There was a swearing in of new U.S. citizens in New York the other day and the question was put to the State Department if there were, by chance, any lucky Irish in the latest batch of new Americans. Eh, no, sorry, came the response from State? Will Russia do?
Not even close comrade, and certainly no cigar.
Even as the number of green cards ending up in Irish hands has plummeted over the years, this since the halcyon days of the Donnelly and Morrison - and yes even the oft-forgotten Berman visas - and the initial reasonable haul from the diversity visa program, there has always been one or two, or a few, lucky Irish to be found in the crowd during ceremonies in which newcomers graduate from being legal residents to fully-fledged U.S. citizens.
But not in this latest batch. Not an O or a Mac in sight.
That said, IF is delighted to welcome the new arrivals from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Minsk and other places well east of the Shannon.
At the same time, if not time zone, it is sobering to consider that large scale swearing-in ceremonies are now taking place with both sides of the Shannon entirely unrepresented.
Once again, the "unintended consequences" of the 1965 immigration reform act are looming large - as large in this case as Mother Russia.
A STUNNING MEMOIR
The heading above is the publisher's take on a memoir soon to be published that tells the tale of a father and son who, well into the life of each, had to get to know each other all over again.
"Guys Like Us," is penned by Sean Nolan and tells the tale of Mike Nolan, "a hard-driving, hard-living lawyer in his early fifties" who was hit by a truck while riding on an Ocean County, New Jersey highway. He was left for dead but he wasn't and after months of recovering he looked his old self again.
Only Mike wasn't his old self. He had completely lost his memory. Now his son tells the tale of how he and his family had to rebuild Mike's memory and life. "A story to remember," says Dan Rather on the publicity release from Boston-based Gemma Media (in the interests of full disclosure, Gemma is also IF's publisher).
And Dan's a man who knows stories. There will be a Manhattan launch for "Guys Like Us" this week and the book is due out in September. More on this one down the pike.
