Tá sásta orm - Manchester Turf

Turf, fresh from the Manchester fields ;-)
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Tá sásta orm - I am happy (The happiness is on me if you want to be more literal about it)

I managed to get away to Manchester for their St Patrick's day parade last weekend. Their celebration was out of this world; a full two weeks of music, literature and culture culminating in a parade that stopped traffic in Manchester city central.

Many of the people up in Manchester originated in the wild west of Éire, county Maigh eo (Mayo to all you Sasanach out there!) are you enjoying the view of the lovely turf to the right there? Someone was selling it as incense at Albert square... there were many tractors on display that day

It got me thinking, how happy I was to be there. Proud about my Irish heritage yes, but also proud of my English heritage that could celebrate the Irish language and culture with us. I love how the happiness is "on" me, rather than me being the emotion. It's a recognition that the feeling won't be me, won't last forever. And on that thought..... slán!

Medway Monday - High Street in the Snow

Image Credit: SM Jenkin

International women's day

So in Medway had not one, but two events to celebrate International women's day. The first a talk with Scarlett Thomas, and the second involving a motivational speaker (Sam Hall from 17percent - a social enterprise that champions and encourages the work of female playwrights)

The theme this year was the gender agenda - maintaining momentum. My aim for the events was to give women a space to share our words and our stories, as the only way to move forward is to understand what is happening now, to record what happened to our mothers and grandmothers. Otherwise, those with an agenda will find it easier to lie to us, to our daughters.

More details are available here: www.internationalwomensday.com/medway

St Patricks day - parade

So, it looks like the St Mary's social club might be interested in our parade idea...

Image credit: slezer44 (morguefile.com)

There's a hidden story to the Irish in Medway. When I say hidden, I mean untold. So we're going to start celebrating it, big time, starting from next year.

Wanna be in our parade?

Redemption convention 2013

One for the Blake's 7 fans
Image credit: SM Jenkin

 So, it's been and gone in a blur of costumes, conversations and chaos. What am I talking about? The Redemption convention, of course!

This is one of the things I love most about fandom, the ability to meet up and have fun. Oh yeah, I could wax lyrical about how clever we all are, writing critiques of varius sci-fi ideas and shows; the science talks; the clever costuming. I could brag about how inclusive the event is, family friendly and open to all lifestyles.

But ya know what? I went to a few parties, played air guitar and took my bribe for Servalan to win ruler of the universe as well.

You want to get involved? Volunteer. Oh, and the convention raised £800 each for Asthma UK, the PDSA and the Woodland Trust.

The year of the snake

Celebrating the year of the Snake. Chatham High Street 17/2/13
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Happy new year!
So we are now entering the year of the snake, quite an interesting animal for a writer to relate to. There are so many myths and legends attached to this particular animal.

The second thing I think about is the myth of Saint Patrick, and his expulsion of all the snakes from Ireland (can you guess what my first reaction/ thought is? Exactly).

What I find it interesting is the story, did Patrick really get rid of all the snakes in Ireland? Or was he, as so many storyteller friends of mine assert, talking about the druids in the area?

When it comes to stories, myths and legends they always have strings attached. Whose translation do we use today? Whose ideas are weaved into a "plain story"? What's the real message here? This is something that angers me, when I am told that I'm "reading too much" into a story, all stories have assumptions. What is wrong with questioning them? Questioning and challenging, re-telling stories are the only way they stay interesting, the only way they speak to us.

Hence, the year of the snake. One thing I can admire is their ability to shed their skin, to let loose the constricting skin of last year. Do we want to start that now? What stories do you want to tell, in your own way?

Poem - Bridget's kiss

Mists and rain anoint
bare branches; Bridget's kiss sets
loose the ice-bound heart

Literary festivals

I haven't been to a literary festival, but apparently they're taking over from music festivals as the go-to event. Or so Maggie Womersley says in her blog here

I'd love to go to one, but I'm not so sure I'd find it all that thrilling. What do people get from going to these things? Now conventions, I understand. I understand the thrill of meeting other people who enjoy the things you do. But it's the variety of responses that excites me, the people who are into cosplay, into the collecting, into fanfiction, into talking about the ideas. The gamers, the crafters, the dreamers and the party-goers.

Will I have all that at a literary festival? After some of the conventions I've been to (and some of them have been truly spectacular) wont they just be a let-down? I'm thinking particularly of the Redemption convention, run by and for volunteers. The whole range of events from book launches (yes, those too), to morris dancing, lectures about science, debates and the good old Blake's 7 drinking game

We're engaged with the process, not lectured or sold to. We have a real stake in what goes on. How many literary festivals can say that?

Irish language - choosing words

Language is not a thing that comes easy to me. The specifics, I mean. I grasp for words sometimes, and the correct one to use. I can sense what the word feels like, maybe what it sounds like, but the exact word escapes me

This makes it difficult when trying to find the right Irish word for things. It's not just the words that have changed, but the order and meaning too.Take hunger, for example. If I want to eat some food, in English I'll say: I am hungry.

In Irish I would say, tá ocras orm. Is it the same thing? It means "the hunger is on me". So there are two different ways of experiencing the hunger, but two different ways of experiencing it.

Hello coFWD

Hello!

And welcome to my first blog post. I am sitting at 161 High Street Rochester, in the exciting CoFWD workspace in Rochester. Can you guess what I'm doing here? I'm learning how to blog.

This is the customary "how to blog" learning post. It's all uphill from here! Or do I mean, upwards? Upstream?