On January 6, as the first snowstorm of 2024 loomed in the sky, a group of women brightened the day as they gathered for lunch at Gossips on 9th Avenue. The old Irish tradition of Nollaig na mBan (Women’s Christmas) has been making a comeback in recent years and our New York group is keeping up with the times. Inspiration, hope and strength, was palpable as we went around the table sharing hopes for the New Year. We gave a toast to strong inspirational women who raise other women who contribute to their communities and families. We raised a glass to women who are no longer with us, and those who paved the way to gain basic rights that we women enjoy today.
“Covid taught me to not take time for granted and to not put things off” Dee Nolan told us. The highlight of 2023 for her was seeing Ireland on the C.I.E. Tour company's Irish Classic tour. Dee suggests that we invest time in those things that we are truly passionate about and decide what brings joy to our lives and what we want to achieve.
Pat Mangan agrees. She spent the summer in her new house in southern Maine. Now that she’s retired, she takes classes in drawing, playing keyboard and singing. The singing classes have prompted Pat to become a member of two choirs in Manhattan for 2024. Is there a concert in the offing?
Karen Daly is determined to focus on her writing about New York City this year, while continuing to enjoy many NY-centric adventures that she loves, including swing dancing. She's also determined to travel to Ireland this spring.
Travel was popular with this group last year.
Mary McIntyre visited Jamaica, the Netherlands, Belgium and of course, Ireland. Nancy Oda loved her trip to Montreal.
Mary Fee told us she is proud of her triplet granddaughters, the talented musicians Angela, Catrina and Mairead who graduated college last year. In an attempt to keep up with them, Mary, an avid set dancer, plans to start an exercise program at “Silver Sneakers” this year.
New to our Nollaig na mBan NY gatherings, Tami Ellen McLaughlin reminisced that the last time she saw some of us was at the Irish American Writers & Artists Gala honoring Dan Barry. Tami shared Jim Higgins’s photo of a special Entenmann’s presentation on the red carpet! She told us she also met Aevitas Co-CEO / literary agent Todd Shuster, and they talked about an upcoming movie that will be filmed in Rockaway, Queens, where she now lives. Tami brought along delicious sweets from the Madelaine Chocolates small business store in Rockaway.
Deirdre Batson shared that she joined a City Island writing group and was delighted to have read a story she wrote on Ed McCann’s “Writers Read” at the City Winery recently. Deirdre is also beginning research on a book she wants to write.
Mary Lannon told us that her unpublished novel, “Tide Girl,” was a finalist for the 2023 PEN\Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. “‘Tide Girl’ is a dystopian satire that imagines a 2056 U.S. in which middle-class children are sponsored by corporations in exchange for free college tuition, an opportunity, otherwise, unavailable to all but the elite.” Mary is looking for a publishing home for that novel while beginning a new novel called “The Gender Reveal.” We’re all looking forward to the publication of both Mary’s books.
Margaret McCarthy shared news that her poetry collection “In the Becoming Poems on the Deirdre Story” is scheduled to be published by Broadstone Books in Autumn 2024. She shared some early cover designs for the book, getting the groups' feedback on which were our favorites -We discussed which cover images drew us in, which spoke most strongly to us, and why. Margaret said our suggestions were helpful and she appreciated being part of “a great, supportive focus group.” Likewise Margaret. We look forward to the publication of your poetry collection. This writer found great inspiration in listening to these resolutions and now I’m determined to get back to my play-writing.
Another poet in our group, Bernadette Cullen shared her anticipation of 2024 as being “a good year, where I will adopt a firm, sit-down, discipline of writing.” She told us she has joined an online poetry group and is looking forward to the readings there. She will keep up her weekly roster of foreign films and she wants take a trip somewhere this year.
Vera Wrenn, a Limerick friend of mine since our days at the McNiff School of dance in the late 1950s, recalled a story she read recently in the New York Times about Maureen Flavin Sweeney, a Mayo postal worker whose duties included recording and transmitting weather data from her post in Belmullet. She, unknown to herself at the time, helped determine the outcome of the Second World War.
To end the celebration we talked about support for our charity, the Ukrainian National Women’s League. We held a raffle for the organization and invite readers to support it in whichever way suits them best.
To support on the national level, go directly to UNWLA.org. To support efforts on the regional level: mail a check to UNWLA NY Regional Council, 203 Second Ave., New York, NY 10003. The email address is region-nyc@unwla.org, if you would like to keep the track of your donations, receive personalized thank-you and a tax-deduction specific letter. You can also go to Facebook here or Paypal here.
Our next Nollaig na mBan New York celebration will be in early February when we celebrate Imbolg - Lá Féile Bríde (Brigid’s Day). Stay tuned for more about that.
Maura Mulligan is the author of “Call of the Lark.”
