Madam, – As a recently arrived Irish emigrant to the US, I read with much embarrassment Stephen Mangan and Hugh McDowell’s article (Weekend Review, August 7th) about the trouble related to the influx of Irish students on J-1 visas in Santa Barbara and San Diego.
This small minority of students contribute absolutely nothing to the cultural fabric of California except to portray the Irish as drunken vandals. It is disheartening that excessive consumption of alcohol is defining our national identity abroad. – Yours, etc,