The Naming of Edinburgh’s New Town…

The Naming of Edinburgh’s New Town…

The New Town in Edinburgh is a beautiful area right smack bang in the centre of the city, contrasting greatly with it’s counterpart the Old Town. One straight and neat, in fact considered to be a masterpiece of city planning, the other jumbled and confused but layered in history. Let’s take a look at a very […]

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Love for Culloden!

Love for Culloden!

During the week we posted a picture we took when on a visit to the haunting yet beautiful site of the Battle of Culloden, which you can see below…  We asked our many fans if they had ever been and if they could share their pictures in an effort to take a look at some […]

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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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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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What Now Scotland?

What Now Scotland?

What now Scotland?….. Last Thursday evening I set my alarm for 2am and took to bed early, the fridge was stocked with snacks and beer and a bottle of wine sat in the kitchen, champagne seemed too much like tempting fate. I checked my phone just before 2.00 to find a message from a friend, Clackmannanshire […]

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The View From the Ground in Aberdeen

The View From the Ground in Aberdeen

It could be any other lazy, late summer afternoon today in Aberdeen. Sunlight is attempting to squeeze its way through the clouds, seagulls are circling in droves, and ship horns are belching at the city’s bulging harbour. Right on cue, the haar has begun to roll in off the North Sea, making the crowd of […]

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