Wish I Did Own Something Green To Wear

Out to dinner with friends recently I made some comment (a joke) about documentaries. One of my friends looked at me from across the table and didn't get the joke at first... he likes documentaries as I do also. But, there are some bad ones out there. Really bad ones. However, last night I watched a really good one. It was from the History Channel: Irish in America. My mom taped it last year and this was the first chance there was to watch it. I had a chill night so I crashed on the couch with my parents and the dog... it was incredibly interesting.

I've always carried my Italian pride out on my sleeve. Now I have slightly more pride in the Irish side of me as well. I didn't realize the Irish immigrants had been so instrumental in getting this country moving.

Here's a few interesting finds, though definitley not everything I learned:

"The luck of the Irish" began as irony... a cliche because the Irish really did not have good luck, they persevered and struggled to find their place in this country. One woman, after losing her family to yellow fever moved to Chicago and 4 years later she lost her home and all her possesions to the Great Chicago Fire. (This IS the luck of the Irish.) She spent her remaining years fighting for equal rights for Irish workers.

The Irish were highly discriminated against until they proved themselves. This took many, many years. And God forbid they be Catholic too.

The Kennedys' (you know, the political family) great grandmother came over from Ireland at the age of 28, already considered a spinster in her homeland. She met a man on the ship that brought her and they married. She worked as a clothing washer and had four children. Her husband died young and she had to raise the children on her own. She saved up money, bought a store, then financed a family member's liquor store and could only afford to send one child onto University. This was the beginning of their rise to fame.

There were a ton of other interesting facts in this documentary, including what St. Patty's Day used to be... a religious holiday with church in the morning and then dinner with family. Like Easter is often celebrated.

The Irish... who knew... well... many people knew but I wasn't as enlightened.