Eamon, failte to The New Wild Geese. I'm intrigued by your surname -- what can you tell us about its derivation? Ger

Well, O'Loingsigh (even Longseach) which means mariner, is one of the old Irish spelling of the Anglicized Lynch. My family all goes by Lynch (Brooklyn, NY via Coolmeen/Kildysart/Ennis, County Clare). As a writer of fiction, I wanted to conjure the ancient while writing in the present, so I made it Loingsigh. I am not the biggest fan of the Anglo, Anglo-Saxon. I feel closer to the history of the Celts who were invaded by Julius Ceaser (see Vercingetorix) and were exiled from the European mainland to the Western most island of Ireland. In the 1840s, after having their language and culture made illegal by foreigners, they were pushed out even further into the water to the coffin ships, if not the ditches and boreens, with the life starved from them. Yet we still survive, don't we? You know that we do! 

My book, the first in a trilogy, called "Light of the Diddicoy," is about a 14 year old Irish immigrant in 1915 who is forced to join the White Hand Gang along the docks of Brooklyn in order to make enough money to get his mother and two sisters out of the countryside of Ireland after the Easter Rising and the coming War of Independence and Civil War, is due out March 17, 2014. That's St. Paddy's Day, of course. 

Thanks so much for welcoming me. I've been a close Wild Geese fan for a couple years and have followed the site closely. Now that my publisher is requesting me to come out from behind the closet, I figured I'd make my way onto the site's radar. 

Eamon Loingsigh

Eamon, how about promoting (and sharing) your writing on WG. We are supportive. I just read your newest blogpost, at http://artofneed.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/dinny-meehan/ and found it intriguing. We have family who grew up in Hell's Kitchen, worked the docks, and ran afoul of the law. Did you read Dr. Fisher's exploration of the film "On the Waterfront," in which he explores both the film and the lives that informed it? Fisher points out that by the early 1950s, the Italians ran the Brooklyn waterfront, leaving the docks in Hell's Kitchen largely in Irish hands.

I did read Dr. Fisher's account. Also read Nathan Ward's "Dark Harbor," which had maybe more to do with Malcolm Johnson's reporting that earned him the Pulitzer for journalism and helped bring down an Irish-American NYC mayor (O'Dwyer) in the process. All of this was required reading for me. Studying, really. 

Hell's Kitchen was a tough area. TJ English is the master of that area. I'm sure you know TJ and his book "The Westies." I'd be very interested in hearing how your family ran afoul of the law. Family secrets are always the funnest to hear! 

As for my family, they lived in Brooklyn, but when they got off the boat, they stayed originally on Bank Street in Manhattan. From 1906 to the late 1970s, my great-grandfather and grandfather ran a longshoreman's saloon at 368 Hudson St. in Greenwich Village (yes, they traveled across the bridges for all those years, every day). As many saloons had done during those years, money was gathered in jars on the bar or from events of the various clubs they were involved in (Owen Roe, John Mitchell or the very long winded County Claremen's Evicted Tenants Collective and Industrial Association, for which my great-grandfather was treasurer)... anyhow, the money they earned was sent back to Ireland for the cause of freedom, I'm very proud to say.

How can I promote and share my work here? I'd love it!  

Eamon

Eamon, you can blog here, either reposting your favorite, perhaps most Irish-oriented articles here. I'm very impressed by the ability afforded each member to promote content here, either their own or other members, using a wide range of social media embedded here.

We can use the occasional post from you as a launching spot for discussions, as well, another point of entry into your work and perspective. 

We might also create a members group focused on the Irish experience on the waterfront and / or  with the criminal justice system ('black sheep') or the like. 

Would like to read more from you - /kw  

Hi Eamon,

Thank you for the interest in Kylemore Abbey.

Mary

I went to Dunedin High School.  Are you an alumni as well?

Eamon,

Sorry for the delay in accepting your friendship.  It seems I am both John M. Walsh and the Irish Cultural Society.  Isn't social media wonderful!  Be well.

John Walsh

Hey Eamon. The link was on there towards the bottom. Nice to friend you, Sir.

http://thenewwildgeese.com/profiles/blogs/the-irish-of-laurel-hill-part-two

Hi Eamon, good to connect with you here.

Happy Christmas, Eamon.

Hey, Eamon.  Just saw there where Malachy McCourt will be reading from your book next month.  Exciting!  Congrats on that feat.

Do you have any info on what Christmastime was like in auld Irishtown?  I think that would be interesting to hear about in a blog post.

Hi Eamon,

Sorry I have not gotten back to you much sooner. With Christmas and having trouble with the computer, I am just catching up. I am glad to make your acquaintance. I was born in Astoria, New York and raised in Castletown Geoghegan, Co Westmeath from the age 1-10 when we came back to New York. My mother was from Castletown and my father from Oranmore, Co. Galway. Presently, I am retired after teaching for 39 years and I live on Long Island. Write back when you get the chance. Best wishes 

Greetings

Did you really go to Dunedin High?!  You mentioned it to my sister, Paige.  Small world!

DEAR EAMON...SORRY IT HAS TAKEN SO LONG TO CONNECT WITH YOU. N0.1 I SELDOM GO HERE [OBVIOUSLY]....I'LL TRY TO CHECK IN MORE REGULARLY.