No Kings Day Reflections from an American-Irish in the Home of Her Ancestors
I took off this week to come to Gaeltacht — one of the small areas on this wee island in which locals still use Irish on a daily basis — to try to learn more Gaeilge.
It’s a curious place to spend the Fourth of July.
When I decided to come here it meant little more to me than a place I could immerse myself, sort of, for a week. The blurbs said little more than that the school offered both language classes and cultural classes — things like harp playing and weaving and folklore. But being here, it has the feel of one of the Jesuit retreat centers at which my late mother guided retreats: in a stunningly beautiful remote location, where you can hear and often cannot escape from the wind and — on the occasional clear day — see the stars, and a whole rhythm to the day to facilitate a kind of contemplation.
It is a place people come to contemplate Irishness or perhaps to use Irishness as a means to contemplate.
A storyteller who performed the other day spoke about the rhythm of it all: the rhythm of the language, of the music, of the verse, of the dance, of the weaving.
It’s a place where people — Irish people, people who identify as Irish, and people who take meaning from Irishness — come to preserve and participate in those traditions that sustained Irishness during colonization. Both because of that “Saving Civilization” bit (one of Ireland’s founding saints lived here for a bit and, as is true of many places on the coast, there’s an island nearby with an old ruined monastery) and because of the recurring Irish effort to build a nation out of the oral tradition that refused to be stamped out by the British, Irishness serves as a celebrated from-ness, to people far and near, even if (and if we’re honest, partly because) Ireland went through a lot of death and misery to get there.
And so it is here in this beautiful place of from-ness that I look west and contemplate a celebration of the Colonies’ break from the same empire from which Ireland would, eventually, free itself too, free itself in significant part by building on that oral tradition. As cities cancel the celebration of defying Kings because a white man who wants to disappear all the diverse from-ness that Made America Great has started disappearing actual people, I am thinking about how this from-ness in which I’m immersed (sort of), is what my ancestors and those of millions others brought to America to make up an identity called Irish-American. That process of bringing a from-ness to (or, for Native Americans, sustaining it in) America has been replicated in thousands of ways. The part of America that is Great is the one that weaves all that diverse from-ness together into one tapestry.
As you wonder whether there is anything to celebrate, as you reflect on how Trump views the list of injuries and usurpations in the Declaration as an aspiration, not an admonition, consider the ways in which your own from-ness and those of everyone around you is both that thing that Stephen Miller is trying to kill, both figuratively and literally. But also something that can provide a rhythm to sustain you.
That’s what he wants to suffocate: The very tapestry that Makes America Great.
Is America a nation that weaves together or one that, like the British attempted but failed, stamps out?
This is a political battle. But even more it is a cultural one.
No Kings.
Note: I’m going to be really busy for the next two days so won’t be in comments. I’ll check in tomorrow night.
Founders’ grievances against King George echo in Trump’s royal presidency | Editorial
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/editorials/trump-royal-presidency-grievances-independence-20250703.html
He is trying to stamp out the flame of democracy. We are promising him much more than a hot foot.
Love your grounding Marcy. Say ‘Hi’ to Mr EW.
Something the other day brought to mind that Trump resembles the Ayatollah to a remarkable extent in his governance style. I doubt he would recognize similarity.
Yes, I said,…Yes
I know I’ve had some link troubles recently but I’ve checked this one out and I think, I hope, it’s safe:
Kate riffing on Joyce. Mmm, yes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1DDndY0FLI
The Sensual World.
[Moderator’s note: Link edited to remove tracking. This part from ampersand on is tracking: “&list=RDh1DDndY0FLI&start_radio=1&ab_channel=KateBushMusic — there’s enough detail in it to narrow down how you got that song before sharing it here. Make a stronger effort to remove tracking before sharing links. /~Rayne]
Marcy,
Yes. Irish rhythmical immersion sounds wonderful and well deserved. Enjoy your time away from your Emptywheel writing and readers. American from-ness tapestry is alive and well despite Miller’s and Trump’s Fascist efforts to shred said tapestry. No Kings, means choosing to create laws and follow them without Kings. World history demonstrates this No Kings, proof of concept by ratification of signed US Declaration of Independence July 4th 1776. We are in this together.
When my mother was in the very last chapter of the book that told of her very long life, when she could no longer take care of her own body in ways that a body needs taken care of—she had someone who did it for her. And at night, after moving her into bed, he knelt down, held her hand, prayed the “Hail Mary” with her, and then wished her a Good Night. And when he spoke and prayed it was with an accent—one which was of his own “from-ness”, one which (in Mom’s words) was “from somewhere in Africa”.
I know all of this because she told me. And she told me because she wanted me to know that there was someone, among many of us, who cared for her, and that she loved him. So, to the many of “the least of my brothers and sisters” who bring us their best when we need it the most: Thank You. To my Mother: Rest in Peace.
Beautiful paean to your mother and “from-ness” as well as “one-ness”.
We’re all in this together and I hope each of us can care for, and be cared by others.
Matthew 25:40 – “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
I have noted in my very infrequent forays into the small world outside my home that people have been exceptionally tender & gentle with others, most notably it seems to be the people of color who are the most gentle.
Aeschylus said “there is wisdom in pain.” Those who have felt hunger and thirst are more likely to reach out to those who hunger and thirst. Those who know that they have more than what they need, give to those who have less.
But how do I reconcile knowing that things will change for the better only after others, who seem blind to those with less, themselves come to know the pain of what it means to have less. When does my “knowing about” become my “wishing for”?
‘or perhaps to use Irishness as a means to contemplate’
I do something like this when I visit my in-laws in China. My wife’s hometown, population 800 k, is off the tourist path enough that foreign visitors are few and mostly go to the Mining Univ. there. Standing out like a sore thumb is such a humbling experience, I love it. There was the time I heard a old man say something behind me and everyone around me laughed, including my wife. I had long hair and he was wondering if I was a boy or girl. I love all the times someone says, especially the little kids, who will yell across a street, ‘Hello’. What is really fun is to watch Beijing residents react to my wife as a tourist as there are a lot of Chinese tourists in Beijing. My favorite is when guides in museums will give me a knowing glance as my wife asks them the question I just told her the answer to based on the available English translations/directions. But the ‘piece de resistance’ of my trips to China have to the be the lunches with by brother-in-law and several of his friends that he has known since he was 5 or 6. My brother knows some English, one of his friends knows a little more, but the true joy is just watching and seeing that much of culture is like a ‘video game skin’. I experience something deep, the nature of which is a group of individuals mutually gathered together to share good food, good drink, good conversation, good games (mahjong) just like all the times I have done with my friends, though we never played mahjong. Use your favorite search engine to look up automatic mahjong tables, this engineer went squeeee the first time he saw one in action.
Kinda got off track, sorry, my point is to me most people want to be left alone to live their lives. They want to share in some things with others and they are respectful of want others want. Basically most people I have met follow the Golden Rule even if they have never heard it expressed that way. That it does not matter where we are from. What matters is how we treat each other.
I swear eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the minds of the people!
Similar to my feelings when I visit my in-laws in Korea. Love the place, with all its flaws and problems.
From Anne Lamott this Fourth of July: “Anyone paying close attention to the news might well ask themselves what on earth there is to celebrate this Fourth of July. But we must celebrate, or they win, in the paranoid sense of “they.” They want the day, but we can’t let them have it. Independence Day is America’s day. Sure, we bleeding-heart nervous cases are teetering on the edge of despair, but that is exactly why I am calling for us to move into a new phase of resistance: hope and joy. In ghastly times, these are subversive…” Let’s be subversive. [gift link from some website I read this morning; I don’t have a WaPo sub anymore] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/03/trump-protest-july-4th-hope/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzUxNjAxNjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzUyOTgzOTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3NTE2MDE2MDAsImp0aSI6ImQ3NWM5MzdhLWYzMmYtNGZmYi1iN2VkLTA3MmRiNGNiZjJhNiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDI1LzA3LzAzL3RydW1wLXByb3Rlc3QtanVseS00dGgtaG9wZS8ifQ.92hgnoZalVAsuK3aL7MEJoZiYTfAjxhKOHfsn8HYi-s&fbclid=IwY2xjawLVDnFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFFRHVJdUtyT2JDUWlXNjVRAR4K_lvRdj33qVhdwhi2nw2db73T6-KGJTtewRMj69AFD1hUsh3RX5la1XL6ww_aem_bf4Greh-lCkFhLFpxJ4ULw
Happy 4th everyone!
I wonder how many of the people claiming to be leaders would pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their honor, like those who signed the Declaration?
also. The Felon Guy wants to have a UFC fight at the White House. If he isn’t babbling again.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/4/2331766/-Trump-Plans-a-UFC-Fight-at-the-White-House-to-Bring-it-More-of-that-Classy-Trumpish-Dignity
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/4/2331610/-Trump-July-3rd-Des-Moines-Iowa-and-his-descent-into-babble
Quite a number would since they don’t take oaths seriously.
They wouldn’t want to risk their lives or their fortunes, and they have no honor.
Your question brings to mind the image of Trump signing that awful bill surrounded by smirking fellow travelers of the King. It was more sickening than needed, but Trump found it to be invigorating. Of a feather, flocking together, knowing they were serving the devil and loving it. Then there is Elon. Calling dishonor on their actions, with his recent history of being one, as dishonorable.
Trump got his narcissistic supply from those smirking assholes. It’s disgusting how easily he is manipulated into further outrage with continued ego stroking.
Musk could successfully undo this cycle if he could step out of his own incessant need for narcissistic supply to develop a means to cut off Trump’s connection to his source. But Musk doesn’t seem capable of the level of awareness necessary to this end.
I think Musk is likely in his own very small prison made of drugs. These days, his visible horizon probably extends about as far as the end of his nose.
I have nothing substantive to say, but I just want to mention how beautiful I found the writing in this piece. Enjoy your retreat!
One side of my family landed in Plymouth and a few generations later one signed the Declaration of Independence, and another side of my family fled Nazi Europe.
Immigrants all.
“…a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people…”
Even the Native Americans brought their own from-ness, just long before the Euro exes started arriving. Apparently some of the Euro exes are too self centered to be able to accept others and imagine themselves divinely selected and deserving.
Im more than a little curious why FEMA hasn’t even been mentioned in Texas or Washington with all the destruction in Kerrville last night. Does Lindsey Graham bring it up when Barry hits SC Sunday?
Excellent question. Bet there will be some fireworks about the Kerrville flood, not just because of the horrifying statistic that +20 girls are missing from a camp site.
source: https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Millionaires-aplenty-in-Hill-Country-towns-poll-6122461.php
Rich people don’t like being confronted with the reality of climate change let alone the reality their orange bawbag has screwed up FEMA.
I wonder about the builders who put tracts with narrowish streets and big houses on small lots, on hillsides, next to wildlands. Not just Pacific Palisades, but places like Porter Ranch west of Tampa, where they’re building right up to where it’s not possible to build. And these aren’t estates, but homes for people with $200K to $500K incomes.
(I know some people who live in that area. One got evacuated back in 2008, because of a fire. It hasn’t improved since then.)
It’s the money. They think it insulates them from inconvenient facts like earth science and physics — hell, money shuts off their thinking altogether. They’ll just buy insurance.
Builders aren’t going to turn down jobs if a pile of money is waved under their noses with a demand to construct a McMansion on a lot with a great view, exclusivity, and chichi neighbors.
The demand increases with the cachet of living in that area, so they’re packed in like premium sardines packed in truffle oil.
Truffle oil burns as brightly as other oils.
Apparently FEMA is much too busy with more important matters. From The Guardian:
Considering Lindsey Graham’s role in enabling this travesty, he ought not complain when his state gets shorted, but I’m guessing it won’t stop him.
Sadly for sane South Carolinians, they have put up with Graham for at least the next year and a half.
Upside, his term ends January 2027 and this bullshit abuse of his office hurting his constituents can be used against him by better candidates.
Last time I heard Trump talk about FEMA, he wanted to kill it as a federal agency and, you know, let “the states” take care of it. Because emergency management is *exactly* what Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana have the extra money to fund.
To mix a couple things, July 4th, No Kings Day, Independence Day, is very much Independence From Kings Day.
One purpose of this day was and remains, in order to form a more perfect union…
In Marcy’s vivid imagery, it remains the task of weaving the myriad threads of from-ness into the never-ending tapestry of us all.
My DNA has been here for 390 years, this year. It has participated in good things and in bad. It participated in the founding of this country and both sides of the Civil War. Now, I find myself with an internal Civil War.
When I consider this quote, ‘Billy Wilder in 1945: “The optimists died in the gas chambers, the pessimists have pools in Beverly Hills.” ” I feel that I should seriously be considering repatriating to the land of my DNA’s origin. But then the rage rises in my soul. I am livid that these maroons are perverting my country. How can I let them get away with this?
I can’t tell if I am trying to be calmly analytical, or I am frozen in indecision. I do know that I am sick of contacting people in Washington who already agree with me. I don’t have the voice or platform that Marcy has which allows her to be very impactful from a distance. I don’t have untold wealth to allow me to buy my way into another country.
I am ready to pick up my pitcher and my linstock, but I am not as young as I like to think I am. And, I have to be careful, I have a ‘mouth’ on me when I really get riled up, which happens a lot these days. My family will vouch for this.
I think I may have to create a roll for myself as an American maquisard. They will never see me coming.
I wish you a committed No Kings Day.
Ready to join forces with you, Molly. My DNA (one strand anyway) has 405 years on these shores, and I would love for them to deport me back to where I came from, since we’ve never been able to figure out exactly where that was.
I share your rage. Trump wants us to fight that “internal civil war,” because it allows him to stomp all over American values in the meantime. I too fantasize of becoming a maquisard. For now I attend the protests.
Wish I were there. Enjoy, Marcy!
Last night (Thursday) in my dreams was a man playing a harp. So, I’m wondering if you happened to hear any harp music since you’ve been there, Marcy. Thanks for sharing this lovely post with us.
We did. There’s a talent show on the last day (our “talent” was a hilarious skit about a ghost). The harp class–all women–played 3 songs.
Lots of Hearts
to women with Harps!
Love, harpie
Two [Scottish] Women with Harps:
Sileas – The Shore of Gruinard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLfvAwEs8-Y&list=RDaLfvAwEs8-Y&start_radio=1
Well said.
It’s most definitely a cultural battle we find ourselves in. Which is unfamiliar terrain, for me at least.
Absolutely lovely column or post, Ms. Wheeler. Truly heartfelt. I loved it. I am not Irish myself, I am pretty much half Czech, half Norwegian, which makes me ethnically bipolar, I guess. However, I find the Irish culture and tradition very interesting and compelling. The colonzation of Albion or the British Isles is part fantasy and part gritty human reality. My 95 year old MIL is 100% Irish and is a study in human passion and compassion. She will probably live forever. Your comments on American resilience are perfect for the 4th of July. I look around and see a lot of good people who will not bow to the dirty orange clown. Thank you for this wonderful post!
My good sign of the cultural battle was the desultory parade the soldiers gave Trump. The North Koreans march in better unison, a sign of a superior authoritarianism, and our guys did things right. You want a fucking parade for your fucking birthday, fuck you, here’s your begrudging parade. Love it. Be sure Elon’s people don’t horse up my paycheck – something like that seemed the mood of the little I saw on the Internet of that thing. The Kim family gets great parades, and in terms of culture, we got an exemplary one. With Mr. bone spurs viewing, give him what he deserves. And yes, I might be projecting some of my own feelings onto those who marched.
TBF, Kim got a superior parade because generations of North Koreans know that to fail their leader and in the public eye is to ensure a torturous death.
Trump won’t ever have that advantage, thank goodness.
Global warming is a hoax! God just created more waterfront property in Texas for Trump. Great time to buy!
https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-missing-hill-country-5044c169b59921b2b4f65a2568c354c0
Global warming is a Godsend: less land area = more sea = more beachfronts = bigger, better houses for God’s chosen ones!
AI robots will do the work.
More AI robots will ensure that those first robots will keep on doing the work.
No poor people need apply to keep on living in the golden age.
Thank you, Marcy, for coming out as a poet!
I decided that I would be “positive” yesterday when I encountered people at Laramie’s Freedom Has a Birthday in Washington Park. While I rightly understand where we are politically these days, I think our side has not celebrated how much better American society has gotten since 1990, so I decided I would focus boomers minds on that fact.
After I listened to my boomer city councilman describe his two year stint in California during his formative years (Yes Mormon), I finally asked my punchline question “Were things better in America in 1990 than 2025?” As he pondered that question, Mayor Sharon Cumbie gave me the side eye and I knew what she was thinking but she did not interject, and he answered in a manner to indicate things were the same, so I narrowed the discussion to admittedly my agenda question. I asked him how many murders occurred in NYC in 1990 and he said “alot”. I said the number was 2,245 and then I asked him how many murders had been committed in NYC so far this year and while he said it was probably lower, he was shocked when I said 124. He could not wrap his head around the shear drop in the numbers and then he asked me “What happened?” By the end of my recitation I had hooked another one.
I used this same tactic all day and while I got legitimate push back about our rights, it is clear by every other metric we are far better off today than in 1990 and we should celebrate that fact. What I have learned is that no matter how good life gets people are going to find something to bitch about, so my belief is that we are having political blow back from people thinking life is as bad as it was in 1990, when it just is not true. We lefties also believe that life has stagnated and that is in my opinion the bleed through from the years and years of whining about the criminal lawlessness in the US by lying Rush Limbaugh and his monstrous off spring Fox News.
We should celebrate the place we are in now and that joy may make the party bitching about bathrooms get embarrassed by wasting their time on non existent issues. We are far better off than we were in 1990 and the only thing making America worse is voting for the GOP.
Super post. Thanks for sharing.
Marcy, I am so grateful for this beautiful post. <3
I agree. Half my ancestors hail from the Emerald Isle. May the wind always be at your back, madam.
Thank you, Marcy, for your heart-felt and heartening post. You are a gem. I just LOVE this community. Rayne, Ed, Quinn, Nicole Sanders (I never miss “EW Fridays”) and all the regulars in the comments fellowship: I appreciate you more than I can say. I’ve been a very modest financial supporter for quite some time, and post very infrequently, mostly to express my gratitude, like today.
My wife and I are very active in our local Indivisible group (www.lsrindivisible.org). I recommend that organization (www.indivisible.org) wholeheartedly. That, along with keeping our homestead’s chickens & honeybees happy, the gardens & orchard watered and the weeds at bay are making the days & weeks go by in a blur (even more of a blur than is usual for we 70+ year-olds).
My bride organized our Indivisible chapter’s float in a nearby July 4th parade. It was our first non-protest-exposure to the community. 6,000 people lined the streets of Marquette, MI and cheered our goofy float enthusiastically. It went well. We made a good impression and handed out a lot of literature. No MAGA interference or much of anything from that crowd, which was a pleasant surprise.
Despite that, doing our best to celebrate July 4th 2025 will, I suspect, remain a high-water mark and the ultimate definition (in my mind) of the term “mixed emotions.” Others have written extensively about that feeling on the internet and in EW. I’m sure you know what I mean.
Staying sane (mentally, emotionally and spiritually) for this recovering alcoholic isn’t easy. But online communities like EW, and my in-person extended community help so very much. I’ve never been as terrified or as social as I have been this past year.
Music is a solace, too. Jesse Welles. I love that guy. Here’s one of his latest (“No Kings”):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWG0K3Y8ZU8&list=RDkWG0K3Y8ZU8&start_radio=1
I’m a cartoonist, and a few months ago, started a political feature some of you might enjoy: “The Anti-Tyrant’s Almanac – Home Remedies and Information for Folks with a Nasty Case of Fascism in The Body Politic.” It’s free, and always will be. No paywall. It’s therapy for me – why should anyone else pay for it?. Some friends have told me they enjoy it. Seeing as I consider all you as friends I just haven’t met yet, I’m happy to tell you about it. The latest issue can be found below.
https://bradveley.com/cartoon/vol-1-issue-16/
Subscribe for free to get it delivered to your email inbox (right, like you want or need more emails!):
https://mailchi.mp/b6fd54bdf377/the-anti-tyrants-almanac
Enjoy your time off, Marcy!
thank you for this nice post, and for much more as well.
by coincidence i had also happened to read a Globe and Mail article about peat cutting and burning in Ireland that describes the collision between the old Ireland and the new:
https://www. theglobeandmail.com/world/article-ireland-peat-bogs-energy-eu-climate-laws-wetlands-fuel-carbon/ (space before “the globe…”, broken link successful, i hope).
ireland, its history, culture, and people are eternally interesting, whether to those of irish descent, or to those who merely wish they were.
We went to an interesting performance in the last year about paet, by a guy who grew up in a burned out old peat stripping town. He built this cool round table to sit around, so that everyone had peat in front of them. And he made some peat fragrance for people to take home.
Almost if not all of the people had some time to a bog (Mr. EW grew up close to some of the big ones).
from-ness.
Harps and Irishness have been mentioned. That led me to two powerful women (harps are lurking). One is very much a person who likes to hide herself away; the other is out there up front and suffered for that because that’s what happens:
Kate Bush (her mother was Irish and it’s always been a thing in her music); and Sinead O’Conner (just herself, always).
They both did versions of a song by an Irishman: Women of Ireland.
The original lyrics are actually pretty horrible (well, they were written by a man).
But each of them, in their own ways, made it beautiful:
Kate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shV-tT8cY-A
Sinead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt8p5AxJn18&list=RDTt8p5AxJn18
[FYI — link edited, reply with corrective link deleted. /~Rayne]
Thanks, Rayne :-)