Eoghan

Interview Podcast
media type="custom" key="8171968"

**Geography/Biography**


 * Country: ** Northern Ireland


 * City: ** Belfast


 * Description ** : Belfast, Northern Ireland is a place of conflict between Protestants and Catholics. Constant conflict goes on between these two groups. Climate is relatively cold and constantly rainy. It is the largest city in Northern Ireland, and it is on the eastern coast of Ireland. As of the 2001 census, its population was 276,459.


 * Interviewee Background: ** Eoghan was a normal man living in Belfast. He lived in a cul-de-sac, with protestants on his left, and Catholics on his right. He left Ireland because he wanted to see the world, and he just happened to meet a lady that he liked in America. He’s moved here twice now, once in 2006, and once in 2008. He now works in the construction business.


 * Anecdote ** : “So you come out of my cul-de-sac at the bottom of my street and you turn left, okay, and you’re right on a divide between Catholics and Protestants. So if you turn left, the Catholics, when they see you coming up the street, they think you’re a Protestant going from a Protestant area to a Catholic area. You turn right, yep, and they think you’re a Catholic going to a Protestant area.” “but it really was bothersome because on my tenth birthday I was attacked by three Catholics, and I’m a Catholic. They attacked me for being a Protestant. You know? And it just doesn’t make any sense.”

**Creative Writing Piece**
Eoghan Gregory


 * //Eoghan Gregory is an immigrant from Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, there are conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. This story is written in his point of view, and it is about his struggles with these religious conflicts.//**

The Wind

by Jalen Soat **

Life is like the wind. You never know which way it is going to go or how fast it will come at you. Your mood can be peaceful and calm like a slow blowing breeze, but in seconds it can speed up and everything can change. That’s sort of what my life was like. I’m always confused about these arguments. Catholics. Protestants. “I hate you.” “You hate me.” I’ve never really understood what this was all about, until my tenth birthday.

I woke up excited and filled with joy. It was my tenth birthday. The sun was shining and I was in a great mood. I walked downstairs and saw something that made me even happier. I saw numerous presents sitting on the table. I jumped with joy and ran over to them. There were so many. I couldn’t decide which one to start with. I picked up the first one, and before I had time to admire it, I was started on the second one. I was so excited. By time I was done opening presents and my parents had taken pictures, there was still one more thing I wanted: I wanted to go to the park. I had heard great things about the park. I heard about the children laughing with joy, and the games that they played. All these things made me want to go and play. I asked my mom if I could go, and I got the answer I expected: no. I begged and I pleaded. She couldn’t hold me back. I was going to go no matter what. “Fine,” she finally said, and I was out the door in a heartbeat. I walked down the street of my cul-de-sac. On my left there were Catholics, and on my right there were Protestants. The park was to my left so I went that way. I got strange looks going down the street, almost as if people thought I came from the Protestant area. Only I know I didn’t. I knew I was a catholic. They didn’t. I finally arrived at the park and got on the swing. The breeze blew in my face. The sun batted lightly on my skin. It was what I was expecting and more. Things were perfect. Suddenly, everything changed. The slight breeze sped up randomly. Something seemed wrong. Three boys approached out of the other side of the park. They were bigger boys. Boys that showed authority. “You’re a Protestant,” one said. I was too scared to say anything. “Is this right?” one questioned. I still gave no answer. “Fine then. I guess we’re going to have to teach you what happens to Protestants here.” They came at me, but I couldn’t escape. They attacked me and beat me. I had nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. I was trapped. By time they were done I could barely see anything. I could hardly breathe. I couldn’t move. My life is like the wind. The wind was calm, perfect, and smooth. It was the sweetest feeling. But then it all changed. It sped up quicker and faster than any other wind. It pounded me in the face to the point where I couldn’t see. It made me want to go inside, and by the time it was done, I could never appreciate that slight breeze ever again. The wind would always cause fear in my heart.

Transcript

 Jalen: Okay, so it was relatively cold there, right?   Eoghan: This year is the coldest in Ireland since record began. Highest amount of snowfall, and lowest temperatures since records have ever began. The amount of water that has been lost in all the pipes because they froze and cracked and broke this year, people have been, I think there’s forty thousand people without water, at the minute, because it all froze. It’s not normally that cold. Like here it would get to be like minus twenty-five. Yeah that’s here. Back home it would only get to like, maybe minus five. So it gets colder here than it does at home.   Jalen: Yeah it still gets real cold. Ok so, how long ago did you move here?   Eoghan: I’ve moved in and out of the country a couple of times. And I first came here in… 2006? Yeah 2006. I lived in D.C. for a year. But then, lets see, I moved here about two years ago now to be with my now wife.   Jalen: So, was your reason for moving the catholic-protestant argument thing.   Eoghan: (laughs) No, actually my reason for moving was an awful lot more personal, I just wanted to see the world. I’ve been around the world. Like, I left Ireland going East and I came home going east. And I just wanted to see the world and I just happened to meet a girl a girl and she happened to live here.   Jalen: So, do you have family living back there?   Eoghan: I am the only member of my family here. Everyone else that I know lives at home.  <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Ok. Now, do you think you made the right choice coming here? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: Well, I made the right choice to move in with her, and live with here. Now, if she decides to go back to Ireland, I’m all behind her, but if she stays here, I’m staying here too. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Ok. What was the toughest part about moving here? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: You ever get when you call up your buddies and you’re like, “hey let’s go catch a movie.”? Mine are a little further away. I can’t really call up my buddies because, it’s about a sixteen hour flight, and they’re not making the eight o’clock showing. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: So, from what you heard about the U.S., do you think that what you heard, like from rumors, it was pretty accurate? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: Well, we get an awful lot of American TV, and we get our own TV as well as American TV, so like Scrubs and E.R., all of those are dramatized, but they do give an awful lot of clues to the American culture. So whenever I came over here it wasn’t that much of a shock. But, I will tell you this: there are certain cultures within the U.S. that were definitely terrifying when I first came over here. Like, there are certain groups of Americans that aren’t exactly very progressive. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Like…? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: Like, the sorts of people that don’t really travel too far from where they come from. The sorts of people that are very very sad in their ways. And whenever you tell them you’re from Ireland, you might as well tell them you are from Mars. Because they don’t know what it is or where it is. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Yeah. Okay. So, the main thing you miss is your family, right? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: Pretty much, I mean, some of my family sometimes but most of the time my friends. I left too many of my buddies back home, and I wish they could come over her, but life’s life. They got their own deal. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: So what struggles have you faced coming here? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: The actual immigration process, or getting adapted stigma socially? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Sort of like, getting a job. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: It took almost two years for the paperwork to go through. I had to spend a year or so at home, a year-and-a-half at home doing paperwork, I had to go to London a couple of times, get biometric scans, fingerprints, iris scans, paperwork on the eyeballs, I had to prove I’m not a terrorist, I had to prove I didn’t want to blow up the country. Which I understand, but it took two years, which was a little bit excessive, and whenever I cam here, it took eight months before they would let me work, so I had to be supported by my current wife. And so it took almost two to three years for me to start the immigration process, to finish it. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Yeah. So how would you describe your home country overall. Like by seasonal. You said winters were cold. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: Well, there’s no joke at home. And there’s four pictures of a sheep in every season, so summer, winter, and all the way through, and in all four pictures the sheep is getting rained on, the only difference is the amount of clothes he’s wearing. So it rains pretty much year round. It’s very very wet. (laughs). So it rains an awful lot, and it doesn’t really snow too much. About five days out of seven we would get rain. But, that doesn’t mean it would rain an awful lot in the five days. It would rain for like, 5 minutes, and that would count as a day that it rained in. It has a very high frequency of rain. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Now you say that there are pictures of sheep, like, what do those represent? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: No. No. It’s a caricature, and it’s just showing the different seasons. In all the pictures the sheep’s just getting rained on because it just rains year round. In summer, you’d just wear shorts and get rained on but in the winter you’d wear a coat and get rained on. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Yeah. I’m sure there are many different cultures here than there were back in Ireland, so, which ones have you really adapted to. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: I wouldn’t really say that I’ve had to adapt. The main one that I’ve had to adapt to, though, is the manner in which I speak. I mean, I brought my own culture with me and me and my wife are quite happy with the way we live, in regards to that. In regards to the culture my main problem is the way that I speak, because I’m speaking a lot slower, and I’m annunciating a lot slower than I would with, say, if I called my mother, I would speak in a very different manner. So that’s been the hardest part. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: So, what port of entry did you come through? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Epghan: Pretty much everything flight wise, I mean, everyone comes through New York. New York Liberty Air Port and New York. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Alright. Now, if you were asked what was one thing better here than in Ireland, what would you say? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: The cost of amenities here. Like, say if I was to go to Chili’s for dinner. You go to Chili’s for dinner, you have a meal, you enjoy it, it’s great. For me and my wife, it would cost maybe twenty, twenty-five bucks for a meal at Chili’s, which is really not that expensive. The same meal, comparable, would probably be about sixty bucks at home. So, the ability to just go, “You know what, I’m not cooking tonight. I’m just going to a restaurant.” Everything is so much cheaper. Petrol, commodities, cigarettes, restaurant everything’s so much cheaper over here. So if you want to go hang, and just do something like that, it’s just the way you go. <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Jalen: Right. Right. So, have you ever felt like an outsider here? <span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> Eoghan: (laughs) All the time. All the time. Nobody ever intentionally says, “Hey, you shouldn’t be here,” or “Get out of my country,” or anything like that. Most people do it ingest, and it’s quite funny working in the construction industry, because there’s an awful lot of joking between people, like mocking where you come from, etcetera, so I’ve come to expect that, and every now and then people do it unintentionally, and I’m not a big fan on that. Jalen: Alright. So, you’ve never been denied anything, or discriminated in a strong way? Eoghan: Most people see someone from Ireland as being a fellow kin in the U.S., because 99 percent of people here have some sort of heritage that goes back to the Ireland. So, most people, whenever they hear I’m Irish, the one thing I don’t like is that they tell me they’re Irish too. Yeah because their great, great, great, great, great, great, great granny came from Ireland, and it bothers me, but discrimination, I’ve never really felt any discrimination against. But a couple of times in a couple of jobs that I said I worked on, people weren’t too pleased that I was an immigrant working here, but they haven’t really been too negative. Jalen: So, have you ever felt any pressure from family members back home, like, “you should come back,” or things like that? Eoghan: (laughs) I had an argument with my sister last week. She’s always telling me to come home. Me and my brother both left the country. He went to Scotland, which is technically in the same area, but still in another country for say. There’s a body of water separating. I left and I came to America. My sister’s the only one still at home. So my sister pressures me an awful lot, but my mom and dad, they know I’m happy and that’s enough for them. Jalen: Okay, and when you first came to the U.S. what was your initial reaction? Eoghan: In what context? Jalen: First Impression. Eoghan: My first impression was the bar (laughs). And, everything was so much bigger. Bigger than it needed to be. Like, let’s see, My company’s truck is a Chevy Silverado, my personal car at home was a Villapundo. And you could but the Pundo inside the Silverado, and there wouldn’t really be that much concern. It could easily drive with it. I mean, the cars, the engines are just so much bigger than they needed to be. You know, everything just guzzles. The roads are like thirty feet wider than they need to be. And everything’s just so massive. I genuinely don’t understand how people have accidents on the roads here, because everything is so much bigger. That was, main part, you know? Jalen: Yea, so everything’s, like, a lot smaller there than here. Eoghan: Well… Okay, let me ask you a question. The Chevy Silverado get about fourteen miles per gallon, and petrol is three dollars a gallon, in the U.K. it’s fourteen miles a gallon. Would you drive something that gets fourteen miles per gallon, if petrol’s four times the price. Jalen: No, no I would not. Eoghan: Exactly Jalen: So things like have to be smaller and more gas efficient. Eoghan: So the Silverado I have has a 4.6 liter engine, and the Pundo I had had a 1.2, so less than a quarter of the size of the engine capacity. All about money. It’s all about money. Jalen: Yea. So, you said you weren’t part of that catholic-protestant argument, did you, like, struggle through that at all? Eoghan: I live in an area where… you know what a cul-de-sac is, right? Jalen: Yeah. Eoghan: So you come out of my cul-de-sac at the bottom of my street and you turn left, okay, and you’re right on a divide between Catholics and Protestants. So if you turn left, the Catholics, when they see you coming up the street, they think you’re a Protestant going from a Protestant area to a Catholic area. You turn right, yep, and they think you’re a Catholic going to a Protestant area. I’ve been attacked by both Catholics and Protestants for being a Catholic and a Protestant. Jalen: Wow, so what was that experience like? Eoghan: Well, it’s not fun, and most of the attacks that I would ever suffer would purely cards, and that’s not the reason I immigrated wasn’t really because of this kind of carry on. I mean, I took a martial arts, so… (laughs), but it really was bothersome because on my tenth birthday I was attacked by three Catholics, and I’m a Catholic. They attacked me for being a Protestant. You know? And it just doesn’t make any sense. Jalen: Yeah, I know. Eoghan: I can understand why, I mean, long story short, your dad killed my dad and my dad killed your dad, you know, you granddad killed my granddad, there’s a lot of animosity there, and I can understand why people could be upset, but there was a couple of ten year olds in a playground, and they decided to beat up another one because he was protestant. That doesn’t make sense to me. Jalen: Yeah. So, with all this going on did you sort of fell relieved when you left? Eoghan: I’m tired of the politics because the politicians do it too. I don’t like you because you’re a protestant. I don’t like you because you’re a Catholic. The politicians are elected to do the will of the people, and it just seems ridiculous that the politicians, who weren’t meant to be involved in all this, are still fighting the stupid battle that kids are fighting on the street. I mean, so many people just want everyone to shut up and move on, and we could just get everyone to do that the world would be a much better place. Jalen: Yeah.

Analysis

<span style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> I feel that my interviewee’s experience strongly relates to what I’ve learned in U.S. History this year. He faced conflicts in his home country, similar to many other immigrants we learned about. He also strongly disliked the politics, “I’m tired of the politics because the politicians do it too. I don’t like you because you’re a protestant. I don’t like you because you’re a Catholic.” There are plenty of immigrants that left their home country because of political reasons. Another event in this immigrants life that relates to the immigrants we learned about was the fact that he got married he met his wife here in America. Overall, there is a strong connection between Eoghan Gregory and many other immigrants I learned about.