October
by Patrick Kavanagh

O leafy yellowness you create for me
A world that was and now is poised above time,
I do not need to puzzle out Eternity
As I walk this arboreal street on the edge of a town.
The breeze too, even the temperature
And pattern of movement is precisely the same
As broke my heart for youth passing. Now I am sure
Of something. Something will be mine wherever I am.
I want to throw myself on the public street without caring
For anything but the prayering that the earth offers.
It is October over all my life and the light is staring
As it caught me once in a plantation by the fox coverts.
A man is ploughing the ground for winter wheat
And my nineteen years weigh heavily on my feet.

Highlights include iIrish Film Hub Launch with All Our Yesterdays; Annual Greater Cleveland An Gorta Mór Mass, A Magically Appearing Shed and …

Al O’Leary Akron Hurling Tournament; Garvaghy Road updates, webinar and denial; new issue and website fun additions …

What a mighty launch to the new iIrish Film Hub, with the Cleveland Release of All Our Yesterdays, by Breege Rowley.

All Our Yesterdays began in 2015, after documentary Producer Breege Rowley was told that someone had thrown away their family’s cinefilm. Inspiration broke ground, inspiring her to archive the lived history of the Swinford, Co. Mayo community before it was lost forever.

Breege interviewed approximately 70 people, capturing their personal stories spanning from the penal laws through the famine, the Land League, Michael Davitt and into more recent history, with many participants sharing family letters, photographs, and music that provided authentic insights into the Irish immigrant experience.

She emphasized the importance of preserving human stories before they are lost to time, noting that six of her interview participants had passed away during the film’s creation, and highlighted how the film connects with Irish diaspora communities worldwide who can relate to the stories of resilience and immigration. Our conversation also touched on Breege’s personal background growing up in Swinford, her career in film and television editing, and her formative experiences at Sundance film labs, which helped shape her approach to documentary storytelling.

Read the interview w Breege: https://iirish.us/2026/09/29/all-our-yesterdays/

Opening the evening was gifted Cleveland Harpist and teacher Tiffany Schaefer; have a quick listen ~ 59 seconds of Bliss:

Breege was with us for the Sold Out showing, necessitating the addition of another showing. We had a wonderful full house, an entertaining Q & A with Breege after, and went Stone Mad at the end!

THANK You for showing up, thank you for supporting our first film in the iIrish Film Hub – stay tuned for what’s next.

And Then, We Went to Mass!

By now, you know the most significant horror in Irish history was An Gorta Mór. Some call it the Great Famine – a famine is an act of God – An Gorta Mór was an act of the British.

We Remember

There is something grounding about standing together at the Famine Memorial on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, and this month we did so for two anniversaries at once: the 176th anniversary of An Gorta Mór, the Great Hunger, and the 26th anniversary of the day the memorial stone itself was set in place — 10 tons, 10 feet high, on September 16, 2000. As we have for the 25 years before, we gathered there for the on-site Mass, remembering all who suffered, all who survived, and everyone who has kept this remembrance alive.

Beside the stone rests a time capsule, filled with mementos, stories, and predictions of what 2050 would look like, written by those living in 2000. In another 24 years, we will open it, and hear, in their own words, the hopes they held for us — for the world they imagined we would be living in.

From the heart, we thank those who helped in this transition year, as we set the path for those to come, especially Cleveland GAA and Vincent Beach; John Lackey; Fr. Tom Mahoney; the AOH, John Myers and David McLaughlin; Phillip Parente and Tip Top Tents and Dan Hanson. for your time, your efforts, and for carrying this memory forward with us. Thank you to all who came – we were able to present the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland with a check for $500.

Cuyahoga River Side of An Gorta Mór Memorial

CLEVELAND REMEMBERS

                 The Great Hunger
  An Gorta Mór
Ireland’s Potato Famine 1845-50

THIS MEMORIAL COMMEMORATES THE PASSING OF
150 YEARS SINCE THE MISERY KNOWN AS “THE GREAT
HUNGER”, A CARNAGE VISITED UPON THE IRISH NATION
DIMINISHING HER POPULATION BY MILLIONS. AS A
RESULT OF IMPOSED POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
STRUCTURES, MANY OF THE IRISH WERE DRIVEN TO
THE POTATO ALONE FOR SURVIVAL. CONSEQUENTLY,
IRELAND’S PEOPLE STARVED TO DEATH, OR WERE
FORCED TO EMIGRATE, MANY DYING ON “COFFIN
SHIPS” ENROUTE. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST
TRAGIC AND SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN IRISH HISTORY.

LEST WE FORGET:
TO THOSE WHO DIED
TO THOSE WHO CAME AND ENRICHED OUR
CLEVELAND SHORES,
WE DEDICATE THIS MONUMENT TO YOU.

ERECTED ON THE 150^TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE “GREAT HUNGER”
BY THE GREATER CLEVELAND IRISH COMMUNITY IN THE YEAR OF
OUR LORD, 2000.

October 27th, 2026

See more of the An Gorta Mór 2026 video:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/7fQONVx85YI?si=cOtgWe51EmI27Diq#
Video and photos by Dan Hanson:
https://www.clevelandpeople.com/groups/irish/2026/irish-famine-memorial-mass.htm

We are so delighted to be able to donate the proceeds from the mass collection plus a bit of iIrish funds to the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland – it is fitting because of their amazing work to feed our hungry, and the topic connection.
An iIrish columnist for more than 10 years,Cleveland Irish columnist Francis McGarry was also on staff with the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland.

We miss him every day.

And Then, There Was Magic

Owning a publishing company takes lots of time of course, but more importantly, it takes a lot of ROOM. We still print, though the digital side is what is growing so significantly at iIrish, and nationally (we have subscribers in 30 states now). So we had to get more (room that is). We moved.

Yet still, Not Enough Room. So we did our due diligence, researched possibilities and chose a shed. It arrived in boxes – BIG boxes. With all the brain aneurisms, resultant balance and breathing issues and the annual fall flair up of rheumatoid, I was dreading the bending, kneeling, hammering, working over my head lifting and drilling that putting this shed together was going to take, and the pain that would bring in the days after it was completed.

The instruction manual said 4 people for 4 hours. Inner voice said, Yeah, right.

One of the people I admire most in this world is Vincent Beach. Chairman of Cleveland GAA (Men’s, Ladies Gaelic Football clubs; Camogie and Hurling clubs and 3 youth teams), Vince and team has built a powerhouse on the field and in volunteerism, present in the Irish community in a big way, and outside the community too. He is also the iIrish Taking the Fields of Glory columnist (Vince celebrated his 10th year writing for iIrish in July).

I asked his advice, as he has an engineers mind, gets things done, and rallies those around him, whatever he does. He responded, I’ll come over and take a look. Relieved I was, job translated to understandable efforts he did.

Then, in the follow up conversation, he knocked me off my feet. He said, I’ll bring a few of the guys over on Sunday and we’ll do it. I got his advice, and I got a (sort-of) crack team of volunteers – so not what I was expecting and so typical of Sir Beach.

Vince and his son Ambrose, Tim McDonnell, James, Pat Gannon and his son Conor couldn’t have planned it better – sunny, nicely warm, tons of teasing and SKILLS!

I was right on the 4 men, four hours instruction – we had 6, and it went into a 2nd day. Lord, I am grateful, still shocked and oh so Blessed.

As always, there is room at the Inn. Stop by anytime; I’d love to see you.

Did You Know?

THE Facts: 
Print – 13,000 p/mo,  460 locations and online; 
eBulletin – 15,000+ opted-in subscribers, every 2nd Wednesday.
Web and SM – More than 50,000 followers averaging
88,000 engagements p/mo  (www.iirish.us)  
Subscribers – in 30 U.S. states and in Ireland

The Year that Was:

2026: