SNIPPET: While many Irish-Americans are nurtured in an environment where Irish culture is actively pursued , others discover their heritage quite unexpectedly. Dr. Larry McCULLOUGH retrieved his Irish cultural identity as a third-generation Irish-American after it had been put aside by his ancestors, "who felt compelled to dispel their heritage" in order to succeed economically in America. "My family had become completely Americanized and assimilated, and I was looking for something more specific," McCULLOUGH recalls. "When I discovered Irish music, I said, 'This is mine. I belong here.' The Indianapolis native traded in his saxophone for the tin whistle as a teenager, and went on to win an All-Ireland championship on the whistle, a rare feat for an American. He later became an ethnomusicologist, writing his dissertation on Irish music in Chicago. His book, 'The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor,' still sells well after two decades, and he has recorded several solo al! bums that fuse Irish music with jazz, rock, Cajun, and salsa. After musical stints in Pittsburgh, Austin, and upstate New York, McCULLOUGH returned to Indianapolis, where he was writing plays and teaching tin whistle to local children in 1997. "I've' considered myself a cultural conduit for the last two decades," he says proudly. -- Excerpt from "The Irish in America," eds. COFFEE and GOLWAY (1997) piece written by Michael P. QUINLIN, author of "Guide To The New England Irish" and frequent contributor to the "Irish Echo." He was living in Dorchester, MA circa 1997.