Michael Shay's Hummingbirdminds

The title poem of Eavan Boland's collection "The Lost Land" always moves me. It begins as a confessional with "I have two...

When my first book of stories was published in 2006, I drove from Cheyenne to pick up copies from Ghost Road Press in Denver. I stopped by m...

I laughed when I saw the cover of the Aug./Sept. issue of AARP: The Magazine. Over a Peter Max original illustration was the header: "...

What does it mean to be Irish-American? Skin cancer, for one thing. We are light-skinned, except for the Black Irish who are not so much b...

A typical St. Patrick's Day celebration in Cheyenne What do you think of when St. Patrick's Day rolls around? Toasting your ...

St. Patrick's Day parade in Montreal.  The Laramie County Democrats Grassroots Coalition (LCDGC) is the FUNdraising arm for the Dem...

The RedState Gathering in Atlanta is getting big news today. RedState guru Erick Erickson "disinvited" Donald Trump to this confab...

"Skibbereen 1847" by Cork artist James Mahony (1810–1879), commissioned by The Illustrated London News, 1847 I have never bee...

What does it mean to be Irish in America? That's topic enough for a book or two. I'm Irish enough. My maternal grandfather left ...

I bled at my brother Dan’s wake. Dressed for an 85-degree Florida Saturday. Flowered baggies and a “Life is Good” T-shirt. Barefoot. Spea...

The weekend's summit meeting in Casper between the NAACP and the KKK is kicking up a fuss. The Independent in the UK gave it big pla...

My people are in town for a party. My people are the Celts, descendants of a loose band of European tribes who eventually settled Ireland,...

It’s April 16 in Wyoming, the snow is falling and I’m wearing my father’s cream-colored cableknit cardigan. Sometimes it’s called an Aran s...

As a kid, I bore a startling resemblance to TV's Howdy Doody. Each St. Patrick’s Day, I ponder what it means to be an Irish-American...

On the road to the Black Hills this St. Patrick's Day. Too preoccupied with the upcoming St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl in Deadwood to ...

I'm not going to be in town, but maybe you will be and are looking for something a little less green-beer-oriented on St. Patrick's...

In March, when Wisconsin public workers were battling anti-union legislation, this blog featured a video of the Dropkick Murphys' song, ...

Looking for some especially depressing books to read during St. Patrick's Day week, I chose The Great Shame, and the triumph of the Iris...

So Ash Wednesday was yesterday. This marks the beginning of Lent. I wore ashes on my forehead for most of my life. I miss them, but I can no...

Dropkick Murphys rock out an old union song. And remember the struggles of the Irish in America.