Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 30th, 2011
June 21st 2011, the 5th annual Day of Reflection The cross-community organization with whom I work, Healing Through Remembering, hosted a special event honoring the Day of Reflection in the Linen Hall Library in downtown Belfast. The event was organized by Kate Turner, Aongus O’Keeffe, and myself. HTR describes the annual event as: a day [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 27th, 2011
One of the most surprising aspects of daily life in Belfast is that finding friendly people is not too difficult. I thought I might jot down a few interesting people and moments that I have experienced here. So here it goes in particular or coherent order: I met Joe while I was waiting at a [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 23rd, 2011
Northern Ireland’s great sporting hero right now is 22-year old Rory McIlroy, a golfer from Holywood, a suburb of Belfast located five miles east of the city centre. Rory has always had a lot of potential, as evidenced by his television appearance at age 9, setting a course record at Royal Portrush at the age [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 16th, 2011
Yesterday, my Intercomm co-workers picked me up at Farset at 9am to go on an official visit to Stormont with them. Liam and John had an appointment to talk with the British Secretary of State Owen Patterson about a current grant project they were co-heading called the Joint Area Ardoyne Project. I was actually very [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 13th, 2011
I wanted to write a blog post discussing the acclimation process, and the way this city has gone from something entirely unknown to something that, while still constantly challenging, is in its own way familiar. I wanted to write about how I walked confidently down the Springfield now into City Centre, how I didn’t feel [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 10th, 2011
When we had first arrived in Northern Ireland, we were alerted to the fact that we might feel a little frustration while getting situated. Well, it’s happened. We’ve all talked about what we somewhat hyperbolically call “I Hate This Country” moments: having to switch between boiling and freezing tap water because the faucet is incapable [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 10th, 2011
From Prison to Peace Conference The conference was held over in Templepatrick, a town (more like cluster of hotels from what I saw) about 15 mins away from Belfast city centre, at the Hilton. After HTR checked in at registration, we had some tea and coffee while we mingled and waited for all the attendees [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 8th, 2011
http://www.u.tv/News/SF-owes-McArdle-a-future-UDA-leader/625645b9-424f-4b70-a5a2-b8b925175423 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13702798 These past two days, three Duke Engage students had the opportunity to attend the Sustaining Peace conference in Templepatrick, a two-day event intended to spark discussion about the roles of political ex-prisoners and ex-combatants in the peace process. Me and Kelly had the unique opportunity to attend with our partner organization Lisburn PSP, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 8th, 2011
It’s a few days belated, but here are some images of out trip to Derry! As they’re displayed on the WordPress site, they’re all kind of intermingled, so I’ll give a few explanations. Top left: Derry from a hill. Top middle: Akshatha looking happy on the train! Top right: A famous mural in the Bogside. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 6th, 2011
Day 14: Work at Lisburn PSP inlcuding sitting in on a Resurgam Trust Board Meeting and writing up more financial reports. The evening entailed traditional Egyptian and Irish food and a presentation by Ama on the January 25th Revolution in Cairo and her experience living there during that time. Sam and I sat in on [...]