Doing Something Good For Gaelic: The Scottish Gaelic Foundation of the U.S.A. is underway!

Doing Something Good For Gaelic: The Scottish Gaelic Foundation of the U.S.A. is underway!

Scottish Gaelic in the United States truly is a marginalized language and culture, and it has been largely subsumed and reinvented on a very different Anglo-Scottish model. Thus, much of the discussion necessary to set the stage for expanded efforts at Gaelic culture and language recovery and revitalization tends to be a bit dark and more than a little uncomfortable. Such […]

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“Our children are bred for emigration”

“Our children are bred for emigration”

Yesterday was the birthday of a great Gael. One of the greatest in fact. Poet, story teller and Gaelic cultural warrior Somhairle MacGill-Eain (Sorely MacLean) was born on Raasay on October 26th in 1911. Somhairle died in 1996. Had the Gaelic people, culture and kingdom not been overtaken and marginalized (i.e. stolen) by Anglo aggression, ethnic cleansing and forced […]

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Gaelic, Not Gaelic: Two Scotlands two Diasporas

Gaelic, Not Gaelic: Two Scotlands two Diasporas

If one looks at Scotland from a certain perspective, it is completely possible to identify two distinct worlds co-existing under one Alban sky. A close reading of north Britain human history reveals about 1,300 post-Roman years of a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, dynamic melting pot of Gaelic, Pict, Norse, Briton and finally Anglo Saxons and Normans. Rich, […]

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You might be a Gael if …

You might be a Gael if …

I wrote a Not Your Father’s Gaelic blog post a few weeks ago wherein I expressed how nice it would be to have neighbors who are aware of and interested in their Scottish Gaelic heritage. Perhaps even neighbors with whom I could joke around in Gaelic! As it is, even my own (Italian American) mother’s eyes […]

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The SSPCK and a painful link between Gaelic and Native American cultures

The SSPCK and a painful link between Gaelic and Native American cultures

What is the SSPCK? Well, it is not the Society in Scotland for the Protection of Christian Kangaroos although much damage and loss might have been avoided if protecting kangaroos had been the organization’s mission. Instead, the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) has followed in the first footsteps of British […]

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How Gaelic is the Scottish clan system?

How Gaelic is the Scottish clan system?

One of the many Scottish heritage subjects that could benefit from additional knowledge is the role of Gaelic culture and civilization in the remarkable development of what we lovingly call the Scottish clan system. Go ahead. Google it. It is a simple question but you will not be finding a simple answer. At least not […]

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The cost of becoming American

The cost of becoming American

What does it cost to become an American? Entry into freedom’s last refuge has required more from our ancestors – and from us – than we might at first imagine.  Consider this for instance: “In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American […]

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Landslide victory for Jeremy Corbyn in the UK:  What will election of a new Labour Party leader mean for Scotland?

Landslide victory for Jeremy Corbyn in the UK: What will election of a new Labour Party leader mean for Scotland?

Scottish Americans are hearing some interesting news from the United Kingdom today.  The UK Labour Party has chosen socialist Jeremy Corbyn as its next leader by a landslide.  A big one.  It is a result that is sending a few shock waves through Britain.  What will the election mean in Scotland?  More specifically, what will a […]

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