WIDE ANGLE Charts the Economic Changes That Are Transforming the Republic of Ireland with Mixed Blessings, Premiering July 18 on PBS.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Rolling green fields, farmers' pubs, devout Catholics, rain-swept gloom. The classic image of Ireland still looms large in the minds of people around the world. But while green fields still adorn the walls of tourist offices, Ireland is rapidly becoming an urbanized, secularized and giddily flush society. The "Celtic Tiger" boom of the '90s doubled average income and transformed one of Europe's worst-performing economies into one of its best in a single generation. The dizzying transformation has triggered an identity crisis that is forcing Ireland to contend with the flip side Flip side In the context of general equities, opposite side to a proposition or position (buy, if sell is the proposition and vice versa). of wealth. In a rigidly Catholic country that legalized divorce only in 1997, more than one third of all children are now born out of wedlock wed·lock n. The state of being married; matrimony. Idiom: out of wedlock Of parents not legally married to each other: born out of wedlock. . A country known for exporting its own population, Ireland now attracts droves of foreign workers flooding in from Latvia, Brazil and Nigeria - as well as Irish returnees - seeking jobs in a high-tech sector led by Intel, Dell and Google. WIDE ANGLE looks at how The Emerald Isle is coping with its dramatic - and in many cases traumatic - metamorphosis from wallflower wallflower, Mediterranean perennial (Cheiranthus cheiri) of the family Cruciferae (mustard family), particularly popular in Europe, where it flourishes on old walls. to world star. Mixed Blessings premieres Tuesday, July 18 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, (check local listings). Anchor Daljit Dhaliwal will conduct a post-film interview to put the film in context and connect the dots for American viewers. To capture the new Irish zeitgeist, Mixed Blessings focuses on the iconic city of Limerick. Once a slum known as "stab city," and the impoverished setting of Angela's Ashes, the Limerick of today has all the main ingredients of change: American investment, a property boom, a burgeoning service industry, childcare shortages, high levels of immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. from neighboring European Union (EU) states, and numerous new shopping developments.. Profiling multiple characters whose lives are caught up and conflicted by this avalanche of change, Mixed Blessings captures the Republic of Ireland at what is perhaps the most interesting moment since the birth of the state. As Ireland redefines its place on the global stage, its rapid trajectory from entrenched en·trench also in·trench v. en·trenched, en·trench·ing, en·trench·es v.tr. 1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending. 2. poverty to first-world leadership offers both lessons and cautionary tales for those that will follow in its footsteps. For additional information and photography, visit thirteen.org/pressroom/wideangle or pbs.org/pressroom. |
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