I GREW UP in Thurles, Co Tipperary. When I was 10, I moved with my family to Drogheda, Co Louth, where my father took up a teaching position in the local technical school, while I attended Drogheda CBS.
The school was no better and no worse than most other schools at that time and we experienced a lot of the old Christian Brothers' discipline.
I was an undistinguished scholar. I had no interest in maths or science but I loved English and history. Brother Nolan had a great influence on my life at that time and inspired a love of English literature and writing.
I believe that teaching is one of the most underestimated jobs in the world. After parents, teachers have more influence on children than anyone else. Fortunately the role of the teacher is still well regarded here unlike the States, where people have little respect for the profession.
My main interest at school was sports in fact it was my only reason for going to school and it was my ambitious to become a PE teacher. I spent my final year in school at Gormanston College, Co Meath, where I played in the colleges' football Leinster final and broke the 100 metres' record in athletics.
That year in Gormanston was very important for me I matured enormously and when I left I had a better sense of myself.
I moved on to to UCD to do arts, and I have to admit I was a pretty useless student and barely got through my exams. In 1976 I went on a JI visa to the States and knew immediately that it was where I wanted to be.
After graduation I spent a couple of years teaching in Dublin, but I was extremely unsettled and I decided I would go to the United States. Although it has since become quite common, moving to America was an unusual thing to do during the 1970s when there was very little emigration from Ireland.
I arrived in Chicago, and that first summer I played Gaelic football with a local team. It was great way of introducing myself, and through it I made contacts and obtained quite a lot of construction work.
I had hankered to be a journalist for some time, and when in 1979 I went to California and settled in San Francisco, I saw a gap in the market for a newspaper to service the local Irish market. With a partner I started the Irishman.
In 1985 I moved to New York, where I established Irish America magazine, followed by the Irish Voice in 1987. Although I love living in New York, I return a lot to Ireland. My family is all here and Ireland is very important to me.
