Ireland Journal
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The Ireland Journal is Back!
The Ireland Journal has been on hiatus for almost two years since Study Abroad Ireland didn't make in 2012. It feels a bit odd to be here after such a long time. Ireland has changed and so have I. Ireland has had a very rough couple of years from the economy, to the weather,…
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The Official Story Count for the Summer of 2011 is 113!
Wednesday and Thursday, June 23rd and 24th, the Study Abroad Ireland tellers told their third stories in class. With these last 20 stories, plus one more from me, our official count for the summer is 113. I promised them at least 100 stories and we surpassed that nicely. It’s been a tremendously rich and satisfying…
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The Launch of the Athlone Yarnspinners
On Tuesday, June 21st, the Athlone Yarnspinners was officially launched. It’s been a dream of Danielle Allison’s for several years to get the Athlone group going. The Yarnspinners in Ireland was started in Belfast by Liz Weir and there are currently groups active in Dublin, Foyle (Derry), Cork, and the Tullycarnet Yarnspinners (Dundonald, Belfast) who…
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Rock On! A Sweet Summer Solstice Treat
Four years ago I had the opportunity to attend a fire ceremony on the summer solstice at Rathcroghan near Tulsk in Co. Roscommon. Every summer since I’ve made it a point to go to Rathcroghan, traditionally held to be the palace of Queen Medb, on June 21st. The mound is part of a very large complex,…
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The School of the Four Masters
Monday afternoon, June 20, Laura Rutherford and I told stories at Scoil na gCeithre Máistrí, the School of the Four Masters. This is the Gaelic language school in Athlone where Danielle’s daughter Katie attends. We spent a couple of hours there telling to Katie’s 1st class, and then to a 5th class. We were very…
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Awash in a Sea of Story
I tried something new in the Irish Storytelling Tradition this summer. Since I had, 2/3s of the whole group in my class, I decided to teach them the basics of putting together a short personal story using Donald Davis’ “ Five Ps” – People, Place, Problem, Progress, Point. Twice in the semester, I asked them…
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Second Stories, Continued
Tuesday, June 21, we heard the last five of our second set of stories. Faye Daniel got us started with the 80th story we've heard this month. 16. (80) Faye told the eerie story of The Black Dog from Eddie Lenihan's Meeting the Other Crowd. 17. (81) Andrea Robinson told a very well crafted version…
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The Architecture of the Anecdote
My original plan for the weekend of June 18-19 had been to drive to Dublin to do my workshop for the Storytellers of Ireland and then drive up to Liz Weir’s in Cushendall. Liz took Laura Rutherford and Andrea Robinson with her on Friday the 17th, and I thought I’d drive up for the Saturday…
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There’s a Rainbow at the Center of Ireland
Friday evening, June 17, I took Chas and three of my storytelling students to Ballynacargy to hear Clare Murphy and the Gombeens perform. The directions I got from Google turned out not to be the most direct route, but I’m so glad I followed them. We were on the R390 between Athlone and Mullingar when…
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Midsummer’s Eve in the Midlands
Barry Vaughan has done two great things for me. First, he invited me to participate in Study Abroad Ireland. Granted, it was after I inquired in 2004 how he could possibly have a study abroad program in Ireland and not teach storytelling. Fortunately, he agreed, and my first summer teaching for SAI was in 2005. …
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Eddie Lenihan: “By Pure Dint and Fierce Effort”
Eddie Lenihan visited The Irish Storytelling Tradition on the morning of Thursday, June 16. I had intended for his book, Meeting the Other Crowd, to be our text but not all the students could get it since it’s recently gone out of print. Eddie started out by telling us a little about the book, which…
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“Along the Flaggy Shore”
How did Seamus Heaney learn he had won the Nobel Prize? A week and a half ago we took a trip through the Burren to the Cliffs of Moher. Our bus driver couldn’t keep the microphone in front of his mouth because the earpiece on the head set was broken. This meant he was often…