Articles written by Brigid Ismail

How To Guides |
Community

About me - Brigid Ismail

I was born in Ireland and have lived in New York most of my life. I love to write. I work for the New York City Department of Education as a secretary.

+ more bio information

RSS Feed

Jobs & Careers > Job Search (Other) Common job-hunting mistakes and how to avoid them: 2 of 16

Job-hunting can be a frustrating and time-consuming task. The tools you need are your resume, some contacts, a list of companies you are interested in that may be interested in you, a few very professional outfits, a subscription to the The New York Times or other major newspaper and patience. The most common mistakes are ma...
Creative Writing > Memoirs Testimonies: Living with MS: 2 of 8

After months of tests to determine the cause of a weakness on my left side and my sudden propensity for falling, I was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Since then, I have been living with this disease which is slowly progressing and has been changing my life in many ways. My ability to walk has been dim...
Travel > New York Destinations Places to see before you die: Reasons to add New York City to "the list": 14 of 43

New York City is an exciting, beautiful and vibrant place. You have heard of all the landmarks and places to see. You know that if you visit New York City, you will want to see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park, a show on Broadway and you may want to visit Greenwich Village and go on down to Grou...
Celebrations & Holidays > St. Patrick's Day How St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in Ireland: 3 of 6

St. Patrick's Day is a national holiday in Ireland as well as being a holy day of observation for Catholics. Since Ireland is predominantly a Catholic country, St. Patrick's Day is first and foremost a religious holiday. The shamrock is worn proudly and everyone dresses for Mass early in the day. Cards received from family a...
Creative Writing > Memoirs Memoirs: Coming to America: 1 of 2

Coming to America On landing in America, I was awed by the sounds and sights of the big city. It was nighttime in New York City and I had never seen anything like it before in my life. I was twelve years old and I was coming from a rural village in Ireland. I had lived with my parents and siblings in a house with no running ...
Education > Youth Mentoring How to get urban youth involved with community service: 1 of 1

Urban youth are often stereotyped as hoodlums who are involved in gangs, use drugs and basically just hang out looking for trouble. The truth is that the majority of young people in big cities are working hard to make their dreams a reality but for some, it is a struggle. Unfortunately, some have given up. Young people in in...
Creative Writing > Memoirs Testimonies: Coming to terms with multiple sclerosis after beating breast cancer: 1 of 1

I am a breast cancer survivor and when I made my eighth anniversary after the surgery, I was very happy. Eight years was a milestone for me as I had known some people who had recurrences at five years and seven years but I had not known anyone who survived past seven years and had a recurrence. I was on top of the world but ...
Relationships & Family > Married Life Overcoming marital stress due to chronic illness: 13 of 24

During the past six months, I have been tempted many times to get a divorce. My partner, I would guess, has been similarly inclined. Six months ago, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness (progressive multiple sclerosis). Since the diagnosis, our lives have changed. The stress on each of us individually has put a serious str...
Jobs & Careers > Getting Ahead How to butter up your boss: 8 of 10

You probably spend more time with your boss than you do with other significant people in your life so it is important that you make this person happy. You will need to work hard to butter up your boss and you will also have to do a little research. First of all, you need to find out what your boss likes to eat, talk about an...
Celebrations & Holidays > St. Patrick's Day The history of eating corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day: 5 of 6

Almost everyone I know, many of whom have no Irish blood, cooks corned beef and cabbage on or around St. Patrick's Day. Since I am Irish, they will often come to me and ask me how I cook it or how do the real Irish cook it. I never had corned beef and cabbage in Ireland. The only corned beef I saw when I was young was canned...