Pádraig Ó Cearúill, senior language lecturer at the Glucksman Ireland House at NYU, reads the lyrics of the traditional song 'Dónal agus Mórag',

Lyrics in Irish:

Bhí móran daoine uasal ann.
Bhí tuatanaigh na h-Alban ann.
Bhí ‘n máistir scoile is an ministir ann.
Bhí an laoch Mac Amhlaigh ann.

Curfá:
Dónal, ‘sé Dónal, ‘sé Dónal a rinne an bhainis.
Dónal agus Mórag a rinne an bhainis ainmeall.

Bhí cearcan ann, ‘s bhí géanna ann.
Bhí corr is doisín sgairbh ann.
Seo bha iad is bhí car a’ bí ann.
‘Sé cearc na n-éan a b’fhearr dhuibh ann.

Curfá

Bhí bradáin ‘s bric ón Éirne ann.
Is flúirse feoil na bhfia n-éan ann.
Feol mart ‘s lao, ba bhlasta bhí.
Bhí uanfheol friochta is oisfheoil ann.
Curfá

Bhí ‘n dí go fial ‘s go fairsing ann.
Bhí brannda is fíon na Spáinne ann.
Bhí póitín stil is mead le mil.
Bhí beoir is leann na h-Éireann ann.

Curfá

Lyrics in English: 

Wedding of Donald and Morag

There were many noble people,  
There were ordinary folk from Scotland,
The school master and the minister,
The warrior McAuley was there.

Chorus:
Donal, Donal, 'twas Donal who made the wedding.  
'twas Donal and Morag made the wedding famous.

There were hens and geese there,  
There were more than a dozen sea birds,
There all of it was, and the favorite food there
Was the hens of the birds that they preferred.

Chorus

There were salmon and trout from the Erne,  
And an abundance of game and wild birds.
The prime beef and veal were the tastiest.
There was roast lamb and venison there.

Chorus

The drinks were generous and plentiful,  
There was Spanish brandy and wine.
There was homemade poteen and honey mead.
There was beer and ale from Ireland there.

Chorus

[lyrics from http://www.irishpage.com/songs/donal.htm]

'Dónal agus Mórag'

More than two million Indians live in the US today, making them the second-largest immigrant group in the country. But for Indians living in here, voting can be difficult. We hear from one Indian immigrant who is about to cast a ballot for the first time in twenty years. 


ACHINT CHHACHHI: My name is Achint Chhachhi. 


MULDOWNEY: Achint Chhachhi moved to the United States twenty years ago from Chandigarh - a city in northern India. She works as a realtor in Fort Lee and raised her son here. But since coming to the US, Chhachhi’s been in a strange position. Her home country, India, has no absentee ballot system, meaning she couldn’t vote there. But because she wasn’t a citizen of the United States, she couldn’t vote here either. 


ACHINT CHHACHHI: You’re not really equal right? You’re part of the conversation, you’re doing everything and then you are like, oh gosh, I can’t vote: like, it doesn’t matter what I think or I don’t think. 
 
MULDOWNEY: This year, Chhachhi will finally be able to vote in the Presidential election. She became a naturalized US citizen in 2013. When she remembers the swearing-in ceremony, she gets emotional. 


ACHINT CHHACHHI: When you’re in that room, it’s a feeling you can’t explain.It was like the UN. There people from countries I can’t even remember or name now. 


MULDOWNEY: Chhachhi was born in India - and with a population of over a billion, it's the largest democracy in the world. Chhachhii says elections there are pretty similar to the US. 


ACHINT CHHACHHI: But it’s not as streamlined or as etched in stone. It’s not chaos but it’s different. 


MULDOWNEY: She has strong feelings about what needs to improve in her adopted country: 


ACHINT CHHACHHI: For a country of our stature I really think the education system is poor . It’s the amount we pay for healthcare is ridiculous. And I don’t think most of us can really afford to pay those kind of monies. It’s criminal. 


MULDOWNEY: Now that she's a citizen she can make her voice heard.


ACHINT CHHACHHI: What I feel and what I want from my country, I can be a part of it now. 


And what does Chhachhi want? Well, she cares about about global issues like climate change. But first she says, everyone needs to have a decent standard of living.


ACHINT CHHACHHI:  Once your basic needs as a human being are met, your energies free up to do something more important or other things that you’re really passionate about.


MULDOWNEY: On election day, Chhachhi will take her 18-year-old son to the polls, where they’ll both get to vote for the very first time. Decca Muldowney, Columbia Radio News.

First Time Voter

New York City's green spaces are home to a surprising menagerie of wild animals from raccoons, to coyotes, to foxes. Decca Muldowney took a reporting trip to Roosevelt Island to investigate rumors of another wild species.

The Wild Cats of Roosevelt Island

Many New Yorkers will be heading out this week to buy a Christmas tree from a local vendor. But what is the holiday season like for the workers selling those trees? Decca Muldowney set out to find out what life in the Christmas tree business is like. And on the way, she met one, very unconventional Christmas hero.

Decca Maria Muldowney