November 2017 ’s hometown VOL. 28 #11 journal of Irish culture. $2.00 Worldwide at All contents copyright © 2017 bostonirish.com Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. Sun., Nov. 19 is the day: AIG Hurling Classic returns to Fenway Park By Daniel Sheehan BIR Correspondent The AIG Hurling Classic is coming back to Fenway Park, this time in the form of a three-match tournament on Sun., Nov. 19. The event will feature four of Ireland’s top teams, with taking on Dublin in a rematch of the 2015 contest, and Tipperary facing Clare in the second preliminary match. The winners will then play for the championship. America’s oldest major league ballpark has had ties to Ireland for nearly a cen- tury. It was there in 1919 that the eminent Irish leader Eamon de Valera made his Darren Gleeson of Co. Tipperary case for the recognition of a newly inde- joined Red Sox President Sam Ken- pendent Ireland to a standing-room only nedy to announce the AIG Fenway gathering. A century later, the Irish of Classic last June. Boston’s ties to the motherland remain which saw Galway emerge victorious over as strong as ever, as evidenced by the Waterford. The reigning world champions immense popularity of the 2015 hurling will seek to defend their title and earn exhibition, which was played in front of a a second straight victory over Dublin in crowd of 30,000. That contest saw Galway the Fenway Classic. come from behind in a thrilling matchup “Along with the championship trophy, against Dublin to win, 50-47. there will be an intense Irish pride for Event organizers were encouraged and counties competing in the final match,” inspired by the success of the first of what said Gaelic Players Association chief ex- they hoped would become a recurring ecutive officer Dermot Earley. “The new series. “The strong demand and positive tournament format is going to bring the response to the inaugural AIG Fenway best out of four brilliant teams. It will be Hurling Classic in 2015 prompted us to an unforgettable day for fans, players, and make this year’s event even bigger and the sport of hurling as a whole.” better,” said Fenway Sports Manage- The classic will be preceded by a lively ment managing director Mark Lev. “The Irish festival featuring Irish food, music, game’s exciting combination of speed, and dancing. The festival will begin at skill, constant action, and scoring has 11 a.m. The preliminary games will be Galway hurlers Colm and Jason Flynn gave their team captain Andy Smith really resonated with fans.” played at 12:30 and 1:30 p.m., and the a lift as they celebrated their victory over Dublin at the AIG Fenway Hurl- So this month, “the fastest game on championship match at 3 p.m. Tickets are ing Classic in Nov. 2015. The classic will be reprised this month as a one-day grass” returns to Fenway in the wake of available for purchase at mlb.com/redsox/ tournament on Nov. 19. Image: Ray McManus/Sportsfile last month’s All-Ireland Championship, tickets/special-events/hurling. Immigrant experience draws attention at Irish Honors luncheon By Daniel Sheehan migrants — to protect them from persecution, and Reporter Correspondent protect them from hate,” he said. “Many of our [Irish] The Boston Irish Reporter hosted its eighth an- ancestors and relatives who came to this country were nual Boston Irish Honors luncheon on Oct. 26 at the undocumented. We should never forget that.” Seaport Hotel. The event drew some 400 guests who The mayor said that it was only fitting that the helped to honor Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen, BIR honors continue to be conscious of the plight of former state highway commissioner and Boston may- immigrants Boston, for they are the people who built oral advisor Tom Tinlin, and a Dorchester and South and continue to build our city. Boston family dedicated to serving their community: He added: “It’s important for us today … to remember Annmarie,Nora, and Bill Kennedy. that those immigrants coming today will be the leaders The event was bookended by passionate speeches of the future. Some day they’ll be somebody standing, from Mayor and Cullen, both of whom maybe at this microphone, maybe at this luncheon, preached humility and tolerance to the largely Boston whose mother might have come from Honduras and Irish audience in the context of the divisive national whose father might have come from El Salvador and debate surrounding the anti-immigrant climate in they met at a hall or restaurant in East Boston. Twenty- Washington. five years later… their son or daughter could become Walsh’s parents immigrated from Connemara, Co. . And we hope that the immigrants 25 Galway in the 1960s, while Cullen’s grandparents years from now are treated better than the immigrants came to America a generation earlier. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh offered opening of today are being treated.” The mayor, who has been outspoken against the remarks at the Boston Irish Honors luncheon, say- Cullen echoed Walsh’s sentiments in his remarks ing in part: “Those of us that are Irish-Americans concluding the luncheon, chiding those who would current administration’s harsh stance on immigration, must be on the front lines to continue to fight and implored his fellow Irish Americans to remember that willfully ignore their own immigrant past and turn a welcome immigrants — to protect them from per- blind eye to the current plight of those seeking a bet- just a few generations ago, their forebears were in the secution, and protect them from hate. “Many of our same position as today’s Latin American immigrants. ter life in America. ancestors and relatives who came to this country As a group that “faced institutional discrimination for “Those of us that are Irish-Americans must be on were undocumented. We should never forget that.” the front lines to continue to fight and welcome im- Isabel Leon/City of Boston photo (Continued on page 17)

I work in Hollywood but I keep my money in my hometown-Kevin Chapman Check out City of Boston Credit Union - visit CityofBostonCU.com Page 2 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 3

To order: www.gerardfdoherty.com Doherty memoir sheds light on Kennedy friendships www.amazon.com By Daniel Sheehan representative, Doherty Reporter Correspondent presents an intimate About a minute had portrait of his hometown, passed since Gerard its Irish Catholic history, Doherty welcomed me and its complicated politi- into his office on Franklin cal past. Street in Boston, and he From his stories of had already launched into success on the campaign one of his favorite stories trail, it’s clear that the po- litical savvy he learned in about the Kennedy broth- It is the remarkable story of a man who Charlestown proved use- grew up in modest circumstances, to ers, one involving Ted acquire a degree from Harvard, to ful on both the state and overcome a devastating illness, to rise to Kennedy and a bathtub be friends with the most famous brothers in American history, in central . national level. Doherty’s to work with three U.S. Presidents and to establish a successful boldness and creativ- law practice. It is the American story personified. “Ted was accustomed www.gerardfdoherty.com to soaking in a tub every ity were instrumental afternoon for half an hour in a number of political tionship with the family to relax,” Doherty said. “It victories, including one for decades on end. was toward the end of a in Indiana during RFK’s ••• long day of campaigning presidential campaign The JFK Library host- and we were in a small, when Doherty, in what ed a conversation with remote town in central he calls “a Machiavellian Doherty and WGBH’s Mass when he urged me idea,” solicited the help Jim Braude on Oct. 15. to find a tub for him. We of a local marching band At the conclusion, Braude came upon a home and I to help rally support and read the one line from the walked up and knocked gather signatures at com- book that he thought to be on the front door and ex- munity churches. “wildly untrue.” Doherty plained the situation. The In addition to its trea- was recalling a meeting Gerard Doherty speaks as WGBH’s Jim Braude listens at the JFK Library sure trove of stories and man who answered didn’t on Oct. 15. with two politicians dur- believe me!” anecdotes, “They Were ing which he was forced In the end, the confused setts, lawyer, real estate stories to tell. man, and his first foray My Friends” also includes to stall. He writes, “I then homeowner obliged after broker. But most notably, His storytelling takes into politics. a number of previously did something I do quite seeing Kennedy in the he was a political advisor, center stage in the au- Employing a matter-of- unreleased photographs well. I talked for a very flesh, providing Doherty strategist, and campaign tobiographical memoir, fact narrative voice, he from Doherty’s personal long time without saying with a particularly en- manager who worked on which spans the nearly works his way through collection, many of which anything of consequence.” tertaining anecdote, one the front lines for Presi- ten decades of his life, the throngs of people who hang on the wall in his of- Whether this was of many in his new book, dent John F. Kennedy, recounting whimsical have made an impact fice. One memorable photo Doherty being transpar- “They Were My Friends— US attorney general and moments like the bathtub on his life in one way depicts ent or simply modest, Jack, Bob and Ted.” US Senator Robert Ken- saga with bemused candor or another, revealing a reaching up to shake the readers of his book will Doherty, 89, has long nedy, and US Sen. Edward while recalling moments complex web of personal hand of a lineman perched find at the end that they been an eminent fig- Kennedy. of tragedy with grace. connections at the center halfway up a telephone have learned a great deal ure in Boston’s political Doherty has seen a lot Doherty touches on of which he often found pole. The book is full of about a figure who has realm. A Charlestown and done even more, in each of the many phases himself. presentations like these permanently cemented native, he has been many the process amassing a of his life, including his From his childhood days – rare, candid glimpses his legacy as a significant things: state representa- wealth of political and life education at Harvard playing sandlot football to into the lives of the Ken- figure in Boston and tive, Democratic Party wisdom over the years, as and beyond, his bout with his experience campaign- nedys from someone who American politics. chairman in Massachu- well as quite a few good tuberculosis as a young ing door to door as a state maintained a close rela- It’s now the Lawrence presents Daniel Driscoll ‘Dave Burke Way’ On Sat., Nov. 4, at 1 p.m., the city of Lawrence will rename East Kingston Street in St. Patrick parish Health Center “Dave Burke Way” in honor of a beloved leading figure in the Hibernian community who passed away in 2009. Dan Driscoll, who retired last year from Mr. Burke, a national board member for the Ancient his post as president and CEO of Harbor Order of Hibernians, was involved in countless events Health Services, Inc., was honored by his and fundraisers over a span of many decades. Often colleagues in a special way last month. working behind the scenes, he maintained close con- The health center on Neponset Avenue nections with the motherland and pushed for peace that he led for 40 years was renamed the and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Daniel Driscoll Neponset Health Center. John Foley, a Boston immigration attorney and close He began his career in community friend, remembers Mr. Burke as a selfless, dedicated health at the Neponset facility in 1977. community servant. “He was always doing stuff for By the end of his tenure, Harbor Health everybody else,” said Foley. “Anything Irish that had grown to a staff of 550 people with happened in Massachusetts would have had his fin- Dan Driscoll and long time health a budget of $72 million. center employee Freda Nolan. Dave Burke “Mr. Hiber- gerprints on it.” Bill Forry photo nian” in Lawrence. – DANIEL SHEEHAN Mayor Marty Walsh has earned our vote again Four years ago, in this space, we better outcomes in the future. build affordable units on formerly va- Walsh’s promise to add diversity to the endorsed Martin J. Walsh for mayor of The mayor has been faulted by some, cant land is a standout. The data have city workforce has been stymied in part by Boston. The Reporter Newspapers was including his opponent in this race, shown that Walsh’s overall strategy of those civil service hiring hurdles. He has one of only two city newspapers (The for putting too much emphasis on big- encouraging more density and higher- been far more successful in diversifying Weekly Dig was the other) to back Walsh ticket wins for the city – such as land- end housing across the city is easing the other parts of city government, including in the final election. ing General Electric or seeking to lure pressure on rents a bit in older housing his own cabinet. This time, as Amazon. This critique, which suggests stock. That needs to continue and extend Much of what we saw as the promise Commentary Walsh seeks a sec- that such efforts undermine other city deeper into Dorchester and . of a Marty Walsh mayoralty has come ond term, we have priorities, like school funding or efforts But clearly, the city is moving in that to fruition. The city’s bond rating is top company. and the to curb homelessness, doesn’t ring true direction. notch under his watch. He is a collabora- both endorsed Walsh this to Bostonians who are paying attention. We’d like to see a lot more emphasis tive leader who works well with the city week, a reversal for both dailies who, in We actually like Walsh’s big ideas. on planning out Columbia Point – where council and is eager to reach consensus. 2013, favored John Connolly, Walsh’s Bringing in companies that will expand developments have been stalled or left in He has shown a willingness to re-think his opponent. Last week, Connolly himself the city’s tax and job base is a good thing. a chaotic state at best – and where the own plans – as in the case of the Boston endorsed the mayor. Boston’s long-ago days as a stultified Walsh team can really have a construc- 2024 Olympic bid – when he recognizes The mayor has disappointed some backwater that hemorrhaged people and tive influence. On the development side, that a course correction is necessary. Bostonians, but he has clearly won over talent are in the rear view. The mayor has the Point neighborhood should become a The mayor has spoken out forcefully, many converts in the last four years. In seized upon this concept. While not every focus of Walsh’s next term. and with genuine feeling, about the growing his base, the former state repre- initiative he has attempted has, or will, The administration’s record so far in outrages of the current regime in Wash- sentative from Dorchester has punched pan out, we want our city government improving the city’s school system is ington, delivering a strong and urgently in a solid first term in office and earned to think big, embrace innovation, and incomplete, but moving in the right direc- needed voice at a time of great upheaval our endorsement again in next month’s trumpet our virtues to the world. And we tion. His team made a good call locally for our nation. Cynics might say it’s a final election. expect that they will be skilled enough in converting the Mattahunt elementary matter of expediency for someone seeking Marty Walsh is a steady hand and a to be able to multi-task. Marty Walsh school to an early education center, with re-election, but we know from our years thoughtful, compassionate leader who and his team have shown they are able an emphasis on Haitian language learn- covering Walsh as a back-bench state rep is clearly the best-equipped and fully to manage an increasingly complex city. ers. Schools like the Kenny in Adams who spoke out on matters of civil rights, committed candidate to lead the city If there’s a downside chasing big ideas, Corner are attracting more families. And such as LGTBQ equality, that Marty through the next four years. it’s the increased pressure on housing Walsh has reached an accord with teach- Walsh is simply being Marty Walsh. In 2013, we wrote that Walsh has “the and transportation, and valid concerns ers to expand instruction time and fairly Four years ago, we concluded: “City potential to be a transformative leader about potential displacement. But these compensate our hard-working educators. government needs a leader at its helm for Boston on multiple fronts, but espe- are regional problems that Boston can- For the mayor, there’s ample room for who has an authentic feel for our neigh- cially when it comes to job equity and not be expected to mitigate on its own. improvement on multiple fronts. Police borhoods and who understands at a gut neighborhood development.” The Walsh The Walsh team has put its best foot body cameras should be put into full use level the pressures of the daily grind that administration is a work in progress on forward— and followed through — by across the city without further delay. most city residents face. Boston will have both fronts, and on other key indicators, encouraging new housing starts and The city, and the state, need to change that mayor in Marty Walsh.” but he has set in motion — or continued— seeking to build middle-income units. the hiring priorities for police and fire We were right about that, and Marty important work that has made Boston The Department of Neighborhood positions to allow for a much larger pro- Walsh has earned our vote on Nov. 7. a better city, with the promise for even Development’s accelerated initiative to portion of people of color to earn spots. – Bill Forry Page 4 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com Publisher’s Notebook Brexit presents a threat How we told to Ireland and the world By Joe Leary As Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadker, said in listeners that Special to the BIR late October in the Belfast Telegraph “It is still not clear At first, no one took the Brexit vote seriously. Few what the UK wants in terms of a new relationship, believed that the British would actually leave the because on the one hand it seems that the UK wants ‘Eddie’ beat ‘Teddy’ European Union (EU). But the decision has become a to have a close trading relationship with Europe like it The estimable Gerard Doherty, a Charlestown guy who reality and Ireland and the rest has now, but also seems to want something different, went to Malden Catholic and Harvard College in the late of the world could be among its and it is very hard for us as European prime ministers 1940 and early 1950s, was elected a state representative casualties. to understand exactly what the UK wants.” Expand- in 1956 at the age of 28. The EU was originally set ing on that confusion in an interview with the BBC, While he was still at Harvard, Doherty was part of up so that the 29 countries Varadker said, “It certainly can’t be, and I think anyone the Townie crew that helped Jack Kennedy win his US of Europe could trade among will understand it can’t be, having all the benefits of Senate seat in 1952. He was part of the reelection cam- themselves without custom du- EU membership but none of the responsibilities and paign in 1958, and on the team for the winning run for ties. The union also encouraged none of the costs.” the presidency in 1960. Two years later, now a lawyer free travel with no passport Complicating the situation is the fact that the political out of Suffolk Law School, he ran the campaign to elect control between countries that situation in Northern Ireland is a mess. The leaders 30-year-old Teddy Kennedy, JFK’s youngest brother, to had so often gone to war with can’t seem to agree on anything. With the rise of the the seat once held by the president. one another. Catholic vote in the elections last March, and the re- A legendary figure in Boston politics for seven decades, The British people with their sulting dramatic increase in Sinn Fein representation Doherty recently published a memoir entitled, “They Joe Leary superior attitudes were skepti- in the membership of the Northern Ireland assembly, Were My Friends – Jack, Bob and Ted.” cal of the EU at first, but they the new108 members of the assembly have been unable For me, highlights from the stories he joined up several years after its establishment when to agree on procedures. There have been no Assembly tells are his recollections about EMK’s they saw that it was far more profitable to be in than out. meetings since early in the year, and, therefore, no first campaign in 1962, when he was In answer to demands that British participation in representation in the Brexit talks to protect Northern challenged by then-Attorney General the union be reviewed, former Prime Minister David Ireland. Edward J. McCormack. The contest was Cameron called for a special election in June 2016, Former President visited all the parties known as “Teddy vs. Eddie,” and as a and to the surprise of most everyone, 51.9 percent of last month in an effort to help reconcile differences. fresh-faced BC High grad, I campaigned the people voted to leave the EU. It appears few voters He also went to London and met with British Prime that summer with other young people as understood the real impact of what they had voted for. Minister Theresa May as part of the same mission. one of the “Students for McCormack.” Northern Ireland, Scotland, and the people of London In the British parliamentary elections in June, the The campaigns rented space side- voted to stay with Europe, but majority ruled, and Conservatives, led by Theresa May, fell ten votes by-side in downtown buildings where the Tremont on Brexit became a reality. short of the number needed to create a new British the Common apartments now stand. We McCormack As former president George W. Bush said recently, government in London. So, the former Paisley Party supporters got to see young Teddy frequently, and every this return to nationalism can be very harmful to world in Northern Ireland known as the Democratic Unionist time we saw his car coming down Tremont Street, two peace and cooperation. Party (DUP) pledged its ten votes to the Conservatives, or three of us would run outside to greet – make that Leaving the European Union requires negotiations allowing them to form a government. One result of that taunt – him with McCormack for Senate signs. to set up border controls to collect custom duties and pledge is that the DUP now has enormous influence The Kennedy campaign slogan was “He Can Do More institute passport controls. Thus far, talks have pro- within the Brexit negotiations. for Massachusetts.” We countered that with a pair of duced little agreement. Two of the main sticking points The DUP wants a “hard border” to solidify their bumper stickers: “I Back Jack”… “But Teddy isn’t Ready.” are the land border between Ireland and Northern position as separate from Ireland. We can only guess The campaign featured a now-famous debate at South Ireland and the large payments the British will owe the at what private agreements have been made between Boston High School in McCormack’s boyhood neighbor- remaining 28 European countries for breaking away. the DUP and British Conservatives. And since the hood, where my candidate joined the chorus, saying, Northern Ireland and Ireland trade extensively with Northern Ireland Assembly is inoperative at the mo- “Teddy, if your name were Edward Moore, your candidacy each other, and with Britain. To set up full controls and ment, there is no one to represent the Nationalist side. would be a joke.” Kennedy was shaken by the attack, custom stations between them will be very expensive Complicating things further are indications that and I can still hear the tremble in his voice as he gave and, further, a violation of the hard-won Good Friday Sinn Fein leadership is conflicted within itself and is his prepared closing remarks. agreement. not taking a firm stand on issues. With the death of “It was an interesting debate,” Doherty recalls in his Americans in Dublin looking to visit Belfast can its powerful leader, Martin McGuinness, there may be book. “Ted and McCormack went back-and-forth. Con- now drive to Northern Ireland in less than two hours. leadership difficulties ahead. sidering McCormack’s extensive experience with debate A return to a closed border with passport controls will Northern Ireland Secretary of State James Broken- and Teddy’s lack of experience, Teddy did OK. both delay and discourage frequent travel over this now shire, who reports directly to May in London, had issued “By the end of the debate, Teddy was furious at Mc- invisible border. The government of Ireland estimates an ultimatum setting the end of October as the time Cormack. I was the first one up to Teddy and I congratu- it will have to install eight new customs and passport for a newly organized Northern Ireland Assembly to lated him and I said let’s go. He said, ‘I’d like to go and facilities to keep track of all the activity. be in place. That is a situation worth watching. punch him in the nose.’ I told him you’re not going to do that, let’s go. I moved him quickly out of the auditorium. We waited for the verdict. “The general perception of the public expression on radio Off the Bench talk shows was that Teddy held his own and if anything he came off more positive than McCormack. There was no doubt he was a more visibly pleasant person. Those that Trump puts us in reverse gear, heard the debate on the radio thought that McCormack won, while those who watched it on television thought Ted won. The TV camera showed McCormack snarling makes America less great and grimacing when he talked.” By James W. Dolan ers. He’s always the victim; nothing is ever his fault. I was there in Southie High that night. Near the end, To what degree does Obama being black affect four of us McCormack students jumped in the car and Special to the Reporter It’s all about winning. President Trump sees the Trump’s judgment? Racism is obviously a factor mo- raced back to headquarters to create our own “spin room.” tivating a portion of his base. Trump’s narcissism is In short order we captured the phones to a WMEX 1510 world divided between winners and losers. He’s the winner-in-chief and opponents are losers incapable a compulsion he cannot control, manifesting itself as radio talk show hosted by a guy named Jerry Williams, a superiority complex. It’s natural for him to conclude and managed to hold all four lines. We took turns swap- of recognizing his unique skills or displaying the deference to which he is entitled. He views himself that others are inferior, lacking his intelligence and ping phones, proclaiming that McCormack was the clear intuitive skills. Does that explain why he is so intent winner. more as a king than as a public servant. He sees former Presi- upon dismantling virtually everything Obama did? Is For those few moments, we McCormack operatives he motivated by a belief that a black man could not alternated the phones back-and-forth, each time chang- dent Obama as an adversary. Having failed to disqualify his have been a successful president? Does he think that ing our neighborhood and trying to disguise our voices. by attacking Obama he elevates himself? When it was my third time to identify myself with some predecessor by challenging his citizenship, he has chosen It must be disheartening for the former president fictitious name and address, I couldn’t come up with a to watch the undoing of so much of what he accom- good story – I was from Dot, the Rozzie, but where from to undo his accomplishments. One of the original “birthers,” plished, particularly by someone who appears to have now? I started to laugh. no idea what he is doing. That history is likely to view Suspecting something fishy, the talk master went to Trump was unable to defeat Obama by using the false Trump as a failed president offers small consolation. commercial break, his producer hung up all the lines, and Silently, Obama watches as his policies are under- the connections we had controlled were gone – forever. charge that he was a Muslim from Africa. He now misses no mined, wisely choosing not to debate his successor. To It was the beginning of the end for us, and as we would engage with Trump is to sink to his level. Incapable learn, for the McCormack campaign. opportunity to denigrate the 44th president. From climate of coherent dialogue, he revels in the bullying, name- Still, for a few minutes after the debate, Eddie was calling, pettiness, and lies that for him have been so beating Teddy 8 to 2. James W. Dolan change, civil rights, trade policy, health care, consumer preposterously successful. It was, I think, the only lead McCormack ever had in Whether or not one agreed with his policies, Obama the whole campaign! protection to nuclear arms proliferation and use of public lands, Trump is systematically undoing the was presidential. He possessed the character, dignity, Obama legacy. It’s as if he’s trying to retroactively integrity, compassion, and decency one should expect nullify the election of our first black president. Trump in that office. He looked, spoke, and acted like a Boston Irish is the anti-Obama, resenting everything a man so un- president and he earned the respect of world leaders. REPORTER like himself has achieved. How much of this is policy Trump cannot abide comparisons that make him look The Boston Irish Reporter is published monthly by: differences and how much is personal? bad. His so far futile attempt to replace and repeal Boston Neighborhood News, Inc., The two are so different. One is dignified, pru- Obamacare with almost anything, regardless of how 150 Mt. Vernon St., Suite 120, Dorchester, MA 02125 dent, engaged, intelligent, articulate, humble, and destructive, is an example of his compulsive need to [email protected] www.bostonirish.com disciplined. The other is impulsive, immature, er- “win” at any cost. Since branding is his business, the Mary C. Forry, President (1983-2004) ratic, egocentric, ill-informed, and insecure. Is it any very name “Obamacare” must irritate him. Not one to Edward W. Forry, Publisher acknowledge or build on the record of a predecessor, Thomas F. Mulvoy Jr., Managing Editor wonder that Trump is jealous of a reputation so far William P. Forry, Editor beyond his understanding or capacity? Knowing he the only way to defeat him is to invalidate it. Peter F. Stevens, Contributing Editor will never achieve that level of respect motivates his By carpet bombing the Obama legacy, Trump some- News Room: (617) 436-1222 how believes he will be triumphant. Most believed Ads : (617) 436-1222 destructive impulses. Fax: (617) 825-5516 [email protected] Uncomfortable in the formulation of policy, Trump Obama’s election was a sign that the country was On The Web at www.bostonirish.com instead relies on his instinctive reaction to people. moving forward. To erase that achievement places us Date of Next Issue: December, 2017 Whether or not he likes or trusts them usually de- in reverse and makes America less great. Deadline for Next Issue: Monday, November 20 at 12 noon pends not on their ability but on the deference they James W. Dolan is a retired Dorchester District Published monthly in the first week of each month. Court judge who now practices law.His column ap- The Boston Irish Reporter is not liable for errors appearing in advertisements beyond display. Craving adulation and lacking the capacity the cost of the space occupied by the error. The right is reserved by The Boston Irish for self-deprecation, he resents criticism and attempts pears regularly in the Reporter. Read his past columns Reporter to edit, reject, or cut any copy without notice. to mask his obvious weaknesses by demeaning oth- online at DotNews.com. bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 5 Point of View • Trump’s ‘fake news’ on an Irish tax rate; • When an Irishman spoke for the Pilgrims

By Peter F. Stevens ground in pointing out that Only his daring escape from to the Pilgrims and to the BIR Staff companies are getting around a prison in Western Australia monument were delivered, A Grand, Green Lie – US taxes by operating in large had brought him to the same Mr. O’Reilly stepped forward. When it comes to the Emerald part overseas. Of course, shore where he now prepared In a reception that proved yet Isle, President Donald Trump he neglects to mention that to honor a vivid national again how far the Irish-born was the one – surprise, sur- these companies were never memory: the arrival of the writer had climbed in the col- prise – peddling “fake news,” paying anywhere close to the Pilgrims in Plymouth in 1620. lective opinion of his fellow which are the words Ireland’s American tax rate as it was. O’Reilly, the nationally ac- immigrants and native-born Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, That said, Trump and any claimed editor of the Boston Americans alike, a newspa- used to characterize recent relationship with the truth Pilot, was an essayist and perman recorded that “the comments from the White and simple facts parted ways novelist who had carved out a introduction of John Boyle House. In a recent comment long, long before he won the notable literary career in Bos- O’Reilly elicited much enthu- to reporters, Trump said, “I 2016 election. Perhaps the ton. Not everyone was pleased siasm.” hear that Ireland is going to president has faced a tough lie with the selection of O’Reilly “Mr. O’Reilly was the poet be reducing their corporate or two on his links, to write a poem honoring the of the day,” The New York rates down to 8 percent from but the Taoiseach wasted “Pilgrim Fathers.” Locally, Times reported. The Irishman 12.” He was talking about his little time in calling him out letters to editors and people of cleared his throat and began It’s -30- for our colleague. determination to lower US for his – well, let’s call it “fake “polite society” objected that a to read aloud his 260-line ode, corporate tax rates. news.” “foreign-born poet would write “The Pilgrim Fathers.” The For starters, Ireland’s rate Talking Turkey – As and deliver the words “for such crowd was riveted. BIR columnist is 12.5 percent According Thanksgiving nears, it’s fit- an important occasion.” “Here, on this rock, and on to Henry McDonald, of The ting to remember the Boston Former Massachusetts Gov. this sterile soil, began the Guardian, “Trump angered Irishman who put his own John Davis Long, the presi- kingdom not of kings, but Bill O’Donnell Irish officials with his com- stamp on the holiday. One dent of the Pilgrim Society, men…,” he intoned. Emerging ments at a White House brief- might think that Thanksgiv- admonished the dismayed from his stanzas were verbal bids us all adieu ing, in which he alleged that ing traditions do not reflect dissenters nationwide with shots at “privilege and Crown,” Ireland was going to cut the anything Irish. One would his rejoinder that John Boyle redolent of a former Fenian Bill O’Donnell, the longtime col- tax on corporations such as be wrong in that assumption. O’Reilly was in many ways who had been denied freedom umnist for the Boston Irish Reporter Apple, Google and Facebook In 1889, at ceremonies “a genuine New England in his own land, only to find it whose bona fides as a chronicler of to 8 percent.” in Plymouth dedicating the Pilgrim, born not on the main- in that of the Pilgrim fathers. all things Irish in the greater Boston While taking questions in National Monument to the land, but on a small island out John Boyle O’Reilly recog- area brook few comparisons, has put the Dail (the Irish Parlia- Forefathers, the famous at sea.” The fact that the small nized that in Boston and New down his Reporter’s Notebook and ment), Varadkar minced no broad-shouldered, musta- island was Ireland distressed England, the Irish were still called it a day, citing a need to take it words about the president’s chioed poet who rose to de- Americans who contended clawing for their own foothold easier. His final column appeared in mis-statement: “I can con- liver the main speech was not that only a “real American” in America. His words in last month’s BIR. firm that President Trump’s someone bearing the name – someone born on American Plymouth brimmed with the In a poignant note to BIR editors an- claim that we are proposing to Bradford, Alden, Winslow, soil – should deliver the trib- hope that, for the Irish, “all the nouncing his retirement, Bill thanked reduce our corporation profit or Carver. Nor was he a cel- ute to the Pilgrim settlers. idols” of the crown and Anglo- them for providing the space each tax to 8 percent is indeed fake ebrated Yankee author such The dedication of the Monu- American privilege would fall. month to a “scraggety, aging, half- news. There is no such plan as Oliver Wendell Holmes. ment garnered nationwide This Thanksgiving, as fami- assed wannabe to use the freedom to do so.” The man who delivered the coverage by the press, and lies with Irish bloodlines (not absolutely, thank God) to say the Ireland’s low corporate tax ode to the original Pilgrims O’Reilly was under some gather to celebrate the holi- truth aloud in ink-driven form, truth rate has engendered criticism was an Irishman, a Boston pressure to deliver a poem day, they would do well to without shame or reticence.” from fellow EU members and Irishman. John Boyle O’Reilly worthy of both his talent and recall that Fenian and poet He added: “I am moving along in from US politicians for Ire- had been a Fenian rebel and of the occasion to a throng of John Boyle O’Reilly claimed time, having served in a wonderful land’s luring of giant Ameri- a British Army cavalryman dignitaries and citizens from a place for the Irish in the enterprise with imaginative colleagues can companies to set up shop condemned to death by a Brit- all over the nation. Pilgrims’ home town. beside me as we stood in service to that in Ireland. Trump is on solid ish military court for treason. After several testimonials one great imperative – truth.”

Greenhills Bakery

Now taking orders for your Thanksgiving Pies, cakes, cookies and other desserts! Call 617-825-8187

Our Apple Pie won “Best Neighborhood Apple Pie” by Boston Magazine!! Pie Menu: Apple, Blueberry, Custard, Pumpkin, Chocolate Cream, Lemon Meringue, Mince, Pecan, Rhubarb, Strawberry Rhubarb Page 6 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com BRETT’S BOSTON By Harry Brett Exclusive photos of Boston Irish people & events

On Tues., Oct. 10, the JFK Library hosted “In the Name of Peace: John Hume in America,” a new documentary on the work of John Hume, who shared a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the peace- making in Northern Ireland. A discussion followed with filmmaker Maurice Fitzpatrick and former US Sen. George Mitchell, who served as the chairman of the peace talks. The Boston Globe’s Kevin Cullen moderated; Former US Sen. Paul Kirk introduced the program.

1.) Sen. Paul Kirk, Steven Rothstein, Former US Senate Majority Leader And Special Envoy To Ireland George Mitchell; 2.) Audrey and Steve Johnston; 3.) Prudence Barker and David Lewis, Andover; 4.) Anne Sweeney, No. End and Kathy Murphy, Savin Hill; 5.) Fionnula Quinlan, NE Irish Consul General, Ravi Ganti, So. Boston; 6.) 1. Natalie Mets, Brookline; Mary Sugrue, IAP; 7.) Brian and linda Moriarty, Duxbury; 8.) Seamus Healy and Breeda Ryan, Braintree; 9.) Lucille Brett, Braintree; Paul Doyle, Weymouth; Fr. Jack Ahern, St. Patrick’s, Roxbury; Peg Brett McCobb, Weymouth; 10.) Beverly McHugh, Charlestown; Marion Galvin, Plymouth; 11.) Kevin Cullen; 12.) Jim Brett, Dorchester; Sen. Paul Kirk, Steven Rothstein.

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10. bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 7 Irish International Immigrant Center Immigration Q&A The ways to avoid An agency accredited by US Department of Justice One State Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02109 abandoning a legal Telephone (617) 542-7654 Fax (617) 542-7655 permanent residence Website:iiicenter.org Email: [email protected] Q. I’m a US permanent resident, but have been staying in Ireland for the past nine months and am concerned that I may have a problem getting back into the US. I didn’t intend to stay here so long, but after I arrived home my mother was diagnosed with cancer and I needed to take care of her. Could I have difficulty returning to the US as a permanent resident? A. There are a number of ways in which a lawful per- manent resident (LPR) can lose US immigration status, and leaving the United States for extended periods is one of them. Once lost, LPR status can be regained only by beginning the LPR application process all over again. The rule of thumb for permanent residents is that you should be spending more time in the United States than outside of it, and you should not make any trips that last 180 days (approximately 6 months) or longer. When returning from a trip abroad, you must demonstrate that your trip outside the US was temporary and that you have not abandoned your primary residence in the US. If you remain outside the United States for more than six months or engage in activities that indicate that your permanent residence is no longer in the United States, US border patrol may decide that you have voluntarily abandoned your permanent residence. If this happens, you will either be asked to sign a document that formally acknowledges that you abandoned your residence, or you will be placed in removal proceedings and asked to From left, Thomas Dalton, IIIC; Shannon Quinn, Norbella Media; Stacey Washkowitz, Norbella Media; demonstrate to an immigration judge that you have not Paul Pelan, IIIC. abandoned your residence. Many people believe that they can retain their LPR status simply by making brief trips into the US each Living the best of both worlds in Boston year. That is not correct. If your actual permanent For Co. Tyrone native an award-winning media especially in America, is a Freedom Trail, checks out residence is not in the US, you have abandoned your Shannon Quinn, living team. The unique partner- truly unique experience.” the diverse music scene, US immigration status. Border patrol looks not only at in a neighborhood in ship between Ulster Uni- Although she only start- and enjoys her newfound lengthy absences but also frequent absences in deciding Dorchester with strong versity and the IIIC allows ed her position in August, softball talent with her if you have abandoned your status. Irish roots and working for her 12-month internship Shannon says co-workers co-workers. Factors that may determine the temporary nature of a media agency in Boston’s to meet the required ‘co- joke that she’s “practi- She says that she was trips outside the US include the following: historic South End is “the op’ placement required cally a fully-trained me- at first a bit wary of Are your actual home and place of employment still best of both worlds.” by her communication, dia planner, rather than journeying across the in the US? A third-year student at marketing, and advertis- an intern!” She enjoys pond to “Beantown”, but Did you have a definite temporary reason to travel Ulster University, Shan- ing degree. the variety of her work, soon found friends and abroad, such as study or a short-term employment as- non decided to forgo a year Reflecting on her in- and appreciates gaining co-workers who are “are signment? of formal study and gain ternship, Shannon says, a “well-rounded sense of hard-working, hilarious, Did you expect to return to the US within a relatively work experience abroad, “I am finding it the best the business.” She em- and passionate.” The team short time? stating, “I didn’t want to experience I could have phasized the advantage at Norbella are ensuring Are you returning to the US when expected? If not, stay in Northern Ireland ever asked for. I delved her internship on her her time in Boston is “truly what circumstances caused you to spend additional time for my placement year [...] into the world of media university studies, and special.” abroad? Were these circumstances within your control? never did I think I would planning, something I was the impact on her career Our thanks to Norbella Where are your family ties, property, business affili- be working in the US!” learning in a classroom aspirations. Media for providing Shan- ations, etc.? Shannon currently a few months ago. Being In her free time, Shan- non with this remarkable Have you filed US tax returns as a resident of the US? works as a marketing able to see how business non explores Boston’s his- opportunity! In your particular case, it seems you did not intend intern for Norbella Media, is done in the real world, torical roots through the to abandon your US LPR status. You should obtain evidence of your mother’s diagnosis to illustrate to US immigration inspectors why you remained away for nine months. Evidence could include letters from her doctors Matters of Substance and records from the hospital. You also should assemble evidence to address the points outlined above. You should return to the US as an LPR sooner rather than later and Let us honor, and support, ‘caregivers’ certainly within a year of your departure. An absence from the US of a year or longer very likely would result By Rachel Reisman grieving. They are just as ness Services at the IIIC. in the loss of your permanent residence status. IIIC staff much at risk of stress, de- Contact her at rreis- As a final note, if you anticipate a prolonged absence As we move through the pression and physical is- [email protected] , at from the US, you should apply for a reentry permit, fall, we have a few impor- sues, and need community 617.542.7654, Ext. 14., which preserves your residence for up to 2 years. This tant topics that we should support, recovery services, or on FB: Irish Outreach application must be filed prior to your departure. See bear in mind, particularly the goodwill of others, and & Wellness Services IIIC- reentry permit application Form I-131 at uscis.gov. as September was Suicide healthy self-care. Boston For a free, confidential consultation about this or any Awareness and Recovery Support groups for care- Additional resources: other aspect of immigration law, visit one of our legal Month and October was givers such as Al-Anon Mayor’s Office of Re- clinics. Depression Awareness and NAMI have meetings covery Services (311 or Disclaimer: These articles are published to inform Month. We have previ- throughout the state. 617.635.4500), Ma-al- generally, not to advise in individual cases. The US ously discussed services They provide education, anon-alateen.org, Nami- Citizenship and Immigration Services and US Depart- available to those strug- practical advice, and peer mass.org, Samaritans. ment of State frequently amend regulations and alter gling with anxiety, mood Rachel Reisman support, and are an anony- hope.org. processing and filing procedures. For legal advice seek disorders, and substance mous and confidential the assistance of IIIC immigration legal staff. recovery community in- place for therapy services, abuse, and we keep them cludes the vital treatment in the front of our minds reflection, problem solv- and professional services ing, and healing. The now more than ever. How- (crisis teams, hospitals, ever, it is important to also impact of being with oth- detoxes, AA, therapists ers who truly understand County Donegal Association remember people who love and sober living houses), and support those who your experience is enor- we also know that it is our mous and healing. live with mental health natural supports (family, of Greater Boston issues and addiction. Set- To those of you who friends, and neighbors) love someone who lives ting aside these months that play a huge role in enables us to think about with depression or ad- support and recovery. diction, or who may have 109th ANNUAL REUNION & BANQUET “caregivers,” to honor Caregivers champion them, and to provide re- lost someone to suicide: goals, and provide the these autumn months are Saturday, November 4, 2017 sources for them. courage and love to carry Whether you grieve a special for you too. on; these are the vital The city of Boston leads loved one lost to suicide, resources that anyone at Florian Hall, Hallet Street, Dorchester, MA help a dear friend with the way in providing managing depression or access to mental health depression, or live with substance abuse needs to Family style roast beef dinner addiction in your family and recovery services served at 7:15 p.m. create change and remain and we here at the IIIC - you need compassion, a resilient. place to feel heard, and a are honored to play our The friends and family role in that continuum of Music by Erin’s Melody with Margaret Dalton space to recover. of those battling addiction Our own Mayor of Bos- care. We are here for those or suicidal thoughts also directly affected by these ton, Marty Walsh, has have to grapple with their All profits from the Banquet will go to Donegal flood victims. written: “I wouldn’t be challenges, as well as for own limits – emotional loving “caregivers.” Please Call President Maryann McGonagle at 781-521-9001 or where I am today without and spiritual exhaustion the recovery community.” feel free to be in touch at – while effecting change. any time - we are free and our Chairman, Michael McLaughlin at 781-585-3230 The mayor has been a Caregivers may spend leader across the nation confidential. days and hours worried, Rachel Reisman, LIC- Donation $60 per person with his Office of Recovery sad, angry, frustrated, or Services. While a formal SW, is Director of Well- Page 8 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com Solas Awards to Kerry, Arbella’s Donohue, Insurance and UMass Boston student Noon Elhassan The Irish International of comprehensive im- Immigrant Center held its migration reform and a and 28th annual Solas Awards pathway to citizenship Gala on Oct. 12 at the for immigrants, Secre- InterContinental Boston. tary Kerry received the Investments As the IIIC’s signature Solas Service Award. annual fundraising event, John Donohue received the gala honors the many the Solas Leadership A good financial strategy is not ways immigrants con- Award for his outstanding tribute to our society and service to immigrant and just about “making money;” supports the immediate refugee families across it is also about protection. needs of those coming to Massachusetts, and for John F. Kerry our shores from across his leadership within the the globe. Proceeds from business community for Provided by Brian W. O’Sullivan, CFP, ChFC, CLU Solas enable the IIIC to championing this cause. expand its legal, educa- Noon Elhassan received tion, and wellness services the inaugural Solas Cour- Some people mistake for immigrant and refugee age Award. Noon, now a Sen. Dorcena Forry investing for financial families at this time of student at UMass Boston Emcee of the event critical need. student and immigrant planning. Their “financial Forry, to Robert Consalvo This year, the IIIC hon- from Sudan, has over- for leading our Live Ask strategy” is an investing ored three individuals who come great odds to build and Auction, and to all strategy, in which they have significantly con- a life here in Boston. The of our superb musical tributed to the Center’s IIIC assisted Noon and chase the return and artists. mission, who are strong her family in becoming Ronnie Millar, execu- focus on the yield of their community leaders and permanent United States tive director of the IIIC, portfolio. As they do so, John F. Donohue advocates for immigra- residents, and today she expressed his gratitude tion, and who are working is pursuing her dreams of they miss the big picture. in stating, “Everyone at towards a society where becoming a medical pro- the Irish International Investing represents but all are welcomed and fessional and a US citizen. Immigrant Center is deep- one facet of long-term financial planning. valued, and enjoy equal The IIIC wishes to ly grateful for the support opportunities and protec- extend its sincere ap- Trying to build wealth is one thing; trying of all our Solas sponsors tions: Former US sena- preciation to those who and donors. The theme to protect it is another. An effort must be tor and US Secretary of attended and supported of this year’s Solas was made to manage risk. State John F. Kerry; John the celebration this year, courage, and for sure we F. Donohue, president, particularly thanking the all need courage in these chairman, and CEO of Arbella Insurance Group days when there is so Insurance can play a central role in wealth Arbella Insurance Group; for their close partnership. much uncertainty. We protection. That role is underappreciated and Noon Elhassan, a The IIIC also extends a need each other and as UMass Boston student warm thank you to the – partly because some of the greatest risks the Irish say, ‘we all live and Sudanese immigrant. master of ceremonies, in each other’s shelter.’” to wealth go unnoticed in daily life. Five Noon Elhassan As a strong proponent state Sen. Linda Dorcena days a week, investors notice what happens on Wall Street; the market is constantly “top of mind.” What about those “back of mind” things investors may not readily acknowledge?

What if an individual suddenly cannot work? Without disability insurance, a seriously injured or ill person out of the workforce may have to dip into savings to replace income. As the Council for Disability Awareness notes, the average length of a long-term disability claim is nearly three years. Workers’ compensation insurance will only pay out if a disability directly relates to an incident that occurs at work, and most long-term disabilities are not workplace related.

What if an individual suddenly dies? If a household relies on that person’s income, how does it cope financially with that income abruptly disappearing? Does it spend down its savings or its invested assets? In such a crisis, life insurance can offer relief. The payout from a policy with a six-figure benefit can provide the equivalent of years of income.

Why do people underinsure themselves as they strive to build wealth? Partly, it is because death and disability are Above, Solas Award attendees salute Arbella’s John F. Donohue (seated). Below, Sound Off, an award uncomfortable conversation topics. Many winning semi-pro a cappella group from Boston entertains the gathering. Photos courtesy IIIC people neglect estate planning due to this same discomfort and because they lack knowledge of just how insurance can be used to promote wealth preservation.

The bottom line? Insurance is a vital, necessary aspect of a long-term financial plan. Insurance may not be as exciting to the average person as investments, but it can certainly help a household maintain some financial equilibrium in a crisis, and it also can become a crucial part of estate planning. Brian W. O’Sullivan is a registered representative of and of- fers securities, investment advisory and financial planning services through MML Investors Services, LLC, Member SIPC (www.sipc.org). Supervisory Address: 101 Federal Street, Suite 800, Boston, MA 02110. He may be reached at 617-479- 0075 x331 or [email protected]. bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 9 “ Hell’ – it’s about friendship, exposure, and learning from the best

By Sean Smith Hell sets it apart from member of Gaelic Storm BIR Correspondent other incarnations: Last and Long Time Courting, For a dozen years now, year, according to Reiner, and now plays in the trio fiddlers from Greater Bos- more than 430 musicians Fodhla. “In our world ton and elsewhere have from as near as Westford right now, a gathering gone to their own special to as far away as Califor- of people for music and hell – and they couldn’t be nia, Alabama, Florida, friendship is something happier about it. Canada, Scotland, and to treasure. I think we are Massachusetts Fiddle even the Netherlands, realizing that social con- Hell, which takes place came to Fiddle Hell, and nection is something we Nov. 3-5 in Westford, is some 60 others served as are losing, and the Rein- an annual gathering that faculty. ers have done an amazing brings together fiddlers “Dale’s concept was to job building a weekend and players of other in- give fiddlers from all over for hundreds of people to struments to share knowl- a chance to get together gather and make music.” edge, friendship, and lots for a bit of fun – ‘Hey, For those new to playing (and lots) of music. During let’s meet up at a bar,’” traditional music, or mu- the 50-plus hours of Fiddle explains Reiner, a former sic of any kind, whether Hell, participants can at- member of the eminent on fiddle or other instru- tend workshops given by New England bluegrass ments, a full-immersion expert musicians; take in band Southern Rail. “My weekend like Fiddle Hell a mini-concert here and thought was, ‘Let’s make might sound a little out there, as well as a Satur- it into a camp.’ And now, of the ordinary, perhaps day evening performance I think it’s really become even intimidating. But that is followed by a contra a community.” Reiner says such an ex- dance; congregate for both Reiner, along with his perience can be beneficial planned and spontaneous wife Cindy Eid, and their to one’s musical develop- jam sessions; and be part sons Andy and Eric – Lissa Schneckenburger leading a workshop at last year’s Fiddle Hell. Irish, ment. of a “flash mob” experi- all musicians who have Scottish, Cape Breton, American and many other styles of music are explored “It’s true that we em- ence or two – all of it in played as a family band at the event, which takes place this coming weekend. phasize learning mostly the friendly confines of and in numerous other Sean Smith photos by ear, and that may be the Westford Regency Inn. collaborations – form the out of your comfort zone core of the Fiddle Hell or- of five people. It’s twice if you’re only used to Music styles at Fid- outgrown its venue, first dle Hell include Irish, ganizational team, aided working with sheet mu- by a host of staff and vol- at the Old Groton Inn, sic,” he says. “The thing Scottish, Cape Breton, and then the Colonial Inn Appalachian, old-timey, unteers. Faculty members about traditional music represent a diversity of in Concord; the Westford – whether Irish, Scottish, Scandinavian, Eastern Regency became the host European, blues, Cajun, generations, styles, in- American or whatever – is terests, accomplishments in 2014. Over the years, that it’s not simply a me- classical, klezmer, jazz. there have been changes and just about anything and experiences: Their chanical reproduction of ranks have included the to the format and pro- what’s written: You play else under the sun – or gramming, notably to in- moon, since activities go likes of Laurel Martin, variations and ornamen- Bruce Molsky, Katie Mc- clude workshops for more tations, and these may on well into the night. instruments and also for are in the major- Nally, Frank Ferrel, Lissa be different than what Schneckenburger, Mark vocals. And there are now someone else plays, and ity, of course, but there is two CDs of commonly plenty of room for cellos, Simos, Skip Gorman, that’s OK. Barbara McOwen, Andrea played Fiddle Hell tunes “At Fiddle Hell, you can mandolins, guitars and (52 on each disc) available banjos, and accordions, Beaton, Pete Sutherland, get to know about these and Ed Pearlman. for purchase. kinds of details, you can flutes, whistles and string “I can’t take the credit basses are in evidence, too. “Fiddle Hell strikes watch and listen to excel- a perfect balance be- for what Fiddle Hell has lent musicians demon- “Fiddle Hell is for the become,” says Reiner. ‘closet fiddlers,’ or other tween focused learning strate them, and then you and community-spirited “Andy and Eric have can explore them yourself closet musicians, who been to plenty of music don’t get out much,” says joy,” says Martin. “Dave through jam sessions – Reiner and his family do camps, and they’ve passed and hopefully, it will all Lexington resident Dave along their insights and Reiner, who created Mas- a beautiful job organizing be something that you can the event, so the logistics thoughts – as have many help you get to wherever sachusetts Fiddle Hell. of our friends and ac- “Above all, it’s a chance to work seamlessly. I love it is you want to go.” the fact that teachers quaintances. Like I said, Klein agrees. “There are make some friends, get ex- Fiddle Hell has become posure to different styles are given the freedom to “Fiddle Hell strikes a perfect balance between fo- beginner-level classes, so design their workshops a community, and a lot even those fairly new can and to learn from some of of people have become cused learning and community-spirited joy,” says the best traditional musi- according to their own Laurel Martin, shown at an Irish fiddle workshop bring their fiddles or other particular interests, and invested in it.” instruments, and a spirit cians – some of them are Spend even a few hours at Fiddle Hell 2016. local to Greater Boston or that the students arrive of ‘Try it!’ There are also at Fiddle Hell, and Rein- ing rooms are temporar- another playing Irish pol- Massachusetts, but some with a sincere desire to plenty of classes geared er’s description of “a com- ily named for legendary kas, or a Scottish march- are farther away. Maybe learn. towards kids as well as munity” seems very apt. fiddlers from various strathspey-reel medley, you’ll be able to work out “I think that the great- adults. So take along a Elementary school-age traditions – to learn an or some Texas swing, or something in your play- est lesson that musicians recording device and try kids lugging shiny fiddle Appalachian waltz, then perhaps even some hearty ing that’s bugged you for who are new to traditional to challenge yourself with cases walk the halls of the head to Jean Carignan sing-alongs. Sit down to a while, maybe you’ll be music can take away from something new. Westport Regency along for a seminar on picking join in, and something inspired to explore some Fiddle Hell is that a spirit “There is inspiration with septuagenarians up tunes by ear; or per- as simple as a sticker aspect of a music tradition of intense learning and everywhere,” says Klein. whose worn, battered in- haps you might like to on your instrument case you hadn’t heard before, hard work can be com- “As a teacher, I believe strument cases evince an spend an hour with Bob may spark a conversation maybe you’ll even get bined with the joy of be- conscious listening is odyssey of folk festivals, Wills exploring melodic – and before you know it turned onto something coming part of a creative, 50 percent of learning. concerts, and music par- variations in Irish tunes, that total stranger next entirely new. Anything artistic community.” Between daytime mini- ties, while friends and followed by a talk with to you has, in a matter of might happen.” Like most any regularly concerts, classes and the acquaintances greet one Buddy MacMaster on how minutes, become a new- Reiner-based Mas- occurring event, Fiddle evening concert on Satur- another warmly by the to get over performance found friend. sachusetts Fiddle Hell Hell has had its learning day, there is listening to snack table and go over jitters. “I love seeing such a picked up on an idea by curve and growing pains: be had everywhere. Just The opening night for their itineraries. There’s no shortage of large group of people get- tap into your inner musi- Missouri fiddler Dale Depending on your jam session aficionados at ting together to learn, so- Hopkins, one that also has the very first Fiddle Hell, cal sponge and soak it up.” for example, took place tastes and the schedule Fiddle Hell. Pass by one cialize, and make music,” For information on Fid- taken root in other parts for a given year, you might group immersed in Que- says fiddler Ellery Klein, of the world. But the scope in a snowstorm, and the dle Hell, go fiddlehell.org. turnout was a grand total go to the Julia Clifford becois tunes, and around a Fiddle Hell faculty of Massachusetts Fiddle Room – the hotel’s meet- the corner you might find member who has been a BC celebrates its Connolly collection On October 12, Boston College hosted a celebra- tion for the Seamus Con- nolly Collection of Irish Music, an online resource featuring more than 330 traditional songs and tunes gathered by Con- nolly, at left, former director of Irish music programs and Sullivan Family Artist-in-Resi- dence at BC. The col- lection is accessible at connollymusiccollection. Seamus Connolly was joined at the end of the evening by, from left, Matt and Shannon Heaton, Cynthia bc.edu. Polo and Elizabeth Sweeney for a set of tunes from the Connolly Collection. Sean Smith photos Page 10 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com Moynihan’s fiddle, Chaimbeul’s harp insinuate themselves into a listener’s ear By Sean Smith tany and Sweden, the “And our second gig was BIR Correspondent latter (“Norsken”) with at the British Consulate.” There’s nothing in the an extensive range Moyni- Since then, they’ve Musician’s Universal han absolutely nails. performed locally at The Handbook that says you “One Two” builds on the , Club Passim, BC- have to be friends with duo’s 2014 CD/EP, “Back MFest and “A St. Patrick’s your bandmates: cre- and Forth,” recorded early Day Celtic Sojourn,” as ative differences, artistic on in their partnership well as the Acadia Tra- temperament, hours of (it’s now living “in a small ditional School in Maine, rehearsal, schlepping to corner of the Internet,” the Edinburgh Interna- and from gigs – all that Moynihan quips), as well tional Harp Festival, and can be pretty demanding as Moynihan’s 2015 solo Folklub in Glasgow. on a relationship. But the album, “Woven,” on which Yet Moynihan and fiddle-and-harp duo of Chaimbeul appears. As Chaimbeul also have had Brighton residents Jenna Moynihan explains, “We to spend time apart pursu- Moynihan and Mairi did ‘Back and Forth’ in ing other collaborations: Chaimbeul doesn’t have several hours – our feeling Moynihan with folk-roots- many problems on that was ‘Let’s just record.’ So pop string band Laura score, the two sharing not it was a total snapshot.” Cortese & The Dance only an address but also Says Chaimbeul, “‘One Cards, for one, Chaimbeul a fondness for long train Two’ is also a snapshot, with the “prog-trad” outfit rides and, according to but it has a different feel The Aerialists. In fact, Moynihan, “1990s dance to it, because we’ve had they spent a great deal of parties,” among quite a more time together to last year doing their own few other things. get settled. We’re more things, and it wasn’t until More to the point, connected musically and the late fall when they Moynihan and Chaim- so we were able to dig were able to completely beul share a love for Celtic more deeply into what our focus on recording “One music, specifically that of sound as a duo is.” Two,” at a studio tucked Scotland, flavored with Moynihan and Chaim- away in New Hampshire’s Appalachian and other Jenna Moynihan, left and Mairi Chaimbeul, who met at Berklee College of beul followed different White Mountains. influences, traditional Music, released their second album, “One Two,” earlier this year. musical paths to Berklee. “At one point earlier and otherwise. Having Louise Bichan photo Moynihan started out in the year, we’d met up emerged as one of the with Suzuki lessons as in Scotland to work a lot Boston folk scene’s most New York’s Southern of that is our friendship – other is going to do. It’s a schoolchild, but her on creating and arrang- visionary collaborations Tier, Chaimbeul from it’s rare you can share so kind of like lying on a gi- teacher had a fondness for ing sets, and it was a of recent years, they have Scotland’s Isle of Skye many levels of connection. ant marshmallow – you and nudged great experience,” says now released their first – pursuing different mu- We hardly ever butt heads just feel very supported Moynihan into exploring Chaimbeul. “I think that full-length album, “One sical interests connect about what should hap- and comfortable.” it. Moynihan was drawn energy carried over to Two.” through the Berklee Col- pen, because we have a Moynihan and Chaim- to the cross-genre play- when we got together The Moynihan-Chaim- lege of Music, with glori- similar vision – the whole beul’s sound is not of ing of American fiddler again to make the album, beul story is in some ous results. being greater than the the pin-your-ears-back, Jeremy Kittel, which led so it made it easier for ways a by-now familiar “The more time we’ve sum of its parts.” knock-you-into-the-next- her to other innovative us to regroup and focus one in the Boston-area spent together, the great- Chaimbeul agrees. room variety of Celtic mu- fiddlers like Alasdair Fra- on recording. That was Celtic music annals: Two er a musical intimacy “There’s an instinctive sic. It insinuates itself into ser, Hanneke Cassel, and very satisfying – I think people from distant lo- we’ve developed,” says quality to our music. We you, gathering strength Berklee faculty member it showed how strong our Irishcales Reporter – Moynihan Oct 23_Layout from 1 10/16/17Moynihan. 1:22 PM “A Page great 1 part seem to know what the until you’re suddenly con- Matt Glaser. Deciding connection is.” scious of how full-bodied against the classical- “The studio is part of and intense it is. “Dia- conservatory route, she someone’s home, so it logue” is an oft-employed came to Berklee, where had a very welcoming metaphor to describe the she studied performance atmosphere,” says Moyni- 286 Cabot St. TheCabot.org interplay in a musical with a minor in American han. “We spent four days duo; with Moynihan and roots music. recording, and it was nice Beverly 866-811-4111 Chaimbeul, it’s more like Chaimbeul had plenty to make full use of that a conversation with mul- of exposure to and instruc- time, and not rush to get tiple dialects. tion in traditional music it done – we had a lot of Moynihan will take as a child, yet she never dance parties and plenty Saturday, December 2, 8pm the melody and explore saw herself tied to it. She of good food. Definitely it, tacking on variations took up harp at age 8 another good bonding in fingering and bowing – she doesn’t remember experience.” Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy that might be Scottish, or exactly how she arrived This year has seen Appalachian, or of some at the choice – and at somewhat less separa- other source. Chaimbeul age 12 went to school in tion for Moynihan and A Celtic Family Christmas will establish a steady Edinburgh. While most of Chaimbeul (although this pulse underneath the her music education there fall Moynihan has been on fiddle, and then venture was classical, she had the the road with the Dance out on a more elaborate opportunity to work with Cards and Chaimbeul had course, perhaps doubling harpist Catriona McKay, an extensive tour with up on the melody or tran- whose multiple-influence The Aerialists). Later sitioning into some ambi- style she found intriguing this month, they’ll be tious improvisations. Or it – much as Moynihan had at the Scots Fiddle Fest might be Moynihan softly been struck by Kittel’s in Edinburgh, and also plucking or bowing a riff, music. Chaimbeul also will be taking part in “A and Chaimbeul taking was drawn to the jazz Christmas Celtic Sojourn” the lead, the resonance of music community in Ed- next month. the harp strings meshing inburgh, and decided she Musing on their busy with the dulcet tones of wanted to study harp in a joint and individual itin- the fiddle – as is the case at jazz context. Berklee, she eraries, Moynihan says, the outset of “Kyle Tune,” felt, would be the place to “There was a time early on their joint composition do that. when we didn’t think too that opens “One Two.” Paradoxically, com- much about getting gigs, Other delights on “One ing to Boston awakened especially because Mairi Two” include the tradi- Chaimbeul’s interest in was still a student. We Saturday, tional “Nighean Donn traditional music, es- were just making music Nan Gobhar,” which pecially the largely un- because we wanted to, puts into sharp relief familiar bluegrass and and there was no pres- March 24, 8pm the respective qualities old-timey she heard at sure with having to book of harp and fiddle, each Berklee and around town. a tour – or about whether expressing its own nu- And at Berklee, it’s not anyone actually liked ances within the tune; the especially difficult to find what we were doing. So Celtic lament “Mo Run Geal Og people who share similar we got used to the music (My Fair Young Love),” interests and ambitions. just being an organic part heartbreaking without “We were certainly of our lives, and I think Nights – being maudlin – Chaim- aware of each other – I that helped a lot in build- beul adds a subtle, elegiac would hear about ‘that ing our partnership. harmonium drone at the Scottish girl who plays “Now, we may some- outset; the up-tempo harp,’” recalls Moynihan, times be off making music briskness of the pipe tune who was in her senior year with other people, but Oceans “Malcolm Johnston” and when Chaimbeul arrived. then we come back to the “Steaph’s Red Shoes,” Larry Bethune, then house we share with a a Chaimbeul original Berklee’s vice president of bunch of musician friends, of Hope (listen to her use of bass student affairs, suggested reconnect, and it feels as strings to ratchet up the the two of them should natural as it ever did.” tension with Moynihan’s get together and play. [Learn more about Jen- The North Shore’s BEST Theatre melody line); and, taking “Our first meeting was a na Moynihan and Mairi their repertoire farther rehearsal, our second was Chaimbeul at jenniand- for Live Music & Movies! afield, tunes from Brit- a gig,” says Moynihan. mairi.com] bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 11 A comical intervention by some critical friends By R. J. Donovan at one time or another. It helps me connect with my breath, be Special to the BIR A. People will relate to this play. It more present, be really in tune with how If you foresee disaster looming in a gets ridiculous . . . It’s so fun and funny I’m feeling, how I’m doing. With some of friend’s romantic relationship, is it fair and heart breaking and cringe-worthy the pressures that can easily get in your game to speak up? And if you do speak sometimes . . . I‘ve had some friends my head . . . yoga helps me to just let it all go. up, will your criticism ruin your own whole life. They love my husband, but Q. Tell me about your time in Ireland relationship with that friend? I have had that experience of having a when you were an undergrad. Those are the challenges faced in boyfriend they think is not good enough A. It was an acting and writing pro- “Robyn is Happy,” kicking off the fifth for you . . . I value honesty and loyalty, gram. We spent a semester reading a season at Hub Theatre Company of so I think I’d want people to tell me the lot of Irish plays, a lot of Irish literature. Boston. Performances run through Nov. truth. But it can be hard. (Then), when we were actually in Ireland, 11 at the First Church of Boston. All Q. Some friends have a long memory we created a performance piece about performances are “pay-what-you-can.” when you criticize a potential partner (an) experience on a farm in Kilkenny . In the East Coast premiere of Michael who later turns out to be “the one.” . . I remember sitting with these cows in Elyanow’s dark and unpredictable com- A. To be honest, I have been in that Kilkenny and thinking about Irish plays edy, Robyn is smitten with a new suitor. position where a friend broke up with that I loved and thinking, this is so cool. However, her lifelong pals think she’s somebody, I told them what I thought, Q. In “Finish Line,” you portrayed making a mistake. A huge mistake. A and now they’re married. And it’s sort Erika Brannock, the teacher from Bal- mistake that could alter her life forever. of awkward. I’m not super close to them timore who lost her leg in the Marathon The piece has been termed a biting any more and maybe that’s why. Who bombing. It must be daunting to portray blend of “Sex and the City” and “Titus knows? It’s a tricky thing. a person who’s sitting in the audience on Andronicus.” Q. You mentioned your husband. How opening night. Amie Lytle appears in the new com- Amie Lytle plays Robyn in the en- did you meet? A. There is a little bit more pressure . edy, “Robyn is Happy,” from Hub semble production (with Christine and A. We actually met online. On his . . because this is a real person and she Theatre Company of Boston, through Lauren Elias). The Albany native stud- profile it said that he liked theater . . . I went though this and I want to capture November 11. ied theater and English at Muhlenberg found out later the only play he’d seen her spirit and tell her story . . . She’s College, including a brief visit to Ireland. was “Book of Mormon.” I was like, okay. such a funny, generous person, even ally researching what it’s like to be your She later attended the prestigious Actors But now he sees so many shows. Obvi- after everything she went through. I character . . . What is daily life like? . . . Studio Drama School in New York before ously he comes to my shows, sometimes will treasure that experience forever . . When have you felt like your character eventually settling in Boston in 2013. as many as four times. He’s very sup- . You don’t always hear the stories of all felt? What can you relate to that? . . . Locally, she has appeared with Shake- portive. And then he’ll want to see my these heroes like Erica, who’s a preschool Very focused on the preparation, and speare Now!, Harbor Stage, Boston The- friends’ shows. He gets into it. teacher, a wonderful sister and daughter, then connecting to your stories. ater Company and Bridge Rep, among Q. For the sake of love you overlooked who lost her leg and had to learn how Q. Was your time there worth the others. She also appeared in “Finish the little white lie? to keep going . . . It’s a beautiful project intense emotional investment? Line,” the emotional Boston Marathon A. (My profile) said I liked sports, and I’m very proud I got to be a part of it. A. I’ve never worked so hard, but I documentary play. In addition to her which was kind of an exaggeration, as Q. In terms of making that sort of know it’s served me so well. stage career, she teaches yoga in Boston well. (Laughing) In our vows, he said, emotional connection, tell me about R. J. Donovan is editor and publisher and on Cape Cod. “I’m so glad I lied and my profile said I studying at The Actors Studio. They of onstageboston.com. We spoke while “Robyn” was in re- loved theater.” favor method acting? ••• hearsals. Here’s a condensed look at Q. I’m curious how your yoga practice A. It’s method acting . . . but it’s not the “Robyn is Happy,” Hub Theater Com- our conversation. informs your acting. way Hollywood portrays method acting, pany of Boston, through Nov. 11. First Q. “Robyn is Happy” touches on a time- A. I do think it’s like the perfect bal- [which is] “you become the character. Church Boston, 66 Marlborough St. less irritation – unsolicited advice from ance for acting. They go together really You never leave the character” . . . This hubtheatreboston.org. friends. Everyone’s suffered through it well. I always do yoga before a show. is more extreme preparation. You’re re- Dorchester Irish Heritage Festival 2017 The Dorchester Irish Heritage Festival took place on Oct. dance performers. The event is supported by many local 8 at Florian Hall, with dozens of Greater Boston music and businesses and the work of volunteers.

Two young attendees got a floor-level view of the Greene-O’Leary School of Dance performance in Brian Nicholson and Jessica McNeil and 10-month- Florian Hall. old Autumn Rae enjoyed the entertainment.

Ten-year-old Ellie Mullen clutched her friend Sham- rock while she sang the traditional Irish song “The Dawning of the Day.” From left , Joey Abarta, Paudi Walsh, and Liam Hart filled the hall with their music.Sean Smith photos Page 12 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com

CD Reviews Those who are wedded now and forever to the track – an American version (by way of the recently “Arthur McBride/Lakes of Pontchartrain” incarna- departed Mike Seeger) of the classic ballad “Lord By Sean Smith tion of Brady may find it difficult to acknowledge, Thomas and Fair Ellender” – just Brady’s voice BIR Correspondent but the fact is he operates very comfortably in the and guitar, ably backed by Irvine’s mandolin and , “Unfinished Business” •What contemporary/pop vein – which includes touches of harmonica. Mention should be made, by the way, kind of lens should you use in scrutinizing Paul funk, soul, R&B as well as rock. He knows how to of the excellent backing vocals throughout the al- Brady? Do you take the long-distance view, back to come up with hooks, like the repeating chorus in “Say bum by, variously, Suzanne Savage, Bairbre Anne, his early Irish folk revival days with The Johnstons You Don’t Mean,” the mandolin-whistle-keyboard Sinead Farrelly and, of course, his seminal work in the 1970s with riff on “Maybe Tomorrow,” the piano interlude on It’s understandable if the latter makes you nostal- Planxty and Andy Irvine, and recordings with tradi- “Once in a Lifetime.” Everyone knows he can play gic for “Plains of Kildare,” “The Jolly Soldier” and tional musicians like Matt Molloy, Tommy Peoples, acoustic guitar, but he is equally proficient on electric all those other tracks of that classic album of yore. Andy McGann, and Paddy Reynolds (not to mention guitar, keyboards, bass and drums, and he uses that Just don’t his role in the underappreciated “The Green Crow distinctive soaring voice of his to belt out lyrics like lose sight of Caws” album of settings of Sean O’Casey poems)? Or any arena-stage denizen. the bigger do you focus on the latter part of his career – dating Brady also shows a talent for teamwork with his picture – that from roughly 1981 – as a pop-based singer-songwriter co-writers. Pulitzer-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon Brady moves whose songs have been covered by Santana, Dave Ed- worked with Brady on three of the songs (“I Love You a r o u n d a munds, Tina But You Love Him,” “Say You Don’t Mean,” “I Like much larger Turner, and How You Think”), and they are gems of sardonic, musical land- Bonnie Raitt? but not anti-social, tonality: stuffed with unlikely, scape. [paul- With “Un- random literary and pop culture references (includ- brady.com] finished Busi- ing our hometown Bruins), and outrageous wordplay The Nes- ness,” Brady (“James Joyce and Sam Beckett/They scanned the bitt Family, seems to sug- Sandymount sky/All they saw was small potatoes, “Devil’s Bit gest that we they’d bigger fish to fry”). Sharon Vaughn – who’s S e s s i o n s ” can integrate teamed with Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, and • S p e a k - both perspec- George Jones – collaborated with Brady on five ing of being tives. Nine of tracks, and these are of the romantic/realistic, emo- typecast (see the album’s tionally accessible kind, like the winsome “Oceans of Brady, Paul, above), Mairead Nesbitt is known to eleven tracks Time” and the title track, a narrative of hopeful love millions as the Celtic Woman with the violin. But are co-written haunted by history. Canadian Ralph Murphy – he’s she comes from an impressive musical heritage by Brady; the written for Kathy Mattea and Randy Travis – gets celebrated on this album in a fashion (thankfully) remaining two co-credit for “Once in a Lifetime,” a tender give- far removed from the glitz and glamor with which are traditional love-a-chance plea with pedal steel guitar to boot. she’s been associated. songs that include guest appearances by – hold onto The two traditional songs are “The Cocks Are Nesbitt goes back to her native Tipperary at the your hat – none other than Andy Irvine. More on Crowing,” Irvine’s harmonica and Francesco Tur- foot of Devil’s Bit Mountain to play traditional tunes that to come. risi’s accordion weaving through the soft-jazz vibe with 13 members of her family, their ages ranging of Brady’s arrangement; and – the album’s closing from 10 to 81, including parents John and Kathleen, and brothers Seán, Michael, Noel and Karl (some of whom have appeared on Nesbitt’s previous record- ings). The album was recorded in the Nesbitt home to provide an informal “session” atmosphere, with some familiar, beloved standards like “Bunch of Green Rushes,” “Beare Island,” “Smash the Windows” and COME VISIT ANY “The Gatehouse Maid” among the selections. There are five full-ensemble tracks, among them “Captain O’Kane,” (a Turlough O’Carolan piece which is given a dramatic, orchestral-like treat- ment) and the rest spotlight duos, trios and other SOMERS PUBS combinations of Nesbitts, including a hornpipe/reel medley (“Fisher’s Rant/Glen Road”) on fiddle, ac- cordion and bouzouki; a leisurely jig set (“Old Lark LOCATION FOR QUALITY FOOD, on the Strand/Charlie’s Aunt”) that includes fine harp-playing by Lilly May; a rousing flute duet by HOSPITALITY & LIVE MUSIC Noel and Karl, accompanied by Michael on bodhran; and a banjo-bouzouki duet by Michael and Karl. Mairead displays her artistry on a pair of intricate hornpipes, “The Japanese Hornpipe/The Contradic- 7 NIGHTS A WEEK! tion,” and as part of a spellbinding fiddle trio with Kathleen and Frances on the air “The Wild Geese.” Sprinkled throughout are conversations among family members about where and from whom a particular tune was learned, and you rather want to hear more – or perhaps read some summarized version – of these. Such details help to reinforce the idea that this music has roots wide and deep, and whatever the scope of its presentation on big stage and TV screen, it is firmly ensconced in home and hearth. [maireadnesbittviolin.com]

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How would you like to be your own boss? SOMERSPUBS.COM Now you can at Impulse Hair Salon located in the heart of the Polish Triangle of Dorchester. We now have chairs available for rent. Make your own hours. Build your business and make a name for yourself in this up and coming part of Dorchester. Please contact Ann Marie @617-265-7600 for chair rental opportunity. bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 13 Traveling People Let’s take a quick tour of Clare, starting with the Cliffs By Judy Enright trad music and it’s avail- Special to the BIR able in many places. Nothing says success Heading north, I have like the stopped at The Soda in Co. Clare, Ireland’s top Parlour in tourist attraction. for yummy crepes and for Ten years ago, a new lunch one sunny afternoon visitor and interpretive at Gregan’s Castle Hotel center opened there, and at the foot of Corkscrew from then on the Cliffs Hill. have enjoyed ever increas- If you’re in the area, ing attendance, a fact you might also try the highlighted by the more Anchor Inn in , than a million visitors who Linnane’s lobster bar and have come by every year seafood restaurant in New for the past four years. Quay (linnanesbar.com) The million figure was and L’Arco Italian Café in reached on Aug. 11 this Ballyvaughan. You’ll find year, 11 days ahead of the your own favorite places millionth visitor in 2016, to stop for a bite as you and 10 weeks earlier than travel around. in 2014, the first time a CRAFT FAIR million visitors were re- One fun activity in corded at the Cliffs. Ballyvaughan if you’re LEADERSHIP there during the season While the incredible is the craft fair held every popularity of this tour- Sunday in the Village ist attraction cannot be Hall from May to October. entirely credited to man- Crafts for sale include agement, Director Kath- photography, jewelry, erine Webster certainly stained glass and much, deserves to take a long, much more. deep bow for her leader- Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare are Ireland’s #1 attraction. Be sure to look for Celtic ship of the site since 2005. Caprine goat milk soap She was at the helm by Janis James, once during construction of from Massachusetts who the new center, which is swapped New England’s carved into the hillside, vistas for a fairytale out- and she supervised the look over in Co. improvement of exterior Clare. Janis’s soaps are assets, too, such as path- sold throughout Ireland ways along the Cliffs and and we’ve bought them on up to the popular O’Brien’s several occasions at The Tower. The tower, which, Beehive on Achill Island by the way, nearly every and at O’Reilly & Turpin visitor climbs up to see, in Westport, both in Co. was built at the high- Mayo. est point of the Cliffs at Not a shopper? How Knockardakin in 1835 by about heading a bit south Cornelius O’Brien - local along the coast to landlord and descendant for Lahinch Adventures of Brian Boru, the first Road hazard encountered on the way to the Cliffs in the Burren, Co. Clare. where you can enjoy rock high king of Ireland. of Moher in Co. Clare. Judy Enright photos climbing, surfing, archery The tower was restored or cycling (bike hire is in 1970 and again in 2008 nating area. is The Wild Honey Inn the most delicious smoked ren Gold cheese from the available.) See lahinchad- and is a perfect viewing Be sure to spend time that recently became the salmon, rainbow trout and Ailwee Cave Farmshop ventures.com for more. point for the Cliffs and in the limestone karst first pub in Ireland to win mackerel and other delica- and more. Lahinch is also known Aran . On a clear landscape of the Burren, a Michelin Star. Owned cies (burrensmokehouse. We always look for St. as a surfing mecca. See day, visitors can look a Unesco Global Geopark and run by chef Aidan com.) We never pass Tola Goat Cheese while in lahinchsurfexperience. across Galway Bay to that covers nearly 100 McGrath and his partner, through Shannon Airport Ireland. We stopped there com for information on les- Connemara to the north square miles. Its magical, Kate Sweeney, the Inn without buying Burren once to visit the goats and sons for adults, students and south to the Kerry stark hills, wildlife, and offers accommodation in Smokehouse salmon (in watch cheese making - it’s and kids and rentals of Mountains. rare flowers have inspired addition to a unique menu. assorted flavors) – and a fascinating process. wetsuits and other equip- Webster has also guided artists and writers over Aidan is credited with also McCambridge’s soda RESTAURANTS ment. the facility on work to the centuries. developing his own culi- bread – to make the Irish As for restaurants in Co. TRAVELING alleviate ongoing issues Would you believe this nary style, based on the experience linger just Clare, there are many and, No matter when you such as parking - a chal- bleak, grey landscape is French classical genre and a little bit longer. (You honestly, we’ve never had visit Ireland, you’ll be sure lenge to any busy tourist host to 25 of 27 orchid many years of cooking. He can buy McCambridge’s a bad meal there. Most to find your favorite fun attraction. species native to Ireland, uses locally sourced prod- here: Foodireland.com) pubs sell more than just and interesting things to This summer, visitors as well as Mediterranean ucts and other Irish foods The visitor center at soup, sandwiches, and do, places to go, stay and were advised to come and Arctic-Alpine plants and describes his cooking the Smokehouse is well brews. We’ve had excel- eat. Be on the lookout for before 10 a.m. or after 6 rarely found in Ireland. as “Bistronomy – a lighter worth a visit if you’re in lent dinners in McDer- Christmas markets this p.m., Webster said, so they Some of the Arctic-Alpine style of cooking or refined . mott’s Pub (mcdermott- month and next in Galway could enjoy the majesty of plants include mountain bistro cooking.” We also bring home spub.com), O’Connor’s (galwaychristmasmarket. the Cliffs in the shoulder aven, spring gentian, and The Inn, which dates interesting jams/jellies Pub (gusoconnorspubdoo- ie), Waterford (winterval. of the day and be free spring sandwort. Mediter- back to 1860, was reno- and mustards from David lin.net) and Fitzpatrick’s ie), Limerick (milkmar- from the crush of massive ranean plants are maiden- vated in 2009 and has a and Vera Muir’s Clare (hoteldoolin.ie/fitzs-pub- ketlimerick.ie), Dublin crowds. And, really, what head fern, dense-flowered range of rooms available. Jam Company in , doolin), all in Doolin. (dublinatchristmas.ie), could be nicer than seeing orchid, and burnet rose. For more information, go chocolates from The Doo- While in Doolin - where Cork (corkchristmascel- sunrise or the moon over While you’re exploring to wildhoneyinn.com. lin Chocolate Shop, Hazel I stay at Riverfield House ebration.ie), and Belfast the Cliffs? the area, don’t miss the Another interesting Mountain “bean to bar” – finer fare is offered at (visit-belfast.com.) While you’re there, popular Poulnabrone dol- place to stay would be chocolate in Bellharbour the Roadford House (road- Have great fun when be sure to note that the men and some of the 70 Mount Vernon in New (and in the shop at 6 fordrestaurant.com) and you go, wherever you go, Cliffs are home to the other megalithic tombs Quay, a Georgian vil- Middle St. in Galway City) Cullinan’s Seafood Res- and whatever you do. See largest colony of nesting of all shapes and sizes in la once owned by Lady and Wilde Irish Choco- taurant (cullinansdoolin. Ireland.com for regional seabirds on mainland Ire- the Burren. Gregory of Abbey Theatre lates from , com.) And, don’t forget timely activities. land, including a number The informative Bur- fame. The house has views along with delicious Bur- that Doolin is famed for of endangered and rare ren Centre in over Galway Bay and is species. There are more is a great place to start, part of the Hidden Ireland than 20 species of nest- especially if you watch list of historic private ing birds there, including the video by acclaimed homes where visitors stay nine species of nesting photographer Eamonn as guests. There are four seabirds and up to 30,000 de Buitlear (details at rooms available for B&B. Handmade since 1925 breeding pairs of seabirds. theburrencentre.ie). The See details at hiddenire- There are petrel, herons, center has a gift shop and land.com or mountvernon. gannets, skylarks, gulls of café and is next door to the ie. course, rock doves, ravens, ruins CLARE FOODS goldfinch, stonechats, and and one of the greatest We always make a wagtails to name just a concentrations of high point to visit the Burren few. They make for great crosses in Ireland, includ- Perfumery in for bird watching when you ing the famed “Doorty delicious, fresh lunches as sign on for one of many Cross.” well as a walk through the boat tours available in WILD HONEY INN lovely gardens and a stop the area. When you’re ready to in the shop for soaps and THE BURREN relax after a day of ad- lotions made there. The Cliffs are not the venture, there are many Lisdoonvarna is home to only reason to visit Co. interesting and comfort- the , Clare. There is much, able accommodations in Birgitta, and Peter Cur- much more to see and the area. tin’s immensely successful experience in this fasci- In nearby Lisdoonvarna business that produces Page 14 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com THE BIR’S ARTS CALENDAR FOR NOVEMBER A look at Irish/Celtic music events this praised command and technique. His month in Greater Boston and Eastern 2012 album “Murmurs and Drones” won Massachusetts: “Best World Traditional Album” honors • Boston-based fiddle ensembleChild - in the Independent Music Awards. splay has announced its 2017 fall tour For tickets and other information on schedule, which includes a stop in Somer- Backroom series events, go to burren. ville Theater on Nov. 19, where they will com/Backroom-Series.html. play shows at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. • The Canadian American Club will Childsplay comprises two dozen or hold its annual Club Gala Benefit on Nov. so musicians – many from Boston or 12 from 1-7 p.m., featuring a performance elsewhere in New England – performing by Cape Breton fiddlerAndrea Beaton. fiddle music mainly from Irish, Scottish, A native of Mabou, Beaton comes from Cape Breton, Scandinavian, French a distinguished musical family: Her Canadian, and American folk traditions. fiddle-playing father Kinnon and pianist All the fiddlers use violins created by mother Betty are both acknowledged as Cambridge resident Bob Childs, who among the most influential Cape Breton also plays in the ensemble and serves as musicians of their generation; Beaton’s artistic director as well as its namesake. lineage also includes grandfather Donald Last year, Childsplay introduced Angus Beaton and grandmother Eliza- Ireland’s Karan Casey as its newest beth Beaton, and uncle Buddy MacMas- lead singer, joining stalwarts such as ter and cousin Natalie MacMaster, all of Laurel Martin, Sheila Falls, Shannon them revered in the Cape Breton music Heaton, Mark Roberts, Hanneke Cassel tradition. Her album “Branches” earned and Keith Murphy. Casey will return the East Coast Instrumental Recording for this year’s tour, and dancers Kieran Quebec’s Le Vent du Nord comes to The Burren Backroom on November 15. of the Year in 2010; her newest release Jordan and Kevin Doyle will be in the Christian “Junior” Stevens (accordion, Nord – Nicolas Boulerice (hurdy-gurdy), features Beaton accompanied by her cast as well. concertina), Alden Robinson (fiddle), Olivier Demers (fiddle), Rejean Brunet mother and guitarist Dave MacIsaac. Childs has announced that this tour Owen Marshall (guitar, bouzouki) and (accordion, bass) and Simon Beaudry Accompanying Beaton at the benefit will will kick off a three-year period in which newest member Hanz Araki (flute, vo- (guitar, bouzouki) – comes to the Back- be pianist Janine Randall, a mainstay Childsplay will record a new album and cals) form one of the most compelling room on Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. The band’s of the local Celtic scene. then, in 2019, embark on its farewell tour. Irish trad bands to have emerged in New resume includes tours across five conti- Go to canadianamericanclub.com for For information and links, see child- England during the past several years. nents, collaborations with performers more details. splay.org. They recently completed work on their such as The Chieftains and Dervish, and • Greater Boston native Emerald • Singer and harpist Moya Bren- third album, “Fortune It May Smile.” The two Juno Awards (Canada’s Grammys). Rae, a fiddler and vocalist of wide- nan, a member of the groundbreaking concert will take place at the Theology Their most recent album, “Têtu,” shows ranging, tradition-influenced styles, internationally renowned Irish folk-rock and Ministry Library on BC’s Brighton the band incorporating contemporary will perform at the Gore Place Carriage band Clannad, will give a concert at the Campus. See bc.edu/gaelicroots. material – some of it their own composi- House in Waltham on Nov. 8 at 7:30 Irish Cultural Centre of New England in • At The Burren Backroom this month tions – alongside the traditional. p.m. Rae started out playing Scottish Canton on Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Brennan, will be the duo of Maeve Gilchrist and Sharon Shannon, who has taken and Cape Breton music, winning the a native of Donegal, helped put Irish mu- Keith Murphy, on Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. the Irish accordion to far-off lands and US Scottish Fiddle Championship at age sic on a global stage through Clannad’s Gilchrist (harp, vocals) and Murphy multiple music genres, will play two 18, then moved into Irish and American string of hit singles and albums during (guitar, mandolin, vocals) represent an afternoon shows in the Backroom on old-timey, as a member of the band An- the 1980s and ’90s, culminating in a intriguing blend of music from Scotland, Nov. 13, at 2 and 4:30 p.m. Shannon’s nalivia (now the trio known as Low Lily) 1999 Grammy Award. She also has col- New England, Ireland, Quebec, Acadia, work has included explorations of Ap- and in her solo work; she also took up laborated with numerous figures in rock Newfoundland, and Cape Breton, among palachian, country, rock, hip-hop, reggae, the medieval Welsh fiddle the crwth. Her and folk – including Shane McGowan, other places, and their own creative classical, French-Canadian, African, more recent projects have included her The Chieftains, Michael Crawford, and minds. Both are also highly praised for and Portuguese music, and a support- album of original songs, “If Only I Could Robert Plant – and more recently with their skills in composing and arranging ing role on ’s Irish-American Fly,” and “Artifact,” a collaboration with fellow harpist/vocalist Cormac de Barra. – Murphy with Childsplay and as music anthem “Galway Girl.” Her most recent accordionist Somer O’Brien that features Go to irishculture.org for event details. director for “St. Patrick’s Day Celtic album, “Sacred Earth,” continues her Celtic, European and Quebecois music. • Maine quartet The Press Gang will Sojourn,” Gilchrist as assistant music global journey. See goreplace.org for information. play at Boston College’s Gaelic Roots director for “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn.” Ushering in the Thanksgiving holiday • The third annual Lexington Fam- series on Nov. 2 at 6:30 p.m. (they’ll be at A progressive force in traditional mu- break will be fiddler Jamie Laval, on ily Ceili will be held on Nov. 5 at 4:30 The Burren Backroom the night before). sic for 15 years, Quebec’s Le Vent du Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. A Pacific Northwest p.m. in the First Baptist Church, 1580 native now living in North Carolina, Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington. Laval has been active in several genres Irish social dances like “The Walls of of music, from Scottish trad to classical Limerick” and “Shoe the Donkey” will be to ethnic jazz to pop (including a col- taught and called; all ages are welcome laboration with Dave Matthews, and his and no experience is necessary. Live composing the Emmy-nominated theme music will be provided by Nora Smith song for the TV show “Everwood”). This (fiddle), Natasha Sheehy (accordion) and wealth of experience has enabled Laval to John Coyne (bouzouki). Admission is $10 bring a wider dimension to his renditions per person, $20 per family. of Celtic music, along with his highly – SEAN SMITH

FALL FLEX

F lexibility you can afford. bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 15 Maggie MacPhail; Bos- from classic traditional ton Harbor Bhoys; Gus to more contemporary LaCasse; Boston College sounds, followed by the Irish Dance; Rockport Festival Club, with late- Celtic Duo; Ceol Corvus; night performances that Quebecois showcase with provide festival artists Adrienne Howard, Eric the opportunity to engage Bodman and Max New- in special collaborations man; Vienna Scheyer; and push the envelope; The Medford All Star a BCMFest Brunch on BCMFest (Boston Celtic ing room, with evening Ceili Band; Boston College Sunday (Jan. 21) at Club Music Festival), the annu- concerts on Jan. 18 and Irish Dance; The Kelly Passim; Sunday Dayfest, al showcase for Celtic mu- 19; a marathon “Dayfest” Girls; Boston Scottish with more sounds and sic and dance in greater on Jan. 20; and, on Jan. Fiddle Orchestra; Thar styles from Boston’s Celtic Boston, will mark its 15th 21, a final slate of perfor- Toinn; Natasha Sheehy; music scene, and that eve- year with an expanded mances at Club Passim as Sailbow; Colleen White ning, the festival’s climax, The duo of Eamon Sefton and Maura Shawn Scan- schedule and the addition well as The Sinclair, one of and Sean Smith; Royal the BCMFest Nightcap lin will make their BCMFest debut at the festival of a new venue as part of Cambridge’s most popular Scottish Country Dance concert. in January. its programming. nightspots. Society; and Pumpkin There also will be music The Harvard Square- Performers and acts of Passim, a Cambridge- information, as well as up- Bread. [Updates at pas- sessions, sing-alongs and based non-profit seeking dates on performers and based, all-ages festival confirmed to appear at sim.org/bcmfest] participatory dancing, will take place over four BCMFest 2018 thus far to build a vibrant music other festival events and Among the highlights and festival performers community through Club activities, are available days, Jan. 18-21, cel- include: The Katie Mc- of BCMFest 2018 will will lead workshops at ebrating the variety of Nally Trio; Daymark; Passim, music school, art- through the BCMFest be the Emerging Artists The BCMFest Academy ist grants and outreach website at passim.org/ music, song, and dance Lindsay Straw with Jor- Showcase (Jan. 18); the on Saturday and Sunday. from Irish, Scottish, Cape dan Santiago; Molly Pinto initiatives. bcmfest. Roots and Branches Con- BCMFest is a program Ticket and schedule Breton and other Celtic- Madigan; Celtic Roots; cert (Jan. 19); the Boston related traditions found in Eamon Sefton and Maura Urban Ceilidh (Jan. 19), the Greater Boston area. Shawn Scanlin; Parcel of featuring social dances BCMFest 2018 will be Rogues with Susie Petrov from Celtic traditions; centered around Club and Calum Pasqua; Eliza- Saturday Dayfest (Jan. Passim, the renowned beth and Ben Anderson; 20), 12-plus hours of all Harvard Square listen- Highland Dance Boston; manner of Celtic music, Excellence in Private Care Curtin Home Care, Inc. (CHC) is Boston, Massachusetts’ premiere private Home Care Agency. Our professional services are highly personalized and staffed by carefully selected and screened personnel. We employ a wide range of medical staff including RN’s, LPN’s, CNA’s and Therapists. All personnel are licensed/ certified as well as insured and bonded. In addition to Bos- ton, we provide services to surrounding cities and towns. Our priority is assisting individuals remain in their home in a safe and comfortable manner. Please call 617-948-2551 today for a complementary initial consultation.

Now Hiring Experienced RN’s, LPN’s and CNA’s. Please email resume to: Fiddler Katie McNally will be among the performers at BCMFest 2018. [email protected] Natalie Champa Jennings photo www.CurtinHomeCare.com Page 16 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com

2017

Our Honorees

NORA, ANNMARIE, and BILL KENNEDY TOM TINLIN KEVIN CULLEN Thursday, October 26, 2017 bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 17 THE HONOREES

Irish Honors Awards chairman Aidan Browne

Tom Tinlin, who was honored for distinguished public service, is flanked by (l-r) his aunt Mary Greene, wife Heather and his father, Tom Tinlin.

Master of Ceremonies Dick Flavin

New England Council President Jim Brett and Fr. Richard (Doc) Conway share a laugh. Immigration draws attention at Irish

Eversource Energy President/CEO Jim Judge, a 2016 honoree at the Boston Irish Honors, introduced Honors luncheon new inductees Nora, Annmarie and Bill Kennedy. (Continued from page 1) generations,” Cullen noted, the Irish should not forget their past just because their social status in America has changed over the last century. “If anyone should be tolerant and welcoming, it’s the Boston Irish,” he declared. “If anyone should show solidarity for people who might be shunned or derided for being nothing more than themselves, it’s the Boston Irish.” After writing a story earlier this year about Francisco Rodriguez, an immigrant from El Salvador facing the threat of deportation, Cullen said he received several racist emails from people “with Irish surnames.” He went on to denounce the hypocrisy of Irish Americans who would denigrate the very group they were once part of. “Being Irish in a city where it once brought scorn now brings responsibility,” Cullen continued. “Part of being Irish is knowing your history. And if you’re really Irish, if you’re Boston Irish, you should always stick up for the underdog— the people who get stereotyped and screwed— because that used to be us.” Other speakers at the event included honoree Tom Tinlin, who spoke about dedicating his work to raising awareness about brain aneurysms after undergoing surgery for one earlier this year. Nora Kennedy, rep- resenting her family in receiving their award, empha- sized the need for the next generation of Boston Irish to carry on the values taught to them by their elders. This year’s luncheon committee was chaired by Aidan Browne, partner at Sullivan & Worcester and chairman of the Boston Friends of the Gaelic Players Association. In his speech, Browne shared his excitement for the upcoming Fenway Hurling Classic on Nov. 19, which he described as “the biggest Irish event in Boston in almost 100 years.” Tickets to the tournament were Reporter editor and publisher Bill Forry, honoree and Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen and Aidan Browne, partner at Sullivan & Worcester and chairman of the Boston Irish Honors 2017 committee. raffled off at the event. Page 18 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com The Boston Irish Honors 2017 Exemplary Boston Irish Family ACROSS THE GENERATIONS Bill, Annmarie, and Nora Kennedy open their hearts and their philanthropic spirit to help ‘the least among us’

By Peter F. Stevens BIR Staff For Bill, Annmarie, and Nora Kennedy, it’s all about community, about giving back and treating everyone – no matter an individual’s means and sta- tion – with compassion, dignity, and respect. While the term “family values” has morphed into cliché among cynics, the words have never been cliché to the Kennedys. Born and raised in Dorchester’s Meetinghouse Hill neighborhood, Bill Kennedy attributes much of his success – he has been lauded as one of Bos- ton Magazine’s “Super Lawyers” – and credits his concern for others to his family and to St. Peter’s parish. His roots have helped shape his career and his charitable work. Today, Kennedy is a partner in the prestigious Seaport law firmN utter McClennen & Fish, special- izing in the corporate and transactions department and serving as chair of the firm’s Public Policy group and as a member of the Public Finance section. He is also immersed in the firm’s “very active pro program providing legal services to those who need access to our legal system.” Kennedy earned his B.A. from the College of the “Family values” mark the ties that bind Nora, Bill and Annmarie Kennedy to home, career, and philanthrophy. Holy Cross and his law degree cum laude from Suf- folk University, where he was an editor of the Law Review. His legal career started in 1980 in private practice, and he has taught as an adjunct professor A FAMILY ALBUM at Suffolk Law, where he founded the university’s Legal Assistance Bureau. He served as Chairman for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners. In terms of the law and public service, Bill Kennedy has covered the gamut with the skill and breadth of knowledge that has cemented his status as a Boston Super Lawyer. He served as chief of staff and chief legal counsel to former Massachusetts Speaker of the House Thomas M. Finneran. Prior to that, he took on the duties of chief of staff and chief legal counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee and was an attorney for the Executive Council. He also served as an assistant clerk at the Mass Supreme Judicial Court. A chance meeting, a teaming up A cum laude J.D. was not the only life-changing achievement Kennedy found at Suffolk. While rid- ing the Red Line in his final month of law school, he met another Suffolk student, Annmarie Looney, who was working in Boston and pursuing a degree in education. The rest, as the adage goes, is history. They married in 1984 and bought a house in St. Ann’s parish a mile or two down Adams Street from Meetinghouse Hill. Later, they moved to Quincy and spent summers at a cottage in Falmouth. Bill and Annmarie on the day of Bill’s graduation Nora and her parents outside the US Supreme Like Bill, Annmarie Looney Kennedy was born from Suffolk Law School. Court building. and raised in Dorchester. The family lived on Edwin Street in St. Mark’s parish in the house that had been in the family since 1908. Again, like Bill, she says that her family and the parish were tightly entwined. “My cousins – the McCrevans and the Joyces – were our extended family in the parish,” she says. “My parents, Leo and Margaret Looney, were always in- volved in charitable work for the parish. My father was a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and often he would take my brother and me with him on calls to deliver food, clothing, and other necessities to local families who were having a hard time. It was something that people just did in the parish.” That “something” has stayed with Annmarie Ken- nedy in her family and professional life. She attained her master’s in education, and after fifteen years of teaching at Katherine Gibbs, she went on to Quincy High School, where she has been educating grades 9-12 for the last 20 years. Her core belief that every child deserves a good education has shaped her community service on the board of St. John Paul II Catholic Academy- Lower Mills, the former St. Gregory’s School in Dorchester, with the Carmelite nuns, and with numerous other Wedding Day: The bride, the groom, and Bill’s laudable causes. The virtue of being a person for oth- mother Mary. Annmarie’s parents, Leo and Margaret Looney. bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 19 The Boston Irish Honors 2017

ers also took root in her brother, Dr. John Looney, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Milton. Bill Kennedy is quick to point out that giving back to the community is a package deal with the Ken- nedys and that Annmarie and Nora are every bit as involved as he is. An enduring parental choice Nora Kennedy is equally quick to credit her par- ents for instilling in her the importance of family, education, and community service. “Because I’m an only child, my parents had two choices in raising me. They could have let relatives and neighbors babysit me when they went out to charity events, political fundraisers, parish meetings, and all sorts of other community functions. They often took me with them. They chose to make me a part of all this from an early age, to expose me to the world they lived in. Through them, I met so many wonderful people. “I learned fast how lucky I was and how so many other kids and families needed help. My parents’ belief that every kid deserves an education and a fair chance to succeed has stayed with me. I can’t stress enough how much my mom’s compassion, dedication, and selflessness to her students in and out of the classroom has taught me that everyone deserves the chance to reach their full potential.” She added, “An important thing for people to understand about my dad is something he has said to me just about every day when I was growing up – ‘treat people like you want to be treated.’” Nora has the same deep sense of place and com- munity that her parents have. “In a lot of ways,” she says, “the Kennedys and so many other families can trace their lives up and down Dot Ave and all At top: An amiable chat: Boston’s across Dorchester and Southie, where I live now.” Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Massa- Bill Kennedy seconds that sentiment when he chusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, and recalls how a drive with his late sister Linda, who Bill Kennedy.

was battling cancer, from Brigham & Women’s At right: A meeting of peacemak- Hospital to Hanover punctuated the closeness he ers: Bill Kennedy and former US and his sisters had forged in and around Meeting- Sen. George Mitchell, a key figure house Hill. He speaks wistfully of how the route in the 1998 accord in Northern he chose took them past many of the Dorchester Ireland. sites of their youth. “A lot has changed in Dorchester and Southie,” says Nora, “ but you can still walk around and see million for Catholic Charities. people you’ve known all your life. That sense of Generations of Community and Place camaraderie and real community still exists. As a The impact of Bill Kennedy’s Boston Irish roots and kid, my grandparents were within walking distance. his sense of community materialized in Dorchester, Sunday family dinners were important. It was that and they have been his moral compass throughout same way for my parents when they were growing his life. The same holds true for Annmarie and Nora. up – generations of close-knit families and close-knit “My Mom, Mary, and my Dad, William, raised my communities. Families used their neighborhood and six sisters and me to work hard, treat others right, the city as a backdrop.” and help others out,” says Kennedy. “Virtually the A graduate of Boston College, Nora is the chief entire neighborhood was like that. Everything re- of staff for John Fish, the CEO of Suffolk, and she volved around the parish – St. Peter’s, family, and is involved in numerous charitable and community neighbors. My Aunt Bertha, my mom’s sister, lived programs such as Scholar Athletes. She says that she next door to us with her family, six kids. Everyone Above: A daughter and dad and her parents try at all times to honor the Jesuit knew everybody else in the neighborhood. It gave Some of my college friends did that.” motto – “Men and Women for others.” you a sense of place and also a sense of purpose.” Kennedy fondly reveals something of a “secret “Those words are a key to how people should live Kennedy speaks with pride at how his mother was weapon” he brought to Holy Cross and, later, to Suf- their lives,” she says. “Giving back is a part of who a “Rosie the Riveter” at the Fore River Shipyard folk Law School. “My mom and dad were always you are. It’s not a burden. My parents have always during World War II. After serving in the war, his involved in my education. My mom typed my Holy lived by that motto, and I try to do so, too. father became a welder at Fore River. Mary Ken- Cross papers and then my Law Review articles. I His footprints are everywhere nedy later worked for many years for the city of was always getting professors’ compliments for how Along with his professional achievements, Bill Boston. Today, her son notes, “she is 93 and living good my spelling and my grammar were. I owe a Kennedy’s philanthropic work for Catholic Charities, at the Royal Braintree Nursing and Rehabilitation lot of thanks to my mom for that.” Project Bread, and a vast array of other community Center, in Weymouth Landing.” Asked what the Boston Irish Honors Award means and educational efforts has marked his presence in Kennedy knows that the spirit of giving back is a to the family, Bill Kennedy says, “It a special one to the community. He is currently a trustee at Emmanuel legacy from his parents. “They were always watch- us. I’ve been a part of the event for past honorees College at St. John Paul II Catholic Academy and a ing out for everyone in the neighborhood, and just who are not just people I admire, but longtime friends former trustee at the University of Massachusetts. about everyone we knew did the same,” he reflects. in many cases. The tradition that Ed Forry and his His numerous civic awards include recognition by “We had such great parish priests and this incredible family have created with the award recognizes that the Children’s Trust Fund for his years of service, sense of community – everyone pulling together. so many Boston Irish families have never let success and by Holy Cross as the “Crusader of the Year.” Kennedy’s religious beliefs make up his very core. turn them away from the more important work of He was also named “Father of the Year” by the He believes that they were shaped and strengthened reaching out to the entire community and helping American Diabetes Association. by the “many compassionate people I’ve met along others.” In May 2017, he was awarded Catholic Charities’ the way from my Dorchester childhood to Holy Cross You Can Go Back Home Justice and Compassion Award “for his inspirational and my professional life.” Thomas Wolfe wrote, “You Can’t Go Home Again.” leadership and solidarity with the most at-risk and He considers his undergraduate years at Holy Cross The Kennedys have proven things to be otherwise in underserved members of our community.” He as transformative. “The friends I made at Holy Cross their case. Recently, Bill and Annmarie decided that was introduced by his daughter and honored at the have been my friends for life,” Kennedy said. “The with Nora out on her own and with her career in full banquet by his friends Cardinal Sean O’Malley school’s Jesuit tradition was perfect for me, and the swing, the house in Quincy was too big for the two and Governor Charlie Baker. “For over 40 years,” necessity to give back to the community is so es- of them. “We decided it was time to downsize. We Pilot reporter Mark Labbe wrote, “Mr. Kennedy sential to the school and the graduates it sends out. looked at places in downtown Boston, but ended up has worked tirelessly to better the lives of the less Getting involved with those in need is a core lesson buying a condo in a great local building somewhere fortunate in and around the Greater Boston area.” one gets at Holy Cross. One of my biggest regrets else – the old Baker Chocolate Factory, in Dorchester. More important than the award to Bill Kennedy and is that I didn’t serve in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. “It feels right. Lower Mills is a great place to live.” his family was the fact that the event raised some $1 Page 20 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com The Boston Irish Honors 2017 for Distinguished Public Service A proud son of Southie, Tom Tinlin personifies the virtue of public service By Bill Forry BIR Editor There was a time — before his life was nearly cut short by an undiagnosed brain aneurysm — when Tom Tinlin was best known in government circles as the consummate Mr. Fix-It. First— and most no- tably— for Mayor Tom Menino, as he rose from a security officer working the front desk to the city’s transportation chief in the span of a decade. After that, briefly for Deval Patrick, and finally for Charlie Baker, Tommy Tinlin was the versatile, witty, and unflappable lieutenant, the cabinet chief who could be counted on to give you a straight answer and a sensible solution. When his mug would show up on your TV screen under a hard hat and over a fluorescent MEMA vest, it usually meant some natural calamity was under way. “Tommy has always been in the news,” says Heather (Canavan) Tinlin, his wife of a quarter-century. “If you saw him, you knew it was time to go get milk and bread.” Tommy Tinlin was — and is— the urban mechanic’s urban mechanic. All of that changed suddenly last April when the thunderbolt struck. While the 51-year- old Massachusetts Highway commissioner was emceeing a charity event for South Boston’s Fourth Presbyterian Church, the excruciating, week-long headache he’d been nursing with pain meds and sleep- Gov. Charlie Baker with the Tinlin family— Grace, 15, Thomas, 17, and Heather and Tom Tinlin. ing pills suddenly turned violent. He nearly blacked out, then walked off the stage, turned to Heather, and uncharacteristically demanded: “Take me to the hospital. Now!” After emergency surgery and 12 days in the hos- pital, Tom Tinlin had survived his brush with death, which was chronicled brilliantly in a Boston Globe feature by Nestor Ramos last August. “Heather saved my life long before that ride to Beth Israel-Deaconess. She’s the most special person I’ve ever met,” he told the Reporter recently in an interview. “I’m blown away that she wants to spend the rest of my life with me.” What happened to Tom and Heather and their children, Thomas, 17, and Grace, 15 (as Tinlin was quick to note, this was a crisis for his whole family) was preventable. A CAT scan — had his physician ordered one — would have detected the ticking time Mayor Thomas M. Menino with Tom Tinlin in his bomb in his head. Now, working in tandem with the Tom Tinlin with his dad, Tom, at Fenway Park, where City Hall office in 1994. The mayor came to lean on Brain Aneurysm Foundation, the Tinlins are devoted the elder Tinlin— now 78— still directs the delivery the young man from South Boston as a trusted advi- to spreading awareness about the warning signs to of beer at the storied ballpark. sor for his entire tenure from 1993 to 2014. the public and the medical community. “We can educate the public, but if doctors aren’t the plaster in the tub so he could take it off himself. rank of deputy superintendent in the Boston Police asking the right questions and doing the tests, all the We couldn’t afford to have him out of work.” Department before “retiring” last year to become the education on the public side is for naught,” Tinlin There are a few clans that claim deep roots in first chief of the Boston University Police. Second says. “It has to be something that professionals are Southie, but the Tinlins have the town in a strangle daughter Kerry— the family’s resident “adrenaline talking about. If my doctor listened to me— if my hold. junkie”— is a nurse and consummate first-responder, doctor did right thing— Heather would not have Thomas McMahon, Tommy’s maternal great-great making regular airborne runs as part of a MedFlight left the hospital that day wondering if I was going grandfather, emigrated from in 1874. units out of Cape Cod Hospital and Milford Regional to survive or not.” He met his wife Eleanor— also from Clare— and Medical Center. An early riser moved into a flat on W. Fourth Street. They packed From street corners from the very start the joint with seven kids, including Tommy’s great- to Gillette and City Hall Thomas Jude Tinlin made his debut at a different grandfather, Patrick Joseph McMahon, who married The baby of the bunch, our subject, chugged along hospital— St. Margaret’s— on May 26, 1965. He a “girl from the ice” —Catherine. They staked their predictably at first— grammar school atS t. Brigid’s was born earlier than expected, the baby brother of own claim, settling at 392 W. Fourth St. and high school at Christopher Columbus in the North Kelly and Kerry and only son of Tom Tinlin and his Their daughter— Tommy’s grandmother, Louise End, where the Italian lunch mothers spoiled students bride, Anne (Madden) Tinlin, a couple minted in McMahon— met and married John Tinlin, who served with pasta and “gravy.” Tommy Tinlin’s teen years Southie’s Old Colony projects. They were married in the Coast Guard during WWII and later split from were spent on Southie street corners and, later, at the at St. Augustine’s in 1961 and nurtured their young his wife and family. Louise single-handedly raised L Street Tavern before it was a Robin Williams sound crew in a flat on Second Street. Tom Tinlin, an Air her brood of seven kids — including Tommy’s dad, stage. College was an option, but not a pressing one, Force veteran, hauled Schlitz kegs — and later Thomas J. Tinlin—on Darius Court in the Old Colony nor his first choice, by a long shot. Buds— across greater Boston as a proud union truck development. Louise found work at the old Carney “My biggest ambition was to make 10 bucks an driver. Their kids learned their work ethic from both Hospital on Telegraph Hill, now operating as Mar- hour,” recalls Tinlin, who made short work of that parents. Mom took a part-time job making beds at the ian Manor. When the Carney decamped for greener bucket list item by pulling the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift Bay View Nursing Home on P Street. Dad missed the pastures in leafy Dorchester, Louise followed and in the “hot room” at the Gillette factory. The magic start of his own “retirement” party from the Teamsters eventually found her own apartment in a three-decker of molding plastic razors on the piers of the Fort because he’d decided to start a new gig: managing near the hospital campus. Point Channel wore off after a few months. In 1987, beer concessions at Fenway Park. He’s still on the While still in “the bricks”— Tom Tinlin’s dad met a neighborhood sponsor, Eddie Wallace, tucked him job — and loving it— at age 78. and courted his mom, Anne Madden, a sweetheart into a security guard’s seat at Ray Flynn’s City Hall “I remember one time — I was 10 years old— and from Patterson Way. Their first-born was Kelly, who at age 22. my dad came home with a cast on his hand,” says later married Coley Nee, another stalwart Southie It was a life-changing moment. Tom the younger. “He’d broken it at work the day clan of Connemara extraction. She became a pow- First, and most importantly, it was there that Tom before. He went right into the bathroom and soaked erhouse in city law enforcement and rose to the crossed paths with Heather Canavan of K and Fifth, bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 21 The Boston Irish Honors 2017

A proud son of Southie, Tom Tinlin personifies public service and two years his junior. He was immediately smitten with the young mayoral intern, whom he somehow had never met in his Southie travels. “She was funny, pretty, and had no use for me at all,” says Tom with a laugh. “But I was going to wear her down one way or another.” Says Heather: “We had all these things in common.” Friendship turned to flirtation and, after Heather graduated from college, romance. They were mar- ried in 1992 and celebrated their 25th anniversary this month. The newlywed Tom Tinlin had been giving some thought to becoming a Boston cop, but he wasn’t all that sure of his long-term plans. But City Hall serendipity was not done with him yet: He had just met an Italian guy from the western reaches of the city who would change his life. For some reason— and no one really fully grasps why— Tom Menino took a shine to the red-faced kid from Southie. The Hyde Park district council- lor, who had recently earned his own long-deferred college degree at UMass Boston, leaned on Tinlin to do the same. “We used to say that the mayor could see around corners, for people and situations,” says Michael Kineavy, another Southie kid from Second Street Tom Tinlin addressing the media at a 2013 press conference at Boston City Hall. who became Tom Menino’s closest City Hall aide. “If you had walked by [Tinlin] at the security desk, you wouldn’t have known he had all this capacity. He saw something in Tom early on. I think he probably saw that he has a good heart.” When Menino was elevated to interim mayor after Ray Flynn left for the Vatican, Tinlin was one of the few loyalists he could count on in South Boston, where Dorchester state Rep. Jim Brett was the local favorite in the 1993 race to pick a full-term successor. Peter Welch, Menino’s chief of staff, enlisted Tin- lin to organize a “time” at the South Boston Yacht Club. “We got a call that the mayor was ten minutes out and the place was pretty much empty. “All of a sudden— swoosh— there are people swarming in. We had a full house in Southie for him that night. He was pretty pleased.” Tinlin’s loyalty and hustle paid off within hours Our subject, circa 1969. of Menino’s November election victory. The next morning, he was summoned to the mayor’s fifth floor perch overlooking Faneuil Hall. Menino wanted Tinlin to be his full-time Southie sentry in the Office of Neighborhood Services. “He said, ‘I want you to come and work for me,’ Tinlin recalls. “But, he also said, ‘You have to promise me you’ll go back to school.’ ” It was not a request. “I would call it a mandate,” deadpanned Kineavy. “There were a couple of people the mayor really pushed in that way.” Heather Tinlin was fully on board with the mayor. “Honestly, I was nagging Tommy to go to college, too. But the mayor saw him in all kinds of capaci- ties, addressing some serious things that happened in security. He really saw something in him.” Taking the mayor’s urgings to heart After a false start or two, Tinlin found his niche The Tinlin four at Disney World The Tinlin family in 1986 elebrating the 25th wedding anniversary of at Eastern Nazarene College, where he enrolled in this year— Tom, Heather, Tom Tom and Anne: Kerry, Kelly, Tom and Anne. And that’s our esteemed honoree, Tom Tinlin, on the floor. night classes. “Eastern Nazarene gave me the tools and Grace. I needed. It taught me how to study again,” he says. telling painting Menino as a bully is way off. “He an ‘urban sense of urgency’ Within days of Tom’s getting his bachelor’s degree, was very direct. You got a full report card every day. Tinlin brought all of the lessons learned at Menino’s Menino pulled him aside again. “Congratulations,” But it was never personal,” he said. side to state government in 2013 when he joined the he said. “Now guess who getting his master’s?” Cabinet heads could expect the mayor to ask a simple Patrick administration as the chief of operations for Menino then plugged Tinlin into a slot in a city- question that was a hallmark of his leadership style: the state’s highway department. Patrick was winding sponsored graduate degree program at Suffolk “Who are we helping by doing this?” Says Tinlin: “It up his term and Gov. Charlie Baker was in the wings. University, where he earned a master’s in public had to begin and end with that. I don’t think he gets “I thought I was going to the state for a year while administration over the next two years. enough credit for how that sort of direct communica- I figured out what I wanted to do next,” saysT inlin, “I thought I was getting punished at first, that’s the tion works. His intuitions were always so sound.” who first met Baker during his transition. “Immedi- kind of dope I am,” laughs Tinlin. “Suffolk made me Menino came to rely on Tinlin’s counsel, too, and ately, I said, ‘This guy gets it.’ I wasn’t necessarily a better employee and changed me as a manager.” not just on matters of transportation. He was the on his team, but he was deferring to me, asking all Those were important skills to have as he joined mayor’s guide for navigating the annual St. Patrick’s the right questions. And he wasn’t hesitant to get his the inner circle of the Menino administration with a Day breakfast— the political roast that the mayor hands dirty.” promotion to acting commissioner of the city’s Trans- looked forward to about as much as he did a root canal. Baker bought into Tinlin’s guiding principle: Adopt portation Department. It was a demanding position “He wrote all the jokes - which the mayor always a Menino-like approach to the day-to-day workings in which Tinlin earned a reputation as a hands-on, butchered but somehow made more hilarious,” recalls of state government. no-nonsense manager who would personally respond Dot Joyce, Menino’s longtime press secretary and “I wanted to bring an urban sense of urgency to to accidents or water main breaks in the middle of confidante. “Tom Tinlin is the total package. We state government. As a former municipal official, the night. couldn’t have survived some difficult days without there were times we thought that the state was out Menino, who died in 2015 from cancer, earned a him.” reputation as a tough boss, but Tinlin says that any re- On the state stage, preaching (Continued on page 11) Page 22 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com The Boston Irish Honors 2017 Exemplary Boston Irish Journalist Kevin Cullen the journalist, in his own words Editor’s note: When Boston Irish Reporter publisher Ed Forry approached Kevin Cullen about accepting a Boston Irish Honors award for his exemplary career in journalism, Kevin told Ed that he would “jot down a few words” of background information on his life and times. Those “few words” follow:

By Kevin Cullen I was born in the old Richardson House, which was then part of the Boston Lying-In Hospital that later merged with Brigham and Women’s Hospital. My mother was from South Boston and my father was from Malden, where my family settled and where I grew up. My paternal great-grandparents were from Cork – they were Flemings – and the Cullens were from Dublin. My great-grandfather was a labor activist who supposedly knew Jim Larkin, the renowned early 20th-century Irish trade union activist. The Cullens were never big on their Irish roots, as least as I can remember. My maternal side was a different story. Irishness was very much at the fore of the family’s identity. My mom’s parents were from Connemara. My grandmother, Brigid Connolly, grew up in Carraroe, When I got Bertie to go to The Eire...Somebody had to drink the Bass. The occasion was a visit to the and came to Boston as a domestic, working initially Dorchester pub by outgoing Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in 2008. for a family on Beacon Hill when she was a teenager. My grandfather, Martin Flaherty, was a better-than- average hurler from Camus. When I hitchhiked there as a student in the late 1970s, I was told by locals that he was from Upper Camus. I looked around the barren countryside and couldn’t believe there was an Upper and a Lower Camus. It just looked like one big-ass bog to me. My grandmother took care of me for a while when my mom was sick and she spoke to me in Irish all the time. Years later, I would be startled when I heard words in Irish that stirred memories in me. That said, my grandparents, who were married at what was then St. Peter’s and Paul’s in Southie, were determined that their kids would assimilate as much as possible. Even though they were native Irish speak- ers from the Gaeltacht, they did nothing to facilitate their children learning Irish. In fact, they used Irish as their private language so they could talk in front of their kids without the kids knowing what they were saying. I find that very sad. But it was very common in that day and age, and the Irish were determined to be less foreign and more American. One of the casualties was the in America. Much later, when I was a student at Trinity College, I hitchhiked out to Connemara one day and went into a pub somewhere around Carraroe. It was the middle of the day, and the only people inside the pub were Kevin Cullen and former US Sen. George Mitchell talking about the 2017 movie “In the Name of Peace: John Hume in America” at the Kennedy Library as the film’s director Maurice Fitzpatrick, listens in. the bartender and a couple of old-timers at the far end of the bar. I sat down in the middle, not wanting to the first graduating glass of Gate of Heaven High ers. I thought about taking the Boston firefighters be seen as pushy. I got talking to the bartender over School in Southie, 1938. She became a telephone exam, but my uncle, Bozo Flaherty, who at the time a pint and, of course, my family came up and I said operator, working out of the exchange in what is was on Engine 39 on D Street, urged me to go to col- my grandparents were from the area. now Chinatown. My dad, Joseph Cullen of Malden, lege and take the exam later. I got accepted at four “What were their names, and where were they was nicknamed “Duke.” He had to have been one of or five other colleges, but went to UMass Amherst from?” the bartender asked. When I told him, he the few white kids of his era who was named after because it was the only one I thought I could afford. walked down to the old-timers and spoke to them in Duke Ellington. My father was a jazz nut, from a I played soccer at UMass, was actually recruited Irish. They were drinking Guinness bottles, as the very young age. He and my Uncle Chub were the to play. A kid from Dorchester, Julio Avila, and I had old folks did in that era. No draft for them. only white guys in a club in the South End when they work-study jobs in one of the dining halls while we The bartender came back and said, “This fella knew saw Duke and his big band perform before the war. tried to play Division 1 college soccer. Julio was re- your grandfather.” So I walked over and shook their My parents met during the Second World War, at a ally good, but while very fast, I wasn’t very skilled hands. I could say hello in Irish, and I understood USO dance in Park Square, when my dad was home and early in sophomore year, when it was obvious I when one of them, the one who supposedly knew my on leave (he had enlisted in the Navy right after Pearl wasn’t going to play much if at all on the varsity, and grandfather, asked my name. But the torrent of Irish Harbor). My mother’s boyfriend from Southie, whom after my coach told me he didn’t want me working that followed was indecipherable to me. I shrugged, everyone expected she’d marry, had been killed in for the student newspaper, I quit the team. and said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t have Irish.” the war the previous year. By this time, I had been pretty well bitten by the The man who had been talking to me, chuckled, My dad served in the Pacific throughout most of the journalism bug. One of my professors, Howard Ziff, turned to his friend, said something, and shook my war and came home after VJ Day. After he and my was a real mentor. One of the turning points in my hand again and it was pretty clear that was the end mother were married at Gate of Heaven, they lived in life was when, in my sophomore year, I enrolled in an of the conversation. Southie for a while before settling in Malden after he Irish history class taught by Professor Joe Hernon. Joe I went back to my pint down the bar and eventually became a firefighter for the Malden Fire Department. had his students read a lot of Irish literature, because got the bartender’s attention. “What did your man say I went to Catholic school, Cheverus, through the he said you couldn’t understand Irish history if you after I told him I didn’t speak Irish?” I asked him. eighth grade. I was an altar boy at Sacred Hearts didn’t understand Irish literature. I began reading He scrunched up his face and said, “Ah, nothing.” in Malden. My mother wanted me to go to Malden Joyce, Yeats, Synge, O’Casey, Behan. At the same “No,” I said. “I’d really like to know.” The bartender Catholic, but I was constantly getting in trouble with time, my roommate, Mike Power, who hailed from a shrugged as he began pulling my next pint, and said, the nuns over Catholic dogma. I liked to question big family in Mission Hill, turned me onto Irish folk “He said you’re [expletive] useless.” things; they didn’t. I didn’t feel like starting over music: first,T ommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, About Mom and Dad with the brothers at MC, so I went to Malden High. then, Planxty and De Dannan and the Bothy Band, My mom, Margaret “Peggy” Flaherty, was in Some of my uncles were Boston cops and firefight- among others. bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 23

The Boston Irish Honors 2017

Revising my outlook on life Around that time, I experienced what the social scientists call Third Generation Return, when you begin to strongly identify with the land of your foreign-born grandparents. I decided to spend my junior year abroad. The UMass exchange program had a relationship with University College Cork, but I wanted to live in Dublin. Between Joyce’s “Dub- liners” and the history of the Rising, I was obsessed with Dublin. The folks at the UMass exchange office told me I’d have to do it on my own because they had no formal connection with schools in Dublin. UCD struck me as being too far out in the suburbs. Trinity was right in the heart of the city, and that’s where I wanted to be. I wrote a letter to the registrar at Trinity and, shockingly, they wrote back. To this day, I have no idea why they accepted me. The year I lived in Dublin changed my life com- pletely. I fell in love with Ireland, its people and its culture. I hitchhiked a lot. It was common back then. Especially because the buses went on strike all the time. I brought my guitar to Clare and, in a nearly deserted O’Connor’s Pub in Doolin, sang Neil Young songs with a farmer who wore shit-caked Wellies and played a mean tin whistle. Turns out, it was the The Cullens after settling in Dun Laoghaire in So. County Dublin in 1998: Patrick, Brendan, Kevin and legendary Miko Russell. Who knew? Martha. I took the train up to Belfast, and was walking down the Falls Road when a British Army patrol came walking toward me. I was stopped, and when I tried to explain who I was, one of the officers told me to knock off the phony accent. I showed him my passport and he muttered something under his breath and tossed it back at me. I remember thinking: If this is how they treat me, how do they treat the locals? Even then, in my head, I thought that someday I’d come back and write about all I saw in the North. I had hoped to finish my degree atT rinity, but when the administrators there suggested they might not accept all or even most of my UMass credits, I came back to the States and finished up at UMass in 1981. My first job out of school was working for a reporter at the Transcript-Telegram in Holyoke, an old mill city in western Massachusetts that had seen better days. Holyoke has a big St. Patrick’s parade and I when I wasn’t covering cops, politics, and the courts, I was the fulltime parade reporter. One year, Maureen O’Hara was the parade committee’s choice for the JFK Award. I rode around in a limousine with her, and told her that “The Quiet Man” was my favorite movie of all time. She seemed unimpressed, and was more My maternal grandmother, Bridgid “Connolly” intrigued by the people hanging out the windows in My folks: Peggy and Joseph “Duke” Cullen. Flaherty, a native of Carraroe, who took care of me the Puerto Rican neighborhoods we drove through. when my mother was sick. I’m not sure that Maureen O’Hara had a full measure I forgotten that woman’s kindness, either. more time on the ground in Ireland than any other of Holyoke when she agreed to attend the festivities. I led a Damian Runyonesque life at the Herald, American reporter, most of whom lived in London I learned a lot in that city. It was like going to where I was the chief crime reporter, though, truth and spent little time in Northern Ireland, and even graduate school for journalism, except that I got paid be told, everyone at a tabloid is a crime reporter at then, usually just Belfast. $200 a week to start. some level. I cashed my check at JJ Foley’s in the I resisted writing about politics and focused on Reporting in Boston about Boston South End and built sources at the bar, which was how the conflict affected ordinary people inN orthern After Rupert Murdoch bought the Boston Herald, peopled by homicide cops and EMTs and paramedics Ireland. Republicans assumed I was sympathetic, his editors began trying out young reporters whom from the city’s EMS. loyalists assumed I was hostile. I tried to be as fair they could pay much less than the old crew from For reasons I can’t remember, I stood for and was as possible, but, as they say in Northern Ireland, if Hearst. I did one of those three-day tryouts and they elected president of the editorial union at the Herald. It you stand in the middle of the road, you’re gonna hired me. When I called my mother in Malden to say would have made my trade unionist great-grandfather get knocked down. that I was coming home, she said, “That’s nice. Did proud, but I wasn’t a very good labor leader. My only, By 1997, with the chance of a lasting peace in the you know there’s a fireman’s exam onS aturday.” My and lasting accomplishment was to get our union to offing, Globe editor Matt Storin decided to station mother thought newspaper reporters were ne’er do affiliate with theN ewspaper Guild, which succeeded me in Ireland fulltime. If it was just me, I would have wells, and the ones she knew were. in narrowing what was then a huge pay gap between moved to Belfast, but with my wife Martha and my Charlie O’Brien, the managing editor at the Herald, Globe and Herald editorial workers. two young sons Patrick and Brendan in tow, I took handed me a letter on my first day, saying, “This is Reporting in Ireland on Ireland up residence in Dun Laoghaire, in South County the reason you were hired.” It was a letter, crudely Shortly after that, in 1985, the Globe headhunted Dublin, because I had a lot of friends in the area, and written in broken English, from a Haitian woman me and I became the first Murdoch-era Heraldite I wanted my wife to have a support system with me from Dorchester I had interviewed during my tryout. to join the Globe. The first should have been Brian on the road so much. Besides, if the peace process Her son had been shot to death by a man the Boston Mooney, who, when asked by a Globe headhunter blew up, so would Belfast. Police had arrested. She told me her son’s shooter what was wrong with the Globe, gave him a laundry I spent the next year chronicling the peace process, was his cousin, and his best friend, and that it was an list of faults. Shortly after Mooney’s honesty got him and cursing the lack of a bypass road in Drogheda, accident, but the police wouldn’t listen to her. After passed over, I was asked the same question, and I where I got stuck for ages every time I drove home my story appeared, without a byline because I was replied that the only thing wrong with the Globe is from Belfast. on tryout, the DA’s office reduced the charge from that they hadn’t hired me yet. I really did say that. Being a witness to the Good Friday Agreement, murder to manslaughter. The woman wrote a letter Working at a tabloid was fun, but I wanted to have and all of that leading up to it, felt like being in the addressed simply to The Boston Herald, to thank them more than fun; I wanted to have a real impact, and I middle of history, all of it good, although some of the for the polite young man who came to her house and wanted to go abroad, especially to Northern Ireland, violence right before and after was horrific. I talked who told the truth. where there was an ongoing a story that I thought to an old priest, not long after he prayed over two For whatever reason, I was the only reporter to knock was badly under covered. The Globe afforded me friends, one Catholic, the other Protestant, who were on that woman’s door. I have not forgotten the power those opportunities by sending me to Northern shot to death by loyalist gunmen trying to derail the of being polite and decent to people, especially when Ireland regularly, usually two or three times a year they are in the midst of a traumatic event. Nor have for a couple of weeks at a time. I began spending (Continued on next page) Page 24 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com The Boston Irish Honors 2017 ‘If John Cunningham is not safe, no one is safe’ By Kevin Cullen istration being cheered on by a sizable portion The Boston Globe of Americans that does indeed view immigrants as a threat to this country. Published on June 20, 2017. Reprinted with O’Sullivan likes to remind people that 60,000 permission, Boston Globe Media immigrants are serving in the American military. They came for John Cunningham on a sunny Members of his family from Kerry have been part evening last week, showing up at his house in of immigration waves going back to the 1950s, Brighton like early dinner guests. serving in every major US war since Korea. They were federal immigration agents, and “Our country would be more secure if people are they were there to throw John Cunningham out allowed to come out of the shadows,” O’Sullivan of the country he has called home for 18 years. said. Now this would come as a great surprise to John Cunningham was just out of his teens the young people that Cunningham helped as when he came to Boston from Donegal. Like a lot chairman of the Gaelic Athletic Association in of young Irish, he quickly found work, a Gaelic Boston. It would come as a shock to the many football team, and a supportive ex-pat commu- immigrants, not just the Irish but those from nity in and around Boston. He never went back other countries, that Cunningham has helped to Ireland, not just because Boston was his new over the years. It would come as an insult to a home but because he knew if the immigration very kind priest named Dan Finn, who runs the authorities realized he had overstayed his 90- Irish Pastoral Centre in Dorchester and who day visa, he’d be barred from the United States knows that John Cunningham is a good man. for at least 10 years. Chris Lavery, Cunningham’s lawyer, told me He would have done anything, paid anything there is no underlying criminal charge. Cun- to obtain legal status, but he couldn’t. The same John Cunningham, owner of an electrical contract- government that gladly gave him a tax ID number ningham was grabbed for overstaying the 90-day ing business, was chairman of the Gaelic Athletic visa he received 18 years ago. Association of Boston. wouldn’t give him a way to get legal. Cunning- ham worked for years lobbying for immigration Lavery was trying to determine whether Cun- ing the traditional Irish games of hurling and ningham missed a court hearing after a customer reform, trying to create a system that would allow Gaelic football. millions of immigrants to legalize their status. filed a complaint that Cunningham took and It is because of Cunningham’s prominence in cashed a deposit check for more than $1,000 for Some worry that Cunningham’s willingness that community that his arrest has sent shivers to speak publicly about the need to reform the electrical work he didn’t perform. That would through it. have produced a warrant for his arrest, but not immigration system made him an easy target for “If they’ll go after John Cunningham, they’ll go that same flawed system. by immigration agents. after anybody,” said Ronnie Millar, the executive “You would think a guy like him, with no Lavery, his lawyer, visited him in jail, hard by director of the Irish International Immigrant the Expressway. Cunningham is despondent. criminal convictions, would not be a priority,” Center in Boston. “John is so well-known and Lavery said. He has spent half his life here. He’s in lockdown so well-liked. If John Cunningham is not safe, most of the time. It’s unclear how long he will But the days of immigrants who kept their no one is safe.” noses clean not having to worry about being be held before he’s deported. He has no right to That is a new reality that is hitting not just the a hearing because of the visa waiver program deported are gone. Irish, but other immigrant communities from Under the Trump administration, Immigra- under which he entered the country. East Boston to Lawrence, from Worcester to “What does this accomplish?” Chris Lavery tion and Customs Enforcement agents have Springfield, and everywhere in between. Being been very active. And ordinary, hard-working, asked. a good person means nothing. Round ’em up. The short answer is it accomplishes nothing. tax-paying immigrants are being targeted the Kieran O’Sullivan, an immigration counselor same as hardcore criminals. For those who would ask, “What part of illegal at the Irish Pastoral Center, said Cunningham don’t you understand,” I’d ask, “What part of In the midst of all this round-’em-up-and- was among several Irish people detained this throw-’em-out talk, a question has to be asked: pointless don’t you understand?” month. Like Millar’s organization, his has been John Cunningham hails from a small, beautiful What is gained by arresting, detaining, and de- inundated with frantic, worried calls, especially porting someone like John Cunningham? place in southwest Donegal called Glencolmcille. as word of Cunningham’s arrest spread. He spoke It is an Irish-speaking area, and it’s named after “Nothing is gained but ruining a good man’s with a couple that is making contingency plans for life,” said Sean Moynihan, head of a Boston con- St. Columba, the Irish missionary who brought what to do with their children if they’re arrested. Christianity to Scotland. sulting firm called The Moynihan Group. “John “People are nervous about going to work,” makes this city, this state, this country better. If St. Columba came to this country today and O’Sullivan said. “What to do if both parents are needed more than 90 days to spread the word So how is throwing him out helping anyone?” picked up. This is driving people further un- Cunningham is widely known in Boston’s Irish of God, he wouldn’t be called a saint. He’d be derground. It’s a very difficult time. We need to called a criminal. ex-pat community. He was a fixture at the Gaelic move away from viewing immigrants as a threat Athletic Association fields at the Irish Cultural Kevin Cullen is a Boston Globe columnist. He to this country.” can be reached at [email protected]. Centre in Canton. He was especially proud of Fat chance that will happen with a new admin- getting more kids from all backgrounds play- Kevin Cullen the journalist, in his own words (Continued from page 9) want to be a war correspondent. Traveling through National Book Critics Circle Prize for non-fiction. peace talks. I cried while writing about the murder Europe on someone else’s dime, however, made it I thought Harvard had standards until they gave me of the Quinn brothers, little boys burned to death by a worth 70 straight days, minus being expelled from a Nieman Fellowship. A year off in academia was loyalist firebomb during the Drumcree standoff after Serbia in the Balkans for a few days. a nice break, but I wanted to get back to the actual the agreement was approved by voters. A little girl, I have done a lot of other things at the Globe. I craft of journalism. The newspaper business is in their neighbor, told me she heard one of the boys, was part of the Spotlight Team that outed Whitey decline. I can never retire because my pension will trapped on the second floor, yelling that his feet were Bulger as an FBI informant who was protected by not cover my rent. But I still like what I do. I . I was numb, walking around Omagh after the FBI while he murdered and maimed. I was part think what people in my profession do is important. the rump of the IRA who refused to accept peace of the investigative team that won the 2003 Pulitzer At our best, we bear witness to those with no power left a car bomb that killed 29 people. After filing my Prize for Public Service for exposing the coverup of and hold those who have power accountable. I like story, I went to give blood. sexual abuse by priests, and the newsroom team that to tell stories, mostly about ordinary people, often A new deal with an old colonizer won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for about decent people, and sometimes about those who Watching prosperity boom in the South while the coverage of the Marathon bombings. And I was a Pu- are abused by those who have more power. booms ended in the North was exhilarating. Ireland litzer finalist in commentary the same year. I became As the grandson of immigrants, I’m especially was confident enough to strike a new relationship with a Glopbd columnist in 2007, and the next year won sympathetic toward immigrants. Our country is grow- its old colonizer, as equals. I watched the inferiority the Batten Medal, awarded by the American Society ing meaner, more petty, and nowhere is that more complex and victimhood melt away, and it was a of Newspaper Editors for writing about the poor and evident than in the demonization of immigrants. I wonderful time to live in Ireland. I didn’t want to leave marginalized. I was awarded that Medal a second write about them regularly, and what pains me most Dublin, as we had a good family lifestyle, and being time in 2013. In 2014, I won the Mike Royko Award, is that the worst invective, the most racist emails I the Boston Globe guy in Ireland mattered. But my named for the famous Chicago newspaperman, as get whenever I write about immigrants, the name on editors wanted me to be the European correspondent, best columnist chosen by the American Society of them is invariably Irish. and insisted I move to London, so we packed up and Newspaper Editors. And with my colleaghue Shelley I wish my grandmother Brigid was alive because lived there for a few years. I covered the wars in the Murphy, I wrote a book about , but I know she’d give them a dressing down. And I’d former Yugoslavia long enough to know that I didn’t then who didn’t? Still, the book was a finalist for the recognize the swear words in Irish. bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 25 The Boston Irish Honors 2017 Proud son of Southie connects old town and the new (Continued from page 7) of touch with what the real needs of municipalities are. Governor Baker really gets that. He wanted to make sure we were doing everything we could do to help the cities and towns.” Sometimes, that meant his Mass Highway chief showing up in person to far-flung parts of the state. Last winter, as Fall River’s rookie mayor struggled to deal with back-to-back blizzards that had emptied the city’s reserves, Tinlin showed up at his door— in person— to assist. It wasn’t just these small acts of kindness that earned Tinlin plaudits for government service. On his watch, the state accelerated its bridge replacement program to make necessary fixes less disruptive and, in a bold move, dismantled the state’s longtime toll booths on the Mass Turnpike, replacing them with an all-electronic system. Tinlin always encouraged his staff to come up with new ideas— a philosophy that doesn’t always bubble up in risk-averse bureaucracies. “In government, you have people who don’t want to see their name in the paper if something doesn’t work out. I told my people, ‘You don’t have to worry about it, because it’s my name, not yours, that’ll make the paper.’ I’m willing to embarrass myself for the sake of trying to do things more expeditiously.” After his health scare last spring, Tinlin returned to Tom Tinlin helped State Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry run through her St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast material work sooner than expected. But then he decided— to before the event in March 2017. Tinlin has been a key advisor to Forry, who took charge of the storied the surprise of many— to retire from state govern- South Boston political event in 2014. Bill Forry photo ment. The pace and demands of the job— mixed with his own compulsive focus on showing up to everything— weren’t the best recipe for a continu- ing recovery. In September, Tinlin joined the Boston engineering firmH oward Stein Hudson as the director of Institu- tional and Private Markets. Despite his departure from the scene, he speaks with affection for the people he met over the years of his work in government. “I miss the tow truck drivers, the guys fixing the guardrail, working with people, traveling around the state and doing those things that have to get done,” he says. “I think to do what we do and do it well, you have to be wired a certain way. I miss the people.” When it comes to Southie, passion drives the man “The town has changed, but Tommy has kept the ingredients of the best of old South Boston and trans- ported it to what it is today,” says Michael Kineavy. “He’s invested, he’s involved. He’s a family guy, a coach, he’s at all of the events. He’s a hybrid in the best possible way.” Tinlin is more modest about this, naturally. But Showing off with a trophy from the sea. there’s no doubt that his devotion to Southie is heart- felt, even passionate. He’s instrumental, often behind my grandmother!” he replied. the scenes, in everything from golf tournaments and It turned out that Louise and Barbara had worked charity events to the St. Patrick’s breakfast, now hosted together for years back in the day at the old Marian by [my wife], state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, who Manor and the Carney, and Mrs. Logue remembered counts Tinlin as one of her most trusted advisors. her friend warmly. “I do feel a devotion to the town, but I think that “We talked for about 15 minutes, she named her Before attending to the city’s snow removal needs, means different things to different people,” says Tinlin. price, I said, ‘Great, it’s a deal!” says Tinlin, who still Tom got a start on his own Southie sidewalk. “The media want to portray this town as something trades cards and calls with Barbara Logue. “She’s an that we’re not. It’s that reputation that formed around amazing, special person.” busing, and it’s unfortunate, because that’s not who This summer, as he recovered from his illness, we are. The best way you show support is you just Tom received a note from her. She was praying for do what you think is right. To me loyalty to the town him. And, by the way, she said, she’d also survived means making sure we are welcoming to everyone. an aneurysm. You conduct yourself in such a way that you’d want “Brain aneurysm is the number one killer that nobody your own family to be treated. We’re a neighborhood is talking about,” says Tinlin. of immigrants. Everyone has had their first day in this “One in fifty will have one. Many will live a long neighborhood.” life and never know it, but the odds are that it’s going For all that, Heather and Tom almost didn’t stay to kill them or leave them with a life-altering injury. in Southie. As their family grew to four, they looked So I decided that that’s going to be my cause.” around for a house in the neighborhood, an increas- “I’ve had some important people give me opportuni- ingly frustrating search these days. They even peeked ties I probably didn’t deserve. at an option or two in Dorchester, but they remained I don’t know what they saw in me, but these folks stymied until one day Tom got a call from a realtor gave me opportunities. You can be a good person, but who’d heard about a possible house for sale on E. 5th if you’re not given an opportunity… a lot of good Street. It had a backyard. people just don’t get that break.” The woman selling it — Barbara Logue—was an Tom Tinlin has caught his share of breaks in life: empty-nester and adamant that the next buyer be a amazing mentors who opened doors and ushered him neighborhood family. “I don’t want it in the Globe,” in. A medical miracle. And a partner who is devoted Heather and Tom Tinlin: “Heather saved my life to him in ways he’s still trying to comprehend. way before that ride to Beth Israel,” says Tom, who she said. “I want it to go to a Southie guy with kids survived a brain aneurysm rupture in April 2017. The who want to stay here.” “Every day I’m awed by Heather. She was cool under Tinlins have become devoted to creating awareness Tinlin went over to meet her. “Who are you to fire that day, but she cared for me every day after that, to the risks and proper treatment of the condition, Louise Tinlin?” she asked, good-naturedly. “She’s too. I’m a blessed guy in many ways.” which will afflict one in fifty people. Page 26 November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter bostonirish.com The Irish Language by Philip Mac AnGhabhann

Ochan, ochan! “Alas, alas!” I must begin this column with an apology. When sent to The Reporter from my home electronically the answers to EIRE the little quiz on selecting the verb to be pronounced was both italicized and underlined. When the “Answers” appeared in The Reporter they were the same as the “Questions”. My sincere apologies. Here are the correct “Answers”. pub Answers: 1. agamsa 7. maith 13. gasur 2. gardaí 8. inniu 14. siopa 795 Adams St. • Dorchester 3. bhfuil 9. buachaill 15. gealach 4. pionta 10. raibh 16. geata 5. múinteoir 11. leapa 17. Sasana 6. mada 12. ceart 18. anachain “President’s Choice” In all of these words the “loudness” or “stress” falls on the first syllable. Recall that in Irish the stress, loudness, must fall on the first syllable of a word – and Irish, by definition can have only one or two-syllable words. Anything more than two syllables are viewed as “compound words”, combinations of Serving Lunch & Dinner one or two syllables with two syllables. Here are some notes that I intended for this column. In #2 the second –a- is retained for “balance” but its pronunciation is superceded by the accented –í. Every day, In #3 the combination bhf- is silent so the word really begins with –ui-. In numbers 4 and 14 the words are “loan words” from English “pint” and “shop”. In #4 the –o- is there to show you how to pronounce the –t- and is silent; in 7 days a week 14 the first vowel, -i- is there to show you how to pronounce the s-, In #5 the accent mark tells you that it is the -í--. In most of the others the rest of the vowels are there for “balance” – think of a Celtic knot, endless. always revolving on itself, Irish Social Club of Boston, Inc. Examples of compound words are those words with co-, “together” prefixed such as English “co-defendents”. Irish uses the same device although co- 119 Park Street, , MA 02132 lenites the following consonant letter as in margadh /MAR-guh/ “market” 617-327-7306 or 617-549-9812 but Cómharadh /koh-WAR-guh/ “Common market”. Note that Có- has an Incorporated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, accent mark showing that it is to be fully pronounced. Socials every June 27, 1945 Now let us look at one of the consonants. Recall that Irish has eleven Sunday Evening consonants plus the sign –h. Let’s talk about this “sign” which a native- at 8:00 pm speaking teacher once called “the troublesome h”. Actually, it is rather easy SCHEDULE OF EVENTS when called a “sign” rather than a “letter”; a “sign” rather than a “consonant”. This is what it used to be when the old uncial script was in use, just a “dot” SUNDAYS 7-10 pm with $10 admission above the consonant to show “heavy breathing” or “aspiration” similar to NOVEMBER 2017 except where otherwise noted. “Classical Greek Script” except that the h in Irish can come after a consonant PUB NIGHTS: Doors open at 6:30 pm. but sometimes before a vowel. Live music from 8-11 pm. Let’s look at these in reverse order – coming in front of a vowel. This is to CALL US TODAY FOR Free Admission separate the word beginning with a vowel from a preceding word which ends in a vowel. THIS MONTH’S Email us at [email protected] Examples are the plural of a nouns beginning with a vowel which have SCHEDULE the article na “the” in front of it – an armhán /uh OW-rahn/ “the song”, na hamháin /nuh HOW-rayn/. “the songs”; an oifige /uhn EF-ig-uh/ “the office”, na hoifigí /nuh HEF-ig-ee/ “the offices”. 617-327-7306 In some Irish songs the h- is used on “nonsense syllables” (ha, ho, hu) but these are meaningless except to provide “mouth music”. 617-549-9812 The real meaning of the “sign h-” is when it changes the sound of a consonant. Then it can be truly meaningful. One important task of affixing an –h to a consonant is to make the verb tenses – Bi! /bee/ “Be!’ and Bhí / wee/ “was”; Cuir! /koor/ “Put” and Chuir /hoor/ “Did put”. Another is to form the Vocative Case – Bríd /BREEJ/ “Bridget” but A Bhríd /uh WREEJ/ Follow us on Twitter @irishsocialbos Follow us on Facebook: Irish Social Club of Boston when you talk to her. The range of consonants which can be lenited is limited to nine – b, c, d, Subscribe Today to Boston’s Own Hometown Newspaper f, g, m, p, s, t. The consonants l, n, and r are never lenited (or accompanied by –h). Now let’s take them one-by-one starting with b-. Besides being the firstconsonant in the Irish alphabet, bh- is also the most complex. b- at the beginning of a word (initial), in the middle (medial) or on the Boston Irish REPORTER end (final) always has the sound b/ /: breá /braw/ “fine”, bord /bord/ “table”, A Subscription to the Boston Irish Reporter Makes an Ideal Gift for Any Special Occasion. pobal /POH-buhl/ “people, community”, scuab /skuawb/ “broom”. In other Why Not Order One Today for Yourself, or for That Special Irish Someone in Your Life? words, b is “bee”. However, when we add –h it becomes a little more complicated. Bh- at the Order today, and we will send a gift card in your name. beginning and middle of a word has a /v/ sound in the far northern dialects Enclose $35.00 for each gift subscription. (Donegal, Ulster) and a /w/ sound in Connacht and Kerry. We will stick with Name______the majority and “official” Irish pronunciation as /w/. Here are a few general rules: Address______Bh- is /w/ City______State______Zip______bh- before –f or –t is silent. An bhfuil /uh weel/ The question form of bi. Gift from______-bh- in the combination -ubhi-(preceded by –u- and followed by –i-) is /oo/. Charge to Visa______Mastercard______tíubhaigh /CHOO-ee/ “thicken” Card #______Exp______-bh- preceded by stressed a- or á- combine with it and is /au/. -bh is silent at the end of one syllable words with a short vowel. It is kept there for historic reasons and to diffirentiate homonyms: This year, give a gift that comes in the mail each month! dubh /doo/ “black”, gabh /gah/ “go” Mail to: Boston Irish Reporter, 150 Mt. Vernon Street, Dorchester, MA 02125 You will often hear Irish speakers say, Bhoil /wehl/ a “Pause word” from We accept phone orders with your Visa or Mastercard. English “Well, …” Call 617-436-1222 Or Fax this order form to 617-825-5516

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2055 Centre Street Free Pick-Up & Delivery Service West Roxbury, MA 150 Centre Street Dorchester, MA 02124 www.Gormleyfuneral.com bostonirish.com November 2017 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 27 West Cork councillors support plan to ‘twin’ with Scituate WEST CORK – With its were told that Scituate is Taste of West Cork food through common inter- opportunity for youth West Cork Municipal Dis- promoter calling the town synonymous with food and festival, showcases what ests and issues. Twinning exchange programs.” trict, according England, of Scituate, MA, “the most has a broad range of shops, the region has to offer in would also promote mutu- Given the percentage who also took note of the Irish town in America,” restaurants, waterfront relation to food and food al business development, of Scituate residents who new air routes begun this councillors here are look- activities, entertainment tourism. as well as commercial and expressed an Irish ances- summer between Provi- ing at plans to “twin” the venues, and artists.” “Located midway be- professional exchanges. try, helps make the town a dence and Cork Airport. town of West Cork with The newspaper told its tween Boston and Plym- And it would offer an perfect fit to twin with the the South Shore town. readers that “the harbour outh,” the newspaper A West Cork news- town is located just 25 wrote, “Scituate has a paper, southernstar.ie, miles south east of Boston harbour walk along its wa- reported last month that and the 2010 census shows terfront and was voted the “members of the West that 47.5 percent of its res- 2015 Best Town Centre Cork Municipal District idents listed their primary South by Boston maga- have been presented with ancestry as Irish – which, zine.” Added England: “By a detailed report on the allegedly, is the highest bringing people together benefits of twinning with percentage of any town in from different regions, it the town which has a pop- America. And every April presents an opportunity ulation of 18,133, by offi- it holds its Restaurant to learn from each other cer Justin England. They Week, which, like the A and create friendships British man convicted in Germany Geraghty for decades-old attack by the IRA A 48-year-old from Anthony Oliver Corry, a in Osnabrueck on June ASSOCIATES Northern Ireland has British citizen, was sen- 28, 1996. Only one of been convicted in Germa- tenced to four years in the shells detonated on PROPERTY MANAGERS ny of attempted murder prison. The Belfast man the property, damaging for participating in an was extradited from the buildings and vehicles Irish Republican Army in De- but injuring no one. Studio and 1-Bedroom Apartments attack on a British bar- cember to face charges. The Provisional IRA racks in the northwest- Corry was convicted of killed nearly 1,800 people Available in the desirable ern city of Osnabrueck being part of an IRA unit from 1970 to July 2005, more than two decades that fired three mortar when it formally re- ago. shells onto the grounds nounced violence. (AP) Cedar Grove section of Dorchester. The court says James of the Quebec Barracks

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