March 2023 Top 3
March is home to two of my favorite holidays—St. Patrick’s Day and the Oscars.
When the kids were younger they would routinely ask if all families have their now holidays— so St. “Fitz” Patricks day was always a thing for us. As a child with a maiden name of Kelly, my family was also all in. We ate green eggs, green pancakes, green mashed potatoes (less appealing as an adult) and celebrated when the leprechaun would slip through our traps and leave rainbow candy in the form of skittles. I am overjoyed that this is now a tradition celebrated in schools.
Cardboard Box Engineering
Simon, my mini engineer, devoured this book, and those leprechaun traps got a major upgrade from resources found here.
Say Nothing by Patrick Raden Keefe
This recommendation came from my friend Tracey, a Boston Irish Catholic. I also felt a bit of a deepened intrigue with this one— It’s a non-fiction book but feels like a multi-generational novel. It really brought to life for me the context of the IRA, the evolution of the Sinn Féin while looking at the context of a specific, though horrific abduction.
In December 1972, Jean McConville, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.
Check it out here.
Oscar Wars
Deirdre Fitzpatrick as the infamous Jobu Tupaki from Everything Everywhere All At Once. Winner, Best Dressed
Our family has spent the last 10 years or so celebrating the Oscars with our own homegrown fun. We’ve scaled the party back significantly since COVID but still spray paint Ken Dolls (Kenny’s) and give away our own awards for best dressed and guessing the winners.
Needless to say, I am a fan—I love ready analysis of the art of the films, and love listening to entertainment pundits debate in the weeks leading up to the event. I came across this book recently that I didn’t know that I needed. Maybe you need it too.
Oscar Wars by Michael Schulman
In Oscar Wars, Michael Schulman chronicles the remarkable, sprawling history of the Academy Awards and the personal dramas—some iconic, others never-before-revealed—that have played out on the stage and off camera. Unlike other books on the subject, each chapter takes a deep dive into a particular year, conflict, or even category that tells a larger story of cultural change, from Louis B. Mayer to Moonlight. Schulman examines how the red carpet runs through contested turf, and the victors aren't always as clear as the names drawn from envelopes. Caught in the crossfire are people: their thwarted ambitions, their artistic epiphanies, their messy collaborations, their dreams fulfilled or dashed.
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