My grandmother used to tell me stories<\/p>\n
of her mother\u2019s people, the Nortons<\/p>\n
from Mayo \u2013 who moved to Scotland,<\/p>\n
Wisconsin, anywhere. You know the Irish,<\/p>\n
she said \u2013 too poor to stay at home.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
No, I didn\u2019t know the Irish,<\/p>\n
not even when I went to Dublin,<\/p>\n
Galway, Cork \u2013 years later, searching<\/p>\n
for that trace of recognition<\/p>\n
I was so sure would come to me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You know the Irish, my grandmother said \u2013<\/p>\n
we had royalty back there, Lady Jane<\/p>\n
Dempsey I think it was, who eloped with<\/p>\n
her footman \u2013 which doesn\u2019t surprise me.<\/p>\n
There was a lord, too, though that name\u2019s lost.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Everyone from Ireland has royalty somewhere,<\/p>\n
she said. And each time I heard them,<\/p>\n
those old stories changed again.<\/p>\n
I asked my father at her funeral.<\/p>\n
She talked to you, not me, he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now he\u2019s<\/em> gone, and when my children<\/p>\n ask sometimes, I trace those old tales again,<\/p>\n a little more unsure each journey through.<\/p>\n You know the Irish. It\u2019s what we have.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all we have. I\u2019ve come to say it too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n –Mark Vinz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My grandmother used to tell me stories of her mother\u2019s people, the Nortons from Mayo \u2013 who moved to Scotland, Wisconsin, anywhere. You know the Irish, she said \u2013 too poor to stay at home. No, I didn\u2019t know… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"parent":84,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/226"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/226\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/irishdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}