distance at all, right in the face. I could never have imagined five straight months of zero cash flow. Our expenses are cut, to the bone, yet, there are still several thousand dollars in expenses in each month. We have met payroll for our staff; Federal relief is a myth. I am taking no pay. The August Interactive issue of the OhioIANews is online, with music and dance and friends and fun, and the best things to do in August, plus Coming Next Month's September Save the Date events. Visit our friends, in person or click on our advertiser ads, order a pint, a pizza or a BIG Irish Breakfast for pickup or delivery. They always lend a helping hand & support for so many fundraisers year-round. Help see them through the end of the pandemic by visiting, ordering, buying gift cards and merchandise. For our part, No advertiser has been charged for their April, May, June, July or August ad - We're trying to help them out, and hope you will too! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast9: Is it the End of the World as We Know it? Is this it? Is this the end, or merely just the end of the first half, or even quarter? Resurgence is in full employ across the world, but nowhere are the virus infections as severe as here in the U.S. Nowhere is the death from COVID 19 as severe as here in the U.S. Most countries have gotten containment, except for the U.S. Most countries have enacted a plan, that is working, except for the U.S. Most deaths and infections are declining, some, like New Zealand with ALL of the above-mentioned criteria, to near zero, except for the U.S. A History of Resurgence History, though limited, tells us that a pandemic will have resurgences, multiple resurgences. Usually because people relax, and go to bars, restaurants, live music, or Put-In-Bay. How many is unknown, how severe is unknown, but they have been very, very harsh in the past. It took the Pandemic of 1918 seven years to go from Europe to the United States. It took COVID19 three months. As far as I know, I have not been infected with COVID, though I am a higher risk body because of the auto-immune suppressant drugs I take for Rheumatoid Arthritis. There are multiple tradeoffs for 35 years of RA, with all the meds, bills and hoops, and I have made my peace with that for a quality of life with less pain. In so many ways, I would welcome an end, to pain, blood work, infusions, waiting rooms, taking sick time from work for Dr.’s appointments, tests, shots of cortisone and epidurals, and spending a monster amount of money on those meds, treatments and appointments. Will You Murder Me Forever I check my temperature daily and mask up whenever I am out and about, unless exercising. Two of my friends have died after they caught COVID19. I have not changed the world, but I am in no rush to leave it. There is still work to do. It is your body, and your choice, but I don’t wish to die for your choices. Especially when the choices have so little hardship for you. Your 30 minutes of freedom while shopping mean more than my life? Your rights end where mine begin. I have the right to shop too. I have the right to live, too. Masks may be uncomfortable for you, for the 30 minutes needed to get your food or whatever you are getting. My dead life lasts far, far longer to my family, to our employees, and to me. Will you murder me forever, for your 30 minutes of comfort? The August Interactive issue of the OhioIANews is online, with music and dance and friends and fun, and the best things to do in August, plus Coming Next Month's September Save the Date events. Visit our friends, in person or click on our advertiser ads, order a pint, a pizza or a BIG Irish Breakfast for pickup or delivery. They always lend a helping hand & support for so many fundraisers year round ~ Help see them through the end of the pandemic by visiting, ordering, buying gift cards and merchandise. On our part, No advertiser has been charged for their April, May, June, July or August ad - We're trying to help them out, and hope you will too! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There Has to Be an End to It Someday thru the torture that this land is going thru The going is tough. But we know, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, Who’s with me … right? It’s an American trademark. I wasn’t around for the race riots in the mid-60s, but I have seen the video.  Today reminds me of that.   The Songs, Stories & Shenanigans Podcast5: Antiracist got such a response; I can’t help but being thrilled by the discussions and the real change I think, I hope, I pray, has started. We have seen that people can deal with most anything, expected or not.  There are only two things people really hate – change, and staying the same. Change is hard, but, he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother – at least many faiths believe that.  So, has the belief translated to action?  History in America would say no, but so many of us are not willing to give up on what God aspires us to do; we want to write our own history that lives on the example of love thy neighbor.  I’m not holding the sins of the father against the son, demanding retribution to those inflicting the most damage or euthanasia, as they did to my Irish ancestors. Perhaps I bear no blame for the situation, the dire straits big and small, my Black neighbor is faced with every day, all of their life. But I can still choose to recognize the very, very obvious, prevalent and systemic injustice in our country, and community. It happened to me. I can still choose to change the path less travelled, for equal treatment to all humans – not just to white, male, heterosexual, Christian, American, living above poverty level, with no disability or preexisting condition Americans.  I choose to not leave THAT legacy to my children, the children of God, all over the world. We live precariously, in a world beset by violence, by anger and by hurt. Walking our path on a planet dying for healing too. I choose to not only see, but to act. I hope you see that too, and will join me in living for others. The world is reopening, for good or for bad, we don’t yet know. I hope the only resurgence we see is the one I have been writing about for a very long time. One of, Love Thy Neighbor.  It is what we are commanded to do.  All the ills and strife can be overcome with a pandemic of love and respect for a fellow human being, nothing more, nothing less, designed by God, and therefore loved beyond measure. He doesn’t make mistakes, y’know. But we do. It will be tough, a long battle of ebb and flow – stamina and insight and dedication and collaboration, and looking beyond ourselves, our own accumulation of riches, whatever they may be.  Someone else getting something, doesn’t leave less for us – it’s not pie. Clearly, what we have been doing so far, has no reason for recommendation or recall. It has failed, failed utterly. We cannot bury our head in the hope the pain of injustice will just go away. It hasn’t, it won’t. Only different actions will get different results.  Words can inspire, Actions lead to the change any child of God can see is right. Our children deserve that too. On This Day in Irish History: 19 July 2009 - Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Angela’s Ashes, died in New York, 21 July 1860 - Chauncy Oliatt, Irish balladeer and author of My Wild Irish Rose was born 26 July 1856 - George Bernard Shaw, playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature was born in Dublin. 29 July 1883 - James Carey, a member of the Invincibles, informs on five of his associates, who are hanged for the Phoenix Park Murders. Carey is followed to South Africa by Patrick O’Donnell and shot dead en route. So, What’s been going on behind the scenes? We came oh so close to printing in July, but with so many still tamped down by COVID, we decided a few thousand dollars loss again this month is better than a 5 figure one. We couldn’t print the issue, so, as we did in April, May & June, we put the interactive edition of the July issue online.  Click on any advertiser’s ad, and you will go directly to their website.  We did not charge any advertiser again this month. July stories include An Irish language lesson, Irish Sports update, our Cleveland, Akron, Columbus and Toledo Irish columns, and opinion pieces from the US and Ireland. Plus, we have book reviews, an Irish crossword puzzle, Jokes, Games and stories for the kids, and so much more. Also check out a few of the really great stories, past and present, that are lodged in our online library, where all of our issues are interactive, and archived, since we started, 14 years ago. Now I don’t like anyone leaving our website, with the tons of content housed there, but helping our advertisers is always my goal.  Click on those ads and order food, merch, a gift card … whatever you need, and start this rebound a rollin’! Cleveland Irish columnist Francis McGarry wrote another wonderful column on the evolution of a police force, and of plea bargains.  You can check out the full column on our OhioIANews website, but it starts like this: Cleveland Irish: Shillelagh Law, Part 2 By Francis McGarry The history of the modern police force does not begin in the Americas, nor in Britain.   It begins in Ireland in 1814, with the passing of the Irish Peace Preservation Force Act.  Robert Peel was its catalyst and was the Irish Secretary at the time.  He arrived in Ireland in 1812 when the local police were grossly ineffective, which left the policing to the military.  British participation in the Napoleonic Wars depleted many of those fellows and many soldier-police stations were abandoned.  Regardless of numbers, the military made very inefficient police and were extremely brutal when clashing with Irish citizens, only adding to the unrest.  The Plea Bargain The English would pardon or commute a sentence on occasion.  It took America and quite a few Irish to introduce the plea bargain to global legal history.  Prior to 1830, guilty pleas were not common in American or British history.  In fact, prior to 1830, 10% to 15% or all convictions in lower courts in the US were a result of a guilty plea.  The plea bargain was first utilized in Boston.  In the 1830s, 15% of cases were plea bargained.  In the 1840s, almost 30%; in the 1850s, over 50%; in the 1860s, nearly 60%; and in the 1880s, 88% of all cases in lower courts were plea bargained.  In cities like Boston and New York in the 19th century, this meant that there were Irish on both sides of the deal.  The Irish in New York City in 1860 accounted for half the total number of arrests and half the total members of the police force.  We’ll stop there, to leave a fair bit for you to enjoy with a nice pot of Barry’s or a drop of the pure, wherever you choose to enjoy them.  Check out this story, and the whole interactive issue on our website, OhioIANews.com. -More- See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy 4th of July. Some of my Favorite Freedoms are Fridays at 5, not only for the weekend, and happy hour, but for the podcast too. Lee Greenwood’s song, Proud to be an American is one of my favorite to sing. Seeing our flag rise as Olympians win medals always strikes such a cord in me, and them. I love the freedom to eat what a want, say what I want and worship, as I want. Eleanor Roosevelt is one of those folks so filled with wisdom, I always wish I had met her. Her words are quoted all over the world, 90 years after she was in the White House, from 1933 to 1945. She said: “Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.” I’m Irish and I know things. Freedom of speech carries with it some freedom to listen. It is wonderful, right up there with the freedom to not listen. Be the Adult - You don’t HAVE TO argue, turn away. You don’t have to attend every fight you are invited to. I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person. If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t more people happy? Examine what is said, not who speaks. Or what party, religion, or other description they or you choose to embrace. It’s better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you are a fool than to open it and remove any doubt. You know, that two ears, one mouth communication tools we have, and there being a reason for that? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Songs, Stories & Shenanigans, Podcast6:  In My Father’s House First and foremost, Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s and acting as Dad’s out there.  It is not the title that gets the happy, it is the action’s that you exhibit – the things you do when no one is watching, that makes me send the sentiments. I don’t have any kids myself; it hurts, especially at Christmas and family gatherings.  I squeeze what joy I can out of my 25 nieces and nephews, when they let me. I thank you for everything you do, noticed and not, to make this big wide world, a better place. Father’s Day took a long time to become an official holiday in the United States. The first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910 in Spokane, Washington. In 1924, United States President Calvin Coolidge recommended the day as a national holiday. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made a proclamation for a day to celebrate fathers and declared that an official Father’s Day be held every year on the third Sunday in June.  In 1972, President Richard Nixon made the proclamation a law.   While the holiday originated in the United States, other countries, including Ireland, have adopted the celebration.  I asked my dad if he would take me to the zoo? He answered, 'If the zoo wants you, let them come and get you.' So Happy Father’s Day to those who live out all that being a father to someone means. Then, personally, I  offer Congratulations to John & Eileen O’Brien, my parents, celebrating their 60thWedding Anniversary tomorrow. How they raised 4 kids, sent them all to Catholic grade school, HS and college, I will never know. We were and are so blessed for their love, self-sacrifice and guidance, instilling love for each other, values, volunteerism, pride in heritage and pride in America and being American, as well as awareness of just how blessed we are. Imagine leaving your home, your country, often having never seen a building taller than a few stories, then going to Canada, America or where ever you landed, only for want of a job, any job, and some food.  Just wanting a chance to make your own way.  My dad was not the oldest son; he knew he would not get the farm. Many, many of my friends have lived the song, My Grandfather’s Immigrant Eyes, with their own fathers or grandfathers.  To a lesser degree, I did with my own dad, who emigrated in 1956.  The isle of tears in the song refers to is Ellis Island.  It was written by Guy Clark For me, my favorite singer of this song is Alec DeGabriele, of The New Barleycorn. Here is an excerpt: My Grandfather’s Immigrant Eyes            Oh, Ellis Island was swarming Like a scene from a costume ball, Decked out in the colors of Europe, And on fire with the hope of it all. There my father's own father stood huddled With the tired and hungry and scared, Turn of the century pilgrims, Bound by the dream that they shared. They were standing in lines just like cattle, Poked and sorted and shoved. Some were one desk away from sweet freedom. Some were torn from someone they loved, Through this sprawling tower of Babel Came a young man confused and alone, Determined and bound for America, And carryin' everything that he owned. Sometimes, when I look in my grandfather's immigrant eyes, I see that day reflected and I can't hold my feelings inside. I see starting with nothing and working hard all of his life, Don't take it for granted, your grandfather's immigrant eyes. I never knew my grandfather’s, on either side. My dad’s dad died when he was 2. My Mom’s dad died before I was born. These lessons from my parents have lasted for all of us kids, and their 25 grandkids, my nieces and nephews, with a life of living for others. We arise each day knowing that each day, we exchange 1 day of our life, for SOMETHING; make it be worthwhile O Lord. At the end of that day, when we look back, did we make our world better, that day? To me, it is amazing to think, we started in America with just my folks. They met in Montreal after my dad emigrated there from Ireland in 1956. They married in 1960, and had 4 kids, 2 in Montreal, and two in America. We grew up not having any relations in the U.S., when our friends were meeting cousins at seemingly every gathering or pub. Now, our 6 pak has become nearly 3 cases full, in what seems like just a few years, though it is actually six decades, and 3 generations. The grandkids are learning so much from my folks too – we were all raised in houses were volunteerism is a natural, given, right thing to do.  I hear my dad’s voice, in their shouts.  I see my mom’s ready laughter, and always the singing, the helping, when I gather round my sister’s dinner tables, when I am so lucky as to visit them. I love the song, In My Father’s House. I first heard it sung on Joanie Madden’s Folk & Irish Cruise, in a mad late session in some corner of the ship.  I don’t know the young woman’s name who sang it, but I still recall her almost mournful voice, and how she sang it so beautifully. It has stuck with me ever since. I believe it was written by Kevin Sheeran.  Not the song In My Father’s House sung by Elvis Pressley, or the one written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen. Here is an excerpt of the one I am talking about: The gable wall is all that's left now The old thatched cottage has fallen down I dry my eyes as I fondly remember The days of long ago when I was young In my father’s house we were poor but rich in love No TV but music there was plenty of My mama hummed the old melodies and we all sang along In my father’s house when I was young It’s more than half way thru June.  I think COVID19 made the world slow down, at least for a little while, when usually it is a race to even remember to slow down, and smell the roses.  On this day in Irish History, In June: 21 June 1877 - Ten members of the Molly Maguires are hung at  Pottsville and Mauch (Mawk) Chunk, Pa. The day is remembered as “Black Thursday”, the largest mass execution ever on American soil. 26 June 1963 - U. S. President John F. Kennedy arrives in Ireland on a four-day visit. 27 June 1939 - Kathleen Clarke, widow of executed Easter Rising leader Tom Clarke, was elected mayor of Dublin. Congratulations to Denise Doherty Kennedy and Terry Kennedy, and to Alec & Clara DeGabriel each celebrating their 25thWedding Anniversary!, and to Danny and Kathleen Chambers, celebrating their 24th.                                                                                                                                                           newly minted Dr. Séamus Hennessey, MD! Son of Maureen & Rory Hennessey all our graduates at every level.  You deserve so much more, but we are no less proud of you for your resilience and inspiration. You will make our world a better place – we are counting on you. How about a little Sports? Ohio has a nice gathering of Irish Football, Hurling and camogie teams, both youth and adult. The Governing board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is responsible for nurturing and administering the sports of Ireland, and nurturing other aspects of Irish culture, like dance and the Irish language. Despite the unknown COVID future, Cleveland GAA met the April 30 registration deadline with 44 male and 24 female footballers.  The club is able to register new players throughout the summer – it’s not too late for you or yours to join – including our newly organized hurling team.  With some state restrictions being lifted, stay tuned to their social media outlets for updates.  The USGAA is advising all clubs to follow local guidelines and orders.  Cleveland is developing plans for an intercity league – which should be fun days ahead! In Ireland, counties have been asked by Croke Park (aka HQ aka GAA Headquarters) to suspend all activity until July 20th, and have ruled out inter-county matches before October.  Much like here, celebs of the game are weighing in on both sides of the ban – some saying to open the clubs, pitches, and training sessions; while others argue for no return until there is a vaccine; and still others advocating for intercounty senior matches in empty stadiums. A Club Players Association poll this week shows that 57% of club players are willing to return to play before a COVID-19 vaccine is administered.  It is important to remember that there is no North-South border in the GAA and never has been.  For intercounty play, the organization will have to navigate the orders of the Republic and the UK for equity amongst all counties in training and game regulations. Whilst the county waits, the Croke Park social media team, GAANOW, has been pumping out archival footage.  It is worth a watch to see both football and hurling matches and Best Of videos. – visit gaa.ie/gaa-now to get your fix of some classic football, hurling and camogie matches.          For local and national news and games, Follow @ClevelandGaelic on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the 2020 activities for Men, Women, and Youth.  Or, visit ClevelandGAA.com. That’s ClevelandGAA.com Doors Are Opening: Doors are opening, here are a few events scheduled for the next two weekends, that have been sent on to us from our readers, as we find our way back.  Every month I beg and beg our readers and organizations from throughout the state to send us their events.  Rarely do they.  I won’t give up.   The invitation stands. We are delighted to sponsor this event with the Shamrock Club. Again shamrockclubofColumbus.com I did get out, and had a fantastic Pot Roast Dinner at Pj McIntyre’s over the weekend, while guitarist and local legend Pat Shepard sang Pat Dailey style songs, better than Pat Dailey.  All the rules were observed  - it was so good to see Janella again, and Ahhh … the icy cold Smithwicks Draught has been sorely, sorely missed. So so good. I had the great pleasure of interviewing David Shanahan last week, for the July issue.  If you are not familiar with David, he is a 19 year old Castleisland Co. Kerry Gaelic football player, who fell in love with American Football, especially at the college level, and decided a few years ago, to pursue his dream of playing.  He applied to get into ProKick Academy, in Australia, and was accepted. He then moved to Australia for 9 months, learning nuances to the position of punter, training with others with the same dream, and being coached by the best, including former students who kicked in the NFL.  He sent his tapes around to colleges and won a four-year full-ride scholarship to Georgia Tech, in Atlanta! He starts there in January. You can read the full interview in the July issue of the OhioIANews, and see the video interview on our OhioIANews YouTube channel in July as well. David is a funny, realistic and hard-working young guy, hell bent on achieving his dream, and thanking Gaelic Football for giving him the skills required to chase it. Speaking of Kerry, did you know that Kerry has been called “The Kingdom” since the first century? It’s said in Kerry that, “There are only two kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Kerry.” Use of the nickname “The Kingdom” to refer to Kerry dates back to 65 AD when one of the O’Connor clan took control of the area. The O’Connor chieftain’s name was “Ciar” (pronounced “keer”) and his descendants became known as “Ciar-raigh,” (pronounced “keer-ree”), which roughly translates to “Ciar’s people” or “Ciar’s kingdom.” Ciarraigh was later anglicized to Kerry. “A friend of mine, Seanachie Batt Burns, comes from a very little town called Sneem, in the hills of Kerry.  They have very narrow streets there.  In fact, the streets are so narrow that the dogs have to wag their tails up and down, instead of side to side, where Batt comes from.” Have you read CB Shanahan’s debut novel, Hollis Whitaker yet?  I reviewed it in the OhioIANews last month. Such a fantastic, well-written work, I read it in 2 days.   I won’t blow the story: It’s advert says: It changed the course of WWII. In 1945, it was stolen. Now a 10-year-old boy has found it, and the government will kill him to get it. Hollis Whitaker is available everywhere, June 5th. I call it A Top Shelf selection. You know what the Irish word Craic means, right? It has a wide encompassing meaning of good times, or what’s going on i.e. What’s the craic? It is also in the title of one of our monthly columns in the Ohio Irish American News, Wise Craics, jokes collected by Toledo Irish columnist Maury Collins.  I always have to delete one or two of his submissions for the family friendly OhioIANews readers, but here are two jokes I can tell: An elderly woman died last month. Having never married, she requested no male pallbearers. In her handwritten instructions for her funeral service, she wrote, "They wouldn't take me out while I was alive, I don't want them to take me out when I am dead." O'Toole worked in the lumber yard for twenty years and in all that time he'd been stealing the wood and selling it. At last his conscience began to bother him and he went to confession to repent. "Father, it's 15 years since my last confession, and I've been stealing wood from the lumber yard all those years,”  "I understand my son," says the priest. "Can you make a Novena?" O'Toole responded, "Father, if you have the plans, I've got the lumber." Thank you to all the gang here at WHKRadio, especially the production genius, Josh Booth, as well as Gerry Quinn and Tim Vaughn.  Your endless support is so appreciated. We release a new podcast every 2nd Friday at 5 pm, alternating weeks with our two times a month eBulletin that goes out to over 12,000 opted-in subscribers. I hope you will sign up for the eBulletin too, on either our web or Facebook page. For a list of events to come, stories and much more, check out the website, or follow our FB, Twitter and Instagram pages to keep up with all the shenanigans to come. If you are like me, and like to hold the paper in your hands when reading, pick up your copy of the Ohio IA News at any one of 211 locations in and around Ohio. The list and archived interactive copies are also on the website, at ohioianews.com.  We are closer to a One Ireland than we have been in more than 800 years.  We’ll save those songs and stories for next time, July 3rd, when we meet here again, and release Episode 7. If you are interested in sponsoring or advertising on this podcast, the eBulletin, in the print edition, website or Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, contact John O’Brien at jobrien@OhioIANews.com There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones - of joy, of unification.  Here, and across the pond. As always, I end with a bit of the Irish: Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince (When the music stops, so does the dance) Keep playing your music. Wider audiences need to hear it. Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you; Please share yours, with me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may have seen the term Anti-Racist pop up on social media this past week, or before. Being anti-racist is viewing all racial groups as equal and supporting policies that lead to equality and justice. It not only means to acknowledge that racism exists, but to fight it whenever it arises. Don’t be tone deaf either. I cannot speak for my brother, for I have never walked as a minority in America. But my forebears did. They experienced racism as Irish immigrants in America, the No Irish Need Apply, and all that hardship that mentality symbolizes. Under British overlords, they were stolen or sentenced to slavery, often in Barbados, or even the U.S. “The curse of Cromwell: revisiting the Irish slavery debate” By John Donoghue, searches through the comparison between Irish and black slaves. Donoghue is an associate professor of history at Loyola University, Chicago. Published in 18th-19th Century Social Perspectives, Early Modern History Social Perspectives, Features, Issue 4 (July/August 2017), Volume 25 A few excerpts from this work, both relevant, and insightful: “Cromwell himself oversaw the first wave of colonial transportation to the Caribbean. Writing to parliament after leading the slaughter at Drogheda (Drohg heed ah) in September 1649, the general reported that the ‘officers were knocked on the head, and every tenth man of the soldiers killed, and the rest shipped for the Barbadoes’. Slipping easily into imperial voice, Cromwell argued that massacre and transportation were benevolent forms of terrorism, as they would frighten the Irish into submission and thus ‘prevent the effusion of blood for the future’. In this light, the history of Irish slavery should lead to solidarity with—rather than scorn for—the deep history driving the Black Lives Matter movement. Interracial solidarity may be the only means by which we can lift the curse of Cromwell that still haunts the Irish in America.  “Importantly, Irish servants and others from England and Scotland referred to themselves as ‘slaves’. African slaves also regarded Irish field hands as slaves. An anonymous writer on Barbados, most likely Major John Scott, wrote in 1667 that the Irish were ‘derided by the negroes, and branded with the epithet of “white slaves”’. Africans referred to the Irish as slaves, as the Irish did themselves, to reflect the brutal exploitation they endured as unfree plantation workers who, having been kidnapped or transported, were violently forced to work against their will. Irish sailors voyaging to the West Indies on commercial ventures or with Prince Rupert’s Royalist fleet in 1652 would have seen Irish people subjected to plantation bondage. In 1655, Irish sailors had themselves been transported after being captured serving with Royalist forces.” The Irish race – faced 800 years of attempts to euthanize us. An Gorta Mor, The Great Hunger, whose epicenter was Black 47, is only the most famous. Still they, and we, stand. The Jewish race - faced the Holocaust, and 6 million of them were murdered. Still they, and we, stand. The American Indian race – Driven from their centuries long owned land, treaties violated and starvation. Still they, and we, stand. The Black and Brown race – faced Slavery. Still they, and we, stand. Unfortunately, I am sure there are other such defining cultural attempts at systemic euthanasia. Why did so many Irish become cops, lawyers and then judges, with each succeeding generation following, even to today? This doesn’t lessen the Black cause, it validates it. Despite attempts by others, an equal opportunity gained through hard work, perseverance, wisdom and planning was available to us, often with a hand down for the ones coming after.  Blacks did not, and some still do not, have that.  To revisit Donaghue above, “… approximately twelve million Africans who endured the Middle Passage to the Americas from the early sixteenth century through to the late nineteenth century, who, if they lived (approximately two million of them perished), faced perpetual slavery for themselves and their children, something whites never or almost never experienced.”  The difference for the Irish is that it did not pass on to their children. You cannot equate Irish bondage with perpetual, racial slavery, as experienced by Black slaves. Similarities, certainly. Understanding and empathy, certainly. But surely you can see the systemic racism evident past and present, not just in America, but systemic here for sure. Is silence consent?  Are you, like me, afraid to speak up at times, for fear of saying the wrong thing to our brothers and sisters, and be accused of being a racist, which would crush my human loving soul, while really just wanting to help? In both interest and profession, I study our Irish and American history, and in overlap, I know just a little of what Black history is.   But, just a little. I listen, I strive to understand, to do more than just empathize, and then, do whatever I can to help. I asked a friend and former colleague, Ken Surratt, who is black, for advice - I feel helpless - what can I do? His response was, “Whenever you see racism, Stand Up - each and every time.” Simple and direct, impactful  and powerful – repetition and perseverance wear away the stone. And illuminates. NYT: May 29 there was a column titled An Antiracist Reading List.  Ibram X. Kendi wrote on books to help America transcend its racist heritage. It is NOT absolutist.  He is NOT saying ALL whites, or all Americans.  He is just saying that: No one becomes “not racist,” despite a tendency by Americans to identify themselves that way. We can only strive to be “antiracist” on a daily basis, to continually rededicate ourselves to the lifelong task of overcoming our country’s racist heritage. We learn early the racist notion that white people have more because they are more; that people of color have less because they are less. I had internalized this worldview by my high school graduation, seeing myself and my race as less than other people and blaming other blacks for racial inequities. To build a nation of equal opportunity for everyone, we need to dismantle this spurious legacy of our common upbringing. One of the best ways to do this is by reading books. Not books that reinforce old ideas about who we think we are, what we think America is, what we think racism is. Instead, we need to read books that are difficult or unorthodox, that don’t go down easily. Books that force us to confront our self-serving beliefs and make us aware that “I’m not racist” is a slogan of denial. Check out The Times for the list, if you are interested. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul is providing instruction to the faithful and trying to describe what the Spirit provides for the Church. He writes, “There are many different gifts, but it is the same Spirit; there are many different ways of serving, but it is the same Lord. There are many forms of activity, but in everybody it is the same God who is at work in them all. The particular manifestation of the Spirit granted to each one is to be used for the general good”. History tells us we cannot seek the easy way out, it only prolongs the end of a society, whether it be Roman Society, or American. You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break. Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen. No color, No religion No nationality Should come between us. We are all children of God – said Mother Theresa Harry S Truman said that the hyphenated American refers to the use of a hyphen (in some styles of writing) between the name of an ethnicity and the word "American".  It was an epithet used from 1890 to 1920 to disparage Americans who were of foreign birth or origin, and who displayed an allegiance to a foreign country through the use of the hyphen. It was most commonly directed at German Americans or Irish Americans (i.e. Catholics) who called for U.S. neutrality in World War I. Former President Theodore Roosevelt in speaking to the largely Irish Catholic Knights of Columbus at Carnegie Hall on Columbus Day 1915, asserted that,[4] There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all ... The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic ... There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else. Now, that is tough to hear. I consider myself a good American. Patriotic, willing to sacrifice for my country, for the greater good. I am sure I don’t believe all of what President Roosevelt said here. I understand the concept, but …  I know the power of my community when we stand together.  We all walk in many communities. So, I guess I get it, even if I do not subscribe completely, at least not yet. Mind you, this contemplation is coming from a guy who publishes an Irish-American newspaper, Irish books, this Irish-American podcast, and has had a great life because of the support of this Irish-American community.  I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth. Where I came from made me. Who I am, and choose to be though, will make me better. That does not mean I cannot see others not as fortunate, or in need of help. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory. I can see need, and I can fight those who ignore it, intentionally or not, side by side with those in need. Isn’t that reaching a hand down to pull them up, too? A great friend and civic leader, Marilyn Madigan, posted on FB a graphic that said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I believe that is true.  We cannot walk out of church with a replenished soul, and then stomp, or kneel on the neck, of someone that we disagree with or meet up with. We cannot protect one person’s rights, and ignore another’s, let alone a whole race’s. An officer’s indefensible actions, once, over a career, or over 9 minutes… ? It is much more than being just about justice.  It is about Human Rights, which transcend, pretty much anything. Every man, woman and child’s rights. I understand, as a white male, that I will never understand what it is to be black in America. Yet, I understand some of it, in shared experiences, in No Irish Need Apply, and all the symbolism and racism attached to that, in my roots. A person is just about as big as the things that make them angry. Injustice makes me angry. Disregard for Human Rights makes me angry. Disregard for God’s creation, makes me angry. In my daily movements, instead of seeing a transaction needed to be completed before moving on to the next item on my to-do list, what if I saw each person I meet, as they are - a gift of God, loved beyond measure? There would be fewer transactions, but many more encounters with the living God. For me, this life is temporary; I strive to live in a way aimed at earning the next one. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package indeed. Would this difference in approach, this taking of a breath, a moment in a busy day, yield a different result, and relationship? It did, it does, for me. So then, as for me? I will choose love. *** As always, I end with a bit of the Irish: Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince (When the music stops, so does the dance) Keep playing your music. Wider audiences need to hear it. Thank you to all the gang here at WHKRadio, especially the production genius, Josh Booth, as well as Gerry Quinn and Tim Vaughn.  Your endless support is so appreciated. We drop a new podcast every 2nd Friday at 5 pm, alternating weeks with our two times a month eBulletin that goes out to over 12,000 opted-in subscribers. I hope you will sign up for that too, on either our web or Facebook page. For a list of events to come, stories and much more, check out the website, or follow our FB, Twitter and Instagram pages to keep up with all the shenanigans to come. If you are like me, and like to hold the paper in your hands when reading, pick up your copy of the Ohio Irish American News at any one of 211 locations in and around Ohio. The list and archived interactive copies are also on the website, at ohioianews.com.  There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones - of joy, of unification.  Here, and across the pond. We are closer to a One Ireland than we have been in more than 800 years.  We’ll save those songs and stories for next time, June 19th, when we drop Episode 6. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Songs, Stories & Shenanigans: Today’s Podcast: We Will Never Forget, in a Time We Will Never Forget Songs, Stories & Shenanigans: Today’s Podcast: We Will Never Forget, in a Time We Will Never Forget Ireland lays claims to lots of inventions, including color photography, whiskey distilling, the ejector seat, guided missiles, hypodermic syringe, the modern tractor, the portable defibrillator, rubber-soled shoes, and of course - Guinness.  A tiny part of the big list, but interesting none the less. But to me, being Irish has always involved a great love for and influence by, music. Can you guess who said this: "I started with rock n' roll and...then you start to take it apart like a child with a toy and you see there's blues and there's country...Then you go back from country into American music...and you end up in Scotland and Ireland eventually."                                                             - Mr. Elvis Costello The Irish have always been associated with music. Ireland is the only country in the world to have a musical instrument, the haro, as its national symbol. That’s right, The Harp is the official national symbol of Ireland.  It was played by Brian Boru, one of my forebears, and the last true and now legendary High King, who ruled all Ireland in the 8th & 9th centuries. The harp has been a symbol of Ireland ever since. In 1542, Ireland adopted it as their official symbol. In 1922, the Republic of Ireland adopted a left-facing harp, based on the Trinity College Harp located in the library of Trinity College, in Dublin as its official symbol. It appears on state documents and seals, along with the cover of every Irish passport. The medieval tradition of printing harps on Irish coins also continues into the present, with the left-facing Trinity College Harp featuringon Irish printed Euro. The harp is a tribute symbol, of our history and our bards, our past, and our present.  We have a gift for music, the land of saints and scholars, Bards and lawmen. As you may know, last week was Police Memorial Week. With Covid19, all public ceremony events were cancelled, tho many still observed, and many others were able to watch the smaller ceremonies online.  This is the first time in my 14 years with the Sheriff’s Office that I did not attend, and shoot, the ceremonies.  It has always been such a moving, at times heart-wrenching salute to those we lost, with the message to their loved ones that We Will Never Forget.  They do not walk alone, even tho they have lost a peace officer, Brother or Sister, parent, sibling, child or a loved one in the line of duty. - John F. Kennedy said: Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs.  Rather, it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.           To law enforcement and their families and friends from across the United States and Canada and to those from right here in Cuyahoga County that join us each year for the Annual Commemoration ceremony, I send these thoughts. I am honored to recognize and reflect with law enforcement officers and their families on the dedication, the sacrifices and the honor of all officers. I wish to say thank you, and I wish to encourage each of you, to continue to strive, whether an officer or an officer’s loved ones, to not only live up to the code you follow, but to be strengthened by it.  We don’t gather alone; we gather together. We don’t fight for justice alone; we fight for it, together; and most of all, we don’t stand alone, each and every person, stands together. In pain and in joy, in sorrow, celebration or solace, we stand together. Officers wear the badges that represent honor, dignity, truth and justice; families wear those character traits too.  For those who have lost, and for those who step up to secure safety and sooth souls on the streets each day, we stand with you, every day. Sometimes those gifts last a career; sometimes the ultimate sacrifice shows the last full measure of devotion, which can never truly be prepared for.  We usually don’t know why they had to die, but we know them, and what they stand for.   From each other, together, we softly gather those gifts. We remember how they served with honor, they and their families. We remember the joys they brought, and the joys those officers brought them. We remember their smile, and how or what they strived for and against, in their days and nights. We remember most of all that they loved us, and we love them. That will never fade, nor falter. So, let us reflect and remember, looking back and looking forward, guided by what we stand for, together, illuminated so fully and frequently by honor, dignity, truth and justice; illuminated with such love from each of us, and for them and for each other. We stand together, fortified, passionately proud of who they were and who we are. We stand, together. The Greater Cleveland Peace Officers Memorial Society and these ceremonies and events during Police Memorial Week serve to remind us to Keep The Promise... to never forget our fallen heroes. We stand, together. I look forward to seeing you again. Thank you. This is a poem I wrote for the ceremony It’s called Boots and Broad Wings by John O’Brien, Jr.   I remember the true stories that haunt my childhood And my hood Desmond Sherry, Derek Owens, Tim Sheehen, James Salvino, Jr., Thomas Patton, James Kirstetter, David Fahey, Jr. Kenneth Velez …   I wanted to be a cop; God’s other plans didn’t change that want I loved my brothers and sisters who gave all, for all. Cash only for the final full measure of devotion, whether the lamb loved or hated the Shepard. Though I wish for another way to defend the wall; I will never understand blood upon the rose.   Big moments missed, hurt. Graduations and glam shot moments, births and marriages and toasts moments; We go to far too many funerals to not dance at the baptisms, and the weddings.   But the little moments that are the teardrops off an angel’s wing Silent Night, when we know you are there, tho no boots are on the ground: Yet your wings brush by, and kiss us gently into the Good Night. Summer breeze fights winter Taps Yet, somehow, the band plays on; life marches ever forward, and thaws the raw edges of hurt, forward. We are raw; we are walls of assembled bricks and foundations We are all; dust, seeds and soil. If we don’t change the fabric of our land, who will? If not us, who? If not now, when? We are the booted band We will never forget you, you know that The Monuments are mere lavender and sage, and thorn We will never stop praying and paving for a wall bricked by every race, religion, light and lion whose common qualification for being a brick, is merely, love for all. May your wings be ever present, as your memory is, in our hearts. So, this I say to you Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince (When the music stops, so does the dance) Thank you to all the gang here at WHKRadio, especially the production genius, Josh Booth, as well as Gerry Quinn and Tim Vaughn.  Your endless support is so appreciated. We’ll be here every 2nd Friday at 5 pm, alternating weeks with our two times a month eBulletin that goes out via email to over 12,000 opted-in subscribers. Hope you will sign up for that too, on either our web or Facebook page. There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones - of joy, of unification.  We are closer to a One Ireland, than we have ever been in 800 years.  We’ll save them for next time, June 5th, when we meet again, and move from our past, to our present, and future. For a list of events to come, check out our website, or follow our FB, Twitter and Instagram pages to keep up with all the shenanigans to come. If you are like me, and like to hold the paper in your hands when reading, pick up your copy of the Ohio Irish American News at any one of 211 locations in and around Ohio. The list and archived interactive copies are also online at www.ohioianews.com.  I hope to meet you here again in two weeks, Friday June 5th at 5 pm, if not before, in a happier, safer and healthier community. As John Denver said, Follow me where I go what I do and who I know  Make it part of you to be a part of me  Follow me up and down all the way and all around  Take my hand and say you'll follow me You can do that on our website www.OhioIANews.com on www.facebook.com/OhioIrishAmericanNews on Twitter and Instagram: OhioIANews. Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you; Please share yours, with me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to our 3rd Podcast, after a slight COVID Delay.  We’ll be here every 2nd Friday at 5 pm, alternating with the two times a month eBulletin that goes out via email to over 12,000 opted-in subscribers. Ready, Set, Woe! First, and foremost. Thank you. Thank you for sticking with us. Thank you for all of your letters and emails and support, when we did not print the April issue, putting only the interactive edition on our website. When I see so many of our advertisers forced to close or go to some form of takeout/delivery, and the damage they are suffering, a few thousand dollars loss is immaterial.  We did not charge any advertiser in April, with the hope that those reading the interactive OhioIANews online will click on advertisers’ ads, go to their website, shop and/or order carryout or curbside pickup. We did the same for this May issue. No charges to our advertising partners. Thank you for your new subscription orders stating that you will read the OhioIANews online, and  therefore are refusing a mailed copy. NOW THAT IS TRUST. I am so angry to hear the latest implosion by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the only daily newspaper in Greater Cleveland. I never thought "our" Cleveland Plain Dealer would drop to intentional elimination of local people reporting local issues, union people, to become ??? what - filler for the ad pages on Cleveland.com? Or, in effect, by design, extinct. I know and have worked with so many of the reporters, favorites like Michael K. McIntyre, Rachel Dissell, Roxanne Washington, John Cobra Verde Petkovic, Laura DeMarco, and on and on ...  those whose columns I seek out daily. I like the weekly local Scene for its angles and music scene, but it's not unbiased in any way. Publishing a monthly newsmagazine like I do, I can't offer direct timely coverage, like so many of these reporters mentioned above always did. This is a virus with no vaccine, and it has a 100% kill rate. I am truly sorry that professional reporters are forced to take this greed-fueled hit. Money is short; times are hard, but we always held up, those with the media card. I had a great chat this morning with Dan Fedoryka, of Scythian, checking in first, chatting about the new normal. and then talking about the virus damage to musicians, the supporting casts, and the venues they play, including festivals, which are being cancelled.  Scythian has a new CD coming out in July; the guys are very excited with what they have heard so far; I can’t wait to hear it and feature it in the July issue. In a divisive world, will it take a virus to finally bring us together, albeit six feet apart? Can we finally reach the point of saying, even though someone’s point of view may be different, I won’t let that different POV undermine the much more important, lasting meaning of friendship? Life is much bigger than that. The only really decent thing to do behind a person’s back is to pat it. I can disagree with someone’s opinion, even discuss it and learn something from it, agree or not, without resorting to snide, personal or toxic attacks. And I can simply move on. What are you trying to accomplish? Beware the green-eyed monster. Christianity has a lot of ills, but also teaches, a lot of love. So, that’s a bit of the theme this podcast: Love, or in Irish, Grá, for people, efforts, heroes and harmony. Did you see the story earlier this week in the Irish Independent? It is titled: Grateful Irish honour their Famine debt to Choctaw tribe The generosity dates back to a gesture made in March 1847 when the Choctaw tribe heard of the Great Famine. Funds for native American tribes who have been badly hit by coronavirus are flooding in from Ireland as they repay a debt dating back to the 19th-century famine. At least 41 people have fallen victim to Covid-19 in the Navajo Nation, which straddles parts of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. The rise in cases is partly attributed to a water crisis.  An estimated 40pc of the Navajo do not have running water at home, and a drought in the south-west exacerbated the crisis.  As the pandemic intensified, the Navajo and Hopi families set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise cash to pay for bottled water. Already more than $1.3m (€1.2m) has been raised, with donations flooding in from Ireland.  The generosity dates back to a gesture made in March 1847 when the Choctaw tribe, which was gradually re-establishing itself in Oklahoma having been ousted from its ancestral lands in Mississippi, heard of the Great Famine.  Meeting in a building in Skullyville, Oklahoma, the Choctaw were asked to dig deep for people miles away they had never met. They did and the donations poured in.  Now, 173 years later, the gesture is being repaid with donors from Ireland.  "The Choctaw and Navajo people helped the Irish during the Great Famine, despite their own suffering," wrote Michael Corkery, who donated $200.  "When I learned about it, I never forgot it. It's history now, but we are still grateful. Thank you!" *** We are expanding the OhioIANews in Columbus, with new Columnist and Sales Rep Molly Truex.  Molly is doing all things Columbus and her column this month features two new bands in the Cbus area you should check out online and when the isolation ends, in person – Fialla (which means kinship), and The Pints. In this issue, check out CB Shanahan’s new book, Hollis Whitaker – a really great read, and a Top Shelf Selection. I read it in 2 days. There is a recipe for French Irish Crepes, and an Irish language lesson, loads of opinions and reopening music options of course, and other news, reviews and events from throughout Ohio, and Ireland too.  You can see it all on OhioIANews.com. Here is your invitation: Invitation by John O’Brien, Jr. You are welcome in my home Wait for no invitation, for it was given the day we met. Pull up a chair, warm your hands as the sweet tastes of the turf and the tea, linger My door is always open, the kettle always boiling. Scones warm vapors awaken. We’ll sing. Bards and sean nos. As generations before. Friends of friends come freely and stay, and go, leaving memories passing on songs, adding to the fabric of my life barely lived, generations old Only you have seen, what you have seen, the places you’ve been, stories you’ve breathed, friends and foes of the past and how they walked their path. Their ripples, and jokes, their memorable moments in time and so will live on, as we pass on. There are no strangers here only friends who have not yet met. For as ck chesterton said,  "Great are the Gaels of Ireland,The men that God made madFor all their wars are Merry,and all their songs are sad" COVID aside, do you find that changing? Do you see and hear a happier Irish music, book and event scene? Here in America, it is Mother’s Day on Sunday.  Did you know that in Ireland, Mother’s Day is on the fourth Sunday of the Lenten season, which is three weeks before Easter Sunday? Happy Mother’s to my mom, and yours too. Here’s an auld poem, called, Two Sweethearts: I learned a very different version of this old song, maybe originally Appalachian, but some say it is actually an old Irish song that has been changed over the years, to become an American Folk song.  SO many times, so many songs did. The words changed, the meaning, and often heartache, did not. Either way, the words are still in my head, even though I haven’t heard the song sung in probably more than 40 years.  It comes to me, this Mother’s Day. This is what I remember, it may not be “right” in some people’s minds, but it is, as I learned it: Two Sweethearts           Author unknown lost in time A crew of young soldiers one night in a camp were talking of sweethearts they had. All would be glad, but for one Irish lad, Who was very downhearted and sad.   I say won’t you join us, said one of the boys, Surely you love someone too. He lifted his head, and proudly he said Yes, I’m in love with two,   One has hair of silvery gray, The other has hair of gold One is young and beautiful The other is bent and old.   Those are the two that are dear to me From them I never will part For one is my mother, God Bless her, I love her And the other, is my sweetheart. Ahh, my sweetheart, what a woman - let me tell you about her, in a poem I wrote just a few short years, or maybe a lifetime, ago. It's called The Vacant Chair I asked her if she could go home or did she have to stay out all night She looked at me kind of funny, then her laughter peeled with delight We struck up a friendship; there was nothing more at first Yet every time we separated; I felt an unquenchable thirst. Friends grew to lovers, in body and the spirit. We finally faced our fate, time to precious to mourn or hear it. We found each other’s joys, she loved the teddy bear Her soul hugged her heart, when I built the vacant chair She was beautiful, she was gorgeous.  The kindness that I saw How she left me after the night, and always in constant awe I was never so happy, we traveled, and we laughed, We danced and we sang, she was a master at her craft I wrote, while she painted, her skill extraordinaire Poems and fond memories, engraved deep in the vacant chair We never had such happiness, each was wide with wonder That kindred souls found each other, amidst the din and the thunder No children had we, tho’ in the thought we’d often revel For the sickness had already started, the bastard of the devil Waiting, throwing up, more chemo left to bear And when the pain got too bad, I widened out, her chair Time slipped away, but the devil wouldn’t let go The drugs and the treatments – rained blow upon blow She fought it so valiantly; she cried that we might part Then I learned that it was winning, and a knife ripped apart my heart I did all that I could, she loved when I washed her hair Damn you devil, Damn the empty vacant chair Day after day, yet her smile was still bright, When I’d walk in the room, see her body there, so white She was home now, in our own home, peaceful here at last We planned out her funeral, and remembered about the past The pain and the fashion, were more than I could bear For one last night I held her close, as we dreamed together, in the vacant chair I asked her if she must go home or could she stay out all night She looked at me kind of funny, then laughed with remembered delight My heart, it broke in two and I can still freeze the moment But the terrible devil had won, death’s taking it did foment We were frozen in time, lost, without a care Now I sit alone at the table, across from the vacant chair The time it goes, so slowly, the moment’s hard to wait This that brought such delight,        now how I’ve started to hate How can it sit empty, when I am still sitting here How can the crying stop, when every glimpse brings a tear? I miss you love, we were a once-in-a-lifetime pair So, I search out the polish. Lovingly, I caress our vacant chair Recently, we have lost a few great ones: Mary Alice Boland, Frank Buckley. COVID 19  and Cancer has taken such a heavy toll on the Irish community.  So has Love.  To me, love is a woman, in all her blazing passions  ~ like a good cup of tea; you don’t know how strong it is until you put it in hot water.  She is a ship, a land, a heartache, a song and a legacy – She is … Love. Congrats to Kelsey Higgins and Corey Neito, who got married May 1st, and Spencer Littman and Shannon Enoch, who got engaged May 3rd. The news came out this week that more Irish and Celtic Fests have been cancelled. Penn-Mar, Ohio Scottish, Cleveland, Dayton, and Milwaukee, to name a few.  Dublin, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Michigan, Ohio Celtic have not announced their plans yet. All I ask is that: you attend what you can, be it a fest, a Restaurant/Pub, Import Store or FB Live concert.  We all need a touch of help, sometimes.    Ireland has given us much to celebrate Festivals and cultural events are a place of great joy Those joys were earned, thru trial, thru heartache. And mostly, thru perseverance. Nostalgia is not what it used to be. So this I say to you Nuair a stadann an ceol, stadann an rince (When the music stops, so does the dance) As John Denver said, “Follow me where I go, what I do and who I know;www.OhioIANews.com  www.facebook.com/OhioIrishAmericanNews     www.twitter.com/jobjr  Instagram: OhioIANews Sign up for our twice a month eBulletin that alternates with this 2x month Podcast.  I hope to see you soon, in a happier Irish music scene. See you in two weeks, Friday the 22nd at 5 pm. Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you; Please share yours, with me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the 2nd Songs, Stories & Shenanigans Podcast. This is J publisher & Editor of the OhioIANews. I’d like to start out with sharing a story form this month’s issue, Called Donnybrook, written by John Myers. Our heritage, American and for me, Irish, is the blueprint of what makes us who we are; have you been to The Greater Cleveland An Gorta Mor Stone? It is a good place to start. The Stone, on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, as well as a stone’s throw away, Settler’s Landing, soothed by the flowing Cuyahoga – the river, both physically and symbolically, is the gateway to Cleveland, for anyone, but especially, for the Irish. The river was the reason many came to Cleveland, and the gateway to Irish Town Bend. Irishtown Bend runs along this River, along the Flats. It is roughly the area from West 25th Street east to the river / north of Detroit Road. It was swampy. It was developed during the 1830s by the Irish who came to the area as laborers for the construction of the city's railways and canal. Many soon found work on the bustling city docks, or in the growing industries. Steel wouldn’t come until later of course, but other industries did. The area was characterized by the extreme poverty of the outcast Irish. We all know of the “No Irish Need Apply” signs, right? On shops, in newspapers – there is plenty of proof, if you wish to find it. For a period, the majority of the poorer Irish who came here lived in nothing more than flimsy shacks, built from discarded wood, anything they could find on the sometimes shifting hillside above the polluted and disease propagating river. Due to their outcast status in Cleveland (or name your city) society, the Irish formed a very close knit, closed neighborhood, much like the Italians & other ethnic groups like mine did. I kid you not when I say 3 and 4 FAMILIES, lived in a room, in double and triple decker houses. The weight alone sometimes caused the collapse of the houses. They would stop, bury the dead, and salvage whatever material could be used to build a new shelter, on the same spot. The constant threat of disease and the backbreaking work most engaged in made life in Irishtown tough, at times violent, and often very short. A bachelor’s life is no life for a single man in Irishtown bend. Life was centered on 10-12 hour workdays, 6, or 7, days a week; their community; the pub; and their faith. We all know of the Irish reputation for drinking. I hate stereotypes; don’t spread them. The brave may not live forever....but the cautious never live at all. There are some who will disagree with this history and say the poverty, the crowding didn’t happen. I think they look too late, in time. It evaporated when business pushed it out, heading into the new century. Increased immigration during the 1840s as Ireland headed toward Black 47 brought more of their countrymen, causing Irish Town Bend to expand. The neighborhood became known as the Angle, including old Irishtown and Whiskey Island. In the 1860s, St. Malachi Church was built in Irishtown, with St. Patrick's on Bridge near Fulton built earlier a little further west. With continued growth, the Irish expanded as far west as West 65th Street, adding a third parish, St. Colman's on W 65th & Madison, in the 1880s. West 65th Street was the first location of the West Side Irish American Club, before moving to W 93rd, and then to Olmsted Twp, where they have been since 1990. It is the largest of the Irish clubs, with 1,900 households as members. My dad has been President since 1991. As the Irish immigrants entered the 1900s, they had started to gain some upward mobility in society. Cops led to lawyers led to judges and through it all, politics. Increased industry and job opportunities, as well as business of their own where they paid it forward by providing jobs to newly arriving Irish, allowed for economic growth in the community. Irish to Irish called those that did well Lace Irish – both a hidden source of pride at making it, and a derogatory term, at taking on airs of success. Who knew being able to afford curtains would carry so much meaning? However, the Angle, especially Irishtown, remained the poorest area. This remained the case until early into the 20th century. As the Irish of Cleveland began to join the ranks of the middle class, they left Irishtown and headed for the western suburbs of Lakewood, Fairview Park and West Park, where I was born and raised, and returned to. I was working at a coalmine in Alabama when I got a job offer to return to Cleveland. Whoosh, I was gone. On Irishtown Bend, the homes that were left behind would become inhabited by Hungarian immigrants for a brief time, and then abandoned. An Gorta Mor Stone was designed, funded and placed by the Greater Cleveland Hunger Memorial Committee, founded by John O’Brien, Sr., my dad, and made up with “get things done” people from throughout our community, like me. It is a 10-ton, 10-foot stone, hand carved by stone cutter, craftsman and committee member Eamon D’Arcy, who passed away in 2014. What a legacy he has left on our shores. It was placed to coincide with the 150th Anniversary of Black 47. Forgive me if you know some of this, but here’s a quick blurb: There were over 4 million people in Ireland leading up to 1845. That number is debated; the number quoted depending on who is doing the counting. The governing authority, the British, said 2 million, and based their number on the Hearth Tax – in which the tax man, called the Excise Man, that you hear about in songs, walked around Ireland, and counted the hearths. “Run like the devil from the Excise man, to the hills of Connemara”… The Excise man attributed 1 man, 1 woman and two children to each hearth. Now I don’t know many farming families in Ireland that had only two children. The average was closer to 10. Often, a grandparent, or two, an unmarried aunt or uncle, or both lodged there as well. Some say 1 million died on the coffin ships, so called because people were packed in so tightly, and buried at sea when they died within, or left to shores world-wide, including Cleveland. I say it is more than 2 million, significantly more. Either way, a massive number of boats filled with grain were leaving Ireland while people were dying on the road, evicted for not being able to pay their rents, when the crops failed, for 5 consecutive years. The main crop was potato, and a man would eat 10 lbs in a day – a rich source of nutrients, and perfectly suited to the climate in Ireland. The crops have failed before, they have failed since, but the perfect storm of 1845 – 1850 sent the Irish across the world. Most prefer it be called An Gorta Mor (The Great Hunger), rather than The Famine, since they view it as a deliberate act of the British, rather than an act of God. The governing authorities wanted to convert farmland to grazing land – there was much more money in beef than in potatoes. 100 yards east of the Famine Stone is Settler’s Landing – it represents the spot that 42-year-old Moses Cleaveland brought a survey team of about 50 people to, in 1796, from Connecticut. Cuyahoga is an Iroquois name given to the river, it literally means, crooked river. The Superior Viaduct began in 1875 and completed in 1878. The Detroit Superior Bridge was built in 1918 – 102 years old. 100 yards from the Stone is Lorenzo Carter’s resident replica, built in 1976. Across the street is the Flat Iron. It is the oldest Irish pub in Cleveland. It was started in 1910. To the left of the building was a stair there, gone now, but I remember it. It led up to tiny rooms, just wider than a bunk, which held a bed and a little table. Outside the rooms was a wall full of cubbyholes. Men in town, Longshoremen who unloaded boats and sailors, got their mail there, after 3, 6 or maybe 12 months at sea. It gave them an address for family back home to write to. Too often, they came home to find a letter telling them a loved one had died. Yet still, they continued the practice of working, saving, enough to bring another from home. One who came was Tom Byrne, a flute teaching local legend, who emigrated to Cleveland in 1948 to join family already come over. He came into Terminal Tower on the train, to catch a bus out to his family. He was nervous, excited, hopeful and scared. He walked onto the square and the world had gone mad. Streamers, confetti, a parade, tens of thousands were on the street singing, hugging, cheering, and he thought, “Wow! What a country, to welcome a poor farm boy to their world.” He thought the celebration was given for everyone. He didn’t know that the Indians had won the World Series the day before. Let it be again, please God. These stories of cheering and sorrow are highly unusual to us here in America. But they are the stories of America. They are not unusual to those who left Ireland, Italy, all over Europe, for a better life. Many war veterans won’t talk about the war. Many immigrants are the same. But if you ask, respectfully and with curiosity, you might get them to tell. They have such amazing journeys; our challenge is to get them to tell those stories, before they are lost forever. It is what the Ohio Irish American News is about; the stories of our past, that shape our present, and future, they shape us. Ask them, I promise you will be amazed. I was going to do a bit of poetry to end the day, a work of mine called The Vacant Chair. I’m not going to, it’s sad and it’s sweet and I know it complete, but we’ll save it for another less stressful time. The news came out this week that Fests cancelled. All I ask is that: Vote by Mail Support Rest/Pubs/Import Stores As John Denver said, “Follow me where I go, what I do and who I know; www.OhioIANews.com www.facebook.com/OhioIrishAmericanNews www.twitter.com/jobjr Instagram: OhioIANews Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you; Please share yours, with me See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiss me I’m Irish? St. Patrick’s Day? Why is St. Patrick’s Day/Week/Month celebrated with shenanigans all over the world? Where did St. Patrick really come from (Hint, it wasn’t Ireland). And where do we come from? How did we really get to such a day of meaning so deep, that the Irish and almost everyone else too, celebrate it so boisterously? Not just for a day or weekend, but now, for the whole month of March? What’s the true, authentic Story? Our very first podcast shall tackle these burning issues, and really, what are shenanigans? Why do the Irish dislike the clover but love the shamrock and why they are different, and of course, no celebration is worth its Irish Sea salt, without music.  So, since everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, Sing Irish Men and Women, sing, with us! Hosted by Ohio Irish American News Publisher & Editor John O’Brien, Jr. Raised on Songs, Stories and Shenanigans is brought to you by the Ohio Irish American News and WHK The Answer. It airs every other Friday, at 5, on whkradio.com and OhioIANews.com, but is available for download, whenever you wish. Songs, Stories & Shenanigans The Invitation by Batt Burns Used with permission of Batt Burns Pull up your sugan chairs, my friends Close out the green half door And gather around the peat turf fire As we did in days of yore. I am glad you rambled in tonight, For the house was quiet and still. Herself was carding sheep wool, while I, my pipe did fill. There wasn’t a word between us, you’d swear a row was on. But memories were with us, of our children now all gone. To America and England, those lands across the foam Will they ever laugh and joke again, in our cozy Irish home? You’ve waked us from our reverie. Maybe it’s just as well. Before those memories saddened us, and a tear or two were shed. Your happy faces cheer us up. You’ve surely brought some news. And from my store of yarns, sure you all can pick and choose. Look to the blazing flame there, do you see what I can see, Dark heroes, fairy castles, warriors fighting to be free? There’s leprechauns and fairy folks, Oisin and Finn Mac Cool I can see them all so plainly there, from my little fireplace stool. Come back into the past with me as I speak of olden days When life was much more simple, and we all had purer ways. Oh there were no lounge bars or discos. TV we did not know. Yet we had fun and sport a plenty, in the Kerry of long ago. I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.  1st Generation.  So my roots go much deeper in Ireland, than they do in the U.S.  I never thought much about it, until I went to Ireland.  I remember the air, and the peace I felt, sitting on a stone wall, waiting for the train to Dublin and singing Kenny Roger’s songs with my sister Cathy. For me, a whole new valley of thought opened up.  The missing connection, the only time in my life I have not felt deep-core restlessness, of not belonging, was when I was in Ireland.  That feeling was not repeated until seventeen years later - when I went back.  In an abandoned and disappearing churchyard I saw wind-rubbed tombstones that carried the same names as I know well today; George, Hubert, Desmond (who died in 1698), O’Brien’s all.  Phillip O’Brien, my cousin, is the 11th generation to mind the hills and cows, milk the milk and sheer the sheep at Atteagh Mills. Atteagh Mills, near the town of Athlone, is in the Co. Roscommon, in south central Ireland. South Central LA it is not.  It is farm country.  His nephew is the 11th generation to mind the cows and sheep at Atteagh Mills.  The “New House” is 266 years old, older than this country, and the old house? Well, it is just old, dating back to the 1600s.  We have roots there.  I have never “walked the land” with my father, as so many memoirs deem essential.  Yet, I look out and see our ghosts, I hear their music, and that peace once again settles down, through my toes. I am rooted. Yet, only in my memory does the taste of belonging remain. The feeling of Ireland, nurtured by dances at West Side IA, bands, Sunday morning 78’s, then 8-tracks, before mass, and then Gaelic Football games and gatherings; Immersion at 3,000 miles.  My father left Ireland soon after playing for the 1951 All-Ireland winning Roscommon U-21 Gaelic Football team.  He was not the oldest son.  The first time he returned was for his mother’s funeral, 38 years later.  Through the roots of my past, I sometimes feel, that I never left.  Since the Beginning of Man, The Hours between the Coming of Night and the Coming of Sleep have belonged to the Tellers of Tales and the Makers of Music I grew up in a house immersed in Irish culture.  Growing up, the things I remember most are the frequent guests that we had stay overnight, when they were playing in Cleveland.  Bridie Gallagher, Dermot O’Brien, Glen Curtin, Noel Henry, Makem and the Clancys, Barleycorn as well: so many names, so many memories.  When I woke to the smell of bacon on a Sunday morning, I knew dad had brought the band home from the dance the night before, and the breakfast table was going to be full of stories from the road.  It was a great way to grow up.  As I got older, I started finding my own songs and singers that I loved.  The albums and 8-Tracks that I heard became my own songs.  One day my dad walked into my bedroom and said, “Johnny, we’re starting a festival, you’re doing the parking”. And he walked out. I was 16. The first few years, I worked the parking lot, parking cars and soaking up the sun, and the sun burn.  When I graduated from college, I started doing the food, and moved onward from there.  Because of the festival, dances and Sunday morning breakfasts, I became immersed in the music and, like many, I was deeply impacted by the message of Tommy Makem and how preserving and promoting the culture was so important, before it all fades away, and is lost, forever.  Being able to meet, talk to, and form friendships with so many performers who had impact on the music, and on me, really influenced my thinking.  My memories of the first festival are still very strong and I have so many cherished memories from the ensuing years, all related to the festival performers, many, like Tommy, now gone home. The volunteers and amazing, legendary afters parties and sessions are treasured.  In my mind, they shall live in infamy. I was hooked on the music and still, to this day, learn as many songs as I can; Songs in my head, songs always on my tongue, songs I love to sing, songs that tell stories.  We call them Folk Songs.   Many have negative connotations of that term. They don’t realize folk songs are the heart of rock n roll, of blues, jazz, gospel, country, and even rap.   For as Sean O’Casey said, in his Rose & Crown: Oh, and the folk-song, the folk-song, the gay and melancholy strains of the Irish folk-song, on fiddle, on harp, and on fife. And no folk-art is there but is born in the disregard of gain, and in the desire to add a newer beauty and a steadier charm to God’s well-turned-out gifts to man. In recent years, maybe as my strident side mellows and I meet people from all over the world in this writing life, I am more struck by the similarities in people than the differences.  Every culture has its own niches, its’ cool things that touch your soul, but the similarities, especially of emotion and defining values, are remarkable, and unmistakable. William Butler Yeats said: Folk-art is indeed, the oldest of the aristocracies of thought, and because it refuses what is passing and trivial, the merely clever and pretty, as certainly as the vulgar and insincere, and because it has gathered unto itself the simplest and most unforgettable thoughts of the generations, it is the soil where all art is rooted. Tommy Makem is the Godfather of Irish music. He wrote more than 400 songs, the anthem, Four Green Fields, of course, as well as Gentle Annie, Winds of Morning, The Winds Are Singing Freedom and so many other iconic songs, songs that are sung wherever the Irish gather around the world. They are the stories of our people, and today those songs are sung by Gaelic Storm, We Banjo 3, Lunasa, Runa and just about every popular Irish band performing today.  Our stories define us; our culture is a story-driven one, an oral tradition passed on generation to generation.  We pass the stories on so our roots, our history, our very identity stays vibrant and alive – you see it around you here and now - it is our connection to our past, AND our present. My story is not the only one I am trying to tell.  Tommy wrote Four Green Fields one day while driving down to Newry, in the Co. Down.  He saw a woman coming down from the fields with the cows, to cross the road.  They were both stopped at a British checkpoint.  Tommy watched her as he, and she, waited to go thru.  He could see the, Hassle, as the woman just wanted to get on across the road, to get on with her life. He wrote the first two verses then, and the final one later, when he got to Newry. Four Green Fields is a song full of symbols, in its simplicity.  The Four Green Fields symbolically refer to the 4 Provinces of Ireland: Leinster, Munster, Ulster & Connaught, which hold the 32 counties, most similar to our states.  The symbolic “fine, old woman” represents Ireland herself. What did I have? said the fine old woman What did I have? this proud old woman did say I had four green fields, each one was a jewel But strangers came and tried to take them from me I had fine strong sons, they fought to save my jewels They fought and died, and that was my grief, said she Today, the oral tradition is more readily available than ever.  Only now, it is electric!  Name the poem, story or song, and you can often find it on the internet.  This is an amazing this for our culture, and brings us full circle, because we can see more than just our viewpoint.  There are three sides to every story – your side, my side, and the truth: now we can hear more than one side of the story.  We can see the similar hurts, struggles, anger, joy and goals from a perspective never before available to us, and we can make our own decision, based upon a person, and their character, not their religion, or the place they were born; whether you were born in Boston, in Belfast, or in Bethlehem.   We can never forget, but if we ever want to move on, and we must move on, or be left far behind, we must see the similarities and common ground between people of a different perspective, no less relevant to them.  You and I, we were raised on songs and stories, we are Irish, that will never change.  We must always be aware of from where we came, and how we got to where we are today.  Don’t look back, we are not going that way is not an all-encompassing statement – it is simply a way to focus on our future.  No matter the internet’s ready providence of what it calls fact, we cannot forget the story,  We cannot forget our past, our traditions and the events and people that define us today. We just can’t let the things that defines our past, also be what defines our future. Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather, it condemns the oppression or persecution of others. - John F. Kennedy He also said: “Mankind must put an end to war, before war puts an end to Mankind.” Old soldiers never die, but young ones do.  No matter from which side of the river that runs thru us we come, we are shaped by those with us, and those opposite.  When we strip away the mantles that we wear, we see men and women, not orange and green.  When we see Christians, not Catholic or Protestant, we see the hand of God. I’ve run out of time.  I hope you’ve enjoyed our very first podcast. I hope the poems and verse today shows how our similarities, tho often hidden, tie us together, more than the difference tear us apart. It is St Patrick’s Day, a day of great celebration and reunion, unseen anywhere else in America. I hope you have a great day of fun, respect, and reunion. There are many more songs and stories; I hope we will write new ones- of joy, of unification.  We are closer to a One Ireland, than we have ever been in 800 years.  We’ll save them for next time, March 27th, when we meet again, and move from our past, to our present day, and future. For a list of those events to come, Pick up your copy of the Ohio Irish American News at any one of 211 locations in and around Ohio. The list and archived interactive copies are at www.ohioianews.com.  And sign up for our eBulletin. It goes out to more than 12,000 opted in subscribers 2x per month, alternating weeks with these podcasts. Follow the website, or our FB, Twitter and Instagram pages to keep up with all the shenanigans to come.  See you at the Parade and again on March 27th, right here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.