Speeches

Ireland has long been a land of emigrants and our valley has always welcomed them; The links go back to the earliest days. In 1844, Martin Murphy crossed the Sierras and founded Sunnyvale. Menlo Park was begun by two Irishmen who named the area after their native Menlo near Galway. The chief lieutenant of the legendary, Michael Collins, lived for 30 years in Los Gatos. Yet the bonds that really tie are those business and cultural ones between San Jose and Dublin, Silicon Valley and Ireland. The rich past was but a prelude to a connection that has long been … Continue reading →

We all stand on the shoulders of others in the building of a family, a city or a nation. Nowhere is that simple fact more true than in this valley and in one small part of San Jose called San Pedro Square. In the late eighteenth century, a boy named Luis Peralta traveled north from Tubac, in what was then Mexico, fully one thousand miles in torturous conditions, and he settled with his family right there. This De Anza Party — the vanguard Oa great empire’s attempt to extend its boundaries north —founded our city. This expedition followed native people, … Continue reading →

A former Mayor of San Jose imagines Silicon Valley with a little more Hart in its world. By Tom McEnery | Edited by Jenny Desai There had never been a New Year’s celebration like it in anyone’s memory. Well, perhaps Martin Murphy’s 50th-anniversary party in 1881 came close, but today was very, very special. Every national media outlet was on hand: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, and all the rest, as well as the foreign press. It was like a combination of millennium events, the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a Super Bowl party all rolled into one. … Continue reading →

TWAIN: Do not speak unless you can improve upon silence. Survey: Public Speaking: Death – Rather Casket Than Eulogy If you wish to bring a sparkle to the eye of any entrepreneur, or a snap to the step of a venture capitalist, or watch economic development officers salivate, just mention two words: Silicon Valley. Remember the 19th century statesman who once scoffed that Italy is not a country; it is merely a geographic expression! Well Silicon Valley is more than a country. It is, at once, both a description and a talisman a tocsin for excitement. Although it is centered … Continue reading →

Good evening, thank you all for joining us tonight for this first presentation in the Center for Literary Arts’ Writers in Film Series. I am pleased that I have begun this process.

San Francisco, 1996 It’s a great pleasure to be in San Francisco. No rivalry. I like San Francisco — it’s a great city. “A city,” Brendan Behan once said, “is the place where you are least likely to be bitten by a wild sheep.” Thank you Frank – I feel safe here with an Irish Mayor in office – and there’s no sheep in sight. Maybe a panda or two – between the Mayor and Angela Alioto, the streets will be clogged with ‘em. Some trepidation The Irish: Adams – Tribe of Perdition Johnson – A Fair Race … Gogarty … Continue reading →

It is a distinct honor to have John Hume in San Jose – Silicon Valley. John Hume is a MP, a member of the European Parliament, and the founder of the SDLP. He has been referred to as a one-man think tank, a visionary and a prophet. We all know that the political life expectancy of a prophet is short anywhere, and in Ireland, it can be absolutely evanescent. One of Joyce’s characters in The Dubliners epitomizes this when he says of a leader, now demised: “Sure, we all respect him, now that he’s dead and gone – even the … Continue reading →

A few years ago I was returning from an international seminar and was pleased to break my trip home to California with a stop in Dublin, near to where Intel Corporation, the world’s largest silicon chip maker, was locating its primary European manufacturing facility. It was mid-afternoon when I drove into the lush green countryside of Kildare. Ahead was tongue-twisting Leixlip, where assembled media and government officials were waiting for what was billed as the economic announcement of the decade. My mind was clearly focused on the future when I was sucked into one of the sinkholes that occasionally appear … Continue reading →

It is very nice to be here at the graduation of this class at St. Andrew’s among friends, in the shadow of the Santa Cruz Mountains, on a beautiful summer evening. Now, I am only here because of some very unusual circumstances. My goal when I left the Mayor’s office, and the intense glare of public scrutiny and media attention that goes with it, was to teach and write and to disappear for a while. I wanted Elvis to be sighted more frequently than McEnery. But you have some very convincing people here, people like Roger Adams, a teach and … Continue reading →

Margaret Dolores McEnery (Sellers) 1908-1991 Rosary: 7:30 Tuesday Funeral: 9:30 Wednesday, November 13, 1991, FR Wade Pallbearers: FJC, Crema, Sanfillippo, Vic Corsiglia, Pat Kelly, Bud Trinchero, Bud Herning, Larry Sutton Guard of Honor: McTeague, Tiejens, Toney, Davis Donations to St. Anthony’s Mission, Jolon, Box 803 We would like to thank all of grandma’s friends for spending the morning with us here in St. Joseph’s Cathedral. In a letter to all of us, Grama said, “I can’t put in words how much I love each and everyone of you and how happy you have made my life.” It is not left … Continue reading →