I watched the flamed sky as the earth rolled back and made it seem like the sun had set. ‘When I was just a little girl…’ I remember waiting for the dark to start as we sat in the car at the drive-in cinema. My mother loved Doris Day. Strange business on earth all the … Read more
Over the course of 2019 there has been a sharp increase in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. Human rights violations and ecological decimation in the region are more of a concern than ever under President Jair Bolsonaro, the so-called ‘Trump of the Tropics.’ Brazilian activist and humanitarian Bruna Kadletz calls on the international community … Read more
I was born in Dublin, but I don’t know where I’ll die. The early summer of 2011 was schizoid. I walked for hours in a soft downpour, the sun crawling in and out the haze, getting the best of both climates. I kept my pace relaxed, cocooned in my anonymity, just the way I liked, … Read more
The Dublin Red Squirrel was taken down last week. I’m not mad about that as I’m the first one to say that my work is ephemeral, just like everything in life. I also incentivate [sic] progress, rebuilding when necessary, the use of dead areas of towns to make something better, the rehabilitation of the abandoned … Read more
Pint-sized, the pub was a little too far off from Glendalough for foreigners to find. It hadn’t been designed for domesticated dads on the quest to Clara Lara Fun Park, but the Maze in Greenan grew close enough to spew a few tourists and persistent purists seeking a pew, found Byrne’s quaint. That faintly disowned … Read more
It has the power to last for a thousand years, but is often only used once. It is cheap to produce but expensive to dispose of. It has revolutionised the world of medicine and science, making it impossible to live without. Polyethylene Terephthalate, High-Density Polyethylene, Low-Density Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride. What is it? Why do … Read more
A past competition, now sadly in abeyance, used to involve arguing over who was the greatest Irish intellect. The English held a similar competition some years ago and, unsurprisingly, chose Churchill ahead of Shakespeare. God knows what would happen if we had a referendum or phone-in-vote to decide this in Ireland today. Who might figure … Read more
The life of any piece of music is unpredictable. From its birth, flowing from the mind and fingers of the composer, the new-born takes delicate steps across rudimentary harmonies, revealing fragments of thoughts and emotions as it goes on. Its heart takes shape first, and then the brain. This can be sufficient. Sometimes a piece … Read more
In 1967, the fidgets struck again. That was the year my mother died, rapidly following my father. I confess now that I was not obviously upset by the deaths of my parents. In the culture of my generation and class, love, certainly any public expression of it, was an embarrassment. Such namby-pamby language was confined … Read more
Even the color of my skin belies who I really am. Always on the outside looking in . . . even with my own kin. Blonde and blue-eyed born into a brown world, I came to see myself through their eyes, their skin, their pain. White woman brown heart, I am. I didn’t understand … Read more