There is no end to the areas in which committed, talented and bright Irish Americans excel. Irish America’s 26th annual Top 100 list showcases some of the most noteworthy of this year, from film producers to philanthropists, from athletes to world champion dancers. Leading the list is the 2011 Irish American of the Year Dr. John L. Lahey, president of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT, who has tirelessly worked to raise awareness of and commemorate Ireland’s Great Hunger. The Irish in America have seized every childhood dream and succeeded in making them a reality - just look at astronaut Cady Coleman, actress Rooney Mara, writer Dan Barry and the President of the United States Barack Obama, who just finished his first presidential visit to Ireland, which included a sentimental visit to his ancestral town of Moneygall.

As I write this, the sound from a lone bagpiper comes through my window. Not as unusual an occurrence as you might think. Irish America’s office is up the street from a church, the St. Francis Friary, the cornerstone of which was put in place in 1844, and where the friars still feed the hungry (what better way to remember your ancestors this St. Patrick’s Day than to give to a food program?) I don’t know if the piper is heralding a wedding or lamenting a death. Is he/she part of the annual celebration of mass for the laborers’ union, or just someone practicing for St. Patrick’s Day? There’s a fire station across the street from the church, perhaps it’s one of the FDNY Emerald Pipe Band making his pipes ready for the parade?