Happy St. Patrick's Day

It's a fine day for the Irish!  In celebration the Dead Tree NY Times delivers this puzzle:

An Irish Tradition With an Only-in-America Star

Dance Champion Breaks Sterotypes

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

GREENVILLE, Ohio — For those feeling down about the United States and its place in the world, meet Drew Lovejoy, a 17-year-old from rural Ohio. His background could not be more American. His father is black and Baptist from Georgia and his mother is white and Jewish from Iowa. But his fame is international after winning the all-Ireland dancing championship in Dublin for a third straight year.

Drew is the first to admit that this is a lot to take in, so he sometimes hides part of his biography for the sake of convenience. As in 2010, when he became the first person of color to win the world championship for Irish dancing — the highest honor in that small and close-knit world — and a group of male dancers in their 70s, all of them Irish, offered their congratulations.

“They said, ‘We never thought it would happen, but we’re thrilled that it did,’ ” said Drew’s mother, Andee Goldberg. She added, “They don’t even know he’s Jewish. That hasn’t been broached. I think it would be too overwhelming.”

The web version omits the baffling "Dance Champion Breaks Sterotypes".  What stereotype - that black people can't dance?

Comments

[Jane (Bad says Obama sucks)]

I want to see him dance!

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for videos of several Irish Dance teams. Move over, NCAA basketball, these are the true Big Dance competitors.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

[Jane (Bad says Obama sucks)]

Here is a little:

[daddy]

Yay, The wife's out of the house with the dogs, so I can safely root against her Alma Mater. Go to Hell Buckeye.s

Go Gonzaga. Number 7 seed Down by 2 to the the number 2 seed with 2 minutes to go.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for some Lovejoy dance footage, Jane. Too much talking heads talk and not enough Lovejoy dance, but there is enough footage to get an idea of his talent.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for some Lovejoy dance footage, Jane. Too much talking heads talk and not enough Lovejoy dance, but there is enough footage to get an idea of his talent.

[Thomas Collins]

Didn't mean to plagiarize your post, Jane.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for several competitors. Lovejoy dances at about 2:23 of the video.

[daddy]

B-Flat my Darling Irish Arse!

[Ignatz]

--What stereotype - that black people can't dance?--

Can't stop laughing at that.

[MaryD]

Jane and TC, What a treat -- he is light as thistledown, and so handsome to boot!

[Thomas Collins]

Yes, MaryD, it's as if he's floating.
They all make it look easy, but I'll bet we're seeing the results of hours and hours of practice.

[Gus]

Interesting. I'm 100% Irish, well at least all 4 of my Grandparents were born in Ireland. I can't dance, but I can drink.

[Thomas Collins]

Speaking of dance, OSU is going to survive to dance again.

[Thomas Collins]

I'm half Irish, Gus, but I like Bass Ale and Bruichladdich scotch, so I guess I'm a traitor.

But I love Irsh bread!

So what is it here. Carraway seeds in the Irish bread or not? I say carraway seeds!

[Thomas Collins]

"Irsh"

Uh-oh. I haven't even started my St. Paddy's Day drinking!

[Clarice]

what? You never heard of black Irish?

[Pops]

I think the stereotype that was broken was that only pasty faced, so white they are almost opaque, starving, drunken, north country caucasians have any rythm.

That; and the one about,.... Gee the only way America will ever win an Irish dance competition is if we find a Asian Muslim.

[Gmax]

black Irish is a term for the Scots Irish that the English banished to the Northern Ireland counties. The English thought they would solve two problems, by shipping off the Scots and mixing them in with the cantankerous Irish. Even today that decision has consequences.

[MaryD]

I'm cross-posting this because I think it's so funny.

Barack Obama,s Presidential Facts Tweets LUN

Some really funny stuff here. Ridicule is a potent weapon.

[Pops]

President Obama and VP Biden were anxious to see their latest government infrastructure project. They spied two union paddies working for the federal public works department. One would dig a hole and the other would follow behind him and fill the hole in. They worked up one side of the street, then down the other, then moved on to the next street, working steadily all day without rest, one man digging a hole, the other filling it in again.

President Obama was amazed at their work, but couldn't understand what they were doing. So he asked the hole digger, 'I'm impressed by the effort you two are putting in to your stimulous job, but I don't get it -- why do you dig a hole, only to have your partner follow behind and fill it up again?'

The hole digger wiped his brow and sighed, 'Well, I suppose it probably looks odd because we're normally a three-person team. But today the lad who sticks the tree in the hole called in sick.

[bgates]

Sure, only in America. No, don't mention he's part Jewish, the close-minded Irish couldn't handle it.

Somehow I'm moved to post about Rotimi Adebari, a Nigerian-born convert to Christianity - I won't say from what, but I will say he had to flee the country - who emigrated to Ireland, went through college, and got himself elected mayor of Portlaoise.

[Thomas Collins]

"Ulysses S. Grant was our first Greek president."

That's my favorite from MaryD's 5:24 PM LUN.

[Thomas Collins]

Oh, no! Those Nigerian Anglicans are still persecuting people, bgates?

[Chubby]

MaryD

thanks for that link .... hahahahaha!!!!

[Captain Hate]

Rowan Williams persecutes my concept of what a person of the cloth should be.

[Frau Irisch]

I despair that the poor lad is being robbed of his rightful cultural heritage. Why isn't he in a klezmer band?

[centralcal]

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Just joining in and loving the Irish dancing. Oh my, so many ethnic groups represented in just one young man! His talent must be an amalgam of that wonderful gene pool.

[daddy]

Janet,

Was your battle against Agenda 21?

I didn't pay enough attention to your battle at the time, but now I see that we are having our own Agenda 21 Battle.

The libs on the Assembly tried to ram it thru in a bit of parliamentary chicanery last week, but it got beaten back by The Mayor and his allies.

1 good Conservative assembly guy tried to add clauses that would neuter much of it, but that effort failed so now a new group has organized against any form of Agenda 21 whatever.

[Ignatz]

--Here is a little:--

After watching Jane's link it's obvious why the guy is such a terpsichorean phenom and it has nothing to do with his ethnicity either paternal or maternal.
He's a southpaw so naturally he trips the light fantastic. Probably a bon vivant and all round good guy as well.

I'm convinced Bill Clinton and Barry were both forcibly converted to lefties as children.

[Frau Irisch]

The dames of France are fond and free,
And Flemish lips are willing,
And soft the maids of Italy
Ans Spanish eyes are thrilling;
Still, though I bask beneath their smile,
Their charms fail to bind me,
And my heart flies back to Erin's Isle,
To the girl I left behind me.

[Porchlight]

Heading out in just a few minutes to watch some Irish dancing with some friends. Since I'm mostly English and Swedisih I don't fit in today, but I promised my Irish-American friends not to wear orange. ;)

My kids are half Scots-Irish though! And one's a redhead to boot.

[Frau Irisch]

Hey, Porch! Today, we are *all* Irish.

I loved theis comment at daddy's Sean Connery link:

It's obviously not Connery singing, he doesn't say "shmile".

[narciso]

I think Rowan Atkinson would do a better job,
he's as fervent a believer as Williams,

[Jane (Bad says Obama sucks)]

Daddy,

We are having a joint Agenda 21 meeting with 2 tea parties on Tuesday. I expect to be severely freaked out after.

[narciso]

Beers and Burgers, have kept from focusing on much of the sillyness, that I see in the meme
stream,

[Frau Irisch]

Slainte!
Mental health alert-
For pure silliness and avoidance of reality, you might be interested in the series of books by Ian Samson. "The Case of the Missing Books" is the first in the Mobile Library mystery series. Check your library.

"Israel Armstrong is a passionate soul, lured to Ireland by the promise of an exciting new career. Alas, the job that awaits him is not quite what he had in mind. Still, Israel is not one to dwell on disappointment, as he prepares to drive a mobile library around a small, damp Irish town. After all, the scenery is lovely, the people are charming—but where are the books? The rolling library's 15,000 volumes have mysteriously gone missing, and it's up to Israel to discover who would steal them . . . and why. And perhaps, after that, he will tackle other bizarre and perplexing local mysteries—like, where does one go to find a proper cappuccino and a decent

[NK]

Happy st patrick s day all!

[Ignatz]

--I loved theis comment at daddy's Sean Connery link:--

Gives me an idear for the gals here, not that any of these chaps are Irish to me knowledge, but which one gets the top nod, ladies?




For the record that's;
Cary Grant,
Clark Gable,
Robert Taylor and
whoops, that last one was supposed to be Sean Connery but I somehow uploaded a shot of myself instead.
Oh well there is an uncanny resemblance; let's just pretend it's Sean.

[Ignatz]

off

[daddy]

Excellent contest between Murray State and Marquette.

Underdog Murray State has just gone on a mini-run and is up by I think 5. As a TarHeel I lose no sleep seeing Marquette lose.

Go Racers.

[Jerry]

There are parties going on all night for ST. PATTYS DAY! To find a party in your area, go to FiestaFrog.com now. DOn't miss out. Its free! http://www.FiestaFrog.com

[Frau Irisch]

rse - did you find the NYT article about trouble in Mayor Bloomberg's school paradise as charter schools come under fire for trying to recruit ("and hurt") from neighborhood schools?
LUN

[daddy]

Astonishing.

NCAA TV Ads were already revolting enough by constantly running the ones with Alec Baldwin.

Now I've just seen one featuring Charlie Sheen.

Seriously, what the heck do you have to do on the Left to reap the ostracism they so richly deserve.

[Captain Hate]

Murray State's clock is about to hit midnight unfortunately.

[Jack is Back!]

Back in the day ( mid to late nineties), when I was domiciled in London I had 3 large projects and opportunities in Ireland. Spent a lot of time at Heathrow Terminal 1 getting on and off Aer Lingus flights. One of my projects required that I transit by Ennis in County Clare. It was there that the first major experiment with settling African immigrants into Irish life began. Seeing blacks and asians in Dublin was nothing new because of the universities there but in a provincial outpost like Ennis - hard to get use to.

Gmax, I think the term Black Irish is more derived from the shipwreck survivors and deserters of the Spanish Armada that landed on the west coast of Ireland at County Clare. There is a funky but fun golf course at Spanish Point near Doonbeg, not far from Lahinch. Lahinch beside having my favorite golf course is also a surfers hangout. Great surfing on Liscanoor Bay. You can play 18, jump the stone wall by #2 tee box walk to O'Looneys, have a few pints, slip down a dozen oysters, watch the wave riders, then go back and play another round.

Only in Ireland, shughrah beghorah.

[Danube of Thought]

As Yogi Berra said upon being told that the Mayor of Dublin was Jewish: only in America.

[Jack is Back!]

DoT,

Bob Briscoe was his name. Jewish Mayor of Ireland.

Now Socialist-Near Marxist Ireland is vehemently anti-Israel and pro-Paleos. De Velera turning in his grave.

[Jack is Back!]

::of Dublin:: of course. Grrrrrrrrr!

[Frau Irisch]

Not all warriors are men. Look for the descendants of Queen Mebh.

LUN

[Captain Hate]

I thought this had been linked earlier but I couldn't find it on the last thread: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304692804577283403171721574.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Tom was 2 or 3 years younger than I was; he came in the same class as Len Elmore, Lefty's second recruiting class. I used to see each of them on campus; Tom always walked hunched over and Len always stood tall. My roomie's girl friend (now wife) had a class with Elmore and said he was a great guy.

Anyway I'd just gotten situated in Cleveland when the olympic final was on. When we won it the first time I was happy but couldn't figure out what was going on. When I figured out they were trying to put the fix in I started screaming at the tv to just walk of the floor and let those punks deal with us being still undefeated. But Hank Iba foolishly trusted those lowlife thieves to do the right thing. By the time the replay happened I was pacing around the room like a lunatic. Then we won it a second time and I was hoarse from screaming to just get off the floor as winners. But we consented to the inevitable screw job and I was just babbling "Somebody has to do something about this".

Then the murders happened. To hell with the IOC; which I'm sure is the permanent residence of Avery "the games must go on" Brundage.

Tom's brother Jay was also a Terp who played on the same teams as Gary Williams did. My buds and I used to go to Fort Meade to play ball on the weekend. A couple weekends Jay was there with some of his buds including one guy from Laurel we knew who was kind of stuck up. They didn't want any part of playing with us gym rats but I guarantee if they'd have played us we wouldn't have backed down; we regularly played with the brothers so their ability to intimidate us was nil.

[Jane (Bad says Obama sucks)]

JIB,

What did you do for a living?

[MarkO]

I vote for Cary Grant as most elegant all time.

[Frau Irisch]

Too bad Daniel Patrick Moynihan could not take Murray's "bubble" test. (I did not know Moynihan was an "Okie" from Tulsa.) What would his score be, I wonder?

On one of my ocean voyages to Germany, our ship stopped in Cobh, Ireland. It was a beautiful bay, and one of the most unusual "harbors" I have visited.
The ship dropped anchor far enough away from land that we could not see the town through haze and fog. People were taken from the ship by boats which had let local merchants on board to ply their trades until the passengers had disembarked.

[NK]

JiB. The spanish gene pool was my understanding of 'black irish' as well

[Frau Irisch]

MarkO - I'm glad your birthday was almost perfect. Cary Grant also had a natural flair for comedy to add to the mix. "Bringing Up Baby" and "I Was a Male Warbride" come to mind.

[NK]

Spent a day in cobh/queenstown -- haunting place given the Titanic and Lusitania connections.

[Sara]

Clark Gable. He da man!

[sbw]

Has to be Archibald Leach.

[rain]

rse, if you're still around, I have a question I posted on the last thread in response to your info. Thanks.

[NK]

Love sean connery met him in a manhattan eddie bauer store --he wasn t pleased when i told him i loved his acting. But Bristol england's archibald leach is the best actor and most elegant man of the lot.

[Chubby]

I find it hard to separate their screen lives from their real lives. Clark Gable a wee bit of a cad, Cary Grant and Sean Connery playboys. All good actors though.

But Robert Taylor? In addition to being a great actor, he was great Republican and patriot. That settles the question for me.

[NK]

Chubby-- cary was a playboy. Sean alas hit his wives and girlfriends. That s reprehensible -- but i still love the guy.

[Chubby]

((he wasn t pleased when i told him i loved his acting))

why not? don't they live for that?

Archie is not my cup of tea. One of the big tragedies of his life was that he flipped for Sophia Loren but she rejected him.

[Chubby]

I guess Sean is more in the cad category then.

[centralcal]

On your word, Chubby, I will stand with you.

[Ignatz]

--Sean alas hit his wives and girlfriends.--

I guess the resemblance is less than I thought.
That's about as low as one goes, IMO.

[NK]

Chubby-- mr connery said that i 'damn near made a scene walking up and speaking to him'. Apparently he's not a people person

[NK]

Ig at least he professes remorse

[Ignatz]

--But Robert Taylor? In addition to being a great actor, he was great Republican and patriot.--

If you ever get a chance to see Westward the Women he plays a real bastard (with a heart of gold in the end) superbly.
Also did a western with Richard Widmark that was excellent; of course just about anything with Widmark was excellent. Two underrated actors I'd say.

[Ignatz]

--Ig at least he professes remorse--

I guess that beats an uppercut.

[Chubby]

I believe I read somwhere that Robert Taylor was a good personal friend of Ronald Reagan's.

[Chubby]

my estimation of Sean Connery has just plummeted. His treatment of women, and his treatment of his fans too, apparently.

[NK]

Ig-- widmark always played the hard man so i could never call him great. Plus he was a total lefty RED not just pink.

[NK]

Chubby. I can t help it. Connery is my all time favorite. Grant, o toole, wayne and caine fill out my top 5.

[Ignatz]

--Ig-- widmark always played the hard man so i could never call him great.--

Who played one better?

[Manuel Transmission]

My mom would actually hiss when she saw Widmark on screen. He played scoundrels so well she couldn't separate the man and the role.

[Captain Hate]

Who played one better?

Charles Bronson?

Speaking of typecasts, Bruce Dern and Dennis Hopper were always reliable to play psychos in westerns on tv. As soon as you saw them you knew something weirdly violent was about to occur.

[Chubby]

I didn't know that about Richard Widmark.

Is Sean Connery a lefty?

[Ignatz]

--Chubby. I can t help it. Connery is my all time favorite. Grant, o toole, wayne and caine fill out my top 5.--

Grant, Wayne, William Powell, Brian Donlevy and a pile up up at number five; Joel McRae, Jimmy Stewart, James Garner, Mitchum, Lee Marvin, a couple of others.

Actor who never made it really big who should have; Ralph Meeker.

[Ignatz]

--Who played one better?

Charles Bronson?--

Even as a heavy Bronson always seemed to have some noble quality.
There wasn't one thing noble in Widmark when he slithered through a scene on his belly.

[Captain Hate]

Ahhh, right you are, Iggy; I didn't understand the criteria.

[OldTimer]

Democrats sabotaging the VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) - Definition of "conniving, craven cut-throats": American Congressional Democrats.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/16/vawa-democrats-play-politics-instead-of-protecting-women

[Captain Hate]

From OldTimer's link:

The newly revised version of VAWA significantly increases spending in areas prone to fraud and abuse and lacks proper safeguards. It also increases the risk of visa abuse leading to full citizenship through deception by illegal immigrants and gives criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian individuals to Indian Tribes, potentially stripping them of certain Constitutional protections.

Oh yeah, backdoor amnesty and giving up Constitutional rights; what could go wrong?

[narciso]

Well the Solon of Scranton, came up with that original effort, that the Supreme Court, roundly slapped down, what could possibly go wrong?

[rse]

rain-you have a reply on the other thread.

Thanks frau. If you believe in distributed intelligence, bunching up the able or industrious in a single school diminishes the others ability to access that knowledge or experience. Collective and public sector adult needs are paramount.

Happy St Patty's day everyone. This night is about as bad as New Years. Glad when red came home and we could bolt the doors. You know you are old when a nice rioja is more interesting than green beer.

Plus none of them were hefeweissens or even a good pale ale.

[rain]

rse, I found your link to the De-growth conference and wow that was amazing. The sad thing is most of my profs and classmates would read that bs and rave about its profundity. On page 174, some idiot believes that every citizen has a right to "unconditional" income. IOW, get paid for doing nothing. Makes me cry. Makes me laugh. The idiot finishes with this bit of wisdom. "If an adequate minimum income is paid to all, each becomes free again to define his or her working time according to their needs and the level of consumption which they wish to reach. Society would then take up again the "traditional" logic described by Max Weber, and would direct itself towards voluntary simplicity against the capitalist logic of accumulation."

LOL If this is what France is about, they're door-nail dead doomed.

[Porchlight]

Clark Gable was a Republican.

Fantastic, possibly apocryphal story about him meeting Faulkner (then in Hollywood writing screenplays) via a mutual friend. They were picked up at separate addresses in a limo. They were introduced and neither knew who the other was - they basically both harumphed and didn't speak to each other again the entire ride. Ha.

I always preferred Grant to the other three. But I think Gable might have been the most amusing to have a drink with.

[boris]

"each becomes free again to define his or her working time according to their needs and the level of consumption which they wish to reach"

Such godlike knowledge of human nature derives no doubt from absolutely accurate self awareness.

[Stephanie]

None of the above. I've always had a crush on James Coburn. Wicked grin and twinkling blue eyes. Mmm mmmm mmmm

Best movie though was "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?". Had Aldo Nova and Harry Morgan and Carroll O'Connor. Funny.

[Danube of Thought]

Archie Leach was horribly, unforgivably abusive to Dyan Cannon. Google that and read up on it.

[Sara]

Huntsman, former REPUBLICAN candidate for president, has now switched and become a democrat. Yikes!

[Americana Alice (formerly known as AliceH)]

If James Mason was in real life a horrible person, I don't want to know about it.

[narciso]

Not terribly surprising though, Sara,

[Danube of Thought]

"has now switched and become a democrat"

One wonders which of his rock-ribbed principles have also switched. What does it take to make a normal skin crawl?

[Frau Irisch]

Sara, that's probably just a "yike" without a capital or exclamation mark.

rain, don't neglect your studies, but do come back and give us a visit now and then with updates, please.

[Danube of Thought]

Widmark's Tommy Udo was one of the great bad guys in history, perhaps recently matched by the guy in No Country for Old Men.

Search YouTube or Google videos for Tommy Udo and the Wheelchair Lady.

He was a radical leftist in his later years.

[Frau Irisch]

rain, that sounds like N. Pelosi and Obamacare which would free someone from "working" to pursue his or her dreams as an artist, philosopher or *whatever*.

[narciso]

He does seem to have given Anton Chigurh a run
for his money

[Ignatz]

--perhaps recently matched by the guy in No Country for Old Men--

I found that dude less than compelling simply because he was seemingly omniscient and invincible, which made him a bit of a caricature.
I guess the movie was meant as a contemplation of the nature of evil which led to the caricature but it still made the character inhuman.
Tommy Udo and several other of Widmark's weasels were despicable psychos, but all too human.