We were driving through a neighboring town when my husband saw someone on the street who startled him. "Is that girl across the street pregnant or just overweight?," he asked. She was overweight. I would have guessed her at 10 years old. She was about 4 feet tall. A conservative tip of the scale would have been 150 pounds. She was probably more. We were headed home from a family member's school activity. There, we met a 17-year-old boy who was well over 300 pounds at about 6 feet tall.  Moms, childhood obesity is killing our children. We have a problem here and we need to get serious about it…

Today:  Ballroom Dance: Stop in the Timbers for a special Paddy's Day ballroom dance. The 10-piece Jay Mau Orchestra will perform from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Public is welcome. Admission is free. Tonight: Storytime: St. Patrick's Day Family Storytime at the Shorewood-Troy Public Library. 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. at 650 Deerwood Drive. Free. The Crowd Around Me: Stop in for drink specials, corned beef and cabbage and a DJ. 103 E. Jefferson St. No cover. Perfect Guinness: Find Guinness on tap expertly poured at the Bullpen, Bedrock's, Buffalo Wild Wings and The Crowd Around Me. Costs range from $4 to $6 …

"May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you're dead." That is one of my favorite Irish proverbs. It's not just a sassy comment. Celtic spirituality is deeply rooted in pagan traditions, even superstitions. We cannot celebrate the High Holy Days of St. Patrick without a wee bit of religion. Luckily, Will County churches make it easy for us. In Shorewood, Holy Family Parish celebrates Mass every morning. If you're feeling the need for an extra Irish blessing, start St. Patrick's Day there at 8:15 a.m. Holy Family Parish is located at 600 Brook Forest Ave. If, however, Paddy's …

Nothing is more fun on St. Patrick’s Day than dancing. Growing up, my sister and I never really cared what kind of music, so long as we were able to dance. Lovers of Big Band orchestras and ballroom dancing will have a blast this 17th at the Timbers. The retirement community is inviting area seniors to a St. Patty’s Day ballroom dance. But it’s not going to be like just any dance. Residents and guests alike will tap their feet to the rythms of the Jay Mau Orchestra. “This 10-piece band has been tempting couples onto the dance floor at 35-40 gigs a year, the Timbers being a favorite,” said the…

It used to be that I was totally biased against stupidity. For example, I saw green fishnet stockings over the weekend and almost lost my mind. On second thought, I have come to realize that even stupid things have their place. All the green stuff around St. Patrick's Day is no different. The High Holy Days of St. Patrick is a phrase that typically puts me in the right state of mind for March.  I stole it from my former editor, Martin Hintz. He used it while I was interning at the Irish American Post during college. Today, like Christmas, the whole concept of a religious holiday has spiraled …

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, we are going to highlight something that deserves recognition. It is the martini of the month at Louie's Chop House in Shorewood. This is not just any martini, it is an oh-so-delicious martini. For a mere five bucks, you can get a Jameson's Irish whiskey and Bailey's Irish cream martini. If that weren't decadent enough, it also has dark creme de cocoa. "It is so fantastic," said Niki Gelis at Louie's. You will think you have died and gone to Irish alcohol heaven. So if  you are looking for something absolutely delish, you won't have to go far. Stop in Louie's …

They were pretty smart the way they organized it. They gave us all green  T-shirts that had the name of the program "Irish Way." As I naively stumbled through O'Hare, I looked for others, like me, who wore one. At 15, I hadn't realized that all of those people would be characters in what would become the experience of a lifetime. Some were to become my very best friends. It was the summer of 1988, and I didn't even have my drivers license yet. Nearly 200 of us been selected through an application process of some sort. I remember writing that I played a little piano, a grammatical tanglement …

Father Kevin Shanley. He was one of my favorite Will County people, sure. One of my favorite people ever. My son, Liam Shanley Gallagher, has his saintly namesake for leavening against the Gallagher devilment. Although he passed away a few years ago, his memory lives on for thousands of people right here who knew him. Most locals remember Father Kevin as Father Finbarr at Joliet Catholic. In fact, he taught my dad English there. Others may remember him for his active role in the Irish community here. He was one of the founding members of the Irish American Society of County Will. Still others…

One of my favorite all-time memories of Ireland involves food, if you can believe it. And one of my favorite all time food memories is the same one. I was 17. I was living in Castlederg, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. The woman I refer to as my Irish mother, Mary Brigid Arkinson, is a phenomenal cook. I mean full Sunday dinners every day. One afternoon I came flying down the stairs, well, because I was 17 and didn't do anything gracefully. It was a typical gray and damp day, no surprise. My speed is relevant because I remember stopping abruptly as if I had sound effects, ka-toing! There I…

Ireland's traditional wedding ring is called the Claddagh. It is named after a fishing village in Galway. "The Quiet Man" fans may remember Maureen O'Hara singing: If you ever go across the sea to Ireland, then maybe at the end of the day you could sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh and watch the sun go down on Galway Bay. The Claddagh ring has a very particular style and tradition. The design is two hands holding a heart, topped with a crown. Both men and women wear the ring. The hands symbolize friendship. The heart is for love. The crown means loyalty. Claddagh rings are quite …

To hear my husband, Muggsy, tell it, the whole thing started when his old man dragged him to the first class. He was about 10. Every Tuesday night they drove to the old St. Mary's in downtown Joliet. At first, he didn't want to go. Dancing? That was for sissies, he thought. Then once he got there, he realized he was one of maybe only four or five boys in a church basement filled with dozens of girls. Then when the next Tuesday rolled around, he was handing his dad the keys. "Come on, Dad, we're gonna be late," he said. This is the part of the story when his dad, Ricky Gallager, would add that…

Having learned how to pour the perfect pint at the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, I fancy myself an expert, ahem. Plus my husband, Muggsy, literally grew up in family-owned Irish pubs. So when we were asked to find the best Guinness in Shorewood, we decided much research would be required. Four Shorewood bars have Guinness on tap: the Bull Pen, the Crowd Around Me, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Bedrocks. These are very different places. So before we started, we established highly scientific criteria for judging based on what we learned at St. James's Gate Brewery, where Guinness is made, the holy land…

William Butler Yeats in 1923. George Bernard Shaw in 1925. Samuel Beckett in 1969. And Seamus Heaney in 1995. These are the well deserved Irish winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Anything they have ever written is worth your time. Yet there are so many other wonderful authors and poets that I consider top shelf. James Joyce is among the most difficult, convoluted and confusing writers. It is as if you need a secret decoder ring to understand what he is talking about. At the University of Iowa, I spent an entire semester in the class Finnegan's Wake for Beginners. Our instructor, …

We cannot have a series on St. Patrick without talking about Irish symbols. Two that are directly related to our dear Padraig are the shamrock and the Celtic cross. First a little history, then where to find them here in Shorewood. To start, I have been told by young people who have never seen a record player, that I must first explain what a shamrock actually is. It is more than just a shake. It is more than just a weed that kills my grass. It is a three-leafed clover. St. Pat made it immortal when he used it to explain to the Irish pagans what Christians call the trinity. He said that just …

White sheep on green grass. That's what my dad remembers when his military plane refueled there back in the 60s. He was drafted and shipped to Germany. From the air, he said the island looked like a tiny emerald in the big ocean. People who travel to Ireland don't easily forget the experience. During my first trip to Ireland, I got a window seat. I wanted to view our landing just like my dad had twenty-odd years before. That was 1988, the year of Dublin's millennium. I was among a group of about 200 American students from all over the country that studied in an exchange program. The majority …

I'm gonna break it to ya hard and fast. There is no easy way around it. The truth is, corned beef is not really Irish. True, true. Eating corned beef on St. Patrick's Day is an American ritual. It is not a tradition in Ireland. I wouldn't lie to ya about something so important. In America, we, Irish, take corned beef very seriously. Except when we spell it. There is an annoying epidemic of "corn beef" on menus across the country. Otherwise, there is nothing like a good corned beef sandwich in March to make you feel like you're celebrating the Irish. Match that up with a pint of Guinness or a…

Kermit says it's not easy being green. And he's right. Luckily, folks in Shorewood are getting a little help. Tonight, the Troy-Shorewood Public Library is hosting an "Organizing to be Green" workshop at 7 pm. The guest speaker is Certified Professional Organizer Beth Randall. Beth started her own company in Plainfield called Joe Organizer. "I have to be very organized in my own life," Randall wrote on her website. "Three kids going in different directions every day of the week keeps me on my toes." The library publicizes the event as teaching best ways to reuse or recycle used items. …

There are certain events that come around every year that seem to let us know that something bigger is coming. Black Friday, for example, jump starts Christmas. St. Patrick's Day is no different. After the long, dark days of winter, there is a return of something special that reminds me that 'tis the season to be Irish. But it is oh so much more than that! It is like an old lover has returned from war. I know it's gonna happen, but I never know exactly when. I'm talking about, you guessed it, the Shamrock Shake. The cold minty flavor. The smooth way it glides across the tongue. It is like I …

It always amazes me when I talk to people about caring for my baby. I never expected it to be such a controversial issue! In fact, it is so frustrating how society views healthcare, breastfeeding or food choices that I have stopped talking about these things with others. It is troubling how ignorant and thus intolerant some of the most vocal have been. Our son, Liam, is nearing 16 months. I am proud to say that he — knock on wood — is as healthy and happy a child as I have seen. He has never been on antibiotics. And although he had some ear irritation with teething, he has never had a full-…

This week, President Obama challenged us to improve our innovation, education and infrastructure. I have lived in other countries not nearly as rich or as vast as the United States. I have seen first-hand what quality innovation, education and infrastructure can do. Having been outside the country, I have been able to take a good look at what we have here. I am very proud to be an American, and I believe whole-heartedly that we have the best country in the world. However, when it comes to these three things, we stink. My first international experience was at age 15. I spent a summer living …