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Belfast Peace Lines, Borders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights Movement, Human Rights, Ireland, Justice, Marriage Equality Referendum, Memoir, Northern Ireland, Politics, Seamus Heaney, Themes of Childhood
On Domestic Affairs in Northern Ireland
In April 2015, when the Northern Ireland Assembly voted – again – against same-sex marriage, I was disappointed, but I was not without hope that change is coming. If a month later, the Irish Republic could become the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular, national vote, then surely the tide must turn in the North? What happened in Ireland last month is momentous, a seminal moment for a tiny country of less than 5 million people, a place where homosexuality was still a crime just 22 years ago, where divorce did not become legal until 1997, and where a woman still must travel to another country to have a legal abortion. Ireland…
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Gay Rights Movement, Ireland, Marriage Equality Referendum, Memoir, Politics, Seamus Heaney, Senator David Norris
Hope Ripples in Ireland.
Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” ― Robert F. Kennedy Mother Ireland is poised to send forth another ripple of…
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Belfast, Blogging, Brian Baird, cancer, Education, Fathers and sons, favorite teacher, Memoir, News, Northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney, Sectarianism, Social Media, television, The Diviner, The Forge, The Troubles, Walter Kronkite, Writing
In appreciation of a teacher . . .
Remembering Brian Baird . . . Once upon a time, before news traveled at break-neck speed to our smart phones and our Cable TV networks, we waited for it. We had no choice, and when “the news” came on at teatime, it was a serious affair that demanded our attention. It was rarely, if ever, about a new animal born at the zoo or a wardrobe malfunction of someone famous. When UTV broadcaster, Brian Baird, entered our living rooms, in black and with poker-faced authority as he told us something new, we took it as gospel. As my brother says, “You could read nothing in that face. It was all in the…
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crowdfunding, Facebook, Kickstarter, letters to pop stars, pop culture, Pop Music, Social Media, Soundtracks of our Lives, Twitter, Writing
A Tale of Two Pensioners . . . Hungry like the Wolf
Within 24 hours of this post, we made a dream come true. The project is funded with spare change. Thanks to all who helped! For the uninitiated as well as those who might be looking for ways to raise money to support a pet project, crowdfunding might be the way to go, “the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.” Crowdfunding is the 21st century way to finance innovative projects, but it is not for the fainthearted. Pounding the information pavement and knocking on digital doors requires time and knowing just what to…
