Excellent, draw up the armchair and crack open the popcorn…it’s election time again!

I’ve been caught in the horns of a dilemma, one shared by many other citizens; namely, a reluctance to vote for the morons currently in charge coupled with a deep feeling of foreboding when I consider the morons-in-waiting. Enda Kenny – a man whose charisma is a negative force capable of overwhelming the righteous anger of the nation. If he had even a modicum of character we would be falling over ourselves to elect him. According to the EU profiler Fine Gael is almost identical to FF on a map of political beliefs so he really should have been able to mop up the votes from disillusioned Fiana Fail voters. Mind you it’s probably not fair to pick on FG -The rest are not exactly awe inspiring either.

So far Labour has managed to come out the best; not well, just the best of a bad lot. I liked some of what they had to say at their conference and the fact that they recognized the futility of striking. But there are still huge swathes of policy that remains vague and unfocused.

The Green Party – apart from doing a startling imitation of a trained poodle responding to its master’s voice whenever Brian Cowen speaks -lied through its teeth before and as it took power about its intentions regarding the Hill of Tara. The moment they took office, they reneged on every promise and shamelessly bargained away our national heritage. They propped up, enabled and winked at the corruption behind the prostitution of one of our great national treasures. They will never receive a vote from me again. Their commitment to the environment and conservationism does not extend beyond installing bicycle ramps.

In fact you would be forgiven for ignoring the local and European elections, crawling into a hole and just letting it all go by. I was reared to vote; my grandparents fought for that vote. People died so that I could live in a democracy. But confronted with the sad gallery of idiots vying for that vote, i contemplated opting out.

But then came along….Libertas. And they inspired me to vote albeit not in quiet the way they hoped. I will crawl over broken glass, brave hurricanes and even talk to canvassers in order to exercise my democratic right to keep a shower of bigoted, narrow-minded, ignorant, fascists out of power.

Linked to anti Semitism, xenophobia and racism, anti-European, led by a shadowy and shifty man whose track record is disturbing, filled with nonsensical pseudo facts and constantly misinformed on crucial points, it’s less a real political party and more a glorified residents’ committee. Libertas is prone to making statements about some heinous misuse of public funds or some wrong being perpetrated that only they can see clearly and can hope to resolve but when questioned the problem melts away under scrutiny, often turning out to be nothing more than the Libertasian’s fundemental inability to grasp the situation. They confused political terms, make gross errors of judgment (Caroline Simmons quoting a Wikipedia page and Libertas editing its own page to remove the fact that it supported strike breaking)

And yet there are people who overlook the bigotry and scaremongering because Libertas is tapping into their baser side. I fear greatly that they may pick up a vote or two. So I personally shall be exercising mine – I will vote for anyone but Libertas and their imported brand of fascism.
Our country may not be perfect, we may have our shortcomings as a society, we may be up the creek having pawned the paddle – but we don’t deserve Libertas.

Public hearing into revised Corrib route

RTE.ie News reports: 

An Bord Pleanála is to hold a public hearing into a revised onshore pipeline route for the Corrib gas project in north Mayo.

The application is being made by Shell E&P Ireland, which is also seeking a compulsory acquisition order to gain access to private lands.

The hearing into the revised onshore pipeline route will get under way in Belmullet this morning and is expected to last for several weeks

Shell is seeking planning permission to lay 9.2km of pipeline to connect to an offshore line which will transport gas to the Corrib refinery in Bellanaboy.

The original route was exempted from planning permission nine years ago but when work began in 2005 locals objected on health and safety grounds.

The new route is a minimum of 140m from occupied housing. Up to 80 submissions are expected to be heard by An Bord Pleanála in the coming weeks.

Objections have been lodged by local residents’ groups and environmentalists.

This is a much deserved ray of hope for the Corrib protesters; while the story has faded slightly from public view on May 9th 2009 80 protesters occupied the site of the Shell Glengad beach site, near Belmullet Co Mayo in order to remove perimeter fencing (Irish Times Saturday, May 9, 2009). One protester, Willie Corduff lodged himself under a truck in order to passively protest; he was later removed by force and injured by Shell security personel, according to eyewitness reports posted on various online support groups.

The fencing was erected by Shell at Glengad beach without planning permission; what muddies the water slightly is that entire Shell proposed route for the gas pipeline was originally exempted from planning permission (without reference to the public). However this exemption applied only to the route, according to protesters and not to individual erections and works.

On May 14th what has been described as a “daring protest” protesters mounted tripod structures to halt the works at Glengad, proving that the fight was far from over. The protest group Shell to Sea have repeatedly asked for the Corrib Gas to be processed at sea; this is standard practice and generally considered to have less environmental impact and fewer health and safety implications.

 For their part Shell claim that “the safety and security of our employees, our contractors and the communities in which we operate is the number one priority for the Corrib gas partners.” On the subject of environmental impact the company states “As a result of the screening studies, it was concluded that the preferred development scenario for the Corrib field was a subsea system tied back to a processing terminal onshore” (shell.com)

Whatever the right of it, the fact remains that a handful of community activists have suceeded in sending the matter back to An Bord Pleanala (the board in Ireland that deals with development and planning.) This is no mean feat in itself.

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Tags: Environment | protest | Ireland | SHELL | Planning | Republic of Ireland | Royal Dutch Shell Oil | corrib gas | shell to sea | royal dutch | an bord pleanala

The Perils of Publishing Poetry

I founded a poetry site in 2000, the Pagan Poetry Pages, to provide a space for poets whose influences and interests were non-conformist. With a loose brief of “poetry reflecting our interest in spiritual and metaphysical themes” we quickly grew to include poets who were not Pagan but deeply spiritual in their writing and Pagans who never wrote about their spirituality. In the end the PPP, as it is affectionately known, evolved into a place where good poetry was all that mattered; the need to express and the desire to share that expression was paramount.

Then recently, we decided to add another “P” to the PPP – “publications.” The creation of an anthology of our poets  has been a long-cherished project; finally we found the right combination of poets and editors and it began to take shape. Simone LA Hogan, my co-editor brought invaluable skills both technical and aesthetic while the talented American poet, Kevin V. Moore, brought an eagle eye to the project considering not only the submitted poems but catching many an evil typo as he went. The result is a book we are all, justly, proud of but the journey to this point has been both instructive and challenging. For anyone hoping to self publish, there are some pitfalls and pratfalls ahead!

The first and most obvious challenge for us was to gather the poetry; we had submissions from current members but decided to include new works as well. This opened up the site to new members and encouraged a fresh input into both the proposed anthology and the members’ forum. Once we had chosen poems - and made the copyright and legal position clear to each contributor – we were then faced with a formidable amount of formatting and design.

For the author publishing a novel, the formatting may not present as great an obstacle; but fitting dozens of poems into a suitable number of pages proved too much for me! After 3 weeks of laborious “copy and pasting” Simone stepped in, and in three days had the bulk of the work done. Another couple of days and she had whipped it into a pretty shape and added illustrations. I turned my attention to the covers a job I think I managed rather well; but I now know that any future attempt on my part to publish a book will start with making someone else do the formatting!

Our next challenge was the rather boring but necessary task of proof reading. I cannot recommend highly enough that you share this task among many pairs of eyes. Even with three of us feverishly reading we still caught a few errors later on. It won’t be the end of the world if one slips by – I have read many a published text with the odd mistake – but respect for the reader demands that you do your best to remove them all.

We choose to invest in ISBN numbers; the Nielsen Agency is the place to start if you are in Ireland or the UK. They come in blocks of ten and we saw it as an investment in our future projects; as it turns out it is a huge asset in promoting the book and getting it into mainstream bookshops. In the weeks since our official launch date, May 1st 2009, we have received orders from book wholesalers in the UK as well as independent retailers. ISBN are necessary if you wish to see your book take off.

We made a few mistakes as we blundered along; we underpriced our work at first and had to have the list price changed by Nielson and Amazon. When I say “we” honesty compels me to admit it was I, really. We learned that postage can be much higher than we fondly imagined. We also learned that a self published book can be hard to market.

You need to be proactive, and think creatively, when trying to promote your self published work; think of forums, websites, networks or writers, who might be interested. Try small retailers and bookstores and offer them sale or return. If publishing on Cafepress or Lulu consider buying ten at a time to have on hand, to distribute locally. Try everything – some things will work, others are more effort than reward. But you learn from every mistake.

Publishing the anthology was an amazing experience and one that has convinced me that for poets in particular, there really are not enough outlets for their work. As a result once we have recovered from Pagan Paeans  we plan on publishing Kevin V Moore’s collection of poems on New England; followed by a collection of essays and a second anthology. There are few monetary incentives to do so; poetry will never make you rich. But the pleasure our first offering has given poet and reader alike may well be the best reward of all.

Words are written to be read!

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Tags: Culture | Ireland | poetry | books | Writing | Publishing | dublin | Pagan | poem | paganism | pagan paeans | self publi | pagan poetry pages

Pamela Izevbhekhai and Schadenfreude

Terry Prone wrote an excellent article that sums up the case imo; leaving aside the very dubious issues of who forged what and why, the sheer glee and self righteousness of those who now feel justified in having persecuted this woman and her innocent children is disgusting. How can you rejoice that those two girls will almost certainly not only now be deported but will certainly along with their mother face the wrath of the Nigerian government?

What people seem to be determined to overlook is that it was right to support Izevbekhai, because the mere possibility of her daughters suffering genital mutilation isn’t worth the risk. I’d sooner be wrong than risk the life and well-being of those two young women.

 Are we to guard our generosity and our compassion and gloat when it seems we are “justified” in our selfishness? Finding out that compassion was -perhaps- misplaced does not diminish the need for compassion. And why were we deporting them anyway?

 Leaving aside any question of fraud – and again, there is evidence that while the paperwork may have been unreliable the child did exist and did die of FGM, including investigations done by both Irish journalists and Irish immigration officers – but why deport two young women and her mother who have done nothing but integrate into our society? Why make two teens, whose experience to date has been largely Irish, go home to an alien homeland?

I find myself more depressed by the baying and howling reaction of the bigots to this case and it’s undeniably annoying outcome worse than any fraud Izevbekhai perpetrated. Is this what and who we want to be?

Terry Prone says “There is at least a case for suggesting that in this instance, Ireland might show itself to be bigger, more generous and more caring than these parents deserve. In the interests of the children. ” Thanks all passing gods that some journalists in this country retain a sense of perspective. Sad, a sad case, a sad fraud and a sad and mean-spirited spiteful reaction.

Pagan Paeans Anthology and Competition

“Inspirations”
The Paganpoetrypages.com (The PPP) is proud to announce its latest poetry competition, to celebrate the launch of the first anthology of The PPP on May 1st (Bealtine) 2009.
Pagan Paeans is a wonderful collection of poetry from the satirical and comic to the deeply spiritual.

How to enter:
On www.paganpoetrypages.com in the members forum, we’ve posted two images as inspiration – all you have to do is look and write a poem. The best , most original take on it wins! Just go to the section marked PPP competitions and follow the instructions on how to post an entry.

The winner will recieve a great prize; a £20 gift voucher for Amazon and a free copy of Pagan Paeans, the first PPP anthology (out May 1st!)

If you are not already a member, just register, it’s free and very easy to do!
www.paganpoetrypages.com.

If you have any queries please email ppp @ anfianna.com.

Pagan Paeans is published by PPP publications and will be available through Cafepress.com or for Irish members details of purchasing directly from the PPP will be posted on site

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Tags: Culture | Australia | Ireland | poetry | Literature | America | Creative | spirituality | United Kingdom | satire | paganism | anthology | pagan paeans

When is a controversy..

….not a controversy?

Pat Kenny did a segment on the Egan “hijab” case a few days ago; the Egans still want to campaign to make the wearing of the Hijab in Irish schools a matter of right, rather than leaving it to the individual school as per Department of Education policy. However as was noted by so many callers and respondents to the show, the fact that there is nothing stopping their daughter from wearing the headscarf to her school and the fact that her school has not banned it seems to be a matter of dismay rather than rejoicing for the Islamic converts.

It is hard not to ask why, when they have managed to get their own way in this, they continue to make it an issue; one cannot help thinking that if the school or Department had refused their request outright they would have been happier. It is in fact hard not to feel that the Egans wanted to be refused, they wanted to make an issue out of it, and the middle ground espoused by the State has somewhat taken the wind out of their sails.

I make no secret of the fact that I find their attitude irritating; they have no grounds to complain, their child is allowed to wear it, they simply want to impose their own agenda on others. I also make no secret of the fact that I reject the apologist’s explanation for the wearing of the Hijab; I’ve said it all before so I won’t repeat myself.

There was however one comment of the Egan’s that annoyed me a few months ago and seeing as it has arisen again I’m going to comment on it now.

I remember Mr Egan’s response in one newspaper; he lectured the reader on cultural awareness and inparticular one phrase stuck in my mind “no public space is culturally nuetral.”

I would like to congratulate Mr Egan, we’ve finally found some common ground! Yes, no public space is culturally nuetral. And in Ireland the culture dominating that public space is Irish. This does not mean that we cannot or should not accommodate other cultures – but we do Ireland a disservice if we allow Irish public space to be abused by cultural expressions that in any way denigrate or diminish our citizens. And women make up a good half of the citizenry of this country.

As for schools, Schools are not entirely public spaces. I cannot simply wander in off the street and poke around a school. They are protected spaces, and subject to rules partly determined by the State and partly by the administration of the school. Uniforms are and always have been an accepted part of School culture. Schools have the right to impose uniforms, and to punish deviation from uniforms. These are the rules, and they apply to all pupils in the school equally.
Equally, there’s the rub. The fact is that many cultures demand a garment be worn in direct contravention of a school’s uniform policy; Music cultures for example frequently impose garments and modes of dress, in order to show allegiance to or appreciation of that culture. But I have yet to find a school that will allow children to contravene uniform policy by dressing like a punk, and dismiss it as “cultural”.

And the wearing of the Hijab, we are repeatedly reminded, is cultural, not religious.

Spam Spam Spam Spam

No not an influx of Vikings - the contents of my comments spam folder. I try to empty it regularly but it’s fallen to the bottom of the “to-do” list recently so I rolled up my sleeves today and got on with it. It was a mish mash of the usual idiocy – Enlarge this, Enhance that, Lose something, Gain something else. There was a comment that slipped through the net, that should not have been in the spam folder; several follow-up racist spams from my blog on Kevin “i used to be a journalist” Myers and Pamela Izevbehai ; several comments accusing me of racism because of  Hijabs and Irish Schools and a few agreeing with me on the grounds that all muslims are evil! evil! and the west is doomed! doomed!

What I found absolutely fascinating was the similarities between the racist comments and the ones accusing me of racism. They start with a sneering pseudo intellectualism “if you understood the first thing about…if you knew what I know….It’s a pity you have no facts to back up your facts…” then progress to a challenge “I will debate this with you if you are up to it? if you can prove to me that  you are worthy to debate with me I will reveeal the facts that I can’t reveal just right now as I am not sure you are up to debating them” and ending with outrage “Oh I see you have removed my perfectly polite comments / ignored my challenge. Obviously you are not fit to debate with me on this issue”

Some tips for would be challengers, if they want to avoid the Spam Trap.

• Firstly don’t post from, or give your website as, a racist site. This includes white supremacists, BNP, Aryan nation, and general blogs filled with idiotic racist randomness. Your comments will automatically drop into spam and I won’t even know they are there, until days like this when I read them for my amusement.
• Secondly, avoid personal threats. I don’t know what it is about them but they really make me unwilling to engage with the poster. Just my little foible.
• Try to remember that if you post racist comments you can’t then claim not to be racist. really. It’s a bit thick.
• Try to refrain from patronizing me. It’s a personal foible again, and I know it’s self indulgent but unless you can demonstrate a modicum of intelligence trying to sneer at me will result in my ignoring you.
• It’s not enough just to say I’m wrong, no matter how many different ways you say it and in the case of one correspondent, no matter how overblown and pompous the language. Although I am awarding him special points for the gratuitous use of the phrase Ad Hominem - sadly an incorrect use of it but points awarded for trying! Try to actually address the facts and prove me wrong. Otherwise, spam city for you.

So last year was a good year. In between personal ramblings about getting2008ried and some random thoughts on my gender and their foibles, friends, renting, and other topics, I managed to outrage the politically correct and the terminally stupid equally. Always a good sign I find! So here’s to 2009 – I hope to irritate both extremes just as much.

I refuse to Participate in a Recession

I really do.

Sorry and all that but I didn’t benefit from the boom, particularly so why should I have to suffer the bust?

Let me explain; I work hard for a living but in a job that will never yield massive riches. It satisfies me intellectually and emotionally and leaves time for my creative pursuits. I accept the trade off between satisfaction and renumeration. I have no shares, no mortgage, a small amount of savings, I drive a 15 year old car, I save for what I want, and my credit card (once a wasteland of debt and overspending) now boasts a measly and respectable balance.

Now I’m being told that I should tighten my belt – but I never got to loosen the damn thing. Doom and Gloom abounds, but I never got to be frivolous and wasteful. It’s not fair. I didn’t speculate, I am not a developer, I am not even a pawn of a developer because I don’t own a house. I pay my tax and I get nothing back, I can;t get a medical card, or social welfare supplements. I am that much maligned animal, the middle-class, educated worker. I am not eligible for the helping hand of the welfare system nor am I rolling in money and shares with a holiday home in France.

So, and here’s my stance on the whole matter. I refuse to participate. Go have your recession, you had your boom without asking me. I’m going to sit here in the corner listening to 80s music and contemplating the passage of time…someone come get me when the Lottery in on?

And while we’re on the subject….

Friends….yesterday I was musing on the phenomenon of friends becoming the main source of angst in my life and today on the same general theme I’ve been thinking about the way friends have changed or failed to change over the years.

The friends I have retained in my life the longest, have by and large reinvented themselves several times over; some changes have been superficial and some have been bone deep, but all have been radical in their own way. From party animal to family man, from career girl to mother, from liberal to conservative, from screwed up to sane.

Yet in some indefinable way they’ve remained the same person. There is something fundamentally and intrinsically “true” about who they are, even at their most lost.

On the other side we have the friends who seem to have undergone fundamental shifts in personality – who suddenly and without warning act so far out of character it leaves us stunned, who create damage and fallout and the rest of us can only gape in surprise.

Are they, like the others, fundamentally true to themselves? Is this seeming apocalypse of personality really only the unveiling of their true self? or are they both the person we thought them to be andthe person they morph into and the only difference is that prior to that moment they had not encountered a situation that plumbed the depths of their restraint, morality or self control?

As I get older I begin to embrace the latter explanation. I think that many people are kind, good, decent, friendly,moral or trustworthy only within certain parameters. Should they meet with a need that they cannot satisfy by such behaviour they will use other tools – cruelty, deception, lies, cheating. 

The work colleague who is  scrupulous about returning your change from a trip to the shops – thus earning a reputation for honesty – sees a promotion going your way and not theirs. They surprise you by claiming credit for your work, in order to secure the post. The prize outweighed any impulse to decency.

The friend who is so kind and thoughtful as a general rule, is found to be sleeping with her best mate’s husband. Her “kind” behaviour was less important to her than her desire to have a partner and her needs  were far more important to her. Being kind or trustworthy simply served her to a point, but once there was a contest between her needs and her friends, she chose herself.

This is a depressingly common behavioral pattern; people excuse their behaviour no matter how selfish, or cruel by invoking the “I have to be true to myself” rule. Leave your wife and kids for an affair? Well of course, you have to be happy don’t you! Stab your best mate in the back for a bloke? Well, it’s your life and you have to look after yourself.

The religion of self fulfillment that has been the legacy of the latter part of the 20th century has become all pervasive now. Duty, self sacrifice and loyalty are increasingly unpopular terms. But now I think of it, the friends I remain close to also share those virtues. They may change and grow and evolve as people but they are united in the things they won’t do to further their own agenda.

They may be a rare breed, these old and true friends, but then again, what’s rare is wonderful

With Friends Like These….

I remember in my twenties all our relationship problems centred around men. Who was dating whom, who fancied you, who had the most useless dysfunctional excuse of a boyfriend.

 Then in my thirties it turned into endless discussions and problems with and about friends. Whether because of age or the stage we’re all at in life, I don’t know but there seems to be a never ending stream of drama and angst coming from that source. Old friends, work friends, pals and mates….

Our friends groups have split into two camps – those who are settled in life and happy and those who aren’t.

Now I don’t mean those who are married versus those who are single. In fact more than half the first group is made up of single friends, who are happy and have found a good place in life, who may not have a partner but who are living successful lives, full lives. In the second group are a lot of married friends who are unhappy, dissatisfied and generally pissed off with the choices they’ve made.

But those who are happy overall are running out of patience with the drama and angst and whinging of those who aren’t and those who aren’t constantly accuse those who are of being smug and unsympathetic.
Many of the “problems” everyone seems to be fighting about aren’t problems at all they’re just silly things people have chosen to be insulted / offended by. And then there’s the recurring patterns – if you’re on your umpteenth bad relationship with a shallow vacuous man who is vain and selfish then no one really wants to give out the same tired advice yet again for you to ignore again.

Or friends engineering reasons to be upset with the rest of us, possibly out of self pity and possibly because they are as mad as a bag of snakes. One friend claims that no one will come and do the things she likes to do or if they do turn up, they moan and it spoils it for her. Sounds like a reasonable  complaint?  Sure – except what she fails to realize is that in fact she bullies friends into going: if they demur for any reason she tells them that they are no longer her friends as they have nothing in common any more. When the  emotional blackmail works and they drop everything to attend, she then spends the evening pointing at them and saying “Oh, I can tell you’re not enjoying it. Oh look at so-and-so, they’re just dying to say this is crap.” And then she goes home convinced that her friends attended reluctantly and called the evening crap.

It’s not just female friends either although they do provide some of the more tortuous and spectacular examples. It seems to be age rather than gender related; or maybe it’s just the fallout of having known one another a long time.

 One thing I notice, although I daren’t say it for fear of losing a limb to the outrage, is that the unhappy among us are those who are trying to live the same lifestyle that we all shared in our twenties. Whether attached or single, they want to party and they still seek their excitement in the social scene. Those who are content, seek their thrills with their partner, or in their achievements, or in a mixture of the good things in life;  from one end of the month to another they may not go drinking, or dancing although when they do they enjoy it.

One friend cannot turn up to meet us without being drunk. While this would have gone unremarked ten years ago, when you’re forty it seems a little odd. And the tolerance for bullshit we had ten years ago – including the drunken ramblings of mates – has decreased tenfold in that period.

And then there’s the mate who has always been excused by the words “Ah that’s just So-and-so.” You can’t take offence, call them out on anything, contradict them, or disapprove of them – they very early on established a reputation for being “mad” or “daft” or “so brutally honest you want to hit them over the head with a half brick.” And over the years you’ve bitten your tongue, swallowed hard and smiled through gritted teeth as everyone told you how you couldn’t mind them, sure that’s just the way they are.

Now as you hit forty, the same people ring you up to rant about their latest faux pas and how impossible they are and how they ruin everything and can be taken nowhere. (Smile as you drawl  “ah go on, sure that’s just the way they are.” You’ve earned it.)

I wonder in ten years time if we’ll all be friends, or even friendly – I know for me the desire to be around a lot of old friends has decreased, and while this may sound strange I choose to see even less of them than I’d like because if I see much more of them I’ll end up hating the sight of them. I think discretion is definitely the better part of valour in this case; I hope if we confine 0ur interaction to the most superficial layers of friendliness at some point in the future we’ll have more in common again and will not have spoiled it all with a row.

Friends are a pain in the arse sometimes.