(applause).

. >> thank you and thank you to all of you for being here today in such a fantastic day, beautiful, sunny bay area. also i want to thank you, hilary flynn, the director of the irish festival for this invitation. let's celebrate the irish in the americas. i put a title to my conversation with you today,

take the journey with me, and i wanted to read you an irish proverb that i like it very much because it's the way the history of myself, the history of my family. the longest road out is the shortest road home. and so travel with me and let's go to havana, cuba, and to know a little bit about the irish, the few irish that went to cuba, in particular to havana. i want you to know that on the left side of the entrance to the havana harbor, there is a well-known fortress, el moro. there is a lighthouse there and the moro has become a image of

cuban nationality and in particular havana. in that lighthouse you find, you read an -- when you enter the havana harbor, you find an irish name. that lighthouse was known for many years as the odono lighthouse. who was this person, odono the man that oversaw the project of the lighthouse in 1844 and he was a governor of cuba from 1843 to 48, but he was a spanish man of irish origin and irish ancestry, a descendant of the -- chieftan

of the ticanelles. he is spanish and irish together. if we look at the history of the irish in cuba, most of the irish to went to cuba in the 18th and 19th centuries arrived from spain, some of them with the spanish royal armies; other irish influx arrived from the u.s. for the construction of railroads used to transport sugar cane to the sugar plantations. that was at the end of the 19th century. and then at the beginning of the 20th century, we're talking 1902, 1910, before odono that i mentioned before, this man who gave his name to -- he was very proud of this lighthouse. the cubans offer hospitality to

general alexander alejandro o'reilly. he rose through the ranks of the spanish army. the spanish sent alexander o'reilly to cuba to form a militia. he was appointed governor of louisiana and head of the army later on. he arrived in august, 1769, and took formal possession of louisiana for spain. think of new orleans and cuba, in particular havana, governors there were also in cuba so

there was all this traveling from one city to another because later when i got my ph.d. from tulaine university and i went to the irish channel. it's interesting, the irish history connected with new orleans. so the o'reilly family has been in louisiana for centuries. in cuba, nobody remembers him but it was the street of calle oreilly, famous until the 50's for its banks and bookstores. it was one of the favorite

streets of (inaudible) secretary of the spanish count of fernandino, my grandfather, another irish man feeling at home in havana. there, at the busy corner of calle street and oreilly was a cafe bakery owned by a catelan. it was described by many foreigners, in particular british and irish who lived in havana at the time, as one of the best order and most elegant cafes in the world. its large door led to a main floor with a fantastic stone floor. i saw it in the 50's, i was very little but i still was

there in the 50's, and have a fountain that all that water really produce a refreshing sound that drown the patrons' loud conversations. but what made dominica famous, according to some foreigners and historians, was its ice cream of countless flavors and its famous fruit ices: guava and other flavors were served according to an irish traveler. and he wrote, that all these ice creams were served in an overgrown wine glass. on the plate under each language a long brown coil, paraquillo looking like a cigar and tasting of brown sugar,

well-beaten eggs and flour. this is the sign, according to the traveler, of the spoon used it eat the towering cream. we used to eat these big ice creams in cuba, used lots of cream. most dominica patrons were male but a few foreign women venturing to the famous establishment in the company of men from the court. one of these women was my grandmother, merced moynihan. in la dominica, one of the best cafes in the world, located on oreilly street, where my grandparents met. ticket to ride, i talk about my

family history but after they marry -- i am reading a little from the book -- my grandparents were at the center of many fascinating things. i found myself at el centro, the literary and musical gatherings. their house on calle mercades became a cultural cross roads with the traffic of foreigners created a new inspired geography. they travel everywhere. my grandmother, merced, nina played the piano and read poems, while edward read the poems besides playing the fiddle and violin, behaved like

an avant garde composer, moving around furniture. according to the journalist were a dynamic duo that rescued the famous hotel sevilla from dereliction in 1919. they also constructed the biltmore neighborhood where many irish american families have homes. when i said irish americans, i go back to the americas, irish-spanish americans and french-irish, et cetera, and my own family live there. other famous irish american personalities at the time were, for example, in the news world

the e. f. obrian, the editor of the times of cuba and in the cuban roman catholic church, father moynihan, no relationship to my grandmother, loved for his kindness and great sense of humor. born in the 20's in havana were of irish descent. they were fran emilio. he was entirely blind by the age of 13 but learned gerschwin's rhapsody in blue by using braille scores. he was also one of the major

instrumentalists of the feeling -- many of you recollected remember -- the thrilling sound of the 50's that blended the latin bolero with the latin sound. the second was chico, we like always to put these little names to people. my name is carlotta but my real name was charlotte and they called me carlotica, little charlotte. he moved to new york city in 1948, where benny goodman hire him and he became very famous in new york at the time and he died in new york in 2001.