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March 16, 2006
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Eyes on the Irish Everyone loves an Irish parade Having lapsed for some 75 years, Manchester’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade was revived in 1996 and is now the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade north of Boston, parade coordinator Jim Sheehan said. “Last year police estimates had attendance at 60,000,” he said. “People were standing seven or eight deep all down Elm Street.” And this year’s parade, Mother Nature willing, is set to be even bigger, Sheehan said. At present, some 2,000 individuals and community and state organizations are scheduled to take part in the Sunday, March 19, event, which will begin at the Brady Sullivan tower, at the intersection of Elm and Salmon streets, at noon. From the Brady Sullivan tower, the parade route will proceed south along Elm Street, terminating just past Verizon Wireless Arena, at the corner of Elm and Auburn streets. Decorating the parade route, Irish and American flags will adorn the telephone poles that traverse the route, while large shamrocks have been painted on Elm Street, one in front of the Radisson Hotel and the other in front of City Hall. This year’s parade will run organizers about $40,000, Sheehan said. The majority — around $25,000 or so — will be used to hire 15 bands. But the highlight of the parade, he said, will be the Gym Dandies Children’s Circus. The Gym Dandies Children’s Circus in an extracurricular activity for fifth- through 12th-grade students from the Scarborough, Maine, school system who perform various circus acts in parades and events across New England. According to the group’s Web site, a typical performance features 30 children and 10 acts, which include a variety of circus arts skills like rolling globes, Chinese stilts, unicycles, bolo boards and the juggling of balls, rings, clubs, devil sticks, diablos, spinning plates and more. The group’s culminating routine features 30 children atop six-foot unicycles. As noted above, Manchester’s 11th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will begin at noon, March 19, at the intersection of Elm and Salmon streets. In the event of inclement weather, a rain date is scheduled for March 26 — something Sheehan, who is also serving as the parade’s grand marshal, doesn’t think will be necessary. “With the luck of the Irish we’ll have sunshine March 19,” he said. In search of the perfect pint Irish eyes won’t be smiling if anyone is improperly served a Guinness this St. Patrick’s Day. There are rules everyone must abide by, whether you’re a well-seasoned barkeep or a college co-ed drinking in your dorm room. Pouring Guinness is an art form not to be taken lightly. And drinker, speak up! If you feel your Guinness has been robbed of its deserved pampering, send that pint back. Here are the Guinness pouring rules, courtesy of Wild Rover Pub professional pourer/bartender Jessica Rigoli. Your first concern is the glass. Leave the chilled glasses in the freezer; you want room temperature for your dark treasure. When you pour your Guinness, you do it in two rounds. In the first round, you tilt your glass so that the beer hits the side of the glass. This keeps the beer from becoming too “heady.” Pull on your keg tap as you would normally do for any other beer. Fill your glass to three-quarters full. Now just wait, for about two minutes, to let the beer settle. You might not have the patience, but just watch your Guinness at work; the cascading beer is like magic. Now that two minutes have passed, and your beer is settled, it’s time for round two. In round two you fill up your glass with a straight-pour technique. However, your server should push that keg tap away from their body for the second round. Why? Because pushing the keg tap away from your body creates less of a stream, meaning the Guinness can gently layer itself. Voila, you have yourself one hell of a beer. Alternatives to corned beef I’ve heard tell that there are a few folks out there who don’t cotton to the whole corned-beed-and-cabbage thing. Crubeens Mackerel rolls Dublin coddle Irish immigration slows If, like his wife, Tommy McCarthy had begun the naturalization process prior to Sept. 11, it would probably have taken him a year less to become a full-fledged American citizen. But the Irish-born entrepreneur was busy opening pubs like The Shaskeen and didn’t get around to starting the process until late 2004 — three years after the country’s immigration and naturalization policies tightened considerably. McCarthy, who took his citizenship test March 8, is one of countless Irish immigrants who have made their way to the United States. Beginning with the first major wave of Irish immigration brought about by Ireland’s potato famine of the 1840s, Irish citizens have steadily made their way here for more than 150 years. But the trend is now showing signs of decline, even in such Irish strongholds as Boston and Manchester. As recently as the 1980s and 1990s, which saw the most recent wave of Irish immigration, the lure of America was strong for many Irish, said Ireland native and former Bedford resident Connell Gallagher, publisher of The Irish Emigrant, a weekly newspaper aimed at the Irish immigrant communities in Boston and New York. At that time, he said, the U.S. economy was booming, the Irish economy was not, and America’s immigration policies were relatively lax, all of which accounted for an Irish influx. But today, just about the opposite is true, leading to a decline in the numbers crossing the Atlantic in search of a better life. “What’s happened in Ireland over the last 20 years has been nothing short of remarkable,” said Yusaf Akbar, Southern New Hampshire University associate professor of international business. “It’s gone essentially from being one of the poorest countries in western Europe, if not the poorest, to now having income levels in the capital city, Dublin, which are actually higher than London’s.” These days, Akbar said, Ireland is actually a net recipient of foreign workers — a first for the country. Still, that’s not to say the United States does not continue to lure immigrants from the Emerald Isle. “The reason that the Irish continue to come here is that the Americans love them — that’s it. Anything I’ve ever tried to do in business, as soon as I open my mouth and start talking people say ‘oh great, you’re Irish.’ There’s a great welcome for the Irish in America,” McCarthy said. But unlike McCarthy, not all modern-day Irish immigrants are welcomed with open arms. The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform estimates there are some 40,000 undocumented workers in the United States — Irish citizens who they say are forced to toil in the underground economy just for wanting to make better lives for themselves. “The immigration policy at present is very draconian,” Gallagher said. “Specifically there are many, many productive people in this country who have contributed greatly who, for whatever reasons, are undocumented, are in effect breaking the law — illegal immigrants — subject to all the penalties that go with it. “But one can’t disagree, the law is the law. And if you don’t like it, you change it. And a lot needs changing, specifically flexibility when it comes to making available options for normalizing their status, which has become totally removed from immigration policy in the last 20 years.” Looking to change that, the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, which is supported financially by the Irish government, is pushing for the passage of a federal immigration bill sponsored by U.S. Senators Edward Kennedy and John McCain. The Kennedy-McCain bill would allow undocumented aliens — Irish or otherwise — in the country on the date of the bill’s introduction last May, provided they pass a background check and pay back taxes for their time here, as well as a $2,000 fine, to obtain a work permit. After six years these immigrants could apply for permanent residency. The bill would also allow for a temporary worker program for new immigrants to come to the U.S. Further provisions of the bill would strengthen border security and create additional sanctions for employers who hire illegal aliens. Approximately 2,400 Irish immigrants — nearly half of them from Boston — attended a Capitol Hill rally supporting the bill March 8. Comments? Thoughts? Discuss this article and more at hippoflea.com |
Emerald Isle Dreams Films: The Commitments (1991) Blue-collar Irish kids take it upon themselves to form the greatest soul band in the world. The Snapper (1993) Just who is the father of 20-year-old Sharon Curley’s baby? The whole town and her eight-member family — whom she lives with — want to know. The Matchmaker (1997) An embattled U.S. Senator sends a campaign worker to Ireland, during a matchmaking festival, to come up with proof of his Irish roots. Hijinks ensue. Waking Ned Devine (1998) A wee town conspires to keep the money from a winning “lotto” ticket after the true winner dies from the shock. The General (1998) Martin Cahill is perhaps the beloved thief and gangster in Irish history but he refuses to do jobs for the IRA. Intermission (2003) A gritty yet funny drama centering on an interweaving set of eccentric Dubliners looking for love. Stars Cillan Murphy, Colin Farrell and Colm Meany. My Left Foot (1989) Hailed as the best film made in and about Dublin in modern history, this triumphant film is based on the life of Christy Brown, an Irish writer and artist with cerebral palsy. Stars Daniel Day Lewis. Michael Collins (1996) A biopic of “the big fella” who was the driving force behind Ireland’s independence from Britain and was assassinated during the subsequent civil war. Stars Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman and Julia Roberts. I Went Down (1997) Ireland’s all-time highest-grossing film, this comedy caper follows two Quintin Tarantino-esque best friends in a quandary with a crime boss. Stars Brendan Gleeson. Books: Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan (1958) An autobiographical tale recounting Behan’s imprisonment, at 16, for attempting to carry explosives into Great Britain, on a mission for the Irish Republican Army. Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy (1990) Longtime friends Benny and Eve head off to college, where they find love and betrayal. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt (1996) An American boy and his parents moved back to their native Ireland because of a lack of money. The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy (1955) Banned in Ireland by the Catholic Church for many years, this is the story of Sebastian Dangerfield, an American ne’er-do-well “studying” at Dublin’s Trinity College. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle (1993) A funny, bawdy story that follows 10-year-old Paddy around the fictional working-class Dublin neighborhood of Barrytown. At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neill (2001) Drawing comparisons to Joyce and Beckett for its language and characterization, this is a coming-of-age story of a gay youth set in 1916 revolutionary Dublin. Get your Irish on The Peddler’s Daughter, 48 Main St., Nashua, 821-7535. The Shaskeen, 909 Elm St., Manchester, 625-0246 The Barley House, 132 N. Main St., Concord, 228-6363 Wild Rover Pub, 21 Kosciuszko St, Manchester, 669-7722
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