Wouldn't a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" shirt be a little redundant in Ireland? Sort of like "Kiss me, I'm breathing" there.

Wow, what an awesome and well written blog. ♥
I've often thought it odd how we, as Americans, like to cling so desperately to the cultures of our heritage. Maybe because American "culture" is - - in general - - rather crass and commercialized, but of course there are bright spots.

Again, thanks for sharing this. As always, my best to you in your continuing spirals/shifts/changes and . . . growth.

Oh, bb, this is just beautiful! Your description of culture made me think of rich cultural bloodlines coming together and being mixed, diluted with synthetic life like by-product and then pumped full of carbonation as they travel through the garish neon tube of US consumer culture and then back into our own veins where only certain words, identifying clothes and well decorated rituals of consumption remain. And that isn't necessarily bad, but it ain't good either, especially when paired with an anemic sense of history and reduced levels of intercultural (on a larger scale) effort among the populous. Not that I am discouraged by the world or anything.

As for shifting, changing and shimmying into new realities - hooray and hooray! I wish you the best in your journies - interior and exterior.

I have a shared deep Sinead love, there are times in my life where it was all I could or would listen to. Haunting. I always feel haunted when I am done listening to her. I do love your dialog about our varied places of origin. When I moved our family from the safety of suburbia to South Philly it was remarkable how much the "old country" screamed life there. The Italian and Irish neighborhood break downs. The genuine owning of your heritage. You were one or the other and you displayed that garishly and with pride. In any case, I think it is absolutely essential to revel in the chaos as well as the calm because it is the conquering of both that brings you back to whole again.

This is an excellent blog. It gives me much to think about.

St. Patrick's Day and the commercialization of cultural identity:

Hesse:

Ouroboros:

And Sinead:

You, my dear, are a beautiful and courageous spirit. Thank you for sharing that with us.

That's a good point.

I'm glad you're going to be able to go see him & also to hear that he's well adjusted. I think Gryphon is a pretty "simple-minded" beast, and I have started to call him the simple dog after that - - Darwin is pretty much a rock - - but our previous dog, Wisconsin, a Bernese Mountain Dog was the dictionary definition of neurotic.

Great blog! Glad you had a good St Patrick's day, even if you couldn't drink.

I think it is awesome you have such a long standing close friend. I tend to have a few really good friends but after time we change and go our separate ways. The few close friends I have known a long time are more like family now that I see every few years or so.