God, I miss being in Ireland. Being over there, everything was just so carefree. I miss biking on the Dingle Peninsula, drinking a pint in the bar, and watching 6 nations on the tele. I miss being around the feeling that I was home. My family was a military one, moving every few years, so I never really developed roots in the US. Colorado Springs is the closest thing, but I pretty much hate next to everything about this city.
Ireland brought me a closeness to my heritage that I never had, and I could feel my bloodline all around. In the US, I really don't feel that.
I know that I'm an Irish-American, and I wouldn't give up what I've gained by being an American. But Ireland is just wow. I'm bound to all of my brothers and sisters on the other side of the pond, as well as those on this side who built not one, but two nations.
I've still heard nothing about any of my graduate schools. It looks like it's going to be a sad year for me...
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Race is a Fickle Thing
I have to say that I've been adequately shocked to see how this issue keeps appearing with its ugly head, about how we have to have a serious discussion about race in America, and what I see the most is hypocricy and double standards.
The first has to do with this cartoon that has gotten a lot of buzz. Do we have to forget that cartoonists portrayed George Bush as a monkey as well for 8 years? Why was no one crying foul over that? The intent was to implicate him as an idiot, so shouldn't we stand up for idiots everywhere and demand that those cartoons be withdrawn too? Do we have to revoke the liberties of the cartoonist and the publisher to print that which is within his first amendment rights to do? Do we forget that it was not our president, but rather Nancy Pelosi who was the main writer of the stimulus package? Here's a shocking forsight of the next four years (at least): any criticism of President Obama will be viewed through a prism of race by the mongerers that want any critics to shut up and sit down. They will comb through every statement, every drawing, looking for the race card to play against anyone who wages any serious opposition against him.
It's one thing to look at the historical accounts that made ready comparison between Africans and apes, but it's another thing to take this cartoon, whose object was the stimulus package (so chock loaded that it seemed to have been written by a monkey...an actual monkey, not a metaphorical one) and its actual author, not the president. This was a cheap excuse to shut up another person who had questions about the judgment of those who wrote and passed the bill so quickly as to stifle discussion.
Perhaps the more disturbing thing is how the NAACP and leaders like Sharpton and Jackson are hounding this guy, who is within his legal rights to express his views, when the R&B and rap communities are committing far more atrocious acts against women of color. Need we forget that Chris Brown recently used Rihanna's face as a punching bag? Or what about the pimped up asshole who shot up Jennifer Hudson's family (and no doubt, had she been there, JHud herself)? We have a community of "artists" who advocate the objectification of women, and those who suffer the most from this are black women. These singers implicate that it's okay to beat your woman, because she's your bitch, and your bitch doesn't have the right to fool around or even look at another man. Meanwhile, she's supposed to be on her knees making sure your happy in all the right places, and then you can go and fuck up the next woman.
Where's the outrage among blacks about how their men are treating their women? Here's a serious discussion about race: white men who beat their wives are publicly humiliated, turned into the trash of society, and tossed out. Why has Chris Brown not received the same treatment? Where is his censure? Why aren't black leaders taking his CD's and trashing them, shouting "this is not how we should be treating our women!"? Now, of course, he has the right to due process, but here's the point: at the very least, the old, and incredibly vocal guard of the race movement in the US is content to allow black men to do what they want to women, but if one non-black so much as questions this, he gets the automatic label of racist?
Fifty years ago and even eighty years ago, black musicians were pioneers, creating some of the best of American music in Jazz and Motown. Of course, behind the scenes, things weren't always beautiful with abuse and drugs happening, but if you listen to Motown lyrics, like Smokey Robinson and the Temptations, you don't hear them about how a woman should service a man. You hear songs like "My Girl", cheesy, yes, but intimate. They're songs where a man shows a woman what love is. Nowadays, we have lyrics that treat women like trash, and artists to boot. Those lyrics are being heard by kids in the inner cities, and guess what? They're being told it's okay for your women to be your whores, and because you're a man, you deserve undying loyalty, money, and a blowjob. Do you want your daughters treated like Rihanna's been treated? Do you want them being told that they should get down and shut up?
If the NAACP really cared about the advancement of colored people, they would see how much of a cancer this types of people are to their movement. They should see how black women are being treated, and maybe, just maybe, they might begin to see why out-of-wedlock pregnancy is not getting any better. Instead of being Barack Obama's personal defense force, perhaps they need to look and see why blacks consistently are less healthy than whites and Hispanics (and even in many cases, American Indians!); why they overall are poorer than other racial groups; and why they have to use race as a defense mechanism.
They call others cowards for bringing race into the discussion, and then when people do, it becomes discrimination. They are overly defensive, and ultimately self-destructive victims. Until they can stand up for real victims, like those black women suffering from early pregnancy, abuse, disease, and objectification, then as far as I'm concerned, their words are completely hollow.
The first has to do with this cartoon that has gotten a lot of buzz. Do we have to forget that cartoonists portrayed George Bush as a monkey as well for 8 years? Why was no one crying foul over that? The intent was to implicate him as an idiot, so shouldn't we stand up for idiots everywhere and demand that those cartoons be withdrawn too? Do we have to revoke the liberties of the cartoonist and the publisher to print that which is within his first amendment rights to do? Do we forget that it was not our president, but rather Nancy Pelosi who was the main writer of the stimulus package? Here's a shocking forsight of the next four years (at least): any criticism of President Obama will be viewed through a prism of race by the mongerers that want any critics to shut up and sit down. They will comb through every statement, every drawing, looking for the race card to play against anyone who wages any serious opposition against him.
It's one thing to look at the historical accounts that made ready comparison between Africans and apes, but it's another thing to take this cartoon, whose object was the stimulus package (so chock loaded that it seemed to have been written by a monkey...an actual monkey, not a metaphorical one) and its actual author, not the president. This was a cheap excuse to shut up another person who had questions about the judgment of those who wrote and passed the bill so quickly as to stifle discussion.
Perhaps the more disturbing thing is how the NAACP and leaders like Sharpton and Jackson are hounding this guy, who is within his legal rights to express his views, when the R&B and rap communities are committing far more atrocious acts against women of color. Need we forget that Chris Brown recently used Rihanna's face as a punching bag? Or what about the pimped up asshole who shot up Jennifer Hudson's family (and no doubt, had she been there, JHud herself)? We have a community of "artists" who advocate the objectification of women, and those who suffer the most from this are black women. These singers implicate that it's okay to beat your woman, because she's your bitch, and your bitch doesn't have the right to fool around or even look at another man. Meanwhile, she's supposed to be on her knees making sure your happy in all the right places, and then you can go and fuck up the next woman.
Where's the outrage among blacks about how their men are treating their women? Here's a serious discussion about race: white men who beat their wives are publicly humiliated, turned into the trash of society, and tossed out. Why has Chris Brown not received the same treatment? Where is his censure? Why aren't black leaders taking his CD's and trashing them, shouting "this is not how we should be treating our women!"? Now, of course, he has the right to due process, but here's the point: at the very least, the old, and incredibly vocal guard of the race movement in the US is content to allow black men to do what they want to women, but if one non-black so much as questions this, he gets the automatic label of racist?
Fifty years ago and even eighty years ago, black musicians were pioneers, creating some of the best of American music in Jazz and Motown. Of course, behind the scenes, things weren't always beautiful with abuse and drugs happening, but if you listen to Motown lyrics, like Smokey Robinson and the Temptations, you don't hear them about how a woman should service a man. You hear songs like "My Girl", cheesy, yes, but intimate. They're songs where a man shows a woman what love is. Nowadays, we have lyrics that treat women like trash, and artists to boot. Those lyrics are being heard by kids in the inner cities, and guess what? They're being told it's okay for your women to be your whores, and because you're a man, you deserve undying loyalty, money, and a blowjob. Do you want your daughters treated like Rihanna's been treated? Do you want them being told that they should get down and shut up?
If the NAACP really cared about the advancement of colored people, they would see how much of a cancer this types of people are to their movement. They should see how black women are being treated, and maybe, just maybe, they might begin to see why out-of-wedlock pregnancy is not getting any better. Instead of being Barack Obama's personal defense force, perhaps they need to look and see why blacks consistently are less healthy than whites and Hispanics (and even in many cases, American Indians!); why they overall are poorer than other racial groups; and why they have to use race as a defense mechanism.
They call others cowards for bringing race into the discussion, and then when people do, it becomes discrimination. They are overly defensive, and ultimately self-destructive victims. Until they can stand up for real victims, like those black women suffering from early pregnancy, abuse, disease, and objectification, then as far as I'm concerned, their words are completely hollow.
Figuring out what to do
So, going back to my idea from my last post...
First off, I can't update about the rest of my trip because the computer that has all my photos in it is in the shop, being fixed so that we can access our tax information...so my last week and a half of Ireland will have to wait a touch.
Anyways, when it comes to grad schools, things really look sucky right now, because one of my professors forgot to send my recommendation letter off. Now, I think I gave sufficient notice, especially when she had already written a letter for me and only needed to change the name of the school and the program. On top of that, when I took in suck-up food, she assured me that everything was taken care of, and my last letters would be in the mail the day I left for Ireland.
I get back, and I get emails from my grad schools saying that I actually don't have my application complete because one professor did not send the letters.
So I emailed her and she said she got so busy that she forgot to do it. Now I'm adequately screwed.
So my options for the next year looking increasingly limited. IF I get into a graduate school, then I won't get any financial assistance, and I would go big bucks into debt. I can get an MBA at UCCS in one year in either homeland defense or information technology, and both of htose fields are guaranteed jobs. The catch? It would mean me going into about $10,000 in debt. I don't know that I want to take on a lot of debt, but I don't see much in the way of choice.
Life is such a pain right now...
First off, I can't update about the rest of my trip because the computer that has all my photos in it is in the shop, being fixed so that we can access our tax information...so my last week and a half of Ireland will have to wait a touch.
Anyways, when it comes to grad schools, things really look sucky right now, because one of my professors forgot to send my recommendation letter off. Now, I think I gave sufficient notice, especially when she had already written a letter for me and only needed to change the name of the school and the program. On top of that, when I took in suck-up food, she assured me that everything was taken care of, and my last letters would be in the mail the day I left for Ireland.
I get back, and I get emails from my grad schools saying that I actually don't have my application complete because one professor did not send the letters.
So I emailed her and she said she got so busy that she forgot to do it. Now I'm adequately screwed.
So my options for the next year looking increasingly limited. IF I get into a graduate school, then I won't get any financial assistance, and I would go big bucks into debt. I can get an MBA at UCCS in one year in either homeland defense or information technology, and both of htose fields are guaranteed jobs. The catch? It would mean me going into about $10,000 in debt. I don't know that I want to take on a lot of debt, but I don't see much in the way of choice.
Life is such a pain right now...
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Update of Ireland Part II
Continuing my Ireland trip:
JANUARY 29--Went north from Belfast to Carrickfergus castle, one of the original points of Anglo-Cambrian-Norman invasion into Ulster. The castle is fixed up to be an obvious tourist attraction, but it's well worth it to go. Some of my facebook pictures show some intersting things, like King John on the loo. I also saw Scotland (not went), and there was a great 16th century cannon with an original Tudor Rose on it.
JANUARY 30--Traveled to Galway. Took me all day, but I did get to walk around Galway, and it is just a GORGEOUS city. It's not surprising that this city is one centered around tourism, because the old docks really aren't used that much any more. I arranged to go to the Aran Islands and down to the Burren.
JANUARY 31--Went around Galway city early and caught an amazing sunrise. Wanted to go to the City Museum, but it was closed. Went back to catch the bus to the ferry and it turns out that I missed it. So no Aran Islands. But I did have enough time to catch the Ireland bus to Clifden, the capital of the Connemara area of Ireland, and it is gorgeous! I also walked the Sky Road, which offers amazing views of Clifden, mountains, the ocean, and the whole area.
FEBRUARY 1--Took a tour in the Burren, and it confirmed why I'm pretty disappointed and disinclined towards bus tours. It was one of those "you see the really big tourist sites and you stop when we stop". Unfortunately, it was the only way for me to see County Clare. I did get this amazing walking tour where I met with one of those true Irish men. Totally memorable. I did see the Cliffs of Moher and a few other County Clare locations.
FEBRUARY 2--Hopped down to Killarney, and got to see the amazing Killarney National Park along the banks of a beautiful lake. Facebook photos here are a must. Unfortuantely, again, all of the sites were officially closed, but I did get to at least walk through the park and see Ross Castle, one of the last sites to fall to Cromwell in 1650s.
Ok, I'm getting tired. Plus, I tend to update by about as much as I update my pics on facebook.
I also have some really disturbing news, involving my future and school (nothing like my physical wellbeing), but it looks like I might be fucked on getting into graduate school. But I'll write about that when I'm less tired...
JANUARY 29--Went north from Belfast to Carrickfergus castle, one of the original points of Anglo-Cambrian-Norman invasion into Ulster. The castle is fixed up to be an obvious tourist attraction, but it's well worth it to go. Some of my facebook pictures show some intersting things, like King John on the loo. I also saw Scotland (not went), and there was a great 16th century cannon with an original Tudor Rose on it.
JANUARY 30--Traveled to Galway. Took me all day, but I did get to walk around Galway, and it is just a GORGEOUS city. It's not surprising that this city is one centered around tourism, because the old docks really aren't used that much any more. I arranged to go to the Aran Islands and down to the Burren.
JANUARY 31--Went around Galway city early and caught an amazing sunrise. Wanted to go to the City Museum, but it was closed. Went back to catch the bus to the ferry and it turns out that I missed it. So no Aran Islands. But I did have enough time to catch the Ireland bus to Clifden, the capital of the Connemara area of Ireland, and it is gorgeous! I also walked the Sky Road, which offers amazing views of Clifden, mountains, the ocean, and the whole area.
FEBRUARY 1--Took a tour in the Burren, and it confirmed why I'm pretty disappointed and disinclined towards bus tours. It was one of those "you see the really big tourist sites and you stop when we stop". Unfortunately, it was the only way for me to see County Clare. I did get this amazing walking tour where I met with one of those true Irish men. Totally memorable. I did see the Cliffs of Moher and a few other County Clare locations.
FEBRUARY 2--Hopped down to Killarney, and got to see the amazing Killarney National Park along the banks of a beautiful lake. Facebook photos here are a must. Unfortuantely, again, all of the sites were officially closed, but I did get to at least walk through the park and see Ross Castle, one of the last sites to fall to Cromwell in 1650s.
Ok, I'm getting tired. Plus, I tend to update by about as much as I update my pics on facebook.
I also have some really disturbing news, involving my future and school (nothing like my physical wellbeing), but it looks like I might be fucked on getting into graduate school. But I'll write about that when I'm less tired...
Saturday, February 14, 2009
How to update?
My god, I've been gone for so long and seen so many things, I have no idea how to describe everything I saw and did in Ireland. I started writing down everything when I was there, and one week produced about 30 pages in my journal, so I have no idea how to write down everything online. There's been this 25 thing going around online, and I think I'll just list 25 things about my spectacular, one thing for each day, and then four general thoughts:
January 21: Wow, I'm here, and Dublin is such a swirl of activity. Everyone is going someplace and there's so much to see and to do. Jet lag plus a pint isn't the most intelligent decision ever taken, but Dublin is a city so ALIVE. Highlight of the day: O'Connell Street and Ha'penny Bridge.
January 22: Settling into the jive of Dublin and the fast paced life. Unfortuantely, it only starts at 9 AM, and I'm an early bird, so my mornings here were spent in calm walks around the city to parks and such. The particular highlights of choice today were the national museums, that housed such treasures as the portrait of Ireland, the Tara Brooch, the Armagh Chalice, and the Bell of St. Patrick, as well as Dublin Castle. Pub of choice today=The Brazen Head, Ireland's oldest at 1157.
January 23: Sundays in Ireland are the one day where life seems to stop. Went to Phoenix Park and the Guinness Storehouse, where I got to pour my first pint out of the draught--one of my life's highest moments. My other mainstay was Kilmainhaim Gaol, where Britain placed many an Irishman and subjected him to tortures and unjust executions.
January 24: GLENDALOUGH. One of the absolute must-gos for anyone to Ireland. Absolutely beautiful place, beautiful day, and absolutely scenic. It's obvious why this was the heart of Leinster Catholicism for about 700 years. It was so great to take a slow day away from the heart of Dublin, plus I got an AMAZING fillet of haddock with exquisite chips.
January 25: NEWGRANGE. Wow wow wow. There was just something so enchanting about this place. It's a tomb over 5000 years old, held together without mortar (about 1000 years older than he pyramids of Egypt, by the way). Sleeping at the base of this great tomb, I could feel the history of the great land slipping into me, and I was overwhelmed with the magnamity of everything. Other sights: Drogheda, Battle of the Boyne site. Culinary amazingness: BEEF AND GUINNESS. Holy shit, people. That was perhaps one of the best meals of my life.
January 26: DERRY. Actually the day was mostly spent travelling, but I did get to have hobnobs for the first time, as well as one of my new loves, potato farls.
January 27: DERRY/BELFAST. Saw the sight of the Bloody Sunday massacre, as well as the Free Derry museum. Traveled back to Belfast and had a pint at the Crown Saloon. Decided that I don't like the North much...botanical gardens in Belfast are gorgeous though
January 28: GIANT'S CAUSEWAY. The best part of the north, at least that I saw. Ancient lava structures science says, but I prefer to think of it as part of Finn MacCool's bridge to Scotland. The story is so much better than the "facts"...The rural north is so much better than the cities.
Ugh, I'm sick of writing. I'll write more later.
January 21: Wow, I'm here, and Dublin is such a swirl of activity. Everyone is going someplace and there's so much to see and to do. Jet lag plus a pint isn't the most intelligent decision ever taken, but Dublin is a city so ALIVE. Highlight of the day: O'Connell Street and Ha'penny Bridge.
January 22: Settling into the jive of Dublin and the fast paced life. Unfortuantely, it only starts at 9 AM, and I'm an early bird, so my mornings here were spent in calm walks around the city to parks and such. The particular highlights of choice today were the national museums, that housed such treasures as the portrait of Ireland, the Tara Brooch, the Armagh Chalice, and the Bell of St. Patrick, as well as Dublin Castle. Pub of choice today=The Brazen Head, Ireland's oldest at 1157.
January 23: Sundays in Ireland are the one day where life seems to stop. Went to Phoenix Park and the Guinness Storehouse, where I got to pour my first pint out of the draught--one of my life's highest moments. My other mainstay was Kilmainhaim Gaol, where Britain placed many an Irishman and subjected him to tortures and unjust executions.
January 24: GLENDALOUGH. One of the absolute must-gos for anyone to Ireland. Absolutely beautiful place, beautiful day, and absolutely scenic. It's obvious why this was the heart of Leinster Catholicism for about 700 years. It was so great to take a slow day away from the heart of Dublin, plus I got an AMAZING fillet of haddock with exquisite chips.
January 25: NEWGRANGE. Wow wow wow. There was just something so enchanting about this place. It's a tomb over 5000 years old, held together without mortar (about 1000 years older than he pyramids of Egypt, by the way). Sleeping at the base of this great tomb, I could feel the history of the great land slipping into me, and I was overwhelmed with the magnamity of everything. Other sights: Drogheda, Battle of the Boyne site. Culinary amazingness: BEEF AND GUINNESS. Holy shit, people. That was perhaps one of the best meals of my life.
January 26: DERRY. Actually the day was mostly spent travelling, but I did get to have hobnobs for the first time, as well as one of my new loves, potato farls.
January 27: DERRY/BELFAST. Saw the sight of the Bloody Sunday massacre, as well as the Free Derry museum. Traveled back to Belfast and had a pint at the Crown Saloon. Decided that I don't like the North much...botanical gardens in Belfast are gorgeous though
January 28: GIANT'S CAUSEWAY. The best part of the north, at least that I saw. Ancient lava structures science says, but I prefer to think of it as part of Finn MacCool's bridge to Scotland. The story is so much better than the "facts"...The rural north is so much better than the cities.
Ugh, I'm sick of writing. I'll write more later.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
