(Photograph: Christa Obuchowski)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Billups is a photographer, philanthropist, and activist from Santa Fe who has worked with the American Indian Movement and International Indian Treaty Council. Currently, she is on the Alliance for the Earth's guiding council and on Nuclear Watch New Mexico's steering committee. Her political activism led her to Ireland, her family's native land, where she met and became friends with Gerry Adams. Ms. Billups's photographs have been exhibited in both Ireland and the United States.

ABOUT THE ESSAYIST

Gerry Adams has been President of Sinn Fein, the fastest-growing political party in Ireland, north and south, since 1983. He has also served as a member of Parliament for West Belfast from 1983 to 1992 and 1997 to 2011. Since 2011 he has represented Louth in the Irish Parliament (the Dáil) in Dublin. Heralded as "a gifted writer" by The New York Times, Mr. Adams is the author of a work of fiction, The Street and Other Stories (Brandon Books, 1993), and several works of nonfiction, including the noteworthy A Farther Shore: Ireland's Long Road to Peace (Random House, 2003). Mr. Adams lives in Belfast and visits President Obama every St. Patrick's Day.