Inside Outsider: ... times there were before and new voices at the door
Opening the March 2003 relaunch, Hugh Dougherty remembers the copy editor and the political writer who did not live to see An Scáthán return.
As printed in the Celtic Mirror, March 2003
It's always exciting to be part of something new. It might be said that to be part of something new again is doubly exciting, but I'm not sure that is the case with what we have accomplished here. With this issue of an Scathan, a small staff of talented, creative, dedicated individuals embark on a journey that in many ways is a continuation of the past. It's also a departure into the future and that's the undertaking that brings lamentation for things gone before.
An Scathan was launched in 1995. So much has changed since then. What has not changed is the dedication of the few people who came to it over the years for one purpose: to share in the experience of creation. Along the way there have been those who fell by the wayside and there have been those who departed life and will be sorely missed. It is for the latter that I sit and ponder on what has been lost.
I speak of a few people who cannot, except in spirit, contribute to the pages you, the reader, now read. Two people who were instrumental to this magazine's past died while it was in hiatus.
It's difficult to write about people who the reader doesn't know and doesn't easily care about. When someone has made a profound effect on another life, it's hard not to share the experience of having known that individual. I suppose a good writer would be able to strike a balance between these two axioms and in doing so, affect the life of the reader. I know I'm not that writer, but I'll share what I know and give insight to the future.
It is always to the future that we should look. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in "The Lord of the Rings:"
While I sit and think of times there were before, I listen for returning feet and voices at the door.
I always admired that line of poetry, but never understood its meaning until dear friends became nothing but memories and what I looked forward to was the new voices that came calling.
Richard Miliakan died just over a year ago. He was, without question, the most brilliant copy editor I have ever known. He was also the dearest, most true friend anyone could ever have. Age separated he and I by more than 30 years, but the connection of intellect bridged the chasm of age. I would never pretend to be his equal, but I like to think that I gave him a good run for his money.
It is Richard who deserves credit for the reputation for excellence that this magazine holds. He, as was written by an admirer later in life, had the ability to turn words that were written as sow's ears into words that glissaded like silk purses. He also had the ability to aggravate every writer who ever contributed because of his insistence to change blessed jots and tittles.
If it had not been for Richard's constant encouragement, nothing read in the pages of this magazine would be possible. His desire was to create. I do wonder what he would think of this rebirth. Richard and I worked on many projects together. Most of which occurred after an Scathan ceased publication in 1998. Coming full circle back to where our relationship began makes sense. I think he would find it amusing.
Pat McCormick died Christmas three years ago. When I learned of his death I was living in Washington D.C. working on the premiere issue for a technology magazine. I wasn't stunned because I knew he was sick. I suffered the selfish numbness that comes whenever someone close to your own age dies. He was only three or so years older than I. He is greatly missed by everyone who ever knew him.
He leaves behind three daughters. If they inherited just a wee bit of his talent, then watch out world, there's more to come.
His death did affect me. I think back to all that we accomplished together. Again, he became a great writer while I knew him. He was also a good companion. He kept Richard and I on our toes. It was our job to weave out of Pat's prose his particular political insight.
As a writer, Pat grew so much in the time I knew him. His greatest accomplishment was a personal interview with Gerry Adams. It can be found in the archives at www.scathan.com. The story behind the interview is something I may write about in a future column. I'm far down memory lane and should return to the here and now.
It will fall on new writers and a new copy editor to continue the legacy of the great things that were accomplished in an Scathan's past. It is said that in the business of journalism, the writer is only as good as the last story written. So let it be with an Scathan.
There are many new names that join the pages of this magazine. There are those who contribute who have remained loyal throughout the years (Joanie Farrell comes to mind). There is a legacy that will be preserved; a legacy for compelling writing. To the holders of the new names, I say welcome. To those who stuck fast to the dream, I say thank you. To all, I say we have work to do.
Read on, reader. Tell us what you think. Be vocal. Share your ideas. The pages of this magazine are for your enjoyment and for your inspiration. If we accomplish anything, I want that accomplishment to be your admission that you walked away from an Scathan's pages knowing more than when you sat down to read.
Reading this in 2026
This column opened the second life of the magazine. An Scáthán, the Celtic Mirror, first appeared in March 1995, went quiet after the July 1998 issue and came back in March 2003, with readers again spread from Anchorage and Seattle to Portland and Vancouver. Hugh Dougherty's job that month was to welcome the new names. He spent most of his space on two old ones.
We can add a little to what he wrote, because the archive he pointed to is the one you are reading. Pat McCormick's work from the June 1998 issue survives here: his report on the 22 May referendum on the Good Friday Agreement, a column arguing that decommissioning had to cover every armed group in Northern Ireland, and a short, unforgiving piece about Bono. Read together they show what Dougherty meant about weaving Pat's political insight out of his prose. The anger is all McCormick's. The clean sentences owe something to the copy desk.
Joan Farrell, the loyal contributor he singled out, wrote the Bloomsday feature in that same June 1998 issue, and Tommy Symons, another returning name, came back in this March 2003 issue with "Symons Says." Richard Miliakan's work is harder to point at. Copy editors leave no byline, only fewer mistakes.
The verse Dougherty quotes comes from "The Fellowship of the Ring," the first volume of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," first published in Britain on 29 July 1954. It was half a century old when he used it to open a relaunch, and it has not needed editing since.
Questions readers ask
Where does 'I sit and think of times there were before' come from?
The line comes from a verse in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring," the first volume of "The Lord of the Rings," published in the United Kingdom on 29 July 1954. Hugh Dougherty quoted its closing couplet, about listening for returning feet and voices at the door, to open the March 2003 relaunch issue of An Scáthán.
What was An Scáthán, the Celtic Mirror?
An Scáthán (Irish for 'The Mirror'), also called the Celtic Mirror, was an Irish and Celtic-American monthly launched in March 1995 and read in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Western Canada, from Anchorage and Seattle to Portland and Vancouver. It paused after July 1998 and relaunched in March 2003. This site keeps its back issues as an online reading room.
When did the Celtic Mirror stop and restart publication?
The Celtic Mirror (An Scáthán) published from March 1995 until a pause after its July 1998 issue. It returned in March 2003, when editor Hugh Dougherty's "Inside Outsider" column welcomed new contributors and paid tribute to copy editor Richard Miliakan and political writer Pat McCormick, both of whom had died while the magazine was off the stands.
Who was Pat McCormick of the Celtic Mirror?
Patrick S. McCormick wrote news and opinion on Northern Ireland for the Celtic Mirror in the 1990s, including a June 1998 report on the Good Friday Agreement referendum and a column on IRA decommissioning. Hugh Dougherty wrote in March 2003 that McCormick had died at Christmas three years before and that his greatest accomplishment was an interview with Gerry Adams.
