I have a story for all kinds of weird sleep-related shenanigans. Walking, talking, singing, dancing, fucking, wanking. One of my earliest memories is of sleep misadventures. Waking in my parents’ bathroom, freezing cold, alone in the blue predawn hue. The long narrow room, icily humid like all 90s Irish lavatories, except filled with a fear … Read more
When the Federal Convention of 1878 had completed its work on the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin described its result as, “A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it”. Not much later, John Philpot Curran gave a similar warning, now usually summarised as “Vigilance is the price of liberty”. Each was saying that a … Read more
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. Blase Pascal While researching my new book Feminism Backwards (Mercier Press, Cork, 2020) long held worries about the role of the Catholic Church in Ireland, particularly its role in relation to women, really snapped into focus for me. At … Read more
Yeah, been in a funk. These last few weeks. Couple of things contributed to it. But an overarching feeling is one of restlessness. My worst fears were realized when I moved back to the suburbs. Always associated my youth with a debilitating depression. Growing up here. Feeling so different. For much of my life I … Read more
Dervla Murphy’s father was one of Pádraig Pearse’s patriots. Schooled in St Enda’s, aged eighteen he was incarcerated in an English prison for three years, ‘sewing sacks for the post office, wretchedly fed and crawling with lice’, as she wrote in her autobiography, Wheels Within Wheels. The Murphys were anti-Treaty Republicans. Every one of the … Read more
Ostensibly, Christmas is the occasion when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ; its origins, however, aren’t Christian at all but Pagan. It is no coincidence that Christmas should fall just after the Winter Solstice on December 21st, which is the shortest day of the year. From that point on the days lengthen into ‘a … Read more
The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. Fyodor Dostoevsky, The House of the Dead (1862). The quote above is from a work of fiction, but the author was drawing on a memory of four years imprisonment, following conviction for involvement in the Petrashevsky Circle – a Russian literary … Read more
Lockdown measures remind me of the prescription of anti-depressants and other psychiatric medicines. They are both harsh, and both are administered in response to a moment of crisis; both often have severe side effects, which in time often obscure the initial malady that required their prescription. Anti-depressants can be beneficial in stabilizing a patient and … Read more
The day that they killed him, someone said to me, “Son The age of the Antichrist has just only begun” Air Force One coming in through the gate Johnson sworn in at 2:38 Let me know when you decide to thrown in the towel It is what it is, and it’s murder most foul What’s … Read more