RIP Seamus Heaney

But I've no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.

"Digging" by Seamus Heaney. Hear (and see!) Seamus read it on youtube here

Seamus Heaney passed away. A sad loss to his family and to the people who admired his work.

I count myself as one of them - I've reading started to read his work, not expecting to find much to interest me. It surprised me, how the beauty of the poems touched me. That someone finds Ireland, the bogs of Ireland beautiful still feels like a strange thing. Why is this, I wonder?

Heaney's work is heavily rooted in the soil, especially his poems about the people found in the bog (Bog Queen springs to mind). But it wasn't just that, his poems examine his connection to, his love for his family. There's almost a guilt about not following in his fathers footsteps, but surely that's what we as human beings must do. Find our own way to own our traditions, sometimes that means stepping away from what our parents made us. Times change, and our lives need to change with them. but that doesn't mean we don't love our roots - does it?

And in honour of the man, please enjoy this reading of "the rain stick"
 

Botanic gardens

Baile an Fheirtéaraigh Iúil 2013

Welcome to the gaeltacht!
Image credit: SM Jenkin

So, I visited the Irish speaking area in Dingle last month. I attended the one week (post beginners) course run by Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne. It was a most interesting experience overall, as it dealt with more than the words, they were placed in context. Their audience is clearly international, so there was a series of cultural events. A céilí, a quiz, a baking class in Irish at the excellent museum, other visits too including one to the Blasket islands.

However, the teaching. The teacher was lovely, approachable, personable but ... there was more evidence of teaching than of learning. I appreciate that teaching a class of post beginners must be awkward, but the purpose of learning is to practise rather than to listen. It took several days before this was addressed and for me this tarnished the experience. Eventually we were able to practise some dialogue with the other students in the class, but it was a hard slog getting there and then it was time to leave.

This isn't the first time I have experienced this style of teaching either - do you think this may be contributing to the overall malaise about language learning? It's hard enough for adults to put aside the time (and money) to learn. What other barriers do you think contribute? After all, isn't it easier to listen to a CD and practice by yourself?

However, despite the problems I've mentioned I would recommended, as the course overall covered far more than the language, it was all about the context. And the sun shone on us all, so it wasn't all bad....

The sun... is doing what?

The sun is shining....? Bull!

 

Tá an ghrian ag taitneamh

The sun is.... pleasuring. Or do I mean enjoy? Enjoying? Taitneamh certainly doesn't mean shining

I love translations, they're always so... flexible. What a strange way of phrasing it. Do I mean strange, or very forward? This is why I choose to learn Irish, it has a constant capacity to surprise me. Especially when I think, I should know this. Frequently I should, frequently I don't.

But there's more to a language than the words. Are you keeping count of how often I say that? ;-)

For those trying to practice their Irish, there's a fun weather game to try, you match the Irish phrase with the picture. It's online here It's part of a website called http://www.jcspraoi.com/, put together by two students. It's fun!

Irish language weekend - arrrggghhh!!!

So, my first (and last?) Immersion in the Irish language, was the annual gathering of Colaiste na nGael (Irish college) at Aylesford priory

Some days you're the bear...

The tutors were excellent, but as expected the tutoring was all in Irish. For someone who is barely making headway into verbs (being able to translate "Dúirt sí póg mo thóin" into English or vice versa was one of my proudest moments) being confronted by teaching in Irish blew my mind. I was lucky if I got one in four words.

But this is the question, how do you expand your limits and understanding without stepping beyond them? And have I actually learned anything useful in my ignorance, or simply wasted my time surrounded by people whose language I don't speak yet....

How do you feel when you try something new... and how do you find the right balance when learning between exposure to the new and plain exposure?

Ar an Luan - On the Monday

Today is Monday, so a little about how to say Monday in Irish

Ar an Luan - on the Monday

Dé Luan - the day of Monday


Oíche dé Luain / Oíche Luain - the night of Monday

Dé Luain comes from the Latin "luna" for Moon. So Dé Luain means  Moon Day

Star Trek - into Darkness

Space, the final frontier...?

I'm aware that not everyone has seen the new Star Trek, so I'll keep spoilers to a minimum.

But after seeing the new film, I have to ask. Do you really think that the writers are capable of creating a new universe, and to make us care about them in 2 hours, and to deliver all the whizz bang pyrotechnics at the same time?

For me, the answer is no. It was a good enough popcorn movie, but neither it nor the characters in it were smart. Who was able to think their way out of a situation, instead of punching through? The unique thing about Trek, or was at the time the series were released, was that the characters outsmarted their opponents. There was the thrill of the new, new races, new situations. This film played it safe, and it bored me.

I knew exactly what was going to happen. It didn't help that I saw a massive spoiler about who the main antagonist was. But the one thing that really irked me was how retrograde the whole thing was. Yes, Uhura got more to do. As the "girlfriend". Yes, she ran around with a gun, for a bit. But ask yourself this - whose story were we being told?

Does Uhura's empowerment negate sexism in Star Trek? An interesting, if spoilerific article is available to read here Another article (again spoilers) asks where are the women? Star Trek the next generation and star trek deep space nine tackled this so well, I am disappointed that the NuTrek is taking such a retrograde step.

To wipe the taste out of your mouth, I recommend you try Screamlet's AU fanfic, exploring what would happen if Amanda Grayson survived the first film and not her husband. It's called An upbeat sort of dirge, and it has a good selection of characters.

Peter Cushing - happy 100th Birthday!

I spent a splendid time in Whitstable making a dalek with my friends EMMa and Steve. We did it to celebrate Peter Cushing's 100th birthday.By all accounts, he was a talented and nice man.

Here are the fruits of our labours - enjoy!

Budget cuts at the BBC
Image credit: SM Jenkin

And if that isn't too much fun for you, how about a little a little ditty from the Jellybots?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deTGYinacYg The pub is the Old Neptune

Drawing a straight line .... Failure. Who cares?

OK, overwhelmed by an excess of enthusiasm, red wine and sunshine I actually drew some stuff. Yes, it has taken me a whole blasted week of being here in Italy to work up the courage to break out my pencil. But what exactly was I waiting for? Permission?

So I found a nice little place, a shady spot in the Giardino di Boboli and I just did it. I had to do a few, because to be quite honest the first was childish, awful with no respect for perspective.

Image credit: Wallyir

But you know what? The sun was shining, and I was in Florence and I probably will never get back here again. And it felt so nice just generally draweing, and shading and looking. I felt like I really connected...

... and no one could see what I was drawing so they don't know how naive the style was (yes I am going with that rather than with could not be bothered to spend more than 10 minutes at a time doing stuff)

But you know what? I really enjoyed it. The question is .... why have I waited so long to do this, simply for fun? What are you not allowing yourself to do, simply because you will not allow yourself to be rubbish... naive.... a beginner....?
_________________________
image sourced from morguefile

Sweeps Festival 2013 - 6 Bealtaine

Three brave Morris dancers and "Jack in the Green"
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Happy Beltane! The festival to mark the spring time leading into summer felt like a breath of fresh air this year. The winter has overstayed it's welcome, and I was beginning to think that the better weather was never going to come.

I love the sweeps festival, as it's a celebration of new life, dancing, good music and good beer. In the closing ceremony, it was mentioned that this festival has the largest grouping of morris sides in Europe (and therefore probably the world).

Back to Beltane - Bealtaine. Bealtaine is the irish word for May. To get the pronunciation right though, check out the guide on Forvo, it has a selection of dialects all spoken by native Irish speakers here

I hope the spring stays sunny and may the sun shine on you today and every day!

Seasonally effected - 24 April

Dublin or Baile Atha Cliath?

I'm really quite excited, the podcast from this month's seasonally effected is already available to hear. Do you want to listen? There's an eclectic mix of poetry, history, sound experiments, animation and surreal fantasy. You can download it here

My piece explored the history around the 24th April, 1916. It's an important date in history for me, and for many Irish people as that is the date that Pádraig Pearse read out the declaration of the Irish republic on the steps of the General Post office in Dublin.The Easter rising ended 6 days later on 29th April 1916 - Pádraig Pearse had given the order to surrender.The aftermath was as bloody as the fighting.

I read out a couple of poems I had written about the Irish women who were present, the women who seem to have dropped off the face of the earth as far as a lot of historians are concerned (if you hear about anyone it's usually Constance Markievicz, the first women ever to be elected as a British M.P.) So just to spite them I wrote a poem. That'll show them!

So, the next Seasonally effected will be on 29th May 630pm-9pm. Will you be there?

Should I go back? Back where?

Where's my pot of gold, then?

I haven't been back home back to Ireland since 1998. And here the difficulty begins. How long ago was it, really? I count back through the weddings I didn't attend. Was it really 1998, or am I remembering someone else's trip? It was my first (and only so far) visit to Galway, and I loved it. The more I think about it, the nice the place gets and was there really music around every street corner, or am I adding that retrospectively?

Do I call Ireland home, now? I used to, when I went back with my family. When are you going home to visit, my cousins asked? My mum easily said it, but I can't. Quite. Even thinking about how long it's been is strange, like a reconstruction. Am I remembering things that really happened or reimagining it? Is it all becoming a Robert Flaherty documentary in my head? I haven't quite got to remebering the time I went fishing for basking sharks, but give it time...

When I go back of course, things will be different. Buildings, families, even the road signs.

Ireland becomes Éire
Dublin becomes Baile Átha Cliath
County Galway becomes Contae na Gaillimhe

It will be a different country altogether. Or will it be me?

Seasonally Effected Open Mic

If I were to call Seasonally Effected an open mic, it wouldn't even begin to do the concept justice.

Hold on, Mike...

The Seasonally Effected evening is an open house of creativity. A place for people to share ideas in whatever form they'd like to: music, poetry, art, comedy, writing, history, film, photography...

Fancy giving it a go? As you can guess from the name, you can do anything you want so long as it's connected to "the time of year". This can be interpreted in any way you like. No two evenings will be the same. You can book 10 minute spots by emailing: seasonallyeffected@gmail.com

I am going to do something at the next gig, at the Dot Cafe in Rochester on Wednesday, 24th April. It starts at 6.30pm and runs until about 9. See you there.....?

St Patrick day parade - first meeting

So, it's our first planning meeting for the proposed parade tomorrow. We'll be meeting up at the St. Mary's social club from 7pm.

There are a lot of ideas, and a lot of people interested but it's a question of 1) where we will be allowed to go - will it be accessible to everyone? 2) How many people will be prepared to help with the boring admin work? and 3) Who will turn up?

I'm massively excited though.... the first of its kind in Medway...

oiche dé chéadaoin - Wednesday night

Wednesday night, where the fun starts - Oiche dé chéadaoin

dé chéadaoin, Wednesday

an chéadaoin, the Wednesday

Ar an gChéadaoin, on a Wednesday (gotta love those eclipses)

Céad-aoin is the first fast day of the week, in Irish tradition. Why the need for two fast days, was this entirely due to faith or more to do with the hard times people lived through?

So then we get onto pronunciation. Is it "Duh kay-dene" or "Jeh key-yahtheene"? or something else altogether...

OK......?

Louis Brennan - inventor extraordinaire

Brass plaque showing one of Louis Brennan's inventions, Sapper's walk, Gillingham
Image credit: SM Jenkin

I wonder how many people who live in Gillingham know about Louis Brennan? He was a brilliant inventor who was born in Castlebar, and eventually moved to Gillingham (via Australia) to do his work.

His inventions included the dirigible torpedo, a monorail and a helicopter. Apparantly some of the money from his most famous invention paid for the alterpiece at St Mary's RC church in Ingram Road, Gillingham

I'll be investigating the information held at the Royal Engineers museum, maybe they'll have some information about his factory, that was apparantly near pier road.

Mayo libraries have an interesting  write-up about him here