cúisle mo chroí

I believe I may be the only person interested in live-tweeting the New York New Belfast Conference which begins today, but so be it! As someone who is interested in the post-conflict regeneration of the North of Ireland, absolutely loves Belfast (and New York!), I’m really looking forward to this conference. I’m also [...]

Now that I can finally say I own a computer, I am finally getting around to writing a post about my participation in and my thoughts about the recent United Ireland forums hosted by Sinn Féin in New York and San Francisco. That’s a picture of me at the mic taken by my [...]

These documents were sent to me recently concerning the recent debates at Stormont and the House of Commons about the treatment of the Belfast Visteon/Ford plant employees. Though they are heading towards a settlement deal, it comes at a great cost, for there will be no jobs or pensions for anyone.
The two [...]

I ran into artist Danny Devenny (read this recent article about Devenny in the Financial Times) by the International Wall on the Falls Road in West Belfast today.  Danny and his friend Leah (a professor at UMass-Amherst) were updating some of the murals to reflect the ongoing attacks of Israel on the people of Gaza.  [...]

…posting a link to this story on the bbc news website.  Apparently there is a pub in a town in the Greater Manchester area (that’s England, not Michigan!) that hosted the World Black Pudding Throwing Contest.  The purpose is to knock Yorkshire puddings (i.e., popovers) off a 20 foot ledge by throwing black puddings at [...]

The following is an article from Thursday’s Andersonstown News (Belfast), about our sponsorship.  It’s great to get local coverage of this, though as it turns out it looks like I will not be able to afford to go.  Nuts.  Though I bought a plane ticket…housing costs are unreasonable, to say the least.  Read on, anyway, [...]

The Boston Public Library at Copley Square is host to Relatives for Justice’s Remembering Quilt during the month of July.  I’ve seen sections of the quilt at their office in West Belfast, but have not yet had the opportunity to see the whole thing. I’m sure it is incredibly powerful.
For the quilt, relatives of victims [...]

I wish I had more time these days to write about my thoughts on the discussions taking place in Ireland regarding the development of a truth commission; alas, I seem to have turned into a working machine.  For now, I am re-posting a recent article by Jim Gibney from the Irish News because I like [...]

Irish American Unity Conference (IAUC) President John Fogarty hailed the success of this year’s national convention in Boston, calling it a ground-breaking effort on behalf of Irish America in the encouragement and facilitation of cross-community dialogue in the north of Ireland. This year’s convention brought together members of both the unionist and nationalist communities, [...]