The Irish Side

The despised and the beautiful

Irish are Spaniards who got lost in the mist. . .

—Spain Rodriguez

The first person in my mother's family who came to California was my great-aunt Tessie Halloran, who went to make her living as a governess in a Hollywood home.

She came home to Minnesota one Christmas, a success, loaded down with navel oranges and wearing a two piece suit the color of a pe…