“I am neither American nor Irish” - Growing up Woodlawn with Irish parents

I wish I had been so lucky as to have two countries two grow up in & NYC!!! CAN ANYONE AT IRISH CENTRAL TELL ME WHAT BAD THING HAPPENED TO RYAN KELLY OF CELTIC THUNDER THAT HE HAS BEEN IN THE HOSPITAL FOR ABOUT A WEEK. SOMETHING HAPPENED ABOUT JUNE 3 OR 4th. AS OF YESTERDAY NO ONE CAN FIND OUT WHAT IS GOING ON & WE LOYAL FANS ARE VERY UPSET & THINKING SOMETHING CATASTROPHIC MUST HAVE HAPPENED!!! PLEASE FIND OUT & TELL US!! OR AT LEAST E=MAIL ME at 2010JWS@COMCAST.NET

sorry, spelling not off, cannot type today it seems.

Know just how you feel, my parents spoke Gaelic at home, and Ireland was alway's "home". We all kept to family at most ( there are a lot of us) and went to first grade with a NY Bronx brougue. Keep witing please

Bud ! right now I got a longin for your 'sweet pertater scuffle', your wonderful article probably typifies the feelins of 000.000's of Americans with Irish ancestry.....keep on 'ritin Bud......look fwd. to yer next & followin articles.......

I know just how you feel - my 4 siblings and i grew up in Philadelphia, born of Irish parents (mother from Cavan, father from Tyrone). Although in fact my father was born in Philadelphia but his parent returned to Ireland when he was 2 years old. My brothers and my sister and I did not have the chance to visit Ireland as children, in the 50s that was far too expensive an enterprise. So unfortunately we never knew our grandparents and that I realize now (but didn't back then) was a very sad thing. We grew up listening to stories about Ireland and I always had a deep longing for that place. Like you I never felt quite American and yet I couldn't really claim to be Irish. Today I live in France, I have many expat Irish friends and I have an Irish passport. I've started studying the Irish language and I often go to events at the Irish College (cultural center). So you see you are not alone, there are many variations of your predicament. Things will sort themselves out with time and you'll feel at ease with your unique identity.

BytheBORE: Ghetto! Fat chance

Irish emigrants and those in the US of Irish descent living in so called Irish ghettos like Woodlawn are having difficulty mainstreaming. Become Americans and mingle. That's why you're in the US. Otherwise you'd be living in Ireland.

Curitiba: Woodlawn is a wonderful place!! I no longer live there, but spend a lot of time there, and own a house there.

Seanmor, you're a sound man, God bless yourself and your family :^)

Bythebay is an expert on Ireland and America. If you don't believe me, just ask him/her. Mr./Ms. Know-it-all just can't resist "educating" all of us at every opportunity while usually making snide remarks about the U.S. and Americans, too. What a waste of time to read By's posts. Btw: Bythe thinks it's up to him/her to decide just who is Irish and who is not, including all of you born in Ireland. Bythe's posts show he/she is an arrogant, mean-spirited, small-minded person with lots of hang ups.

Bythe: Yes, I'm a proud, loyal, law-abiding U.S. citizen. For as long as I remember, I never identified with the Souther Irish state, because my cultural heritage applies a to the whole Irish nation and all its parts. The college coures I took were under the G.I. Bill, having honorably served 4 years in the Marine Corps while still an Irish citizen. I don't know how 'mainstream' one is supposed to be, but I've been a member of the American Legion since the mid-80s and I've participated in the Memorial Day celebrations in our local village for the past 12 years. I also accompary my wife (a New England Methodist) to some events of her DAR chapter. Over my garage door, the Stars and Stripes flies high, and on either side at it, the Marine Corps banner and the Irish Tri-Color wave at a lower level. God bless America and God save Ireland, or as we say in Irish: Go mbeannaí Dia Meiriceá agus go sabháile Dia Éire.

Bythebay, you are a very bitter person, you have all these hang ups about nationality and identity. You depise Irishness but yet comment daily on this website. Get a job and a life.

Seanmor, that view is only one course in one US college or continuing education which you've embraced because of your inability to mainstream. You're American like it or not.

Bythe: In addition to studying sociology, I also took a college course titled "American Urban Minorities", and "minorities" in this course weren't restricted to non-whites; they included all non-W.A,S.P.s and immigrants were considered the First Generation. This, according to sociologists, is how the Anglo society views the "ethnics", and I'm inclined to agree. For example, if your granddad, an Irish native, became a Boston policeman, and your father followed in his footsteps, and now you are in the Boston P.D., that makes you a 3rd geneation Boston policeman. However, I must also admit that I have first cousins, one in particular, who fiercely resemts any suggestion that she is the least bit Irish; she firmly insists that she is purely American. Would her DNA prove such a claim?

Woodlawn Heights sounds like the Kilburn of America. Or is Kilburn the Woodlawn Heights of England?