Sidewalks
by Tom DeignanRSS 
Recent Posts
- Sleazy secrets and the American Dream of Dublin born spy Kevin Richard Halligen
- 'The Great Gatsby' author F Scott Fitzgerald’s death and burial another Catholic lesson
- Anthony Weiner running for New York mayor and the Italian mob and Irish Americans strong ties
- Victor Navasky lauds Thomas Nast - American cartoonist known for his racist Irish ape-like drawings
- Immigration is not the problem - history of anti-Irish behavior reflecting on the Chechnyan bombs in Boston
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The dapper British spy living a life of luxury in the Washington, D.C. area had a secret.
That’s no surprise. Such a worldly fellow would surely have built up a few secrets while trotting the globe.
It is true that F. Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t much of a Catholic.
Yes, he had strong Irish roots on both his mother and father’s side. But while his last name is as Hibernian as it can get, his full name – Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald – also reflects his family’s obsession with its Yankee Protestant roots.
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For decades, Victor Navasky has been at the forefront of political journalism. For nearly 20 years he was the editor, and later publisher, of the proudly left-wing 'The Nation' magazine. He also won a National Book Award in 1982 for chronicling the American national nightmare of McCarthyism and its aftermath in his book 'Naming Names.'
In other words, this is a guy who has loudly and proudly defended the strong against the weak.
They came from a foreign land with deep religious convictions. They had ties to people willing to use violence to achieve political ends.
They felt alienated in America and were ultimately accused of committing heinous acts of terrorism, undoubtedly influenced by events in their native land.
Shaemas O’Sheel probably would have wondered what all of the fuss was about. A fellow like Shaemas -- and, yes, that is how he chose to spell his name -- probably would have been outraged that some people chose not to celebrate the passing of Maggie Thatcher last week.
The former British prime minister, of course, will be buried this week with much fanfare, at great expense.
If only Robert Callahan could see the Bowery now.
These days The Bowery -- that storied stretch of asphalt on the East Side of downtown Manhattan -- has changed so much so fast, A-list celebrities like Martin Scorsese actually want to preserve some of the old character. They are against the rapid development of luxury condos and upscale stores invading The Bowery.
This Wednesday, March 27, the newly renovated New York City Department of Records Visitor’s Center is hosting an event celebrating the contribution Irish American men and women have made building this great city.
It took 30 years, but the Irish bartender from the Shamrock Bar on Jamaica Avenue in Queens has finally remembered who shot two of the owners dead on that fateful night back in April of 1981.
The nature of the killings -- involving several reputed organized crime figures -- apparently had something to do with the bout of amnesia Joseph Patrick Sullivan endured since the grisly slayings.
Why stop at female priests? Has it occurred to anyone that maybe, just maybe, it would be a good thing for the next pope to be a woman?
And while it appears that New York’s own Timothy Cardinal Dolan might actually have a small chance to sneak into the Vatican, perhaps there is another Irish American who might be an even more inspired choice?
He plays a New York Irish cop on the TV show Blue Bloods, but anyone who knows actor/singer Donnie Wahlberg knows that his heart is in Boston. So it is fitting that the new cop show Wahlberg has produced is set in Beantown -- and spotlights several real-life Irish American cops.
The show, called Boston’s Finest, can be seen Wednesdays on the TNT cable channel, and even features music by Irish rockers the Dropkick Murphys.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, New York City Sanitation workers have gotten much-deserved credit for swiftly cleaning up storm-ravaged sections of the five boroughs, from Staten Island to the Rockaways.
But last week, the Sanitation Department -- and its Irish American fraternal organization -- were in the news for a more controversial reason. A number of sanitation workers filed a lawsuit claiming widespread racial bias in the department -- and blamed the Irish.
It's that time of year again. The Academy Awards will be held this Sunday. All the pretty people in show business will get together and congratulate each other, patting themselves on the back -- even though half of them actually want to stab each other in the back.
But it’s all in good fun, and many of the movies are quite good. (Though not Silver Linings Playbook. Saw it this week. Completely overrated.)
John Liam Shea remembers visiting his Irish-born grandparents’ house in the heavily-Irish Kingsbridge section of the Bronx.
“It was like entering Ireland,” recalls Shea. “All the delis and the butcher shops were all Irish.”
Sometimes, the students are the ones who teach the teachers.
High school students all across New York City spent last week taking their all-important Regents exams is subjects like algebra, global history and English language arts.
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Help ensure that communities such as this are not lost forever.
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Now they want to blame the Irish for all of the fighting and violence we see in hockey?
Okay, so it’s not quite that simple. But there’s a theory going around that the Irish played a central role in the evolution of hockey, and in particular the sport’s infamous acceptance of violence.
It’s been a tough week for hockey fans in the New York area.
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