Tyrades! Do You Find Saint Patrick's Day Troubling?

“My father and mother were Irish, and I am Irish, too.”

As Saint Patrick’s Day approaches, I keep remembering that song from our third-grade music book, which strove to examine music from an international perspective (WITHOUT a “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” detour into “Come see the cultural appropriation inherent in the system!”)

I am proud of my Scots-Irish heritage; but at the time, when I discussed the music assignments with my father, it was unsettling to hear him talk about the song’s link to where I came from. You mean the STORK is Irish? I thought storks FLEW around delivering babi...