The jet lag has kicked in and I’m having some exhaustion-related come down from my travels, but before I crash, here are just a few more shots of the amazing and poignant Irish Hunger Memorial in New York City. More photos and tales to come soon as soon as I catch up on my sleep.
It really did feel like Ireland there for a minute…
In the heart of Southern Manhattan on the bank of the Hudson, a mystical Irish cottage rises out of the ground. It is surrounded by tall buildings and heavy traffic and seems out of place but it is irresistible and it beckons you inside. When you do enter, be prepared – your heart may break due to both the despair and the longing.
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She stepped off the boat to a throng of admirers and reporters. The Countess was a romantic heroine that had captured hearts and minds across the world and America was no exception. When Constance Markievicz arrived with Kathleen Barry at the Cunard pier in New York City on this day in 1922, a massive crowd greeted her with adoration and cheers.
Approximately 50 journalists and photographers had already boarded the ladies’ boat, the Aquitania, when it was stopped at the quarantine station. The Countess captivated every one of them and their glowing reports spread out all over the nation. They described everything in the greatest detail about her clothing and style and marveled that such a small woman could have done so much in the cause for Irish Freedom. They ate her stories up completely, as did her audiences whenever she spoke.
Since it is Easter Monday and National Poetry month here in the US, today belongs to Padraig Pearse and his heartbreaking poem, The Mother.
The Mother
I do not grudge them: Lord, I do not grudge
My two strong sons that I have seen go out
To break their strength and die, they and a few,
In bloody protest for a glorious thing,
They shall be spoken of among their people,
The generations shall remember them,
And call them blessed;
But I will speak their names to my own heart
In the long nights;
The little names that were familiar once
Round my dead hearth.
Lord, thou art hard on mothers:
We suffer in their coming and their going;
And tho I grudge them not, I weary, weary
Of the long sorrow-And yet I have my joy:
My sons were faithful, and they fought.
On Thursday, April 2nd, 1914, about one hundred women strolled into Wynn’s hotel in Dublin at four o’clock in the afternoon for the first of Cumann na mBan’s many meetings. The Irish Women’s Council had a lot to discuss but the one thing almost all the ladies present had in common was a devotion to Ireland and a desire to serve it.
Today in 1872, Arthur Griffith was born in Dublin. He was passionate about Irish history, which drove him to become a member of the Gaelic League where he rubbed shoulders with other Irish activists and cultural leaders. He was a bit of an anomaly. His devotion to the Gaelic League led to Griffith joining the Irish Republican Brotherhood where he was surrounded by many ideological opposites. He was inspired by Charles Parnell and wrote for many radical papers while he was growing up, but he was also ultra-conservative and widely reported to be an anti-Semite. While his IRB friends were planning a complete revolution, he was more in favor of a dual monarchy system, a sort of co-partnership with England. He was against any form of communism or socialism and was largely anti-union, but was in a room talking policies with James Connolly—the driving force behind Irish socialism at the time—on many occasions.
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Next week I will begin writing from the other side of the United States – I’m only going to New York for a couple of weeks but I am excited to experience it on a different level than I ever have before. Do any of my readers and fellow writers live in the Big Apple? If so, I am looking for suggestions of what to do and where to go while I visit, since I’m going to be there for a decent amount of time. It is to be my final trip before the centenary in Ireland next year, so I want to make the most of it.
Please comment if there’s something or somewhere that is not to be missed, or if you know about an amazing coffee place, because I am spoiled rotten living here in the bay area. I’ve seen Ellis Island and most of the touristy things already, and am visiting the Mckittrick Hotel again as well. I’ll be there over Easter and am hoping to find a commemoration, since I will miss the one here in the bay and some good traditional music too. I’m looking for all manner of things – Irish or not – though by now it’s probably apparent that the topic is a passionate one for me. That said, where do you like to go when you visit or live in New York?
“A rebel is one who opposes lawfully constituted authority and that I have never done.” So said one of the most devoted Republican women in Irish history, Mary MacSwiney. I’m sure she believed in that statement with all of her heart—as she did a free Ireland—but it’s guaranteed the English did not feel the same way. To them, Mary MacSwiney was the one of the worst and biggest female rebels, not only in Cork but in all of Ireland.
On this day, March 26th, in 2007, a historic meeting was made in the North of Ireland. Ian Paisley, an avid Protestant firebrand known for his “Never” phrases sat down with the other side of his coin, Gerry Adams, who led (and leads) Sinn Féin. The two men hammered out an agreement at Stormont that promised to form a power-sharing partnership by May 8th of that year. For the first time, the ideological opposites were able to come together and reach an agreement that was mostly fair for most of their constituents . Both Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Former British prime minister Tony Blair hail this first meeting and agreement as “a reconciliatory and transforming moment in British-Irish history.”
So if you’re wondering why I’ve been a little quieter over the last week or so, it is due to the wonders of technology!! I have enrolled in an Irish history class given by Trinity College in Dublin…and it’s both free and online. Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather attend in person – but I can’t seem to find anyone who wants to give me a free place to stay and a free education in Ireland yet (imagine that!) so this will have to do.
We are only in the second week of the course and you can still join in, if you feel like making up a week or two. I added the class late and have been playing catch up as well. It’s not really credited anywhere, but you can get a souvenir certificate at the end of the course and did I mention that it’s FREE?!? Even if you don’t learn much that you didn’t already know, it’s worth the non-existent pennies or euros.
Join me in my education adventures and give this a shot. (Also, if you are a bazillionaire and are feeling like a generous benefactor, you can always send me to Ireland for a real degree. You never know unless you ask, right? Are you listening universe?)
Choosing the Green 
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