Gerry Regan's Blog (50)

A Final 'Good Night' to Mary Louise, Ma Mère

(Note: I delivered this eulogy today for my mother, Mary Louise Brooke, at All-Saints Church, in the University section of Syracuse, N.Y. My mother spent her earliest years a literal stone's throw from the church, where she was baptized.)…

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Added by Gerry Regan on November 19, 2019 at 10:00pm — No Comments

All Souls' Day

Death ends a life. But it does not end a relationship, which struggles on in the survivor's mind, toward some resolution, which it may never find. -- The character Gene Garrison in the film "I Never Cried for My Father"



My Dad appeared to me this morning, most…

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Added by Gerry Regan on November 1, 2019 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Death of a 'Birthday Queen' . . . and Perhaps a Farewell

Hey, ah, Gerry, I don’t know if you are, mmm, there. This is Dr. Chaudhury. Hello. Uh Hello. Anybody, Gerry? OK Let me try back. (Recorded on Wednesday, Feb. 25,…

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Added by Gerry Regan on August 21, 2019 at 2:30pm — 2 Comments

‘Blood Upon The Rose’: Poet's Universal Easter Contemplation

I see his blood upon the rose

And in the stars the glory of his eyes,

His body gleams amid eternal snows,

His tears fall from the skies.…

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Added by Gerry Regan on April 20, 2019 at 10:30pm — No Comments

'I'm Dreaming of Home'

I hear the mountain birds

The sound of rivers singing

A song I've often heard

It flows through me now

So clear and…

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Added by Gerry Regan on March 12, 2019 at 2:30pm — 4 Comments

Once Upon a Time, Maureen O'Hara Might Have Been My Mom

I once held the conceit that Maureen O'Hara was my mother. So it came as both a surprise and a delight to come across a picture of the deservedly famous Irish redhead standing alongside my father.

In the photo above, Dad is standing, third from left, next to film star Maureen O'Hara. To Dad's right is a…

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Added by Gerry Regan on May 2, 2018 at 3:30pm — 5 Comments

Baa, Baa 'Black Sheep': A Chat About the Mysterious Irwins

Compiling family history can be a fascinating pursuit, particularly when a living descendant bequeaths a story as colorful and riveting as that of brothers Tom and John Irwin. The young men, among my grandmother’s numerous first cousins, shared a cold-water flat in Manhattan’s gritty Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. That was, until…

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Added by Gerry Regan on January 30, 2017 at 3:30pm — 13 Comments

A U.S. Sailor Writes From His Post in Cork, 1918

Navy veteran John Washington Michael Condon died as he lived, a gregarious man with a penchant for sharing a good story. He was one of my father’s numerous uncles, and was known to me through Dad’s recollections as Uncle Jack. As evidenced by the following letter, dated July 19, 1918, Jack served during World War 1,…

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Added by Gerry Regan on November 10, 2016 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Injustice in Hell's Kitchen? -- The Story of Tom and ‘Yerkie’ Irwin

"Brother Pleads Guilt to Free Jailed 'Twin' " reads the headline in the July 30, 1931, edition of The New York Times.

The story refers to two of my grandmother’s first cousins, Tom and John Irwin. Tom stood accused with two other men -- and all were later convicted -- in the rape of a woman and the armed robbery of the…

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Added by Gerry Regan on March 11, 2016 at 10:00am — 3 Comments

Why You Won't Find Crow on the Holiday Menu

It was well past sundown in a village named Bethlehem, just beyond Jerusalem, in the hills of Judea, on a surprisingly mild winter’s night.

Now the Roman occupiers of the kingdom of Israel required that all men go to their own towns…

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Added by Gerry Regan on December 26, 2015 at 4:30pm — 4 Comments

What I've Learned From Fionn MacCuhul

I’ve learned some valuable life lessons from Fionn MacCuhul.

Life is short.

Love is vital.

Companionship is…

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Added by Gerry Regan on December 7, 2015 at 5:30pm — 10 Comments

Prayer to the Archangels -- An Ancient Irish Poem

May Gabriel be with me on Sundays, and the power of the King of heaven.

May Gabriel be with me always that evil may not come to me nor injury.

Michael…

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Added by Gerry Regan on September 29, 2015 at 9:00am — 10 Comments

An Homage to Ann O'Connor, Acolyte of Dorothy Day

'In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of…

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Added by Gerry Regan on September 25, 2015 at 12:00pm — 5 Comments

Fotog Joss Barratt -- Bringing Films to Life, a Frame at a Time

One could argue that freelance photographer Joss Barratt has done as much to inform movie goers about Ken Loach’s past 20 years of work as the noted British filmmaker himself. Barratt’s photography is seen far and wide, perhaps by millions, across newspapers, magazines, on movie house walls and windows, and across the Internet, by far more people than ever get around to seeing Loach’s provocative and…

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Added by Gerry Regan on September 3, 2015 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Podcasting the Dot-Irish Experience Worldwide

We have no doubt that the word "Irish" in anyone's domain name, particularly as a TLD (top level domain, that is, 'behind' the dot) helps a marketer (and any devotee of the Irish experience) tap the passion that underscores the Irish experience…

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Added by Gerry Regan on July 31, 2015 at 12:00pm — 2 Comments

'The Rising' Is Centerpiece at Irish Consul's Residence

New York -- Dozens of individuals filled the terrace at the Irish Consul General's quarters in Manhattan's East Side on May 28 to learn more about "The Rising," a film project led by film producer Kevin McCann, head of Ireland-based Maccana Teoranta. Irish Consul General Barbara Jones served as host for the reception, which featured spectacular views…

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Added by Gerry Regan on July 27, 2015 at 5:40pm — No Comments

Holy Saturday ... When the Grief -- and the Hours -- Seemed Eternal

I was staggered at the thought, which for 62 years had been hiding from me in plain sight -- the likelihood that after Jesus’ crucifixion, his followers fell into deep grief and…

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Added by Gerry Regan on July 27, 2015 at 5:36pm — 2 Comments

A Sailor in Wartime Dixie: Startled by Catholic Apartheid

And then when we got to Miami, the Gesu Church, which is a beautiful Catholic church, an old church in the heart of Miami, they had big signs posted as you entered, ‘Colored seat from the rear.’…

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Added by Gerry Regan on July 27, 2015 at 5:30pm — 2 Comments

A ‘Wild West’ Tour -- Imprinted in the Heart

You won’t forget your first time.”

We’ve incorporated that aphorism in our ongoing travel initiative and contest, titled “The ‘Wild West’ of Ireland,” now in Day 12 of 25. According to one recent visitor to the ‘Wild West,’…

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Added by Gerry Regan on July 27, 2015 at 5:23pm — No Comments

List of Suspects in July 4 Bombing Includes Nazis, IRA, MI6

Was it the IRA who created the bomb that killed two detectives outside the New York World Fair's British Pavilion 75 years ago today?

Or was it a German agent or Nazi…

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Added by Gerry Regan on July 27, 2015 at 5:00pm — No Comments

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