Billy Collins

Tonight my friend Jessica and I went to see Billy Collins read!!  He is a two time US poet laureate and a wonderful poet.  It was wonderful to hear him read and to meet him.  I did not have a book for him to sign but Jessica did so we went up to meet him.  He and I were chatting and getting on quite well...he liked my Trinity hoodie! Hahahaha  And then he asked what I was doing next year, and I responded going to teach in San Diego.  And he said how he had just been to a small school in Carlsbad that he was enamored with.  And he mentioned it was a new school....I thought, and said outloud, is it Pacific Ridge School?  And he said Yes and that it was situated in this idealic canyon setting.  I said that is the school I am going to be teaching at next year!!!!  What a crazy coincidence!  And then he mentioned a Dublin poet who I have been very fascinated by lately was one of his favorites - Paul Durcan.  And not 10 minutes before the event I had been at the bookstore trying to buy one of Durcan's volumes of poetry!  It seems, Mr, Collins, we are meant to be friends!!

He did agree to take a quick picture with me (which is not too flattering but exciting nonetheless!)

He commented that he thought he looked like he was standing waiting for the bus!  :)

Here is his signing of Jessica's book (which I can conveniently pretend is my own as well!)

Such an exciting evening and a wonderful poet.

Some of the poems he read tonight:

"Drinking Alone, After Li Po"
"Monday"
"The Dog, On his Master"
The Lanyard"
"The Revenant"
"Nostalgia"
"Afternoon with Irish Cows"
"Forgetfulness"
"Sonnet"

I especially liked his sense of humor in person and in his poetry.  He uses irony with a careful hand which is a difficult task.
I especially enjoyed "Nostalgia" and "The Lanyard" and "The Revenant"
John Updike has called his poetry "limpid" which was not a word I was familiar with - but it means completely clear.  And he does have a very direct, straight forward, and clear style to his poetic voice.

I cannot wait to read more of his work....especially one mentioned tonight "Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes" which was the title poem of his first volume published outside the U.S.

Nights like this remind me just how much I love the English language and POETRY!!!!!!  :)

Course Work Finished

Well I have officially finished my papers for the course portion of my program!  Now that I have written all the papers, it seems a bit sad that I will not be writing another.  It is a relief, but also reminds me that this whole experience is drawing to a close.  But never fear, I still have a substantial dissertation to write  before the middle of July!  I am eagerly awaiting assignment of my supervisor so that I can get to work researching and writing.  My loose and general area of work will be Trauma and Psychopathology in Contemporary Irish Fiction.  Sounds uplifting doesn't it?  But I am very excited about some of the texts I will most likely be working with such as: The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe, "Miss Smith" and Felicia's Journey by William Trevor, and possibly The Country Girls Trilogy by  Edna O'Brien.  (My last paper for coursework was on the failed role of fathers as reflective of the failure of the New State in Edna O'Brien's Trilogy and Kate O'Brien's The Land of Spices.  I very much enjoyed working on that paper.)  In the dissertation, I am interested in characters/narrators who are themselves traumatized and unstable but narrate their brutal acts as if nothing is wrong with their actions.  That is the original thought, and it may change and grow quite a bit over the process.

Belfast Take Two

I just returned from giving a paper at the New Voices: Legitimate Ireland conference at Queen's University in Belfast.  My paper was titled "Criticizing Masculinities: James Joyce and reactions against hegemonic masculinity."  I spoke about the progression in Joyce's writing from Dubliners to Portrait to Ulysses and his movement from a more subtle criticism of hegemonic masculinity to a more active push for change.  And Leopold Bloom as representative of a new kind of masculinity which is not limited by the rigid boundaries of Irish hegemonic masculinity.  The paper went well and my co-panelist also had a very interesting paper on the Dublin poet Paul Durcan who I am now very excited to read.  Overall it was a great experience!

Here is a picture of Queen's University

After the morning at the conference I decided to go visit Belfast Castle at the recommendation of my father-in-law.  It was raining when I arrived there but it was still interesting to see.  I would love to go back on a sunnier day (and with proper shoes) and hike Cave Hill behind the castle.  The top is nicknamed Napoleon's Nose and it has a beautiful view of the city below.  There are also remains of dwellings from early peoples up there.

Here are two pictures of Belfast Castle.  The second was taking my a kind security guard who saw me ineptly trying to take a picture of myself with the castle in the background.

The tremendous view from Belfast Castle.

I already decided that I must go back to Belfast before I leave in July because a new Titanic museum has opened in the last couple weeks which is supposed to be phenomenal! I can't wait!  www.titanicbelfast.com

Here is a picture of the Europa Hotel, the most bombed hotel in the world.  Too bad I couldn't stay there.

Almost Done...but Not Really

This coming week will be my last week of classes here at Trinity.  I am very sad, and I wish I could just continue taking classes for the rest of my life!!  But we are in the final push with three papers due (one each week in April - except the week I am giving a conference paper).  Confusing?  I know, it is.  Basically, next Friday I will turn in a paper for my Perspectives on Irish Writing course which will focus on Emma Donoghue's novel Hood.  You may have heard her name in the news with the release of her newest book Room last year.  I will be writing on her focus on "lesbian existence" rather than "lesbian identity" as reflective of her step away from the traditional Irish novel nation as allegory trope.  The Friday after next, I will turn in a paper for my Single Major Authors course on James Joyce.  I have not nailed down the details of that paper as of yet.  The following Friday I will travel to Belfast to present a paper on Joyce and masculinity at a conference at Queen's University.  I am excited about this experience because it will be my first professional conference.  The Friday following that one, I will submit my final paper in my Option Course which is entitled Irish Fiction after Joyce.  Then it will be a swift transition into starting the research and preliminary work for my dissertation!

30th Bday in Dublin

My 30th Birthday happen to come when I was in Dublin studying!  I had mixed feelings about being in a foreign country without my husband, family, and friends.  But I decided to make the best of it, and I ended up having a fabulous day!  I planned activities so I would be busy and having fun all day.  The first was lunch at Boojum which has the best burritos in Ireland (not a difficult claim to hold) with some friends.  It was absolutely delicious!

Zach, Jenny and Erica ready to eat - my friend Andrew is taking the pic.

Here is my huge burrito!! I was so full but it was completely worth it.

After lunch, Andrew and I ventured out to meet Eileen at Kilmainham Gaol which is one of the most interesting historical buildings in Dublin.  We spent some time looking at the museum portion and then took an excellent guided tour of the grounds.  The museum had very comprehensive exhibits about all the political history connected to the jail as well as information about its construction.  It was originally built with the idea of separating prisoners as opposed to the old system in which everyone was held in the same room.  Unfortunately, because of overcrowding especially during the Famine (when people would commit small crimes to get put in jail because they knew there they would be fed) that system failed and there were many people crowded in each cell and some in the hallways.

The West Wing still looks the same as it did when it originally opened in 1796.

One of the cell doors in the older West Wing.

We then moved into an area of the West Wing where the 1916 leaders had been held before their executions.

One of the cell doors.

There are still plaques over the doors showing which leader was in which cell.  Although you can barely see it, this is the plaque marking Padraic Pearse's cell.  In that cell he wrote poetry and letters during the final days of his life.  Some of that poetry will feature in my first essay for the term.

A much clearer plaque - that of Joseph Plunkett who married his sweetheart in the chapel of the jail some days before his execution.  She was allowed to visit him in this cell for a set amount of time after their wedding.  Once she was asked to leave and he was taken out of the cell, she could hear the firing squad of his execution as she left the grounds.

The new East Wing was built in an effort to improve conditions in the jail especially sanitary.  Although most women were left back in the old West Wing after this new addition.

Here is me inside one of the cells - seen through the small peep hole by the door.  I don't think most inmates would have smiled that big -especially not on their birthdays!

The final most interesting thing on the tour was the site of the 1916 leaders executions.
There is a plaque in the open yard which lists all the executed.

And a cross marks the spot of all the executions.
All but one took place at this spot - the other took place on the opposite side of the yard.  That one was that of James Connolly who had to be brought in by ambulance because he was dying and could not stand.  He was strapped to the chair and then shot by the firing squad.

Okay, I know that seems like a depressing and dark outing for a birthday but it is a historical location I have been wanting to visit since I arrived in Dublin!  So I was thrilled to be able to see it.

Andrew, Eileen, and I took the bus back into the city centre.  I went home to get ready for dinner.

Jessica and Erin then came to pick me up about an hour later and we were off for the evening portion of the celebration!

We went to the Italian restaurant that has been a favorite place of me and Ashley since the beginning of our time here in Dublin.

It was a delicious meal with wine and lots of yummy pasta!  They even got the waiters to sing happy birthday to me.  It took about three tries for Erin to get a picture of me blowing out the candle so we had to keep recreating the moment.

Next we ran to catch the Dublin Ghost Tour Bus!!

It was hilarious and campy and totally fun.  We went to a old church and learned how to body snatch.  We also went to some of the most haunted places in Dublin to see if we could capture any spirits on our cameras.  Unfortunately, we did not.  But it did feel a bit creepy at some points.  The leader of the tour was an actor and while we were driving around he would tell all these crazy stories that were quite interesting.  And he kept picking on me and calling me "birthday girl"!
We learned the meaning behind the phrase saved by the bell.  Apparently when people were buried in the 18th century they attached a bell that sat on the surface of the grave down to the inside of the coffin.  And someone would sit out there all night (also origin of graveyard shift term) and listen for any bells.  If a person had been pronounced dead and buried alive, they could ring the bell to alert someone in the cemetery.


After this crazy tour, we headed out to the Porterhouse which is a great location to drink and dance.  Oh and it was raining during the tour - we had no umbrellas - so by the time we got to the Porterhouse - this is what I looked like!

Time to DANCE!!!!!!!!
We had a blast and were there until last call at 2:45am.  I did not want to stop dancing but unfortunately for me everything was closed!

All in all it was a memorable 30th birthday spent with some great friends in Dublin!

travel and a bit about 1916

I have been traveling so much over the last month that I have not even had time to think about my life in Dublin. I have been to Boston and Seattle for job conferences, and Andrew was able to see my daily life here in Ireland.  I am off again to California at the end of this week for some job interviews in Los Angeles.  It has been one jet lag filled whirlwind.
Meanwhile, my courses and all my work continue.  This week I need to start focusing on beginning my three papers that will be due in April as well as preparing for the conference paper I will be giving in the same month.  It will be busy from now until the beginning of May!!  I have been reading three novels for next weeks classes - I think all of a sudden they have given us an even larger load of reading:  Amongst Women by John McGahern, Molloy by Samuel Beckett, and The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy.  All are extremely interesting and as a result I am not reading quite as quickly as I need to be to complete them all.
For the Single Major Authors course we have switched from Joyce to Beckett.  I am enjoying looking at the prose of a writer who I only knew for his dramatic works.  He is definitely a "singular" writer as my professor calls him.
In researching my first paper for this term, I found out that the ugly building I look at every day outside the window in front of my desk is actually a historical building.  It is the place that Padraic and Willie Pearse were born.  Padraic was a poet but he is most known for his role as leader of the 1916 Easter Rising.  He is the man who read out the proclamation from the GPO (General Post Office - served as headquarters for the rebels) that first morning.  Both Padraic (or Patrick) and his brother Willie were held at Kilmainham Gaol (jail) before they were executed by a firing squad.  I actually visited Kilmainham on my birthday and will make a separate post about it!  My paper will look at the idealized poetry of these rebel men and the focus on blood sacrifice that they believed would save their country.

Here is the birth place of these men.

The street I live on and that this building is on is now called Pearse Street.  When the brothers were born it was called Great Brunswick Street.

Papers done, Proposals to Write, and Courses

Well, I have a replacement desk chair which if you can believe it seems to be more painful than the broken one!  Oh well - good thing I don't spend a lot of time typing at the computer!  *sarcasm*
On the bright side, the string of three consecutive papers is finally over as of Friday!  I could not be more thrilled.  My mark on each paper improved from the last one which is wonderful, and I am proud of my first round of writing effort here at Trinity.  My immediate task now is to write my Ph.D. dissertation proposal for the application due March 1!!!  It is exciting but also extremely intimidating.  I have been doing bits of research throughout the year, but now it is time to bring it all together in a coherent proposal.  Then I meet with Professor Slote (the god of Joyce) and ask if he will be my supervisor - cross your fingers for me!

My classes this term are still amazing.
The Perspectives on Irish Writing course continues from last term and we are moving into the early twentieth century.  The first two weeks of the term were spent with my favorite professor - Nicky Grene - who lectured on two plays: George Bernard Shaw's John Bull's Other Island and J.M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World.  He is not only a great professor and mentor, but he is also the world expert on J.M. Synge!  I have very much enjoyed studying Irish drama because it brings back all my passion for the theatre.  Last week in the Perspectives course was a very interesting lecture on the resounding effects of the Easter 1916 Uprising through Irish society and writing up to the present.  Our lecturer was Gerald Dawe who is a renowned poet and poetry scholar.  He proved to be an extremely engaging speaker.  We are in conjunction with the lecture looking at the poetry of those involved in the Rising and WWI - fascinating statements of the pride of sacrificing oneself for one's country.  I look forward to his next lecture this Tuesday.  For the rest of the term, we will cover the remainder of the twentieth century.
Single Major Authors is another of the courses which has continued from last term - BUT these six weeks are devoted to my man JAMES JOYCE!!  We even had class on his birthday (Feb 2) last Thursday morning.  Sam Slote is an incredibly intelligent Joyce scholar who has just finished his own volume of annotations to Ulysses - no small feat!  He is nerdy and makes funny nerd jokes about Joyce which I am pretty sure I am the only one who laughs at! :)  Pretty much my hero!  I have been rereading Ulysses for the course and it is amazing how much new information I pick up each time I read it.  This section is by far my favorite part of the program so far!
My elective course for this term is entitled Irish Fiction after Joyce and is taught by Eve Patten.  She is, along with Nicky Grene, one of the heads of our program.  I enjoy her frank and ironic style.  The course deals with the legacy left in Irish writing after Joyce and if writers can escape his influence or if they build on what he did.  It is an area that I am for the most part completely unfamiliar with so it has been fascinating thus far.  We just read Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds.  I enjoyed the style of the novel which reminded me a lot of Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.  I look forward to reading what everyone calls his best novel - The Third Policeman.  I would definitely recommend it.  Next up for that course is Kate O'Brien's The Land of Spices.