"So why are you studying Gaelic?" This was the primary response when people were told the reason for our studies in Ireland. Luckily for myself, i had paid particular attention to the lecture by Seán Williams on 'The Psycholinguistics of Gaelic', which discussed the way that Gaelic affectes the psychology of the speaker in subtle yet profound ways. The animism inherent in the prepositions and the incompatibility of objectivity in the verb-subject-object structure of the grammar, were my oft times confusing answers to the incredulous query.1 Not to mention that it is one of the oldest vernacular languages in Europe, with an illustrious oral and literate history contemporaneous with Latin. It was a shock for several people who had never heard the language described in such a manner. Had the language been presented so, many said they would have spent more time at it and been proud to use it. Instead we have the capitalist icon of the cuig punt emblazoned with a nun on one side, and Misé Raftari on a chalkboard on the reverse to remind everyone how the language was taught in DeVelara's Ireland.
Many of the incredulous wondered why we should want to study a 'dead language'; for some the funferal was a foregone conclusion. The interest in Gaelic internationally corresponds with a decline in its use in the Gaeltachts where it is exists as a first language for a shrinking minority. It would be rare to hear any of the youth i met in Ireland say "It's my first language, and I'm very proud of that, I'll do whatever it takes to save it."2 For most it isn't the primary language in their homes, and its usage is seen as representative of poverty or subsidy, not to mention, it is almost universally resented for its prominence on exit examinations, particularly as it is a required class with no obvious benefit, as all commerce and state business is conducted in English.
One of the ironies i found the first week in the Gleann revolved around Leonard and his use of Gaelic in his grocery shop, one of two in the village. Liam commented in his first lecture 'Fr. McDyer and Development in the Gleann and the Gaeltach' that Leonard did not speak Gaelic in his store, and perhaps we should ask him why this was. The next day, while in his shop, i used Gaelic and he responded in kind. Liam was astounded when i informed him of the incident later that evening in Biddy's (the Gleann's Irish Irish pub). In a later conversation, Patrick asked if it was truly his choice to speak Gaelic, in light of my observation that it was an economic response to our presence in the Gleann.3 Economics is oft times cited as one of the "forces impinging" on the use of Gaelic, Leonard's recognition of our purpose in the Gleann suggests that the argument can run both directions, against the survival of the language, and as a motivation for its continued usage.4
Another reason for the declining use of Gaelic in Ireland is related to both the grammatical difficulty of the language, and the dialectical differences between the provinces. We got a first hand experience of this in that we began learning an Ulster dialect in Olympia, while our first instructor in the Gleann, Sorcha, used a different dialect, then we had Liam use yet another dialect for a short time, and during the final week where we again returned to the Ulster dialect we began with. Then there is the promotion among the Loyalist communities of Scotts Gallic in the North as an alternative to Irish Gaelic instruction.
Declan, a bartender in Dublin who was from Connamarra, told me that although it wasn't a primary language among his family any longer, they still attempted to use it at family gatherings. He commented that since he had been working in Dublin, where he rarely if ever hears it used, that his skill with it is declining, and that it takes him some time to pick it back up when it is used at home. He felt that this was the case with many other transplants to the more economically viable East Coast from Gaelic speaking families in the West, that the daily use of English as the language of commerce atrophied their familiarity with Gaelic.5
One of the most important conversations i had regarding Gaelic was during our trip to Sligo, in the dance club Equinox. I met a college student there named Clinton who asked the obligatory questions mentioned above. He was likewise intrigued by my explanation of the 'psycholinguistics' of Gaelic, and was impressed that i had some Gaelic on me. We talked haltingly for a short time in Gaelic and at the end of the evening, he mentioned that he was very happy that we were here learning Gaelic and because of it we were "an inspiration to them all."6 I was grateful for the praise and ecstatic that i had met someone who was as concerned about the language and its continued survival as i was.
Cathal Ó Searchaigh's comments on the language were fascinating, especially his use of Deenin's Irish-English Dictionary. Even though compiled by a priest, there is a wealth of "occult knowledge" in the definitions. Cathal also pointed out that there is no Gaelic Thesaurus or Irish-Irish Dictionary. We had a "Charlie moment" when he was discussing how his work was to "bring words back to their original usage or energy."7 The readings of his poetry in Gaelic was beautiful and made it easy to understand why the Gaelic poets tended to use more complicated rhymes focused on internal vowel sounds, as the words seemed made up solely of vowels.
I chose to miss the play production on the last day of class to travel to Dublin to see the band Kíla at the Olympia Theater. They are described as a fusion band, although the traditional element of their music is particularly highlighted to my mind. Of the four albums they have released, there are less than a handful of songs in English; the majority is in Gaelic. If it was just the intensity with which they approached the performance of their music, the show was mesmerizing, but to take into account the intentional use and fostering of Gaelic in popular culture, they deserve attentive scrutiny. I recommend them not only for their incredible live performance, but also the dedication they have for nurturing the Gaelic language.
In light of the attempt by Gaelic speakers in Belfast to apply for Gaeltacht status, we discussed on several occasions at our cottage the possibility of establishing a Gaeltacht in Olympia or Seattle. Although, this plays directly into one of Liam's caveats, "unless the use of Gaelic is preserved and retained as community language, there is less of an impetus to use it elsewhere." His statement was based on the observation that those under 25 years of age in the Gaeltacht do not speak the language daily, and that this has been particularly evident in the last 20 years.8 On my last night in the Gleann, i walked back from teach mór towards my cottage between four and five in the morning, the last time i would walk up this hill (on this visit). As i passed the Glen Head, the local's pub, there were two older men standing in the middle of the road speaking fluent Gaelic. Instead of attempting to engage them in conversation in Gaelic, frustrating all of us at my limited knowledge, i merely observed these two sentinels standing guard over a way of life in the Gaeltacht that is failing and in need of resuscitation. It is likely that their generation will be the last to have grown up in a culture still steeped in the daily use of Gaelic, the last to speak it fluently as a primary language. It was a powerful and poignant final image of the Gleann, as i walked weary up to my bed as the dawn was caressing the horizon.

There are elements of 'village culture' that we all still practice, but we call it by other names -
it is not absent just under different names and different contexts…my hands are no longer
romantically blackened with coal - they're just dirty. The source of my jealousy is just imagined.
- Trina Dixon 'The evolution of community and the intersection with modern society'

In the 1940's DeVelera's Ireland designated areas where the strongest use of Gaelic persisted in Ireland would be politically bounded entities where the encouragement of the language's survival would be financially subsidized. It wasn't until the 1970's that structures were put in place to give the Gaeltachts any internal political agency. This is the greatest hindrance to the designation of these areas as 'preserves' for the survival of 'village culture' and the Gaelic language, this Janus-faced attention of the plutocrats in Dublin. On one hand they demand the importance of the language and its continued patronage, while with the other hand they conduct 99% of their business in English, and publish 90% of the various forms for services in the foreigner's tongue, particularly the application for a passport or immigration. 1
One of the reasons for coming to the Gleann, in the Donegal Gaeltacht area, was the presence of Fr. James McDyer's 'folk village'. McDyer was a champion of 'village culture' in rural Ireland whose attempts to organize co-operatives for economic self-sufficiency brought not only national fame, putting GlenCholmCille on the proverbial map, but also generating ire among the politicians in Dublin.2 Many of his projects today would be considered failures, as they have either ceased to exist, or in the cases where they survive, like the vegetable processing plant in Teelin, now a fish processing facility, have changed from their original form. His efforts were more focused on communal sustainability and the preservation of craft traditions than on the survival of the language, although he was not completely ignorant of its importance and place in the culture.3 He was a 'big man', who cast his shadow over the Gleann, an 'operator', who strong armed his parishioners and the politicians to accept his leadership and his particular vision of what needed to be done. His tendency to blame others for his failures and the lack of self-criticism in his autobiography left many among my peers questioning the leadership he proffered.
McDyer, and Liam's attempt to "keep the people there" is dangerous in that it predicates the survival of the Gleann, the Gaeltacht, and Gaelic on the assumption that people, especially youth will want to stay - without much incentive to do so. Not to suggest that they both haven't endeavored to provide those incentives, it is that until recently, with the efforts of the European Union to encourage both the language and the infrastructure, there was little to hold the youth there. There remains less of an opportunity for those who stay in relation to the potentials of those who left for the East Coast, or elsewhere. As Edna, a youth counselor for the Donegal Gaeltacht stated, he considers the language and even the 'village culture' of the Gleann to be secondary to providing the youth he works with a chance in today's world. "It is irrelevant whether they go somewhere else of stay here." He sees his purpose in counseling to "get them the opportunities to develop themselves as a person (sic)."4 His comments on the ambivalence with which he sees the Internet reminded me of the play Inherit the Wind. "Progress has never been a bargain, you have to pay for it…Mister you may have a telephone, but you lose the right to privacy, the charm of distance. Madame you may vote, but at a price, you lose the right to retreat behind a powder-puff or petticoat. Mister you may conquer the air, but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline."5
This lack of economic opportunity was at the heart of Fr. McDyer's work and is still the lynch pin determining the survival of the Gaeltachts as anything other than tourist destinations and holiday excursions for absentee home owners. Even though the 'Celtic Tiger' is largely a phenomenon of the infusion of European Union moneys to develop infrastructure in the West, as long as the primary language of commerce remains English, especially in the Gaeltachts, the prospects for their survival as anything other than indentured servants of the global economy is doubtful. Liam suggests that it is possible for the Gaelic speaking minority to demand the recognition of the language in commerce, although it isn't likely to be a potential for social change until legislation similar to the Quebec principle is enacted.6 The Quebec principle is based on the assumption that citizens have a right to do business in the language of their choice.7
Meabh McFarbaigh's perspective on the Gaeltacht was the most useful, partially because it revolved around what was being done for women and their children. You can't state it any more succinctly than her comment on the language, "we as parents have to speak to our children," in Gaelic. Her observation of how the Irish youth get frustrated and angry when they travel to the Continent, and are assumed to be English because they don't speak Gaelic was an interesting take on mimicry and cultural pride. "There is a dawning awareness that the Irish should speak Gaelic not English." As well, she skewers the excuse that part of the problem is the difficulty of Gaelic, "It is not a burden to carry - Europeans speak 4 or 5 languages." 8 Meabh's need for daycare providers seemed to suggest one opportunity for a continued relationship between Oideas Gael, the Donegal Gaeltacht, and interested Evergreen students intent on Gaeltacht studies.
Language is not the only limiting factor to the vitality of the Gaeltachts, there is also the lack of economic diversity. Job opportunities are few outside corporations, or their suppliers, fishing or sheep farming, and to a limited extent, woolen textile production. One of the major options in the job market is in the service industry; Tourism ranks as a primary contributor to the economy. Liam and others on the boards of the Gaeltachts want to encourage 'cultural tourism', tourism which emphasizes language and culture by visitors who appreciate and will reinforce cultural traditions.9 It was encouraging to see that the corporations that where courted by Udrás na Gaeltachta were conscientious to use Gaelic in their Gaeltacht facilities, and that they have dual language memos and their middle management is fluent in Gaelic.10 Never the less the lack of infrastructure in the Gaeltachts of the West discourages industry and development, and consequently the economic opportunities there. As long as this is the case people, particularly the youth will leave the Gaeltacht for areas with greater economic opportunity.
One of the issues that subsidizing the use of Gaelic in the Gaeltacht regions generates is the political elitism that many see it as, especially those just outside the political boundaries. Although the Gaelic-speaking minority is small in the demographics of Ireland, coupled with other linguistic minorities throughout the European Union, they represent a much larger minority and consequently are funded for the purpose of linguistic survival. The incentives or subsidies that are used to encourage success at Gaelic within the National schools are problematic because of the pressure it generates within the family and the community as a whole. It was only in the last ten years that a Gaelic language television station has been offered, and that was due largely to the support that Wales and Scotland receive from England being used as leverage to get it funded in Ireland.11
As it was noted in seminar, there is strikingly little different about the youth in the Gleann and youth here. I encountered in young people the same determination to leave the Gleann as i did when i first moved to Olympia. Although, when asked if they ever got used to how beautiful it was there in the Gleann, they answered "no." I know that i have often said that it was necessary to "get out of mom's backyard" in order to establish any space for the becoming adult, i have still tried to impress on those keen to leave that it wasn't any better in the cities where they were bound for, just full of more distractions. Meabh put it aptly when she stated, "You have to hate the place you live to leave it."12 The emigrants are just as big a problem as the outsiders who stay in their holiday homes only for a short time each year and never manage to get passed the 'blow in' phase; not to mention their language is undermining Gaelic use there.
In Dublin i met a man named Paddy who worked for a hotel, helping tourists get around the city. We had a most illuminating conversation on Sunday morning, when the bus service was limited. We walked from Temple Bar across Anna Liffey Plurabelle and talked of the city and the changes it was undergoing. He called the gentrification of Dublin and the influx of Europeans due to Ireland joining the EU as "economic ethnic cleansing." He said that as the new construction boom tears down older buildings throughout the city, the tenants, who can no longer afford rent in the refurbished or new ones, move to the outlying areas. This displacement he said was depriving the city of its indigenous culture, for most of the new tenants had no connection with Dublin - another version of the 'blow in'. As these people moved out to Kildare and the Boyne Valley, it forces those living there to move further west to Kerry or Clare, generating a new Cromwellian riff "to the poor house or to Connactht."13
He was aghast at the idea that some people wanted to move the Abbey Theater from the East side of the Liffey to the West, where most of the gentrification is happening. For him there was a distinction between these two areas: the East having a more working class, and hence authentic relationship with Dublin, and the West where cosmopolitan students and tourists rub elbows with the Parliamentarians. There you are more likely to find sleek continental discos and vast bars full of shiny chrome and personality deficient barkeeps.14 It is often the case that the plaques set in the sidewalks with relevant quotes from Ulysses do not reflect the current occupants of their respective buildings. James Joyce's desire to "Hibernicize Europe and Europeanize Ireland" may be coming to fruition and judging from the looks of things, America and its brand of media-driven Capitalism have poisoned the tree.
I am very interested in and will stay abreast of Liam Cunningham's latest venture in the field of Gaelic language promotion, Beó. It would be enough, for no other reason than to maintain and improve my Gaelic, but i see that it has the potential to nurture the use of Gaelic, not only abroad, but at home in the Gaeltacht as well. I would like to see a contribution, both in materials and technical assistance, from Evergreen students, but more importantly from the young people in the Gaeltacht. If the magazine is to achieve its goal of fostering Gaelic, then it has to provide a voice and a growth opportunity for those whom it is most vital to establish an enduring link with - young people with a place in their Gaeltacht communities.

Spirituality

Stay together, friends.
Don't scatter and sleep.

Our friendship is made
of being awake.

The waterwheel accepts water
and turns and gives it away,
weeping.

That way it stays in the garden
whereas another roundness rolls
through a dry riverbed looking
for what it thinks it wants.

Stay here, quivering with each moment
like a drop of mercury.

-Rumi The Waterwheel

I. Yesterday

One of the primary reasons for my interest in returning to Ireland in theory was so i could return to it in practice as well to study Irish Archaeology. Unfortunately the Foot and Mouth scare put an end to that, as it had with my intention to work with the Ogham alphabet and its Tree associations, in England, Scotland and Wales (the last i did not even visit). My response when i arrived at the Avebury Stone Circle on the Salisbury Plane in England, with its pub open but sparsely populated, and the gates to the stones closed was, "these stones have been here thousands of years, they will be here when i return, they aren't going anywhere." We did get to take a day trip (on speed) to Tory Island for a walk out to Balor's Castle, an Iron Age fort. I came across a bird's skull on a large flat rock near its earth embankment gates. More interesting, from an Anthropological point of view, was Balor's Well, a natural depression which leads to a tunnel open to the far side of the island. A slit of light burns through the rock as incoming waves pound the walls and the water surges through to smooth rounded boulders on the shore. It is a place that locals avoid after sundown fearing it is an opening to Hell, or in earlier times the Faeries or Formorian's realm.
Of all the areas where we discoursed spirituality seems to have been a major point of connection. My own interest in magick, the occult, and Druidism was useful in regard to these discussions. One particular conversation revolved around the context of how one should go about studying Druidry. Noah was of the opinion that to read about the subject, like my own form of armchair occultism, was to miss the point entirely and establish yet another mediated religious experience. I was a member of a group called Ar nDraoicht Fein or, 'our own Druidism', established in the mid-eighties. Their intention was to create a Neo-Pagan religious practice based on the best scholarship available concerning the Druids and other Indo-European religious castes. Noah's assertion that one should go out and 'commune with the trees' is exactly the type of 'new age' feel good spiritualism that ADF attempted to avoid.1 My own feeling on this was that it requires a balance of honest scholarship, which as resources are somewhat limited and socio-politically biased, in the end leaves you, as ADF was aware all along, relying on the non-mediated intuition Noah suggests.2
I managed to do some work with the Ogham trees while in Scotland at Rosslyn Chapel and environs, and in Ireland at Tara. I had intended to spend some time in rural Wales seeking out ancient Yew trees associated with Megalithic and Iron Age sites.3 The one opportunity I had to 'commune' with a Yew was at Sinclair Castle in Rosslyn. The Sinclair family began the Chapel in 1446, it is world famous for the carvings interior and exterior. As the family were patrons not only of the Gypsies in Scotland, but the Masons as well (they would later become the hereditary Grandmasters to (Scottish Rite) Freemasonry) there is a good deal of mystery surrounding it. The Chapel is renowned for two carvings in particular, the first is the Apprentice Pillar, considered one of the finest Medieval carvings extant, whose story is immortalized in the story of Hiram, one of the Apprentices at the Temple in Jerusalem. The other is the depiction of American Corn on an archway, several decades before 'the official' discovery of the New World by Columbus.4
Beyond it being one of the must see experiences of the trip Rosslyn also offered one of the only chances i had on the big island to walk among the trees. The Trust that cares for Rosslyn chapel has recently purchased the land adjoining it and Sinclair Castle. The gates to this land were not closed or posted, so i took the chance that there was no livestock. Just on the other side of Sinclair Castle was a huge tree next to the walls. I looked closer and discovered it was a Yew! Although not listed in the gazetteer of Ancient Yews in the back of The Sacred Yew, its trunk size and height suggest it has been there for several hundred years. I knew that this was my one chance at cutting a wand from a Yew, or any other tree for that matter. So i climbed up into its branches, chose a particularly straight wand of new growth, thanked the tree and cut the wand. I climbed down carefully and proceeded to pour libations at the quarters around the roots, again thanking the tree, i placed the gift of my old watch in a hollow of the roots.
The first thing i was asked by Bergin, one of the hostel staff at Isle of Skye, when i arrived, "did you steal that from the Faeries." I replied i had left a gift in exchange for the wand, and had poured libations at its feet.5 I likely encountered the Faeries wrath though, as two days after i cut the wand i lost my glasses in Inverness, near Loch Ness. I say this because i wonder whether the Faeries preferred me to offer up something i used or had a need for, not just a cast off watch that i had no further need of for i had purchased another in Edinburgh. I was told before leaving Scotland, by an English couple on holiday, that, as Yew was an endangered species, which I could be prosecuted for cutting it, that i could "have my head cut off."6 My only response was that is, i was cognizant of the importance of only taking a small wand of new growth from a healthy specimen. Likewise, that it was of utmost importance to honor the tree from which it was taken, perceiving it as a gift from the Faeries more so than as an act of my own taking.
On the final weekend in Ireland, the Foot and Mouth ban was lifted and many of the Archaeological sites were opened. I took the opportunity and visited Newgrange and Tara. At Newgrange I met a dancer from Australia who was looking to work in Europe, as the Arts were in much the same under-funded state in Australia as they are in America. I told her much of what I had discovered while writing my research paper 'Brugh na Bóinne and the Irish Triple Goddess.'7 After the tour I was struck by the answers i received to my questions by the tour guide there. The first was about the alternate name Grian Uaigh 'cave of the sun' used to describe the womb-tomb locally. His response to this was, it was a modern romantic appellation, and had no historical value. I then queried him on why their was no mention of the feminine in his discussion of the Folklore, specifically the Cow Goddess Boand, from whence the whole valley takes its name, or Callieach Bheara, the Old Woman or Crone of Bheara, who built all the megaliths in Ireland and Scotland buy dropping stones out of her creel as she traveled across the sky. He said that because of time constraints there was little mention of the folklore, beyond the obvious male supremacy issues between Dagda and his son Aengus Óg.8
My visit to Tara was more pleasant and relaxed due to the lack of development on the site, allowing me to explore and interact with the trees there. I found a Thorn tree with cloth tied to a branch at the outer boundary of the main site. I proceeded to cut and tie a portion of my (Irish) pants to the tree and poured a libation. At the rear of the site is a ringfort named for the last Pagan king of Ireland Laoghaire. Trees surround the site, and one particularly large Oak caught my eye. As i had had few opportunities to visit any trees in Ireland, i likewise cut a wand from the new growth on one of the lower branches. I poured a libation and gave a coin to the Faeries, as i had nothing else to offer. I managed to bring both of these wands back from Europe without any complications in customs. I will be looking at information regarding anointing them in one of the texts that i acquired in the Boyne Valley on the Ogham.9
I was able to take a look at two other Archaeological sites while in Ireland. The first was Dun Alt, an Iron Age fort just North of the Gleann. On the day i found out my Father had died, i went for a walk on the beach to let my anger cool in the cold Atlantic water and feel my feet submerged into the sand along the shore. I decided to go visit the site and listen to the waves crash on the rocks there. I asked before i entered the field, a field that was empty of livestock, if it was permissible to do so. I spent an hour or so out there, taking pictures of the waves and rocks, and looking out from the hilltop towards the West, towards home or Tir na nÓg, i am not sure which.
The second was in the graveyard next to the Protestant church, itself built on the grounds of a Catholic monastery. Next to the path and connected with the first turas, or pilgrimage, stone is an Iron Age tomb. On a New Moon, my cottage-mates and i went there to see if we could discover some ghosts. The road out to the Church, near turas stone 13, travels alongside the site of what appear to be Potato drills, and consequently the space seems heavy with the grief of An Gorda Mór, the Great Hunger, we saw no beansidhe though.10 The tomb is accessed by removing a tin sheet held in place by some rocks. It is not large maybe 10-15 yards in length on an East/West axis. There is some nice korbelling at the end of the West axis. It was obvious that the Iron Age builders of the tomb had lost the necessary skills to keep the moisture out as had been accomplished at Newgrange. One of the most interesting aspects of the tomb was the recess in the main chamber, which had obviously been used as an altar. A stone there has a carving on it of the Chi Ro, an emblem of the Catholic Church, meaning that this space had likely been used as a Priest hiding hole during the Penal Times.
An interesting conversation took place between Aingeal and myself on the bus ride to Daoire. At the request of Patrick, she was asked to talk to me about my paper on Taylor's Occasions of Faith, where i had made a comment about his recognition of the overlay of religious expression, similar to one i had discovered in Every Earthly Blessing, by Esther de Waal. She was very much of the opinion that this was something that deserved reparations or retribution. I myself had been angry by these same sort of observations when i had just begun seeking out occult knowledge, many years ago, especially in regard to Wicca or Witchcraft.11 I attempted to discuss my awareness that anger and frustration would not help her gain understanding when approaching these subjects. That far more fruitful was to seek out the fossils of Pagan heritage in the usurpers own tradition and use them to teach not only our children but those who still believe there is only one way to recognize deity. 12 I am not sure i got through to her, it takes time to get beyond that kind of anger at injustice - the 'banality of evil', and use the knowledge as something other than a continued divisive argument in the age old blame game.
Our experience of Daoire and its Tower Museum was similar to our experience of Sligo and the Famine Museum. Both towns seemed rife with tension, especially at closing time when the pubs emptied their drunken contents out on to the streets. What was more galling was the treatment of their subjects, the history of Daoire, and the experience of the Famine, by Board Fáilte and its Northern counterparts. The Daoire exhibit, even though it contained a display of IRA and Paramilitary artifacts from the Troubles, was hardly a measured and fair discussion of the cities history. Particularly annoying was the discussion of the Land Survey conducted by the British, the first extensive mapping of a country, it was a "tool for administration and control." As Liam pointed out, it suffered by not incorporating excerpts from Brian Friel's play Translations, which deals with the changing of the landscape due to the renaming.13 I was far more disgusted though with the Famine Museum, and i was not alone in my observations. Sorcha and i talked for quite a while outside the dining room trying to come to grips with what we had seen in the insensitive display of wealth at the estate house where the Museum resides in a converted horse stables, or the fact we were being encouraged to eat an authentic, and excellent i might add, Irish meal, before going on to the Famine portion of the Museum.14 Two of the comments i wrote that day were, "Come to the Famine Museum, visit the teach mór and see all the wealth, end your tour in the kitchen, the biggest room in the house, Before you go on to the real museum, go have a bite at the restaurant," and "the potato failure, potato failure, it was the failure of economic policy, not simply the fault of a crop." It wasn't until the last room that this economic rape of Ireland was discussed, and only at the remove of relating the 'famine' in Ireland to the 'starvation' in Africa. Perhaps that insensitivity was best displayed in the quote from the Irish Times of 09February1848, imposed over a picture of the estate, "We help all who help themselves, but we do not like throwing money in a ditch" (or a horse stable).

II. Today

The experience, which affected my work abroad more than anything else, was the death of Fremen, my cat of 10 years, and the death of my Father. I miss my cat terribly and my Father, well, i am angry with him more than anything else. I did not return home, because there was no funferal, but more importantly, because my 'family abroad' supported me in my time of anger tinged grief. I was grateful for the care with which everyone approached the issue, helping me to keep a hold of my work in Ireland. There were innumerable offers to discuss the subject, if i so wished. The most powerful exchange occurred between Patrick, and myself where he shared an observation related to the play, The Country Boy, which we witnessed in the Gleann the first week. The scene he referred to, similar to Brian Friel's play Philadelphia, Here I Come, is where the Father makes his best attempt at contact with his estranged son. He then told me a story about his own Father had attempted to make a similar gesture, which unfortunately only made the young Patrick angry. His father gave another young boy in the neighborhood money to take Patrick to a baseball game, a passion of his. The other boy's team was the Yankees, which consequently forced Patrick, a Mets fan, to sit through a game of his favorite team's rival.15 At the time i was writing down memories of my troubled youth, and was having a hard time remembering any positive experiences, Patrick's story helped me see some of those attempts at connection, which are so rare and hard for Fathers and Sons.
As i stated earlier, on the day i found out my Father had died, i went out to the beach to kick the waves, in hope that the Atlantic would absorb some of my anger. I had another opportunity to get wet on that beach. On Beltaine, or May Day, many of us gathered on the beach for a bonfire celebration. I was already aware of the importance of this date before Mary Condren told us what "every self-respecting Irish American should be doing on May Eve"; the year before i had been part of the Reclaim the Streets protest in Olympia, blockading a primary commercial intersection for a 7 hour street party. It was one of those moments that will remain, like that scene of my last night in the Gleann mentioned above, with me for years to come. As Laoi said it best, "I wanted this day," as she gazed back at the bonfire on leaving the beach.16 Many of us took the opportunity to race headlong naked into the cold water of the Atlantic. Some of us, a minority, chose to completely immerse ourselves; Hal and i even went body surfing for a minute or two. Then we gathered round the bonfire and dried off or jumped the flames as Mary had suggested. We threw sugar on to the flames; releasing what we felt should be left behind during the year and invited what we wanted to take its place to come to us. Jayne offered large tapers to a number of us, stating it was a tradition of her and her friends to light tapers on May Day and burn them for a time, but to snuff them out so that they could be used to light fires/candles in the home throughout the year. This is not unlike the Christian celebration of Candlemas, which takes place on Brighid's day or Imbolc, on 01February where the Catholic Church blesses all the candles for the coming year. Itself not unlike the celebration of Yule, where the remains of the Yule log from the previous year is used to light the new Yule Log. Or the Beltaine fires of Bel kindled by the High King of Ireland, while all other fires were extinguished and then relit from that one fire. Many of us stayed around the fire until the Sun was peaking up over the horizon singing songs and making merry.
Academically the most rewarding experience of the program was Mary Condren, even if she was not as 'edgy' as we would have liked, she delivered a lecture that many found both moving and challenging. Her work on Brighid was for me less than spectacular, largely because, it seemed less political than her or other's work in the same area.17 I found her lecture on Abjection to be so powerful, as i said in seminar, that i had an overwhelming need to go clean the toilet. At first that might sound crass and disingenuous, but her lecture made me painfully cognizant of my less than heroic Feminism. It was on the heels of this observation that i was delivered the unlooked for lesson which left me reeling in confusion.
I awoke at 4 in the morning with the words of a poem in my head, which had to be written lest they be lost. The poem was in part prompted by a comment Jayne made early on, in which she called my gaze "lecherous" which i had taken objection to.18 Oddly enough, it wasn't the only thing focusing my poetics. The evening prior, Gléine, Stacey, and Laoi had been discussing my gaze and the intentions behind it. Gléine remarked to them that I would love to be part of the discussion, and that it would help them understand my actions. The day i awoke with the poem in my head, Gléine, Stacey and i had lunch and discussed this conversation. I was glad to hear that Gléine understood and appreciated my overt sexuality.19 I have spent many years working to undermine Victorian prudery wherever i found it. Unfortunately in this case it wasn't perceived that way and was seen as part of the 'Patriarchal baggage', which i could not escape. As Laoi is someone i admire intellectually, i took this criticism very seriously. It wasn't the first time my behavior had been questioned recently as i mentioned. This left me in a dreadful state of confusion, unsure whether this work as a sexual libertine was effective in light of what we were hearing from Mary Condren, or whether it was my approach and the ease with which it could be misunderstood that was at issue. From that confusion i wrote the poem, 'A cross the Great Divide', which i gave a copy of to Laoi, in hopes it would clear up her confusion. We talked several days later and she explained that it wasn't just my gaze, but the sexual intentions she felt directed at her from all directions that precipitated the conversation, and that she greatly appreciated the poem, which i dedicated to her and Mary Condren, as well as the chance to discuss it with me.20
Luckily for me the confusion was short-lived thanks to Michael D. Higgins, one of the most inspiring speakers we heard while in Ireland, and certainly the most enlightened at the Brehon Law Conference in Ballyvaughn. I don't think the man who introduced Michael was aware of Evergreen's left leanings, because he expected shock and dismay at his comment that "Michael is a Socialist." Instead he got a round of applause from cat-calling Greeners.21 Michael was inspiring not for what he said that night, although it was the most useful speech we heard the entire weekend, it was what he said to us on the subject of vision and utopia. His dedication to what we would call 'right-livelihood' was at the core of his comments the evening he spoke to us in the pub. He made me aware that even though others might misunderstand my intentions, my motives are sound, because they are based on the ideals of utopia, and stem from my vision of a better world. I was proud to be in his company that weekend and deeply moved by his commitment to the vision of utopia we share. As he said, it has been a long time that words like those are discredited, and the individuals who speak them are derided for their lack of pragmatism.22 He made me profoundly aware of the responsibility i have towards those two words, and how i should never let that change, no matter how misunderstood my actions might be. It is more important that i keep that in the forefront of my mind and communicate more effectively my intentions, than to ever let some misunderstanding eclipse my dedication to the goal of a better place for all of us to live in.

III. Tomorrow

For many people there was one night which made it the entire trip worthwhile. The night we went to Teelin to visit Cúl a Dún, a pub owned by members of the band Altan. It was a truly rewarding and magickal experience for several reasons. Danielle refused to allow me to by a drink, as i had just discovered that my Father had passed on, and as she put it, she "wanted to make sure i was taken care of."23 Several of the members of our class played tunes until as we were told, the band arrived to play to the growing crowd. Until the Kíla show in Dublin, it was the finest music i heard on my journey and what i imagined a pub would be like in the West of Ireland. Celia, Meabh, and Cora all got up to play in the circle and many of us joined in for Cora's cover of U2's song 'One'. The highlight of the night, just before we left, was a song by a harmonica/accordion player who was blind in one eye. The song was a conversation between himself and a young boy named David, whose voice was provided by the harmonica. Towards the end of the song, he asked the boy to sing a nursery rhyme he might now, which went as follows: "Mary had a little lamb/ its fleece as black as soot/ and every fag that Mary smoked/ that's Irish for cigarette/ she gave the lamb the butt."24 Eamonn characterized the evening most succinctly when he said, he had always seen a glint in his father's eye and never knew what it was, and that he felt the night in Teelin was similar to that something he felt his father was looking fondly back at and remembering.25
This idea of what our family offers us in the way of cultural inheritance was a topic of conversation between Sorcha and myself. In fact i hope it was our conversation that encouraged her to share the story she told at the Feis. We were just after having eaten at a potluck at Danielle and Phillip's cottage and had gone outside to sit in the sun. We were talking about the Famine, ghosts, and potato drills when we began talking about her family. She told me her Grandfather had been a senachie, and had been quite famous in his time. She then told me two of his stories, one which she later told at the Feis, 'The Woman and the Priest Hole', the other was about the interruption of a Faerie funferal. I asked her if there were members of the family who continued the tradition of her Grandfather. To which she replied only her Uncle. I encouraged her to seek out those stories and perhaps begin her own walk down that path.26
Other than Michael D. Higgins, as i stated above, i was somewhat disappointed in the Brehon Law Conference in Ballyvaughn. Patrick said it best when he said, "it was like asking lawyers to comment on the validity of Brehon Law."27 Or politicians to discuss campaign finance reform, sure its necessary but nobody wants to deal with it honestly. During the last session Jayne and i went walking behind Newtown Castle and the Burren Art College where it was being held. We were searching for a well, which we were unable to find. What we did discover was just as intriguing. Near the beginning of the Burren limestone on the hillside behind the college we found a tree that was surrounded by a low wall without an entrance. A second wall with an opening surrounded the area next to the tree and wall. Hanging in the tree were mobiles made with animal bones and twine, and sitting in the crotch of the tree was a large animal skull with long horns, likely a sheep. We also discovered that a piece of the second wall, which had fallen, had a pale outline of a fossil on it. We took pictures, but did not enter the enclosure of the tree, as it was set apart for a reason, and we didn't want to incur the Faeries wrath for trespassing. We found out later that the mobiles and skull were likely the work of an Art student at the Burren Art School. As we walked down the lane away from Newtown Castle we started to talk about our want for a place in the country, where we could slow down to the pace of the rural life we were enjoying in Ireland. The fondest wish both of us had was for a garden and some trees out in the countryside where the smell of manure indicated fertility and not decay.28
Community was one of those conundrums that we should have been aware would flare up at some point in our stay in the Gleann. Part of the issue, and this was something that did not get addressed in seminar, is communication. One of the points Gléine made in regard to the conversation we had about sexuality and the gaze, was that students at Evergreen are expected to discuss their problems with one another and not 'slag' each other while talking to other classmates about these issues.29 The fact that many of us were unaware of this feeling of frustration at our collective experience suggests that communication was part of the problem. Unfortunately it was easier to look for reasons why this was happening and play the 'blame game' then it was to actually get at the underlying causes for the alienation and frustration people were feeling. My own circumstance may have clouded my perceptions. After my Father died, many of the people i had heretofore not spoken to much came to me and offered support and consolation. Community for me worked, but that doesn't mean that it worked for others, or as Jayne pointed out, that is was less than healthy that it took a death in the family to bring others into my orbit.30
Lawrence Taylor's lecture on 'Respectful Anthropology', and my discussion with him raised several issues for me. The most prominent was his commentary on the 'Celt' as a conglomeration of tribes, which was a "constructive notion from a contemporary viewpoint." His suggestion that they were more akin to the Native Americans as "wild natives of the European Continent," and that there is little that the tribes of Western Europe had in common seems a stretch. He sees the use of the term Celtic as an "attempt to unify a disparate and fragmented" people and that in doing so, "it points to Europe's desire to define the periphery." This to him suggests modern European needs to establish an "other of a certain kind." Another point he raised, which i share, is the intrusion of the 'therapeutic' into spirituality, he was speaking specifically of how "Irish Spirituality has been replaced with 'New Age' consumption.", but this has been the case in America for a decade and half. 31 I was puzzled by his comment that my interest in Haitian Vodoun, and distress at American Evangelicals, was due to the exotic qualities of the former and not to a more obvious aversion for monotheism and the dangers of fanaticism in cultic communities in the later.32
Anthropology, specifically Ethnography caused consternation in many of us during our experience in the Gleann. There was a good deal of reservation to 'studying' the people we met in the Gleann; particularly those that made friends with the youth there. I was asked not to write certain comments up in this paper because the individuals felt it would shed a bad light on themselves and Ireland. This was not unfamiliar territory in regards to both Larry Taylor's comments on 'Respectful Anthropology' and my recent reading of Nancy Schepher-Hughes' apologia in the reissue of Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics. When it came time to discuss the video project, which Amy was conducting of us, it was obvious how difficult that word 'study' can be when you are the subject. She quickly changed the nature of the project from a 'study' of our experience in the Gleann, to a record of that experience.33 I am intrigued by Larry's comments that the purpose of an Anthropologist is "to not be an asshole, " and that his first year Grad students work on this; perhaps if i apply and am accepted at Maynooth, i can learn to not be one myself.34

Poetry

When grapes combine their juice and are closed up together
for a time in a dark place, the results are spectacular.
- Coleman Barks 'On the Tavern'

During the two quarters we spent in Olympia, prior to coming here, i was called to bring Poetry back into my life. I had been moved to tears when Patrick read Baudelaire's 'Be Always Drunken' in the previous Irish Studies program. Likewise, i was moved to tears when he read Mary Oliver's 'Tecumseh' in this program. Within the first week of being in the Gleann i participated in a 'circle of exchange' at Biddy's pub, where i shared two poems and a song.1 These 'circles of exchange' continued throughout our five weeks there, culminating in the poetry reading during the Feis, where i read three poems.
An impromptu 'circle of exchange' took place at teach mór at the behest of Jayne. It was an activity she had initiated years prior called OOMP, or Order Of Midnight Poets, wherein the participants bring snacks and wine and then read from their own work, or from the works of other poets, stopping at midnight for a moment of silence. Dunstan, Emily, Jayne, and myself all shared poetry of our own, as well as work by, Charles Baudelaire, Cathal Ó Searcaigh, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, William Butler Yeats, and others. It was one of the activities that will likely continue here in Olympia as Dunstan has stated that there is a void in that part of his life now that he has returned.2
At the Feis, i like many others read for the first time in public. I have had poetry published, and won a Community College contest, but only a small group of friends has ever heard me read before. I was empowered by the experience and will look forward to other opportunities to read in public. I enjoyed listening to my classmates' poetry both in the work we did with Barbara Parkinson, and at the Feis. I learned to be more confident about my poetry. I grew tired of my poetic voice some time ago and have written little poetry since. I think the greatest praise i received was during one of those sessions; it wasn't from Barbara, although i appreciated her comments, "that's tight Jes." It came from Patrick, hErinn's son, when he heard the abbreviated version of 'Le Chat' he stated emphatically, "i like that one."3 Out of the mouth of babes...
Cathal was an absolute joy to listen to. His comments on Gaelic were insightful, and his suggestion of Dinneen's Irish-English Dictionary was one many of us took to heart. He was as playful in his performance and lecture as his poetry would lead you to believe. His reading of the "down with jazz and out with Paganism," piece from the Co. Leitrim Anti-Jazz campaign letter of 1934 was an instant success...if only Charlie had been there!4 His workshop was infinitely more useful than all the other poetry workshops i have taken combined. Here is a poem i wrote to his doorstop rock.

Conversation with a Stone
24April2001, GlenCholmCille Co. Donegal, Ireland

At first all my queried screams
reflect off the stone like moonlight
caught in the liquid embrace
of a loch.

No sound penetrates
the hollows or trails
down its peaks and ridges
silence.

When the hoarseness
grasps my throat &
only my breath - my heartbeats
answer in my ears.

Then in that moment
between breaths and beats
the smallest quiver unfolds
outwards.

I was very glad that we had the opportunity to work with him, and i was likewise glad to see his name on a list of individuals taking part in the celebration of Bealtaine in the North.5
The most important encounter i had regarding Poetry was the Rumi video. When i was younger, not only did i write poetry regularly, i also kept an extensive journal. At the time, my entries were addressed to 'Beloved', who i mistakenly thought was a particular individual. When the relationship was over, my journal writing suffered. Rumi's statement that "Everything is for the Beloved," made me regret that i had mistaken the Beloved for a person. One of the most powerful statements made in the film was an observation concerning poetry and its place in our lives. "There is little difference between a poem and a song, a song and a story, a story and a prayer." Likewise the importance of reading poetry to our children, "feeding the old soul in the child to know they have come to the right world." I was moved, not only to find his poetry as soon as possible, something which proved more difficult than you would think, even in Daoire (i finally found a copy in Dublin), but also to return home and read it rapturously to my companion and daughter. "The words from my mouth are beating on the drum of your ear, so don't think this is casual."6
There is a poem that will come out of the death of my Father, and luckily it will be tempered by my experiences in the Gleann. I had a dear friend, Bill 'John Dark' Johnston, who died of the big disease with a little name in 1990. At the time i was reading Allen Ginsberg's 'Kadish', a poem cycle he wrote for his mother. I thought of that poem after i learned that my Father had died. I felt like it would make an apt template for the poem that was running through my head in snatches of memory. I spent many hours writing down those memories to gain a foothold on the poem, which was tentatively titled 'Oghon After Ginsberg'.'7 The reason i chose this poem is that for all the love he feels for his mother, he is still capable of talking about her deficiencies. I want to put my Father's life down, with all the ugliness, not only of our lives together, but also the experiences that helped to mold him. As my companion said, the purpose of such a work, is to make sure it doesn't happen again.8
Two experiences many of us shared made it in to our poetics. My own work on one of them was incomplete and therefore not read at the Feis. As we traveled to Sligo, we took the opportunity to go dancing at a club. When we departed the club after closing time, some of my companions witnessed an assault of a young man by an assailant with a bat. They heard the crack of it against his skull, as well as seeing the blood cover his face. My attempt at discussing it is in the poem 'Disco in Sligo (or Killybegs Ya'll)', Matt also tackled this subject in his poem 'Derry'. The other event that triggered poetry was the sunset that greeted us on our return to the Gleann from the Brehon Law Conference. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets i have ever seen, and Dunstan states an important observation in his poem 'Sunset at the Glen', that "No skill is enough" to capture its majesty.9

Collected Poems

Olympia

Le Chat

Disco in Sligo (or Killybegs Ya'll)

A cross the Great Divide

Notes

Epigraph: Gandhi, Mahatma S. Sampled in '2001 Spliff Odyssey' Thievery Corporation. Sounds from the Thievery hi-fi. Washington D.C.: Eighteenth Street Lounge Music. 1996. Heard in Amsterdam's Betty Boop Café on the second day of my adventure, it was chosen previously as the theme music for the trip.

1. Hill, Patrick. Seminar on McDyer, James, Fr. Fr. McDyer of GlenCholmCillee; An Autobiography. Dingle; Brandon. 1997. 12apr2001. I use the term nurturance in lieu of preservation; unlike an artifact, to preserve it would be to put it in a stasis. Patrick Hill asks "Are we trying to freeze a moment in time? What is the use of it if we preserve it and it is turned into a museum?" To nurture it is to honor the life in it and encourage its continued existence.

2. Taylor, Lawrence J. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal Ireland. 10may2001. The question was raised, what i meant by the use of the term spirituality, as a means to describe the relationship of exchange, or reciprocity he discovered among the fisherman of Teelin, Co. Donegal. He objected to the over broad use of the term, and although not specifically derisive of the Pagan community, he tended to characterize the whole under the rubric of the 'New Age' movement.

Gaelic

Epigraph: Murchadh MacPhárlain Canan nan Gáidheal. Cited in Newton, Michael. 'Tribal Totems and Clan Trees'. The Aisling Quarterly; 23:9-13. Bealtaine 1998. Even though this particular article is focused on Scottish clans and their identification with particular trees, it makes reference to Ireland, and refers to the Gaelic society as a whole throughout. My own hopes to do work with trees related to the Ogham alphabet during my time in the isles was scuttled by Foot and Mouth - well not completely…

1. The examples i used in these instances were the description of how sorrow was a transient in Gaelic, while a constant in English, and how the cat was 'at' someone and not 'owned' by that person. These were examples used by Seán during her lecture and were of great use in describing my own feelings about the merit of Gaelic in context to "our proper dark" and "the filthy modern tide".

2. These words were spoken by eight-year-old Glesni Euros, a contestant in an eisteddfod in Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales. As Liam Cunningham suggested in his lecture on Fr. McDyer, it is important to celebrate annual festivals, and encourage competition in local craft and culture in hopes that the people can feel good about, and be rewarded for their use and nurturance of their cultural traditions. Worrall, Simon. 'Wales: Finding Its Voice'. National Geographic; v.199 n.6. : 62. June 2001.

3. Hill, Patrick. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 23April2001. My thesis was that Leonard's use of Gaelic in his store with regard to us was an economic decision. As he was aware of our purpose in the Glen, the easiest way to encourage our patronage of his shop was to speak Gaelic when we used it. This doesn't answer Liam's concern that he uses it infrequently with the locals, but that Leonard is capable of choosing to use Gaelic when it benefits him.

4. Cunningham, Liam. 'Fr. McDyer and Development in the Gleann and the Gaeltacht'. Lecture at Oiedas Gael, GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 09April2001. "Forces that impinge on a community force it to leave its language."

5. Declan. Conversation with author. Dublin, Ireland. 13May2001. Declan also discussed how the serving of Guinness has changed in Dublin, where younger drinkers prefer ice cold Guinness, which settles faster and is easier to quaff quickly. He also showed me a bartender's trick to determine whether a beer has settled completely.

6. Clinton. Conversation with author. Sligo, Ireland. 14April2001.

7. Ó Searcaigh, Cathal. Lecture on 'Poetry and Gaelic'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 24April2001. I was particularly intrigued with the ancillary definition provided for the word, buarac báir "an unbroken hoop of skin cut with incantation from a corpse across the entire body from shoulder to footsole and wrapped in silk of the colours of the rainbow and used as a spancel to tie the legs of a person to produce certain effects by witchcraft." Dinneen, Patrick S. Foclóir Gaedilge agus Béarla: Irish-English Dictionary. Dublin: Irish Texts Society. 1996. 136.

8. Cunningham, Liam. Lecture on 'Fr. McDyer and Development in the Gleann and the Gaeltacht'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal. Ireland. 09April2001.

Gaelictacht Studies

Epigraph: Dixon, Trina. 'The evolution of community and the intersection with modern culture'. Seminar on 'Condren, Village Culture and reflections on the Glen'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 03May2001.

1. Cunningham, Liam. Lecture on 'Fr. McDyer and Development in the Gleann and the Gaeltach'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal. Ireland. 09April2001.

2. Ibid. A memo was circulated internally at the Ministry of Finance stating, "the Gleann project was to be hindered at all costs, if it was successful most communities in the West would seek the same." McDyer was considered dangerous by many in the government at that time.

3. Ibid. Some suggest, "he didn't do anything for the language in the community, he helped to kill it." Liam asked him, "why did you not use the language more?" His response was, "I never slowed down long enough to come to grips with the language." He did organize Irish language drama groups and feis, a song/poetry/storytelling circle. His actions in the Gleann made the community more cohesive and capable of supporting the population, whereas without his leadership the Gleann would likely suffer the same fate as a nearby village deserted except for the occasional artist on sabbatical.

4. Gillespie, Edna. Lecture on 'Youth and the Gaeltacht'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 07May2001. This lecture was likely the most pragmatic and painful description of the realities of growing up in the Gaeltacht and the lack of focus many have towards the language. The views Edna expressed leave little doubt that the importance of the cultural traditions are in danger, but that the people are in graver danger without opportunities to develop and thrive, especially in areas where opportunities for such are scarce. The stark reality of his situation was laid bare when he discussed his graduating class of 30, all but 2 sought secondary education, yet none but himself went to university, and 27 of the 30 have left the area to seek work elsewhere. His statement that his is "the last generation to see (or do) agricultural work," was frightening to consider in so rural a landscape with so long a history of such.

5. (Get reference). Inherit the Wind.

6. Cunningham, Liam. Lecture on 'Fr. McDyer and Development in the Gleann and the Gaeltach'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal. Ireland. 09April2001. Liam stated succinctly "If you worked for a private corporation and someone wanted to invest and do business in Irish - you would do it in Irish." This corresponds to my own observation about Leonard's use of Gaelic in his store when encouraged by our own use of the language.

7. Ibid. While i was in Scotland i was asked what my favorite thing about my trip was so far. I responded that while i was in Amsterdam i was struck by, not only the pleasant way that the proprietors of shops spoke English when i engaged them, i was also able to hear at most times two or more other languages being spoken. I want my daughter to speak more than one language, for in America we traditionally speak only English and therefore have no language and no understanding of culture outside our own narrow insular view.

8. McGarbaigh, Meabh. Lecture on 'Women's Perspective on Development'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 26April2001. In regard to Gaelic and the loss of 'village culture' it is like (Harp Instructor) said, "people haven't copt to how much they have lost" (Harp Instructor). Harp Recital. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 22April2001.

9. Cunningham, Liam. Lecture on 'Fr. McDyer and Development in the Gleann and the Gaeltach'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal. Ireland. 09April2001. The down side of this is that it encourages outsiders to buy 'holiday homes' who are resident in the community for 3 weeks a year, and often bring their supplies, consequently depriving the local service sector of tourist income.

10. Ó Gallchóir, Cathal. Lecture on 'Indigenous Development and Employment in the Gaeltacht'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 30April2001. Unfortunately there is no mechanism for enforcement of this if a corporation chose to ignore the request.

11. Cunningham, L. Lecture on 'Fr. McDyer and Development in the Gleann and the Gaeltach'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal. Ireland. 09April2001. Even though the Udrás na Gaeltachta have power over the funds directed to the Gaeltacht, the Gaeltacht areas are still considered to be state supported museum pieces, clinging desperately to an out-dated mode of existence, not to mention a "dead language".

12. Severin, Delia. Seminar on "Fr. McDyer and the Gaeltacht'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal. Ireland. 09April2001.

13. Paddy. Conversation with author. Dublin, Ireland. 13May2001.

14. Ibid. Paddy's feeling about the two sides of the Liffey extended to "your man O'Casey" who preferred the pubs and the working class denizens of the East Side, supposedly so did 'my man' Joyce. He said a man on the West Side in a pub would likely be a tourist who paid £3 for a pint and has been at it for as many hours, while on the East Side would be a working man on his sixth pint and he paid only £2 for his. I would add that it would more likely be cold (blue tap) on the West Side and room temperature (red tap) on the East Side. Ironically NPR recently aired a piece on the demise of the authentic pub in Dublin. It provided an excellent distinction between my experience of Biddy McShane's on my first night in the Gleann and my last night in Dublin at Msrs. Maguire. Karr, Rick. 'Irish Pubs'. Weekend Edition - Sunday. Washington D.C.: National Public Radio. 27May2001.

Spirituality

Epigraph: Rumi. 'The Waterwheel' Barks, Coleman (tr). The Essential Rumi. London: Penguin. 1999. 247. The section introduction for 'Being Woven: Communal Practice', from which this poem comes, details a poetic life where oral tradition and communal reciprocity take place.

1. Johnson, Noah. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 18April2001.

2. Two texts that make this bias explicit, one written by a Classicist looking at Continental Paganism, Dowden, Ken. European Paganism: The Realities of Cult from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. London: Routledge. 2000. The other by a Celtic scholar connected with University College Dublin looking at Ireland, Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland. Wilton; Collins. 1999.

3. My interest in the Ogham alphabet's Tree associations, and Yew in particular was greatly enhanced by the loan from Gordon Beck of Chetan, Anand & Brueton, Diana. The Sacred Yew. London; Arkana. 1994. I found and purchased a used copy of the text in London. I also explored other works on Heritage Trees throughout the Islands.

4. Rosslyn Chapel, the Templar association with the Sinclairs and the establishment of Scottish kingship by Robert the Bruce, as well as the creation of Freemasonry from this interaction are detailed in numerous books on the mystery of Rennes le Chateau and the Templars. The texts which i acquired about Rosslyn Chapel were, Rosslyn, Earl. Rosslyn Chapel. Rosslyn; Rosslyn Chapel Trust. 1997. "Over the years the Guilds, the Templars, the Rosicrucians and the Masons have all recognised something of their own mystery teaching in the complex allegory presented by Rosslyn Chapel. An arcanum, a book in stone. An unfinished labour of love that lasts forever." Brydon, Robert. The Guilds, The Masons, and the Rosy Cross. Rosslyn; Rosslyn Chapel Trust. 1994. Inside back cover.

5. Bergin. Conversation with author. Isle of Skye, Scotland. 04April2001. I talked to Bergin, whose name is the German form of Brighid, about the Treskelion, or Treskile, an emblem both of the Druids and likely the Goddess Brighid, representing both the triplicity of the Mother Goddess, but more likely a icon for her three personas, the healer (midwifery), the poet (seership/druids), and the smith (alchemy/fire). She was looking for a personal icon and my explication of Brighid, the Druids and the Treskilion helped her.

6. Unknown Couple. Conversation with author. Oban, Scotland. 06April2001. I was forced to cut the top of the wand and remove its great feathery leaves. I looked odd i am sure with this tree branch sticking out of the straps of my pack, nearly a foot taller than my head and the top of the bag. Needless to say it was hard to miss it, a modern day Druid with a yew branch, tree of immortality, and likely the original World Tree, or axis mundi, hovering over me like a guardian Faerie or a green halo.

7. Gabrielle. Conversation with author. Newgrange, Co. Meath, Ireland. After listening to me go on about Newgrange, Irish Folklore, and the Megalithic Culture in Europe, she remarked, "You're really into this Irish thing aren't you?" She also put a spin on what Michael D. Higgins was doing in regard to the Aborigines of Australia. She said for the most part the people of Australia regard them as citizens and that the pressure to recognize them formally was so much outside grandstanding, and not likely to affect either the Aboriginal people or the Australian citizens. I had a conversation with some American tourists from Arizona my last night in Dublin, where I found it impossible to impress upon them, and consequently exacerbating to discuss, the similarity between what happened in Ireland in regards to the English colonization, which they were quite happy to lambaste, and what happened to the Native Americans throughout the Americas. Their response to the question of language and its destruction, was that the "Indian children were getting a chance to improve their prospects and be part of the nation." Sound familiar? Unknown Tourist group. Conversation with author. Dublin, Ireland. 13May2001.

8. Mabus, Jesse L. 'Brugh na Boinne and the Triple Irish Goddess'. unpublished research paper. Olympia, Washington: The Evergreen State College. 1998. One of the most interesting things i did learn while at Newgrange was that when you stand outside the womb-tomb you are at eye-level with the horizon and below the floor of the inner chamber. When you have entered that chamber you have changed your position so that you are now eye-level with the lintel box and standing above the ground level outside the tomb. I saw it as a twist on the occult maxim 'As Above So Below', which refers to the reflective quality of the Godhead in our mundane personal existence. I also found a new spin on the Archaeo-Astronomy explication of the Boyne Valley monuments in Aisling Quarterly. It revolves around the number of kerbstones at the base of the three monuments, Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth, and how they may represent a crude form of calendrical observation on the movement of Sun, Moon, and Venus and their tripartite conjunction. Macbain, Gillies, 'Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth'. The Aisling Quarterly; 28:14-19. Mí Márta, 2001.

9. Carroll, Róisín. The Crane Bag; Ogham Oils and Essences. Carlingford; Irish Ogham. 1997. Like so many of the texts i acquired on my trip, i have had little or no time to peruse their contents, and therefore they do not factor into this paper. In an ideal situation they would be part of the information i worked through here.

10. It was Frankie i believe who told a story to someone staying in the cottage near the Protestant church that a young woman had traveled along that road one night and heard the wail of the beansidhe. When she told others about it after racing home, she was informed that they were actually 'famine babies', and that next night the entire town went out to the beach and held a prayer vigil for them. I do not recall who it was that told me this story.

11. While i was in Edinburgh i took a tour, there are many to chose from, whose focus was Witchcraft and the history of the Burning Times in Edinburgh. I was psychically pained when we entered a room containing instruments used in the torture of Witches to obtain confession. There is a plaque near Edinburgh Castle where many were executed for Witchcraft that was erected for the Women who had lost their lives in that time. The plaque has two women's heads depicted, one a Crone for the women who were using their arts to heal and harm as they had for generations before, and the other a Maiden, for those who had wrongly been accused and where victims of the madness called the Burning Times. One of the most powerful things i learned on that tour, beyond the existence of the plaque, was that on Samhain, the entire area around the plaque is absolutely covered in flowers. Flowers brought there by current practitioners of Witchcraft and other occult sciences, as well as those sympathetic to the Women who died there, to recognize the dead on a day when they draw closest to the world of the living.

12. Nilsson, Angela. Conversation with author. Bus to Daoire, Northern Ireland. 27April2001.

13. Compton, Bill. Conversation with author. Daoire, Northern Ireland. 28April2001. I was particularly incensed when i asked about a depiction of the Scottish Royal House of Stuart and the Hanoverian usurpers, which lacked an image of Charles III, or Bonnie Prince Charlie the Jacobite 'Young Pretender'. The response was, "He isn't important to us." His absence, even though he wasn't "important" to the history of the city, suggests a disavowal of the Stuart claim to the throne after the ascension of the house of Orange. While in Scotland, every castle i visited had a locket of his hair. Likewise i learned the most inflammatory toast there, "To the little man in the black velvet jacket." It is a toast to the mole, which tripped the horse that threw and killed William of Orange.

14. Head, Sarah. Conversation with author. Famine Museum, Ireland. 14April2001.

15. Hill, Patrick. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 23April2001. The memories i was attempting to collect are for a poem i want to write based on 'Kadish' by Allen Ginsberg, which details not only our troubled relationship, but what helped make him the man he was.

16. Galuska, Jessie. Seminar on 'Mary Condren, Village Culture and Reflections on the Gleann'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 03May2001. Chris one of my cottage mates took some of the drúcht Lá Bealtaine, or May Day dew and blessed our lintel, which until I came across Aisling Quarterly, produced by an intentional community on the Arran Isles, did i accept that Mary had not been mistaking May Day dew for Brighid's Eve dew. Fiannachta, Padraig O. 'Féile na Bealtaine' The Aisling Quarterly; 23: 25-26. Bealtaine 1998. Unfortunatly the article is in Gaelic and therefore requires translation for me to learn more than the few words, like May Day dew which are translated.

17. Dixon, Trina. Seminar on Mary Condren. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 03May2001. Trina remarked that "she wanted her to be more edgy, that some of her individual thought had leaked into her personality." I believe Trina was looking for the same person who made me feel the Brighid work was somewhat less than political, that being Starhawk, the Bay Area Wiccan leader and political activist. Although i think what Mary said about the focus of her work in ritual is useful. "What would a woman's voice sound like if the role of the ritual was to make her voice heard." Condren, Mary. Lecture on 'Brighid Rituals'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 30April2001. On a side note in my conversation with Mary i offered a reference which she was very interested in. While cited in her book The Serpent and The Goddess, the information was unknown to her. It discusses the exchange of a wand by Callieach Beara and Brighid at the Winter Solstice and which i used as a basis for comparison with the Greek Mother/Daughter relationship between Demeter and Persephone in my paper on Brugh na Bóinne. Condren Mary. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 02May2001.

18. Kazynscki, Jayne. Conversation with author. Sligo, Ireland. 14April2001.

19. Valiant, Crystal & Stearns, Stacey. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 02May2001.

20. Galuska, Jessie. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 08May2001. I asked during this conversation whether she objected to me reading it at the Feis, and dedicating it to her publicly.

21. Hawkes, Martin(?). Introduction of Michael D. Higgins at Brehon Law Conference. Ballyvaughn, Co. Clare, Ireland. 04May2001.

22. Higgins, Michael D. Q&A Session at Hyland's Bistro. Ballyvaughn, Co. Clare, Ireland. 05May2001. One of the most powerful things he said, in addition to his own poem for his daughter, was a quote from Rilke, "We are very much less than happy in the world that is mediated for us." What follows is from the "Visionary' section of The Aisling Quarterly. Seymour, John. 'A Dream'. The Aisling Quarterly; 23: 64-65. Bealtaine 1998.
"Let us dedicate ourselves from henceforth to out all unnecessary imports into this island. Let us buy nothing in that we can't provide ourselves. We will need some capital to achieve this - not much but some, and let us provide this capital for ourselves. Let us swear never to borrow another penny from the mainland. We have a good working Credit Union already - let us support it! Let us shame each other into supporting it! And make its policy never to invest a penny on the mainland - invest all it has right here on our beautiful island. And then let us proceed like this:
1. It is madness for an island with fine grass and a very long grazing season to buy its milk from the mainland. Let us set up one young farmer as our island milk distributor and all promise to support him - and not another pint of milk from the mainland. It should be a matter of deep shame for us to buy one drop of milk, or ounce of cheese or butter, from abroad. Let us find the money together to send one young couple to the mainland where they can learn to make good cheese and butter and yoghurt. Their job will be first to supply the island, and only second to produce export for the mainland. There is no reason why their produce should not be supreme in quality - of world renown.
2. It is equally silly and dishonourable far a grazing island to import meat. Let us set up one family with an abattior - and henceforth kill our own beef and lamb and mutton on the island. Let us fat our cattle - and not ship them to the mainland as stores, and let us send any surplus meat we have to export on the hook - not the hoof. We might then even add a tannery and leather industry to our economy. If we cannot grow enough grain and fodder to fatten our animals then buy some from the mainland. It will be a lot more cost effective than importing beef.
3. See if we cannot grow our own bread corn. If we cannot sensibly grow wheat then import some in the grain and maybe mix it with rye and barley and get people used to eating that. Set some young person as a miller - and maybe another as a baker. Shame people into eating our good island bread!
4. Get some second-hand wool carding machine, and a spinning jenny, and a flying shuttle loom or two and process our own wool. Not an ounce of it again to the mainland. Try to take all produce up to its highest state on manufacture. People who are content to live in a colonial economy (selling raw material and buying finished goods) are suckers and that is all there is about it.
5. Encourage - and at first susidise - a small-scale fishing industry. Swear never to import another piece of fish. Get some people to learn the arts of preserving, smoking, and pickling fish. Lay down an oyster bed or two on our east shore. Establish a sea water holding tank for lobsters. Only export fish products which are surplus to our requirements - we come first!
6. Encourage people to garden again - and set up at least one market garden, with poultry and pigs as well perhaps. Produce all our own eggs, poultry meat, pork, ham and bacon. We should insist on living on the fat of the land - the very best of everything there is.
7. Aim at complete self-sufficiency in energy. There is one thing this island is rich in and that is wind! Aim to set up wind generators all along our west coast until we are producing all our own electricity. If we have to have batteries, then get batteries, as money becomes available.
8. And the most controversial thing of all - ban cars from the island! They are not needed on an island the size of ours. We would save a vast amount of money by doing without them. Compare Sark, in the Channel Islands, and Norderney in the Friesian Islands where cars are not allowed. They are so peaceful that discriminating tourist flock to them. Have plenty of horse transport. Encourage some young enthusiast to buy a Galway Hooker to sail tourists about. Encourage the more interested and discriminating kind of tourist. Such people will flock anyway to an island where so many interesting things are going on. Improve the beauty of the island by insisting on building with local material again (thus incidentally, saving foreign exchange). Start treating sewage in methane digesters, thus avoiding polluting the drinking water and also providing useful methane gas and good fertiliser for the land." Well the Dreamer put all this before his fellow islanders. And do you think they took the slightest notice of him? Yes? You've got to be joking mate.

23. Berube, Danielle. Conversation with author. Teelin, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 21April2001.

24. Cúl a Dún seisun (featuring members of Altan). Teelin, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 21April2001.

25. Munat, Ted. Seminar on Mary Condren. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 03May2001.

26. Head, Sorcha. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 22April2001.

27. Hill, Patrick. Conversation with author. Ballyvaughn, Co Clare, Ireland. 05May2001.

28. Kazynscki, Jayne. Conversation with author. Ballyvaughn, Co. Clare, Ireland. 06May2001. We wondered how many of our classmates would be offended at the smell of cow dung, not seeing its importance in the agricultural cycle.

29. Valiant, Crystal. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 02May2001. As a trained mediator, she finds this inability of Greeners to walk their talk disappointing and troublesome.

30. Kazynscki, Jayne. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 03May2001.

31. Taylor, Lawrence J. Lecture on 'Respectful Anthropology'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 09May2001.

32. Taylor, Lawrence. Conversation with author. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 10May2001.

33. Enser, Amy. Seminar on 'Mary Condren'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 03May2001.

34. Taylor, Lawrence J. Lecture on 'Respectful Anthropology'. GlenCholmCille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. 09May2001.

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Irish Spring

At the End of the Day

04June2001

Gaelic

Gaeltacht Studies

Spirituality

I. Yesterday

II. Today

III. Tomorrow

Poetry

Collected Poems

Notes

Gaelic

Gaelictacht Studies

Spirituality

Bibliography

Further Reading