-
Continue reading →: Mooc Day Two – timeline of identities
Who am I at 5.30 am? Hopefully my day doesn’t start until at least 6.45, so I’m not too fussed about my id. At 7ish I am the support team that provides breakfast in bed for the teacher and mother to our two boys. By 8.30 I am a cyclist…
-
Continue reading →: Mooc Day One – Who am I?
I have signed up for a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). Me and about 8,000 other moocers (?) “Identity, Conflict and Public Space” sounds interesting from a local perspective. There are plenty of opportunities here in Belfast to examine social identities and the conflicts that arise when differences are not…
-
Continue reading →: To pee or not to pee?
The shops were crowded, the toddler’s need to pee urgent. Unable to get to a toilet in time, the parents of the two year old held him as he peed in the Hong Kong street – nothing particularly unusual in this scenario. Why then has the Chinese social networking site,…
-
Continue reading →: I can’t believe it’s bog butter
Jack and his dog, Barney were out turf cutting in Fermanagh when they came across a huge ball. Taking it home in a wheelbarrow it was received with little enthusiasm by Jack’s wife, Bridget. Having probed it with a knitting needle, Bridget realised that it might have some importance after…
-
Continue reading →: Racism and Sectarianism
Racism and attacks on foreigners is mingled with sectarian overtones in this part of the world. Our Eastern European immigrants might find themselves attacked for being different, but that perceived difference may include the presumption of Roman Catholicism. Skin colour may spark race…
-
Continue reading →: Jimmy Simmons (to his numerous friends) not so unobtainable
Online is obviously the best place to embarrass yourself. Far from being difficult to obtain the writings of Mr James Simmons, I seem to be tripping over his work wherever I turn. Belfast Central library, which is an architecturally impressive building bathed in light and grandeur, had two copies of…
-
Continue reading →: The Belfast Group
Although this blog never really stuck to poetry as the theme for the majority of posts, I still retain the ambition to learn more about poetry and poets and share some gobbets with my readers . Those poets who formed the Belfast Group in the 1970s were an interesting bunch.…
-
Continue reading →: James Simmons – Honest Ulsterman
James Simmons (1933-2001) established The Honest Ulsterman literary journal and took part in the Belfast Group of poets in the ’60s. Hard to get hold of his work, I have located a copy of Ballad of a Marriage…more later. To hear James Simmons singing the ballad below – see the next…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
odespinner 